Archive for the ‘Conservation’ Category

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Haitian Earthquake Reminder We Should Listen to Science

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Two scientists from Purdue University took seismic readings in Haiti along the Enriquillo Fault and warned Haitian officials back in 2008 that the island was vulnerable to a major earthquake of 7.2 magnitude. Pressure was building along the fault line. The problem is the warning didn’t come with a timeline and even if it did, a country like Haiti was highly unlikely to be able to move and coordinate fast enough to shore up important buildings like government, hospitals, and schools. Nothing was done.

Over the past decade in the U.S. both science and intelligence sometimes took a backseat to ideology and well, ideology. If Haiti is any indicator, we need to start paying very close attention to a majority of scientists when it comes to climate change. Worldwide, climate is going to get decidedly worse and in a shorter time span than first expected. It’s too bad that contributing to Haiti now in a time of crisis should have been an effort 2 years ago to aid Haiti in an effort at prevention. What’s pouring into Haiti now could have made a life saving difference had it come back then.

Are future catastrophic climate events going to be more of the same, disastrous? Hopefully we will begin to listen to the majority of scientists worldwide that climate change is real and we need to address it now. Haitian officials were concerned but with so many other problems the warnings of disastrous events that may or may not happen soon were put on the back burner. Sound familiar? That pot boiled over and the ramifications have the whole world involved now.

I know some people are still surprised by the earthquake prediction in Haiti. While reading an article on blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com I noticed someone wrote in a comment: “It does amaze me that scientists can predict this sort of geological activity. Wish they could have provided money for the Haitians to build up their infrastructure to be able to better sustain the shaking.” Some people are not surprised at all. They see this as a precursor of things to come.

And some people just don’t care that scientists were able to predict this earthquake. There is a disconnect of thought between science-earthquake-Haiti and science-climate disasters-world. For instance, right now Senator Lisa Murkowski is gearing up for a vote on January 20th that would block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and other polluters in the U.S. in 2010. According to Credo: “The vote — on an amendment to a must-pass bill to lift the debt ceiling — will remove the EPA’s enforcement funding and power so big polluters like the coal industry can ignore the Clean Air Act.”

See what I mean?—DISCONNECT. Down the road and looking back at this 2-20-10 vote initiated by Murkowski, hopefully we won’t recall that nothing was done.

Keep environmental progress moving forward. Tell your senators to vote to keep the Clean Air Act in tact. http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/cleanairactvote/?r=5161&id=7318-1623890-tjVWFyxhttp://act.credoaction.com/campaign/cleanairactvote/?r=5161&id=7318-1623890-tjVWFyx

http://blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com/2010/01/scientists-warned-in-2008-of-major.html.

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Posted in Alaska, CO2 Emissions, Cement, Clean Air Act, Coalburners, Conservation, Countries/Continents, EPA, Earth, Earthquakes, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Industry, Legislators, Politics, Pollution, Science | No Comments »

Powerful Investors Demand Climate Change Action Immediately

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Today, a group of U.S., European, and Australian investors who “represent $13 trillion in assets, called for “a price on carbon emissions” and “well-designed carbon markets” to provide “a cost-effective way of achieving emissions reductions,” according to an article on ENS.

They cited the fact that “some 85 percent of the financial resources needed to cope with climate challenges must come from private sources. In effect, the battle over climate change will be won – or lost – in the hands of private investors.” But they also recanted that no one will put a foot forward without governments playing a role. Policies create a stable investment environment. Only policy can make clean energy cost-competitive with fossil fuel.

The investors claim they and others like them are ready to stoke clean energy investments if governments begin to implement strong policies and quickly. It seems they are encouraged by the fact that China, India, and the U.S. came to a verbal agreement in Copenhagen, but they want more and now. What is needed most from national and state legislatures is “transparency, longevity and certainty.” That would be a strong RPS as far as the states are concerned. Michigan doesn’t have one as yet thanks to our Republican Senate who trashed that effort at the last minute. It wasn’t even a strong RPS, but it was better than none at all.

These guys aren’t fooling around. As stated: “We underscore the importance of concluding a legally-binding agreement this year with comprehensive long-term measures for mitigation, forest protection, adaptation, finance, and technology transfer, including a global emission reduction target of 50-85% by 2050, consistent with estimates from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.”

They are investors after all and they estimate that transforming to clean energy is completely doable.

