Sustainable Living

The Bad, the Worse and the Downright Lethal | celsias°

2008-10-11T08:37:00.001+01:00

The Bad, the Worse and the Downright Lethal | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

The Other Bail-Out | celsias°

2008-10-11T08:16:00.002+01:00

This excellent article by George Monbiot details further corporate welfare slipping under the radar these days.
The Other Bail-Out | celsias°

But that's not all, check this out;

"While we have all been preoccupied with the staggering $700 billion bail-out of wall street, boggled with the size of the dollar amount, having to raise the National debt limit and borrow money from foreign nations to fund it, late Saturday night the Senate passed a bill of a comparably huge dollar amount which made little news, but gives $488 Billion to the Pentagon for the continued funding of the the war, There has been a near media blackout of this vote, and we need to get the word out that this outrageous warfunding is quietly continuing while the news media is being distracted by the gigantic and horrendous Wall Street bailout bill."

read all about it at Organic Consumers Association

The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems | celsias°

2008-10-09T08:37:00.002+01:00

Imagine if we had invested 700 billion into a sustainable economy, imagine if we had invested the trillions we've spent on oil war on renewable energy instead. As GW gave billions directly to the oil industry he also allowed them to stop paying royalties on their leases on US soil. Now he has given them carte blanche to despoil public lands with oil shale development.The last eight years will go down as the largest plunder of the commons in US history, corporate welfare run amuck.

Here is another option, I just hope the corporate thieves have left us the resources to pursue it.

The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

Musings on science, religion, and us - By Robb

2008-10-07T08:27:00.008+01:00

I was listening to a lecture/conversation between Wes Jackson of the Land Institute and Wendell Berry this morning and the topic wandered to science and it's mandate. To paraphrase, science doesn't decide what's good, culture does that, within culture religion has largely had a monopoly on that word, that task, that responsibility. How has good come to mean allowing massive corporations to enrich shareholders at the expense of diversity, both cultural and ecological, to control our media and our governments, the very food we eat? Is this what religion has defined as good? How has it become good to siphon off the riches, the potential of a nation, to bailout, prop up a failed system of debt dependent on unlimited growth, a literal physical impossibility, to the tune of 700 billion dollars? How has it become good to hand that wealth to very people who created the mess in the first place? The fox is in the hen house, the fox owns the hen house.

Meanwhile back at the ranch.

While we are busy crafting corporate welfare the planet gets hotter, while we let the rich scarper off with their ill gotten gains we ignore the looming scientific warnings. I can't help it, the science just keeps getting scarier!

I never liked horror movies as a kid, they gave me nightmares, but I've always liked apocalyptic science fiction. Well science fact is getting more and more apocalyptic and I can't seem to stop keeping up with it. Maybe it is my deepest held conviction that humans are just animals after all, nothing special about us. In fact, with all our supposed intelligence we are the only animals that soil our our own nest, knowingly, willingly destroying the future of our progeny and the progeny of all the other species we share this gift of a globe with. If anything, this proves to me that we are the least of species not the best. I do hope that someday I'm proven wrong about this, if there is one thing that can make us stand out in a positive way it will be a decision to make the necessary changes to create a sustainable and just lifestyle for all species on this earth.

We do have the capability, we do have the technology, we do have the resources. Without a new definition of the good we don't have a chance.

New science as found at Organic Consumers Association;
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_14872.cfm

The stove - by Robb

2008-10-06T20:36:00.006+01:00

Here's some shots showing several views of my stove. As a cross between a rocket stove and a vita stove I think it combines the best features of both. It has an elbow style fire chamber like the rocket stove but doesn't utilize high energy inputs of building refractory bricks called for in the rocket stove.It is built from a recycled veggie oil can. The fire chamber, as seen in the middle picture, is an olive oil can with holes poked in the bottom for air flow. It has been set into a bed of mortar mix and bits of tile to insure a gap underneath to let air in. The pot sits on top of the fire chamber. I clipped 6 triangular tabs out of the top edge to let the heat flow out around the pot and create draw. The stones are set around the chamber to insulate and would be better if they were some high air content stone like volcanic tuff or some such.

