How Green Is The White House?
[ Comments Off ]Posted on June 6, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Sunday, June 6th, 2010The White House and Washington in general are pretty green. It’s just the policies they create that are all black and oily. And you may be surprised to learn that George Bush may have been secretly green in his spare time.
I’m sorry to say that’s classified information. But we do know that solar panels were installed in 2003 under the Bush administration, and the Obama administration is planning upgrades. President Carter is rarely given credit for his inspired attempts at opening America’s eyes to the perilous environmental future that is now the present, but he managed to open a few with this speech in 1977. He also installed solar panels on the White House which were later taken down by Ronald Reagan, in a move that was partly practical (a roof leak was being repaired), and certainly a typically Reaganesque political statement at the same time. And although the Obama administration appears firmly committed to clean & green issues, the presidential limo won’t be a hybrid, for obvious reasons. I have to admit that as I prepared to write what I intended to be a snark on Washington’s limo-driven excess and apalling waste, I was suprised to find that DC is often high up on lists of green cities. I was equally surprised to find that living in New York City is considered by some green thinkers to be a greener lifestyle choice than living in Vermont. And I’m sure that you’ll be as surprised as I was that Bush’s Crawford Ranch was pretty green too. So it seems that all in all, Washington’s pretty green. It’s just the policies created there that cause all the problems. For a lengthy and dry – but informative – history of how US foreign policy was shaped by oil over the last century, see this 1975 government report. And for a refresher on why we invaded Iraq, see this Independent UK piece. And then take a look at this list to figure out who we’ll invade next. My bet’s on Canada.
Might As Well Face It You’re Addicted To Oil
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 31, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Monday, May 31st, 2010Denial Is Not A River In Egypt. But if it were, it would probably be covered in oil as well.
Are you done bellyaching about the gulf oil spill yet? ’cause I didn’t hear a peep out of you as 448 million gallons of oil spewed from the ground in Nigeria in a continuous catastrophe over the last 50 years. 214 million of which spilled just this month. And I haven’t seen you sell your car or stop using any of the products that we use every day that are derived from petroleum (see a short list below). We can keep pointing fingers at Obama or at BP or Satan – or little oil fairies, for that matter. But when it comes right down to it, the parties responsible are you and me. We’re like an alcoholic who blames last night’s bartender for our waking up half off the bed with a splitting headache and our pants around our ankles using clever lines like “I was overserved last night”. The term “oil addiction” is almost hackneyed by now, but still as accurate as it ever was. If you haven’t heard your behavior framed that way before, check out the article The price of our oil addiction- excerpted from David Elliot Cohen’s What Matters
Offshore Wind Power Project Coming To Great Lakes
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 25, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010Stop with all your hot air about the gulf oil spill. Sell your car and put all that wind to use more positively.
If you live in America, the next time you’re looking at depressing photos of the oily black sludge washing up on the coasts and in the wetlands of Louisiana, look for your reflection in the oil slick. It’s probably there. And after you ponder YOUR part in the latest tragedy, try visualizing this: instead of black oil spewing from the bottom of the ocean, picture rows of gracefully twirling white turbine blades supplying the same energy. I’m pretty excited that alternative energy is finally becoming a reality; Texas expects to derive 20% of their power from non-petrol sources by 2030 (and they’re WAY ahead of schedule) , Horns Rev off the coast of Denmark has been generating offshore windpower since 2002, there’s a plan for Cape Cod to generate 75% of the area’s power from wind by 2012, and as someone who currently lives in the Great Lakes area, it’s exciting to see that an offshore windpower project is being launched on Lake Erie. Especially since it’s such an amazing example of turning things around; at one point in time, Lake Erie was so filthy that it was joked that walking on it was safer than swimming in it. And wouldn’t it be awesome if the state best known for building gas-guzzlers became a haven for cutting-edge clean tech? After all, they say there’s over 300 Gigawatts waiting to be exploited here.