In their statement, the investors observed that the costs of action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are “both affordable and significantly lower than the costs of inaction.” [] The UNFCCC Secretariat estimates that more than $200 billion in total additional investment capital for mitigation is required each year by 2030 just to return greenhouse gases to their current levels by then.

The International Energy Agency estimates that additional investment of $10.5 trillion is needed globally in just the energy sector from 2010-2030 to stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at around 450 parts per million, the investors noted.

This equates to roughly 0.1% of the total value of world financial assets and approximately 0.23% of the total value of debt and equity securities, so this is certainly an achievable level of investment – and one that would yield returns in terms of energy savings, energy security, reduced capital expenditures for pollution control, and avoided climate damages, they said. But it is also well above current investment levels.

So there you have it. People with deep pockets other than OIL/COAL/LUMBER that want to go green “yesterday.”

Read the article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2010/2010-01-14-01.html.

Posted in Alternative Energy, Conservation, Countries/Continents, Environment and Jobs, Environmental Capital, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Federal Government, Financial, Global Warming, Green Investments, Legislators, State Gov't. | 2 Comments »

Dedicate Some Time in 2010 to Help the Planet

Monday, January 4th, 2010

I heard the song “525,600 Minutes” the other day. It’s from the play “Rent.” Well it stuck in my head. It’s an awful lot of minutes in a year isn’t it? Imagine if every human being on earth that is capable did some totally selfless act in just 30 minutes sometime this year, i.e. carrying someone’s bags, keeping an eye on someone in bad health, putting the cotton pickin’ shopping cart back in the corral… Out of 525,600 annual minutes 30 is just a drop in the bucket but with a world population approaching 7 billion you see where I’m going with this. There are things we can all do in just 30 minutes or less to help the planet. As a matter of fact I found 5 of them on About.com:

Walk More, Drive Less-In 30 minutes, most people can easily walk a mile or more, and you can cover even more ground on a bicycle, bus, subway or commuter train. Research has shown that people who use public transportation are healthier than those who don’t. Families that use public transportation can save enough money annually to cover their food costs for the year.

Eat Your Vegetables-Making a salad doesn’t take any more time than cooking a hamburger and it’s better for you—and for the environment. Raising animals for food uses enormous amounts of land, water, grain and fuel. Every year in the United States alone, 80 percent of all agricultural land, half of all water resources, 70 percent of all grain, and one-third of all fossil fuels are used to raise animals for food.

Switch to Reusable Shopping Bags-Worldwide, up to a trillion plastic bags are used and discarded every year—more than a million per minute.

Change Your Light Bulbs-Compact fluorescent light bulbs use at least two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs to provide the same amount of light, they last up to 10 times longer, and save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.

Pay Your Bills Online-You can save time and money, lower administrative costs of companies with which you do business, and reduce global warming by helping to prevent deforestation.

Thanks to About.com for those. It should be apparent that helping the planet results in immediate rewards for us. Walking more and eating less meat and more vegetables is good for our health. It also saves us money like changing light bulbs, and paying bills online. Switching to reusable shopping bags will help save marine life. Thousands of marine mammals mistake the bags for food and die as a result. Plastic bags are a means of carrying something. It won’t cost us more or less of anything to take our own bags to the store, and it won’t improve our health, but then again I began this blog with thoughts of selfless acts in 2010.

Read the whole article on About.com:
http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/30_minutes.htm.

Posted in CFL lights, Conservation, Earth, Environmentalism, Food, Green Products, Health, Transportation | No Comments »

2010 May Be on the Green Track if Citizens Have Their Way

Thursday, December 31st, 2009

Three new polls at the end of the year that broached the question: “Do you believe in global warming?” resulted in a solid yes by a majority of Americans. The numbers may be down since a year or two ago, mostly sidelined by more important issues for humans, like food, shelter, and jobs, but most Americans do believe in man-made global warming. Even if they don’t, most polled wanted caps on emissions and the emitters to pay for their pollution. Hmmm.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2009/2009-12-24-091.asp.

The 3 different polls also showed big partisan splits among citizens, but when it comes right down to it, Americans want to get moving toward a clean future. We have no problem with the U.S. being a leader in the global warming arena either. By leadership we mean that we do not expect everyone else, like China, or India to be in lock step with us relative to reducing emissions. It’s all right if we venture forward before them. This is a concept that some of our congressional representatives should make note of since many of them have expressed the opposite sentiments and stalled progress for a green future because China isn’t doing their part, or India isn’t moving fast enough.

