Non Toxic Vision

Newsweek: "Are you ready for more?"

In a world of climate change, freak storms are the new normal. Why we’re unprepared for the harrowing future.

Joplin, Mo., was prepared. The tornado warning system gave residents 24 minutes’ notice that a twister was bearing down on them. Doctors and nurses at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, who had practiced tornado drills for years, moved fast, getting patients away from windows, closing blinds, and activating emergency generators. And yet more than 130 people died in Joplin, including four people at St. John’s, where the tornado sucked up the roof and left the building in ruins, like much of the shattered city.

Even those who deny the existence of global climate change are having trouble dismissing the evidence of the last year. In the U.S. alone, nearly 1,000 tornadoes have ripped across the heartland, killing more than 500 people and inflicting $9 billion in damage. The Midwest suffered the wettest April in 116 years, forcing the Mississippi to flood thousands of square miles, even as drought-plagued Texas suffered the driest month in a century. Worldwide, the litany of weather’s extremes has reached biblical proportions. The 2010 heat wave in Russia killed an estimated 15,000 people. Floods in Australia and Pakistan killed 2,000 and left large swaths of each country under water. A months-long drought in China has devastated millions of acres of farmland. And the temperature keeps rising: 2010 was the hottest year on earth since weather records began.

From these and other extreme-weather events, one lesson is sinking in with terrifying certainty. The stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone. Which means you haven’t seen anything yet. And we are not prepared.

Read this fascinating Newsweek article: Are you ready for more

Japan Earthquake Relief Fund

Japan needs our help right now.

With pictures of absolute disaster and a nuklear disaster on the verge the people of Japan need foremost what we consider for granted: food, shelter and clean water. Let's join together and give what we can:

Japan Society has created a disaster relief fund to aid victims of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan. This is something the Society has done over the years, partnering with Japanese and American nonprofits in various relief efforts. Japan Society pledges that 100% of your contribution will go to organizations that directly help victims recover from the earthquake and tsunamis that struck Japan on Friday.

Donate here

Let's tip our hat to: Gene Sharp

 
The writings of Gene Sharp, an 83-year-old former Harvard researcher, include the widely distributed and translated how-to manual "From Dictatorship to Democracy" and have been used to promote nonviolent resistance in countries as different as Serbia and Egypt.

Known as the "Karl Von Clausewitz of nonviolent warfare," Sharp recently spoke with RFE/RL correspondent Courtney Rose Brooks about nonviolent struggle, the Egyptian revolution, and the wave of protests that continue to spread across the Middle East and North Africa.

Read the entire interview right here

Learn more about Gene Sharp (on wikipedia)

Olympics going Green

With the United States looking to be a serious contender in capturing the 2022 Winter Olympics, there is also a lot of talk of the ways they are looking to construct an environmentally friendly space for the games to take place in.

The International Olympic Committee is on the same page here. With the partnership between them and DOW Chemical and CEO Andrew Liveris (the official sponsor of the Olympic Games through the decade) shows the IOC's commitment to green sustainability. IOC President, Jacques Rogge believe this partnership shows the Committees commitment to advancement, sustainability and international collaboration.

While the Olympics are an amazing display of athleticism and unification, it is also admittedly a carbon-rich event. Scientists have estimated that more than 2/3 of carbon emissions are produced from the event. This high statistic is a result of the fact that of the 1.5 million Olympic spectators, most travel via airplane.

USOC members and Andrew Liveris DOW CEO continue to prove that they are committed to finding ways to continue the environmentally conscious ideas. Here are a few examples shown in Beijing that the IOC is looking to further:

• Solar power - Solar power lit up lawns, streets, courtyards, and several venues, including some within the Olympic Village. A 130 KW photovoltaic lighting system illuminated the city's National Stadium,
the main venue for the football competition.

• Water Conservation - Waste water was collected from the Qinghe sewage treatment plant and filtered back to be used by the village and other grounds various heating and cooling requirements. This water
conservation measure saved 60% in electricity. Rainwater was also collected from the site grounds. In summary, over 75,000 gallons of water was collected via porous bricks, road pipes and wells installed on
roofs.