From Cocktail Conversation To Kenya Conservation
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 18, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010Lori Bergemann made the leap from food service to conservation work ten years ago. It’s probably time she started drawing a salary. Help make it happen as Amara Conservation begins its tenth year.
 This woman has run a non-profit for ten years without taking a salary. Let’s try to change that. |
The woman pictured at left – Lori Bergemann, of Amara Conservation – is an American who lives in Kenya devoting her life to educating rural Kenyans about how conservation of their wildlife and resources is one of the most powerful keys to a better future for themselves. That alone would be kind of interesting. But what’s even more interesting to me is that just ten years ago, she was a bartender at a fine dining restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Back then she had a dream – but no concise plan – for doing something to help animals. Today, she lives in Kenya, committing all of her time to the education and conservation work that is the core of what Amara does. Lori also happens to be an old friend of mine. We have definitely had our ups and downs. Like all humans, she has some personal flaws, and she’s quite a character in some ways, as am I. But she remains an inspiration to me. Not because I want to be like her, but because she’s proof of a belief that I hold dear, which is that ANY of us can do ANYTHING if we keep our heart open and work hard for it. All of which makes it kind of exciting for me that it’s been more than ten years since Lori served me a drink, and that now I find myself serving her, by supporting her dream in any way I can. Part of that means asking YOU to support what she does. I’ve been a supporter of Amara since its inception; I started my own business about two years before Lori launched Amara, and provided almost all of her original media services and “brand” in one way or another. Her organization has outlasted mine by a couple of years though, and I’m impressed (as I think YOU should be) that Amara still adheres to a steadfast belief in directing donated funds as directly as possible to projects they’re involved in. Their overhead is lower than any NGO that I’m aware of, and one reason for that borders on the absurd: Lori has not taken a salary in the entire ten years of Amara’s existence. If that sounds as crazy to you as it does to me, be a part of changing that. Who knows what she’ll pull off if she could earn a living from what she does. If you want to help, one of the simplest ways is to simply make a donation on their site. If you are anywhere near southeastern Michigan in the next couple of weeks though, consider getting out for one of the fundraising events that are kicking off their tenth year of operation. I’ll be at both, and would be delighted to see you there!
Upset About The Gulf Spill? Maybe You Should Kick Your Oil Habit
[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 12, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010Blaming BP for the oil spill is like a Detroit crackhead blaming the Peruvian coca farmer for his financial problems.
 BP will get all the mud slung their way, but what about YOUR part in all this? |
When I see the devastation being caused by the recent gulf oil spill, I can’t help thinking about all the people driving around in their Volvos listening to NPR and shaking their fists in anger at British Petroleum. Which to me is a lot like the Hollywood celebrity strung out on cocaine blaming the Latin American coca farmer for all his problems. I’m certainly no corporate apologist, but when there are an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil being dumped into the ocean every day, who’s really to blame? The oil company that had the accident? Or the oil addicts that demand the insane quantity of oil that is being sucked from the ground daily so that they can drive to the store for a gallon of milk whenever they feel like it? If you own a car or do any of a million things that demand this mind blowing supply of crude oil, you can hardly deny your complicity in the tragedy occurring off the Louisiana coast right now. Do you feel like you can even begin to visualize how much oil we consume in America? It’s around 378 million gallons daily. That means the daily amount flowing into the gulf is about 5% of how much we consumed that day. I can’t decide which is more apalling, the amount flowing into the ocean, or the amount flowing into our gas tanks. To make these numbers real for you, we’ve found a couple of interesting visuals. Google engineer Paul Rademacher has created an easy-to-use tool that superimposes the spill over any city you specify. See the map image below; I entered Ann Arbor, MI, but as you can see, the spill would easily engulf the entire city of Chicago. To get a picture of ongoing global consumption, there’s a handy waterfall analogy. This guy did the math, and figured out that Jog Falls in India (see clip below) flows at nearly the same rate. Just imaging black sludge instead of frothy water and you’ll get a good feel for things. And lastly, this PBS News Hour page has a “Gulf Leak Meter” that displays the spill on real time (also embedded below). Read the rest of this entry »