Welcome to the eKos Earthship, your one-stop-shop for green diaries and series.
Beneath the fold you will find news and notes, community announcements, and our eco-diary roundup.
Peruse the eKos Library to find previously listed diaries. You can also follow eKos on Twitter.
Today's editor: Hopeful Skeptic
For continuing info on the BP Gulf catastrophe Most recent Gulf-Watchers AUV
All views expressed by today's editor do not necessarily represent those of eKos or eKos listed diarists.
In today's edition of Editor's Choice I am going to highlight a diary that illustrated how easy and cheap it can be to have solar panels put on your home.
dotcommodity is inviting [SF] Bay Area Kossacks to come see her solar powered home
One thing I did right, at the beginning of this year was to finally go solar with a residential solar PPA and to sign up to be in the ASES Nationwide Solar Tour which is tomorrow, Saturday Oct 2nd.
If you are in the SF Bay Area, come on by to my house and see how easy it is in California now to do the right thing and send clean power to green-up the grid for the next 30-40 years.
And if you are too far away to come by our house, find the American Solar Energy Association Solar Home Tour in your neighborhood!
In nine states now, solar in some utility districts is free or cheaper than utility energy, thanks to The Recovery Act, in combination with laws in some states that now allow solar companies that offer solar leases or solar PPAs that compete directly with utilities, by selling power by the kilowatt-hour.
If you have the time today, it sounds like a great way to get excited about renewables and about taking personal responsibility for your energy needs!
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Have any of you considered how ironic it is that in severely flooded areas (think Katrina or Pakistan), fresh water is one of the things the people need most desperately?
Of course, this has to do with the fact that flood waters are either salty storm surges from the sea (Katrina) or are horribly contaminated raging rivers (Pakistan).
In those circumstances, it’s possible for a person to be literally drowning, while simultaneously dying of thirst... similar to the circumstances of the Ancient Mariner stranded at sea.
As many of you may already know, one of the largest and most urgent threats posed to human civilization by climate change is the rising level of the world's oceans.
Sea levels have risen about 20 cm(about 8 inches) over the last 100 years.
The oceans are further predicted to rise (PDF) somewhere between 18 to 59 cm (0.5 to 2 feet) by 2100.
While that may not sound like much, in low elevation locations that also face the possibility of increasingly violent storms, some low-lying countries such as the Maldives will be completely uninhabitable within as little as 50 years. In fact, leaders in the Maldives are already making plans to re-locate their entire population.
Populations in other countries have already started fleeing low-lying areas of their coasts.
No, this is not breaking news (In fact last week's diary hghlighted a related story)... but it's something worth mentioning again, and again.
Climate change is happening now, with real human costs.
Here's the other side of the catastrophic climate change coin (how’s that for alliteration, eh?): Climate change will exacerbate existing problems of water access:
billions at risk of 'water insecurity'
About 80% of the world's population lives in areas where the fresh water supply is not secure, according to a new global analysis.
Researchers compiled a composite index of "water threats" that includes issues such as scarcity and pollution.
The most severe threat category encompasses 3.4 billion people
Looking at the "raw threats" to people's water security - the "natural" picture [above] - much of western Europe and North America appears to be under high stress.
However, when the impact of the infrastructure that distributes and conserves water is added in - the "managed" picture [below] - most of the serious threat disappears from these regions.
Africa, however, moves in the opposite direction.
So, millions of people will be forced to flee rising waters, while millions of other people (or perhaps some of the same people) will die from lack of fresh, clean water.
Welcome to the globally changing climate. It is not pretty.
What are you doing to lessen your personal environmental impact and CO2 footprint??
Here is what some other people are doing: Making cars that get over 100 MPG.
The winners of the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize.
The $5 million "Mainstream" category winner:
Edison 2 for their "Very Light Car". (Four seats and over 100 MPG. WOW!)
The winners of the two seater prizes of $2.5 million each:
li-ion motors for their Wave II (side by side).
X-Tracer for their E-Tracer 7009 (tandem)
Quick note on the false start yesterday: There is a video circulating that was designed by an environmental group. Unfortunately, it was so poorly thought out that it actually undermines the message most environmentalists would like to make.
When that video was posted in the comments of yesterday’s diary, the comment thread became focused on the video, rather than the diary content. So, this is a re-post of yesterday’s content to encourage readers to read and discuss the issues the editor intended.
There have been other DKos diaries focused on discussing the video. This diary is not one of them.
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.
Learn Warren's letter writing technique here. Be sure to steal his stuffand visit his blog.
Month 9, Day 28: He’s Riiiiiiiiiiiiight.
The Seattle Times ran an AP story on Governor Schwarzenegger’s remarks about the companies promoting Proposition 23 in California.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday blasted the out-of-state oil companies that are trying to undermine California’s global warming law, saying they are motivated purely by greed.
Companies such as Valero Energy Corp., Tesoro Corp. and Koch Industries are spending millions of dollars to manipulate the will of Californians and "buy votes," the Republican governor told the Commonwealth Club.