It can get outright confusing as to what country promised what and how they are performing when we start finger pointing. To keep things organized, the United Nations Environment Programme created a climate pledge tracker website that launched during the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The website is constantly updated, so now anyone can go online any time and “trace the proposals and plans of countries to combat climate change,” according to an article about it on ENS.

Just looking at what was pledged by countries like China and India, it’s easy to see that the U.S. by comparison falls short of emission cutting goals. But we have to remember that tracking pledges is one thing. Pledges are words. And talk is cheap. It will be interesting to see in the near future if the rhetoric was indeed earnest and backed by deeds that will result in “Mission Accomplished” as far as these pledges go.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2009/2009-12-30-01.asp.

The Climate Pledge Tracker Website:

http://www.unep.org/climatepledges/.

Posted in CO2 Emissions, Conservation, Countries/Continents, Environmentalism, Global Warming, Pollution | 2 Comments »

New Urbanism; the Most Important Green Trend for 2010

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

I happened across Original Green’s website and spotted an article “The Green Top 10 for 2010″ relative to issues about sustainability. The trends described come from Steve Mouzon, a new urbanist architect that see his predictions coming to fruition over the next decade. They are in New Year’s countdown mode starting with:

# 10 Offshoring Reversal

There will be more interest in not only buying American but buying local as fuel costs make shipping products thousands of miles less cost effective as producing it ourselves.

# 9 The Sustainability of Preservation

Saving a building is in essence saving the environment as one headline of this article
stated: “The greenest brick is the one that’s already in the wall.” There is a trend to develop a viable method to “factor in the true value of preservation, both within the U.S. Building Council and elsewhere, because how can we say that we’re being green if we keep throwing buildings away?”

Another headline here is that GE targets net zero energy homes by 2015. These homes will sport photovoltaic sources, and windto produce energy. There will be efficient lighting, and on demand appliances, a place for energy storage, water filtration systems, a heat pump water heater utilizing the geothermal heat pumps that also contribute energy to the home. All is controlled through a master energy manager control panel and monitored with a smart meter for the home’s input/output to a smart grid.

#8 Gizmo Green Gets Exposed

This trend stems from the realization that going green is expensive and what with the economy the way it is, greening up homes to lower utility costs probably won’t happen as quickly as returning to passive heating and cooling methods.

If you’ve kept up with my blogs, I’ve blogged more than once that even on the coldest days in the winter if the sun is out in full, I shut off my main heat, open my blinds to 12 ft. of southern exposed windows, as well as, my front door. The sun warms the entire front of my house! That’s passive heating. In the summer we utilize 2 overhead fans, awnings, and shades to keep cool without a/c. Block the sun, and you will usually block the heat. True passive cooling would only use natural breezes, but my overhead fans use far less power than a/c.

#7 The Meltdown Vacuum

Because the construction industry and all related industries took a hit during this economy, overdevelopment of strip malls and subdivisions has stopped. What the arrested economy and construction business really did was bolster the courage of do it yourself homeowners. The advent of more and more do it yourself cable shows for home improvement wannabes unleashed a grassroots construction industry that is expected to keep growing.

#6 A Return to Gardening

Gardening is a real no brainer for anyone who cooks every night and wants to be economical and healthy. Usually people who would have a garden are also people who eat crops du jour “of the day.” Whatever is ripe is what is eaten that evening. By eating seasonal crops and buying locally when weather doesn’t permit a garden, we get a greater variety of natural vitamins and minerals, and many times without the pesticide problem. It’s cheaper, healthier, and easier to have a garden no matter how small. Believe me, I hate paying $3 for a bunch of fresh basil for a recipe when in the summer… Home gardening looks to increase everywhere even in urban landscapes.

#5 The ReCoding of a City

This trend reverses urban sprawl where going just about anywhere, to a convenience store, or the doctor’s office requires riding in a vehicle. The zoning code that works to reverse urban sprawl and concentrate people in cityscapes again is called the “Smart Code.” As the article states: “2010 looks like it might be the year that’s the tipping point with cities choosing this very smart way to reverse the tide of sprawl and make green cities possible.”

