By Matt Kinnaman
Article Launched: 10/10/2008 10:33:02 AM EDT
Friday, October 10
Halloween came early on Capitol Hill this year, with tons of special-interest treats and pet projects bundled in the bailout, creating a very scary situation for taxpaying workers, entrepreneurs and everyday Main Street Americans.
The financial framework is crumbling, the Dow is tanking, but politics as usual has never been in better shape.
Under congressional oversight, the bailout bill, aka the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008," metastasized from three pages to 451. It now buries American taxpayers under mountains of new debt obligations while ladling goodies left and right.
Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer got his in there. For seven years he has pushed uphill to get commuters' bicycles recognized as a worthy object of tax credits, via Blumenauer's Bike Commuter Act. Last week, he finally succeeded, when the Bike Commuter Act was squirreled away in the bailout bill, along with many other favored nuggets, including a production tax credit for wind energy, an investment tax credit for solar energy and a tax credit for the purchase of small wind turbines.
At precisely the moment when huge new American nuclear and carbon energy initiatives are required to meet the needs of humankind, Congress produced an economic rescue plan that includes getting more people to ride bikes to work. Didn't even communist countries realize long ago that this is no way to build the future?
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experiments of history notwithstanding, our lawmakers decided last week that if you ride your bike to work in 2009, you can be reimbursed up to $20 per month, tax-free, "for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during such calendar year for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee's residence and place of employment."
Tax incentives for the purchase, repair and storage of bikes? To meet our unprecedented economic challenges? Does this mean slower is better, and that slower with less gasoline burned is even better yet?
On the Interstate, at 65 mph, a driver moves 10 miles in just over nine minutes. If the speed limit is reduced to 55 mph, as some congressmen have recently proposed, the 10-mile Interstate drive would take almost 11 minutes. And a now-tax-incentivized 10-mile bicycle commute to work, at an average speed of 15 miles per hour, takes 40 minutes.
Another Oregonian, scientist Dr. Noah Robinson, presented a recent analysis of the economic impact of commuting at slower speeds:
"Assuming an increased fuel efficiency of 10 percent in slowing from 65 to 55 and $3.30 for regular gas, this works out -- for an American driving an 18 mile-per-gallon SUV -- to a savings of $5.78 per hour for the extra driving time -- which is lower than the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour. If, however, one drives a fuel-efficient automobile getting 35 miles per gallon, the savings is only $3.06 per hour, less than half the federal minimum wage. Moreover, assuming the same amount of travel, the roads would be 18 percent more crowded. So, the 55 mile-per-hour proposal would require Americans to spend 18 percent more time in highway driving, at savings below the minimum wage for that extra time."
Continuing the reasoning, it's easy enough to figure out that, in the economics of bicycling to work, if the cyclist left his 18 mile-per-gallon SUV in the garage, he would save $1.83 in gas expenses during his 10-mile, 40-minute commute. Then again, if he was previously ozone-conscious and had purchased a 46-mile-per-gallon Prius instead of a Yukon, his 10-mile bike ride would save him only 72 cents in gas purchases. But his losses would negate his gains. Even on secondary roads, where car travel averages only 30 miles per hour, the minimum wage-earning 15 mph bicycle commuter actually loses at least 19 percent more in lost wage-earning time than what he gains in fuel savings.
When extrapolated across the human landscape, incentivizing slower commutes creates a net negative economic effect due to lost earning potential, lost productivity and lower GDP, which means less earnings, less food, less shelter, fewer human services, less charity and lower tax revenues.
During the Democratic National Convention, Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana exulted that "Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one that you don't use!" Congress, rapidly increasing socialist-structured debt while incentivizing the slowing of individual enterprise, evidently agrees.
It is only the entire historical narrative of human progress that refutes them.
