vampires!

CNN has posted an article today about "vampire electronics" - those devices that suck energy when they appear to be "off" or are on standby. Years ago, I had a debate with Steve about whether this was actually a problem or not. I swore up and down that by unplugging everything in the house when I wasn't using it saved us a ton on our energy bill. Steve maintained that the amount of power something consumes in standby mode is negligible, and it really isn't worth the hassle - the power savings we were seeing were because once we started unplugging stuff, we started thinking about the energy we were using. This article says otherwise - our energy usage for devices on 'standby mode' is equal to all of the energy use for all of Italy. That's pretty embarrassing. Five percent of our energy goes to standby power. Which means that before I put most of my stuff on power strips within the past billing cycle, I've used 969 KWH of standby power in the past 3 years, for a cost of $181.29. On average, I use almost 28 KWH of standby power every month, which costs me about $5.18 on each bill.

I have the TV, DVD, Stereo, etc on a power strip - it gets turned off at night when we go to bed, and stays off until the following evening. I have to leave the DVR plugged in because the machine gets really confused when you turn it off, and it can't record anything when its off anyway. The other TV, the one with the game systems, is in a different room, also on a power strip & also turned off. Our cell phone chargers are also on a power strip, which is only on at night.

I used to unplug the coffee maker, the toaster oven & lights we rarely used. I have stopped doing this out of sheer laziness (the plugs are harder to reach in this house, partially because the kitchen is half-remodeled).

Other things I should unplug when not in use, but I don't:

• The washing machine. I only use that like once a week. Maybe twice.
  
• The clothes drier, which I use even less often than the washing machine (hang clothes outside)
• The toothbrush recharger
• My spouse's beard trimmer - he only uses that 1x a month, and I don't even know where the actual trimmer is.
• The all-in-one printer. At least we turn it off now, but it's still not unplugged.
• The dehumidifier - I turn it off at night, but don't unplug it.

I can't think of anything else at the moment...

Wachusett

We went out to Wachusett Mountain today - they were supposed to be having some sort of pre-season event. We didn't really find it, but we did grab lunch & take a free up the chair lift (courtesy of our season passes).

Lunch was surprising. We got sandwiches from the cafeteria line, and while not cheap, they were mighty tasty, and I didn't mind paying $6.50 for the sandwich I had - it was comprable to any sandwich I would get in a regular restaurant. We even found some root beer made by the Polar Soda company (a local company) that didn't contain high fructose corn syrup. I was happy. Far better than most ski area food - and on par with the lunch I had at the Sundance Resort in Utah last winter.

However, because it was the off season still, I couldn't find a place to recycle the glass soda bottles, so I had to bring them home with me to recycle. I've read they have an on-site recycling facility, but there were no bins to be found today.

The weather was beautiful. It's finally getting cold out. It was MAYBE in the mid-50s, and it was very windy (gusts to 25 MPH?). But it was sunny. It was kind of nice to be cold for once. After all my complaining, I'm ready for winter now. Low's tonight in the upper 20s - and all I can think is "Finally". The chairlift ride was beautiful. It felt a little weird being in non-ski gear, and not having a heavy board pulling on my feet, but it was a really pretty (but freezing cold) ride.

When we got to the top, we got off to walk around a bit, even though we had just been there a couple weeks ago. I'm glad we did - there was a circle of Native American's sitting at the top with their drums, singing (not cross legged on the ground - they were sitting in normal chairs, wearing regular clothes, next to their vehicles). I don't know what they were singing - I didn't ask, and I didn't understand the language (no surprise there). But it was fitting somehow. I don't have any idea whether this was a planned event or just a group of people who decided to get together today & do this. Either way it was just really cool. It was such a good day.

So while poking around the Wachusett website, I came across their environment page. I was really excited to find out that they use the heat generated by the air compressors that run their snowmaking equipment to provide 100% of the heat for their base lodge. They also are doing a lot to promote the health of the forest around the mountain. The use pond water to flush their toilets in the lodge. They are a member of the Sustainable Slopes, an environmental charter for ski areas. I did a term paper on Sustainable Slopes in school back in 2000 or so - and sadly I have forgetten many of the details of the program. But I am glad to know that not only is the program still going, but the ski area that I have a season pass to is not only locally owned, but it's a member of Sustainable Slopes.

I don't even know what to call this...

A good friend of ours is deploying for Afghanistan today. He had taken a permanent job as an active duty reservists in a non-deployable position, yet he is deploying for 6 months. Yet another example of the military screwing it's people and not playing by its own rules.

