tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4469997561721631922024-03-12T19:20:25.304-07:00A Former Ugly AmericanUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-84291754066094576832010-02-24T13:00:00.000-08:002010-02-24T13:45:55.540-08:00Writing PracticeClearly once the Fall 2008 semester ended and I got my grade, I basically lost the address for this blog. Ideally, I would go post all the further work I did for my now almost completely useless Master's of Science degree to get everything in one place and also to stroke my OCD; And on a day when I am in need of procrastination and a feeling of productivity I may. Until then, I am going to do some writing practice while simultaneously keeping track of ideas that I would otherwise lose forever due to my lack of short term memory.<div><br /></div><div>This was spurred by lunch yesterday with my disturbingly cute and intelligent friend, Inna. She was sharing her frustration about the economy and how it essentially downgrades her fabulousness in her field due to decreased employment and funding prospects. It was helpful to know that someone else was irritated by this but it also further convinced me of how useless the past few years of my education have been. For me to blame the economy would be only fractionally accurate. For me to blame my graduate program for their lack of organization, career services, mentoring, and general concern about the programming would be far more accurate, and in this economy, that's speaking volumes. For me to blame my field would be apt since there are only jobs at the top, however, determining what exactly constitutes "my field" seems to be the more pervasive problem, something I hope to figure out sooner than later.</div><div><br /></div><div>And then there is my part in the blame of my frustration. I have chosen a seemingly logical although completely unsalable, largely overlooked, and never funded sort of specialty. My resume looks like an explosion of education and perception without tangible skills that people would be willing to pay for as a collection when they can badger me or research on their own for free. Ideally, I would end up as Michael Pollan in the next five years, I would be part of groups like Slow Food USA or Council on the Environment of New York to plan for nutrition education and agriculture on a feasible level. I would write books that would not fade into the background of the shelves of nutrition and diet books that are largely published by non-dietetics educated individuals that stress calorie counting and losing that last ounce rather than overall health and self-sustainable food practices. I would become completely saturated and bail to the north and create the perfect model for an organic homestead.</div><div><br /></div><div>But at this point, I would just settle to be caught in a background shot of any episode of Law & Order. I hear they often film in Harlem. That's pretty sad. So I am going to begin to write here again. If books can be formulated out of websites such as "Why You're Fat" and that complete charlatan "Hungry Girl," then maybe this is not such an outlandish idea.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-6605120166636525692008-12-21T14:23:00.000-08:002008-12-21T14:33:14.711-08:00Policy Collection ~ Presidential Automotive Emission Suggestions, New York City Organic Waste Collection Suggestions, & Personal Reflections<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left; line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >This is my final policy paper... It started as an <a href="http://aformeruglyamerican.blogspot.com/2008/09/think-piece-policy-implementation-ideas.html">NYC program on organic waste management</a>, then moved to a federal piece on <a href="http://aformeruglyamerican.blogspot.com/2008/11/policy-proposal-group-project.html">automotive emissions standards</a>. Neither was of real interest to me, which is my bad for bending to fit in with the group overall.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; line-height: 150%;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;">Policy Collection ~ Presidential Automotive Emission Suggestions, <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">New York City</st1:city></st1:place> Organic Waste Collection Suggestions, & Personal Reflections<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;">Presidential Automotive Emission Suggestions<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>My presidential policy focused on a wide scale massive increase in automotive fuel efficiency from three main cores: public transit, new production personal automobiles, and retrofits to existing vehicles.<span style=""> </span>Making a solid effort at the daily use patterns of every citizen will pave the country for the understanding necessary to make other personal changes.<span style=""> </span>It also will make a direct stab at the inarguable flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere responding to the fact that the <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place> is responsible for the largest portion of emissions worldwide. The following is the submission as part of the group project focus aimed at incorporating green initiatives into American life as a mandate with a high standard for change. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">Efficiency: More Efficient Vehicles</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style=""> </span>President-elect Barack Obama will need to expediently transition the nation to new and existing alternative energy sources. For this policy to be successful, it will need to address the fleet of existing American automobiles as well as new production models, all while making these options financially feasible for citizens, as well as the currently slumping oil-dependent automotive industry. Currently there are approximately 250 million automobiles using <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place> infrastructure that can be transitioned to alternative fuels via electricity, hydrogen and biofuels. Appropriating funds in the direction of retrofitting the existing fleet as well as producing new vehicles will exponentially emphasize the impact of a move towards alternate fuels while remaining economically feasible.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>The most efficient way to deal with this move towards automotive-based carbon neutrality is to create task forces for both public transit and personal automobile use. Public transit funding can create public works-like programs that incorporate spurred employment with a branching infrastructure meant solely for urban and regional transit programs throughout the country in cities and regions identified as target populations in need of public transit options. Mandating that all of the public transit sources use carbon neutral or flex fuel options aimed to wean many citizens from automobile dependence, and conversely, national oil dependence.<br /><span style=""> </span>In addition, a mandates necessitating that all new passenger vehicles are flex-fuel the end of 2012 should be enacted immediately. Emphasis on developing technology to update many of the popular car models in existence would be needed in funding appropriations. Adjusting current pending legislation of fuel economy standards of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 should be extended to 50 miles per gallon for SUVs and all trucks and 65 miles per gallon for all other passenger vehicles. This will benefit a move towards dependence upon cellulosic ethanol and biofuels from grasses, straws, and non-kernel corn cellulose in substitute for gasoline. Tax-wise, retooling tax credits and loan guarantees for domestic auto plants and parts manufacturers should aim towards developing vehicle technology that uses lightweight materials and redesigned engines.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" > Additionally, abolishing the 60,000-unit-per-manufacturer cap on buyer tax credits will spur supply and demand of flex-fuels vehicles domestically for consumers currently seeking flex-fuel.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;">New York City</span></b></st1:place></st1:city><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;"> Organic Waste Collection Suggestions</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>Originally, when assigned to come up with a policy proposal, the assignment enabled us to choose city, state, or federal programs that we personally felt should be created and <span style=""> </span>after newly elected officials transitioned into office.<span style=""> </span>The idea was that programs would make communities, states, or the country more sustainable or raise the focus of sustainable living via programming that would lead to voluntary behavior changes.<span style=""> </span>Personally, I feel that pilot programs with high visibility and basic infrastructure work the best in an urban setting.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://aformeruglyamerican.blogspot.com/2008/09/think-piece-policy-implementation-ideas.html"><span style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Think Piece: Policy Implementation Ideas for Sustainability: Citywide Composting (NYC)</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >New York City could enjoy measurable benefit from a fairly basic urban agriculture program seen in other urban settings. These are programs that are implemented on a very local basis to promote community and sustainable values that can create not only economy but also education for the city. They are taken from San Francisco programming which is shown to be successful and can be translated to the urban spaces in New York City with minimal funding when compared to landfill and other resource costs.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >San Francisco has long taken action in recycling consumer materials and is now taking further steps by including composting in their sanitation services. The green bins are placed with trash bins and hold all compostable materials that are then taken to city composting facilities in northern California. An estimated over 300 tons of organic material are collected daily reducing landfill needs and increasing economy utilizing the compostable outcome, hummus, in California agriculture. The New York City Department of Sanitation claims a lack of funding and manpower for such an endeavor and makes referrals to other community and ecology groups in the city, which do compost on very small-scale settings. The DSNY has formed the New York City Compost Project to do these some of these things as well as to educate. While this referral is helpful, it is very limited in the reach of education and does not successfully engender the public to begin thinking about their refuse and how to make it work for them or the city at large.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Beginning pilot programs in different high density zip codes (or sanitation routes) to test the merits of a citywide composting drive would bring notice to the need for this service as well as acclimatize citizens to be more aware of their refuse. Incentivizing restaurants to participate as well would make a sizable dent in food refuse. Organizations such as City Harvest already procure unused edible food collection, therefore, there is no reason why inedible food collection could not be collected by Sanitation Department workers (enabled as part of such a pilot program).</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >The New York Sanitation Department already recognizes groups making composting more translatable to the average person. The Lower East Side Ecology Center facilitates personal composting clinics giving subsidized materials to attendees. While this subsidized funding is certainly necessary, it is no way feasible to conquer or address the mounting problem of refuse in the city and the need for landfills to contain it. Looking at an urban program like that in San Francisco would show the feasibility of a similar program in an urban center like New York City and make active steps towards a solution.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" >Sources:</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><a href="http://www.sfrecycling.com/">San Francisco Recycling</a><br /><a href="http://sfenvironment.org/our_programs/topics.html?ssi=9&ti=6">San Francisco Environmental Organization</a><br /><a href="http://www.sunsetscavenger.com/residential/composting.php?t=r">Sunset Scavenger</a><br /><a href="http://www.nyccompost.org/program/index.html">New York City Compost Organization</a><br /><a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/recycling/waste_reports.shtml#a">Wasteless New York City</a><br /><a href="http://www.nrdc.org/cities/recycling/gnyc.asp">NRDC Recycling</a></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 150%;">Personal Reflections<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>Firstly, I would like to say that I think these policies may have been far more productive if they had not been so team influenced.<span style=""> </span>I would have felt freer to do a topic which did not fit so well in with that of my group if I had not needed to tie my goals into theirs.<span style=""> </span>I feel this unintentionally limited the areas we could work with reminiscent of how PlaNYC 2030 has no public health aspect.<span style=""> </span>Basically, my group had me change my focus to fit in better in the instructed overall plan. <span style=""> </span>My ideal national focus would have been on food and water security through water use in agriculture. <span style=""> </span>In theory, this change in agricultural strategies could be stretched to relate to a lessening of fossil fuels used and carbon dioxide emitted in the use of machinery and transport, however, I believe that our national and local water strategies need a serious overhaul, perhaps even more stringently than our oil dependence.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Another federal idea was to focus on obesity through a sin tax system interlocked with insurance surcharges and a simultaneous resurrection of The President’s Physical Fitness Challenge. <span style=""> </span>With the media support of this president and his and his wife’s personal fitness goals, I feel this program could make the obese feel accountable for their personal weight choices.<span style=""> </span>They would begin to see that even if they do not feel they need a change, the rest of the country should not absorb their increased expense cost for health care for the average citizen.<span style=""> </span>This would benefit those who could not currently manage affordable health care insurance by making their choice of healthier lifestyles a reflection in cost.<span style=""> </span>The President’s Physical Fitness Challenge would then give school-aged children an outlet for working on their own fitness, teaching them goal setting and giving them a feeling of physical achievement through competing with their peers in a positive setting.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span>Also, having a group of eight people was detrimental to all of our work, making us change fundamentals of our individual programs to tie them together.<span style=""> </span>I understand that in real policy teams, there are potentially larger numbers of participants, but this did not benefit our group.<span style=""> </span>We really should have organized ourselves into two smaller groups.<span style=""> </span>Many of the polish points were lost in our presentation and group paper due to this fact.<span style=""> </span>I also would have liked to have had some focus in class on policy writing, on the fundamental drafting of policy briefs.