• Natural Light - Remember the 'Water Cube' where the aquatic events were held? The walls of the National Aquatics Centre provided natural light, 'beam-pipes' moved sunlight through corridors, toilets, and car parks at many of the venues, including the Olympic Green.

• Recycling - The 2008 Olympic hosts set a goal of 50% recycling of waste paper, metals, and plastics.
While the Olympics in 2008 had great new ways to use filtration and insulation for the events, the IOC as well as the USOC is hoping to progress that vision to include many other products that will help reduce waste and promote conservation. You can expect these products to appear all over the market in the next year.

Written by Nerissa Barry

Food prices rising to record highs

 

This is an interesting video found on YouTube. To listen to the video in English simply click in the upper right hand corner - English VO button.

A New Gas Pipeline - Hey, What Could Go Wrong?

 
a recent issuew of the MUG - Manhattan Users Guide www.manhattanusersguide.com published this information:

A new pipeline is being planned to bring natural gas through Jersey City, under the Hudson, and enter Manhattan beneath the West Village. ETA: 2012.

Sound benign? Did you happen to catch the gas explosion in Philadelphia ? That was a 12" gas pipe. A 30" pipe is planned for New Jersey and New York.

Thirty inches is also the size of the pipeline that caused the San Bruno, California explosion last September. Eight people died, 37 homes were destroyed. Photographs of the immediate aftermath are here. Welding mistake, possibly.

And what kind of example, technological and environmental, has the company that wants to build this pipeline set previously?

Houston-based Spectra Energy has been tracked by, among others, Spectra Energy Watch and the company's record includes the gas leak and emergency shutdown of the Steckman Ridge Compressor Station in 2009 and continued PCB contamination of its Texas Eastern pipeline. PCB production was banned in 1979.

What kind of hazards could a new gas pipeline pose? Besides explosions in densely populated areas (that include chemical plants), there are the toxins frequently released from the pipes, and the possibility of the pipeline becoming a terrorist target. That last isn't far-fetched, either. Recall that Abdul Kadir was convicted last month for plotting to blow up JFK fuel tanks.

Read more about the potential dangers of the proposed pipeline at No Gas Pipeline, which has been way out ahead on this issue on behalf of Jersey City.

Will regulators protect us? Don't hold your breath. FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, reviews all pipeline proposals. As No Gas Pipeline shows, there have been deeply troubling conflicts-of-interest between the agency's Commissioners and the industry they regulate. Some of the newer appointments have been an improvement, but of the pipeline projects FERC reviewed in 2009, 100% were approved.

We've been writing fairly regularly on MUG about the dangers of fracking. Mayor Bloomberg has said about fracking: "The consequences are so severe that it is not a risk that I think we should run. I do not think that we should allow fractured drilling anywhere near our water supply."

The Mayor's position on the pipeline, however, is at odds with his view on fracking since gas from the pipeline will allow the Con Ed plant in Manhattan to use more of that fossil fuel in its mix instead of sustainable alternatives. And drilling in the Marcellus Shale will continue to drive development of new pipelines.

As for safety, the usual foolish and/or dishonest assurances: Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, writing on behalf of the Mayor to FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff, conveys the City's "strong support" of the pipeline. Goldsmith states, "The evidence is clear that this natural gas pipeline will be safe." Yes, Goldsmith. As safe as the Titanic was unsinkable. Is it really necessary at this late date to point out that human beings have a long history of eating their own words?

Since FERC has no elected officials, the public comment periods hold little sway with them. The only way for citizens to become a part of the process is to become an Intervener. The deadline for that is this coming Wednesday, January 26th. When get­ intervener status you have legal standing to challenge FERC rulings in court if that becomes necessary. The process is a bit complicated; if you get stuck, call FERC's hotline 866.208.3676 for help.

New York City has to find new ways to meets its energy needs. This pipeline, however, would be one welding mistake away from a calamity. It must be stopped.