I have no idea what to say to this friend - we'll call him Steve - or his wife. He has kids, and is a big family man. He took his current job as a way to protect them from the misery of deployment, yet here he is, shipping out just in time for the holidays.

In other news, my spouse received not one, but two letters from the air force reserves congratulating him on his recent promotion to captain. These letters applauded him for his hard work, and urged to contact the nearest air force reserve office for assignment in order to further his military career.

And all I can think of at this point is "oh crap". These letters, while not a specific threat, are a reminder that 'we still own you'. Theres nothing like that not so subtle reminder to thoroughly mess up your month.

I wonder when our lives will truly be our own. But what I do know is that I can't possibly have kids until my spouse is longer on that leash. So the holding pattern continues.

Call my cynical or crazy, but we got sucked into the military about 9 months before we declared war on Iraq (previously my spouse had been classified as on a medical waiver... and then suddenly, no, he was fit to serve). So it will be interesting to see what happens with Iran & Turkey... in, oh, I dunno, 6-9 months from now.

For the love of god, yell as loud as you can so we don't find ourselves STARTING WWIII in the middle east. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, China & Russia... do you guys see a pattern yet? What we are now hearing about Iran is the same damn thing, almost verbatim, that we heard about Iraq leading up to the war. We are headed down an even darker road than the one we're already on.

Here's another parallel. Right before the Iraq war started, we were in a recession, or headed for one. The economy was tanking. Here we are again. It's fall again. The economy is again tanking. The one thing I learned in High School history is that since the 20th century, the American way out of depression and economic hardship is to start a war to ramp up our defense contractors & manufacturing production. Iraq worked for a little while, but we're tanking again. Solution? Another war!

I'm sure you've noticed yet another cold war-esque type situation brewing - who has nukes, who wants nukes, Russia doesn't want us to put missile defense sites near it, etc. etc.... Think of how BIG the defense industry became because of the cold war. I believe we're looking at beginning of V 2.0

and why? why? energy. I betcha. Oil. Who has the oil, who uses the most oil. As oil becomes scarcer, the fighting for it will get stronger.

And I thought the people who were saying that the Iraq war was a war for oil were quacks. surprise!

baseball, ads & chevy

Chevy ad during the world series:

"I want to go electric"

"I want a hybrid that works for a family of 4"

you know what I want? I want a little HOPE.

The big, big picture is so depressing. The economy is tanking. The climate is changing ( and we don't know how this is really going to play out). I'm tired of looking at everything and seeing the truth. I'd really like a pair of rose colored glasses so that I could ignore, just for a little while, the real reality.

While reading MIT's Technology Review, I realized that one of the best ways to digest the collapse of the ice sheets is with a lovely margarita in hand. And that is just sad.

Lately, the Sundance Channel has been coming through for me. Last night, we watched Iconoclasts (BEFORE the Sox game) - Dave Chappelle & Maya Angelou. I'm really glad I watched it, but I can't exactly explain what I've taken away from it. Other than integrity is really important & I have a whole lot of respect from both of the show participants.

Tonight we watched something we had DVR'd from Sundance - it was called "Big Ideas for a Small Planet". This episode was about sustainable work places. Ironically, I found out that the company I USED to work for in Texas & in Las Vegas is trying to be an environmentally sustainable business. They were making a good effort when I was there, but they are now making more of an effort. Free bus & train passes for employees. They've taken out ONE of the lightbulbs in the double-flourescent tubes in the ceilings- in every single fixture in every single office. Sounds small, right? Apparently it's made a huge difference. I'm really afraid to know what the carbon footprint is of where I work now. Just the sheer amount of driving I do in the giant work truck should push the carbon footprint into the outer atmosphere. I need to read more about this - can anyone recommend a book?

What else? My oil tank was filled today. We paid $2.79/ gallon. I think it was 108 gallons. That's not cheap. Should have had it filled in JULY. When will I learn?

I did notice on my oil bill that they've included the last 5 fill ups. I'll have to figure out what to do with that info. It looks like I get a fill up 2x a winter, and then maybe once in the late spring/summer. It's irregular - I guess the oil company calculates when to fill it up based on our consumption & heating degree days. Whatever the method, thats a whole lot of oil...

On my bill, it does look like "ideal delivery" is when they have to deliver 206 gallons. They've only hit that once - in March 2006 (I wasn't even HOME for those 6 months, although we did have a house sitter, and I was so thankful that there is no way I'll complain about her heating oil consumption). So I guess that I should be encouraged that I am more efficient than their delivery models predict since they are frequently delivering at 50% - 75% of their "ideal delivery".