<span style=""> </span>I feel this would have been beneficial to everyone and would have made our work more focused on the planning and less focused on figuring out if we were drafting documents correctly.<span style=""> </span>Formulating ideas for policies seem to be moving along more fluidly, however, despite this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-61101020742449574712008-12-18T21:10:00.000-08:002008-12-18T21:10:00.591-08:00LMS Post ~ New York State Green Lights Eminent Domain in ManhattanvilleHow better than to celebrate the end of Law class than to see an example of eminent domain right here in NYC?!? Oh, the irony...<br /><br /><br /><br /><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.bwog.net/articles/new_york_state_decides_to_use_eminent_domain_in_manhattanville">New York State Green Lights Eminent Domain in Manhattanville</a><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> At a news conference this morning, the </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Development_Corporation">Empire State Development Corporation</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> unanimously voted to use the power of eminent domain to seize the remaining commercial holdouts in Columbia's Manhattanville expansion zone. That's bad news for the two property owners who have still refused to sell: storage space owner </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/52256">Nick Sprayregen</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> and gas station owner </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/nyregion/21gas.html?_r=2&em&oref=slogin">Gurnam Singh</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, who can now legally be forced to sell their property to the state, which would then let Columbia take over the land. </span><p style="font-style: italic;">Sprayregen, <a href="http://www.bwog.net/articles/this_land_is_my_land">the far more vocal of the pair</a>, has vowed to fight the eminent domain decision in court, having already entered several different lawsuits challenging whether Columbia's acquisition of the land will actually help the "public good." "I don't want to have to sue you," said Sprayregen's lawyer, Norman Siegel, to the staid ESDC board members. "You leave us no choice but to litigate." He said he felt sure the case would reach the Supreme Court, where ESDC's awkward history with AKRF and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/nyregion/30columbia.html?scp=2&sq=%22AKRF%22&st=cse">previous allegations it was colluding with Columbia</a> would be weighted heavily. <br /> </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">For Columbia, though, today's decision marks the end of several years spent pushing its Manhattanville expansion through various government approvals, and the beginning what's likely to be several years of tussling with Sprayregen.<br /><a name="jump"></a> <br /> </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Though the Singhs have been reclusive throughout the process, they attended the meeting today and spoke through their 17 year-old daughter, Aman Kaur. "I'd appreciate it if everyone put down their BlackBerrys and listened to what I have to say," she began, going on to describe her family's 15-year history in the neighborhood. The two gas stations the family owns are their sole source of income, and Kaur wondered how her parents, immigrants from India, would make a living or pay for her to go to college. "I am literally begging the state for these properties. This is my past, my present, my future," she said. </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">In their comments, many of the plan's critics expressed a sense of resignation. "It's very clear to me that this is an exercise in futility," said one. "Your decision is virtually already 100% made," added another. A representative from the West Harlem Local Development Corporation (LDC) asked the ESDC to consider pushing back the vote until Columbia and the LDC signed the community benefits agreement. </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">Though <a href="http://www.neighbors.columbia.edu/pages/manplanning/images/gallery/ownership.png">Columbia already owns</a> over 80% of the property in its proposed expansion zone, it says it needs the land under the Singh and Sprayregen properties to construct a 7-story underground structure that will house a bus depot, parking, loading docks, and utilities.<br /> </p> <p style="font-style: italic;">The decision comes seven months after the <a href="http://www.bwog.net/articles/eminent_domain_imminent">ESDC approved Columbia's expansion plan and declared the area "blighted,"</a> and a <a href="http://www.bwog.net/articles/an_uncivil_action">year after the city's</a> Land Use Committee <a href="http://www.bwog.net/articles/from_the_balcony">approved the plan</a>. <a href="http://www.bwog.net/tags/manhattanville">Check out our past coverage</a> for more background on Manhattanville. </p> <hr style="font-style: italic;" size="2" width="100%"> <p style="font-style: italic;"><em>Manhattanville for Dummies:</em> </p> <strong style="font-style: italic;">Community Board 9 (<a href="http://www.cb9m.org/">CB9</a>):</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> a group of West Harlem (Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville, and some of Morningside Heights) residents and business owners who applied to the Borough President's office and were selected to represent their </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.cb9m.org/images/cb9m-detail.jpg">neighborhood</a><span style="font-style: italic;">. </span><br /> <br /> <strong style="font-style: italic;">Local Development Corporation (LDC):</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> Because CB9 doesn't have the power to negotiate with developers, the city created the West Harlem LDC. It's a group of CB9 members, public housing tenants, environmentalists, artists, and elected officials who meet regularly to decide what they want from Columbia in return for the expansion. </span><br /> <br /> <strong style="font-style: italic;">Community Benefits Agreement:</strong><span style="font-style: italic;"> This is what the LDC is working for. It's an agreement that will decide how much Columbia will put into an affordable housing fund, what environmental standards it will use, how much funding it'll give to the arts in Harlem.</span><strong> </strong>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-16196103491301177932008-12-18T11:39:00.000-08:002008-12-18T11:39:00.722-08:00LMS Post ~ Half New Yorkers Struggling to Pay for Groceries, Study FindsThis is not a shock. I worry especially in the elderly segment of the population. Younger adults can get out and try to find work and rely on schools to feed your kids and welfare, etc., etc., but when you are on a very strictly fixed income and not that mobile, like the elderly, you are really screwed. Also, I find the statistics interesting on college students, as should all of you.<br /><br />This is depressing, when I get back in January, I am going to work with Mimi to get the LEAP group organized for anyone who wants to volunteer at City Harvest. Let me know if anyone is interested.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/18/half_new_yorkers_struggling_to_pay.php">Half New Yorkers Struggling to Pay for Groceries, Study Finds</a><br /><br />A report released Tuesday by the <a href="http://www.foodbanknyc.org/">Food Bank for New York City</a> has found that approximately four million New Yorkers—one in two—are having trouble paying for groceries, a 26 percent increase since the last survey in February. The <a href="http://www.foodbanknyc.org/index.cfm?objectid=CD6F98D5-F3F8-030E-B0A0BB1C1CB8C7A0#nychungerexperience2008update">Hunger Experience 2008 Update</a> also found that college degrees are increasingly useless protection against indigence; one out of every three (36 percent) NYC college graduates had difficulty affording needed food this year, up from 11 percent in 2003. Lucy Cabrera, the food bank's president, says, <strong>"The results of this report are devastating. These numbers should be a wake-up call for all New Yorkers."</strong> The Food Bank NYC sources and distributes food to the estimated 1.3 million New Yorkers who rely on emergency food. Today you've got until noon to help the Food Bank by bidding on one of their cool <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/12/food_bank_for_nyc_lunchbox_auction.php">celebrity decorated lunchboxes</a>. (Just please don't outbid us on <a href="http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Item.action;jsessionid=QKE97oB7Vcox45ZKGcMDsA**.appserver3-i?_sourcePage=%2Fitem%2FbrowseImage.jsp&id=78844592">Mike D's Jacob the Jeweler box</a>.)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-35351502116981803592008-12-17T12:54:00.000-08:002008-12-18T09:39:44.742-08:00LMS Post ~ Uproar Over Paterson's Budget SuggestionsI have no problem with the taxing of unnecessary consumer goods since it will help people be a little more frugal in their habits. I also, as a dietitian, welcome the taxing of non-diet sodas as we are knee deep in diabetics and obese citizens (and illegals) relying on taxpayer-funded healthcare in this city and state. I eagerly await health statistics in the next year to see if this makes a dent in obesity related disease claims in the city. I don't think it will be huge, but it would be really nice.<br /><br /><br /><h3 style="color: rgb(51, 204, 255);" class="title"><a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/17/uproar_over_patersons_budget_sugges.php">Uproar Over Paterson's Budget Suggestions</a></h3><br /><img style="width: 560px; height: 404px;" title="" alt="" src="http://gothamist.com/attachments/jen/2008_12_taxcov.jpg" align="baseline" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" /><br /><p>Governor David Paterson's <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/16/patersons_new_budget_reflects_new_f.php">budget proposal</a> that includes a big cut to education funding and a variety of taxes and fees gets worked over. The Daily News, which called it a "slash-and-burn budget," <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/12/16/2008-12-16_gov_david_paterson_unveils_dire_new_york.html">points out</a>, "The proposal, which needs legislative approval, did not include broad-based income tax increases, but relied on smaller ones"—specifically 137—"to raise $4.1 billion from cash-strapped New Yorkers." The head of the State Conservative Party, Michael Long, said of things like <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/16/patersons_new_budget_reflects_new_f.php">reinstating the sales tax on clothing under $110</a> and taxing spirits, wine and regular soda, "<strong>You're sending notice to the people of New York that we really don't want you here.</strong> The governor proposed flat spending, but why not actually cut the budget before raising taxes and fees?"</p> <p>The Empire Center for New York State Policy's E.J. McMahon <a href="http://www.politickerny.com/1099/paterson-creates-fight-everyone">tells Politicker NY</a>, "Nothing gets the couch potatoes off the couch like taxing their TV. he thing about those tax increases is, the irony of nuisance tax stuff that, is that economically they're utterly insignificant.<strong> Politically, obviously there's nothing worse. There are people who wouldn't blink at a massive confiscatory tax on business, but eighteen cents on a bottle of soda and they go nuts.</strong>" And the Post's Albany bureau chief Frederic Dicker <a href="http://www.nypost.com/seven/12172008/news/columnists/paterson_dishes_up_the_same_old_me_144556.htm">was unimpressed</a> with the "lack of creativity in Paterson's proposal - no significant work-force downsizing, no real lifting of regulatory burdens" and with Paterson's delivery:</p> <blockquote>Whereas Cuomo, a national-class orator, inspired the state to tighten its belt and fork over more taxes as it faced a calamitous economic down turn in the early 1990s, Paterson delivered a flat and sometimes awkward budget presentation. <p>"So I want us to be optimistic," Paterson declared at one point. "I think we can come back to Albany, we can take responsibility, we can take control of this budget, we can take over 'Saturday Night Live.' "</p> <p>Take over "Saturday Night Live"? Paterson appeared with that odd observation to be more focused on the <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/12/15/gov_paterson_annoyed_by_snl_skit.php">nasty and embarrassing portrayal of him on NBC</a> than he was on the state's dire financial straits.</p></blockquote> And Mayor Bloomberg said that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/17/nyregion/17budget.html?ref=nyregion">more city layoffs might be on the way</a>, since NYC could lose up to $1 billion in the governor's proposal.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-60853341099803826302008-12-16T04:42:00.000-08:002008-12-18T10:43:22.869-08:00First Snow in Harlem...Doesn't Last, However, the Photos Are NiceIt started snowing, I grabbed my camera, took some photos from my office, and then ran outside. I wish I knew more about photography so they actually looked a little more like snow. however, I liked these ones and that's good enough for me. Also, I have a thing for ducks. Please to enjoy...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3113218653_564793eed7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/3113218653_564793eed7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/3114055434_c8c194ef9b.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/3114055434_c8c194ef9b.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/3113223149_96c495b7d4.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3017/3113223149_96c495b7d4.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/3113237625_0e29b07d9f.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 357px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3263/3113237625_0e29b07d9f.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/3113242923_e72e384422.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 357px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/3113242923_e72e384422.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/3113254605_001b164ed7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3069/3113254605_001b164ed7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/3113257321_9ee501bb63.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3210/3113257321_9ee501bb63.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/3113262951_dec2160131.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/3113262951_dec2160131.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/3114098886_e6ce0cfc82.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/3114098886_e6ce0cfc82.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3113270661_f8ba750022.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 334px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3242/3113270661_f8ba750022.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/3114976324_f0dfdb857d.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 500px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/3114976324_f0dfdb857d.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3114977698_e775f78a91.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 357px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3173/3114977698_e775f78a91.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-67411572045401359642008-12-14T21:15:00.000-08:002008-12-14T21:15:00.594-08:00LMS Post ~ NYC Parks Department Counts Central Park BirdsThis made me think of Hilary Brown... Who wants to blow off law with me tomorrow and go count some rusty blackbirds?