GREEN IS GLOBAL! Blimps not Jets!!!

Carrasco International Airport, Montevideo, Uruguay

Again, WHY are we investing in war, banks, outdated car companies, and outdated manufacturing structures in general (such as GM), when we could be funding NEW, CREATIVE, and SUSTAINABLE industries, like the one discussed below??!

The ideas are there, the architects and engineers to produce the ideas, the graphic designers to draw them, the community at large to think them up, and lord knows there are loads of people needing jobs and work, whether in production, conception, or design.  If we are going to spend state money, why don't we spend it on something that is going to propel us into a sustainable and peaceful present and future?  We can change things for the better on this planet NOW!  Why aren't we doing this?  

Links: 

Humans hellbent on committing suicide...But there's still hope!!!!

Laitman.com - lessons from Kabbalah philosophies

Do a google image search of "Tokyo Auto Show"

Check out the blog post below sent in from sister blogger Green IS Global!  Please check out here work at the following link:

http://greenisglobal.blogspot.com/

Thanks and ENJOY!

ALTERNATIVE TO ENERGY BURNING JETS = BLIMPS!!!!

There are innovative talks on how more efficient homes and cars can reduce our CO2 emissions.  But little attention has been focused towards our 24-hour mass transport system comprising of energy gulping airports and massive fossil fuel burning airplanes.  Let us consider a new way in design that will get us past this out dated way of working.

Sustainability and energy efficiency are extremely important. We’re already seeing a trend of pushing cars farther away from the terminals and improving access to public transit with better rail links and easy-to-use connections. Quieter airplanes make it possible to close the distance between city and airport, which will cut down transit times

Airships are far slower than jets—–
generally reaching speeds of 100 miles per hour—–but they are also far more fuel efficient. Unlike trains and cars, they require little infrastructure; new models can land on water and 
get to remote places without the 
need for roads or rails. They can carry 
heavier loads than planes and move faster than ships.

Several companies, including Boeing, are taking a serious interest.

http://www.dwell.com/articles/101-airports.html

Banking Alternatives to Banking with Big Banks

Ever wondered what big banks invest your money into?  Well...often its often used to line executive pocketbooks or invest in big money generating projects that are terrible for the environment and/or human rights and/or all kinds of other things that one might want to conserve and uphold.  Check out the article below for more info on this and on how to find out how to bank with banks that invest in programs that help not hurt communities, and that are less likely to gamble your savings for their own profit.

CLICK HERE! to link to article below...

Printer friendly version Send this to a friend Sign up for email list Become a member Grow the Green Economy Help us grow a green economy that works for people and the planet. Join Green America Today! February 2009 We've all heard the news about the outrageous bonuses and expenditures by the CEOs of the huge banks receiving generous federal bail-outs, courtesy of American taxpayers. Just this month alone, we've seen this egregious behavior: Bank of America ($45 billion bail-out) exposed for its lavish $10 million Super Bowl party,  Morgan Stanley ($10 billion bail-out), holding a posh weekend conference at a five-star Palm Springs resort, Wells Fargo ($25 billion bail-out), forced by public exposure to cancel an all-expenses-paid weekend in Las Vegas for its top staff, and Citigroup ($45 billion bail-out), being publicly scolded by President Obama for its intention to purchase a new $50 million private jet. "We all need to take responsibility," said President Obama. "This includes executives at major financial firms who turned to the American people, hat in hand ... even as they paid themselves customary lavish bonuses. It's shameful. And that's exactly the kind of disregard of the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else."  Is your mega-bank letting you down? You can compare the mega-banks' social and environmental records at our Responsible Shopper Web site. And then look forgreener, community-committed banks.   There are a significant number of financial institutions that, unlike the mega-banks, are built on a culture of community and shared long-term prosperity.  Below, we give you links to our resources for shifting your banking (checking, savings, credit cards) toward institutions that truly share your values.   And when you leave that mega-bank – tell them why. Nothing motivates corporate change faster than losing customers – especially in this economy.   CHECKING AND SAVINGS ACCOUNTS When you open a checking or savings account with a traditional bank, your money can end up funding all sorts of unwise pursuits – not only lavish parties and executive bonsues, but also projects you would never support:  fossil-fuel energy projects or construction of big-box stores, for example. Community development banks and credit unions, on the other hand, channel funds into projects that build healthy communities. They help low- and moderate-income people buy homes, start small businesses, continue their education, or create much needed services like child care. The basic principles of community investing keep community investing institutions strong: Lenders and borrowers know each other. Lenders invest in the success of their borrowers—with training and technical assistance along with loans. And the people who provide capital to the lenders expect reasonable, not speculative, rates of return. If all banks followed these principles, the economy wouldn't be in the mess it's in today. Opening a checking or savings account with one of these banks will make your money ork for social change. Community development banks and credit unions have all of the same services of the mega-banks – from checking to CDs to money market accounts. Your checking and savings accounts are federally insured up to $250,000, and many of them offer online banking, so even if there isn’t one near you, you can still use your banking to create healthy communities.  You can find a searchable database of banking options at our Community Investment Web site, where you can also click on "Stories" to learn more about the work of a specific bank. Visit our www.CommunityInvest.org » Get more background info on community investing »   CREDIT CARDS Take a look in your wallet.  If you use credit cards, chances are that you've got a card sponsored by one of the mega-banks. Our Real Green newsletter article introduces you to several credit cards issued by socially responsible banks and credit unions that exemplify responsible lending practices—as well as community investing institutions that take the social mission one step further by also investing in low-income populations.  Our article links you to credit cards from banks that invest in communities from Portland, OR to Durham, NC, and that devote a portion of their income to issues from the environmental stewardship of the Pacific Coast to reducing carbon emissions. Read our Responsible Credit Cards article »

