Around the world on Global Warming Al Gores

Source: AFP (Original Article)

Rajendra Pachauri

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St George Starts Low Stays Low

Source: Charlotte Observer (Original Article)

Tanya Sloan of Charlotte has a light carbon footprint.

She pulls it off with two red bins of recyclables at the curb every week, a gray garbage can that takes three weeks to fill up, an eagle eye on the thermostat summer and winter in a little house. And most of all, a heightened sensitivity to all things energy: from dripping faucets to her Honda motor scooter, which gets 100 miles per gallon.

“I had a feeling that I was doing pretty good compared to most Americans.”

Then she did something relatively new: she went to the Web to formally measure her impact.

“I am doing well. Flying is probably my biggest carbon expenditure.”

As Americans become more conscious of their energy use and the waste they produce, millions are turning to carbon footprint calculators on the Web.

Type “carbon footprint” into Google.com and you’ll get many links. These are intended to help people see how much carbon dioxide is emitted by the fossil fuels that are burned as part of their daily lives. This gas contributes to global warming.

People enter such details as the number of airplane trips, miles driven and the amount of natural gas and electricity used through the year.

One of them is run by the EarthLab Foundation of Kirkland, Wash. Executive Director Anna Rising says more than 2 million people from around the world have used their calculator, www.earthlab.com, since last summer. With a nationwide campaign, it hopes to count 1 million during April alone.

“Our whole goal is not to beat people up and say, `You need to buy a hybrid car or retrofit with solar panels.’ We want to give easy, simple things they can do that will have an impact.”

The calculators vary in design. Rising says EarthLab’s designers intended to make theirs simpler and savable for reference as lifestyle changes are made.

“It is a first step in raising awareness and making some simple changes,” DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES dvd she says.

Sloan, 35, calculated her carbon …continue reading

Source: New York Sun (Original Article)

With prices for rice, wheat, and corn soaring, food-related unrest has broken out in places such as Haiti, Indonesia, and Afghanistan. Several countries have blocked the export of grain. There is even talk that governments could fall if they cannot bring food costs down.

One factor being blamed for the price hikes is the use of government subsidies to promote the use of corn for ethanol production. An estimated 30% of America’s corn crop now goes to fuel, not food.

“I don’t think anybody knows precisely how much ethanol contributes to the run-up in food prices, but the contribution is clearly substantial,” a professor of applied economics and law at the University of Minnesota, C. Ford Runge, said. A study by a Washington think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute, indicated that between a quarter and a third of the recent hike in commodities prices is attributable to biofuels.

Last year, Mr. Runge and a colleague, Benjamin Senauer, wrote an article in Foreign Affairs, “How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor.”

“We were criticized for being alarmist at the time,” Mr. Runge said. “I think our views, looking back a year, were probably Citibank Platinum Card too conservative.”

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Source: MiamiHerald.com (Original Article)

Today on Earth Day, going green is the rage as never before. Perhaps it was Al Gore’s warning in An Inconvenient Truth that climate change could destroy the planet. Now more people are buying hybrid cars and energy-saving light bulbs. Companies nationwide seek ecological credentials and market environmental-friendly products, as yesterday’s Business Monday cover story noted.

Too little, too late

The feel-good exercises are worthwhile to the extent that they raise consciousness and get people to consume less energy. However, these efforts alone will not stop global warming. Voluntary efforts by consumers and businesses are not enough. The United States, one of the worst polluters, must curb its carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.

Last week, President Bush called for the United States to stop growth in emissions by 2025. This is too little, too late, literally. First, a respected U.N. panel calculated last year that to avoid potentially catastrophic climate change, global carbon emissions must begin to drop by 2015 — 10 years earlier than President Bush’s goal. Second, without mandated emissions limits, which the president opposes, there is little incentive for industry to pay for cleaner processes.

Unfortunately, after he was first elected, President Bush declined to commit the United States to the Kyoto Protocol, a U.S.-inspired treaty that required developed countries to reduce their emissions. The complaint was that China and India weren’t subject to such restrictions and would take U.S. jobs. But the United States and China are the biggest culprits: Each produces more than 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. The solution is not to exempt the United States from mandates but to press developing countries to do their share, too.

