Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Tonight's editor: LaughingPlanet
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First photo posted without comment.
Finalist in the Changing Climate group: Sue Floods' picture of the North Pole sign in melting ice and meltwater
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...
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Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
More Photos up top, cuz we need more beauty right now:
These 3 shots come courtesy of Gangster Octopus's great post today:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
A picture of an unprecedented congregation of Munkiana Devil Rays in Baja California Sur has won Florian Schulz the prestigious 2010 title of The Environmental Photographer of the Year.
Winner Under 21 group "Fortune Teller" by Radoslav Radoslavov Valkov:
Finalist in the Underwater group, "Birthplace" by Bela Nnasfay. Tadpoles are waiting for the moment of their birth.
Top Story:
One nation begins its "Plan B" move.
How will the rest of us do the same?
Have we found "Planet B" yet?
As a tiny island nation makes a big sacrifice, will the rest of the world follow suit?
Rhett A. Butler, mongabay.com
September 15, 2010
Kiribati, a small nation consisting of 33 Pacific island atolls, is forecast to be among the first countries swamped by rising sea levels. Nevertheless, the country recently made an astounding commitment: it closed over 150,000 square miles of its territory to fishing, an activity that accounts for nearly half the government's tax revenue. What moved the tiny country to take this monumental action? President Anote Tong, says Kiribati ("Kir-ee-bas") is sending a message to the world: "We need to make sacrifices to provide a future for our children and grandchildren."
President Tong isn't mincing his words. Kiribati looks to make the ultimate sacrifice by mid-century, when much of the country is projected to be largely uninhabitable. Rising seas will contaminate freshwater supplies, ruin agriculture lands, and erode beaches and villages, forcing its people to flee. Kiribati has done nothing to earn this fate—its greenhouse gas emissions are negligible and its population barely tops 100,000. Yet it is already looking at buying land in other countries for eventual resettlement of a substantial proportion of its population.
A follow up from a diary not long ago:
America's First Oil Sands Project in Utah to Face Legal Challenges
Developer claims project will produce no toxic waste but water worries persist for project one permit away from breaking ground
By Stacy Feldman
Sep 24, 2010
A plan to strip-mine oil sands crude on U.S. land for the first time in northeastern Utah is facing legal challenge.
Through a legal appeal, a pair of local environmental groups are working to overturn a decision earlier this month by John Baza, director of the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (UDOGM). He upheld a permit approval for a 62-acre mine in the remote Uinta Basin of the Colorado Plateau.
Should the legal option fail, the groups said they are determined to block the project – by whatever "peaceful" means.
"We're not willing to accept it," Tim DeChristopher, founder of the Salt Lake City-based environmental group Peaceful Uprising, told SolveClimate News. "If it means we have to blockade the site, we'll do what we have to do."
Hope for a small crumb instead of a slice of bread?
Renewable Electricity Promotion Act of 2010 Introduced into Senate
WASHINGTON—If the winds blow the way Sen. Jeff Bingaman is predicting, it will mean Congress has the fortitude, gumption—and most importantly the Republican votes—to make a 15 percent renewable electricity standard a reality during the lame-duck session after the midterm election.
Though the New Mexico Democrat was flanked by just one Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, when he announced the introduction of the measure at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday afternoon, he told reporters he is confident other GOP senators will follow suit.
Via Grist:
http://www.grist.org/...
Texas guv candidate Bill White talks wind, solar, and urban planning
Q. A broader question: Building a sustainable economy is going to require more than just tweaks to our existing system. Are Texans willing to do what science requires on global warming and other ecological limits? And are you willing to talk to them about just how urgent this is?
A. I think there's a matter of personal responsibility involved in our consumption decisions. One of the greatest motivators Texans have for more energy efficiency is viewing cost as an enemy. That's the way we brought about, in Houston, a strong bipartisan consensus for some of the most aggressive commercial energy codes. We started with the Chamber of Commerce and with the design community, making sure there was adequate capacity, and then we started building all city buildings to be LEED certified. Awareness set in among the commercial building owners that tenants want to be in an energy-efficient building. When you have stable occupancy costs, less subject to upward pressures on utility prices, you can plan for the future.
I believe that energy efficiency done right has a strong economic rationale and that it also has environmental benefits. When you put the discussion in those terms, I find that you have an easier time finding common ground. It's easier to convince people that they should avoid traffic congestion and save more of their time by living closer to where they work, than simply by making the environmental case. But when they do live closer to where they work, there are environmental benefits.
Smart schools?
Whoodathunkit!?!
Cutting Schools’ Energy Waste and Bills
By ANDREW C. REVKIN
The Clinton Global Initiative, which just completed its fifth conference, has become a bustling bazaar for ideas and investments aimed at making the world a better place. This week it indeed had the feel of a crowded marketplace.
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One project announced at the meeting is the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, whose partners plan to install super-efficient windows, digital environmental sensors and smart thermostats in 500 schools by 2012, involving students and teachers in the effort.
http://www.brighthub.com/...
