Interesting Story About/From The Swiss…
…I read on Yahoo News.
Read for y’all’s selves:
from here
A Swiss-made catamaran has become the first solar-powered boat to cross the Atlantic after reaching the French Caribbean island of Martinique, the boat’s owners said.
ADVERTISEMENTSun21 reached Martinique’s Le Marin harbour at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) on Friday, 63 days after leaving the Spanish port of Chipiona near Cadiz, the Transatlantic21 partnership said on its website.
The 14 metre (46 feet) boat largely followed the historic route sailed by explorer Christopher Columbus on the first known maritime crossing of the Atlantic in the 15th century, making its last stopover in the Canary Islands.
The catamaran covered the final 5,000 kilometre (3,100 miles) non-stop leg in 30 days.
I am reminded of something like ‘history repeating itself.’ Also that wind power is really a complicated answer from a simple source: the sun. So I suppose that all wind power really is ’solar power,’ originally and disturbingly simply speaking.
Take from it what you may.
peAce
Permaculture In Jordan
Dave sent me this really cool video. Its about a man who has turned the desert into fertile land by using natural processes and sustainable methods. If he can do this in the desert just think what we could do in the heartlands of this country.
From the video
They laughed at him and said it couldn’t be done.
Nothing could be grown in that salt laden dustbowl.
But Geoff Lawton had other ideas.
He travels the world teaching others how to repair trashed environments that are beyond hope of becoming productive.
In this story, Geoff talks about re-greening the deserts of Jordan. By applying the principles of permaculture, the Jordanians managed to salvage a heavily salted environment and turn it into a green oasis.
Geoff lives and teaches at his farm near The Channon, a small community not far from Lismore. Geoff boasts that despite not having a police station or church, the Channon has some of the most tolerant and friendly people in Australia.
Click here To watch the video (flash video)
A F@!K Ton of Good Enivornmental News in California
So here is some great news
Just look at all that special environmental goodness that the California Legislature passed.
Of course it’s up to the Gov-ah-nate-ah to sign them. He will DEFINITELY sign AB 32, The Global Warming Solutions Act
and this from the LA Times
and this from the Sacramento Bee
So there, as they say, THAT is.
Take what you will from it.
Be well all, but do contemplate,
where do we go after the fall?
-dave!!
The Rap: California Assembly Bill 32,
aka The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
Last month I worked as a citizen outreach staff member for the Fund for Public Interest Research Group (they signed my checks), and what that means is I went door-to-door trying to build public support (read: get donations/new members) for Environment California, the largest environmental organization in the state.
The following is the spiel, or what the organization branded as ‘The Rap,’ that we memorized (picture a sun-beaten yet smiling face at your door anytime from 4 pm to 9 pm):
Hi, how are you?
(Wait for answer)
Great. My name is *your name*, and I’m with Environment California. We’re working RIGHT NOW to fight global warming.
You probably realize that California is especially vulnerable to the impacts of global warming. Among other things, rising sea levels threaten our coastline, and a decreasing snow pack in the Sierras threatens our drinking water supply.
The Bush Administration refuses to act, so we’re working on state legislation that will cut global warming pollution from cars and power plants by half. (California is the world’s 12th-largest source of global warming pollution, so this will make a HUGE difference).
We can make this happen if we continue to build a lot of public support, and that’s why I’m here today.
Take a look at this.
(Hand over the clipboard that you were holding that contains more information/new member forms)
This is our statement of support, and it outlines our work.
The BEST way for you to support this effort tonight is to become a member of Environment California. You can do this through our monthly giving program, or with a one-time contribution. Monthly giving is better for us because it keeps our costs down and gives us ongoing support, but either way is great. The IMPORTANT thing is that you give as generously as you can, so we can keep getting results!
Now doesn’t that just make you want to give anywhere from $30-50 a month to this organization? Oh, you’re not conviced? Well, may I ask, are you with us on this issue? You are? Great, well let me show you why it’s so important for anyone who does agree with us on this issue to get involved TONIGHT.
OK, the best part of it, the ’state legislation’:
It is a state assembly bill co-authored by Assemblywoman Pavley and Assembly Speaker Nunez (both from the Los Angeles area). It targets all global warming pollution in the state, not just from cars and light trucks, but from industrial sources like power plants. Power plant sources include cement plants, oil refineries, natural gas refineries, electric utilities, and others. It’ll be a first for not only the state but the nation, as there are no such strict caps on pollution from non-mobile sources in any other state.
Its goals are to reduce global warming pollution emissions by 25% by 2020 and 75% by 2050, goals that our beloved (??) and crazy-assed governor himself has publicly and repeatedly stated.
How it’ll get these goals: The bill instructs the California Environmental Protection Agency to set mandatory caps on emissions to reach these goals. It also instructs Cal/EPA to create a mandatory reporting system on these emissions, and if the sources fail to stay under the caps then they will be subject to fines and other penalties, fines and penalties that Cal/EPA must create as authorized by AB 32.
Phew. I said this spiel a lot in a month, and I wasn’t even there the longest nor certainly I wasn’t the best. But still, it was worthwhile, important work, at times very difficult but that just made it more important. Needless to say I will continue looking into the bill, supporting it any way I can, and as soon as I can afford it I will become a member of Environment California. Yeah, color me converted.
This issue has a laundry list of other implications both great and horrible that require a lengthier stanza, which mayhaps be approaching as the end of summer itself.
Be well all, because,
you are the light that travels into space
-dave!!
http://www.solutionsforglobalwarming.org/
http://www.ecovote.org/warming/
http://www.environmentcalifornia.org/
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