This video of our California State Assembly at work makes me wonder how we ever get anything done.
Andrew from CCSE testifies upon the current state of public incentives and problems with the industry.
Watch minute 38-60 http://www.calchannel.com/channel/viewvideo/2883
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Lawrence Lessig Keynote at Coffee Party Convention 2010
It has become apparent to me watching our local leaders and seeing the influence of the Utility Corporations, the Carbon-Energy Companies, the Building Industry, and Land Developers, that we are in an unsustainable economy, where the money has corrupted our systems of government against the common good.
Why are our kids dying from diabetes? Why are vegetables more expensive than hamburgers? Why do windmills require more research oversight than deep-water oil-rigs? How have the U.S. Banks privatized profit and socialized risk? How are these issues related, and what is the root of our problem?
Fair Elections Now and Fix Congress First have tired to change the system from the inside.
Why are our kids dying from diabetes? Why are vegetables more expensive than hamburgers? Why do windmills require more research oversight than deep-water oil-rigs? How have the U.S. Banks privatized profit and socialized risk? How are these issues related, and what is the root of our problem?
Fair Elections Now and Fix Congress First have tired to change the system from the inside.
We all have individual issues, and we all have different individual goals, but despite our differences, it is our common enemy, the broken government system, that must unite us. Look back 100 years, and you see what progressives did to save us from the 'Fat-Cats' money. The 'people' have been replaced by those who fund our elections.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. - Abe Lincoln, Gettysburg AddressThe people must wage a civil-war to save democracy. If you believe in democracy, you must pick a side, and join in battle. What we have now is unsustainable.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Energy Upgrade California
As a certified Building Performance Institute Home Energy and Safety Auditor, Michael Russell is available to inspect your home and consult with homeowners about the Energy Upgrade programs.
If you would like to know more about what options you have for retrofits and upgrades, see the interactive online home tour. You can find San Diego Contractors who are certified to apply for Energy Upgrade funds on the website. Below is a video provided by Energy Upgrade California.
5-minute Program Video (English) from Energy Upgrade California on Vimeo.
This program is intended as a state wide marketing push to put construction contractors back to work. The average building upgrade costs about $12,000-$14,000, and you can expect a $1,000-$5,000 in rebates, incentives, and/or tax credits. These upgrades do not include plug-load appliances or renewable energy solutions such as solar-panels and solar-thermal water-heating, but these can be added to any project, and there are similar tax incentives, rebates, and credits available.
For a whole home energy audit, safety inspection, and efficiency plan, please consult with a BPI Certified home energy & safety analyst, like MICHAEL RUSSELL.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
King Corn
Why is it that every documentary I watch scares me more than the last? Damn Liberals*.
King Corn is the 2007 story of how American Commercial Agriculture is killing the family farm and killing people in the process, and why the Depression Generation, terrified of hunger and hard work, has insured a land of plenty that is out of balance with nature. But the solution, the end of farm subsidies for quantity and their redirection for quality and sustainability, would destroy the fortunes of the federally socialized agriculture monopolies, the food finance and insurance industries, the grocery store chains, tractor makers, and the chemical fertilizer, genetically modified seed mono-crops, and pesticide companies.
We have paid farmers to fallow land, and we have paid them for overproduction. These manipulations of the food market have a perverse effect upon both our land use, and our diet. Perhaps, by subsidizing farmers into extinction, we have starved the world with cheap food, making farming in other countries unprofitable.
(* note: the use of satire is not sanctioned by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal)
King Corn is the 2007 story of how American Commercial Agriculture is killing the family farm and killing people in the process, and why the Depression Generation, terrified of hunger and hard work, has insured a land of plenty that is out of balance with nature. But the solution, the end of farm subsidies for quantity and their redirection for quality and sustainability, would destroy the fortunes of the federally socialized agriculture monopolies, the food finance and insurance industries, the grocery store chains, tractor makers, and the chemical fertilizer, genetically modified seed mono-crops, and pesticide companies.
We have paid farmers to fallow land, and we have paid them for overproduction. These manipulations of the food market have a perverse effect upon both our land use, and our diet. Perhaps, by subsidizing farmers into extinction, we have starved the world with cheap food, making farming in other countries unprofitable.
How many farmers can no longer feed themselves with the "food" they grow? I watched King Corn, and I can't buy food in the stores anymore. Corn-feed Beef is off my diet, nothing with corn syrup, or ethanol. Any food industry that will not let you film their factory production should not be trusted.What if we guarantee commercial farms a buyout over the next decade at double their investment, and distribute the land to all the homeless and hungry people in America. Wouldn't that solve hunger, homelessness, unemployment, and cost no more than the farm subsidies we already pay? We are headed for a major correction, and as a nation we will can either switch to a resource based economy, or we will suffer the consequences. Watch King Corn, and see if you don't agree.
(* note: the use of satire is not sanctioned by the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
End of the Line
As I've shown in this blog, there is an extinction event happening on our planet, and the leading indicator is the death of the mega-fauna in our oceans. By 2050 we can expect an end to coral reefs, and bottom trawlers are destroying our costal habitats. Documenting the end of fishing as we have known it, "The End of the Line" exposes our failure to stop commercial fishing corporations from raping the seas and destroying the species we used to eat.
From TruthOut:
Charles Clover: The picture is that about a third of the world's wild fish stocks have collapsed - defined as being fished to below 10 per cent of their abundance in 1950 - and for the rest the trend is down with only one or two places in the world managing their fish sustainability. This has huge implications for food security in a world with more human beings in it and for the functioning of whole ecosystems.
MK: There is an amazing shot in the documentary of an enormous seabed trawler that smashes coral reefs and lower ocean level sea life to bits as it speeds along. So, the threat is not just to fish, but to the actual seabed, is that right?
CC: That is actually the first image in my book and shook me when I discovered about it: the image of a beam trawler smashing its way across the seabed. I transposed it to the plains of Africa and it became a shocking image. Towed gear does alter the habitat and kills animals on the bottom as well as catching fish and that image explains that. It was worked out that a beam trawler killed 16 pounds of marine creatures to produce one pound of marketable sole.
From TruthOut:
Charles Clover: The picture is that about a third of the world's wild fish stocks have collapsed - defined as being fished to below 10 per cent of their abundance in 1950 - and for the rest the trend is down with only one or two places in the world managing their fish sustainability. This has huge implications for food security in a world with more human beings in it and for the functioning of whole ecosystems.
MK: There is an amazing shot in the documentary of an enormous seabed trawler that smashes coral reefs and lower ocean level sea life to bits as it speeds along. So, the threat is not just to fish, but to the actual seabed, is that right?
CC: That is actually the first image in my book and shook me when I discovered about it: the image of a beam trawler smashing its way across the seabed. I transposed it to the plains of Africa and it became a shocking image. Towed gear does alter the habitat and kills animals on the bottom as well as catching fish and that image explains that. It was worked out that a beam trawler killed 16 pounds of marine creatures to produce one pound of marketable sole.
Watch the Question and Answer videos. Official 'End of the Line' Website.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
CNN & Michio Kaku Report: Japanese officials LIE about Fukushima Meltdown
Pay attention, Fukushima is FUBAR! Watch world rebound Japanese-American Physicist, Michio Kaku, embarrass the Japanese Utilities and Government, on CNN Reports.
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."
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."
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