Their motivation, he said, is "self-serving greed."
The Governator may be an idiot in many ways, but he’s on the money here.
Governor Schwarzenegger is exactly correct in his description of the corporations which are pumping money into California’s electoral process. Valero Energy Corp., Tesoro Corp. and Koch Industries are motivated entirely by greed — and a particularly short-sighted greed at that. By focusing entirely on profit in the short term, these corporations are endangering the natural ecosystems which sustain human civilization. Catastrophic climate change is not an abstract threat to some unspecified future generation; it’s happening right now in Pakistan (whose government may well be the first political casualty of anthropogenic global heating), and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. An economy shattered by climate chaos won’t be able to support major extractive industries; in their support of California’s Proposition 23, Valero, Tesoro and Koch are undermining their own chances of continued existence in the longer term. Along with ours.
Warren Senders
Getty Images
The floods in Pakistan have killed an estimated 1400, and left 1.5 million homeless. Please help if you can. From our last Earthship:
After the worst floods in Pakistan in 80 years, the situation is desperate. Official figures now speak of more than 3 million people who have been directly affected by the floods, with more than 1,400 confirmed deaths. Millions of people have been left homeless, isolated, in desperate need of shelter, water, food and medical attention. Roads and bridges have been washed away and many of the areas are unreachable via land, leaving the inhabitants isolated and in desperate need of assistance.
The immediate challenges for MSF are to expand activities relating to the provision of clean water and to improve hygienic conditions, in order to prevent the spread of acute respiratory infections and potentially fatal epidemics of diarrhea and cholera.
MSF’s response in Pakistan relies on the donations it receives. With your help, we can dispatch more help to the millions in need. But we need you to act immediately.
TAKE 15 SECONDS TO MAKE A DONATION AND SAVE A LIFE.
THANK YOU FOR HELP.
Annoucements
If you love th environment, and have a couple hours to spare... consider becoming an eKos editor!!
You can e-mail us at eKos350atgmaildotcom to let us know you're interested.
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, October 01, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
Another slap on the wrist for big polluter BP | DWG | 8:59:00 PM | BP, Texas City refinery, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Department of Justice |
Gulf Watchers Block Party, on Account of... | Yasuragi | 7:32:38 PM | Gulf Watchers, community, eKos |
Bay Area Kossacks: Drop by My House in the Solar Tour Tomorrow | dotcommodity | 3:04:56 PM | home solar, solar, ekos, climate, filibuster |
Glancing at temerature records ... hot and getting hotter | A Siegel | 2:53:11 PM | temperature, ekos, climate, climate change |
Global WarNing | LaughingPlanet | 2:28:05 PM | eKos, climate change, global warming, 10/10/10, 350.org |
Using Dirt to Make Water Clean | NourishingthePlanet | 10:47:11 AM | ekos, Nourishing the Planet, State of the World, Innovation of the Week, Bio sand filter |
National Parks and American Indians: Mesa Verde | Ojibwa | 10:21:09 AM | National Parks, Mesa Verde National Park, American Indians, Ute Indians, history |
Republicans Hate Clean Air, Water and Think You're Stupid | Steven D | 10:13:25 AM | eKos, Climate Change, Clean Air Act, EPA, EPA Boiler Regulations |
Gulf Watchers Morning Edition - BP Catastrophe AUV #399 | Gulf Watchers | 6:00:00 AM | Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Macondo, Gulf of Mexico |
A Morning Muse: What do you think of this? Warning. | LaFeminista | 2:05:58 AM | A Morning Muse, climate change, ten percent, ekos |
eKos diaries from Thursday, September 30, 2010 |
Diary | Author | Time (Eastern) | Tags |
eKos: Astounding. Warning from our Elder Brothers | FishOutofWater | 10:29:07 PM | Recommended, eKos, climate change, anthropology, environment, environmental justice |
Tales from the Larder: Mushrooms, part 1 | Patric Juillet | 4:26:39 PM | Tales from the Larder, Food Series, Mushrooms, Fungi, Recipes |
EnergizeUS: Energy & Water- Introducing Rodney Glassman (AZ-Sen) | Energize US | 3:11:54 PM | EnergizeUS, Rodney Glassman, AZ-SEN, water, energy |
news from bill: 5429 10.10.10 events more than last year | boatsie | 2:31:45 PM | 350.org, 10.10.10, Global Day of Action, 10:10 global, ekos |
A Big Coal Ash Problem At Little Blue | Bruce Nilles | 12:50:11 PM | eKos, Sierra Club, coal, coal ash, West Virginia |
The Last Frontier's Struggle For Our Future: Climate Hero vs Climate Peacock and Climate Zombie | A Siegel | 10:45:35 AM | ak-sen, scott mcadams, joe miller, climate, lisa murkowski |
Gulf Watchers Morning Edition - BP Catastrophe AUV #398 | Gulf Watchers | 6:00:00 AM | Oilpocalypse, BP, Deepwater Horizon, Macondo, Gulf of Mexico |