Wednesday, June 22, 2011

CNN & Michio Kaku Report: Japanese officials LIE about Fukushima Meltdown

How long until we accept that we need clean, safe, renewable energy?
Pay attention, Fukushima is FUBAR! Watch world rebound Japanese-American Physicist, Michio Kaku, embarrass the Japanese Utilities and Government, on CNN Reports.
Perhaps it is time we stopped building nuclear power plants on fault lines, along the coast, in populated areas? If you live in the Northwest United Sates, pay close attention to your radiation levels in foods like dairy and fish. Why waste a whole Continent because greedy power companies will not use renewable energy? Why don't we see more media coverage of this event? (hint: GE owns the media)

Monday, June 20, 2011

Report Warns Of Mass Extinction

From The HuffingtonPOST
IPSO-Report.pdf
If the current actions contributing to a multifaceted degradation of the world's oceans aren't curbed, a mass extinction unlike anything human history has ever seen is coming, an expert panel of scientists warns in an alarming new report.

The preliminary report from the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO) is the result of the first-ever interdisciplinary international workshop examining the combined impact of all of the stressors currently affecting the oceans, including pollution, warming, acidification, overfishing and hypoxia.

“The findings are shocking," Dr. Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director, said in a statement released by the group. "This is a very serious situation demanding unequivocal action at every level. We are looking at consequences for humankind that will impact in our lifetime, and worse, our children's and generations beyond that."

The scientific panel concluded that degeneration in the oceans is happening much faster than has been predicted, and that the combination of factors currently distressing the marine environment is contributing to the precise conditions that have been associated with all major extinctions in the Earth's history.
According to the report, three major factors have been present in the handful of mass extinctions that have occurred in the past: an increase of both hypoxia (low oxygen) and anoxia (lack of oxygen that creates "dead zones") in the oceans, warming and acidification. The panel warns that the combination of these factors will inevitably cause a mass marine extinction if swift action isn't taken to improve conditions.

The report is the latest of several published in recent months examining the dire conditions of the oceans. A recent World Resources Institute report suggests that all coral reefs could be gone by 2050 if no action is taken to protect them, while a study published earlier this year in BioScience declares oysters as "functionally extinct", their populations decimated by over-harvesting and disease. Just last week scientists forecasted that this year's Gulf "dead zone" will be the largest in history due to increased runoff from the Mississippi River dragging in high levels of nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers.

A recent study in the journal Nature, meanwhile, suggests that not only will the next mass extinction be man-made, but that it could already be underway. Unless humans make significant changes to their behavior, that is.

The IPSO report calls for such changes, recommending actions in key areas: immediate reduction of CO2 emissions, coordinated efforts to restore marine ecosystems, and universal implementation of the precautionary principle so "activities proceed only if they are shown not to harm the ocean singly or in combination with other activities." The panel also calls for the UN to swiftly introduce an "effective governance of the High Seas."

"The challenges for the future of the ocean are vast, but unlike previous generations we know what now needs to happen," Dan Laffoley of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) and co-author of the report said in a press release for the new report. "The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now, today and urgent."

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

BE STRAW FREE - Milo Cress on HERE&NOW

Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day and nine-year-old Milo Cress thinks that’s way too many. He started BeStrawFree, an organization that urges restaurants in Milo’s home state of Vermont to use fewer plastic straws.

His cause is garnering attention from the likes of the National Restaurant Association, the state legislature and the governor.
Milo Cress says, “The goal is for it to become standard for restaurants to offer straws, instead of putting them in drinks automatically. And what I’d like to see is a couple of national chains sign on.”

Thursday, June 2, 2011

BCON Technology Flywheel

My new favorite kinetic battery technology, the Beacon Power, Smart Energy 25 Carbon Magnetic Vacuum Flywheel! (I had this same idea about 2003, but I called it the Hummer). Spins at Mach 2, underground, using a vacuum tank and supported by a combination of permanent and electromagnets, this kinetic battery matrix can stabilize up to 2-MegaWatts of grid power. Beauty.

http://www.beaconpower.com/

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

What is Plan B?

Plan B is a worldwide mobilization to stabilize population and stabilize climate. Plan B replaces the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy with a new economic model powered by abundant sources of renewable energy: primarily wind, solar, and geothermal.

Its transportation systems are diverse and aim to maximize mobility, widely employing light rail, buses, and bicycles. A Plan B economy comprehensively reuses and recycles materials. Consumer products from cars to computers are designed to be disassembled into their component parts and completely recycled.

Plan B lays out a budget for eradicating poverty, educating the world’s youth, and delivering better health for all.

It also presents ways to restore our natural world by planting trees, conserving topsoil, stabilizing water tables, and protecting biological diversity. With each new wind farm, rooftop solar water heater, paper recycling facility, bicycle path, marine park, rural school, public health facility, and reforestation program, we move closer to a Plan B economy.