Matt Kinnaman of Lee writes his column every week for the Transcript.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Saturday, November 3, 2007
enviroment global warming
Welcome to the Environmental Action Blog! Here you can keep up with current environmental issues and green energy news! Are you interested in topics like water conservation and ocean pollution? How about preventing overpopulation or environmental protection? This is the place for you! Check back often!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Ecopatches and Ecological Conservation
It is unfortunate that almost every city and town in the world is being built upon every day, but there will always be small patches that will represent the native vegetation and soil that has always been there. The sizes of these patches can range greatly, and if the portion is big enough, it is necessary to conserve part of it. This can be done by providing the missing plant and animal species that were once there. Obviously, some animals may be too large to bring into these areas and that is why they are better off left in their natural environments.If the portion of land is not big enough to conserve, then it is necessary to take the vegetation and soil and bring it to a designated area, also known as an ecopatch. For example, if the town or city is mostly comprised of concrete, then areas near drainage ditches or private lands must be searched in order to find the surviving forms of vegetation and plant life. This vegetation can help provide support for species such as fauna, which survives on things like insects, earthworms, microorganisms and algae.If you wish to find out about a tree species that has been lost over time, check with locals in the town or city and search for recorded evidence. Once you know the tree species that used to exist in the area, you can search for seeds from the same type of tree by visiting a forest nursery or a nearby piece of land in the same vicinity.Ecological conservation is extremely important, especially in terms of saving native pieces of land that may be built on in the future. By creating ecopatches, we are making sure that different pieces of land survive forever.
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: ecological conservation
posted by William at 10:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Waste of water!
Being myself no great sports fan I to my great surprise found out that The FIS Ski Cross Country Worldcup began its’ season 2007/2008 in Düsseldorf, again, and this for the 4th time !
Snow in Dusseldorf at this time of the year?!?
End of October a mild autumn, in the middle of the Old town down by the river Rhine?When the leaves still are green?
Becoming curious I googled the event and found the official site and read on.
What a waste of energy and resources!
The event was proud to, on their official site, announce that they are the only event of the cross country World championship season to have a 100% guarantee for snow. The needed 3000 cubic metres of snow for the track is made out of 1500 cubic meters "pure drinking-water without any chemical additives". The same amount of water to fill a common 50m swimming pool and the manufacturing of the snow is begun 100 days ahead of the World Cup and the track itself is handmade.
Okay, cleaning the water, making it freeze, storing it cold in order to have the needed amount, moving the snow into place of the track, hand making the track, how much does this cost in energy resources?Or money for that matter?
And there is lack of pure drinking water in many areas of the world!
I have been feeling bad about it as there is no alternative when showering living in apartment in Finland as the municipalities supply you with water and it is all pure drinking water but this unbelievable wast of resources.
One thing comes to mind though, they are absolutely right, good that the water used is pure and does not pollute the river Rhine in any way as it is quite polluted already. No more additional pollution of the water except for maybe some substances washed down by the melting snow on its’ way down the banks into the river below.
-------------------
You can check out the facts out yourself at the provided link to the official cite of The FIS Ski Cross Country Worldcup in Düsseldorf at: http://www.worldcup-duesseldorf.de/index.php?id=35&L=1To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: water conservation
posted by MonaO at 4:07 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, October 29, 2007
France Jumps Forward With Energy Conservation Efforts
The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has implemented the "ecological New Deal" which includes several energy conservation proposals that he feels cannot be delayed much longer. In an effort to fight global warming, the proposals state that certain changes will occur like removing incandescent light bulbs from cafes, producing only cars and television sets that conserve energy, and getting rid of drafty windows in buildings and other establishments.
Of course, former U.S. vice president Al Gore was also present at this event so that he could show his support for France's new energy guidelines. Gore also feels that other countries should follow France's example so that we can all put a halt to this "planetary emergency."
"We have waited too long. We cannot wait any longer," President Sarkozy has mentioned multiple times to many different farmers, activists, unions, government officials and businesses that have been trying to protect the environment in France for years.
Roughly 12 guidelines will be sent to Parliament so that they can be voted on during the early weeks of next year. Parliament, which is controlled by President Sarkozy's party, will more than likely accept and pass these proposals.
President Sarkozy mentioned that by the year 2020, new buildings and structures will be required to remain "energy positive, meaning they will produce more energy than they consume."
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: energy conservation
posted by William at 10:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
New Global Warming Threat
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7FVZSUsT-Ws
Watch video after reading article
The numerous effects of global warming has been reiterated to us time and time again. yet many of the world economies are standing by without taking drastic action while there is still time. The earth is in one of its worst periods in its history. The evidence is far too clear for us to ignore. Record numbers of hurricanes, highest temperatures, catastrophic flooding and the list goes on. But now we have a new threat to worry about. Here is new information arising from MIT.A novel MIT study concludes that increasing levels of ozone due to the growing use of fossil fuels will damage global vegetation, resulting in serious costs to the world's economy.
