BetterDonkey.org - Environment

Carbon dioxide... we call it life!

Fri, 19 May 2006 12:48:32 -0700

I see that, while I was off in another country for three weeks, nothing much has changed here... except for the fact that showing a film clip of a glacier melting in reverse proves you don't need to worry about global warming.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A little girl blows away dandelion fluff as an announcer says, "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution; we call it life," in an advertisement targeting global warming "alarmists," especially Al Gore.

The television ads, screened for the press on Wednesday and set to air in 14 U.S. cities starting on Thursday, are part of a campaign by the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute to counter a media spotlight on threats posed by worldwide climate change... Against backdrops of a park, a beach and a forest, one celebrates the benefits of greenhouse gas-producing fuels.

"The fuels that produce CO2 (carbon dioxide) have freed us from a world of back-breaking labor, lighting up our lives, allowing us to create and move the things we need, the people we love," the ad runs. "Now some politicians want to label carbon dioxide a pollutant. Imagine if they succeed -- what would our lives be like then?"

The other ad questions media reports of the threat of climate change, especially a Time magazine issue devoted to the topic, and shows film of a glacier melting and then runs in reverse to show the glacier reconstituting itself.

Can somebody please find these ads and send me the YouTube link?

Keep Oil Tankers Out of The Puget Sound: Sign The Cantwell Petition

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 08:53:19 -0800

Republican Pricks Angry Over ANWR Failure. Threaten to Punish The Puget Sound For Daring to Fight Back.

After Sen. Cantwell inserted language into a recent budget bill that would have kept the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge free of oil derricks, Ted Stevens (R-Bridge to Nowhere) retalliated by creating legislation that would end long-standing protection of the Puget Sound from oil spills and shipwrecks. Tell Ted Stevens to go jump off his fancy new bridge.

From Cantwell's site:

Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska has introduced a bill to repeal the Magnuson Amendment, a law written by Washington's own Warren Magnuson in 1977 to limit oil tanker traffic in Puget Sound. The Magnuson Amendment has kept the Cherry Point Refinery near Bellingham from becoming a super-port for oil to be shipped overseas and across the country. Stevens' bill will undo these protections. If it passes, pristine Puget Sound is at risk for oil spills, with little economic or energy benefit to our state.

Foul tip - still alive.

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 14:00:14 -0800

ANWR's off the table for the House budget bill, though it still could show in the final bill given our 51 friends in the Senate.

In any case, truckers are pissed. And who could blame them? Clearly the solution here is more oil - AMERICAN oil, and not the stuff we boat off to Japan, neither. It's a case of simple free-market economics. Supply and demand, dummies, supply and demand.

In other news...

Those Frenchies... always thumbing their noses at us.

Thu, 14 Jul 2005 21:07:15 -0700

Why don't they understand the importance of driving huge trucks, burning lots of gas, and not cleaning up after ourselves? We have a RIGHT to dump pollutants into our environment!

Ok, well, except for the fact that we have to live in this environment of ours, and if we dump pollutants into it, we have to drink contaminated water, and breathe contaminated air. And then we will all get cancer.

Although most Americans are in denial of such things (we have a right to drive big SUVs!), the French seem to grasp the concept. They have AMENDED THEIR CONSTITUTION to include an "Environmental Charter".

Who Drives the Salmon Truck?

Wed, 13 Jul 2005 11:15:55 -0700

Get this: the P-I just reported today that President Bush is asking Washington and Oregon States' damn operators to stop spilling water over the top to let spawning salmon through.

A US District Court judge in Portland ruled a while back that the damns should spill the water, despite the $67 million revenue loss, because it's essential to protect both the health of salmon and the health of the salmon fishing industry.

Bush is asking a higher court to overturn that ruling, because he says that this is a useless waste of potential hydroelectric power, when he's got a salmon scheme that's so crazy it just might work:

A program to divert fish captured in holding tanks at the damns, where they are then trucked or barged to the Columbia River in Oregon.

We are going to spend our taxpayers' money on putting SALMON in TANKS so that they can be DRIVEN in TRUCKS down the RIVER.

Hey Mr. President! Over here! I've got a crazy scheme too:
Let the salmon fucking swim on their own.

Conservation at Snoqualmie Falls

Tue, 21 Jun 2005 07:50:26 -0700

Yesterday I read an interesting article in the Seattle Times about efforts to set aside land near Snoqualmie Falls, to protect the land from development. It was interesting to me because it seems like I don't often hear about these sorts of things going on right in our backyard. First, the article talked about past efforts at conservation, which have succeeded in preserving the 100 acres of wilderness behind Snoqualmie Falls - the land was purchased by Cascade Land Conservancy. If not for this group, all that wilderness would probably now be subdivisions of the town of Snoqualmie. So, yay for conservation!

Next the author talks about current efforts for conservation in the same area: "The plan, looking ahead to a century of growth expected to double the population in a four-county region, aims to make almost 1.3 million acres of forests, farms and stream beds in the Cascades foothills — an area 24 times the size of Seattle — permanently off-limits to developers." That's a lot of wilderness! I love it.

Uh, what do I do with this banana peel? Let the city compost it for you, of course!

Fri, 17 Jun 2005 12:50:02 -0700

Got yard waste? Ok, so you have an apartment and no yard. Well, do you have food scraps? Mmmm, so you eat out all the time. Shooooot-- go on and tell you friends about this, then. Seattle is recycling yard waste and food scraps. Yay! The city is almost half way to its goal of getting new easier-to-use receptacles out there for people to take advantage of this cool new program. Cuz guess where the yard waste and food scraps go if they're not composted...

The landfill.