Ecofont is an Eco-Friendly Typeface That Cuts Down Ink and Toner Costs
Ecofont as you can see in their logo, is an eco-friendly type of font that has a lot of holes in each letter printed. Up close, letters may come out a bit queer, but at regular font sizes of 9 and 10 and in some cases up to 12, the letters come out looking as if they were printed in the grayscale mode. Instead of using ink for those holes, the natural course of ink bleeding will fill them all up. That would mean a substantial portion of the ink you regularly use for printing texts was unused. This then reduces your ink consumption.
WarrenS made a New Year's Resolution to write a letter advocating climate action every day. The result is over two hundred letters to congresspeople, newspapers, President Obama, and more. Warren has even had letters published in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.
Month 9, Day 23: Variations on a Theme
The BP disaster was really the gift that kept on giving for a letter-writer. This goes to the New Orleans Times-Picayune in response to their article on BP’s inept handling of the spill.
Since BP’s low-ball estimates of flow rate were the ones accepted by the media and the Federal government, the profoundly inadequate response on both public and private levels is unsurprising. What is bizarre is how strongly Tony Hayward and the rest of the BP team appeared to believe their own misinformation, as if the power of a misleading number would somehow make millions of gallons of oil swiftly and suddenly vanish away. This global giant is either so incompetent it cannot measure its own work accurately, or it is so unethical that it would circulate misstatements and spin in order to avoid responsibility. That’s the choice, and it’s a pretty unappealing one. America needs an energy economy where citizens aren’t daily forced to support corporations whose behavior is stupid, malevolent or some combination of the two.
Warren Senders
Learn Warren's letter writing technique here. And be sure to steal his stuff!
From his blog:
http://www.credoaction.com/...
Become a citizen endorser of Stop Texas Oil: Hell no on 23
(Click the Pic) ========== >
Fighting the Texas oil companies who want to abolish California's landmark climate change law (AB 32) won't be easy. They have millions to throw at this race before the November election and we know they'll be outspending anyone in their way.
That doesn't mean they're going to win. Californians can defeat these Texas oil companies by showing how many of us oppose this dirty proposition, and exposing Prop 23 for what it is: an attempt by out-of-state oil executives to dictate California law, in spite of the will of millions of Californians.
Help show that California voters oppose this attempt by Texas oil companies to reverse our landmark global warming law. Sign on as a citizen endorser of the Stop Texas Oil: Hell No on 23 campaign.
Advertise here!
If you would like to make an announcement for an upcoming diary or event, please e-mail us at eKos350atgmaildotcom. Please send us formatted HTML!
(All times Eastern!)
eKos diaries from Friday, September 24, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
A Dirty Pledge | Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund | 3:07:57 PM | nrdc action fund, clean energy, climate change, global warming, pledge to america |
Environmental Photo of the Year | Gangster Octopus | 1:29:50 PM | eKos, Photography, Nature |
A Kentucky Community Surrounded by Coal Ash | Bruce Nilles | 11:41:57 AM | Sierra Club, coal, coal ash, Kentucky, EPA |
Gulf Watchers: Time for Change. Please comment. | ursoklevar | 11:39:36 AM | Gulf Watchers, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico |
Reality vs. Politics: Climate Change & Mass Extinction | Steven D | 11:15:34 AM | Climate Change, eKos, Extinction, Mass Extinction, Global Warming |
Ministers: Gays cause global warming | Cenobyte | 11:14:18 AM | Global warming, global climate change, LGBT, teh gayz, teh stoopid |
Putting a Stop to the Spreading Sands | NourishingthePlanet | 8:48:02 AM | ekos, Nourishing the Planet, State of the World, Innovation of the Week, Sahel |
HEMMED In - Green meets Clean | JanF | 8:04:17 AM | HEMMED In, environment, Green, phosphates, phosphorus |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 122 | Gulf Watchers | 5:59:50 AM | Recommended, Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
eKos diaries from Thursday, September 23, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
eKos: Arctic Sea Ice in Death Spiral - Min Volume Hit | FishOutofWater | 9:22:53 PM | Recommended, eKos, climate change, global warming, Arctic, Arctic sea ice |
The last most beautiful thing. | erratic | 8:20:49 PM | ekos, nature, monarch butterfly, beauty |
MN Documentary "Troubled Waters" WILL be shown! | Dr Envirocrat | 6:04:26 PM | agriculture, science, farming, documentary, eKos |
Don’t Do as the Senate Does – Act Now on Climate Change | jamesboyce | 5:26:59 PM | climate change, sustainability, clean energy, marion institute, greg mortenson |
Republicans promise inquisition of climate scientists | DWG | 5:24:53 PM | Darrell Issa, climate change, anti-science syndrome, Climate Zombies, James Hansen |
National Groups Support Unified North Coast Marine Protected Area Proposal | Dan Bacher | 12:41:05 PM | California, marine protected areas, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, corporate greenwashing, eKos |
350 eco-collapse jokes by 10/10/10 -- are you kidding? | mwmwm | 10:07:34 AM | humor, jokes, 350, 10/10/10, environment |
BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 121 | Gulf Watchers | 6:00:33 AM | Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Gulf of Mexico, LMRP |
The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part I - New GOP Campaign Slogan: Monosexuality=Bad | JekyllnHyde | 1:03:03 AM | Recommended, The Week in Editorial Cartoons, eKos, Republican Party, Teabaggers, Christine O'Donnell |
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