The analysis, reported in the November issue of Energy Policy, focused on how three environmental changes (increases in temperature, carbon dioxide and ozone) associated with human activity will affect crops, pastures and forests. The research shows that increases in temperature and in carbon dioxide may actually benefit vegetation, especially in northerntemperate regions. However, those benefits may be more than offset by the detrimental effects of increases in ozone, notably on crops. Ozone is a form of oxygen that is an atmospheric pollutant at ground level. The economic cost of the damage will be moderated by changes in land use and by agricultural trade, with some regions more able to adapt than others. But the overall economic consequences will be considerable. According to the analysis, if nothing is done, by 2100 the global value of crop production will fall by 10 to 12 percent."Even assuming that best-practice technology for controlling ozone is adopted worldwide, we see rapidly rising ozone concentrations in the coming decades," said John M. Reilly, associate director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. "That result is both surprising and worrisome."
While others have looked at how changes in climate and in carbon dioxide concentrations may affect vegetation, Reilly and colleagues added to that mix changes in tropospheric ozone. Moreover, they looked at the combined impact of all three environmental "stressors" at once. (Changes in ecosystems and human health and other impacts of potential concern are outside the scope of this study.)
They performed their analysis using the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, which combines linked state-of-the-art economic, climate and agricultural computer models to project emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone precursors based on human activity and natural systems. Expected and unexpected findings
Results for the impacts of climate change and rising carbon dioxide concentrations (assuming business as usual, with no emissions restrictions) brought few surprises. For example, the estimated carbon dioxide and temperature increases would benefit vegetation in much of the world.
The effects of ozone are decidedly different.Without emissions restrictions, growing fuel combustion worldwide will push global average ozone up 50 percent by 2100. That increase will have a disproportionately large impact on vegetation because ozone concentrations in many locations will rise abovethe critical level where adverse effects are observed in plants and ecosystems.Crops are hardest hit. Model predictions show that ozone levels tend to be highest in regions where crops are grown. In addition, crops are particularly sensitive to ozone, in part because they are fertilized. "When crops are fertilized, their stomata open up,and they suck in more air. And the more air they suck in, the more ozone damage occurs," said Reilly. "It's a little like going out and exercising really hard on a high-ozone day."What is the net effect of the three environmental changes? Without emissions restrictions, yields from forests and pastures decline slightly or even increase because of the climate and carbon dioxide effects. But crop yields fall by nearly 40 percentworldwide.However, those yield losses do not translate directly into economic losses. According to the economic model, the world adapts byallocating more land to crops. That adaptation, however, comes at a cost. The use of additional resources brings a global economicloss of 10-12 percent of the total value of crop production.The regional viewGlobal estimates do not tell the whole story, however, as regional impacts vary significantly.For example, northern temperate regions generally benefit from climate change because higher temperatures extend their growingseason. However, the crop losses associated with high ozone concentrations will be significant. In contrast, the tropics, alreadywarm, do not benefit from further warming, but they are not as hard hit by ozone damage because ozone-precursor emissions arelower in the tropics.The net result: regions such as the United States, China and Europe would need to import food, and supplying those imports would be a benefit to tropical countries.Reilly warns that the study's climate projections may be overly optimistic. The researchers are now incorporating a more realistic climate simulation into their analysis.Reilly's colleagues are from MIT and the Marine Biological Laboratory.The research was supported by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation,NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of GlobalChange.Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (2007, October 29). Human-generated Ozone Will Damage Crops, Reduce Production.
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
posted by vegeta200437 at 9:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, October 26, 2007
Environmental Action Bloggers Needed!
Our little Environmental Action blog is blowing up! We have been recognized by Google itself as a "Blog of Note" in their Blogger Buzz. This is huge. We're getting tons of traffic and lots of comments; that means people are reading!We would like to open this blog up to new posters! Anybody that would like to contribute to this blog needs:1) a Gmail account.This is what you do: contact webmaster@neekam.com with your Gmail account address. Put ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION BLOG in the Subject line. We will invite you into the blog and then notify you. You can then log into Google and go to Blogger. You will see Environmental Action there. You can post about whatever you want, provided that it is on the topic.Let's take this thing to another level!Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: Environmental action
posted by Environmental Action Blog at 10:41 AM 4 Comments Links to this post
Food And Drink Federation Starts Their Environmental Action Plan
Representatives of the Food and Drink Federation have given a jump-start to their environmental action plan, which was created with intentions of benefiting our earth in various ways. This new plan includes several commitments of FDF members, which are listed below:
1. Achieve a twenty percent decrease in CO2 emissions by the year 2010, and follow up with a thirty percent decrease by the year 2020.
2. Decrease the amount of packaging materials being provided to consumers by the year 2010, which will be of great assistance to the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP).