<br /><br /> <h2> </h2> <h2 style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://wcbstv.com/topstories/central.park.birds.2.887058.html">NYC Parks Department Counts Central Park Birds</a></h2> <span class="cbstv_attribution" style="font-style: italic;"> NEW YORK (AP) ― </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Central Park is for the birds but how many of them?</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The New York City Parks Department is conducting its annual count of its feathered friends in the Manhattan park on Sunday.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Last year, at least 7,771 birds were counted living there. The year before, there were about 6,400.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Teams of citizen bird watchers and park rangers are assigned to zones within the park's 843 acres. They identify and count every bird they can find. They then gather to share, analyze and tally their findings.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The Christmas Bird Count has been held annually since 1900.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Recent counts have turned up several species uncommon or rare for this time of year, such as rusty blackbirds. </span><span class="cbstv_attribution" style="font-style: italic;"> NEW YORK (AP) ― </span><span style="font-style: italic;"> Central Park is for the birds but how many of them?</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The New York City Parks Department is conducting its annual count of its feathered friends in the Manhattan park on Sunday.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Last year, at least 7,771 birds were counted living there. The year before, there were about 6,400.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Teams of citizen bird watchers and park rangers are assigned to zones within the park's 843 acres. They identify and count every bird they can find. They then gather to share, analyze and tally their findings.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The Christmas Bird Count has been held annually since 1900.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Recent counts have turned up several species uncommon or rare for this time of year, such as rusty blackbirds.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-22363247400694071672008-12-11T23:43:00.000-08:002008-12-11T23:43:00.284-08:00LMS Post ~ Michael Pollan PBS Interviews with Bill MoyersThis is a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch.html">link to Micahel Pollan's two part interview for PBS with Bill Moyers...</a> Good stuff. If you have any interest in food policy, or just wish to continue to eat for the rest of your life, you should maybe give it a look see.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch.html">VIDEO 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch2.html">VIDEO 2 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/11282008/watch.html"><br /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-60849791858960923132008-12-11T17:05:00.000-08:002008-12-11T17:07:39.848-08:00Just in Time for the HolidaysA bomb scare at 25 Broad Street... The tree almost makes it seem novel.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/3100716260_2d261f97f7.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 332px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3274/3100716260_2d261f97f7.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/dietrich/3100716260/">dietrich on flickr</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-24119867581581747922008-12-11T15:22:00.000-08:002008-12-11T15:24:47.043-08:00I Love This.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.adrianjohnson.org.uk/gallery/images/1195494644.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 463px; height: 463px;" src="http://www.adrianjohnson.org.uk/gallery/images/1195494644.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.adrianjohnson.org.uk/about">Adrian Johnson</a> is a UK based illustrator and I like his style...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-74704444699859902692008-12-11T15:12:00.000-08:002008-12-11T15:14:05.242-08:00Things That Suck in Graphic FormI need to get some graphics experience so I can make things like this...also, it happens to be true.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://media.tumblr.com/Uv0ID4CiShd3044aYOkIH9f3o1_400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 600px;" src="http://media.tumblr.com/Uv0ID4CiShd3044aYOkIH9f3o1_400.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-21662189002291999792008-12-11T06:58:00.000-08:002008-12-11T07:06:17.598-08:00Sustainable Design Final Paper ~ Michael Reynolds<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">It's kind of a long one...</span><br /><br />Michael Reynolds ~ Radically Sustainable Earthship Biotect<br /><br />Theory<br /><br />I chose to look into the career of Michael Reynolds after first hearing about the Sundance Channel’s April 2008 airing of “Garbage Warrior,” Oliver Hodge’s award-winning documentary following Reynolds’s work (Open Eye Media, UK, 2007). This recent “green” media spotlight has given an increased value to the concept of eco-conscious living something that I have long wanted to know more about from a functional standpoint. The documentary followed years of Reynolds career building his dwellings around the world, with or without government zoning approval.<br /><br />Owning a home in the Southwestern United States, I find his style very colorful and intriguing as well as a hope for methods that could be borrowed to make existing structures such as my home more sustainable. Coupling this with my lifelong interest in recycled and second use materials, reducing domestic gridded energy use, and my desire to know more about home water conservation and filtration, his designs came to be what I feel are a very raw definition of Sustainable Design.<br /><br />Biographic Background<br /><br />Michael Reynolds graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1969 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture and a thesis that examined architecture’s need for “design that would reduce the stress level of the planet.” Directly after graduation, Reynolds relocated to Taos, New Mexico, after falling in love with the architecture and ambiance of the American Southwest. He also noted that he was seeking greater meaning as a child of the 1960s counterculture, as well as attempting to avoid the Vietnam draft.<br /><br />Reynolds began designing and constructing structures utilizing recycled materials such as wire hangers and beer bottles as early as late 1969. His thesis was then published in the Architectural Record in 1971. He completed his first conceptual dwelling, which he called the Thumb House in 1972, using beer cans wired together into “bricks,” plaster, and mortar. In 1973, Reynolds was granted a U.S. patent for the Thumb House design.<br /><br />Much like Reynolds’s use of items “as is,” he employs a trial and error method to his design and construction. This way, he is able to identify, examine, and fix and design or construction flaws. He has lived in each of his experimental homes all while developing his overall Earthship design core. This core element came to Reynolds as he discovered that through packing container items with dirt they could become insulated building materials. This allowed for designs to really become off the grid structures providing geothermal heating and cooling aspects.<br /><br />Despite the breakthroughs in sustainability and building, Reynolds experienced defeat at the hands of the legal system several times through lawsuits concerning faulty zoning and construction. The complaints eventually led to his New Mexico architecture license being challenged. In 2000 Reynolds voluntarily surrendered his New Mexico credentials and licenses. This did not hinder his work to make his designs accessible to those who needed them, traveling globally with a team of builders to do so, often at great financial cost to himself. After his work became celebrated for the use of sustainable concepts in dire areas, he decided to begin working within the design and zoning parameters again in New Mexico, regaining his license.<br /><br />Reynolds began to travel with his team of converted builders to countries where this low cost off-the-grid type of design was necessary, including disaster relief locations such as the Andaman Island tsunami (India, 2005), Honduras, and New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (2006). Earthships are by design hurricane and earthquake-proof. Their near lack of wood in structure creation leaves them with little to no pest problems, although there can be warping if the door and window frames are not installed correctly. The water filtration features are very necessary in places where sanitation has become a problem due to extreme weather.<br /><br />Michael Reynolds is the author of five books defining his design goals and illustrating how to build Earthships, allowing the concept to be achievable and available to the public. Also, Earthship Biotecture, a Taos, NM, company now sells sustainable construction building packages, provides educational seminars, and runs a hotel for interested parties. A community of Earthship homes has been erected outside Taos, NM, and it has come to be known as the Greater World Community. Disaster relief seminars are set globally as the need arises or different groups request Reynolds’s teaching services.<br /><br />Earthships ~ Biophilic Structures<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">“Earthships demonstrate a way to live in harmony with the planet by encountering natural resources without depleting them. An Earthship is a passive solar home made or natural and recyclable materials.” ~ Michael Reynolds<br /></div><br />Reynolds defines the terms “Earthship” and “biotecture” as the following:<br /><blockquote> “Earthship n. 1. Passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials 2. Thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization 3. Renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.<br /> Biotecture n. 1. the profession of designing buildings and environments with consideration for their sustainability 2. A combination of biology and architecture.” (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/Beth%20Peter%20INT%20525P%20Sustainable%20Design%2010%20December%202008%20%20Michael%20Reynolds%20%7E%20Radically%20Sustainable%20Earthship%20Biotect%20Theory%20%20I%20chose%20to%20look%20into%20the%20career%20of%20Michael%20Reynolds%20after%20first%20hearing%20about%20the%20Sundance%20Channel%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20April%202008%20airing%20of%20%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CGarbage%20Warrior,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20Oliver%20Hodge%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20award-winning%20documentary%20following%20Reynolds%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20work%20%28Open%20Eye%20Media,%20UK,%202007%29.%20%20This%20recent%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9Cgreen%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20media%20spotlight%20has%20given%20an%20increased%20value%20to%20the%20concept%20of%20eco-conscious%20living%20something%20that%20I%20have%20long%20wanted%20to%20know%20more%20about%20from%20a%20functional%20standpoint.%20%20The%20documentary%20followed%20years%20of%20Reynolds%20career%20building%20his%20dwellings%20around%20the%20world,%20with%20or%20without%20government%20zoning%20approval.%20%20%20Owning%20a%20home%20in%20the%20Southwestern%20United%20States,%20I%20find%20his%20style%20very%20colorful%20and%20intriguing%20as%20well%20as%20a%20hope%20for%20methods%20that%20could%20be%20borrowed%20to%20make%20existing%20structures%20such%20as%20my%20home%20more%20sustainable.%20%20Coupling%20this%20with%20my%20lifelong%20interest%20in%20recycled%20and%20second%20use%20materials,%20reducing%20domestic%20gridded%20energy%20use,%20and%20my%20desire%20to%20know%20more%20about%20home%20water%20conservation%20and%20filtration,%20his%20designs%20came%20to%20be%20what%20I%20feel%20are%20a%20very%20raw%20definition%20of%20Sustainable%20Design.%20Biographic%20Background%20Michael%20Reynolds%20graduated%20from%20the%20University%20of%20Cincinnati%20in%201969%20with%20a%20Bachelor%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20Degree%20in%20Architecture%20and%20a%20thesis%20that%20examined%20architecture%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20need%20for%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9Cdesign%20that%20would%20reduce%20the%20stress%20level%20of%20the%20planet.%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20%20Directly%20after%20graduation,%20Reynolds%20relocated%20to%20Taos,%20New%20Mexico,%20after%20falling%20in%20love%20with%20the%20architecture%20and%20ambiance%20of%20the%20American%20Southwest.%20He%20also%20noted%20that%20he%20was%20seeking%20greater%20meaning%20as%20a%20child%20of%20the%201960s%20counterculture,%20as%20well%20as%20attempting%20to%20avoid%20the%20Vietnam%20draft.%20Reynolds%20began%20designing%20and%20constructing%20structures%20utilizing%20recycled%20materials%20such%20as%20wire%20hangers%20and%20beer%20bottles%20as%20early%20as%20late%201969.%20%20His%20thesis%20was%20then%20published%20in%20the%20Architectural%20Record%20in%201971.%20%20He%20completed%20his%20first%20conceptual%20dwelling,%20which%20he%20called%20the%20Thumb%20House%20in%201972,%20using%20beer%20cans%20wired%20together%20into%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9Cbricks,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20plaster,%20and%20mortar.%20%20In%201973,%20Reynolds%20was%20granted%20a%20U.S.%20patent%20for%20the%20Thumb%20House%20design.%20Much%20like%20Reynolds%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20use%20of%20items%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9Cas%20is,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20he%20employs%20a%20trial%20and%20error%20method%20to%20his%20design%20and%20construction.%20This%20way,%20he%20is%20able%20to%20identify,%20examine,%20and%20fix%20and%20design%20or%20construction%20flaws.%20%20He%20has%20lived%20in%20each%20of%20his%20experimental%20homes%20all%20while%20developing%20his%20overall%20Earthship%20design%20core.%20%20This%20core%20element%20came%20to%20Reynolds%20as%20he%20discovered%20that%20through%20packing%20container%20items%20with%20dirt%20they%20could%20become%20insulated%20building%20materials.%20%20This%20allowed%20for%20designs%20to%20really%20become%20off%20the%20grid%20structures%20providing%20geothermal%20heating%20and%20cooling%20aspects.%20Despite%20the%20breakthroughs%20in%20sustainability%20and%20building,%20Reynolds%20experienced%20defeat%20at%20the%20hands%20of%20the%20legal%20system%20several%20times%20through%20lawsuits%20concerning%20faulty%20zoning%20and%20construction.%20The%20complaints%20eventually%20led%20to%20his%20New%20Mexico%20architecture%20license%20being%20challenged.%20%20In%202000%20Reynolds%20voluntarily%20surrendered%20his%20New%20Mexico%20credentials%20and%20licenses.%20%20This%20did%20not%20hinder%20his%20work%20to%20make%20his%20designs%20accessible%20to%20those%20who%20needed%20them,%20traveling%20globally%20with%20a%20team%20of%20builders%20to%20do%20so,%20often%20at%20great%20financial%20cost%20to%20himself.%20%20After%20his%20work%20became%20celebrated%20for%20the%20use%20of%20sustainable%20concepts%20in%20dire%20areas,%20he%20decided%20to%20begin%20working%20within%20the%20design%20and%20zoning%20parameters%20again%20in%20New%20Mexico,%20regaining%20his%20license.