Seattle Times has the full scoop, as well as the nitty gritty of how to compost with the city (like what food counts and where to store your food scraps). More below the fold.

You know that one guy who "edited" Bush's climate change report...

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 17:50:58 -0700

...and by "edited" I mean "completely and utterly mislead the public to favor industry." Well he resigned. Guess where he's working now? Let me tell you because you'll never guess:

ExxonMobil!

Shocking, isn't it?

Why renewable energy is so radical and a threat to existing power structures

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 17:25:46 -0700

Ok, it's going to be hard for me to explain this without quoting Dave's whole post over at Gristmill. So I'll just tell you to go read it and tell me what you think. Oh, and definitely read jimbeyer's comment that Dave points to in his post (I almost didn't). Jimbeyer is a smart, articulate guy.

I was blown away by this post. In a whole new way I really "got" why having a society based on renewable energy was so radical and fundamentally disruptive to our society's current power structures.

Ok, here are a few gems from the post:

"Renewable energy is about the permanent loss of a major source of control of much of modern humanity."

Renewable energy is part of the historical trend putting more and more power in the hands of individuals, fracturing the elites that once held it. That -- not feasibility, or economic viability, or dead friggin' birds -- is the biggest challenge it has to overcome.

Grist interviews Nickels on his pro-Kyoto cities initiative

Thu, 16 Jun 2005 16:21:06 -0700

Hi everyone (Hi Riisa. See- I'm doing it, I really am; I'm finally posting).

I've been invited to blog on betterdonkey about environmental shenanigans, so here I am... blogging about environmental news, tidbits and random thoughts.

Grist Magazine just interviewed Nickels about his initiative to get mayors across the country to "meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets." This is a big (and cool) deal. While the Bush administration is failing us on climate change (among other things), local governments are coming to the rescue. Here are a few snippets:

Personalizing Kyoto: Beyond Fossil Fuel

Fri, 27 May 2005 13:43:04 -0700

Start: 06/01/2005 - 9:30am

description:

The Business Alliance For Local Living Economies (BALLE) presents this forum to discuss the City of Seattle's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

Agenda:

Wednesday, June 1 at Pier 69, Port of Seattle

5:30 - 6:00 p.m. Reception
6:00 - 7:30 p.m Presentations
7:30 - 8:00 p.m. Transportation fair

Details:

Discover a variety of advanced transportation options and practical planning tools. Speak to trip planners about creating a plan that works for you. Learn how to start a program at your workplace.

Whether it be getting a hybrid or electric car, carpooling, cycling, walking, bussing or taking a train to work, using biodiesel or FlexCar, there are many ways to make a significant difference to reduce the use of fossil fuel.

Learn how to create a plan that works for your schedule and budget. See our collective impact as we compile personal pledges for fossil fuel reduction.

Saint Gregory of Kyoto

Sun, 15 May 2005 17:33:04 -0700

A couple of months ago I got way super duper excited because Mayor Nickels decided that Seattle was going to board the Good Ship Kyoto, and he was gonna take America's other cities with him.

"Little boy, this giant scissors is for cutting through Red State Red Tape."

What rocks? Is that while the big plan was to get this up and rolling during the annual meeting of the US Conference of Mayors, Mayor Nickels already has 131 other mayors marching lockstep with him on the road to environmental responsibility.

Now, I am not in the habit of making wholesale endorsements of anything Seattle's mayor does. However. As Mayor Jerry Ryan of Bellevue, Nebraska put it, You've got to ask, 'Is it remotely possible that there is a threat?' If the answer is yes, you've got to act now".

If our Greg can get this big Red from little Nebraska to follow his lead, he's obviously doing something right.

Baby Steps to a Better Tomorrow

Wed, 04 May 2005 21:44:11 -0700

It's stories like this that make me glad my parents packed my high desert ass up and brought me to Washington when I was only two. Had they not brought me with them I'd of been sad indeed. =)

From the Washington Environmental Council (WEC):

"After the Senate version (SB 5509) passed out of the Senate on a 32-16 vote it passed the House on 3/30/05 with a strong bi-partisan vote of 78-19. The Governor signed the bill the first week of April. The legislation requires state buildings, schools, and universities to be built and certified as high performance, green buildings. This will result in buildings that save energy and water, are cheaper to operate, and improve student learning and employee performance."

Take the Initiative Washington

Tue, 03 May 2005 12:20:26 -0700

Many of you have probably seen the recent reports that the planet is not faring so well against the onslaught of human development. I get pissed about this daily so I won't go on about it lest this rant become encyclopedic.

Instead I'd like to focus on our states contribution to global climate change.

Environmentalism Reborn

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 15:19:28 -0700

Start: 06/08/2005 - 11:00am

description:

Shared goals of environmentalism, labor, and social justice: building the progressive infrastructure
The DFW co-sponsored forum: Environmentalism Reborn forum, is coming up on June 8.

http://washblog.typepad.com/Reborn.htm

The goal of this event is to help develop awareness -- and thus contribute to the effectiveness -- of coalitions between various interest groups in Washington state that are advancing environmental, social justice, labor, public health and progressive causes. The theme of the evening is how organizations and people in these various movements are working together to accomplish shared goals. The forum is a true grassroots effort.

We'll have 4 speakers: from American Farmland Trust, from the Apollo Alliance, from American Lung Association of Washington's Master Home Environmentalist program, and from a toxicologist who has helped get the Precautionary Principle into Washington's Growth Management Act -- and is working toward further incorporation of this foundational principle protecting human health -- in other state laws and policies. We'll be talking about energy, jobs, agricultural subsidies, the civil rights of babies and other vulnerable people to not be exposed to toxics, and how all these issues relate in terms of grass-roots organizing.