Nerd is my Gender
What's yours?
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The New Pepsi Challenge: Beating Coke to Produce A 100% Petroleum-Free Plastic Bottle
Pepsi unveiled a new bottle yesterday: the first of its kind, the company says, to be made entirely from plant materials, which include switch grass, pine bark, and corn husks.This is really cool!
Another reason to go vegetarian: we’re going to need all that plant matter for plastics, not for livestock feed.
(Source: Yahoo!)
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How deep is your ecology?
Pick the deepest level you can go:
- We should take care of our planet, as we would any valuable tool.
- We have a responsibility to protect Earth’s resources for our future generations.
- Earth would benefit from changes in human activity.
- The planet would be better off with fewer people on it.
- Wilderness has a right to exist for its own sake.
- Wildlife has more right to live on the Earth than humans do.
- Humans are too great a threat to life on Earth. The species should be phased out.
- Human extinction now or there won’t be any later for this planet. A painless extermination is needed.
- A quick annihilation is too good for humans. A horrible, fatal illness from outer space is only fair.
I can’t agree that wildlife has more of a right to live on Earth than humans. I mean, who says? God? (Most religions teach the opposite, that humans have the most right to be here.) Did wildlife itself say? Don’t recall getting that memo. Other humans? Well, I’m also a human, and I don’t say, so clearly the consensus is still out on that. An alien race? OK, so that one would make the most sense… except we’ve never communicated with one.
The other options are that by virtue of having evolved here like every other species, we have a right to be here like every other species. Or possibly that no life has any right to be anywhere. I could see that too.
Anyway, no hard feelings toward the VHEM, they mean well. Too bad they’ll never know if they’ve succeeded. :D
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Through Solar Mosaic, Oakland is Reducing Emissions, Creating Green Jobs, and Building Community (Video)
So why isn’t this happening everywhere?
graphic via sungevityCheck out this amazing project getting off the ground in my hometown of Oakland, CA. The city is selling 5,000 solar tiles at $100 each to locals, and the panels will be installed on the rooftops of youth centers and schools in the community. Even better, the solar panels will be mounted by workers hired and trained in Oakland.
The program is called Solar Mosaic, and it represents a new form of crowdfunded renewable energy installations. Our community, where 17.5 percent of people live under the poverty line, will get the win-win-win of employing locals to reduce our emissions while beautifying our community.
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President Donald Trump Would Keep Gas Prices Low by Stealing Iraq's Oil
Someone look up this man’s ancestors and tell me if they were Viking pillagers.
The very notion that Donald Trump is actually being perceived by some as a serious contender in the 2012 presidential race is surreal enough — but when he starts elaborating on what his actual policies would look like, we venture into the realm of full-blown absurdity. For instance, in a recent interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump conveyed what a primary plank of his energy policy would be: Stealing Iraq’s oil fields — by force, mind you — and siphoning the black gold straight back the US. Yes, Trump evidently believes that since the United States ‘invested’ some $1.5 trillion in the Iraq war, we are entitled to “the spoils” and may extract it from the sovereign nation.
And this man wants to run the country. These statements are so mind-blowingly ridiculous (not to mention repulsive), that I think I’ll let the segment in the interview speak for itself. (via ABC)
Trump: George, let me explain something to you. We go into Iraq. We have spent thus far, $1.5 trillion. We could have rebuilt half of the United States. $1.5 trillion. And we’re going to then leave. So, in the old days, you know when you had a war, to the victor belong the spoils. You go in. You win the war and you take it.
This man is actually in the lead in some polls of GOP primary hopefuls, despite breathtaking displays of a complete lack of understanding about governance or foreign policy. And the idea at the core of this particular statement — that Iraq somehow owes the United States huge sums of cash and oil because the Bush Administration chose to invade it — is so morally repugnant I’d rather not comment further. The fact that he thinks we have the right to take it by force makes the whole mess even more repellent.Stephanopoulos: It would take hundreds of thousands of troops to secure the oil fields.
Trump: Excuse me. No, it wouldn’t at all.
Stephanopoulos: So, we steal an oil field?