Low-Water Lawns

YAY for low water lawns - A Central Florida city is offering $1,000 to residents who trade in their grassy green lawns for drought resistant plants and mulch yards in order to conserve water (which they are slated to run out of in 2013). In Texas, this method of landscaping was called Xeriscaping. And just like in Florida, the biggest resistance to this eco-friendly and wallet friendly landscaping method are those damned homeowners associations, who say that no lawns equates to lower property values. (I seriously think homeowner associations should be outlawed... they are evil).

Think about it: no lawn means MUCH less watering, no energy to mow, no fertilizing, and less of your time spent taking care of it. In Oviedo, FL, water bills are forecast to grow by 500% to 700% as the water runs out. It seems like a no brainer to let the city pay you $1K to free you from slaving over your lawn, and then save you money in the future as you are using less water.

Wildfires

A quarter of a million people evacuated from possibly THE most populous & affluent part of the country - and community leaders are saying there is little that they can do to stop homes from burning. The only thing that may stop these fires is the ocean.

I'm afraid this situation is going to get exponentially worse very soon. And while you might be thinking that "those people with their fancy houses" can afford to rebuild or move or whatever, there are a whole lot of 'normal' people who will also be affected - only we wont hear about them, because news reports typically only cover the sensational stories, like the rich & famous (Courtney Cox had to hose down her house! Oh no!)

I'm not the praying type. But I will be following the news, and hoping for the best. Maybe the wind will die down...

more electricity acrobatics

So I've been taking a poll on electricity usage: (I actually sent emails out, and they were actually answered).

This is what I've got so far:

520.2 KWH/person - household "A" in Middlesex County, MA (electric stove, 2 window ACs)
375 KWH/person - household "B" in northern NJ (central AC)

I'd love to see some data from other climates... I'll have to send more emails.

Water Wars (update)

I recently described the issues that the Southeast is facing with their ongoing drought. Here's an update:

the state of Georgia is suing the Army Corps of Engineers to stem the flow out of Lake Lanier. In the 1980s, an agreement was reached with the ACE (which controls the lake) and the US Fish & Wildlife Service to provide adequate water flow to the Chattahoochee River, in order to sustain endangered species in the river & to provide water flow to a hydroelectric dam in Florida.

If the lawsuit is successful, and the flow of water to the river is stemmed, what happens to that hydroelectric damn in FL? (and yes, I'm worried about the endangered species as well, but the lack of power might have huge economic impact very soon). Will some people stop getting power service? Will they have to somehow import power from other grids? is that possible? It sounds expensive for all involved.

Also in that CNN story, one town in NC has to import its water on trucks at this point. Restuarants & cafeterias have started serving food on PAPER PLATES because they can't wash the dishes - that sounds about a half-inch above going out of business. Two poultry plants have cut production one day a week in order to save water. This drought is starting to have serious economic impacts (not to mention environmental impacts).

What happens to property values in a town that has completely run out of water? The housing market is already depressed nationwide. What happens when residents decide they can't continue to live in a place without water, but can't sell their houses (who would buy a home with no water)? Already some businesses are being effected, and that is likely to continue & increase as the water situation gets worse (remember that the drought is forecast to last at least through December - and it's going to take a long time to make up the deficits). What happens when importing water on trucks bankrupts towns, and the local government shuts down? It doesn't seem like such a far-fetched nightmare anymore.

Electricity Bill Exercises

So I found myself staring at the electricity bill that came yesterday, and I couldn't help but do a little math (I don't know what's come over me recently- math is NOT my thing). We used 25% less energy last month (mid Sept. thru mid Oct.). Compared to the same period last year, we used 15% less energy this year (for that billing cycle).

So after being encouraged by this, I dug out my records & pieced together what data I had for the past 3 years. I put in a spreadsheet & made a graph. I color coded the graph by season:

blue = winter
green = spring
yellow = summer (the yellow didn't really show up well. tough.)
orange = fall

I'm sure you could have figured that out. I think a 5 year old might have gotten that.

That first & biggest peak is when I discovered the electric heater in the sunroom (and the sunlight in the sunroom). And probably also when I decided that I couldn't take the darkness of winter any longer & consequently turned on every light in the house (cut me a little slack - we just moved up from Texas). I'm rather embarrassed by that peak. The sad part? We were out of town for 3 weeks - at least part of which is covered in that billing cycle. Let's just leave it as: I'm not proud of that.