Fortunately Congress has been considering various proposals for ”cap and trade” plans. These would would set limits on carbon emissions and Frequent Flyer Credit Card allow cleaner companies to profit from …continue reading

Source: Toledo Blade (Original Article)

Whether you are a hunter, fisherman, bird-watcher, or nature lover, we all reap fish and wildlife benefits through farmers and private landowners that participate in the conservation provisions of the Farm Bill. Currently, Congress is in the process of reauthorizing the Farm Bill, a bill that most people know will help farmers and ranchers. What is less known is that this bill also allocates much-needed funds to protect and conserve farm and ranchland, improve water quality, reduce soil erosion, and provide fish and wildlife habitat, which benefit all of society.
The Conservation Reserve Program, the largest and most successful of all conservation programs, is in deep jeopardy. Current plans are to reduce the current acreage allotment by more than 7 million acres. This habitat provides breeding and nesting grounds for millions of pheasants, ducks, and countless songbirds.
The Wetland Reserve Program - the most successful wetlands-restoration program in our history - is also at risk of taking a hit. Plans include reducing this program’s 250,000 acres to 200,000 acres per year - this for a program that has three farmers waiting for every one who is enrolled. As a landowner, I have seen how effective these programs are here in Ohio in protecting our natural resources.
Congress needs to act quickly on coming up with funding resources and resolving other important issues so they can product a final bill. If the law expires, all of us who enjoy the outdoors will be big losers.
Our soil, water, wildlife, and the people who rely on these resources deserve better than what we are seeing now. Leaders in Washington must produce a Farm Bill that firmly establishes and funds conservation as the national priority it should be.
Edward J. Moxley
Vickery, OhioUnite to fix disaster of last seven years

Following election results closely, we simply must shake our heads in amazement. What a mess we created. Let’s go back to the old way - avatar the last air bender dvd a primary date set, America votes, …continue reading

Source: The Times (Original Article)

Kedibone Mulaudzi: Comedian

A Jeep Wrangler, 4-door, V6 engine, petrol, Jeep Green. Did I mention that I can take the top off?

15780. It could have been 15430, but I had to drive to a comedy show at Witbank a while ago. And the audience was expecting a magician. A magician? I’m this close to firing my manager.

I’m a farm boy who lives in the city. The Wrangler is sleek enough for the city and rough enough for Limpopo’s tough terrain. And the groupies love the car. Really.

I’m buying a Porsche Carrera in 2011. No lifts for irritating friends and family.

198km/h. Please don’t tell the metro cops (I don’t want to be another DJ S’bu) or my girlfriend (she has this responsible-father image of me).

R30 (Hey! Don’t judge me! You, too, have bribed a hungry metro cop before) Jokes. I think it was R500.

Yep. Most of the time my friends complain that I drive too slow.

A 1976 VW Beetle. The car was older than me, so my evil former girlfriends made it a point to remind me every day.

From Midrand (my house) to Tshivhuyuni Village, Limpopo.

DJ Mahoota vs Vetkoek and DJ Fresh’s Definition of House.

Did I mention that the car is spacious? I’d encourage couples to recreate Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s “Titanic” Scene.

Yes. I’m reading Al Gore’s book on global warming. I encourage all The Times readers to read it. Global warming is an emergency.

I have no choice. My car makes this funny and irritating sound if I don’t buckle up. That’s the one thing I hate about my car.

No. All comedians (including me) are cowards. So we avoid road Frequent Flyer rage at all costs.

NUBREED GP/ MBEKI GP/ ZUMA GP

Source: Hollywood Reporter (Original Article)

Discovery Communications Tuesday highlighted a slew of new
programming across all of its networks — including Discovery
Channel, TLC and the soon-to-launch Planet Green — during its
upfront presentation to advertisers at the Beverly Wilshire.

TLC said it is shaking up its schedule with an “aggressive” slate
of programming and a scheduling strategy that creates new
opportunities for advertisers to be integrated into the network’s
programming. Network executives said they’re building a new brand
that “creates an environment with a sense of humor and a home for
real-life, feel-good reality,” with the brand and content being
organized into themed nights.

Monday will be the night for the network’s most successful
family-based comedy-reality series along with new shows in that
theme, Friday centers on makeovers, and Saturday is themed around
home and decorating. The other nights will focus on relationships,
careers and entertaining and include new genres like competition
and games.

Returning series include family reality shows “Little People, Big
World” and “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” makeover series “What Not to
Wear,” home-design shows “Trading Spaces” and “Flip That House.”
New to the schedule will be makeover series “Real Simple,”
home-design series “Your Place or Mine?” and the Bob Guiney-hosted
“Date My House,” relationship show “Single Moms” and career-themed
“The Singing Office,” from Scott Sternberg.

Falling into what TLC calls the “unusual lives” programs are
returning series “L.A. Ink” and “American Chopper” and the new
shows “Ashley Paige,” about a bikini designer, and the tentatively
titled “Napoleon Complex,” which follows students at a makeup
academy.