#4 The Return of Durability

Another no-brainer for me. In this post-melt-down economy people will return to buying better and more durable products to avoid tossing and buying new again because they simply can’t afford it. The article says: “High consumption is unsustainable.” Could our bulging trash dumps be an indicator?

#3 The Emergence of the Live-Work

We will either be working from home via the Internet or walking to work because the office is in the neighborhood once again, at least close enough to get there without the use of a car.

#2 The Big Convergence

There are three major components that mark this era happening right now, “the Meltdown, Peak Oil, and Climate Change.” This economic downturn ruined people. It was truly an economic meltdown. We know that oil has indeed peaked in production and is a finite source that will not last forever. And finally, climate change reality may be taking a back seat to economic suffering now but the “convergence” of all three of these things has created quite a movement, and an opportunity to return to what Mouzon calls “a Golden Age… something that would have been impossible in our previous sprawling, over-consuming, debt-ridden condition.”

#1 The New City

This is the top trend. It’s really a return to the old urban neighborhood where you walked to work, shops, school, clinics, and church. Entertainment and restaurants are within easy reach too. The only twist is that the rooftops of urban buildings will more than likely sport solar panels and wind turbines while grass and trees replace tarry surfaces. And anywhere there is available space to contain earth material a garden will grow.

Read the whole article: http://www.originalgreen.org/OG/Blog/Entries/2009/12/29_the_Green_Top_10_for_2010.html.

Posted in Alternative Energy, Conservation, Energy Infrastructure, Environment and Jobs, Environmental Legislation, Environmentalism, Geothermal Power, Global Warming, Green Construction, Green Investments, Green Products, Industry, Methods for Lowering Energy Costs, Solar Energy, Urban Sprawl, Wind Power | 3 Comments »

2010, International Year of Biodiversity

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

The UN’s declaration that 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity coincides nicely with it also being the “Year of the Tiger” according to the oriental calendar. Big cats are a good example of biodiversity that is in danger of extinction due to loss of habitat, man, and climate change. As the International Year of Biodiversity, 2010 is supposed to be the culmination of a decade’s worth of achievements toward an overall conservation target aiming to save biodiversity worldwide.
http://www.cbd.int/2010/welcome/.

In the U.S. the Center for Biological Diversity identified 1000 plants and animals that need protection immediately to avoid extinction. This month the center filed a notice to sue the USFWS for waiting far too long in granting federal protection to 144 species in this country including the plains buffalo. It seems there has been a lot of delays in Washington even though scientific petitions have been filed to protect these species. Besides the 144 there are also 249 that have been officially “recognized as deserving protection but have been ‘precluded’ from receiving it.” Some of these species have already become extinct waiting on the candidate list for as long as 30 years. This is comparable to dying while waiting for a reprieve while on death row because you are innocent.
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/1000_species/index.html.

Hopefully with a concentrated effort by all nations to step up their reaction time to save the biodiversity within their borders by thwarting attempts by poachers, as well as, stronger laws and prosecution of same, stopping international trade of exotic animals and/or their body parts, and educating local populations that it is more profitable to conserve and protect native species in the long term than continue to use them to extinction at which time the profits stop altogether. Then what?

Without a restoration process, overuse of anything finite leads to extinction. Native American ancestory believed in giving back to the earth at all times and only taking what was absolutely necessary to live. That was a valuable belief system we somehow tossed to the point we now struggle to preserve our national parks and forests.

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Posted in Animals in Peril, Conservation, Countries/Continents, Endangered Species, Environmentalism, Insects, Marine Life, Nature, Plants, USFWS, Wetlands, Wildlife | No Comments »

2010, The Year of the Tiger Approaches

Monday, December 28th, 2009

I love cats, any size or shape, and I know that big cats are in danger of becoming extinct so an article from Environmental News Service I ran across was encouraging. According to the oriental calendar, 2010 is the “Year of the Tiger,” so the government of Nepal jumped on the opportunity to do something about Nepal’s tiger population in the coming year.

Nepal decided to expand Bardia National Park by 347 square miles to increase critical habitat for wild tigers. The same article reported that in the early 1900’s, 100,000 tigers roamed Asia. Now 3,500 of tigers remain in the wild. It’s Nepal’s goal to double their tiger population through various conservation strategies. Evidently, it’s working already. The article stated: “Earlier this year, the first ever nationwide estimate of Nepal’s tiger population revealed the presence of 121 breeding tigers in the wild within four protected areas of Nepal.”

