Palin’s Latest Lie: Alaska Provides 20% of America’s Energy Requirements

September 20th, 2008 Posted in Progressive Politics | No Comments »

In her interview with ABC News last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin asserted that Alaska “produces nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.” After FactCheck.org pointed out that Alaska is actually responsible for only 3.5 percent of the country’s domestic energy production, Palin began re-phrasing her claim. But in an interview with Sean Hannity on Wednesday McCain continued to repeat the debunked claim. Read more….

Huge, growing crack in Arctic glacier found

August 25th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News | No Comments »

Global warming sign? Huge Petermann glacier in Arctic is cracking
Associated Press

In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glacier, scientists said Thursday.

That has led the university professor who spotted the wounds in the massive Petermann glacier to predict disintegration of a major portion of the Northern Hemisphere’s largest floating glacier within the year.

The crack is 7 miles long and about half a mile wide. It is about half the width of the 500-square-mile floating part of the glacier. Other smaller fractures can be seen in images of the ice tongue, a long narrow sliver of the glacier.

“The pictures speak for themselves,” said Jason Box, a glacier expert at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University who spotted the changes while studying new satellite images.

“This crack is moving, and moving closer and closer to the front. It’s just a matter of time till a much larger piece is going to break off.”

Link to Full Story

Bush’s plan to kill the Endangered Species Act

August 12th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics | No Comments »

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WASHINGTON — Just months before President Bush leaves office, his administration is antagonizing environmentalists by proposing changes that would allow federal agencies to decide for themselves whether subdivisions, dams, highways and other projects have the potential to harm endangered animals and plants.

The proposal, first reported by The Associated Press, would cut out the advice of government scientists who have been weighing in on such decisions for 35 years. Agencies also could not consider a project’s contribution to global warming in their analysis.

Reaction was swift from Democrats and environmental groups.

The chairman of the House committee that oversees the Interior Department, Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., said he was “deeply troubled.” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., head of the Senate’s environment committee, said Bush’s plan was illegal. Environmentalists complained the proposals would gut protections for endangered animals and plants.

More….

The “Scientists” Behind Global Warming Denial

August 11th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News | 4 Comments »

globalwarmingThere is virtual iron clad agreement among experts that global warming is already happening and is caused by humans. The IPCC report is signed by the world’s most respected scientists and reflects a bonafide consensus. However, people like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are on the TV and radio daily, lying through their teeth, saying there is disagreement among scientists, even citing reports that refute the IPCC documents.

Even though their arguments are not based on fact, they succeed in creating just enough doubt in the collective consciousness of our country. They mock people who have devoted their lives to doing the research that could save our planet.

In 2007, a Newsweek Magazine reporter named Sharon Begley decided to delve into the Denial machine, to find out who is behind it and how it works. The results of her investigation are downright scary. There is a concerted, well funded, and well organized effort to insert disinformation and doubt into the media and public’s collective mind.

This article first appeared on the cover of Newsweek, exactly a year ago today. It’s one of those reports that needs to be revisited again and again, as the lies continue today. Only by exposing the machine that produces the untruths, and revealing their methods and motives, can we hope to wipe out their plan to put off the changes we desparately need to literally keep our planet inhabitable.

Excerpt and link to the full article follow

Since the late 1980s, this well-coordinated, well-funded campaign by contrarian scientists, free-market think tanks and industry has created a paralyzing fog of doubt around climate change. Through advertisements, op-eds, lobbying and media attention, greenhouse doubters (they hate being called deniers) argued first that the world is not warming; measurements indicating otherwise are flawed, they said. Then they claimed that any warming is natural, not caused by human activities. Now they contend that the looming warming will be minuscule and harmless. “They patterned what they did after the tobacco industry,” says former senator Tim Wirth, who spearheaded environmental issues as an under secretary of State in the Clinton administration. “Both figured, sow enough doubt, call the science uncertain and in dispute. That’s had a huge impact on both the public and Congress.”