Among the new series at Discovery Channel are “Expeditions With
Josh Bernstein,” featuring the former History Channel personality
that moved to Discovery last year; “How Stuff Works,” based on the
Web compare credit card site; “Prototype This!” in which inventors …continue reading

Source: NewsBlaze (Original Article)

By Kam Williams

DVD Discusses the Perilous Plight of the Planet Due to Global Warming

Anyone who watches The 11th Hour is likely to come away convinced that saving the planet from extinction ought to be high atop every advanced and developing nation’s political agenda. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, this chilling expose’ makes an even more convincing case than An Inconvenient Truth that time is of the essence, if there’s to be any hope for humanity to halt the trend towards global warming.

Where Al Gore’s Oscar-winner was essentially a “before” and “after” lecture delivered by the former Vice President standing on a stage pointing at a series of slides, this dire documentary features convincing contributions from a diversity of dozens of experts out in the field, including acclaimed physicist Stephen Hawking, CIA Director James Woolsey and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Backed by damning film footage, their assorted observations combine to lead to the conclusion that there is a burgeoning crisis in terms of climate change which borders on irreversible if allowed to continue unabated.

The good news is that most of the blame for the predicament is placed right at the feet of the human race, which means the solution to the problem is also within our grasp. Ironically, it appears that the man-made technological advances associated with the Industrial Revolution simultaneously led to the runaway consumption of fossil fuels now causing the rapid depletion of natural resources.

As a consequence of the rise in the Earth’s temperature and the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, we are witnessing a marked increase in such natural disasters as wildfires, drought, the melting of the ice caps, deforestation, air and water pollution, disease, the depletion of the ozone layer, etcetera. The segment of the scientific community consulted here has arrived at a scary consensus, namely Citibank Clear Card that, left unchecked, this rapid degeneration …continue reading

Source: Chicago Daily Herald (Original Article)

Lights out, America. This weekend we are encouraged to turn our lights off for one hour to conserve? Seems like a small price to pay towards this enormous debt America supposedly owes for its contribution to Al Gore’s Global Warming Theory.

I have a feeling that the one hour imposition is just the first step in the long road we will be traveling down in the politicians’ and corporations’ convenient cause to take our hard earned cash for something we don’t fully understand nor seen proof of.

So, in essence, driving to work and heating our homes has caused this enormous planet to “overheat.” Solution is to have us reduce our “carbon footprints” by paying corporations, such as the large one owned by Al Gore, to plant a tree for us.

How ingenious, Al. Start writing those checks people, for the increases that are ahead, in oil, gas, water, plastics and don’t forget those ridiculous light bulbs that if broken have to be discarded by men in haz-mat suits!

You have got to love the politicians who are running our government. At least we now they have a sense of humor America will take one giant step back in the world’s progressive market, all for a convenient theory from an out-of-work vice president Frequent Flyer Credit Card who thinks the planet has a fever.

Kathy Garrett

St. Charles

Source: Wall Street Journal (Original Article)

Most sources of energy are beyond the pale in the Democratic Party, but nothing carries quite the moral stigma of coal. The latest excommunication is under way in Kansas, of all places, and it may be a forerunner of national political trends.

Governor Kathleen Sebelius calls it “a moral obligation,” as though she were opposing crimes against humanity. This is a reference to coal companies guilty of nothing more than attempting to provide power to consumers. But their misfortunes include emitting carbon dioxide into the current political atmosphere, and also the presence of Ms. Sebelius, who recently invented another way of enacting her preferred global-warming policies without legislation.

No one disputes that Kansas needs more baseload energy capacity to meet growing demand, especially at peak times and in the more rural west. In 2006, Sunflower Electric proposed to add two new generators to one of its existing coal facilities. The plans met or exceeded every federal and state air-quality and environmental regulation, and included the latest pollution control technologies.

But in October, one of Ms. Sebelius’s cabinet secretaries, Roderick Bremby, denied Sunflower its permits. Using “emergency” discretion, he creatively ruled the expansion an imminent danger to the public – because the estimated 11 million tons of greenhouse gases it would emit each year might contribute to climate change. It was the first time ever that such reasoning formed the sole basis for blocking a power project; and, in the absence of any state laws relating to carbon control, it amounted to a public policy putsch.

Ms. Sebelius joined the green regulatory lobby that wants to unilaterally classify CO2 as an “air pollutant,” though it has none of the qualities that have always defined the term under federal or state law. Her effort is also an opening charge for a national moratorium on new coal plants, which is backed by the mobile pix likes of Democrats Harry Reid, Ed …continue reading