| ExPan MiniEcoVideo Festival (part III) |
[Apr. 17th, 2006|04:50 pm] |
Back to the Future!(4 min)
Nice one! Here's a documentary made in 2055 about what we seem to be going through right now. It's How the Planet was Saved (ok, it's a little heavy on the RenewUS role in the worldchanging), but I like the idea... And I like seeing the interviews they do with experts in 2055 talking about how it all happened. That's the kind of message we have to be believing in now, but it is happening.... |
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| ..didn't see this one coming. |
[Mar. 2nd, 2006|05:18 pm] |
Rona, We Hardly Knew Ya
 
Perhaps, I was a little too hasty with my open arm bearhug to new minister of environment and head of the UNFCCC (i.e. Kyoto). Sure, we will have to see, but a letter to the editor in yesterday's Toronto Star was certainly foreboding.... So without further ago, here's her letter-to-the-editor:
(((Regarding))) "Plan to extend Kyoto on way," (((Toronto Star)) Feb. 25. The above article misrepresented Canada's position on Kyoto. As Canada's new environment minister, my mandate is to clean up Canada's air, water and soil and I will consider any mechanism available to me to fulfill this urgent mandate. ((it's nice to consider options, but what about uphold the one's we've already signed? like the Montreal Accord, or the um, what's it called?)) Our position remains that the Kyoto ((oh! That's it!! The Kyoto)) accord is seriously flawed and that the emissions targets it imposes on Canada are unrealistic and unattainable.(((oh, ok, so now after all that nice talk, the true colours come out. So it's "unrealistic and unattainable", so why not just look at Bush's new Beyond Kyoto. But you know what Rona? That's total bullshit. We can go WAY beyond these infinitessimal emission caps tomorrow if you showed some hustle and initiative... Simply putting these on every coal plant will cut emissions by 80-90% from all coal fired electrical plants. Now! So cram it with unrealistic & unattainable, that is soooo 90's. Sorry, her letter to the editor is not done))). The Kyoto framework does not optimize Canada's position to develop new technology (((again, bullshit on that! Rona, why not read the accord if you are heading the thing! Just what exactly do you call Joint Implementation and the Clean Development Mechanism? These not only help offset the emissions we're still not reducing at all, but directly benefit Canadian companies. The ones who are developing new technologies for the benefit of mankind, not just 1st worlders. ))) or take other effective measures to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions((oh we can go beyond Kyoto too, if we want to, whats stopping that?)). Furthermore, while emissions trading systems may be part of an eventual greenhouse gas reduction strategy(((she hates these)), in our view the government of Canada should not engage in purchasing credits from foreign countries that do not result in verifiable reductions in Canada's emissions.((see, this is so weird. They just don't get it.. the right is supposed to love these and the left think they suck, not the other way around... but they just don't get it. Purchasing the credits means we don't reduce the emissions as much as we said we were going to, so there isn't a "verifiable reductions" in our emissions, cause we're basically buying the right to not be cleaner. It sucks, but it's a part of the mechanism. And BTW Rona, if you really hate the Carbon Credits schemes, why not make incentives so that the companies that would rather pay for credits than stop polluting actually clean up their act? If you love free markets (with benefits), then you ought to help the market move the way you want it to. It's not rocket science))) With my new position as President of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change((see this could get scary)), Canada has the opportunity to address these issues. I want Canadians to know that our first priority is our commitment to a made-in-Canada solution (((unlike that, er, foreign one))) that actively reduces greenhouse gas emissions by advancing domestic ((all for it)) and international policies (((please don't re-invent the wheel worse than it already is, Rona))) that reflect our mandate: to clean up Canada's air, water and soil. (((Pretty vague mandate)))
-Rona Ambrose, Minister of the Environment, Ottawa (((wow. so are we going to back out of Kyoto now too? Could this all be a dream?? Rona... Is there any way that you can actually make good one what you say??))) |
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| That's my Minister of the Environment! |
[Feb. 24th, 2006|08:24 pm] |
happy to report so far everybody was wrong....
Great article from Dennis Bueckert, in the Canadian Press, how they were Once skeptics, but now the Tories are preaching the Kyoto climate-change gospel! They say that even though the Conservatives opposed ratification of the climate treaty while in opposition, they appear to have undergone a conversion, promising to do a better job of cutting emissions than the Liberals ever did (the Liberals said they would, but didn't so pretty much anything is better than what they did on emissions).
"There's an action plan that we are going to move on very quickly," Minister of the Environment Rona Ambrose said in an interview with The Canadian Press today. Noting that the action plan will include an emissions-trading system for large polluters, and will try to engage the public in a new way.