%20Reynolds%20began%20to%20travel%20with%20his%20team%20of%20converted%20builders%20to%20countries%20where%20this%20low%20cost%20off-the-grid%20type%20of%20design%20was%20necessary,%20including%20disaster%20relief%20locations%20such%20as%20the%20Andaman%20Island%20tsunami%20%28India,%202005%29,%20Honduras,%20and%20New%20Orleans%20during%20the%20aftermath%20of%20Hurricane%20Katrina%20%282006%29.%20%20Earthships%20are%20by%20design%20hurricane%20and%20earthquake-proof.%20%20Their%20near%20lack%20of%20wood%20in%20structure%20creation%20leaves%20them%20with%20little%20to%20no%20pest%20problems,%20although%20there%20can%20be%20warping%20if%20the%20door%20and%20window%20frames%20are%20not%20installed%20correctly.%20%20The%20water%20filtration%20features%20are%20very%20necessary%20in%20places%20where%20sanitation%20has%20become%20a%20problem%20due%20to%20extreme%20weather.%20Michael%20Reynolds%20is%20the%20author%20of%20five%20books%20defining%20his%20design%20goals%20and%20illustrating%20how%20to%20build%20Earthships,%20allowing%20the%20concept%20to%20be%20achievable%20and%20available%20to%20the%20public.%20%20Also,%20Earthship%20Biotecture,%20a%20Taos,%20NM,%20company%20now%20sells%20sustainable%20construction%20building%20packages,%20provides%20educational%20seminars,%20and%20runs%20a%20hotel%20for%20interested%20parties.%20%20A%20community%20of%20Earthship%20homes%20has%20been%20erected%20outside%20Taos,%20NM,%20and%20it%20has%20come%20to%20be%20known%20as%20the%20Greater%20World%20Community.%20%20Disaster%20relief%20seminars%20are%20set%20globally%20as%20the%20need%20arises%20or%20different%20groups%20request%20Reynolds%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99s%20teaching%20services.%20Earthships%20%7E%20Biophilic%20Structures%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CEarthships%20demonstrate%20a%20way%20to%20live%20in%20harmony%20with%20the%20planet%20by%20encountering%20natural%20resources%20without%20depleting%20them.%20%20An%20Earthship%20is%20a%20passive%20solar%20home%20made%20or%20natural%20and%20recyclable%20materials.%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20%7E%20Michael%20Reynolds%20%20Reynolds%20defines%20the%20terms%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CEarthship%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20and%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9Cbiotecture%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20as%20the%20following:%20%20%09%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CEarthship%20n.%201.%20Passive%20solar%20home%20made%20of%20natural%20and%20recycled%20materials%202.%20Thermal%20mass%20construction%20for%20temperature%20stabilization%203.%20Renewable%20energy%20&%20integrated%20water%20systems%20make%20the%20Earthship%20an%20off-grid%20home%20with%20little%20to%20no%20utility%20bills.%20%09Biotecture%20n.%201.%20the%20profession%20of%20designing%20buildings%20and%20environments%20with%20consideration%20for%20their%20sustainability%202.%20A%20combination%20of%20biology%20and%20architecture.%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20%28http://www.garbagewarrior.com%29%20%20Reynolds%20unveiled%20his%20radical%20design%20in%201986%20after%20many%20years%20of%20refining.%20%20He%20attempted%20to%20join%20the%20modern%20technology%20available%20to%20he%20and%20his%20builders%20with%20the%20ancient%20building%20techniques%20of%20such%20groups%20as%20the%20Anasazi%20Indians.%20%20Their%20designs%20harnessed%20the%20power%20of%20the%20sun%20and%20earth%20while%20conserving%20all%20the%20natural%20resources%20they%20needed%20to%20live,%20such%20as%20water%20and%20heat%20energy.%20%20For%20example,%20Earthships%20are%20embanked%20into%20hillsides,%20using%20land%20to%20create%20the%20rear,%20side,%20and%20interiors%20walls%20for%20insulation%20purposes,%20ideally%20facing%20south%20to%20southeast%20to%20capture%20the%20best%20solar%20rays.%20At%20that%20time%20of%20his%20original%20unveiling,%20Earthship%20construction%20incorporated%20materials%20such%20as%20discarded%20tires,%20bottles,%20and%20beer%20cans.%20%20Currently,%20designs%20have%20been%20extended%20to%20use%20items%20such%20as%20landfilled%20cardboard,%20plastics,%20glass,%20aluminum%20and%20steel%20cans,%20as%20well%20as%20the%20panels%20from%20discarded%20refrigerators,%20cooking%20ranges,%20and%20washing%20machines.%20Aside%20from%20these%20materials,%20the%20structures%20utilize%20all%20natural%20building%20materials%20such%20as%20wood,%20rock,%20and%20mud%20plaster.%20%20Occasionally%20a%20manufactured%20item%20is%20used%20in%20building,%20such%20as%20glass%20or%20solar%20panels,%20however,%20all%20attempts%20are%20made%20to%20use%20these%20as%20secondary%20use%20items%20whenever%20possible.%20Other%20design%20points%20include%20a%20long%20hallway%20on%20the%20front%20of%20the%20structure%20allowing%20sunlight%20to%20be%20trapped%20as%20well%20as%20heat%20to%20be%20conducted%20into%20the%20attached%20rooms.%20%20Photovoltaic%20cells%20are%20now%20mounted%20on%20the%20roof%20allowing%20the%20conversion%20of%20sunlight%20into%20electricity%20in%20order%20to%20power%20lights,%20appliances,%20and%20computers.%20%20Some%20of%20the%20homes%20designed%20feature%20propane%20tanks,%20which%20are%20then%20used%20to%20power%20the%20water%20heater%20and%20stove.%20%20Often%20vegetable%20gardens%20are%20utilized%20in%20the%20hallway%20fed%20by%20water%20recycled%20afte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0have%20just%20scratched%20the%20surface%20of%20what%20is%20possible%20in%20terms%20of%20using%20the%20materials%20that%20are%20discarded%20by%20modern%20society.%20There%20are%20many%20things%20out%20there%20and%20once%20people%20start%20seeing%20that%20as%20a%20resource,%20looking%20at%20municipal%20dumps%20as%20a%20resource,%20the%20human%20mind%20is%20going%20to%20go%20crazy%20with%20it.%20I%20think%20the%20potential%20of%20it%20is%20off%20the%20wall.%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20%7E%20Michael%20Richards%20%20Bibliography%20Earthship%20Biotecture%20Official%20Website%20http://www.earthship.net/%20%5BAccessed%20November%2027,%202008%5D%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CGarbage%20Warrior%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20Official%20Website%20%282007%29,%20Oliver%20Hodge,%20Open%20eye%20Media,%20UK,%20http://www.garbagewarrior.com%20%5BAccessed%20Nov-26-2008%5D%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CGreater%20World%20Communities,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=2553%20%5BAccessed%20November%2030,%202008%5D%20Green%20Home%20Building%20Website%20http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm%20%5BAccessed%20Dec-2-2008%5D%20Irvine,%20Dan.%20%28September%203,%202007%29%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CEarthships:%20Future-proof%20buildings,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20CNN.com,%20http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/08/29/skewed.earthships/index.html#cnnSTCText%20%5BAccessed%20December%201,%202008%5D%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9C1973:%20Sorry,%20Out%20of%20Gas,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20http://www.sorryoutofgas.org/%5BAccessed%20December%202,%202008%5D%20Reed,%20Susan%20and%20Michael%20Haederle.%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CWant%20An%20Ecologically%20Correct%20House?%20Architect%20Michael%20Reynolds%20Builds%20Earthships%20Out%20of%20Beer%20Cans%20and%20Tires,%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20People%20Magazine.%20Vol.%2035,%20No.%201.%20January%2014,%201991.%20Skurka,%20Norma%20and%20John%20Naar.%20Design%20for%20a%20Limited%20Planet:%20Living%20with%20Natural%20Energy,%20University%20of%20Michigan:%20McGraw-Hill:%201971,%20page%20149.%20YouTube%20Channel%20for%20Earthship%20Biotecture,%20a%20Taos,%20NM,%20company,%20http://www.youtube.com/user/earthship%20%5BAccessed%20December%201,%202008%5D%20%20Wikipedia.%20%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9CMichael%20Reynolds%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%9D%20http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Reynolds_%28architect%29%20%5BAccessed%20Dec-1-2008%5D">http://www.garbagewarrior.com</a>) </blockquote>Reynolds unveiled his radical design in 1986 after many years of refining. He attempted to join the modern technology available to he and his builders with the ancient building techniques of such groups as the Anasazi Indians. Their designs harnessed the power of the sun and earth while conserving all the natural resources they needed to live, such as water and heat energy. For example, Earthships are embanked into hillsides, using land to create the rear, side, and interiors walls for insulation purposes, ideally facing south to southeast to capture the best solar rays.<br /><br />At that time of his original unveiling, Earthship construction incorporated materials such as discarded tires, bottles, and beer cans. Currently, designs have been extended to use items such as landfilled cardboard, plastics, glass, aluminum and steel cans, as well as the panels from discarded refrigerators, cooking ranges, and washing machines. Aside from these materials, the structures utilize all natural building materials such as wood, rock, and mud plaster. Occasionally a manufactured item is used in building, such as glass or solar panels, however, all attempts are made to use these as secondary use items whenever possible.<br /><br />Other design points include a long hallway on the front of the structure allowing sunlight to be trapped as well as heat to be conducted into the attached rooms. Photovoltaic cells are now mounted on the roof allowing the conversion of sunlight into electricity in order to power lights, appliances, and computers. Some of the homes designed feature propane tanks, which are then used to power the water heater and stove. Often vegetable gardens are utilized in the hallway fed by water recycled after domestic use.<br /><br />Heat & Energy Elements<br /><br />Earthship walls are constructed to be thick stacked with earth-packed items mortared together and plastered over. This structure creates a heat sink in which solar energy is captured and radiated using a geothermal heating effect. During summer months, the windows in the front of the structure are opened, as are those in the rear ceiling, allowing for the air to flow through, and creating a cooling effect.<br /><br />Many of the items being used in this process would otherwise be nonrecyclable (tires) or would take commensurate fossil fuels in their renewal (aluminum cans, plastic bottle, and glass). The geothermal nature of the dwellings mean energy is not needed for heating or cooling. The solar panels provide the energy needed for other functions. Dependent upon the size of the dwelling or the location, wind turbines may also be utilized. These different techniques may all be used in differing climates, allowing self-sufficiency concepts to translate to any given climate extreme.<br /><br />Water Features<br /><br />Water conservation is another core concept of the Earthship design. Reynolds believes that water collection should be central to the design as well as a biophilic filtration system to utilize the water to the highest degree and as many times as possible. Water is funneled or collected from rain or snowfall from the roof or other structural methods. It is then channeled to a large underground cistern. This cistern water is filtered, pumped, and pressurized for domestic uses.<br /><br />The first use is for washing and bathing. This water is then recycled through a grease and particle filter into graywater for edible vegetative plant irrigation. This cleaned graywater then is utilized for toilet flushing prior to being piped to a conventional septic tank. The blackwater separated in the septic tank is then taken out of that internal system and treated for use in outside inedible vegetative irrigation. Toilets may also be optioned as composting toilets if so desired by dwellers.<br /><br />Interiors<br /><br />Michael Reynolds does not provide interior design work, however, many of the aspects of his building design can be translated into an interiors finish with little effort. Opting to have the interior walls plastered to create a smooth surface allows for many options including low VOC paints or plaster dyes. Choosing different colors and configurations of glass bottles in the interior and exterior walls can give a stained glass effect to the home. Creative choices in vegetation inside the structure give latitude and greenery as well as serving as air filtration and a sink for water features. Bathroom and kitchen designs can harness the Southwestern flair using other recycled objects in the making of mosaic walls, tubs, shower stalls, and countertops.<br /><br />In summary<br /><br />Due to the current state of the planet and the moral and ethical push for increased visibility and accessibility of sustainable design, Michael Reynolds has risen to the surface as a forward thinker and pioneer in designing low cost, self-sustainable structures. His use of items that would otherwise lay dormant in landfills for hundreds and thousands of years leeching into the earth should be an inspiration to all architects and designers illustrating that innovation can come even the most everyday of concepts, like dirt and garbage. While it is true that Reynolds does not design with aesthetics at the top of his list of goals, his structures can range form million dollar celebrity mansions to nearly costless emergency housing. That flexibility and high quality of function is the part that is truly astounding and sustainable about the evolution of his designs.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">“I think with the Earthship concept we have just scratched the surface of what is possible in terms of using the materials that are discarded by modern society. There are many things out there and once people start seeing that as a resource, looking at municipal dumps as a resource, the human mind is going to go crazy with it. I think the potential of it is off the wall.” ~ Michael Richards<br /></div><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Bibliography<br /><br />Earthship Biotecture Official Website <a href="http://www.earthship.net/">http://www.earthship.net/</a> [Accessed November 27, 2008]<br /><br />“Garbage Warrior” Official Website (2007), Oliver Hodge, Open eye Media, UK, <a href="http://www.garbagewarrior.com/">http://www.garbagewarrior.com</a> [Accessed Nov-26-2008]<br /><br />“Greater World Communities,” <a href="http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=2553">http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=2553</a> [Accessed November 30, 2008]<br /><br />Green Home Building Website <a href="http://directory.ic.org/records/?action=view&page=view&record_id=2553">http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm</a> [Accessed Dec-2-2008]<br /><br />Irvine, Dan. (September 3, 2007) “Earthships: Future-proof buildings,” CNN.com, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/08/29/skewed.earthships/index.html#cnnSTCText">http://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/08/29/skewed.earthships/index.html#cnnSTCText</a><br /><br />“1973: Sorry, Out of Gas,” <a href="http://www.sorryoutofgas.org/">http://www.sorryoutofgas.org/ </a>[Accessed December 2, 2008]<br /><br />Reed, Susan and Michael Haederle. “Want An Ecologically Correct House? Architect Michael Reynolds Builds Earthships Out of Beer Cans and Tires,” <u>People Magazine</u>. Vol. 35, No. 1. January 14, 1991.<br /><br />Skurka, Norma and John Naar. <u>Design for a Limited Planet: Living with Natural Energy</u>, University of Michigan: McGraw-Hill: 1971, page 149.