Stop the snowmobiles!

Imagine the silent, snowy landscape of Yellowstone National Park in the winter. Now imagine this scene shattered by earsplitting engines and clouds of exhaust.

Four years ago, the number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone each day dropped from 750 to 250. The result? Cleaner air, safer habitat for wildlife, and a more peaceful experience for visitors.

Now, the Bush Administration wants to reverse this progress. A proposed Winter Use Plan would allow up to 720 snowmobiles per day in Yellowstone, which does not recognize the progress, keeping us at square one. Fortunately, the National Park Service must accept public comments on the plan before it makes a final decision.

Click here to tell the NPS not to let snowmobiles destroy Yellowstone.

Hurry, we only have until Tuesday, June 5th to weigh in before the public comment period closes!

Increasing snowmobiles in the park flies in the face of the National Park Service's (NPS) own science: four separate NPS studies have proved conclusively that Yellowstone's air quality, wildlife habitat, and visitor experience are best protected by reducing snowmobile use. Failing to protect these resources and values flies in the face of the National Park Service mission!

If the Park Service gives in to pressure from the snowmobile industry and decides to allow more snowmobiles in Yellowstone, it will mean:

• Dirtier air. Emissions in the park will significantly increase.
• Less peace and quiet. Noise from snowmobile engines - already a problem with just 250 snowmobiles a day - will grow significantly worse.
• A precarious balance threatened. Wildlife will be more disrupted with more vehicles.

Besides, there's an easy alternative to snowmobiles. Snowcoaches, which have been used for decades and became more popular four years ago, offer an environmentally-friendly way for visitors to access the park for snowshoeing, skiing, and other winter adventures.

Click here to send your message opposing the plan before June 5th.

With enough pressure from the American people, the National Park Service could be forced to reconsider its plans. The Park simply does not need any more dirty, destructive snowmobiles - let's keep Yellowstone winters serene and beautiful, the way they should be.

Once you've contacted the National Park Service, please forward this message to your friends, family members and co-workers encouraging them to join you in taking action.

Thank you for sending your comment in before the June 5th deadline!

Sincerely,

Julie Waterman
SaveOurEnvironment.org

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Support Our Work - Click here now to make a secure online donation to help support our efforts to protect our clean water, clean air, endangered species and wild places.

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starbulletin.com | Business | /2007/05/27/

starbulletin.com | Business | /2007/05/27/

Going Green

Conservation and the high energy cost prompt many in Hawaii to alter their style of living

By Allison Schaefers

LOVE FOR AN off-grid oceanfront parcel in Waa Waa, which is located on the southeast corner of the Big Island, inspired Beverly and Dallas Jackson to build an environmentally friendly "green" home away from the network of wires that deliver electricity and communications.

"After we bought the land, we waited to see if they were going to extend services to the region," Dallas Jackson said. "They didn't, and it became clear that if we wanted to live on our land by the ocean that we would have to find a way to do it off-grid."

Like other off-gridders, who make the choice out of conservation values or necessity due to the remote location of their homes, the Jacksons can't depend on electricity, phone/Internet service or, in some cases, modern water or plumbing services.

The couple made their home, now worth $1.25 million, more hospitable by using alternative forms of energy. The home, which boasts aluminum roofing and six-foot eaves to keep it cool, is positioned to capture the breeze as well as its perfect oceanfront vistas.

"When we leave our doors open at night to capture the breezes, we can hear the whales," Beverly Jackson said.

Green used to be for Hawaii's hippies, loners and true believers, but it's rapidly going mainstream. And that is changing how Hawaii constructs and uses its workplaces, as well as our homes, schools, stores, medical facilities, and civic and cultural institutions.

First, some state public buildings sought higher efficiency. Then, a few island companies began building more eco-friendly offices. And now, residential developers and buyers are seeking greener communities. The high cost of energy alone has prompted many home and remodeling contractors, as well as business owners and residents, to consider greener living.

Companies like Maui Land & Pineapple, Actus Lend Lease, Dowling Co. and Ferraro Choi and Associates Ltd. have taken up the mantra started by such diverse mainland companies like Harley Davidson, Genzyme, Goldman Sachs, Google, Hearst, IBM, JP Morgan Chase and Toyota.