The good news is that since the first few months of data, we've never crossed that starting threshold (800 KWH? how awful). You can almost see the progression as we gradually switched the light bulbs to CFLs. No mean feat - someone had replaced every single one of our light switches with dimmable switches. Dimmable CFLS are really pricey, and who needs mood lighting in the bathrooms? So we had to replace the switches as we replaced the bulbs.

Interestingly, you can't really tell when we got the window AC unit - we didn't turn it on much. You can see the spikes in the summer when we use the fans though. And around February when I can't stand being cold & dark anymore. If only I could get over that hump.

THIS is what I did with my Friday afternoon off. I came home from work & ended up doing this... (actually, I got really frustrated that I had forgotten how to use excel, and couldn't possibly quit).

I am a little disturbed by the overall general upward trend over the past 2 years, though. But once again, I'm pretty happy with last month's performance, so I wont beat myself up too badly.


After going through this exercise, it occurs to me that maybe nobody else even LOOKS at their electricity bill (much less makes a spreadsheet & graph). But what if we were all a little more nosey? What if we had to own up to our electricity usage to our nosey (but well meaning) friends? What if we could have a contest each month of who uses the least? What if among a group of friends, we could compare electricity bills, and the person with the highest bill has to buy a drink for every other person in the group? We could normalize the bills - break it down to KWH/resident average... our household energy usage this month would be 187 KWH/person. There would have to be a handicap for folks with electric stoves & electric heat, but I think over time we could figure that out.

I guess it's a similar idea to my arms race for alternative energy. Americans like competition - maybe we can use that to our advantage.

Cape Wind

The Cape Cod Commission - the group that apparently controls power transmission lines on the Cape - denied Cape Wind's application to bury transmission lines on the Cape. (See the Boston Globe article)

At the same time, oil prices hit near $90 a barrel today, and I've see projections that we'll be seeing $100 a barrel for crude oil in the near future - just in time for the winter heating season.

It seems utterly ridiculous & short sighted to block Cape Wind's application - it just seems like the latest attempt of the priveleged folks on the Cape & the Islands to block something that they wont even be able to see from their precious ocean front property. It's a federally approved project that would provide 75% of the cape & the islands' electrical energy. They've completed their NEPA mandated EIS. What BETTER time to start a project like this (other than years ago)?

Today is just one of those days when I am baffled & angered by people's inability to change, to accept what we have to do to survive. If we don't start projects like this now, the costs of construction are only going to increase as the years go by (as the costs of energy rise significantly, as they seem to be starting to do) - when we can least afford to fund such a project.

The Mass Maritime Academy has it's own wind turbine in Bourne. During the PMC, I slept in a tent underneath it. It wasn't ugly, it was elegant. It did make a little noise, but MUCH less than a truck driving by, or a train, or even air conditioner compressor - and I am a very noise sensitive person (I've been known to walk out of restaurants simply because they were too loud & the noise makes me angry. I can't handle sporting events or large crowds- too noisy). I found the soft swooshing noise to be soothing, and I slept very well that night.

How come we can fund a US Military Expansion in Africa (AFRICOM) under the thinly veiled guise of humanitarian aid (which everyone recognizes as perhaps a shift in our oil dependency from the Middle East to Africa) - but we can't fund projects like Cape Wind to become more self sufficient while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions?

People are afraid of change. I guess it's human nature. And that human nature might just be our downfall.

I hope it's not. But unless people start to wake up soon, we are all going to suffer. I do not like the thought of my kids being set back to a pre-1900s era because a majority of the population is too busy watching Survivor (or whatever the flavor of the month is) to pay attention to the real reality.

The morning after...

Red Sox lost. Again. This is not looking good, folks.

Also, Niki Tsongas won the afore mentioned election yesterday. It wasn't exactly a landslide. Tsongas received 51%, while her main rival Jim Ogonowski captured 46%. We're a small state, and the 5th Congressional District is only a portion there of - 29 towns, mostly along the area between northern portion of the I-495 corridor & the northern portion of the Rt 128 corridor (portions of Essex County, Middlesex County & Worcester County).

Tsongas received 54,363 votes, while Ogonowski received 47,770. A difference of 6,593 votes. I wonder how many people are registered to vote in the district? In 2000, there were 635,223 residents in the 5th district (on the census, anyway) - it might be about the same now, as there has been considerable concern about Massachusetts hemorrhaging residents due to the high cost of living (perhaps its less, but I don't think its much more than that). Including all the votes that the less mainstream candidates received yesterday, only 105,992 voted. That means about 17% of the population of the 5th District actually voted.

