Archive for April, 2006
April 30th, 2006
Since leaving office, Al Gore has traveled the world presenting one version or another of his “traveling global warming show”, a slideshow, for free. He’s been raising awareness and has made this presentation in his estimation, “a thousand times.”
Now, it’s a movie and by some accounts, a terrifying movie.
More info is available at climatecrisis.net where you’ll find global warming background and stats, a carbon footprint calculator, and a request to pledge to see the movie on opening day, May 24. View the movie trailer.
You may also setup an email reminder to see the movie. Which is handy in case you forget to remember the ice is melting.
April 29th, 2006
The satellites will view clouds in three dimentions in an effort to understand the significance of the greenhouse effect and the extent to which it contributes to global warming.
as reported by decaturdaily.com…
The rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., at 5:02 a.m., carrying the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations and CloudSat satellites.
This is probably good news, to know there’s an effort. But some of us are already convinced that Global Warming is real. We don’t need to wait for the mounds of data to come back off these birds. We’re already changing things here on the ground.
Change to more efficient light bulbs. Turn lights off, that don’t need to be burning. Use less fossil fuel. Use Energy Star certified appliances. Talk with other people about it, and encourage them. There are many ways to fight Global Warming today, right here on the ground.
April 24th, 2006
We can harness the energy contained within the wind. We can use it to power much of our lives. In the process, we’re not burning fossil fuels as the source or emitting CO2. And it’s estimated that our energy consumption will increase 60 percent over the next 20 years. It’s no wonder, wind is picking up.
as reported by Voice of America…
The wind power industry is growing rapidly: it has increased 23 to 30 percent in each of the last five years. It is clean, abundant, ever-renewable, and free from producer boycotts or embargoes.
You’ll find a couple good videos on the VOA.com website.
Whether we’ve not paid attention, or have allowed our attention to be diverted by Big Oil doesn’t matter anymore. It’s a good time to learn about powering a large portion of our lives with wind instead of fossil fuels.
In fact, let’s make fossil fuels the alternative energy of the future. Wind and solar energy surrounds us, as do other forms. They’ve been there all along.
April 22nd, 2006
Neil Young has long been a proponent of living in harmony with Mother Earth and humanity in general. He’s written many songs along those lines. He’s an active founding member of Farm Aid (helping Family Farmers) and runs Biodiesel in many of his personal vehicles, busses, and trucks on his tour. He helped his wife, Pegi Young, in founding the Bridge School for severely impaired children in the mid-eighties. Neil’s annual “Bridge Benefit†concerts have helped keep the school in operation to this day.
Neil Young is a friend of our planet.
He has recently recorded a new album called “Living With Warâ€. This is certain to be a controversial album – at least for a while. You’ll find lyrics to the new songs on his website (NeilYoung.com) and may listen to them in their entirety. While you’re there, we encourage our visitors to also look through the “Greendale†section of his website. Learn about the character “Sun Greenâ€, a teenage girl turned activist. And don’t miss the song “Be The Rain†in the “Listen” section of greendale. This blog is in fact a direct result of inspiration received from greendale a few years ago. The ripple effect works. I’d like to publicly thank Neil Young for his music, inspiration and commitment to good things over the years.
The new record, “Living With Warâ€, will excite some and anger others, but it’s good to know free speech is alive and well in America. Regardless of of the critics who discount his rights here as Canadian citizen, I for one am glad Neil Young is still willing to speak out for things he believes in for this country, and prove to the rest of us that we can do the same.
Randy Fisk
aSmallerFootprint.com
April 4th, 2006
1970 marked the Kent State shootings, and the first Earth Day — the birth of the modern environmental movement. 20 million Americans demonstrated for a healthy and sustainable environment.
as reported by EarthDay.net…
Earth Day founder Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest “to shake up the political establishment and force this issue onto the national agenda. ” “It was a gamble,” he recalls, “but it worked.”
At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news.
Earth Day 2006 will launch a sustained, three-year campaign to educate consumers, corporations and governments worldwide on the urgent need to take concrete steps on climate change now – before it’s too late. The goal for Earth Day ’06 – 10,000 Climate Change Events Worldwide.