Reader Post: If You Believe in Obama

The following blog post was written just before the election, but is being posted now.  It has some wise words from someone who studies the history of the Earth and its creatures for a living, but lives and loves amongst as humans.  *Click here* to read the last post written by this author for Obama IS America!.  

Before continuing on to Jingmai's post, please watch the following video called 'George Washington' for some creative perspective into this great American figure.

If you are receiving this post through email, *click here* to connect to the video on youtube.  Thanks!

If You Believe in Obama

By Jingmai 

You see it around you, the political fervor, the electric excitement in the air, the green energy billboards, the MOVEMENT that is underfoot. You can CHOOSE who you vote for, you can choose to be part of this movement. But we are all part of a SHIFT whether we choose or not. The earth is always changing as a result of the dynamic processes that cause plate tectonics, which drives weather and global currents with will affect temperature all of which will affect anything living in the organic scum that coats the lithosphere: the biosphere.

      Over geologic time there have been new continents formed and broken, the magnetic field has flipped its polarity hundreds of times, we have gone in and out of green and ice house worlds, and there has been the rise and demise of billions of species. Life began, and this is debated, 1.8 billion years ago… but lets begin with the Cambrian explosion 542 million years ago (Ma), and the evolution of macroscopic hard-shell excreting life. Since this evolutionary ‘event’ there have been five Mass Extinctions in which up to 80% of all life was lost (in the largest being the end-Permian). This is of course, dealing with macroscopic life for which we have a rough idea of diversity; bacteria diversity etc is poorly understood by humans.

      Each Mass Extinction (ME) has been different, varying in cause and effect, severity,  and duration. Typically, ME’s occur slowly in human time, over thousands to one or two million years, and the biosphere averages 5 million years to return to pre-extinction diversity levels.

      Mass extinctions are easy to see when they occurred 300 Ma. You see a rock layer chock full of animals and life and then a few meters up section there is no life. And then small amounts of simple life start to appear until rocks dated 5 million years after the extinction horizon show full, diverse, balanced ecosystems again, just not necessarily with the same components present pre-extinction.

      We are living in an unbalanced ecosystem. We have seen the extinction of a number of species in our lifetime, but what people often forget is that a major extinction occurred at the end of the last ice age only 10,000 years ago. Its cause, though debated, was human (climate change having occurred rapidly prior to this extinction with no effect). There recently existed a huge diversity of megafauna animals including the wooly mammoths, giant ground sloths, and strange armored cow-like animals, the glyptodonts.

      Within recorded history, humans have wiped out such animals as the Tasmanian lion and stool pigeon completely, destroyed the massive herds of north American buffalo, and in our lives, we’ve seen every cool animal put on the endangered species list. What is my point? My point is that whether we want to do something about this environmental crisis or not, its HAPPENING and we are left with two choices: let it happen, consume and consume and consume until the earth withers and a massive climate change gets kicked into gear because of our release of massive amounts of CO2 etc, we go extinct along with everything else that is highly specialized (there will still be rats around probably… and cockroaches. Maybe raccoons, they’re pretty generalist) and in 5 million years its all good in the hood again. Just different. Or we could open our eyes the affects we have on the earth, and CHOOSE not to let it just happen. We can choose to live responsibly on this earth, to use the mental capacities we evolved to see beyond the immediate satisfaction of watching a movie or buying another pair of shoes.