As I read on, I realized there are a number of nations with tiger populations, and they have united to stem the endangerment of this species. Some of the tiger range states that will participate in a summit of the same name this coming year are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam. There are technical workshops for law enforcement officials of these countries to “facilitate and coordinate law enforcement action between wildlife enforcement officers, Customs, and police,” as part of the strategy to save the tigers.

There is hope on the horizon for endangered species as countries work together and soon. The idea of sustaining and/or increasing protected habitat, as well as, coordinating strategies for enforcement of poaching laws is already paying off in Nepal.

Read the whole article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2009/2009-12-28-02.asp.

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Posted in Animals and Extinction, Asia, Conservation, Environmental News Service, Indonesia, Tigers, WWF, Wildlife | No Comments »

History of the Study of Global Warming

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I happened across a website by Spencer Weart who details the history of the study of CO2, the Greenhouse Effect, and global warming. It’s extensive compared to a much shorter book of his and this website summary has link after link for more sources.

After reading the entire essay, it’s clearly evident the idea of global warming is not a 21st century hoax perpetrated by Al Gore. The study of CO2 on the atmosphere has been going on, and on, and on. There is a heck of a lot of evidence at this time that we are in the full throws of global climate change due to excess CO2. Also in this study is evidence that the earth is not always in balance and capable of correcting itself.

Give it a read. You might learn something. I learned that scientists can tell the difference between naturally occurring CO2 and CO2 from burning fossil fuel. I found the long arduous process of identifying CO2 and other excess gasses relative to the greenhouse effect interesting, and very easy to comprehend that is not always the case with scientific explanations.

Read on:
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/co2.htm.

Posted in CO2 Emissions, Cement, Coalburners, Conservation, Fossil Fuel, Global Warming, Science | No Comments »

Natural Gas is Plentiful But Extraction Methods Threaten Clean Water

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The New York Times just ran an article called “The Dark Side of a Natural Gas Boom,” about extraction practices that threaten wells, and groundwater. Not surprisingly, natural gas drilling expanded significantly over the last decade. Halliburton happens to be the second largest natural gas extractor in the country and with the help of the last administration had thousand of acres of land, some in our national parks, open to them for gas drilling. Natural gas is so plentiful now that it threatens the coal industry because it is also cheap, and a much cleaner fuel for electricity generation. An article at groundreport.com stated: “Last week, Progress Energy, an electricity generator in North Carolina, announced plans to close all of its old coal plants and switch to natural gas.” Interesting. http://www.groundreport.com/Business/Energy-Deflation-Cometh-CheaPiling-On-Shale-Gas-LN/2913527..

What I remember most about the natural gas boom is the few and far between stories about how fracturing allows methane, benzene, and a host of other poisons to leak out of the ground uncontrolled. I blogged about it this past year, http://www.blogsmonroe.com/world/2009/05/natural-gasmethane-found-in-more-and-more-drinking-water-across-the-country/. I also remember an article in Rolling Stone years ago that stated drilling for natural gas is not exact and underground springs and water sources are often hit. The clean water shoots out uncapped. After all it’s not the gas drillers job to capture clean water.

Considering the glaciers that normally supply rivers and underground aquifers in the U.S. are melting and the outcome may mean a water shortage down the line, the U.S. simply cannot afford to threaten any of our existing water supplies in a rushed and abrasive quest to tap natural gas. The process of extraction requires millions of gallons of water to begin with so contaminating water sources nearby just aggravate an already dire situation for clean water availability. There needs to be balance between acquiring natural gas and preserving clean water otherwise we end up with a resource for energy for our comfort while losing our most basic of needs to live—WATER.

Read about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/08/business/energy-environment/08fracking.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=tap+water+&st=nyt.

http://www.propublica.org/feature/buried-secrets-is-natural-gas-drilling-endangering-us-water-supplies-1113.

Posted in Clean Water Act, Conservation, Energy, Industry, Morality, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Suppliers, Pollution, Water Shortage | 2 Comments »

Hierarchy of Needs Explains Our Attitude Toward Climate Change

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

The bad weather we had last week wreaked havoc on my broadband signal. I could go online only so long and then nada. There were new things that came up that I was going to blog about first but since the Copenhagen climate summit has begun with a lot of controversy I figured I would write about it.