"If you aren't doing green building in the future, you won't be part of the mainstream," said Bob McNatt, president of community development for MLP.

The company, which is developing Kapalua Resort, West Maui Village and Pailolo Views, is in the entitlement process for Pulelehua -- its most green affordable housing development to date.

"People will perceive the value of green building," McNatt said. "The homes will live better."

Hawaii's developers are building with low-emitting materials, using state-of-the-art sustainable land-use management plans, creating below-ground storm water retention ponds and photovoltaic power systems. They are positioning the buildings to make the most of Hawaii's breezes and they are stocking them with energy-star appliances and long-lasting fluorescent lighting systems.

ALLISON SCHAEFERS / ASCHAEFERS@STAR-BULLETIN.COM Jay Winslett's off-grid home in Waa Waa on the Big Island allows him to be completely independent. Sixteen solar panels harness the power of the sun to create energy.

"It's taking the traditional town-design idea and applying it here, mixing the uses and creating places that are great to live in," McNatt said.

The advent of new green technology has eased some of the challenges of living green and has made it more appealing to the general public, he said.

Though the Jacksons' Boone Morrison-designed Old Hawaii home is set deep in the untouched wilderness of the Big Island, the high-tech home design, as well as wireless phone service and high speed Internet, help the couple stay connected.

A commercial-grade hybrid solar-generator system with two sine-wave inverters matches the energy output of any other home on regular power. The home generates enough energy to allow the couple to use heavy machinery in their wood-working and stained-glass studios. The couple also has plenty of water, which they draw from two water catchment tanks that offer a 3,000-square-foot holding area.

For the Jacksons, living off-grid provided a way to live on their dream parcel.

BUT FOR OTHERS like Jay Winslett, who lives in a more modest $279,000 home down the road, it satisfies a desire to save money, actively participate in conservation or achieve independence.

"I love the independence of it," Winslett said. "I haven't paid a HECO (Hawaiian Electric Co.) bill in 15 years."

Rising fuel costs have brought the concept of green construction to individual home owners, said Charles Lockwood, an environmental and real estate consultant in Southern California.

"Costs have made people more aware of what it means to be green," he said, adding that the U.S. Building Council's decision to launch a LEED rating system for homes this summer will further spread the proliferation.

LEED, which stands for leadership in energy and environmental design, is the recognized standard for measuring building sustainability.

A growing number of cities have mandated that private developers seek LEED certification, Lockwood said. Laws are being discussed in San Francisco; Pasadena, Calif.; Montgomery County, Md.; Washington, D.C. and Boston that would require privately-owned condo and hotel buildings to be green, he said.

While green building has gained more rapid acceptance on the mainland than in Hawaii, many in the industry are trying to catch up, said Joe Ferraro, a founding principal of Ferraro Choi and Associates Ltd., the Hawaii architecture firm that earned a platinum certification, LEED's highest industry standard for the design of the Hawaii Gateway Energy Center.

"The leaders in our industry in Hawaii didn't embrace it at first and it was slow to get across the ocean," Ferraro said. "But in actuality, we should be the leaders since we've got such a fragile ecosystem and our economy is tourism based. Besides, our climate is so adaptive to it. We should be way out there -- the model for the county and the world."

COURTESY MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO. The Kapalua Bay Course Clubhouse on Maui has a grass-planted 'green roof,' foreground, that absorbs and filters stormwater runoff, helping to reduce impact on the waters off Kapalua.

As people get more aware of the impacts of global warming, they will want to become part of the solution, said Everett Dowling, president of Maui-based Dowling Co., which made the commitment to go entirely green in 2005.

"I think people will choose to learn how to live in a manner with less of an impact," Dowling said. "When people think green building they think of people living off the grid and have an image of how inconvenient that lifestyle could be. We want to demystify the concept and show that green building can range from the affordable to the high-end and include all the luxury amenities that a homeowner could want."

Dowling, whose office is almost entirely green and whose employees are switching over to hybrid cars, is the brainchild behind Maluaka, the first green-certified resort community to be built in Hawaii.

