Monday Confessional
you “What did you do today?”
me “I spent the day killing trees.”
you “Why the hell would you do that!? I thought you loved the environment?”
me “I do, sometimes killing trees is the right thing to do.”
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Majority Of Americans Think Action Must Be Taken Now To Stop Global Warming
The New York Times and CBS have released a very interesting new poll (pdf) showing among other things that the vast majority of Americans regardless of political party think that immediate action should be taken to combat global warming. Watch a video about the poll here, see the summary by the NY Times here.
Ninety percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents and 60 percent of Republicans said immediate action was required to curb the warming of the atmosphere and deal with its effects on the global climate. Nineteen percent said it was not necessary to act now, and 1 percent said no steps were needed.(via)
This after another recent poll showed global warming and terrorism of equal concern in the minds of most Americans. Its really rather fascinating as it has trend data, sometimes spanning 20 or more years. Here are a few highlights.
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Early Morning Solar Gadget - USB Enabled Solar Charging Devices
The nice thing about solar panels is that they team up well with rechargeable batteries. Allowing for the storage of that good sunshine for later. In this age of rampant crap production, where most of that crap needs batteries, and those batteries need energy, having a bit of sunshine in your pocket for a quick recharge might come in handy. For anything that can be charged via USB (the Ipod to name a few) here is a handy little device.
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The New Shopping Order
I’ve been busy writing again - well, mainly thinking and then writing when what I’ve thought of feels right. This article feels right.
We were in Southend-on-Sea (a bit like Cape Cod but without the cod) yesterday, walking up the main shopping street, and realised how much we had changed from 10 years ago, when it just seemed normal to buy things new, and not think about the consequences.
This week I received a pre-owned stapler and a multi-gym from users on eBay (both things we needed but had nothing equivalent to) and gave away an old dining table and chairs to someone on Freecycle. They seemed such natural things to do…
This article starts with a simple tale about shopping. It is set in the UK, but could be set anywhere where manufactured goods are heavily used. The situations and dilemmas are common enough, but in a nation like the UK where, on average, every single person spends £2400 per year on consumer items (electrical goods, clothing, books, furniture, etc.), the outcomes may be a bit different from what you might expect…
Leon kicks the back of his old Nike training shoes against the upturned storage box he is sitting on. The repetitive “thump” of rubber against the green plastic, temporarily distracts him from the rush of brands and logos he picks out as they move past his view. The classroom is a rush of noise, banging and shouting with end-of-term excitement, but Leon is sullen, envious of the shiny black swooshes and sharp, clean, double-banded Reebok announcements that the shoes of his classmates make in front of him. 12 months is, like, well old. He needs new trainers.
(full article at http://earth-blog.bravejournal.com/entry/21397)
Bush Administration To Push For More Oil Drilling Off Coast Of Alaska And Virgina
In what may become the next in a series of knuckle-headed moves, Bush’s Interior Department has finalized a plan to expand the areas that oil companies are allowed to drill. Areas off of Alaska, Florida and Virgina, some of them fishing regions, are to be opened up to massive oil exploration in the hungry attempt to maintain our “addiction to oil”.
Drilling had been banned in most of these areas previously, but in January, Bush lifted the bans in the central Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The removal of the ban makes most of the Gulf south of the Florida panhandle open for drilling.
The 5.6 million acres opened up in Alaska is the home of endangered whales and the worlds largest sockeye salmon run. Estimates put the oil under these federal waters are about 200 million barrels of oil, and about 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The US currently uses about 20 MILLION barrels of oil A DAY, in 1998 (last numbers I could find) we used 21.34 tcf/year (that’s trillion cubic feet) of natural gas. Meaning that this reserve would have less than half a years worth of oil, and natural gas.
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