      Wolves were early placed on the endangered species list; human infringement into their habitat resulted in human offense towards their presence and the subsequent mass slaughter of wolves upon sight. They were almost lost but more recently, were taken off the list after extensive human effort; a year later they had to be put back on due to over hunting. A YEAR later.

      So yes humanitarians, there is room for policy making. Most people lack the strength to take responsibility for their actions and hide behind a guise of ignorance. So the solution really is better education. Which will be a major part of said policy making, I hope.

      You might say that my rant is over; ok, people are dumb, we’ll fix it. Well, I don’t know about you, but as a rugged individualistic American, I take personal offense to policy making; it should be my choice to die by car if I CHOOSE to not wear a seat-belt, a law designed for safety. But where do you draw the line? What group of humans will you consider the majority and what will you do with the freedoms of those not consistent with the larger number? So I oppose excess policy making; I also feel this is justified because what needs to be done to shave the world, does not require policy. It requires personal change. It requires everyone to look at the person in the mirror and to choose to take responsibility for everything that person does, whether it was the baby seal that got clubbed to make way for an oil pipeline in Alaska so you could drive a big American car, or the gallon of water you wasted while you let the water run as you brushed your teeth. And all the baby seals that die because you wasted that water. 

      So if you have hope for a better world, here are a few (more important) things you can do IN ADDITION to voting: 

• Turn off the shower while you soap up; there are eco flow showerheads that make it easy to pause the flow of water. You can take it further and, if you must further a pointless hair removal industry, shave your legs/back with a bucket of water (collected from your shower!).
• Don’t use plastic water bottles; their production and the recycling of produce pollution and use energy, they aren’t good for you! Plus, the large percentage that ends up in the landfill contributes to that problem.
• In fact, don’t buy anything with disposable packaging (especially Styrofoam)… this is hard but even recycling is bad for the environment. And worse, recycling makes you feel like you just shaved a whale and thus detracts from…
• The all important REDUCING and REUSING; if you don’t need it, don’t buy it. I know it sucks but imagine if everyone on this planet had what you have. That would be a nice world, right? Maybe free of war? Well, actually that world cannot exist because the American living standard is too high and the world is too over-populated. So if you don’t want to kill retarded babies or grandma… stop wasting.
• Don’t have a lawn or a pool (especially in a desert!!!!)
• Carpool
• Don’t flush the toilet every time you use it
• Take quicker showers
• Bicycle if you can
• Don’t leave the lights or anything electrical on when you’re not using it
• Don’t support unnecessary industry; not only do these industries (that make things like barbies or spinnin’ rims) only consume resources and produce pollution. And increase the gap between the rich and the poor.
• Don’t eat large quantities of meat (there is a huge environmental impact of raising cattle including the pollution of ground water in addition to the fact it takes more land to raise cattle for food than it does to just raise grains… and there are going to be food wars soon, just you wait).
• Don’t waste food or take your own non-plastic to-go container when you go out to eat

Ok, so everything I listed just felt like what I was taught in 3^rd grade. And in fact, we all were taught this in third grade so why do these problems persist? The sad fact is, a selfish life of disregard for such simple changes is much easier and sadly more fun. But if you want to really make a change on this planet, this is the way to do it. And vote for Obama.

Obama IS America! Editor Opinion: Steps to Save the Environment and...Population Control?

So I was out watching the **debates** tonight (more on that later), and ended up stopping by a friend's place who had about 20 people over for a debate watching party.  At some point in the evening, I ended up having a conversation with one of the guys there about the moral implications of trying to control population growth by making a series of world wide laws that limit how many children someone can have.  Randomly, I came home tonight and was browsing the internet for different tidbits of information and came across the following article.  The main part discusses two easy ways to be more environmentally friendly.  However, in the comments section, they get into a whole discussion on the topic of population control.

As I thought this was a very strange coincidence indeed, and the article and comments section are both interesting and relevant to what is going on in the world today, I am posting them below for your reading pleazzzuuure.

To be directed to the article itself, click on the title of this blog.