"I'm very committed. The prime minister has given me a very strong mandate. ...I think we not only have the political will from the prime minister, and from myself and my colleagues, on this issue, we also have the public will on our side." ((And that was what was needed all along. See, they won't do it without us gasping for it... but if they want *our* votes and we let them know we want it.... well the sky's the limit!)) "We feel very strongly that we need to engage the public both in terms of our strategy and outreach but also in creating incentives ((oooh!)) and programs that reach the individual level in Canada." Ambose isn't just our
A lot of eco-peeps were worried that she was going to be pretty much the opposite of this. She os from Alberta after all (big Canadian oil), but our Minister of the Environment (and, BTW, president of COP the Conference of the Parties which is the UNFCCC group that made the Kyoto Accord) has been doing a great job so far! Good for you Rona! Let's rock! |
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| Arrrrrgggghhh! |
[Jan. 19th, 2006|09:04 am] |
I ought to just stop reading anything the moment i see "opinion" in the editorial sectioning of online news.... MARK STEYN, an editor for the Jerusalem Post just cut/copied/pasted some lame-ass opinion piece on the cult of global warming. (sheeesh! you'd think that a country like israel, with all of its problems, and no oil would just mind their `own business, but obviously, it's a little more than "opinion" and for some reason Mr. Steyn's bosses decided that we need more obfuscation lies and slight-of-words printed in the diarreah of anti-greenhouse mental sludge sphere.... Not to mention that this lame-o didn't even do his own research! Anyone who has had to wade through the CO2-is-good-for-you tripe, will be familiar not only with the arguments he pastes, but even the actual wording and phrases.... Oh my god, will someone please duct tape this useless pontificator? Not only does he bring up Michael Chriton's anti environmentalist's book in the first line (a sure indication where the crap will roll-- not only does he think Chriton is a purveyor of sound policies, but he actually thinks it's a good read! So no accounting for taste, the guy still has his head up his butt)
And you may think i'm being a little harsh here, so let me just pluck some adjectives from this bile-spewer's litany for y'all: "Martin Sheenesque Hollywood eco-poseur," ..."eco-tists sounded more than a little squaresvill," ..."the short-term interests of the eco-establishment count for more than the long-term health and welfare of ordinary Australians," ...."laughably fraudulent (hear that Patrick Michaels?)," ...."Yet, such is the power of the eco-lobby that this fraud became the centerpiece of UN reports on global warming.," ...."the problem for the Kyoto cultists," ...."Kyotocrats will be citing lack of climate change as evidence of climate change. They are, literally, a church, and under the Holy Book of Kyoto their bishops demand that the great industrial nations of the world tithe their incomes to them," ...."unlike the Kyotophiles, their (the Beyond Kyoto crew)strategy isn't a form of cultural self-flagellation," ..."One day, the world will marvel at the environmental hysteria at our time, and the deeply damaging corruption of science in the cause of an alarmist cult.," I normally don't hold back, but I will with what i would tell this guy to do with his plagaristic "opinion"
Instead i will offer an antidote. This Mark Steyn guy, obviously genuflected, and open for rimming any American will (or what he thinks will appease America), might do better (and for anyone looking for an actual good opinion) try reading an article actually from within the United States. I don't think you can find a more car crazy place than Petaluma California (That's where the car's first owner was, a little old lady from Petaluma). And yet, The Petaluma Argus Courier has a great article by Bruce Hagen entitled "Our choice: petrolism or patriotism". Now, maybe I have a bias, but this guy hits all the notes, with a pro-activist stance and you can really understand what he's talking about. So there Mr. Jerusalem Post Disinformation Editor, try some reality.... |
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| day late dollar short (or a few who's counting?) |
[Dec. 15th, 2005|09:37 am] |
So the Palais Du Congres has been swept up, the delegates flew home, and Montreal has people saying "global warming.. i wish!" (No, seriously, some people still think it will turn Quebec into Florida, they'd like that, if you've been to Florida you know that Quebecois love Florida.. and Speedos)but anyway:
I just found these really neat sites and thought that i would share them with you! So the New York Times has a bunch of podcasts saved up online, by a NYT writer Anderw C. Revkin. Sure you can read all you want, but you wanna really get active, download some of these and while you're cross-country skiing, or riding your bike through the snow, or whatever... you can cover the ground of the UNFCCC-COP11
And same bat-time but different bat-channel, Woods Hole Institute (WHI) kept a daily blog happenin' through-out the American Geophysical Union. I love WHI. And the writer of the blog, Hugh Powell, takes great strides to cover the nearly 20,000 posters and presentations that take place over the week.