"I think a lot of it is kind of back to the future," Dowling said. "We've had rain-water catchments and photovoltaic for years; however, these people were doing it out of necessity because they had no choice but to live off the grid. We have the opportunity to connect to the grid and live off power, but we are trying to minimize our footprint."

Like Dowling Co., more and more Hawaii developers are choosing to educate clients about green-building, Ferraro said.

"There's definitely a high demand for green now -- it's sort of in vogue," Ferraro said. "Just about every institution is asking for some level of green, and the state and county are demanding it. We've even seen more requests from private residents."

BONNIE OSAKI, a certified aging in place specialist (CAPS) with Graham Builders, said many clients are inquiring about built-green materials and technology.

"Most homeowners we see are concerned about the cost of energy as well as the operating and maintenance expenses of built-green materials and want suggestions," Osaki said.

While the increased costs of built-green factor into the demand, some homeowners and businesses see the long-term benefits of using green technology and materials, she said.

Encouragement from industry trade associations like the Building Industry Association and HECO, as well as Hawaii's county and state governments, has enticed many developers to consider the long-term health of the planet when they are making design and building decisions, said Marshall Hickox, a partner/vice-president of Homeworks Construction Inc.

"The general feeling is that many are starting to think about how to incorporate more to the built-green philosophy," Hickox said.

Hickox, who specializes in green building, said that while there is still not enough local demand to keep him entirely occupied in that category, the dynamic is evolving.

"Economically there isn't enough demand now," Hickox said, adding that it will take continued education, pressure from larger companies to set the standard, subsidies and technological advances that allow for cheaper greener products to move builders completely into the greener side of building.

Green principles were once seen as extreme. However, the creation of reliable building-rating and performance measurement systems, combined with proof that green building ultimately saves money, has made the concept more attractive to mainstream commercial and residential developers, as well as businesses and residents, Lockwood said. As the cost of green building has gone down and the benefits such as increased employee productivity have been documented, green building has begun to tip the popularity scales, he said.

"The future of green is here," Lockwood said.

THINKING GREEN

The top 10 ways to save the earth at home:

1. Slow the flow. Take shorter showers and shut the water off while brushing your teeth or washing dishes. Fix water leaks. Install dual flush and low-flow toilets and showers.

2. Brighten up. Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs to save energy and money. Unplug electronics like TVs and computers that suck energy while in "sleep" mode. Shut off unneeded lights.

3. Keep cool. Check for leaks around doors and windows. Draw the drapes to block sunlight, or even better, plant foliage to help shade your house, turn off the A/C, and let the breezes flow.

4. Be efficient. Replace old appliances (air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines) with energy-efficient ones to save energy and money.

5. Go native. When planting or landscaping your yard, choose native plants that don't require lots of watering and pesticides.

6. Don't pollute your own house. Household cleaners and detergents can have nasty stuff in 'em. Choose plant-based cleaners (instead of petroleum based) and other natural alternatives.

7. Reuse and recycle. Use rags instead of paper towels, use cloth bags instead of paper or plastic for groceries, print on both sides of paper, and recycle everything you can.

8. Go solar. Talk to your parents about installing solar panels on your roof and take advantage of all the free sunshine for generating electricity and heating water. With rebates, solar power can be very affordable.

9. Ditch the car. To save gas and cut down on air pollution, try biking and walking. It's fun and good for you. Gotta go far? Take the bus.

10. Spread the word. Tell everyone you know to go green at home by conserving resources and choosing healthy products.

Deadly fish virus found in fish from Lake Winnebago

Deadly fish virus found in fish from Lake Winnebago

The Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on Friday May 17 announced that fish collected in several Lake Winnebago locations preliminarily tested positive for viral hemorrhagic septicemia or VHS, a deadly fish virus that officials have suspected for years may have already appeared in Lake Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi River.

The fish virus has already been found in two drum, or sheepshead, collected on May 2 from Little Lake Butte des Morts, the DNR announced May 12. Dead fish were discovered in Lake Winnebago earlier. Since May 2, DNR has been receiving reports of hundreds of freshwater drum dying on Lake Winnebago, according to the state agency.