3. Reach a large target in the industry to decrease water use by twenty percent by the year 2020.
4. Create regulations with transportation contracts in order to lower the amount of environmentally harmful food miles.
The FDF works with manufacturers and trade organizations in the food and drink sectors of the UK. Both environmental organizations and the food and drink industry see this plan as a very positive thing.
Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: Environmental action
posted by William at 9:26 AM 1 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Royal Bank of Canada Plans to Make Hefty Donation to Help Water Conservation
The Royal Bank of Canada, or RBC, mentioned this week that it is going to make a donation of fifty million dollars to help with water conservation. The money will be donated over the course of ten years.
The donation is being referred to as the RBC Blue Water Project, and it will aid water conservation projects and clean drinking water goals in Canada as well as other parts of the globe.
Possibly not the largest, but one of the most recent memorable donations by a Canadian was 105 million dollars, which was given to McMaster University by businessman Michael DeGroote. This information was provided by spokesperson Lisa Hartford, a representative of Imagine Canada.
Hartford mentioned that the Royal Bank of Canada's donation is "certainly up there," when referring to whether or not it will be the largest one given by a Canadian company. Imagine Canada also provided data from 2003, which showed that 112 billion dollars was given to Canadian charitable organizations in the form of donations, grants and sponsorships. Of this 112 billion, roughly 3 percent was given by corporations.
An issue such as water conservation should not be taken lightly, and it is good to see that a successful corporation like RBC is willing to make such an amazing contribution to it. Hopefully they will set an example for other corporations to start coming forward with donations that can help serious issues like this one.
Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: water conservation
posted by William at 2:48 PM 3 Comments Links to this post
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Thursday, November 1, 2007
Ecopatches and Ecological Conservation
It is unfortunate that almost every city and town in the world is being built upon every day, but there will always be small patches that will represent the native vegetation and soil that has always been there. The sizes of these patches can range greatly, and if the portion is big enough, it is necessary to conserve part of it. This can be done by providing the missing plant and animal species that were once there. Obviously, some animals may be too large to bring into these areas and that is why they are better off left in their natural environments.If the portion of land is not big enough to conserve, then it is necessary to take the vegetation and soil and bring it to a designated area, also known as an ecopatch. For example, if the town or city is mostly comprised of concrete, then areas near drainage ditches or private lands must be searched in order to find the surviving forms of vegetation and plant life. This vegetation can help provide support for species such as fauna, which survives on things like insects, earthworms, microorganisms and algae.If you wish to find out about a tree species that has been lost over time, check with locals in the town or city and search for recorded evidence. Once you know the tree species that used to exist in the area, you can search for seeds from the same type of tree by visiting a forest nursery or a nearby piece of land in the same vicinity.Ecological conservation is extremely important, especially in terms of saving native pieces of land that may be built on in the future. By creating ecopatches, we are making sure that different pieces of land survive forever.
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: ecological conservation
posted by William at 10:12 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Waste of water!
Being myself no great sports fan I to my great surprise found out that The FIS Ski Cross Country Worldcup began its’ season 2007/2008 in Düsseldorf, again, and this for the 4th time !
Snow in Dusseldorf at this time of the year?!?
End of October a mild autumn, in the middle of the Old town down by the river Rhine?When the leaves still are green?
Becoming curious I googled the event and found the official site and read on.
What a waste of energy and resources!
The event was proud to, on their official site, announce that they are the only event of the cross country World championship season to have a 100% guarantee for snow. The needed 3000 cubic metres of snow for the track is made out of 1500 cubic meters "pure drinking-water without any chemical additives". The same amount of water to fill a common 50m swimming pool and the manufacturing of the snow is begun 100 days ahead of the World Cup and the track itself is handmade.
Okay, cleaning the water, making it freeze, storing it cold in order to have the needed amount, moving the snow into place of the track, hand making the track, how much does this cost in energy resources?Or money for that matter?
And there is lack of pure drinking water in many areas of the world!
I have been feeling bad about it as there is no alternative when showering living in apartment in Finland as the municipalities supply you with water and it is all pure drinking water but this unbelievable wast of resources.
One thing comes to mind though, they are absolutely right, good that the water used is pure and does not pollute the river Rhine in any way as it is quite polluted already. No more additional pollution of the water except for maybe some substances washed down by the melting snow on its’ way down the banks into the river below.