BUT BEFORE WE CONTINUE!!  Here are two short video clips for thought:

During the debates, McCain rarely looked at Obama. Here's a discussion on what it might have meant:

Sarah Palin on her foreign policy experience, as articulated in her interview with Katie Couric (yes, I know, more on Sarah Palin, can't help it, sorry...):

Below, please find the article and commentary first discussed:

Don't Have a Cow

On small steps with big impacts

BY UMBRA FISK

24 Sep 2008

Read more about: advice | air travel | Ask Umbra | carbon offsets | ecological footprint |green living | greenhouse-gas emissions | vegetarianism and veganism | all of these topics

Tools: print | email | discuss | write to the editor | subscribe | RSS | share/bookmark

Send your green-living questionsto Umbra.

Dear Umbra, 

This year my family is not in the position to make any major CO2-reducing changes. We will not be purchasing a new car, a smaller house, or more efficient appliances. And honestly, with two small children living in a suburb, public transportation is not a realistic option. Still, we'd like to reduce our carbon footprint and help the environment. Would you be able to point out other meaningful, smaller changes we could make? Thanks for your guidance.

Tara H.
Indianapolis, Ind.

Dearest Tara,

Don't abandon hope for significant greenhouse-gas reductions. If your life is anything approaching the typical American's, there are at least two major CO2-reducing changes still within your grasp. You can't drive less, buy a better car, or make any major home investments, but you can probably eat less meat and avoid the airport. Conventional meats and air travel are two personal climate impact behemoths.

Take a bite out of clime.

Four people flying round trip from Indianapolis to Cancún would emit 9,856 pounds of CO2 (by comparison, a typical family car emits about 12,000 pounds of CO2 in a year. The Environmental Defense Fund estimates that if all Americans switched from their current diets to going meat-free one day a week, it would be equivalent to removing 8 million American cars from the roads. Another way to look at the meat delete option is through the calculations offered by the Pacific Institute, which estimates that a skimpy 40-gram pile of hamburger (about 1.5 ounces worth) causes 790 to 1,500 grams of CO2 emissions. If you calculate how many grams of burgers your family usually eats and add it all up, you can get an idea of your yearly beef-induced emissions; you can also estimate your travel emissions by using any number of online calculators.

May I presume, however, that budget is a limiting factor for you? Eating lower on the food chain -- and, of course, eschewing the hella-expensive cost of an airline ticket -- are quite kind to the pocketbook, unlike the upfront costs of the new auto and home improvements you mention above. In fact, if you don't currently fly due to economics, pat yourself on the back -- your footprint is already lower than many Americans'. A big sticking point on following this prescription, though, is that flying and meat-eating (among other high-carbon callings) are often undertaken for pleasure. To ease any resistance you may have to foregoing things you enjoy, remember: In situations where habit change is hard, we start with Less, not None. 

I want to once again mention Mark Bittman's New York Times article about eating less meat (I'm going through a Mark Bittman phase). Unlike yours truly, Bittman can avoid the Why and go directly to the How, and (also unlike yours truly) he is a cooking expert. His suggestions include reducing portion size (the USDA, for one, recommends only about five or six ounces of meat each day); he also advises using other protein sources, eating less protein overall, ordering differently at restaurants, and serving less-meaty dishes that are so delicious they're a pleasure unto themselves.

Sign up for Ask Umbra email alerts, sent twice a week.

Email address:

Zip/postal code:

 - 

More email alerts | Privacy

As to flying -- if indeed you or yours partake in such an activity -- there is a straightforward way to reduce, and a slightly complicated way too (or probably several, but for now I'm just mentioning one). If your family typically flies for one vacation and two visits to see the extended family, cut out one of these trips or substitute a less carbonaceous (bus! train! llama!) travel method. I don't have much experience with business travel, but I do know that video conferencing and trip consolidation are also useful when it comes to reducing business miles flown. If you cannot trim the number of annual plane trips, whether for business or for family, see if you can curtail the emissions on your flights through clever flight choices. Direct flights are better than indirect flights, because take-off and landing burn the most fuel. A strong aviation emissions calculator, such as Atmosfair, will help you compare various routes and emissions costs as you shop for tickets.

As you see, your family need not feel environmentally helpless or stumped. These two tweaks alone could make a great difference -- unless you are already land-bound vegetarians. In which case, write back and we'll talk about different changes.

Affably,
Umbra

Read more about: advice | air travel | Ask Umbra | carbon offsets | ecological footprint |green living | greenhouse-gas emissions | vegetarianism and veganism | all of these topics

Tools: print | email | discuss | write to the editor | subscribe | RSS | share/bookmark

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

< Previous