So the other 83% cannot complain about congress until they vote in the next election. Don't like what gets passed in Congress? Tough. You should have voted.

I voted, so I can complain all I want.

That also means that the difference between the winner & the looser of the election was a margin of 1% of the residents of the 5th District. 1%. If an additional 1% had voted (all you people who meant to, but didn't...), it could have actually affected the outcome. And that one vote in congress might actually effect us later on (like tomorrow?) Tsongas is hoping to be able to sworn in in time for the veto-override vote of the S-CHIP bill tomorrow.

I will bring up this handy little fact. Niki Tsongas, although she rubs me the wrong way, actually made good use of her website. She had an issues section where she discussed intelligently the issues and where she stands. Ogonowski's website did not. He had "News" which was the closest thing - he also had "Contribute", "Get Active", "Multimedia" and the usual "Supporter Login" and "Contact Us". There was no "this is where I stand on the issues" that was quick & easy to find. Oh sure, he'll take your money, but you'll have no idea what he's likely to do if he's elected. Most voters don't have the time to dig around to figure out what you stand for. I guess maybe running as a republican, he thought that was enough, and that most republicans would vote for him because he's a republican? That's funny, since right on the front page of his website he has a video with a text overlay saying "NOT a partisan politician".

I'll admit it - I didn't vote in the primary, although I meant to. I forgot about it - I flew in on a red eye that morning, which usually messes me up pretty good. And in my struggle to stay awake and get back into the eastern time zone, I completely forgot. But I learned my lesson - the guy who I had wanted to vote for lost.

Ben Stein falls from what grace he had

Ben Stein's new movie is coming out in early 2008. This guy isn't some random crazy guy- or at least, I didn't think he was (oh, look, I was wrong again). He's written presidential speeches (well, that might explain something...).

I really thought this was a spoof. Ironically, the Onion thought they had the line on this way back in 2005. Alas, it has become a serious movie. IMDB says so.

Here is the movie website, complete with a few trailers. Looks like it's as bad as it originally looked. They have messages on there directed toward students - be careful folks, they are going after your kids!

Curiously, when I was looking to see who may have funded this movie, I came across several references to scientists who had been interviewed for a documentary entitled "Crossroads" - yet somehow their interviews ended up in this movie. Some are really upset about it. Crooks and Liars covers the story fairly well, but be sure to read some of the comments the original post. It's also covered in the NY Times

While on Crooks & Liars, I read many many other disturbing posts regarding the bush (not capitalized on purpose) administration and the right wing in general. Very scary times we're in.

the OTHER Step It Up contestants...

Ever notice how John Edwards just looks a teeny bit like John Ritter?

At any rate, under his "issues" button, John Edwards doesn't even have an environmental header. Nor does he have an energy button. Nothing. He apparently doesn't care about the environment at all. It's a non-issue for him.

And Edwards is another guy who is slated to attend Step It Up 2007. Oh Boy.

So far, I'm not real impressed with this event.

On another note, every single one of the candidates that I have looked at have the same exact header bar. They all seem to be clones... democrat or republican... clones, I tell you. We're in deep trouble. If they can't come up with their own header bar, how are we supposed to be able to tell the difference between their ideas? They are TRYING to all look the same, despite the millions of dollars they are raising to claim otherwise. Yikes...

However, Dennis Kucinich does actually address the environment. He mentions the world population (over population/carrying capacity?). He mentions "rejoining" the Kyoto treaty (twice...) - I wasn't aware we had ever signed the Kyoto treaty, which is one thing I'm still grumpy at Clinton about. Apparently Kucinich sponsored HR1950 - the Safe Climate Act of 2007. He falls just shy of mentioning "peak oil":

"Oil is also an immense sustainability issue. With the peak of U.S. oil production some decades in the past and the world facing inevitable shortages in the near future, a continuation of our present energy policies is a prescription for unending conflicts."

So he GETS it... he just wont SAY it...

BUT... similar to (or perhaps better than) my quest for an arms-style green energy race (whole new meaning to "cold war"), Kucinich has proposed a "Works Green Administration (WGA)". The WGA, a new version of the WPA (Works Progress Administration from the New Deal Era), would be coupled with NASA & the EPA to restore our infrastructure & provided sustainable energy at the same time. I can only imagine that this would mean a more European-style highway system, covered in solar panels (hey- it's better than billboards - but with today's technology you could actually have both at the same time & place).