Trump: Excuse me. You’re not stealing. Excuse me. You’re not stealing anything. You’re taking- we’re reimbursing ourselves- at least, at a minimum, and I say more. We’re taking back $1.5 trillion to reimburse ourselves.
As preposterous as all this is, there’s an unfortunate lesson to be extracted from Trump’s rant: that there are far more silver-tongued politicians in the establishment who share this basic attitude. Granted, they’re rarely this extreme or bizarrely justified. But the notion that we can get the oil we need to run our economy by force is hardly a new one. No one has been as brazen to iterate as much in public, but we now have definite proof that securing oil reserves was indeed at the forefront of the United States’ pre-invasion planning. And few are blind to the immense role that oil production plays in geopolitical affairs, or the fact that nations’ energy policies are often dictated by men who don’t think too differently from Trump — they just know better than to blab about it on national television.
It should serve to further demonstrate the pernicious impact oil dependence has on global affairs — and why we still desperately need a leader with a forward-looking vision for energy.
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Not in my backyard! Image of nuclear, oil, and coal power plants creating pollution, while a man protests a wind power generator.
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White-Washing “Green”
“It reminds me of the “bike to work” movement. That is also portrayed as white, but in my city more than half of the people on bike are not white. I was once talking to a white activist who was photographing “bike commuters” and had only pictures of white people with the occasional “black professional” I asked her why she didn’t photograph the delivery people, construction workers etc. … ie. the black and Hispanic and Asian people… and she mumbled something about trying to “improve the image of biking” then admitted that she didn’t really see them as part of the “green movement” since they “probably have no choice” – I was so mad I wanted to quit working on the project she and I were collaborating on. So, in the same way when people in a poor neighborhood grow food in their yards … it’s just being poor– but when white people do it they are saving the earth or something. And YES black people on bikes and with gardens DO have an awareness of the environment. Surprisingly so! These values are in our communities and they are good values. My Grandmother was an organic gardener before it was “cool” –My mother believed in composting all waste and recycling whatever could be reused– it was a religious thing. God hates waste.”
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a comment cited in The Unbearable Whiteness of Eating: How the Food Culture War Affects Black America (via idlesong)
Same with riding the bus. St Louis buses are full of black people, and nobody ever gives them credit for being eco-friendly.
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C**** Weather is the New Normal, Thanks to Climate Change
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Heavy rains, deep snowfalls, monster floods and killing droughts are signs of a “new normal” of extreme U.S. weather events fueled by climate change, scientists and government planners said on Wednesday.
Yup, we’re doing this to ourselves.
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Survey: Business Leaders Are Surprised That Sustainability Actually Pays Off
It pays to conserve. That’s the finding of a survey of 247 executives in the U.S., U.K. and China released by the consulting firm Accenture. Seventy-two percent of them said the benefits of their company’s sustainability initiatives exceeded their expectations.
So what are you all waiting for? Get on with it!
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A new International Monetary Fund working paper finds that the United States “gets, by far, the lowest percentage of revenue from environmental taxation of any OECD country,” less than 3 percent of total revenues, well below the industrialized-country average of six percent.
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an op-ed by Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, narrated and illustrated by Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-link-between-climate-change-and-jopl…
transcript of original article:
“Caution: It is vitally important not to make connections. When you see pictures of rubble like this week’s shots from Joplin, Mo., you should not wonder: Is this somehow related to the tornado outbreak three weeks ago in Tuscaloosa, Ala., or the enormous outbreak a couple of weeks before that (which, together, comprised the most active April for tornadoes in U.S. history). No, that doesn’t mean a thing.
It is far better to think of these as isolated, unpredictable, discrete events. It is not advisable to try to connect them in your mind with, say, the fires burning across Texas — fires that have burned more of America at this point this year than any wildfires have in previous years. Texas, and adjoining parts of Oklahoma and New Mexico, are drier than they’ve ever been — the drought is worse than that of the Dust Bowl. But do not wonder if they’re somehow connected.
If you did wonder, you see, you would also have to wonder about whether this year’s record snowfalls and rainfalls across the Midwest — resulting in record flooding along the Mississippi — could somehow be related. And then you might find your thoughts wandering to, oh, global warming, and to the fact that climatologists have been predicting for years that as we flood the atmosphere with carbon we will also start both drying and flooding the planet, since warm air holds more water vapor than cold air.
