Now that's smart

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Flexenclosure's base station, called E-site, combines a wind turbine and solar panels. Article states that this is being used in developing countries. SMART!

Using Art for Environmental Activism

Robert Bateman's blog, "Groundswell" uses art to show what very likely could happen if a proposed oil pipeline is built from Alberta’s tarsands to the B.C. coast. I've been there. It's such a beautiful place; a real ecological jewel. We have considered moving there because of the natural beauty of this area. And now they want to risk it by opening it up to oil transporation. I can not imagine people sitting back and letting this happen.

I feel like we are living in the movie, "The Lord of the Rings." The dark forces that are trying to destroy our earth keep getting stronger and stronger. A small band of warriors are trying to stop them. Show this to children. They will understand. They will speak to the hearts of their parents make them see what is at stake. How can we look at our children and allow this to keep happening over and over again? It is their future that is at risk.

We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

Can you imagine Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson on the same page when it comes to taking care of our planet? A topic as important as the health of our planet, that is largely ignored by the press will now be addressed with spot ads like this in the new "We Can Solve It" campaign that Al Gore and friends are promoting.

Grasping the idea of climate change and global warming can be a scary thing. My own son talks about how his generation is filled with eco-anxiety about their futures. We can't wait, we have to wake up and do something about it. Even if the earth were not getting warmer, we are damaging the ecosystem and depleting our natural resources at an alarming rate. Yes nature bounces back, but it will be too late for many species who have already gone extinct. We are passengers on this ship and it is our duty to care for it. We have to turn things around and make people understand that the earth is a living organism, not just a rock filled with things that are there for us to exploit.

Let's hope that the "We Campaign" is a success.

The Eco-Echo Chamber

I have been using goole alerts to follow some of the green topics emerging in the market place. What I see happening is an eco-echo chamber. One important story or report comes out and then everyone passes that information along. The story is repeated over and over again. Sometimes, like today, I feel like I'm just a an echo in this eco-echo chamber and. The Mckinsey Global Institute released a report on Monday that is making it's way through the green eco-echo. It is a big deal but not really that new. I read China Inc. last summer and the author said the same things that are in this report: "giant super cities in China were on the way." The book was several years old when I read it. No one really paid that much attention to it. But now that people are waking up to the potential for resource scarcity and carbon limits, this news has taken on a new dimension.

If you Google “population of China”, here is what you get: 1,321,851,888. Another report, reporting on the McKinsey report says that China will produce 15 "super cities" with an average population of 25 million by 2030. Stop and imagine living in a city with 25 million people. I live in the Orlando area and according to one state report, this Metro area has a total of 1,645,000 people. Let's round that off to 1.5 million people. The traffic here is horrendous. The quality of life in suburbia American is questionable. We live in a very nice neighborhood, but really don't know our neighbors. Discussing suburb life in America will wait for another post, but can you imagine living with 25 million people in one city? What would that look like? How can you make that sustainable and have any quality of life beyond living like rats in a cage? How would you deal with sanitation issues?

How high would you have to make the buildings; how small the living space; did I mention food to feed that many people? Where will they work? Where will they play? How do you do that?

I'm glad there are people like William McDonough and Ed Mazria out there working on finding a green, sustainable solution to a greener future. But we also need another Albert Einstein to figure out how to fix the energy needs for cities with 25, 000, 000 people… Wow!

REVERBERATE VIDEO WINNER! What?

I really like the winning video. I watched it twice right off the bat. Straightforward and funny. "Coal burns the hell of me." I loved the girl with the ribbons! I was surprised at the people in the video. No hippie looking people! The activists of today look nothing like the activists of the 60's.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture has won an international competition to design the Masdar Headquarters, the first building in the zero waste,

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A building the produces more energy than it needs.

Image that!

Portable Energy

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I'm not ready to buy one of these yet. Looks like some interesting products are being developed. Here is an example of why we need government regulation or at least green standards.

Oh no! My car ate my tax rebate

CNN reports: Rising gasoline prices means that up to a third of your stimulus rebate check - designed to boost the U.S. economy through spending at stores, restaurants and other businesses - could be spent buying gasoline, most of which is imported from abroad...

I wish Molly Ivins were still alive so she could say "I told you so!" She pointed out in her book, "Bushwhacked" that historically, every business that GW touched broke and went belly up. His dad had to bail him out of everything. And yet, we elected him as president of the United States. What else would you expect.

I'll bet he and Dick Cheeny and the senior officals in his administration have taken the profits they have somehow managed to slip past the sleeping public and invested in one of the new man-made islands in Dubai. KaChing!

Wear Blue on Earth Day: Call for Climate: Architecture 2030

Wear Blue is the new Architecure 2030 campaign. From April 19 to April 22 to wear blue and then "make your voice heard." They are hoping the millions and millions will jam the phone system and rattle the doors of congress. "Pick up the phone: Call Congress at 202.224.3121 and demand an immediate ‘Moratorium on Coal’ - a halt to the construction of any new coal-fired power plants. Through this Call for Climate event, Earth Day hopes to generate over a million phone calls to Congress!" Oh yeah... and spread the word.

George Bush's Green Legacy

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The S&P and NASDAQ close at their lowest since 2006. The Dow Jones is down again. The jobless rate climbs. Let's see what this continued downturn does to all of the new green businesses that are just beginning to bloom and blossom.

I was watching the new eco-friendly businesses in 2000 when George Bush came into office. Many of them went belly up. The Freemarket neocons’ philosophy does not believe in government subsidies to assist a new industry. Wall Street are less inclined to buy the stock of companies the rely on them. Freemarket neocons believe that a new inustry must stand on their own two feet right off or they die. They are a lot like the Spartans in their beliefs; survival of the fittest. And many of the young companies trying to do right by the planet and right by the workers died.

Now we have billions of dollars invested in Green Tech, Clean Tech. Will they weather this storm? Let's hope for the planet’s sake, and the sake of all children everywhere they do...

Let's hope Exxon will be hit hard

See post below

Newspaper begins new daily section for "Green Energy"

Let's here it for MercuryNews! Their newspaper has decided to add a new daily feature called: Green Energy! Why don't other newpapers around the country do the same? California and Washington are leading this new drive for Clean/Green Energy.