Little Lake Butte des Morts is in downstream from Lake Winnebago and separated by one dam and one functioning lock. The Lake Winnebago chain is home to Wisconsin’s unique sturgeon population. The finding of VHS in Little Lake Butte des Morts and dead fish in Lake Winnebago prompted state officials to immediately close the lock effective May 12 to prevent the fish virus from spreading to Lake Winnebago.

As fish from Lake Winnebago have been found infected with the fish virus, officials on Friday ordered re-opening of the Menasha lock because the closure does no longer help prevent the spreading of the fish virus.

The fish virus does not pose any risk to people who eat the infected fish. However, it is lethal to more than 25 fish species in Wisconsin Waters. State Officials worry that VHS could spread to many lakes in the state, potentially devastating fish populations and affecting the 2.3 billion fishery industry in the state.

The fish virus caused major fish kills in 2005 and 2006 in lakes St. Clair, Erie, Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, and the virus was discovered in Lake Huron fish in February, according to Mike Staggs, Wisconsin’s fisheries director.

The latest discovery of the fish virus in some Wisconsin lakes does not come as a surprise to the officials who are aware that the risk is always there for the virus to spread. Because of this, the state Natural Resources Board already convened on April 7 to address the potential spread of VHS to fish in Wisconsin's inland waters.

At the meeting, the Board unanimously passed emergency rules prohibiting anglers and boasters from moving live fish and requiring that they drain their boats and live wells before leaving Wisconsin's Great Lakes waters, the Mississippi River and those waters' tributaries up to the first dam.

As the fish virus was found in fish from Lake Winnebago on Friday, the Broad extended emergency rules adopted on April 7 to include the Lake Winnebago watershed. The board's also extended the emergency rule statewide if VHS is found outside of the Lake Winnebago system.

Wisconsin has been already testing a wide range of fish in Lakes Michigan and Superior and the Mississippi River for the fish virus VHS since 2005. New monitoring procedures are being developed to test other water systems. The state also has suspended all stocking of fish, transfers of fish among hatches, collection of forage fish or eggs from the wild and all field fish transfers. And the DNR Secretary Scott Hassett has already appointed a VHS response team to develop recommendations as the situation progresses

International Fund for Animal Welfare | May 18, 2007 Tell eBay to stop all ivory auctions Download the results of IFAW’s eBay investigation: Bidding for Extinction. Dear Dottye, Did you know that thousands of animal and wildlife products made from endangered species are bought and sold over the Internet every day? IFAW investigations have uncovered some shocking wildlife offers online: wild leather and fur handbags, shoes and clothes from endangered reptiles, rhinoceros horn trophies, an alarming number of items made from ivory and much more. As the largest Internet marketplace for ivory sales, eBay is directly and indirectly assisting the illegal trade in wildlife as well as the poachers who create it. Demand that eBay end illegal wildlife offers from its auction sites immediately Increasingly, illegal wildlife products are distributed online as the means by which the illicit trade in wildlife is conducted. This enables illegal trade at tremendous speeds to go completely unchecked: a trade so great that it is now estimated to be second only to illegal trafficking in drugs and weapons. IFAW recently conducted an in-depth survey of ivory products for sale on eBay. During a one week investigation of eight eBay sites, a whopping 2,275 ivory items were found. More than 94% of these ivory items did not comply with eBay’s own stated standards and the remaining 6% were most likely illegal. There is no single, well-defined, consistent global eBay policy governing the listing of ivory on its various national web sites. Each national eBay site has its own rules, almost all of which are vague. Illegal items taken down in one country can easily be reposted or accessed on another eBay country website. Fueling the poaching of elephants in Africa and Asia The illegal wildlife trade is a lucrative business for poachers that encourages them to kill more animals. More than 20,000 elephants are killed annually today to supply these illegal ivory markets. Although much of this ivory is still sold through traditional markets, the killing won’t stop until the vast online outlets for ivory are shut down. As the largest seller of illegal ivory on the Internet, eBay needs to ban sales of ivory globally on all its sites and strictly enforce such a ban. The trade in ivory is cruel and unsustainable. eBay must take action to ensure it plays no part in this ongoing tragedy for elephants. eBay has expressed its commitment to a global policy on the ivory trade and a willingness to work closely with IFAW on drafting such a policy and its enforcement. But words are not enough. Please take a moment to send a letter to eBay corporate headquarters urging e-Bay to enforce a complete global ban on ivory sales. Thank you for speaking out, Fred O’Regan President and CEO P.S. eBay must accept responsibility for the impact that trade in wild animal products on its sites is having on the world’s wildlife. Please tell eBay in your own words why allowing the sale of illegal wildlife products is wrong.