It’s far smarter to repeat to yourself the comforting mantra that no single weather event can ever be directly tied to climate change. There have been tornadoes before, and floods — that’s the important thing. Just be careful to make sure you don’t let yourself wonder why all these record-breaking events are happening in such proximity — that is, why there have been unprecedented megafloods in Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan in the past year. Why it’s just now that the Arctic has melted for the first time in thousands of years. No, better to focus on the immediate casualties, watch the videotape from the store cameras as the shelves are blown over. Look at the news anchorman standing in his waders in the rising river as the water approaches his chest.
Because if you asked yourself what it meant that the Amazon has just come through its second hundred-year drought in the past five years, or that the pine forests across the western part of this continent have been obliterated by a beetle in the past decade — well, you might have to ask other questions. Such as: Should President Obama really just have opened a huge swath of Wyoming to new coal mining? Should Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sign a permit this summer allowing a huge new pipeline to carry oil from the tar sands of Alberta? You might also have to ask yourself: Do we have a bigger problem than $4-a-gallon gasoline?
Better to join with the U.S. House of Representatives, which voted 240 to 184 this spring to defeat a resolution saying simply that “climate change is occurring, is caused largely by human activities, and poses significant risks for public health and welfare.” Propose your own physics; ignore physics altogether. Just don’t start asking yourself whether there might be some relation among last year’s failed grain harvest from the Russian heat wave, and Queensland’s failed grain harvest from its record flood, and France’s and Germany’s current drought-related crop failures, and the death of the winter wheat crop in Texas, and the inability of Midwestern farmers to get corn planted in their sodden fields. Surely the record food prices are just freak outliers, not signs of anything systemic.
It’s very important to stay calm. If you got upset about any of this, you might forget how important it is not to disrupt the record profits of our fossil fuel companies. If worst ever did come to worst, it’s reassuring to remember what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Environmental Protection Agency in a recent filing: that there’s no need to worry because “populations can acclimatize to warmer climates via a range of behavioral, physiological, and technological adaptations.” I’m pretty sure that’s what residents are telling themselves in Joplin today.” -
Texas Nullificationists Secede From Federal Light Bulb Standards
I think Texas needs to lay of a few of it’s congress people. They clearly have no real work to get done if this is at the top of their priority list.
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A few fun facts about glaciers:
1) The past six years (2005–2010) have been the warmest period ever recorded in the Arctic. Higher surface air temperatures are driving changes in the cryosphere.
3) The extent and duration of snow cover and sea ice have decreased across the Arctic. Temperatures in the permafrost have risen by up to 2 °C. The southern limit of permafrost has moved northward in Russia and Canada.
7) The Arctic Ocean is projected to become nearly ice-free in summer within this century, likely within the next thirty to forty years.
12) Loss of ice and snow in the Arctic enhances climate warming by increasing absorption of the sun’s energy at the surface of the planet. It could also dramatically increase emissions of carbon dioxide and methane and change large-scale ocean currents. The combined outcome of these effects is not yet known.
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Meat Eater's Guide: Get to Know the Carbon Footprint of Your Diet (Lamb, Beef, Cheese Are the Worst)
As a cheese-lover, this makes me sad. I’ve cut way back, but it’s like a part of my soul is missing.
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Shoes That Grow Into Trees
These shoes grow into plants if you bury them, but they [sadly to an American] are only available for shipment in Europe.
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Debate: Is Nuclear Energy Worth the Risks?
Ben and I hosted this debate at our local Ethical Society (a humanist unchurch). I learned so much about nuclear energy. I may be leaning on the pro side now, based on what was presented. What do you think?
Scott Bond is a registered professional engineer with twenty seven years of experience in the nuclear power industry. He has a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Missouri, Rolla and is currently employed with Ameren Missouri at the Callaway Nuclear Power Plant. Ed Smith is the “no-CWIP” Coordinator with the Missouri Coalition for the Environment.
View more notes and info in the video descriptions:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA58B8C31CEA87AED
Genderqueer with a touch of happy humanism.