OK so that's yesterday's news... but chances are, if you don't go and read about them up there at those links-- you prolly won't be hearing about most of this stuff.... I know I will be trolling through it, marking anything that really gets to me-- so maybe you don't have to go there and read it all, maybe you just leave that up to me and if i find anything kewel, i'll let you know. Then again, why trust me? Just as well to go get it yourself! |
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| ch ..ch ..ch ..changes |
[Dec. 2nd, 2005|05:13 pm] |
((hey! thats the second one-word bowie quote i have here))
Wanna participate in the UNFCCC but not in Montreal? Well, Climate Action Network are down there on the floor, and every day they pin the winners of the Fossil Of The Day Awards and as you can see from the link, you can join in the fun! The award goes to the country how blocks the most progress at the conference. At presstime, the winner seems to be a three way tie between USA Russia and Australia. Go team go!
[CAN]
....and on that climate chanhe Montreal topic: An interesting story form Financial Times today, about a new group at the conference, the NGO: Coalition for Rianforest Nations</a> basically working to get rainforest preservation valued for carbon exchange credits (one of the main grease wheels at the UNFCCC).
and if you do want one, here's a nice primer on climate change called Why Montreal Matters |
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| now some real groovy fuel cell news |
[Nov. 26th, 2005|03:33 pm] |
Move over Oscar! There's energy in that there trash!
3 Tons of garbage a day = energy for 2 houses! Japan's ancient city Kyoto has just launched a pilot project to generate electricity for fuel cells with hydrogen derived from raw garbage. Organizers of the project (Kyoto University, the Environment Ministry and Kyoto's Mayor Yorikane Masumoto), aim to put their garbage-based power generation scheme into practical use in 2013.
The project uses a daily 3 tons of raw garbage to produce biogas made up primarily of methane gas, for conversion into hydrogen. From 3 tons of raw garbage, they produce 500 to 600 cubic meters of hydrogen, enough to generate electricity to sustain two households for one month. By 2013, the Kyoto municipal government will build a biogas generation facility that is expected to help generate electricity to cover the daily consumption of 18 million households by using 60 tons of raw garbage a day to be collected from 160,000 households.
I know what you're thinking... and i agree! We are getting close to that point where we'll have our very own Mr. Fusions! And they thought Jim Ignatowski was braindead!
[from Fuel Cell Works] |
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| moot |
[Sep. 28th, 2005|01:06 pm] |
exuberant pantaphobia refuses to get on the bandwagon
Well... all week long there has been talk about Katarina and Rita. Most ecoist are saying that it is proof positive that the greenhouse gasses create worse natural disasters. Most climatologist say that you cant look at any one event, no matter how freaky, and determine that it is or isn't greenhouse induced. Sure there is the odd climatologist who has decided to speak out-- just like there are some still on the oil-dole (global climate coalition members ought to be thrown into The Tombs and have the key tossed into a 3D climate model-- they have done nothing to help the situation) And i guess, while people are out there suffering, i just didn't want to get involved.. capitalizing on human misery is not my forte.
So I've been keeping my mouth shut, and watching the battle rage on the frontlines: over at RealClimate.com ( Read more... ) |
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| ((apologies for the cynecism in this post..)) |
[Jul. 27th, 2005|08:20 pm] |
ok so now the poop is really flowing down the pipe …and its getting thicker by the second. Since last I posted (all but a few hours ago) there’s now 199 related articles about this USA/AUS climate dealio… some things I’ve noticed:
ok right off the bat—noticed that the name of this accord is “Beyond Kyoto” and the press guppies are gobbling it up! Hmmm….. sounds familiar doesn’t it? ( Read more... ) |
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| Well… I’ll keep my fingers crossed |
[Jul. 27th, 2005|03:51 pm] |
news just out from the beeb is that the USA and Australia are going to do their own thing regarding climate change, and its gonna be better than that silly Kyoto, they say. Ian Campbell, Australia’s Minister of Environment said: "We're going to have a 40% increase in emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, and the world needs a 50% reduction," he said. "We've got to find something that works better." I couldn’t agree more. Pardon my language, but fuck 1990 levels for GHg's.... we need 1790 levels if we want a stable climate regime... in fact, I think we need to invent some machine that takes-in air, traps the CO2, frees the O2 and then compressed the C (make stuff with it. like slinky carbon-thread clothes... or diamonds!), and Cambell almost seems to think like me,
almost...
( Read more... ) |
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