Southern Ocean calls time on carbon sinking | The Register

Southern Ocean calls time on carbon sinking | The Register

ust had enough, thanks

By Lucy Sherriff → More by this author

Published Friday 18th May 2007 13:08 GMT

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The Southern Ocean, one of the planet's biggest carbon sinks, is almost totally saturated, according to research published in the journal Science.

Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) joined forces with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and the Max Planck institute for a four year study of the ocean around the southern continent. They found that increased winds over the Southern Ocean has triggered a release of stored CO₂.

The researchers say the increase in wind in the region has been triggered by ozone depletion and greenhouse gas emission.

"This is the first time that we've been able to say that climate change itself is responsible for the saturation of the Southern Ocean sink," said lead author Dr Corinne Le Quéré of UEA and BAS.

"The Earth's carbon sinks – of which the Southern Ocean accounts for 15 per cent – absorb about half of all human carbon emissions. With the Southern Ocean reaching its saturation point more CO₂ will stay in our atmosphere," Le Quéré explained.

A carbon sink - be it a forest, ocean, methane crystals trapped in ice sheets, or a peat bog in Siberia - locks carbon out of the atmosphere so that it doesn't contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Since the industrial revolution, the Earth's oceans have absorbed as much as 500 gigatons of the carbon generated by human activity. Professor Chris Rapley, director of British Antarctic Survey described the possibility that the strongest of these oceanic sinks is weakening as "a cause for concern".

Most climate models predict that this kind of negative feedback will intensify this century, Le Quéré says.

As well as having implications for how easy it will be to st

Whale Rescue Attempt Fails

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The initial effort to lure two humpback whales from the Sacramento River Thursday using recordings of other whales and a flotilla of boats was unsuccessful, according to Wildlife Biologist Joe Cordaro with the National Marine Fishery Service. The whales reacted by swimming away from the sound, rather than toward it.

COMMENTARY / SETTING A HIGHER GREEN STANDARD / Stanford's ecology center earns kudos for its low impact

Stanford's ecology center earns kudos for its low impact

John King, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

A walk around the Global Ecology Center at Stanford University shows why it's no surprise the small research building is one of the American Institute of Architects' "2007 Top Ten Green Projects."

The outer walls include redwood salvaged from century-old wine casks. Galvanized steel sheets keep the afternoon sun off west-facing windows. The lobby is cooled by moistened air that gravity pulls down a chimney-like shaft.

The only surprise is what's missing: a "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" certification from the United States Green Building Council.

LEED is becoming the construction industry equivalent of organic food, touted by developers and government alike. But researchers at the Global Ecology Center didn't see the need for a semi-official stamp of approval, so they didn't even apply.

And the success of their new home is a reminder that following a checklist isn't the point for an issue such as global warming. The challenge is to push further -- exploring how to make buildings as sustainable as possible.

The ecology center is a branch of the Carnegie Institution, a scientific organization with an outpost on the Stanford campus since 1928. In 2002, Carnegie created the center on its Panama Street site to research the links among topics including biodiversity, water use and climate change.

For the center's home, the faculty wanted a design that would reflect these priorities. The architectural firm they selected was San Francisco's EHDD -- best-known for its Monterey Bay Aquarium, but a leader in the profession for its efforts to weave environmental concerns through all aspects of design.

Visually, EHDD has produced a handsome structure that looks more like a barn than the Spanish-flavored landmarks for which Stanford is known. The 10,000-square-foot structure is two stories high, a narrow box with labs on the ground and offices above. There's a porch-like foyer clad in wood siding, and a pitched roof punctured by windows on the west to let natural light illuminate the open second floor.

It's a simple design with an ambitious goal: to create a building that consumes as few resources as possible. The clerestory windows, for example, stand 19 feet above the floor but can be opened to allow air. How? With hand-cranked cables.