As you can see in the first shot the pot is about 2 inches in diameter less than the can but would be better if it were about 1-1/2" larger. The smaller gap would hold more heat to the sides of the pot which is visible in the third photo as completely immersed in the cooker. The last shot shows how small and smokeless the fire can be. Most of the smoke is at startup. This is due to the moisture slowly being driven off by a low heat fire. As the fire gets hotter new fuel introduced smokes less. I also dried the fuel for at least 2 weeks prior to use.

I boiled about 6 liters of water, in two batches, for 5 minutes or more and cooked 1 dozen eggs and two ears of corn at the same time. Overall the fire burned for almost two hours and used a bundle of sticks and small scrap timber about 8 to 10 inches in diameter and 12 to 14 inches long.

All the fuel and materials for the stove were scrounged and free, since it is biomass fueled it is essentially carbon neutral cooking. The mortar mix, a small bag I found, has cement in it and thus has carbon impact. It could be done with limecrete thus lowering the carbon impact but I would have had to purchase the materials for that. My friend Graeme suggested that I could use sand or dirt.

I have several ideas for improvements; a more insulating filler material which should be filled to just under the triangular cutouts, an insulating layer on the outside of the can would be useful particularly for the top half where the pot is, a bigger pot. In preparation for FFPD November I've already collected the fuel for drying.

Industrial Agricultural menace

2008-10-05T17:10:00.002+01:00

"Industrial Food product companies spend $17 to 20 billion per year marketing empty calories to kids in America. This is more than it would cost to provide health insurance to every uninsured child in America."

Read more at

http://www.lunchlessons.org/

2nd Free From Power Day Report - By Robb

2008-10-05T08:59:00.007+01:00

Planning pays off! In the month between the first FFPD and yesterday I built a rocket/vita stove, gathered and dried fuel for it (see below), planned out my menu and gathered my food. Fortunately we had rain so I had some nice fresh water as well though I had a large reserve if needed.

I boiled about 4 liters of water for my use for the day , most of which went to flasks for tea, it was a cold rainy, windy day after all. I boiled another couple of liters to cook eggs and sweet corn. I used a bundle of sticks and scrap wood about 8" in diameter and 12 to 14" long for all of that. I lit it once and did all my cooking for the day. Relighting would be significantly less efficient. I'll detail the stove itself in another post.

In addition to the eggs (sourced from a local farm a 3 mile walk away) and corn (from our organic box delivery), I ate about 4 ounces of organic muesli with organic rice milk (the two most heavily packaged and shipped foods of the day) and locally picked blackberries, one cucumber and 8 ounces of tomatoes from our organic garden, 4 ounces of tortilla chips (unfortunately non organic and packaged), about 6 small apples from a tree up the street, and finally some apple juice pressed from local apples at the local sustainable wood fair I took my nephew to. More planning is necessary for food requirements.

I did well on most other fronts, no electronic media, instead I read half of Rob Hopkins "The Transition Handbook". This is an excellent read for anybody wishing to assist their community in getting prepared for a post oil economy as it lays out the proven techniques used by many transition initiatives around the world.

I managed to avoid using any lights (except when I went into the cellar, same as last time, I need to plan for this better), I never turned on any heat and stayed either outside or in our solar heated conservatory all day, I used rainwater to wash and flush with, boiled for brushing teeth, I drank boiled rainwater, I borrowed my friend Graemes wind up torch for reading at night (I must get one before the next FFPD).
I did purchase some local produced venison sausages for next days dinner. I would have skipped this except they have a stand at the fair and it is the only way to source them currently without a long journey.

So all in all I made progress but there is more to make.

October Free from Power Day

2008-10-03T20:34:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow is the first Saturday in October and therefore it's Free From Power Day. You can read a report on the first Free from Power Day, in september by clicking here;

first report

As using electricity and media are not allowed I will post about my progress on Sunday.

Crimes against humanity?

2008-10-03T07:34:00.005+01:00

The GM food industry has bought the FDA. For those in the UK, the FDA is the agency charged with protecting US citizens from dangerous food and drugs but which during the Bush administration has become a de-facto headquarters for the GM food industry which has prevented labelling of GM food in the states even though the majority of people want it. Most Americans eat GM food every day yet 52% believe they have never eaten it. These corporations fire and persecute scientists who publish results demonstrating the toxic effects of their products and they are attempting to convince the British public that they hold the key to the food crisis.