-------------------
You can check out the facts out yourself at the provided link to the official cite of The FIS Ski Cross Country Worldcup in Düsseldorf at: http://www.worldcup-duesseldorf.de/index.php?id=35&L=1To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: water conservation
posted by MonaO at 4:07 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, October 29, 2007
France Jumps Forward With Energy Conservation Efforts
The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has implemented the "ecological New Deal" which includes several energy conservation proposals that he feels cannot be delayed much longer. In an effort to fight global warming, the proposals state that certain changes will occur like removing incandescent light bulbs from cafes, producing only cars and television sets that conserve energy, and getting rid of drafty windows in buildings and other establishments.
Of course, former U.S. vice president Al Gore was also present at this event so that he could show his support for France's new energy guidelines. Gore also feels that other countries should follow France's example so that we can all put a halt to this "planetary emergency."
"We have waited too long. We cannot wait any longer," President Sarkozy has mentioned multiple times to many different farmers, activists, unions, government officials and businesses that have been trying to protect the environment in France for years.
Roughly 12 guidelines will be sent to Parliament so that they can be voted on during the early weeks of next year. Parliament, which is controlled by President Sarkozy's party, will more than likely accept and pass these proposals.
President Sarkozy mentioned that by the year 2020, new buildings and structures will be required to remain "energy positive, meaning they will produce more energy than they consume."
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: energy conservation
posted by William at 10:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
New Global Warming Threat
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7FVZSUsT-Ws
Watch video after reading article
The numerous effects of global warming has been reiterated to us time and time again. yet many of the world economies are standing by without taking drastic action while there is still time. The earth is in one of its worst periods in its history. The evidence is far too clear for us to ignore. Record numbers of hurricanes, highest temperatures, catastrophic flooding and the list goes on. But now we have a new threat to worry about. Here is new information arising from MIT.A novel MIT study concludes that increasing levels of ozone due to the growing use of fossil fuels will damage global vegetation, resulting in serious costs to the world's economy.
The analysis, reported in the November issue of Energy Policy, focused on how three environmental changes (increases in temperature, carbon dioxide and ozone) associated with human activity will affect crops, pastures and forests. The research shows that increases in temperature and in carbon dioxide may actually benefit vegetation, especially in northerntemperate regions. However, those benefits may be more than offset by the detrimental effects of increases in ozone, notably on crops. Ozone is a form of oxygen that is an atmospheric pollutant at ground level. The economic cost of the damage will be moderated by changes in land use and by agricultural trade, with some regions more able to adapt than others. But the overall economic consequences will be considerable. According to the analysis, if nothing is done, by 2100 the global value of crop production will fall by 10 to 12 percent."Even assuming that best-practice technology for controlling ozone is adopted worldwide, we see rapidly rising ozone concentrations in the coming decades," said John M. Reilly, associate director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. "That result is both surprising and worrisome."
While others have looked at how changes in climate and in carbon dioxide concentrations may affect vegetation, Reilly and colleagues added to that mix changes in tropospheric ozone. Moreover, they looked at the combined impact of all three environmental "stressors" at once. (Changes in ecosystems and human health and other impacts of potential concern are outside the scope of this study.)
They performed their analysis using the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, which combines linked state-of-the-art economic, climate and agricultural computer models to project emissions of greenhouse gases and ozone precursors based on human activity and natural systems. Expected and unexpected findings
Results for the impacts of climate change and rising carbon dioxide concentrations (assuming business as usual, with no emissions restrictions) brought few surprises. For example, the estimated carbon dioxide and temperature increases would benefit vegetation in much of the world.
The effects of ozone are decidedly different.Without emissions restrictions, growing fuel combustion worldwide will push global average ozone up 50 percent by 2100. That increase will have a disproportionately large impact on vegetation because ozone concentrations in many locations will rise abovethe critical level where adverse effects are observed in plants and ecosystems.Crops are hardest hit. Model predictions show that ozone levels tend to be highest in regions where crops are grown. In addition, crops are particularly sensitive to ozone, in part because they are fertilized. "When crops are fertilized, their stomata open up,and they suck in more air. And the more air they suck in, the more ozone damage occurs," said Reilly. "It's a little like going out and exercising really hard on a high-ozone day."What is the net effect of the three environmental changes? Without emissions restrictions, yields from forests and pastures decline slightly or even increase because of the climate and carbon dioxide effects. But crop yields fall by nearly 40 percentworldwide.However, those yield losses do not translate directly into economic losses. According to the economic model, the world adapts byallocating more land to crops. That adaptation, however, comes at a cost. The use of additional resources brings a global economicloss of 10-12 percent of the total value of crop production.The regional viewGlobal estimates do not tell the whole story, however, as regional impacts vary significantly.For example, northern temperate regions generally benefit from climate change because higher temperatures extend their growingseason. However, the crop losses associated with high ozone concentrations will be significant. In contrast, the tropics, alreadywarm, do not benefit from further warming, but they are not as hard hit by ozone damage because ozone-precursor emissions arelower in the tropics.The net result: regions such as the United States, China and Europe would need to import food, and supplying those imports would be a benefit to tropical countries.Reilly warns that the study's climate projections may be overly optimistic. The researchers are now incorporating a more realistic climate simulation into their analysis.Reilly's colleagues are from MIT and the Marine Biological Laboratory.The research was supported by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation,NASA, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of GlobalChange.Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (2007, October 29). Human-generated Ozone Will Damage Crops, Reduce Production.