Another tactic comes after dark, when water is sprayed from small sprinklers onto the steep metal roof. The water cools as it spills down to the gutters, the liquid's heat radiating into the cold night sky. The runoff is stored in an insulated, 12,000-gallon tank -- and used the next day to serve the building's chilled water needs, a holistic approach that consumes one-quarter of the energy a conventional cooling system would require.

In keeping with the environmental theme, the EHDD design incorporates recycled materials each step of the way.

Butterfly Gardening

What is butterfly gardening? Simply put butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract these colorful and dainty creatures to your garden. Delight your family and visitors with beautiful butterflies, but be sure to create a safe habitat for them. If you own cats rethink your plans, because it would be a shame to attract these lovely insects to their death.

The design your butterfly garden is a matter of personal preference. Typical points to consider are the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you, but ensure it also contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.

It is important to find out which plants and flowers will attract the species of butterflies. that live in your area. This information can be found at the local library
To create the kind of environment that they find attractive, you will also need water of some kind. A birdbath will look attractive and keep the butterflies up off the ground, away from stray cats or mischievous puppies. A shallow dish on a post or hung in a tree will do just as well.

When planting your butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flowerbeds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, you don't want your garden to be a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures. Butterflies are attracted to those flowers that have nectar rather than pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies and lavender.

Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly gardening plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.

'Green' power lights state buildings

'Green' power lights state buildings

'Green' power lights state buildings

E-mail this page Reader Comments (below)

By GLENN ADAMS, Associated Press © Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Monday, May 14, 2007

Associated Press Photo

Renewable energy lights up the State House in Augusta at dusk last Wednesday. Maine is the only state that uses 100 percent renewable energy in state-owned buildings. Power generated by falls on the Androscoggin River help keep lights burning in state-owned buildings 50 miles away. The Rumford Falls hydroelectric plant in Rumford is at right.

RUMFORD - The Androscoggin River's heavy springtime flow cascades down falls at the side of a brick hydroelectric plant not far from the middle of this western Maine papermaking city.

The view from below is more than scenic. You might say it's electrifying, considering the dam's output accounts for much of the power running the lights 50 miles away in the capitol, transportation garages, prisons and other state-owned buildings across Maine.

And while the water roars through the falls, Maine quietly is assuming a nation-leading role as the only state in which 100 percent of the electricity used in state-owned buildings comes from renewable sources. Those "green," nonfossil power sources also include wind, solar and geothermal power, and power from municipal waste generators.

"Our state government purchases of renewable energy are indicative of our willingness to take direct actions to reduce global warming," said David Littell, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Maine is one of about a dozen states that have set goals for use of green energy in their buildings, said Sue Gouchoe of the Solar Center at North Carolina State University, whose database tracks such policies and trends across the country.

Gouchoe said no other state has a current goal of 100 percent renewable power in its buildings.

Most other states with green power purchasing requirements for state buildings set minimums of 3 percent to 20 percent, according to an energy researcher for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Next to Maine's, Connecticut's standard is the highest, with goals of 20 percent renewable-energy purchases in 2010, rising to 50 percent in 2020 and 100 percent in 2050, said Glen Andersen of the legislative organization.

No state or other power purchaser can purchase electrons that literally have been generated by any particular source -- renewable or not. All power generation sites -- green, fossil fuel-based and otherwise -- pour their energy into a grid, through which power from a mix of sources is distributed.

With global warming a growing concern, many power purchasers stipulate that the equivalent of the power they use is generated from renewable sources. Besides financially bolstering green energy, it offsets greenhouse gas emissions.

In Maine and some other states, homeowners can opt for all-green purchases when they choose energy suppliers. A Maine law requires all competitive electricity providers to get 30 percent of their power from renewable sources.

To get its government to 100 percent, the state purchased renewable energy credits for 50,000 megawatt hours of power generated by the Rumford Falls hydro station, which is owned by Brookfield Power of Quebec.

The renewable energy credit purchase displaces about 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, the equivalent of taking about 2,400 cars off the road, said Chip Gavin, director of the state Bureau of General Services, which buys the electricity for state-owned facilities.

Working for Alpine Access from home.