I agree, they are creating it!

For more about the crimes of the GM industry see the Seeds of Deception website.

Here is a grief, oops, make that brief extract from the speech by H. E. M. Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the General Assembly at the High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals 25 Sept 2008, United Nations, New York

"EXTRACTS:

9. It is clear that the world food crisis is increasing social tensions and bringing about a significant rise in extreme poverty...

11. The World Bank has concluded that 75 per cent of the increase in food prices stems from the production of biofuels and factors related to rapidly growing demand for biofuels.

14. The essential purpose of food, which is to nourish people , has been subordinated to the economic aims of a handful of multinational corporations that monopolize all aspects of food production, from seeds to major distribution chains, and they have been the prime beneficiaries of the world crisis. A look at the figures for 2007, when the world food crisis began, shows that corporations such as Monsanto and Cargill, which control the cereals market, saw their profits increase by 45 and 60 per cent, respectively..."

Monsanto is at the very heart of the biofuels lobby.

For more on this speech see The article at the Organic Consumers Association website.

Those who choose to ignore history..........

2008-10-03T07:23:00.002+01:00

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson 1802

Thanks to the Organic Consumers Association for the reminder.

Where's POGO?

2008-10-02T08:43:00.006+01:00

An interesting term, positive feedback loops, for something so negative and scary. As predicted, the positive feedback loops are accelerating. Huge amounts of methane is bubbling up in undersea plumes in the high arctic. This is now documented by science.
Check it out.

The Methane Time Bomb

Still think that foreign holiday is a good idea? How about that hamburger at the drive through?
Is it really a good idea to bail out an economy that is unsustainable or would it make more sense to spend that 700 billion on putting on the brakes and creating a just and sustainable one? Does it make sense to subsidize the oil barons or to create millions of green jobs building the new renewables industry? Are these questions difficult to answer? Apparently so as GW and the republicans want to drill, drill, drill, while over here the ruling labour party wants more coal fired power plants and a third runway at Heathrow.

I'm amazed and astounded both by the science that increasingly raises the alarm and by the powers that be that increasingly shut it out. As so often quoted in the comic strip "POGO" so long ago,

"We have met the enemy and he is us"

Wild food #1 - Yew Berries

2008-10-01T21:36:00.006+01:00

I've recently gotten into foraging for wild foods. From time to time I will show you and discuss some of the things I've been eating.

Yew berries have a mildly slimy consistency but are quite tasty. Do NOT eat the seeds or any other part of the tree. I've seen posts on the web that 3 berries will make you vomit and give you other ill effects. I've eaten handfulls of the berries with no ill effects but as always try one or two and wait 24 hours before eating more.

Here is the quote on yew berries from Wild Food School website

"YEW [Taxus baccata] Regarded as one of THE most poisonous and deadly plant materials around the scarlet berries of yew contain a slightly sugary gloop surrounding the seed and which can be extracted by VERY GENTLY squeezing the berry. The inner brown-black seed is deadly poisonous and must not be eaten.

If you wish to try the yew berry sap it is ESSENTIAL to check your personal tolerance before trying. In any event only try the sap of one or two berries as a larger quantity might well contain a sufficient build up of toxins which could cause harm. One best left to foraging professionals."

My technique is to pop the whole berry in my mouth and spit out the seed. If you wait to long it starts to get very astringent, a good sign of poison, so don't hesitate.

Broccoli Set to Rewrite Patent History in Europe | celsias°

2008-10-01T08:57:00.003+01:00

Ever hungry to steal our right to grow our own the corporations are continuing in their attempts to advance their policy of "no food grown that we don't own"
Check it out:
Broccoli Set to Rewrite Patent History in Europe | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

Drilling for Oil is Not the Answer | celsias°

2008-09-29T20:56:00.003+01:00

Something to keep in mind, oil companies are sitting on licenses already issued in the US as they wait for the price of oil to rise high enough to justify drilling, adding more area available to them to purchase licenses for will only increase their profits, not decrease the price at the pump, not increase our energy security. It will increase the amount of money they spend to purchase politicians. Every drop of oil we produce continues the paradigm of addiction and the war, global warming, and corrupt politics that go with it.