<br /><br />YouTube Channel for Earthship Biotecture, a Taos, NM, company, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/earthship">http://www.youtube.com/user/earthship</a> [Accessed December 1, 2008]<br /><br />Wikipedia. “Michael Reynolds” <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Reynolds_%28architect%29">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Reynolds_(architect) </a>[Accessed Dec-1-2008]</span> [Accessed December 1, 2008]Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-6556609449944446912008-12-10T18:41:00.000-08:002008-12-10T18:41:00.593-08:00LMS Post ~ Obama Says Climate Change a Matter of National SecurityI liked his quote about the time for delay and denial to be over....<br /><br /> <h1 style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4B86R920081209">Obama says climate change a matter of national security</a></span></h1> <div style="font-style: italic;" class="timestampHeader">Tue Dec 9, 2008 5:20pm EST</div> <p style="font-style: italic;">By Steve Holland<span id="midArticle_byline"></span></p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_0"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/barackobama" title="More on Barack Obama's campaign for the 2008 Election">Barack Obama</a> said on Tuesday attacking global climate change is a "matter of urgency" that will create jobs as he got advice from Al Gore, who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work on the issue.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_1"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">In remarks to reporters, Obama made clear he would adopt an aggressive approach to global warming when he takes over the White House on January 20.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_2"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">He and Vice President-elect <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/joebiden" title="Full Election 2008 coverage of Joe Biden's vice-presidential campaign">Joe Biden</a> met for nearly two hours with former Vice President Gore at Obama's presidential transition office in Chicago.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_3"></span> <p style="color: rgb(153, 0, 0); font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"All three of us are in agreement that the time for delay is over, the time for denial is over," Obama said.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_4"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">Obama hopes addressing climate change can create the kind of jobs that will help pull the U.S. economy out of a deepening recession. He has begun to lay out plans for a massive recovery program to help stimulate the U.S. economy and create about 2.5 million jobs.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_5"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">He said he would work with Democrats and Republicans, businesses, consumers and others with a stake in the issue to try to reach a consensus on a bold, aggressive approach to tackling the problem.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_6"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">"This is a matter of urgency and of national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That's what I intend my administration to do," Obama said.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_7"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">Obama had a willing partner in Gore, who won a Nobel in 2007 for his years-long effort to educate people about the gradual warming of the planet and to argue against those scientists who believe a warming trend is a naturally occurring event.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_8"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">There was no talk of offering Gore a job in the Obama administration. Gore has indicated he is not interested in a position of climate "czar" or any Cabinet post.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_9"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">Just two days after Obama won the November 4 election, Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection rolled out a media campaign to push for immediate investments in energy efficiency, renewable power generation like wind and solar technology and the creation of a unified national power grid.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_10"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">Gore and his group are in line with most U.S. environmental groups, which believe the Obama administration has a chance to stem global warming.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_11"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">Critics have accused the outgoing Bush administration of stalling on the issue, but the White House insists it is taking steps aimed at addressing the problem without damaging the U.S. economy.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_12"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">"We have the opportunity now to create jobs all across this country, in all 50 states, to re-power America, to redesign how we use energy, to think about how we are increasing efficiency, to make our economy stronger, make us more safe, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and make us competitive for decades to come, even as we're saving the planet," Obama said.</p> <span style="font-style: italic;" id="midArticle_13"></span> <p style="font-style: italic;">(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, editing by David Alexander and David Wiessler)</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-28107513696468769662008-12-10T14:35:00.000-08:002008-12-10T11:45:30.042-08:00LMS Post ~ Priceless...and 30 Years Ago, Detroit....<object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TjfONpsFvyM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TjfONpsFvyM&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-52848657410888535552008-12-10T14:08:00.000-08:002008-12-10T14:09:32.112-08:00My Life in NYC Feels Like This...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/3087467642_30e44a4c22.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 375px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3174/3087467642_30e44a4c22.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-19959687785253416462008-12-10T12:49:00.000-08:002008-12-10T12:53:20.498-08:00Nutritious Rice Project on IBM World Community Grid Yields Promising Results<span style="font-size:100%;">I am very interested in things like this- sort of ways to live your life as you usually do and then use what would otherwise be wasteful time spent online by you to give to another cause... I hope this catches on like wildfire... </span><div id="prtitle"> <p> </p><h1 style="font-style: italic;"> <span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.csrwire.com/News/13975">Nutritious Rice Project on IBM World Community Grid Yields Promising Results</a></span></h1> </div> <div style="font-style: italic;" id="prsubtitle"><h3><span style="font-size:100%;">10 Million Computations in Nine Months</span></h3></div> <p style="font-style: italic;" class="p12"> <a href="http://www.csrwire.com/">(CSRwire)</a> ARMONK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 12/10/08 -- The landmark project between IBM (NYSE: IBM) and the University of Washington to develop new strains of rice that could produce crops with larger and more nutritious yields is now set to analyze data on the genes -- three months ahead of schedule. The research will focus on analyzing data that has been prioritized as promising by both the University of Washington in Seattle and the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.<br /><br />Researchers will now begin to analyze the results while data continues to be collected on the rest of the proteins, according to IBM.<br /><br />"While headlines about rice shortages have declined, the problem is still very real," said Stanley S. Litow, IBM Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs. "More than 400,000 volunteers have already contributed 9,000 years of computer time to this project, and individual computers have processed more than 10 million transactions."<br /><br />"Improving strains of rice to yield larger, more resilient, and nutritionally-optimized harvests will positively impact the lives of billions of people. This is a first-of-a-kind solution that demonstrates how a smart application of technology can offer a game-changing solution that can potentially create a greater change in society and how it deals with food issues."<br /><br />The project is studying the structures of the proteins that make up the building blocks of rice. This will help identify the function of those proteins and enable researchers to identify which proteins could help produce more rice grains, ward off pests, resist disease or hold more nutrients. In the end, this project will create the largest and most comprehensive map of rice proteins and their related functions, helping rice researchers pinpoint which plants should be selected for cross-breeding to cultivate better crops.<br /><br />"The community response to this project has been phenomenal. IBM's World Community Grid exceeds our expectations of computational power and makes scientific dreams a reality," said Michal Guerquin, project lead at the University of Washington.<br /><br />IBM's World Community Grid is a virtual supercomputer created by individuals who donate their unused computer time to tackle complex calculations to accelerate scientific research. World Community Grid is collecting data for 30,000 to 60,000 different protein structures.<br /><br />Anyone with a computer and Internet access can be a part of the solution. To donate unused computer time, individuals register on <a target="_blank" href="http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/">www.worldcommunitygrid.org</a> and install a free, small, secure software program onto their computers. When computers are idle, data is requested from World Community Grid's server. These computers then perform the computations, and send the results back to the server, prompting it for a new piece of work. A screen saver will tell individuals when their computers are being used.<br /><br />World Community Grid, the largest public humanitarian grid in existence, has 430,000-plus members who represent more than 200 countries and links to more than one million computers.<br /><br />For more information about IBM, please visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibm.com/">www.ibm.com</a>.<br /><br />For more information on IBM and smart solutions to food issues,<br />please visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ibm.com/think">www.ibm.com/think</a><br /><br />Please visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DAR5wW19Eg&fmt=18">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DAR5wW19Eg&fmt=18</a> to see a video on IBM's solutions to food issues.<br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=459380"></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-50370322927575853902008-12-10T12:38:00.000-08:002008-12-10T12:38:01.561-08:00LMS Post ~ EU Agrees 2020 Clean Energy DeadlineHopefully, we will follow suit.<br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /></span> <div id="box"> <div style="font-style: italic;" id="article-header"> <div id="main-article-info"> <h1><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/09/climatechange-energy">EU agrees 2020 clean energy deadline</a></span></h1> <h2 id="stand-first"><span style="font-size:100%;">Green lobby and politicians hail agreement to use 20% renewables within 12 years as climate change landmark</span></h2> </div> </div><!-- end article-header --> <div style="font-style: italic;" id="content"> <ul class="article-attributes no-pic"><li class="byline"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/iantraynor" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{Ian Traynor}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}">Ian Traynor</a> </li><li class="publication"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{guardian.co.uk}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{2}">guardian.co.uk</a>, Tuesday December 9 2008 17.02 GMT </li></ul> <div id="article-wrapper"> <p>EU leaders today agreed to combat <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climatechange">climate change</a> by ordering a fifth of Europe's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/energy">energy</a> mix to come from renewable sources within 12 years. </p><p>The agreement, hailed as "landmark" deal and a breakthrough by politicians and the green lobby alike, came ahead of a crucial EU summit on Thursday, at which 27 prime ministers and presidents aim to finalise the ambitious package to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. </p><p>The agreement reached this afternoon in negotiations between government officials from across the union, the European parliament, and the European Commission paves the way for a new law obliging all EU countries to meet national targets for renewable energy. </p><p>Two contentious points had threatened to derail the legislation – the insistence that biofuels comprise 10% of transport fuel by the 2020 deadline, and an attempt by Italy to loosen the law by ordering a review of renewable energy progress in 2014. The review date was retained, but the compulsory nature of the overall target and the national quotas also survived. </p><p>The biofuels question has become an incendiary issue over the past year because of soaring food costs and shortages partly blamed on the conversion of land to grow fuel rather than crops. </p><p>Expert opinion has turned on the value of biofuels in combating climate change since at their current level of development, they are seen broadly as part of the problem rather than as part of the solution. </p><p>The 10% target was retained, but the equation was changed to include cars and trains running on electric power while the European Commission is to report within two years on the impact on land use of biofuels and on their "sustainability." </p><p>To count towards the 10% quota, the biofuels used in the transport sector must save a minimum of 35% of greenhouse gases compared with their fossil fuel equivalent. </p><p>Experts also argue that using the crop-based products as a petrol or diesel substitute is also misplaced as much greater energy savings can be had by, for example, heating buildings with biofuels. </p><p>Greenpeace, usually a fierce critic of the EU climate change policies, described the agreement as a "landmark." </p><p>"A ray of light amid the gloomy stone age positions of the EU member states on other elements of the climate package," the campaigners said. "We give the EU 8 out of 10 for its renewables deal." </p><p>Frauke Thies, Greenpeace's renewables expert, voiced reservations only about the biofuels factor. </p><p>Claude Turmes, the Luxembourg Green MEP who led the negotiations for the European Parliament, said he had "mixed feelings" about the biofuels factor. </p><p>"Despite mounting scientific evidence on the dangers of biofuels, we were unable to completely revise this wrongheaded target… renewable energy will be put at the very heart of EU energy policies." </p><p>The European Wind Energy Association, a lobby group, said today's deal put Europe in the lead of "the energy revolution the world needs". It calculated that, if the law is properly implemented, more than a third of Europe's electricity will be generated from renewable sources by 2020.