To link to this blog please email Barbara ClarkFind a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
posted by vegeta200437 at 9:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, October 26, 2007
Environmental Action Bloggers Needed!
Our little Environmental Action blog is blowing up! We have been recognized by Google itself as a "Blog of Note" in their Blogger Buzz. This is huge. We're getting tons of traffic and lots of comments; that means people are reading!We would like to open this blog up to new posters! Anybody that would like to contribute to this blog needs:1) a Gmail account.This is what you do: contact webmaster@neekam.com with your Gmail account address. Put ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION BLOG in the Subject line. We will invite you into the blog and then notify you. You can then log into Google and go to Blogger. You will see Environmental Action there. You can post about whatever you want, provided that it is on the topic.Let's take this thing to another level!Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: Environmental action
posted by Environmental Action Blog at 10:41 AM 4 Comments Links to this post
Food And Drink Federation Starts Their Environmental Action Plan
Representatives of the Food and Drink Federation have given a jump-start to their environmental action plan, which was created with intentions of benefiting our earth in various ways. This new plan includes several commitments of FDF members, which are listed below:
1. Achieve a twenty percent decrease in CO2 emissions by the year 2010, and follow up with a thirty percent decrease by the year 2020.
2. Decrease the amount of packaging materials being provided to consumers by the year 2010, which will be of great assistance to the Waste and Resources Action Program (WRAP).
3. Reach a large target in the industry to decrease water use by twenty percent by the year 2020.
4. Create regulations with transportation contracts in order to lower the amount of environmentally harmful food miles.
The FDF works with manufacturers and trade organizations in the food and drink sectors of the UK. Both environmental organizations and the food and drink industry see this plan as a very positive thing.
Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: Environmental action
posted by William at 9:26 AM 1 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Royal Bank of Canada Plans to Make Hefty Donation to Help Water Conservation
The Royal Bank of Canada, or RBC, mentioned this week that it is going to make a donation of fifty million dollars to help with water conservation. The money will be donated over the course of ten years.
The donation is being referred to as the RBC Blue Water Project, and it will aid water conservation projects and clean drinking water goals in Canada as well as other parts of the globe.
Possibly not the largest, but one of the most recent memorable donations by a Canadian was 105 million dollars, which was given to McMaster University by businessman Michael DeGroote. This information was provided by spokesperson Lisa Hartford, a representative of Imagine Canada.
Hartford mentioned that the Royal Bank of Canada's donation is "certainly up there," when referring to whether or not it will be the largest one given by a Canadian company. Imagine Canada also provided data from 2003, which showed that 112 billion dollars was given to Canadian charitable organizations in the form of donations, grants and sponsorships. Of this 112 billion, roughly 3 percent was given by corporations.
An issue such as water conservation should not be taken lightly, and it is good to see that a successful corporation like RBC is willing to make such an amazing contribution to it. Hopefully they will set an example for other corporations to start coming forward with donations that can help serious issues like this one.
Find a special deal on eBay or get a price break on Dish Network TV by visiting Barb's Freedom.
Labels: water conservation
posted by William at 2:48 PM 3 Comments Links to this post
Contributors
Environmental Action Blog
Joss Wells
MonaO
dodge72
Horatio Pepperwell
William
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Video Greenpeace A Convenient Solution Trailer - Greenpeace, renewable, energy, nuclear, drinking - Dailymotion Share Your Videos
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Energy and the Environment
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George Carlin - The Planet Is Fine
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Flying and the environment -- the EU leads the way
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30 Jul 07
AWESOME house made entirely out of Recycled Materials!
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Ecopatches and Ecological Conservation
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