Check this out;
Drilling for Oil is Not the Answer | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

The Tables Turned- By Wordsworth

2008-09-29T08:04:00.003+01:00

Up! up! my Friend and quit your books;
Or surely you'll grow double:
Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks;
Why all this toil and trouble?

The sun above the mountain's head,
A freshening lustre mellow
Through all the long green fields has spread,
His first evening yellow.

Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife:
Come, hear the woodland linnet,
How sweet his music! on my life,
There's more of wisdom in it.

And hark! how blithe the throstle sings!
He, too, is no mean preacher:
Come forth into the light of things,
Let Nature be your Teacher.

She has a world of ready wealth,
Our minds and hearts to bless -
Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health,
Truth breathed by cheerfulness.

One impulse from a vernal wood
May teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.

Sweet is the lore which Nature brings;
Our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous form of things: -
We murder to dissect.

Enough of Science and of Art;
Close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart
That watches and receives.

Hubris - by Robb

2008-09-23T08:41:00.003+01:00

I've been thinking recently about hubris. I don't mean the the petty everyday hubris we experience in our relationships and human contacts. I'm thinking about the hubris we have developed along with our big brains through the millenia of evolution. As we have refined our ability to change our environment, through fire, then agriculture and latterly industry, we seem to have become convinced that whatever we can imagine we have the right to do. So convinced are we that our ostensibly massive human intellect will solve all problems, even the ones we ourselves create, that we have completely lost touch with the intelligence that precedes and informs our own. We have forgotten the innate intelligence of nature.

This form of hubris is particularly dangerous in it's manifestation in reductionist western culture and value systems. It has led to what university of Texas professor Robert Jensen has called "the Delusion Revolution".

"It takes the hubris of folks such as biologist Richard Dawkins, who once wrote that “our brains … are big enough to see into the future and plot long-term consequences.” Such a statement is a reminder that human egos are typically larger than brains, which emphasizes the dramatic need for a drastic humility. I read that essay by Dawkins after hearing the sentence quoted by Wes Jackson, an important contemporary scientist and philosopher working at The Land Institute. Jackson’s work has most helped me recognize an obvious and important truth that is too often ignored: For all our cleverness, we human beings are far more ignorant than knowledgeable. Human accomplishments -- skyscrapers, the internet, the mapping of the human genome -- seduce us into believing the illusion that we can control a world that is complex beyond our ability to understand. Jackson suggests that we would be wise to recognize this and commit to “an ignorance-based worldview” that would anchor us in the intellectual humility we will need if we are to survive the often toxic effects of our own cleverness."

I'm not quite as hard on professor Dawkins as Jensen who believes Dawkins should be denounced for such views. I do however agree completely with Wes Jackson's assertion that we are tinkering with the systems of life we do not have the capacity to understand. Dawkins writes and speaks eloquently of the ability of evolution to bring into being the unimaginable complexities of this world while at the same time denouncing creator myths that deny evolution as scientific fact. I believe in the fact of evolution but am not willing to deny people faith in a creator, I don't see them as mutually exclusive. Indeed, the hubris I decry is even worse when compared to the hand of god. How can someone who believes in god the creator believes that it is OK to trash his/her creation.

The complexities of the natural world are the brain of the planet. As we seem intent on doing to our own brains, with toxic chemicals in our food, alcohol, drugs, pharmaceuticals, and polluted water and air, so we are doing to the planetary brain.

Rather than trust to the intelligence of evolution, or god, in our hubris we are killing it.

Today is Carfree!

2008-09-22T09:20:00.001+01:00

It's the 22nd folks, http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/

Leave it parked!

The Link between Debt and the Destruction of Nature | celsias°

2008-09-21T08:39:00.003+01:00

A very interesting article with an accompanying video over on Celsias. The video is well worth the time it takes to watch it.
Banking on an Unsustainable Future? The Link between Debt and the Destruction of Nature | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

What's more important? - By Robb

2008-09-21T08:22:00.003+01:00

Is preserving the habitat of a rare mudfish more important than installing a tidal barrage that will provide carbon free energy? Need we sacrifice the natural world in order to save it for our use?