Alaska's Dark Reality: Salmon vs. Gold Mine

Fotocredit: Michael Melford/National Geographic

"We love our fish!" says Ina Bouker, a Yupik native and teacher from Dillingham who opposes the mine. "The salmon always run. But if their habitat is destroyed, they will not come back."

 

 

Anna, who works in the Communications Division of the Natioal Geographic Society contacted me with information on this amazing article, which was published in their December issue:

"...With all eyes on "Sarah Palin's Alaska", people are seeing the beauty of the Last Frontier...without knowledge of the controversy surrounding a potential mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay that has sparked international concern over what might happen if one of the world's largest copper and gold mines is developed in the home of the world's largest sockeye salmon populations.  Would the mine destroy the fishery by contaminating the water or bring economic benefits to the region?  Given your blog's focus on the environment, would you be interested in National Geographic magazine’s December 2010 article on Alaska's Bristol Bay, “Alaska's Choice: Salmon or Gold,” by Edwin Dobb?..."

Read the entire story on National Geographic

Small Scale, Big Change

New Architectures of Social Engagement at MOMA, New York from October 3, 2010–January 3, 2011 presents eleven building projects on five continents that bring innovative architecture to underserved communities. The featured architects address the functional requirements of their designs but also aim to have a broad positive effect on the communities they work in, as partners in social, economic, and political transformation beyond the boundaries of their often modest sites. In addition to new modes of participatory design, the projects on display incorporate pioneering site-specific ecological and socially sustainable practices, including the exploration of both new and traditional materials. Populations that have previously rarely enjoyed the attention of architects are engaged in designs incorporating innovation worthy of the broadest attention. The renewed commitment of these architects and many of their colleagues to socially responsible architecture is reminiscent of the ideals of twentieth-century masters, but these designers eschew their predecessors’ utopian, wholesale blueprints for change imposed from above. Small Scale, Big Change presents radically pragmatic, “acupunctural” projects—limited interventions with wide-reaching effects.

More on the Exhibition

Their Moon Shot and Ours by Thomas Friedman

China has at least four game-changing investments going on:

1. building a network of ultramodern airports

2. building a web of high-speed trains connecting major cities

3. bioscience, where Beijing Geonomics Institute ordered 128 DNA sequencers from the US. Giving China the largest number in the world to launch its own stem-cell / genetic engineering industry and

4. proving U$ 15 billion in seed money for the country's leading auto and battery companies to create an electric car industry.

And this is just the beginning. Read more about this great article publisched in Suday Opinion in The New York Times on September 26, 2010.

DJ Spooky needs your help

DJ Spooky is a writer, an artist, and a digital media theoretician. He's starting a digital media and contemporary arts lab on a remote island in the South Pacific, and is setting up a kickstarter campaign to help defray the startup costs. In tandem with islandsfirst.org, a United Nations affiliated non-profit that focuses on the needs of South Pacific islands, Dj Spooky plans on setting up a situation where cultural exchange between artists from different geographies can take time to do residencies on the island and create projects with local artists and creatives in conjunction with an agenda that focuses on sustainable arts practices.

The Funds – Anything you contribute will cover the construction of an initial ‘outpost’ on-site, a feasibility assessment and design of the first phase solar electricity systems for one village and three new structures between now and May 2011, when our first invited artists will arrive.

In December, local leadership, DJ Spooky, Engineers Without Borders and the Vanuatu Pacifica Foundation have arranged for R. David Gibbs, a New York-based solar and energy engineer with remote-location experience, to undertake a feasibility study with local renewables engineers, village electricians and tech trainees. The first goal is to replace diesel generators with solar PV and thermal systems that can power villages and initiate the design of the Tanna Center for the Arts’ off-the-grid retreat, cultural preservation and eco-education facility.

You've probably noticed we're starting at $10,000 here on Kickstarter but with $20,000 we can complete the solar design phase, engage local craftspeople to build the initial structure(s) and create an ‘outpost’ that allows us to invite collaborators from around the island and the world to begin realizing this vision. Everybody's help with a little or a lot is welcome, needed and much appreciated!

Learn more about the project