</p> </div> </div> <div id="related"><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-46781041604501332802008-12-10T11:46:00.001-08:002008-12-10T11:59:32.581-08:00I Like to Have My Plastic Bottle Facts Up to Date...So that I can better and more effectively shame people when they are drinking from plastic bottles.<br /> <a name="main"></a> <h1> <span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://greenupgrader.com/3258/plastic-bottle-facts-make-you-think-before-you-drink/" title="Plastic Bottle Facts Make You Think Before You Drink"> <span style="font-style: italic;">Plastic Bottle Facts Make You Think Before You Drink</span></a></span></h1><span class="date">Aug 23, 2008 </span> <span class="by"> By Doug</span><p style="font-style: italic;">Hopefully if you’re at this site and reading this you are well aware of the alternatives to using disposable bottles and recycle the ones you do. The advent of bottled water sent our already wasteful consumer culture into pollution overdrive and it’s a tremendous task to put the brakes on the momentum of this waste. Here is a list of plastic bottle fun facts that put the magnitude of this pollution into scope. </p> <ul style="font-style: italic;"><li>Plastic bottles take 700 years to begin composting </li><li>90% of the cost of bottled water is due to the bottle itself </li><li>80% of plastic bottles are not recycled </li><li>38 million plastic bottles go to the dump per year in America from bottled water (not including soda) </li><li>24 million gallons of oil are needed to produce a billion plastic bottles </li><li>The average American consumes 167 bottles of water a year </li><li>Bottling and shipping water is the least energy efficient method ever used to supply water </li><li>Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the United States</li></ul> <p><span style="font-style: italic;">Although it can be easy and convenient to pick up bottle beverage products the end cost to the environment is staggering. So be mindful when you drink…and remember, friends don’t let friends drink from disposables! </span><br /></p><p><br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://greenupgrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/image-thumb103.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 410px; height: 498px;" src="http://greenupgrader.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/image-thumb103.png" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-82978632764653917912008-12-09T14:13:00.000-08:002008-12-09T14:13:00.088-08:00LMS Post ~ Brazil Pledges to Cut Amazon Destruction in HalfA step in the right direction. Hopefully, it will be sooner than stretched over the next decade.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE4B04G420081201"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:130%;" ><span>Brazil pledges to cut Amazon destruction in half</span></span></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mon Dec 1, 2008 2:06pm EST</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">By Raymond Colitt</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil pledged Monday to cut the rate at which it was destroying its Amazon forest in half over the next decade to help combat global warming.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Setting its first such target after years of global criticism, Brazil will aim to reduce clearing of the world's largest rain forest to an annual 5,850 sq km (2,260 sq miles), by 2018, about half the recent rate.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"This plan improves Brazil's image, we'll have more moral authority internationally," Environment Minister Carlos Minc told reporters after a launching ceremony attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Brazil wants to become a major voice in global environmental issues and hopes the plan will help allay criticism it has done too little to fight burning and clearing by loggers, farmers and ranchers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Amazon destruction makes Brazil one of the top emitters of greenhouse gases because trees release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when they're cut down or burned.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The announcement of the new plan, more than a decade after Brazil said it would adopt targets, coincided with the opening of a United Nations climate conference in Poznan, Poland.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Some conservationists said the plan marked an important change in the government's attitude from blaming rich countries to taking action itself. But critics said it was not ambitious enough and had been too slow coming.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"We'll have to wait another decade before seeing a real reduction in deforestation," said Roberto Smeraldi, head of the conservation group Friends of the Earth in Brazil.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Brazil requires less capital and technology (than rich nations) to reduce emissions; we could do better than this."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Brazil had previously refused to adopt targets until rich countries, which cause most carbon emissions, offered more help to protect tropical forests in developing countries.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">AMAZON FUND</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Norway gave Brazil an unprecedented vote of confidence this year by pledging $1 billion to a new Amazon Fund over seven years aimed at improving conservation and the enforcement of laws against deforestation.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"We can adopt targets because we now have the instruments to implement them," said Tasso Azevedo, head of the government's Forestry Service, referring to the fund.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Some countries are still hesitant to donate money without a say in how it is spent.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Rich countries should now drop any reluctance to transfer technology to help Brazil reach its targets, Minc said.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Last week the government said Amazon deforestation increased 3.8 percent from a year earlier to nearly 4,633 square miles (12,000 sq km) -- roughly equal to the U.S. state of Connecticut -- as high commodity prices drew farmers and ranchers to slash more trees.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">It was the first rise in four years, although well down from a peak of 10,570 square miles (27,379 sq km) in 2004.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Farmers and cattle ranchers moving deeper into the Amazon in search of cheaper land are some of the main culprits.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Brazil's government this year increased policing, impounded farm products from illegally cleared land and cut financing for unregistered properties, stepping up its efforts after figures showed a spike in deforestation late last year.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The plan announced Monday also included measures to boost energy efficiency and renewable fuels, an area in which Brazil is already a world leader.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The government aims to reduce taxes on fuel efficient cars, provide low-cost loans to buy solar panels, and replace one million inefficient refrigerators containing greenhouse gases per year for 10 years.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The use of biofuels, including Brazil's pioneering ethanol derived from sugarcane, is to increase from 20.3 billion liters (18.43 billion quarts) per year to 52.2 billion in ten years.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(Reporting by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Stuart Grudgings and Alan Elsner)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">© Thomson Reuters 2008</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-1051825479883857772008-12-09T14:01:00.000-08:002008-12-09T11:14:44.465-08:00LMS Post ~ Regulators Are Pushing Bluefin Tuna to the BrinkYeah...just after I did my science project on fish and overfishing...I see this about bluefin tuna being pushed to extinction. If you read anything about the Mediterranean fishing practices, especially those of the Spanish, you know this will likely soon be an endangered species which will then go for top prices as sushi. The international lack of control on the global and local fishing industry is unbelievable. It is this lack of control that will see global fishery collapse as early as 2050. How depressing.<br /><br />This is the first part of the article, click to read the entire thing.<br /><br /><h1 style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://e360.yale.edu/content/print.msp?id=2096">Regulators Are Pushing Bluefin Tuna to the Brink</a></span></h1> <h2 style="font-style: italic;" class="dek"><span style="font-size:100%;"><em>The international commission charged with protecting the giant bluefin tuna is once again failing to do its job. Its recent decision to ignore scientists’ recommendations for reducing catch limits may spell doom for this magnificent – and endangered – fish.</em></span></h2> <span style="font-style: italic;" class="author">by Carl Safina</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> It’s one of the biggest, fastest, and most beautiful fish in the sea. It has captured the imaginations of people from Homer to Salvador Dali. But end-times loom for the giant bluefin tuna, whose chances of survival were greatly diminished in late November by the international commission charged with its care.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Once again, that body – the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas – refused to take strong action to prevent the runaway overfishing of the giant bluefin tuna in its sole remaining, yet rapidly disappearing, stronghold: the Mediterranean.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> One of the sea’s few elite warm-blooded fish, bluefin tuna can reach three-quarters of a ton, swim at highway speeds, migrate across oceans, and visit coasts of distant continents. They’re also the world’s most valued fish (once they’re dead), and therein they hang by the tail.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Too valuable everywhere to be allowed to live anywhere, the giant bluefin tuna may be worth more money to a person who kills one than any other animal on the planet, elephants and rhinos included. A few years ago, a single 444-pound bluefin tuna sold wholesale in Japan for $173,600. One fish.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> A 43-nation commission has public-trust management authority and a mandate to conserve. But the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas has for its 40-year history merely acted as the fishing industry’s official, tax-funded conglomerate. Think of it as the International Conspiracy to Catch All the Tuna, and its record starts making sense. The commission’s resume on bluefin tuna graphs as plunging populations, down more than half in the Mediterranean and now free-falling, and down more than 90 percent in the west Atlantic.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> The increasing rarity of bluefin—and escalating worldwide sushi madness—has only intensified fishing efforts. And as the fish diminish, demand further drives up the price of bluefin meat. As extinction nears, the fishing keeps escalating.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Fishing has already demolished bluefin populations. The last few decades have seen gold-rush bluefin fisheries disappear off Brazil, in the North Sea, and the southwest Pacific. Wherever they still swim, they are aggressively hunted.</span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> Atlantic bluefin breed in only two places: the Mediterranean and Gulf of Mexico. From these two spawning areas they migrate throughout the whole North Atlantic, mingling in many fishing areas. But fish from these two populations do not interbreed; they are separate breeding stocks that, when not breeding, mix in many areas where they’re fished......</span><br /><div class="imageleft"><p style="font-size: 140%; font-style: italic;"><a href="javascript:popwin('http://e360.yale.edu/content/images/1208-tuna-image.html',700,600);"> <img src="http://e360.yale.edu/images/features/tuna-swims-mit-feature-200.jpg" alt="Tuna swim" border="0" height="133" width="200" /></a></p><div class="credit" style="width: 200px; font-style: italic;">Greenpeace</div><div class="caption" style="width: 200px;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Bluefin tuna can grow to more than 1,000 pounds and migrate the full length of the Atlantic</span><br /><br /></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-49857931625064589772008-12-09T10:32:00.000-08:002008-12-09T11:05:58.606-08:00Time Photo ~ "In the Time of Trees" by Stuart FranklinSince I deactivated my facebook account in an effort to make myself do more work (less procrastination)...I of course have developed an awe inspiring addiction to <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bethanne616/">flickr</a> and other photos... This grouping was something I found that I really loved. You may go to the link to see the photoshow, but I have taken some of the accompanying quotes about trees as they are pretty great.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" ><a href="http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1731606,00.html">In the Time of Trees</a></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Magnum Photographer Stuart Franklin has spent a decade exploring the beauty of trees and the unique place they occupy in man's world.</span></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Poland</span><br /><div style="font-style: italic;" class="copy"><p>"Trees are sanctuaries. Whoever knows how to speak to them, whoever knows how to listen to them, can learn the truth. They do not preach learning and precepts, they preach undeterred by particulars, the ancient law of life."<br />- Hermann Hesse, Wandering</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_02.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Malaysia</span><br /></p><p>"Of all man's works of art, a cathedral is greatest. A vast and majestic tree is greater than that."<br />- Henry Ward Beecher</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_03.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Borneo</span><br />"The best friend of earth of man is the tree. When we use the tree respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth."<br />- Frank Lloyd Wright</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_04.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_04.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p> </div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Morocco</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">- Nelson Henderson</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_05.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_05.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Galapagos</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance climbed up through my conscious mind as if suddenly the roots I had left behind cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood - and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">- Pablo Neruda<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_06.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_06.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Egypt</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"It is good to know the truth, but it is better to speak of palm trees."