We need to careful not to let such issues divide us. If a researcher in mudfish habitat wants to stop a tidal barrage because it will destroy the habitat then that should have equal weight to the carbon free energy produced by the barrage. After all, when not if, sea levels rise the mudfish habitat will be destroyed anyway. The tidal barrage however is a big system solution designed to continue business as usual, to encourage people that real change on their part is not necessary. People need to realize that without the intact habitats, like the mudfishes, to support biodiversity we are in just as much trouble after we have the barrage.

My grandfather used to tell me "it is a poor man who won't stoop to pick up a coin". Global warming and biodiversity are two sides of the same coin. A coin we must trouble ourselves to pick up. The natural environment should be looked to as our saviour in it's ability to provide the necessities of life from oxygen to breathe, food to eat, and the only reliable method of carbon sequestration.

Without that coin we will not be able to buy our daily bread.

Are you ready for this?

2008-09-18T08:24:00.003+01:00

Most scientists now agree that 400 ppm is the tipping point for CO2 content in the atmosphere, the point beyond which we will trigger irreversible catastrophic climate change. The 100 month group has calculated that we have just that, 100 months to get it right. This is the summary from their report;

"We calculate that 100 months from 1 August 2008, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will begin to exceed a point whereby it is no longer likely we will be able to avert potentially irreversible climate change. 'Likely' in this context refers to the definition of risk used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to mean that, at that particular level of greenhouse gas concentration, there is only a 66 - 90 per cent chance of global average surface temperatures stabilising at 2o Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 1 Once this concentration is exceeded, it becomes more and more likely that we will overshoot a 2o C level of warming. This is the maximum acceptable level of temperature rise agreed by the European Union and others as necessary to retain reasonable confidence of preventing uncontrollable and ultimately catastrophic warming. We also believe this calculation to be conservative. The reasons why and the assumptions behind our conclusion are detailed below."

You can download the report here;

100 months website

Some scientists think we are already past the tipping point and our challenge is to get it back to 350ppm as soon as is humanly possible.

Is this too much scary stuff? At what point do we just have to face up to the science and accept that yes it is scary and yes we really have to make big changes? Is anything less than that going to get it done?

Go Carfree on the 22nd

2008-09-15T12:49:00.003+01:00

On the 22nd of September don't drive or ride in a car. It's that simple. The reasons are so obvious and the implications so momentous that I won't go into them here. If you need more information please see the website:

World Carfree Day 2008

Very Good News indeed!

2008-09-12T13:42:00.003+01:00

Please click on this link to read the story.
Activists ‘Not Guilty' in Unprecedented Climate Change Trial | celsias°

Posted using ShareThis

News Flash! Mice Smarter than Humans!

2008-09-11T10:41:00.001+01:00

Lesson of the Week:
School Lab Rats Freak Out on GE Food
Schools in Wisconsin are showing kids the dangers of genetically engineered (GE) junk food with some unique science class experiments. Sister Luigi Frigo repeats the experiment every year in her second grade class in Cudahy. Students feed one group of mice unprocessed whole foods. A second group of mice are given the same junk foods served at most schools. Within a couple of days, the behavior of the second group of mice develop erratic sleeping schedules and become lazy, nervous and even violent. It takes the mice about three weeks on unprocessed foods to return to normal. According to Frigo, the second graders tried to do the experiment again a few months later with the same mice, but the animals have already learned their lesson and refuse to eat the GE food.

Read all about it at Organic Consumers Association

10 minutes of darkness

2008-09-09T06:57:00.001+01:00

APAGÓN MUNDIAL EL 17 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2008

ESTE APAGÓN SERÁ DE 21:50 A 22:00, A LA MISMA HORA LOCAL DE CADA PAÍS EN TODO EL MUNDO.
On Wendesday, September 17, 2008, I invite people around the world to turn off their lights for ten minutes – from 9:50pm to 10:00pm in their local time zone.

England:
Darkness world: On September 17, 2008 from 21:50 to 22:00 hours.
Proposes to turn off all lights and if possible all electrical appliances, so our planet can 'breathe'.
if many take part, energy saving can be massive.
Only 10 minutes, and see what happens.
Yes, we are 10 minutes in the dark, we light a candle and simply
watch it, breathe with our planet.
Remember that unity is strength and the Internet can be very useful in creating a worldwide impact.