I work for a company that handles call-center solutions by using home-based agents. One HUGE advantage is no commute to work, especially living in a rural area where call-center jobs are hard to come by. No way could I commute the two hours to Tampa- I'd be working to fill my tank. The company is called Alpine Access. They are legitimate, pay well and regularly. Their web site is http://www.alpineaccess.com.

Beating global warming needn't cost the earth - U.N.

Beating global warming needn't cost the earth - U.N.


Beating global warming needn't cost the earth - U.N.
By David Fogarty

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Humans must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the next 50 years to keep global warming in check, but it need cost only a tiny fraction of world economic output, a major U.N. report said on Friday.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said keeping the temperature rise within 2 degrees Celsius would cost only 0.12 percent of annual gross domestic product.

A man walks past cars during rush-hour traffic in Bangkok May 4, 2007. Humans must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in the next 50 years to keep global warming in check, but it need cost only a tiny fraction of world economic output, a major U.N. report said on Friday. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif)
"It's a low premium to pay to reduce the risk of major climate damage," Bill Hare, a Greenpeace adviser who co-authored the report told Reuters after marathon talks that ran over their four-day schedule to finalize the document.

The report "shows that it's economically and technically feasible to make deep emission reductions sufficient to limit warming to 2 degrees," he said.

To keep within that limit, which scientists and the European Union say is needed to stave off disastrous climate changes, carbon dioxide emissions need to fall 50 to 85 percent by 2050, said the report, the third in a series.

However, technological advances, particularly in more efficient energy use and production, meant such targets were within reach, it said.

It stressed the use of nuclear, solar and wind power, more energy-efficient buildings and lighting, as well as capturing and storing carbon dioxide spewed from coal-fired power stations and oil and gas rigs.

But A U.S. environmental official rejected some options detailed in the report for cutting emissions as too costly.

"There are measures that come currently at an extremely high cost because of the lack of available technology," said James Connaughton, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

These scenarios, he said, would bring cuts in world gross domestic product of up to 3 percent. "That would of course cause global recession, so that is something that we probably want to avoid," Connaughton said in a telephone briefing.

China, expected to soon overtake the United States as the world's biggest greenhouse gas producer, said rich countries must not keep clean energy technologies to themselves.

"It is something the developing countries have been asking for for many years, but up till now it has not happened," said Zhou Dadi, director of China's Energy Research Institute and a co-author of the report.

The panel also said for the first time that lifestyle changes could help fight global warming.

It gave no examples, but IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said these could include turning down the thermostat and eating less red meat, which could cut animal methane emissions.

'NO EXCUSE'

The report, agreed by scientists and officials from more than 100 countries, reviews the latest science on the costs and ways to curb emissions growth. It is meant as a blueprint for governments without telling them exactly what to do.

Its clear message, however, was that the ball was now in government courts. "There is no excuse for waiting," European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said a "comprehensive package on the way forward" needed to be launched at a December U.N. climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, so there was no gap when the Kyoto Protocol's first phase runs out in 2012.

In some cases, the IPCC said, technology could bring major benefits, such as cutting health costs by tackling pollution.

Even changing planting times for rice or managing livestock herds better could cut emissions of methane, said the report, which draws on the work of 2,500 scientists.

Two previous IPCC reports this year painted a grim future of human-induced global warming causing more hunger, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels that would drown low-lying islands.

Asia's population is most at risk from rising seas and more powerful storms. One in 10 people, mainly in Asia, live in highly vulnerable coastal areas, an international study published last month found.

The steeper the emissions cuts, the greater the cost to the global economy, the report said.

The cost of limiting greenhouse gases in 2030 to stabilization levels of between 445 and 710 parts per million (ppm) CO2-equivalent ranges from a 3 percent decrease in global GDP to a small increase, it said.

However, regional costs might differ significantly from global averages, it added. Greenhouse gas concentrations are now at about 430 ppm CO2-equivalent.

(Additional reporting by Darren Schuettler in Bangkok, Deborah Zabarenko in Washington and Patrick Worsnip at the U.N.)

