Coal-fired corn ethanol plant: what's wrong with this picture?

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Wednesday March 07, 2007 · 7:02 AM PST

2007/03/07 · 07:02

Okay, I'll be upfront about my point of view. I think corn ethanol is a bad idea. Yesterday I read about the construction of a coal-fired, corn ethanol plant in Heron Lake, Minnesota. That's right, a group of farmer investors are behind a $97 million corn ethanol plant that will burn greenhouse gas producing coal in the process. Why are they doing this? Because the price of natural gas is increasing, and coal is cheaper. The Heron Lake plant, located in an area known for its duck hunting, will save $5 million each year by burning coal rather than natural gas.

imagine80

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Wednesday February 28, 2007 · 11:50 AM PST

2007/02/28 · 11:50

Some of the nicest people I know also live in urban sprawl. We are all creatures of our culture, we like big lots, open spaces and quiet, that's why we live in areas that provide these amenities. Everyone moves to their urban sprawl neighborhood hoping things will remain open and undeveloped. The things that attracted us here in the first place attract others, so the rural beauty that we loved is inevitably gobbled up by new development. But our world is changing, and our consciousness is changing because of what we know about global warming. It's time to stop doing business as usual.

imagine80

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Thursday October 26, 2006 · 5:25 PM PDT

2006/10/26 · 17:25

I've been thinking and writing a lot lately about how issues are framed, focusing primarily on environmental issues.

Yesterday I received an inflammatory mass mailing from friends of Minnesota State Senate candidate Brenda Johnson, raising fear and confusion about foreign immigrant workers. The campaign literature relied on language and images of fear, criminality and otherness, showing hazy images of people climbing over walls or through the holes in fences. It got me to thinking about how central framing, the use and misuse of language, is to what passes for political discourse. Read More

Why isn't global warming a political issue?

imagine80

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Wednesday October 18, 2006 · 6:54 PM PDT

2006/10/18 · 18:54

Yesterday's newsletter from Open Democracy writer James Crabtree is on the subject of global warming. It asks the question: why is discussion about such an important issue missing in the American elections? One of the reasons, Crabtree says, is that views about global warming are split along partisan lines. "Only 23% of Republicans think it's important, but more than half of Democrats do." Do Democrat message framers reason that they need Republican votes to win, and decide to avoid focusing on this issue for fear of alienating them? Or is it simply the fact that other issues are currently better at motivating political change? Read More

If you must travel, buy Green Tags

imagine80

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Friday October 13, 2006 · 9:09 AM PDT

2006/10/13 · 09:09

This summer, high gasoline prices got our attention, but did we change our driving behaviors? The author of an article in Business Week examined the data and observed that American's "Can't Stop Guzzling. " Gasoline consumption on July 4, 2006, was 2% higher than in the previous year. Now, three months later, gasoline prices have declined, further reducing any incentive to change our fuel consumption habits. Moreover, demand for oil in India and China continues to grow. Read More

Simplicity and Sustainability

imagine80

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Thursday October 12, 2006 · 8:15 AM PDT

2006/10/12 · 08:15

I went to a number of talks yesterday. I heard Robert Sweetgall speak at a local middle school. Sweetgall is a motivational speaker on the subject of walking. He has walked across America, and he got the crowd of 150 moving by throwing frisbees into the audience, creating competitive groups of walkers by age, and encouraging us to reveal our health concerns to the person we were sitting next to. The sweet simplicity of walking is something we all need to get back to.

The solutions we need to pay most attention to, in order to deal with the challenges we face, are the simplest ones. It would help if our elected officials and business leaders paid attention to these solutions, but most of them aren't, so it's up to all of us. Read More

Authoritarianism, Nonviolence and Peak Oil, Great Listening

imagine80

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Monday July 17, 2006 · 8:57 AM PDT

2006/07/17 · 08:57

The unfolding level of violence in the Middle East, and the resulting increases in oil prices have grabbed everyone's attention. Many of us must feel a sense of helplessness since our nationally elected officials lack credibility to come up with solutions, and our engrained national power structures only reinforce this status quo.

I thought I would share 3 excellent resources, radio listening opportunities that provide useful diagnoses and solutions.
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How Polluted is Your Air? An Organizing Tool for Democrats Around the US

imagine80

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Tuesday January 17, 2006 · 2:46 PM PST

2006/01/17 · 14:46

Much has been said about the failures of Democrats, progressives, and other people concerned about the environment to engage the general public in the seriousness of the issues affecting our air, water, and climate--or at least to take these concerns to the ballot box.

A friend recently sent me a link to a website that I think could be used as a potent organizing tool for Democrats around the country. It is called Scorecard, and it has a simple search vehicle you can use to enter your local zip code, and determine who the big polluters are in your county, the quantity of their annual emissions, and whether those emissions contain carcinogenic components.
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Coal-fired corn ethanol plant: what's wrong with this picture?

Global warming: I live in urban sprawl

Minnesota state senate candidate evokes fears about immigrants

Why isn't global warming a political issue?

If you must travel, buy Green Tags

Simplicity and Sustainability

Authoritarianism, Nonviolence and Peak Oil, Great Listening

How Polluted is Your Air? An Organizing Tool for Democrats Around the US