</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">- Arab Proverb</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_07.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_07.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Malaysia</span><br /><div style="font-style: italic;" class="copy"><p>"Knowing trees, I understand the meaning of patience. Knowing grass, I can appreciate persistence."<br />- Hal Borland, Countryman: A Summary of Belief</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_08.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_08.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Germany</span><br />"The wonder is that we can see these trees and not wonder more."<br />- Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_09.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_09.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">England</span><br />"Then here's to the oak, the brave old oak,<br />Who stands in his pride alone!<br />And still flourish he a hale green tree<br />When a hundred years are gone!"<br />- H. F. Chorley</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_10.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">India</span><br />"Someone's sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."<br />- Warren Buffett</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_11.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scotland</span><br />"Acts of creation are ordinarily reserved for gods and poets. To plant a pine, one need only own a shovel."<br />- Aldo Leopold</p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_12.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_12.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Argentina</span><br />"It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air that emanates from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."<br />- Robert Louis Stevenson<br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_13.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_13.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ethiopia</span><br />"I'll lie here and learn<br />How, over their ground,<br />Trees make a long shadow<br />And a light sound."<br />- Louise Bogan </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_14.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_14.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mexico</span><br />"Except during the nine months before he draws his first breath, no man manages his affairs as well as a tree does."<br />- George Bernard Shaw </p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_15.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 611px; height: 404px;" src="http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2008/trees/franklin_trees_15.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">China</span><br />"If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees."<br />- Khalil Gibran</p><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-89682232572268547932008-12-08T22:09:00.000-08:002008-12-09T10:20:13.322-08:00Science of Sustainability Presentation: Seafood & MercuryThese are the slides for my final presentation stemming from my second reflection paper...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDMFP22hhMHDvBpdI-ICRHCYfAQhx9tLfw93PbKkeCQBaKmLoXv3i3xMSCVSdk71ErJuA1N5OYq7_0LbvXwOGDt1TO_9uHGCZErVeh1TxO2kI20ceZk0xWITRFpzoxFo5L4HkYTKYu2w/s1600-h/Slide01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirDMFP22hhMHDvBpdI-ICRHCYfAQhx9tLfw93PbKkeCQBaKmLoXv3i3xMSCVSdk71ErJuA1N5OYq7_0LbvXwOGDt1TO_9uHGCZErVeh1TxO2kI20ceZk0xWITRFpzoxFo5L4HkYTKYu2w/s400/Slide01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277854508248536786" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK7p0WY1iUAeKVk7o8A801h-wjKjUV-SIgp5tOnKkjWA83I9qNUoyHtPztqpoiMDqWupXB_rTRQEzM3MMGDVuf1NyNtAkpAH05YdjTfZiTcHbKzkPOVBT8VGLtGSJ4ULWC9boQd6MkwM/s1600-h/Slide02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJK7p0WY1iUAeKVk7o8A801h-wjKjUV-SIgp5tOnKkjWA83I9qNUoyHtPztqpoiMDqWupXB_rTRQEzM3MMGDVuf1NyNtAkpAH05YdjTfZiTcHbKzkPOVBT8VGLtGSJ4ULWC9boQd6MkwM/s400/Slide02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277854595045689458" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrbfQpWFXGQZjQ35LBHz23pFmTEgubIMdYFP80EMFUz0hwKgwMOVaoRREtD7kYISg7fVcDRBTeOLAjqm0SuI4INMt0GI7Y_Tte1c1SMREHKBNPuI0HY1DtOqmuWsSkweP1oxvLdEBGp9Q/s1600-h/Slide03.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZMrL3RWsEJ_34H4dR8iyB_fqZvGo9qTe3Tf4k3I59RtH-xOObsyVwh6g_-2GhF5X44zj5q1ONc_kVAAx9RygnI0ocp5cxP2oGi5CkXvPb8WZ_e-l2ZNENMJbNgv4x5LyAkynT4A66cq8/s400/Slide09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277856427183672514" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TQL2uj82DU5wM5GMPyOjWK20SpkZYpGjadbFBG4HWD0pS3A6QcM0cJpCA1XRfkXPIzWrKnBYPNKsY2GytYuF-zmuWQtpyuHn9ZvFQBP_jdH4i4sAT2woIypParDcyqpG0KGbi7Jw2FA/s1600-h/Slide10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8TQL2uj82DU5wM5GMPyOjWK20SpkZYpGjadbFBG4HWD0pS3A6QcM0cJpCA1XRfkXPIzWrKnBYPNKsY2GytYuF-zmuWQtpyuHn9ZvFQBP_jdH4i4sAT2woIypParDcyqpG0KGbi7Jw2FA/s400/Slide10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277856542249583090" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjotnnldeqimYBztUltQFbumhc6yzWdTwLBxrxMzGm57UxoFvPGspPZm9UvljhkgF-4Xq5lQNtO8elV5mhb8J3TeUzW6sHE9jYrKB7xTwvVTIj5eKUt_d1fhdEwS8ML7ljYrcqVbUkrFg/s1600-h/Slide11.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjotnnldeqimYBztUltQFbumhc6yzWdTwLBxrxMzGm57UxoFvPGspPZm9UvljhkgF-4Xq5lQNtO8elV5mhb8J3TeUzW6sHE9jYrKB7xTwvVTIj5eKUt_d1fhdEwS8ML7ljYrcqVbUkrFg/s400/Slide11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277856676246605922" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-53864636447361973632008-12-08T21:14:00.000-08:002008-12-09T10:09:43.666-08:00Reflection Piece for Science of Sustainability: Seafood & the Health Concerns of Mercury BioaccumulationThis is the somewhat lengthy second reflection paper for Science of Sustainability. It seems that many people are still confused about what fish are on par for consumption with concern to mercury contamination, so I relied on my dietitianness to do this one. I should have put more into it, but due to the specified length of the paper and my low interest level in doing required assignments, this is it.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Seafood & the Health Concerns of Mercury Bioaccumulation</span><br /><br /> It is nearly impossible to debate that fish and seafood have become a cornerstone of much of the American diet. This resurgence in popularity has been spurred by growing numbers of medical studies and nutritional claims touting the health effects gained by fish consumption. An already stalwart marketplace in Europe and Asia working hard to meet the increasing demand has only bolstered this. There was much seafood to be had at one time, caught as needed from uncontaminated waters in a sustainable way without the faintest worry or health concern able to meet the demand of the world’s population. However, in the last thirty to forty years, seafood stocks have been over-trawled, over-farmed, and waters have been contaminated making the remaining stock young, small, weak, and poisoned. The most notable contaminant raising consumer controversy is mercury, but knowing how much and which variety of seafood can be safely consumed are more difficult to discern.<br /><br /> First, the historical changes that led to there being few fish left in the sea to be guiltlessly consumed without worry of neurotoxins are a fairly simple chain of reactions. An industrial boom of various growth and technologies led to increases in population, in turn leading to higher demand for all food, including seafood and fish. This increased demand coupled with more technology led to bigger, faster ships that could collect fish in new and more efficient ways, deeper in the ocean, with larger hauls. These larger hauls were enabled by advances in refrigeration and sped to market shelves by both truck and plane. Medical advances and the increasing ease of communication led to the broadcast that fish and seafood provided heart health benefits in a low fat, high protein, and nutrient-rich package. Fish contain the sought after omega-3 fatty acids and have been shown to reduce negative forms of cholesterol when part of a balanced diet (Stibich).<br /><br /> Not so suddenly, the waterways have been commercially scavenged to the point that certain ocean stock are depleted to the point of projected ecosystem collapses from which some stocks will be unlikely to return. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), “in their annual Fisheries of the United States publication, reports that the total amount of seafood consumed by the U.S. in 2005 was 4.8 billion pounds, an amount greater than all national totals except those of Japan and China” (Damassa). Of that 4.8 billion pounds, per capita consumption weighed in at 16.2 pounds of fish and shellfish per person (7.3 kg) in 2005, markedly higher than the 2001 total of 14.8 pounds (6.7 kg) per person, “This trend is particularly relevant in light of a growing U.S. population and recent studies that predict global fisheries may collapse by mid-century if they are not managed more sustainably” (Damassa). Despite media coverage of the oft stigmatized aquaculture practices associated with negative environmental penalties, shrimp varieties continued to be the most consumed by Americans proving worrisome for the future of the species and its ecosystem.<br /><br /> Tragically, in this windfall of global progress, the waterways and oceans became polluted, in large part directly due to human actions such as mining, industrial outputs such as solid waste and combustion byproducts, and general waste dumping. Mercury, an element found in nature has become more and more abundant in nature through its tendency to leech into waterways and therefore, directly into the food chain. It has become noted as an irreversible bioaccumulator in the very fish and seafood a large portion of the world has been relying on for their heart healthy nutrients, everyday existence, cultural identities, and livelihoods. Fish and seafood store the mercury in their bodies that they encounter in polluted water and sediment. They also store mercury from sources ingested by consuming algae, plankton, and other fish. This mercury then becomes abundant in their flesh and builds up throughout their lifespan. Coupled with overfishing all stocks for larger, more popular and commercially viable predator fish such as swordfish and tuna, those which had bioaccumulated more mercury in their flesh size and lifespan, the average consumer is increasingly being served a larger portion of contamination. This contamination then in turn bioaccumulates in human consumers in the same method as it did in the seafood or fish, however, it has far more pronounced health effects, especially depending on the level of risk of that the consumer.<br /><br /> Most often contamination is found in the form of methylmercury (MeHg), “a potent neurotoxin that is among the most widespread contaminants affecting our nation’s aquatic ecosystems” (Brumbaugh, 7). This form of mercury contaminant is found almost entirely in seafood and fish sources taken into the human body via diet. It is extremely toxic and dissolves in water. Methylmercury impairs the neurological development of the at risk populations of the unborn, infants, and children under the age of six. These neurological impairments may affect cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual spatial skills. “The National Research Council, in its 2000 report on the toxicological effects of methylmercury, pointed out that the population at highest risk is the offspring of women who consume large amounts of fish and seafood. The report went on to estimate that more than 60,000 children are born each year at risk for adverse neurodevelopmental effects due to in utero exposure to methylmercury” (U.S. Geological Survey, <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/">http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/</a>).<br /><br /> Therefore, an advisory also was also issued for pregnant and nursing women as well as those women of childbearing age who might become pregnant. The mother may show no symptomatic effects of mercury ingestion or contamination and still there will be a display of marked disabilities in the fetus. In turn, as a result of several studies on maternal and child health effects, most notably the Faroe Islands study published in 2004 by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, the federal government has issued advisories and guidelines concerning the type of fish to avoid as well as the portion sizes acceptable to be consumed (Wright, 1). This advisory, issued in March 2004 as a joint proclamation by the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency contains the following three main directives to at risk populations:<br /><blockquote> “1. Do not eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.<br />2. Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury.<br />• Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.<br />• Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.<br />3. Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.” (<a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/">http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html</a>)</blockquote> This does not mean that the general adult population is safe from the threat of mercury, however. Adults, especially the elderly, can experience ill effects of too much mercury in their diet. Just as mercury bioaccumulates in fish and seafood, it may also accumulate in the adult human’s nervous system causing varied symptoms. Disorientation, impaired vision, speech, coordination, hearing, and walking may all occur, however, these are frequently linked to other health issues, leaving mercury poisoning to be an elusive diagnosis. More damaging levels of methylmercury can even lead directly to kidney and brain damage, some of which can be irreversible.<br /><br /> There are federal fish advisories as well as those issued by state and local governments individual to different bodies of water, different species of fish, as well as distinctive contaminants such a methylmercury, dioxins, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), and other organic contaminants. Almost all states, especially those who are part of the coastal water system hold updates and advisories, however, it is important to remember that methylmercury can be a more deceptive contaminant which cannot be lessened in the fish unlike other compounds that may only accumulate in certain areas such as skin, organs, or scales. “Younger fish tend to have lower concentrations of mercury than older, larger fish within the same waterbody. Mercury concentrates in the muscle tissue of fish. So, unlike PCBs, dioxins and other organic contaminants that concentrate in the skin and fat, mercury cannot be filleted or cooked out of consumable game fish” (U.S. Geological survey, <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/">http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/</a>). <br /><br /> Therefore, it is up to each consumer to stay abreast of advisories and be informed about their dietary choices. A severe lack of regulation exists throughout the marketplace, both from a national and global standpoint. “Eighty percent of seafood consumed in the U.S. is currently imported” (Damassa), leaving much to the imagination concerning poaching, catch methods, freshness, and sustainable sources. According to the American Dietetic Association, variety is really the key to consumption. “For the majority of people who consume commercial fish, eating a variety of seafood, especially oily or dark meat species with higher levels of omega-3s, one or two times per week is enough” (Welland, 33). That way both the health effects can be gained, but with a high level of information, contaminants can be avoided for the most beneficial outcome.