Article

Article

Hot and Bothered

Global warming-fighting duo takes on senior Bush Administration official
By Kate Sheppard

After two weeks of traveling the country in a biodiesel-powered bus, Laurie David, Sheryl Crow, and crew rolled into our nation's capitol on Saturday. It was last stop on their college tour, and the Thelma and Louise of climate change were set to play an Earth Day show the following evening just spitting distance from the Hill. The purpose of their tour had been to raise awareness on college campuses about climate change, and with the last stop, they were set to bring that awareness to our elected officials.

That evening, Crow and David made a stop at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner Saturday night at the Washington Hilton, where they got an unexpected chance take the tour directly to Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Conversation between the two parties got heated pretty quickly when the ladies brought up global warming, asking Rove to take a "fresh look" at climate change and U.S. policy toward addressing it.

According to the pair, Rove "immediately got combative," and began reciting official talking points about China and research funding. In Joe Stupp's account of the event in Editor & Publisher, Crow and Rove were " jawing like a baseball manager and an umpire arguing a call," while David stood beside her offering support. Rove brushed them off and turned to head back toward his table.

As the pair recounted on the Huffington Post and on Crow's blog, the singer-activist then reached out to touch Rove's arm. The senior Bush administration official swung around and growled, "Don't touch me."

"You can't speak to us like that, you work for us," Crow told him.

"I don't work for you, I work for the American people," he replied.

"We are the American people," Crow said.

Of course, the two parties later had differing accounts of the events.

"She came over to insult me and she succeeded," Rove said to the Washington Post.

"I am floored by what I just experienced with Karl Rove," David told the Post. "He went zero to 100 with me … I've never had anyone be so rude."

"I honestly thought that I was going to change his mind, like, right there and then," David later told the Associated Press.

The encounter quickly became the story-of-the-moment on all the major mainstream media outlets, landing in the Washington Post, Hollywood Daily, E! Online, Fox News, and the New York Times, among plenty of others. Early Sunday morning it was on all the major television news networks including CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC.

It didn't take long for liberal conservative, and green blogs and the gossip columns to catch on, either:

Think Progress.org

National Review Online

Ecorazzi.com

NYDAILYNEWS.COM

socialitelife.com

Even some red-staters have come out in support of the ladies, including MSNBC's Joe Scarborough:

"Whether you agree or disagree with their environmental message, I suspect you would be impressed with these women's dedication if you got the chance to spend the day with them … The female version of the Blues Brothers took their ministry to save the planet Saturday night from the tour bus to the White House Correspondent's Dinner, where Laurie tried to convert Karl Rove," writes Scarborough. "She soon found out that college kids listening to a rock star are more open-minded than presidential aides who feel besieged."

At Sunday's concert, Crow dedicated the last song of the night to her "new friend," Karl Rove. The tune? A cover of the Beatles "We Can Work It Out."

Health experts: Battling warming is win-win - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Health experts: Battling warming is win-win - Climate Change - MSNBC.com

Battling warming is win-win, health experts say
Cutting carbon can also mean reducing illness-causing pollutants

BANGKOK, Thailand - Countries that start battling global warming now won't have to wait generations to see the rewards: Burning cleaner fuels can yield immediate health benefits that save lives and money, world health experts say.

A climate change conference in Bangkok this week has centered on the high cost of promoting greener policies. But governments should consider how much they will save in medical costs by adopting policies that minimize heat waves, disease and water scarcity resulting from rising temperatures, the scientists said.

Big developing countries like China and India can play a huge role in improving health by expanding their use of cleaner energy sources, said Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, an expert on global environmental change and health at the World Health Organization.

"The policy options that you choose to try to cut (carbon dioxide) emissions also have very important health effects," he said from the agency's headquarters in Geneva. "If you choose the right ones, then you can certainly have a win-win at cutting CO2 emissions and directly benefiting health."

Urban air pollution, for example, kills about 800,000 people a year globally, according to WHO. More than half of those deaths occur in China, the world's second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after the United States, the agency said.

Promoting walking or bicycling instead of driving could further reduce major health problems like diabetes and heart disease that are striking many rapidly developing countries, Campbell-Lendrum said.

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists, was being hammered out for a fourth day Thursday by conference delegates from more than 120 countries. A final version was expected by Friday.