"The United States under a Kucinich presidency would reverse the unsustainable actions in the following areas:
1) Energy consumption
2) Military spending
3) Economic and tax policy
4) Environmental policy
5) Land and water use"

He goes on to say some interesting things about water (a subject near & dear to my heart):

""All water shall be considered to be forever in the public domain. It shall be the duty of each nation to provide accessible, affordable drinking water to its peoples. There shall be public ownership of drinking water systems, subject to municipal control Wealthy nations shall provide poor nations with the means to obtain water for survival. Water shall be protected from commodification and exempted from all trade agreements. Water privatization shall not be a condition of debt restructuring, loan renewal or loan forgiveness. Governments shall use their powers to prevent private aggregation of water rights. Water shall be conserved through sustainable agriculture and encouraging plant-based diets. Water resources shall be protected from pollution. Our children should be educated about the essential nature of water for maintaining life. [I would] recommend a series of declarative sentences which can serve as the basis for a course of action. We shall call these ten principles "Water Marks."

1. All water shall be considered to be forever in the public domain.
2. It shall be the duty of each nation to provide accessible, affordable drinking water.
3. There shall be public ownership of drinking water.
4. Wealthy nations shall provide poor nations with the means to obtain water for survival.
5. Water shall be protected from commodification and exempted from all trade agreements.
6. Water privatization shall not be a condition of debt restructuring, loan renewal, or loan forgiveness.
7. Governments shall use their powers to prevent private aggregation of water rights.
8. Water shall be conserved through sustainable agriculture and encouraging plant-based diets.
9. Water resources shall be protected from pollution.
10. Our children shall be educated about the essential nature of water for maintaining life.""

I think this is where he loses me (and all the cattle ranchers big & small, the restaurant owners, the butcher shops, the cattle feed people, etc). I'm a big fan of water conservation. It should be a no-brainer. But this is a bit off the deep end, and I CERTAINLY don't want my water controlled to that extent by the Federal Government. The Feds are the same people who have compromised our personal information a total of 4 times in 5 years... I don't want them to have this much control over what I MUST ingest to stay alive. Remember when Bush decided that a little more Arsenic in our water was an OK thing? Do you want the Federal Government to tell you that you will now be a vegetarian? No, I want off that ride. I'm pretty earthy-crunchy, and I'm a fan of change, but that's taking it too far. It will never work, and I don't want it to.

Step it up?

So I've been getting emails about Step It Up 2007. A "National Day of Climate Action" where we try to get presidential candidates to discuss their environmental policy in public, all on the same day (Nov. 3). The most local event to me is in Concord, MA.

So far, only 3 Presidential hopefuls have said they will attend one of the many events: Senator John McCain, John Edwards & Representative Dennis Kucinich.

In reading McCain's website about his "environmental policy", his language struck me as a bit odd. Exactly HOW MANY buzz words can you fit into a statement about environmental policy that says nothing relevant at all? This is how it reads: "buzz word", "republican buzz word" and "liberal bad buzz word" He ends up saying essentially nothing relevant at all. Nothing says "I don't have a CLUE" like what he wrote. I kind of feel ill having read that. It was certainly a waste of my time.

As a friend said: "I read this and my mind just goes blank. It doesn't want to deal with processing it. I just can't...."

And McCain is one of the guys who agreed to go! Ugh.

Up until this point, I hadn't ruled anyone but Mitt Romney out - Romney is a tool and he tried his hardest to destroy our state. Not to mention that Mitt can't figure out what he believes in, let alone tell anyone else why they should believe in him.

I don't have the heart to research what Edwards & Kucinich have to say about the matter at this point...

But I have to admit. I did invite Sen. Clinton (as did 280 or so other people). I actually like what she had to say about the environment. It made me a bit hopeful. She seems to be following my line of thought that all we need is a sort of 'alternative energy arms-type race' with her "Apollo-like Program dedicated to achieving energy independence" (THAT is going to require a better name, and more detail, I think, which is why I invited her... "Green Arms Race" would be better than that). My biggest hope? She'll take it to the next level, create a cabinet position regarding the issue, and appoint Gore to that position... And then maybe somebody will actually get something done.

Voting Day! (updated)

For those of us who are in whatever congressional district (5th?) has a vacant seat in congress, today is voting day. And while I don't necessarily care, I know I should. I'll vote anyway.