Spread the word, if you have friends who live in other countries send this message to them. Set your mobile phone calender alarms to remind you. xx

Castellano:
Oscuridad mundial: En Septiembre 17, 2008 desde las 21:50 a las 22:00 horas.
Se propone apagar todas las luces y si es posible todos los aparatos eléctricos, para que nuestro planeta pueda "respirar".
Si la respuesta es masiva, la energía que se ahorra puede ser brutal.
Solo 10 minutos y vea que pasa.
Si estamos 10 minutos en la oscuridad, prendamos una vela y simplemente la miramos y nosotros estaremos respirando y nuestro planeta.
Recuerde que la unión hace la fuerza y el Internet puede tener mucho poder y puede ser aun algo más grande.

Pase la noticia, si usted tiene amigos que viven en otros países envíeselo a ellos.

Chino:
黑暗的世界：對2008年9月17日從21時50分至22:00 。
這是建議關掉所有電燈及可能的話，所有電器，使我們的星球可以"呼吸" 。
如果答案是大規模，節能，可殘酷的。
只有10分鐘，並看看會發生什麼情況。
如果我們10分鐘，在黑暗中，成衣蠟燭和簡單的外觀和我們將呼吸和我們的星球。
記得當時的聯盟是實力和在互聯網上可以有很大的權力和，甚至可以更大一些。
通過新聞.

Portugués:
Escuridão mundial: No dia 17 de Setembro de 2008 das 21:50 às 22:00 horas
propõe-se apagar todas as luzes e se possível todos os aparelhos eléctricos, para o nosso planeta poder 'respirar'.
Se a resposta for massiva, a poupança energética pode ser brutal.
Só 10 minutos, para ver o que acontece.
Sim, estaremos 10 minutos às escuras, podemos acender uma vela e simplesmente
ficar a olhar para ela, estaremos a respirar nós e o planeta.
Lembrem-se que a união faz a força e a Internet pode ter muito poder e podemos
mesmo fazer algo em grande.

Passa a notícia, se tiveres amigos a viver noutros países envia-lhes.

Árabe:
ظلام العالم : على 17 سبتمبر 2008 من الساعة 21:50 الى 22:00
ويقترح حذف جميع الانوار واذا امكن جميع الاجهزه الكهرباءيه ، ويمكن لكوكبنا 'تنفس'.

اذا كان الجواب هاءله ، ويمكن الاقتصاد في استهلاك الطاقة وحشية.
خلال 10 دقائق فقط ، ونرى ما سيحصل.
نعم ، نحن على 10 دقائق في الظلام ، ونحن على ضوء شمعة وببساطة
ان النظر اليها ، ونحن نتنفس وكوكبنا.
نتذكر ان الاتحاد هو القوام وشبكة الانترنت يمكن ان تكون بالغة القوة ويمكن
حتى تفعل شيئا كبيرا.
التحركات الاخبار .

Francés:
Darkness monde: Le 17 Septembre 2008 de 21:50 à 22:00 heures
Propose de supprimer toutes les lumières et, si possible, tous les appareils électriques, à notre planète peut 'respirer'.
Si la réponse est massive, les économies d'énergie peuvent être brutales.
Seulement 10 minutes, et de voir ce qui se passe.
Oui, nous sommes 10 minutes dans le noir, on allume une bougie et simplement
Être regarder, que nous respirons et de notre planète.
N'oubliez pas que l'union fait la force et l'Internet peuvent être très électricité et peut

Même faire quelque chose de grand.
Déplace l'actualité.

Griego:
Σκοταδι κοσµο: Στις 17 Σεπ του 2008 απο 21:50 εως 22:00 ωρες
Προτεινει να διαγραψει ολα τα φωτα και αν ειναι δυνατον, ολες τις ηλεκτρικες συσκευες, να πλανητη µας µπορει να «αναπνεει».
Εαν η απαντηση ειναι µαζικη, η εξοικονοµηση ενεργειας µπορει να ειναι κτηνωδης.
Μονο 10 λεπτα, και να δουµε τι συµßαινει.
Ναι, ειµαστε 10 λεπτα στο σκοταδι, θα αναψει ενα κερι και απλα
Να εξεταζουµε, που αναπνεουµε και τον πλανητη µας.
Θυµηθειτε οτι η ενωση ειναι η δυναµη και το Internet µπορει να ειναι πολυ δυναµη και µπορουν να
Ακοµη κανουµε κατι µεγαλο.