I watched Governor Schwarzenegger of California on Good Morning America reporting from the conference. He was asked about former Governor Palin’s comment that we should boycott the summit because it will hurt the economy. The reporter then stated that 7 out of 8 people in the U.S. want the economy fixed first before climate change is addressed.

The first thing I thought about was Maslow’s hierarchy of needs most people recall from psychology class. A big chunk of the U.S. population is currently stuck in the first two levels of this hierarchy that states needs like breathing, food, and water must be fulfilled before humans move on to concerns about safety/security, which is home/shelter, one’s health, and EMPLOYMENT.

Mind you Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is the basis for his “Theory of Human Motivation.” At the moment we’re not motivated to help others because we’re busy looking to fulfill basic needs.  The 3rd tier is the need for personal friendship, family, and love, which still concerns self more than anything. It isn’t until the two upper tiers that we find that the self esteem and confidence gained through tackling the first 3 levels finally allows us to think of others. It encompasses both respect for others and respect FROM others. The top tier relates to morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, no prejudice, and acceptance of facts.

http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs.

So it’s not surprising that 7 out of 8 people in the U.S. want the economy fixed first and foremost. Doing that would greatly scale down the journey to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy where we feel good enough in our own boots to help the world. Unfortunately, these same people fail to realize that one of the quickest ways to satisfy our basic needs and jump start our economy is to simultaneously tackle global warming, which would unleash green industry.

As governor Schwarzenegger stated, “The fastest growing economic sector in his state of California is green industry.” They have a 33% renewable energy goal that is driving it. Time Magazine devoted the cover of their Nov. 2nd issue to this fact. It was titled: Why California is Still America’s Future. Inside it stated that California is “still the cutting edge of the American future—economically, environmentally, demographically, culturally, and maybe politically. It’s the greenest and most diverse state, the most globalized in general and most Asia-oriented in particular at a time when the world is heading in all those directions…an unparalleled engine of innovation, the mecca of high tech, biotech, and now clean tech.”

The New York Times this summer ran an article highlighting a Pew Charitable Trusts Study about the steady, fast growing “clean energy economy,” and that it’s poised for explosive growth.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/06/10/10greenwire-green-jobs-sector-poised-for-explosive-growth-63481.html.

Although the green sector may be poised for explosive growth, the fossil fuel industry is poised to stall that growth by throwing millions at congress in the coming year. In 2009 when global climate change and alternative energy took a back seat to job loss and health care, the fossil fuel industry still spent $120 million to weaken energy bills in their favor, and back skeptics. Their biggest fear is that the more green sector jobs created the more people realize a quick green economic fix  with the added bonus of cleaner air, water, and food. And the more the green sector grows the lower the costs of alternative energy. The opportunities are great and varied. As the New York Times stated: “Everyone from energy-efficiency consultants to wastewater plant operators” will be needed.

The green sector might do well to disavow itself from the global climate arena and stand on its own merits. In and of itself green industry should be viewed as competition for the fossil fuel industry, part of America’s free market system, and a vehicle for creating a plethora of jobs quickly. U.S. economic health hinges on our ability to constantly move forward, improve, and produce not only for greatest profit but with concern for citizen’s health.

The question posed to our citizenry should be, “Do you want green jobs now that will mean a secure future for all,  or continue with polluting industry and an uncertain future? Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy, the top levels deal with respect for others and from others.  The Copenhagen conference started out with controversy when developing nations walked out of talks due to disdain for countries like the U.S. who are simply not doing enough.  Americans are not thinking about “respect” for or from others, a shame since we do have a great opportunity at this time to cover all bases—create jobs and get back to work, become secure homeowners again, and be creative spontaneous innovators that garner respect from the world again because we have shown that same respect.

As for the skeptics, until they can explain

  • The massive iceberg floating past a drought stricken Australia
  • The complaints of almost ½ million people on the island nations of Kiribati and the Maldives that the sea is rising
  • The melting glaciers everywhere that are already causing water shortages in some countries

SEEING IS STILL BELIEVING

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Posted in Alternative Energy, Conservation, Countries/Continents, Environment and Jobs, Environmentalism, Food, Global Warming, Green Investments, Health, Industry, Morality, Pollution, Science, Weather/Climate | No Comments »

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