Roland S. Martin (whoever that guy is) has posted a brilliant article on CNN's website. It should have been called "you should care, damnit - otherwise you're an idiot". Downside: nowhere in there does he mention the climate & energy issues facing us. But it's a start. Mr. Martin has a radio show on WVON - an AM talk radio station in Chicago - from 6-9 a.m. Monday thru Friday. They stream via internet. I think I'll give a listen next week (apparently, he's out this week). He might just have a clue. And people with a clue are somewhat hard to find.

UPDATE: got this email from the Town this evening after the polls closed:

STATE ELECTION Special 10/12/2007

Total voting: 844
Total registered voters: 3056
Percent voting: 27.6%

REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS

Jim Ogonowski 382
Nicola S. Tsongas 404
Kurt Hayes 40
Patrick O. Murphy 12
Kevin J. Thompson 6
Blanks 0
Write-ins 0

That means that 27.6% of the people in my town voted. My husband & I consisted of 0.1% of the total vote. That just seems WRONG.

Come on, people, they had FREE CANDY there! And there was certainly no line...

I heart...the Vatican? Wow.

I'm not a fan of religion. All it does is lead to war, to putting people into an "us vs. them" mentality, and causes all sorts of fanatics to hurt each other, often times taking along us innocent bystanders with them. Think about it- every major war in history was either based on religion or egged on by it (or religion was used as a veil for political dominance aspirations). Based on this long standing belief of mine, I was very surprised by a story that I heard on NPR this morning.

The Vatican is trying to go carbon neutral (the Pope hopes to install solar cells & preserve forests -do they have forests in the Vatican, or does he want to go with a carbon offset?). Pope Benedict XVI held a conference on global warming. The catholic church is listening to scientists. This is the same church that spawned the inquisition! But maybe there is hope yet.

"The Vatican considers global warming a pressing issue — in part because there is evidence that man is contributing to the problem, and in part because the effects will be felt most intensely by the poor."

This statement says a lot. A) The Catholic Church leaders are listening to science instead of persecuting the scientists. Think about that for a minute. B) The Catholic Church is stepping where leaders of some developed countries couldn't be bothered - to save those people on the so called margins of society - the poor. The Church recognizes this as a big social issue, a global social issue, (complete with real evidence) and not some theoretical discussion. The Catholic Church is saying that this is real, and needs attention.

I never, EVER thought that the Catholic Church would be more progressive than the President of the United States. Bushy should be ashamed of himself - he was one upped by the Catholic Church - an institution with a very poor track record when it comes to science.

Apparently, the church has decided that while the bible does say that man has dominance over the earth that "God" created, humans have to take responsibility of the earth as it's stewards on behalf of "God", and to clean up the mess we have made of "God's" creation. I could dance little circles up and down Main Street for this idea. I'm willing to ignore the other issues with this statement (umm...creationism?) in order to support the church in their attempt to practice stewardship.

Additionally, the NPR story mentioned above depicts how church leaders are trying to tell their followers that hurricanes & Volacanos aren't the will of God. It's not God's fault, it's ours. At this point, you might be falling off your chair. I'll wait.

cool imagery

Update on the NW Passage: This is a pretty cool satellite image of the Northwest Passage from mid-September, with major landmarks depicted. I suggest you take some time to poke around the EO Natural Hazards website (NASA) - there are some just plain cool images on there, and they are really sharp.

For instance, here is a satellite image of hail damaged crops in Montana back in June. Apparently, the hail stripped the leaves off of the vegetation, resulting in a loss of 'green' areas as seen from space. And this image shows just how overly green Texas is because of it's over abundant rain & flooding this year - and it also depicts drought conditions in Oklahoma to the northeast.


In reading today's Boston Globe, I came across an article that discussed some insurance companies not renewing homeowners policies along the coast of Massachusetts. One woman who lives in East Boston was featured in the article - she can't even see the ocean from her house. I'm thinking here that maybe the homeowner & the author of the article are missing the bigger picture... Yes, the insurance companies are trying to limit their liabilty, and yes, it sucks to loose your insurance. BUT, you've got to wonder why... there has got to be some hard science & good reasoning behind why the insurance companies aren't willing to take on some policies. "Blocks" away from the ocean is not going to help much with a drastic sea level rise. I don't think it's just the increase in storm frequency & intensity that has them worried, but it also has something to do with projected (and unprojected) sea level rises. At a 2 meter sea level rise, East Boston starts to look a little soggy - at 7 meters, it looks largely underwater (this map goes up to 14 meters).