Μετακινησεις την ειδηση, αν εχετε φιλους να ζουν σε αλλες χωρες να στειλουν τους και τους.

Alemán:
Darkness Welt: Am 17 September 2008 von 21:50 bis 22:00 Uhr
Schlägt vor, alle Lichter zu löschen und, wenn möglich, alle elektrischen Geräte, die unseren Planeten kann 'atmen'.
Wenn die Antwort ist derb, Energieeinsparung kann brutal.
Nur 10 Minuten, und sehen Sie, was passiert.
Ja, wir sind 10 Minuten im Dunkeln, wir Licht einer Kerze und einfach
Sei es bei der Suche, die wir atmen, und unseres Planeten.
Denken Sie daran, dass die Gewerkschaft ist Stärke und das Internet kann sehr Macht und können
Selbst etwas tun groß.

Verschiebt den Nachrichten.

Ruso:
Ночь на Земле: 17 сентября 2008 года с 21:50 до 22:00 часов отключите все огни, и, по возможности, все электроприборы, чтобы наша планета могла спокойно 'подышать' хоть 10 минут.
В случае массового участия, этот проект приведет к огромному сбередению энергии по всему земному шару. Всего только 10 минут, и вы увидите как важен будет результат.
За эти 10 минут можно просто посидеть в темноте, зажечь свечу и посидеть при ее свете. А за это время наша планета успеет спокойно отдышаться.
Помните, что совместное действие - это мощь, а Интернет - это великая сила, вместе мы можем добиться очень многого.

Сообщи о нас другим!!!

Holandés:
Darkness wereld: Op 17 September 2008 van 21:50 tot 22:00 uur
Stelt voor om alle lichten en zo mogelijk alle elektrische apparaten, om onze planeet kan 'ademen'.
Indien het antwoord is enorm, de energiebesparing kan worden wreder.
Slechts 10 minuten, en zie wat er gebeurt.
Ja, we zijn 10 minuten in het donker, we licht van een kaars en gewoon
Wordt kijken, we inademen en onze planeet.
Vergeet niet dat de unie is kracht en het internet kan zeer macht en kan
Zelfs iets te groot.

Vertrokken het nieuws.

A real American Heroe - By Robb

2008-09-08T09:02:00.004+01:00

This morning I watched the beginning episode in a new series by Dr. Iain Stewart. He has produced some wonderful earth science programs for the BBC. His new one is specifically about Climate Change. This first episode details the history of the debate and the science. I was gratified to see Dr. James Hansen making commentary, both in 1988 before congress and today for this series. Then I found this article in the Independent online.

Nasa scientist appears in court to fan the flames of coal power station row

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Thursday, 4 September 2008

"Prof James Hansen: Urged Gordon Brown to refuse planning application to build new coal-fired units at the Kingsnorth plant in Hoo, Kent"

You can read the whole article at

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/nasa-scientist-appears-in-court-to-fan-the-flames-of-coal-power-station-row-918057.html

Here are some highlights

"Professor James Hansen gave evidence at Maidstone Crown Court in the case of six Greenpeace members who scaled a 630ft chimney at the Kingsnorth plant in Hoo, Kent, last October in protest against plans to build new coal-fired units there.

Greenpeace argues that under the Criminal Damage Act 1971, its activists had a "lawful excuse" to cause the damage because they were seeking to prevent even greater damage being caused to property – such as flooding from rising sea levels and damage to species caused by climate change.

'Somebody needs to stand up and take a leadership role," Prof Hansen said. "It is an opportunity for the Prime Minister. If we are to avoid disintegration of the ice sheets, minimise species extiction and halt or reverse... climate change there is just time to accomplish it, but it requires an immediate moratorium on new coal-fired power plants that do not capture or sequester CO2.' "

It's gratifying to see this stalwart defender of sanity in the British media, even more gratifying to me personally because he is an American, a countryman of mine. So often Americans show up over here when they do something dopey and greedy, ie, Paris, Britney, George W, or pushy and arrogant, ie, Donald T, Dick Cheney, George W, or down right scary and stupid, ie, George W and Dick Cheney.

It's so nice to see an American doing something decent and principled in a very visible way. It's about time we had a real American Heroe. Thanks Dr. Hansen.