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Bibliography<br />Brumbaugh, William G., et. al. (Septermber 2001) “A National Pilot Study of Mercury Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems Along Multiple Gradients: Bioaccumulation in Fish,” Biological Science Report, U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, (USGB/BRD/BSR-2001-0009)<br /><br />Damassa, Tom (2-17-2007) “Recent Trends in U.S. Fisheries and Seafood Consumption.” Fisheries of the United States 2005, National Marine Fisheries Service, Fisheries Statistics Division, NOAA, Silver Spring, MD [Accessed 7- Dec-2008]<br /><br />Rados, Carol. (May 2004) “FDA, EPA Revise Guidelines on Mercury in Fish.” FDA Consumer Magazine. <a href="http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutrition/a/fish_mercury.htm">http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/304_fish.html </a> [Accessed 1-Dec-2008.]<br /><br />Stibich, Mark, Ph. D. “The Best Types of Fish for Health.” About.com. <a href="http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutrition/a/fish_mercury.htm">http://longevity.about.com/od/lifelongnutrition/a/fish_mercury.htm</a> [Accessed 5-Dec-2008]<br /><br />Wright, Liz Borod. (October 21, 2005) “How Safe is a Seafood Diet? Experts Disagree on Toxic Hazards From Consuming Fish” ABC News. <a href="http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/admehg3.html">http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Diet/story?id=1189930&page=1</a> [Accessed 5-Dec- 2008]<br /><br />U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (March 2004) “What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish” <a href="http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/admehg3.html">http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg3.html </a>[Accessed 6-Dec-2008]<br /><br />U.S. Geological Survey. (October 2000) “Mercury in the Environment” <a href="http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/">http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/</a> [Accessed 2-Dec-2008]<br /><br />Welland, Diane, MS, RD. (November 2008) “Holy Mackerel! Go Fish for an Ocean of Omega-3 Benefits” <u>Today’s Dietitian</u>, Vol. 10, No. 11, pages 28-33.<br /><br />Not quoted specifically in this paper, however the inspiration for all my interest in seafood:<br />Grescoe, Taras. (2008) <u>Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in A World of Vanishing Seafood</u>. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.<br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-80160181457902676642008-12-06T19:20:00.000-08:002008-12-06T19:20:01.052-08:00LMS Post ~ A Detroit Bailout Must Include a Green MakeoverI know that this is an Op-ed piece, but it covers a lot of the ideas we have been talking about incorporating green fundamental changes into the potential auto industry bailout.<br /><br /><h1 style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2090">A Detroit Bailout Must Include a Green Makeover</a></span></h1> <h2 style="font-style: italic;" class="dek"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>Any federal assistance package for U.S. automakers must require that they finally commit to retooling their industry to produce cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars.</em></span></h2> <span style="font-style: italic;" class="author">by jim motavalli</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> With much fanfare, the Clinton Administration in 1993 launched the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, challenging Detroit’s size-obsessed Big Three to come up with 80-mile-per-gallon vehicles. The $1.5 billion program ended in 2001 with success…of a sort. General Motors built a car called the Precept that reached the 80-mpg goal. Ford’s entry, the Prodigy, delivered 72 mpg, and Chrysler’s ESX-3 did the same. All three were handsome diesel-hybrid family sedans, and all three were one-of-a-kind prototypes. Yet with some additional development work, versions of them could have hit the market in time to give the Japanese hybrids – Toyota’s Prius and Honda’s Insight – some real competition.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Instead, Detroit’s automakers abandoned their hybrids and plowed their</span> <blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Detroit’s bigger-is-better formula was never sustainable in the long term, because it depended on a bottomless well of cheap oil.</blockquote> <span style="font-style: italic;"> research and development money back into the trucks and SUVs that were making them steady profits. The first American hybrid, the Ford Escape, did not appear until 2004—the same year Toyota introduced the second and much-improved version of the Prius. With such a commanding lead and high-quality products, Toyota soon captured more than 80 percent of the hybrid market.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Detroit’s bigger-is-better formula was never sustainable in the long term, because it depended on a bottomless well of cheap oil. And when prices soared above $130 a barrel, the pain at the pumps turned consumers away from gas-guzzlers, perhaps permanently. Even as oil prices have dropped dramatically, SUV sales have made only very modest recoveries.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> America’s auto industry is drifting toward unprecedented disaster, and its resistance to change is at the heart of the problem. Lawmakers rejecting a $25 billion industry bailout have been understandably skeptical that auto executives, many of whom had flown to the congressional hearings in private planes, had learned the proper lessons, not just about austerity but also about increasing consumer demand for fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> “Their board rooms in my view have been devoid of vision,” said Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT). “The Big Three turned a blind eye to opportunities. They have promoted and often driven the demand for inefficient, gas-guzzling vehicles, and dismissed the threat of global warming.”</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> As Washington weighs whether to provide some form of assistance, some of the best ideas for saving Detroit are coming from environmental groups that would like to see any bailout or loan package coupled with a green realignment of the industry. Although the Big Three may regard that as a poison pill, it has the virtue of actually putting the automakers in line with the emerging market.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> These reforms could include a commitment to producing competitive small cars as well as hybrids, plug-ins and clean diesels; an industry-wide focus on fuel efficiency and reduced emissions; and an end to litigious opposition to environmental regulation.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> “The first requirement is that the automakers should drop their four-year legal attack against the global warming laws in California and other states,” says Ailis Aaron Wolf of 40mpg.org, a project of the Civil Society Institute.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> At least 40 percent of the greenhouse gases California produces come from transportation. Recognizing that, California’s lawmakers in 2002 passed the nation’s first law regulating climate emissions from vehicles. A vehicle’s greenhouse gas emissions are directly related to its fuel economy, so carmakers argued that California’s law would mandate more economical cars. They sued the state, claiming that the federal government alone has the right to set fuel economy standards.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Carmakers further claimed that California’s law would shut down eight auto plants and cost many thousands of jobs. The auto industry’s most loyal home state advocate, Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), predicted that, if enacted, the legislation would cost consumers $3,000 per car.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> The Bush administration sided with the industry. In 2007, under apparent pressure from the White House, the EPA blocked California’s efforts to obtain a routine Clean Air Act waiver that would have allowed the greenhouse bill to go into effect. But that action is likely to be reversed by the Obama administration soon after it takes office.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> One of the reasons a proposed GM/Chrysler merger was unlikely to have worked was that both have product lines heavy on SUVs and light on small cars. “Obviously, the more forward-thinking automakers that have built hybrids and concentrated on fuel efficiency have done better in the marketplace,” Wolf says. “Any bailout funding should be tied to requirements that they commit to building hybrids, clean diesels and other highly fuel-efficient vehicles.”</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Luke Tonachel, a transportation analyst at the Natural Resources Defense Council, also wants to see some tough love for the auto industry. “Any money that helps the automakers deal with their current economic situation should be conditioned on their establishing a business plan that will make them competitive in the future,” he said. “They have to make dramatically cleaner, high-mileage vehicles if they want to be competitive in a world of insecure and volatile oil markets and intensifying global warming.”</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Tonachel points out that Detroit has a wide variety of on-the-shelf technology that could be incorporated into today’s cars to improve their environmental performance. These include streamlining body designs to reduce aerodynamic drag, the use of more efficient six- or even seven-speed transmissions, low-friction lubricants, and low rolling-resistance tires. Carbon fiber and other composites can also replace steel to reduce vehicle weight and improve fuel economy.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Jim Kliesch, a senior engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists, thinks automakers should commit to a four-percent-per-year improvement in fuel </span> <blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Although it sometimes talks tough to Detroit, Congress has rarely had the temerity to actually impose strong regulations on it.</blockquote> <span style="font-style: italic;">economy across their entire product lines, from big trucks to compact cars. “We’re saying the taxpayers should be getting a return on their investment,” he said. “Consumers are clamoring for more fuel-efficient vehicles, and sadly there aren’t many of them out there right now. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but one of the biggest problems is that the industry has dragged its heels too long.”</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Even the most negative assessment, however, should take into account that American automakers were innovators once, and can be again. “I don’t think we should count the carmakers out just yet,” Kliesch says. “They got fat and happy producing SUVs, but times have changed.”</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Although it sometimes talks tough to Detroit, Congress has rarely had the temerity to actually impose strong regulations on it. Given the iron grip of Michigan’s delegation, especially the autocratic John Dingell, it’s not surprising it took nearly 20 years, until 2007, for Congress to impose tougher Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> But power bases are shifting. On November 20, Dingell was ousted from his powerful position as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, in part because the new chairman, Henry Waxman (D-CA), was perceived as more in sync with President-elect Obama’s environmental priorities—and less beholden to the auto industry.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> Carmakers have already received one $25 billion payout in the form of federally subsidized loans that were included in the 2007 energy bill. Those loans are earmarked for retooling auto plants to produce fuel-efficient cars. Now, lawmakers from auto states want to free that money to meet immediate obligations, but there’s plenty of opposition to that idea, too.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> The House version of the current bailout bill actually contains some worthwhile oversight of the industry, including a requirement for a long-term restructuring plan by next March. Indeed, under that version of the legislation, the auto companies would have ended up at least partially controlled by Washington regulators. For an industry that has resisted nearly every environmental and safety innovation, from the catalytic converter to the air bag, this was a nightmare writ large.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> In his congressional testimony, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner stressed that his company was already moving toward more fuel-efficient vehicles. He tried to make clear that GM has a new set of priorities, pointing to nine hybrid models the company will have out next year. And he also touted the forthcoming Chevy Volt, a sophisticated plug-in hybrid (with a small gas engine used solely to generate electricity) that GM hopes can achieve 100 mpg.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> “We felt we were well on the road to turning around the North American business,” said Wagoner. “Since then, the industry and the economy have been hit hard by the global financial crisis.” The Volt survives, but financial woes have forced GM to postpone the plug-in version of its Saturn Vue Hybrid.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> GM said in a statement that it “intends to deliver a plan to Congress that shows them a viable General Motors.” Greg Martin, GM’s spokesperson in Washington, D.C., told Yale Environment 360 that the company is finally willing to accept rigorous government oversight. Martin said the company accepts and will meet the 35-mpg fuel economy standards that were passed as part of last year’s energy bill. And he maintains that GM really wants to do the right thing. “When you look at our evolving product plans, even under extraordinary circumstances, the one program that has remained untouched with full funding is the Chevrolet Volt,” Martin said.</span><br /> <br /> <span style="font-style: italic;"> But not even the rosiest analysis would show Detroit reversing its fortunes with fairly expensive, low-volume products like the Volt, which is scheduled to appear in late 2010 as a 2011 model. Far more systemic change is needed. The cars rolling off American assembly lines—and soon—need to be as affordable and versatile as the Honda Fit, as well-made as the Nissan Maxima, and, of course, as environmentally friendly as the highly fuel-efficient, extremely low-emission Toyota Prius. Meanwhile, Detroit’s research labs will have to work overtime inventing competitive clean cars for the future.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-446999756172163192.post-51975634763608148142008-12-04T18:37:00.000-08:002008-12-10T08:38:07.629-08:00Tax Tax Tax, I Want to Move to New Zealand<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.businessandmedia.org/cartoons/2008/BMI42-UAW-Bailout-Large.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 700px; height: 566px;" src="http://www.businessandmedia.org/cartoons/2008/BMI42-UAW-Bailout-Large.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0