Just last year, polls found that 64 percent of Americans thought there was “a lot” of scientific disagreement on climate change; only one third thought planetary warming was “mainly caused by things people do.” In contrast, majorities in Europe and Japan recognize a broad consensus among climate experts that greenhouse gases—mostly from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas to power the world’s economies—are altering climate. A new NEWSWEEK Poll finds that the influence of the denial machine remains strong. Although the figure is less than in earlier polls, 39 percent of those asked say there is “a lot of disagreement among climate scientists” on the basic question of whether the planet is warming; 42 percent say there is a lot of disagreement that human activities are a major cause of global warming. Only 46 percent say the greenhouse effect is being felt today.

Link to full article at Newsweek.com

Video from SolarFest

July 24th, 2008 Posted in Captain's Blog, Green Earth News | No Comments »

The folks at Brighter Planet made a video from SolarFest that shows the Solar Bus (and other great projects). Check it out!

Al Gore’s Challenge To America

July 21st, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News, Progressive Politics | No Comments »

Al Gore, at the Net Roots Convention, 7/17

Solar Bus in 4th of July Parade

July 8th, 2008 Posted in Captain's Blog | No Comments »

After watching the Richmond (VT) parade from the sidelines for the last couple years, I decided it was time for the Solar Bus to participate. Certainly it would be fun, and I was sure I could find a busload of kids interested in riding along and throwing candy out the windows. But even moreso, how about the exposure — the streets are lined Richmond residents. Think how many might see a lightbulb go off in their heads, thinking, “hey if that big bus can move without petroleum, maybe I can do something too.”

So we signed up and invited kids and the next thing we knew, we were waiting in line right behind the fire trucks.

I hooked up the PA system we use for bands to play on solar, so we had the ability to blast some music as we drove through town. I picked Jack Johnson’s “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” song from the Curious George movie. As I drove through town, people danced to the music, sang along, and nearly everyone gave us a BIG smile, almost as big as the bus!

After the parade, I parked the bus in the park for the day, where there were some food vendors and some small rides for kids. Lots of fun. Many people stopped by the bus to learn about what we’re doing and ask questions. Only one person left me wondering. As he and his wife just walked by the bus he muttered under his breath… “I hate solar energy.” Looking back it still makes me laugh. I never heard that one before. I’ve talked with folks who think it’s too expensive, not worth the investement, even one who was convinced that it was a scam and solar panels don’t really work. But never heard someone say “I hate solar energy.” Didn’t get a chance to discuss it with him, as he just continued on his way. I guess it just shows there’s work to do.

Click here for a slideshow of the parade.

 

New report on oil subsidies - $150 Billion !

July 5th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News | No Comments »

The Cato Institute, a libertarian think-thank, did a study on the subject. What they found is simply mind-boggling. They calculated that the US spent between $30 to $60 billion (with a ‘b’) a year safeguarding oil supplies in the Middle East during the 1990s, even though its imports from that region totaled only about $10 billion a year during that period. A more comprehensive study that includes the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and other oil protection services (the coast guard is clearing shipping lanes and doing navigational support to oil tankers, etc) shows that actual subsidies to Big Oil are between $78 to $158 billion (again, with a ‘b’) per year.

Click for reference

No Ice At North Pole

June 27th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News | No Comments »

Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Friday, 27 June 2008

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

“From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water,” said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.

more….

NASA scientist: ‘This is the last chance’

June 24th, 2008 Posted in Green Earth News | 1 Comment »

WASHINGTON - Exactly 20 years after warning America about global warming, a top NASA scientist said the situation has gotten so bad that the world’s only hope is drastic action.

James Hansen told Congress on Monday that the world has long passed the “dangerous level” for greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and needs to get back to 1988 levels. He said Earth’s atmosphere can only stay this loaded with man-made carbon dioxide for a couple more decades without changes such as mass extinction, ecosystem collapse and dramatic sea level rises.