Pea Tendrils

We woke up this morning, had our cup of coffee, and got ourselves to the farmer's market in Harvard, MA for the first time. We've been meaning to go for weeks, but the stars haven't aligned for us to make it yet (stupid house maintenance - we slacked off on the house all spring & summer to train for the PMC, and alas, the house has started falling down just in time for winter).

We discovered pea tendrils for sale at the farmer's market. I had no idea you could eat the pea GREENS. And to think, when I grow peas, I just let that stuff de-compose in place (no hassle compost). Shows you how much I have to learn. At any rate, we sauteed the greens/tendrils up with garlic, onion & olive oil in a the stir fry pan. Very tasty.

We also had a surprise visit from our pal who lives in California - it just happened to be his birthday. Just when I was despairing that we lived so far out in the sticks that no one ever came to see us, this guy from the left coast gives us a call, and shows up for lunch. It was great. We had great weather & it was a beautiful day. And instead of hearing 'you guys live in the middle of no where' we heard 'wow- this is BEAUTIFUL' - a very nice change. I think the foliage & sunshine helps...

What else? we caved in & turned the heat on. We had a huge condensation problem last night - and its in the 50s in our bedroom, so I guess it's time. Bummer though. This winter is supposed to be brutal on the heating oil bills.

As soon as the red sox hurry up & win, I'm going to bed.... 'night!

It begins?

Water wars are a-brewing... Georgia's Governor has asked the Army Corps of Engineers to reduce the water flow from Georgia to Florida & Alabama...

Water wars have not been uncommon in the west, but it seems highly unusual to me to have this occurring other parts of the country.

Oct . 15th Bloggers Unite!

Monday is apparently a new internet holiday - Blogging for the environment day. Bloggers Unite!

I dunno. This idea seems a little too cute for me... It's like the virtual world/environmental version of Valentines Day - a holiday invented purely to get other people sucked into buying something because they are "supposed to"... only in this case, no one is buying, but dedicating a day to virtual lip service. I can see why it's appealing to get the whole blogosphere focused on one issue on one day, but most of the blogs I read are environmental minded anyway... If the average Joe joins in, THEN I'll impressed. I guess I'm happy that it's on blogger.com's main page prior to the even though. Will people join in? Who knows. At least it's not a waste of paper or anything :-) There is nothing to lose I suppose.

Atlanta, GA: Lake Lanier provides 1/3 of Georgia resident's water supply (including Atlanta), and Atlanta's Department of Watershed Management says there is enough water left in the lake to provide 121 days worth of water. They are begging people to conserve water. Litterally.

The long range forecast for the area is calling for their drought to continue into December.

I've also heard from a friend that parts of North Carolina is running out of water as well.

Don't think global warming is all that bad? Think about this: droughts are forecast to become greater in frequency & duration due to climate change. We just don't know exactly where this will happen. Some areas will become wetter & cooler. Others warmer & drier. We don't really know where the line will fall in the U.S., but if global warming exists, then this sort of scenario that we are seeing in the SE United States right now is likely to play out again and again. I'm not saying that the current droughts are indicative of global warming - I'm just pointing out that as bad as it is now, it's likely to get a lot worse & become more widespread.

And so...

On Tuesday, I went into MIT for a symposium on earth revolutions (i.e., climate change). At some point the taped & edited version be up on the internet, and I'll come back an add the link. It was very interesting, and I got more out of it than I thought I would. I had to blow off my studio session to do it, but that's OK. Opportunities such as that don't present themselves often. It was free & open to the public, so I had little to lose.

There were some pretty reputable people at this symposium. We are headed down a really scary road if we don't do some very, very quickly. I'm seriously hoping that 2007 turns out to be the year that we all wake up.

For instance, the whole opening of the Northwest passage thing. NOBODY was predicting this would happen. No model's were forecasting it - it caught everyone by surprise. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which incidentally was awarded half of the Nobel Peace Prize today, certainly didn't forecast it. Here's a nifty little graph that overlays this year's arctic sea ice loss with IPCC's forecasted sea ice loss (complete with ranges, and the average loss rate). This should be really, really scary. Nobody saw this coming so soon. And with the loss of the albedo effect (sea ice is white, white reflects light & thus heat, which keeps the arctic cool, preventing the oceans from warming at an accelerated rate, which impacts the entire global climate), then you SHOULD be loosing sleep at night.

It's not easy. There is more information out there than you can sort through, and it's frequently confusing & conflicting. But the ONE strategy that seems to be the most sound, and the most all-encompassing is to buy local whenever you possibly can. The less stuff that you buy that has to be shipped in, the better off you'll be. This goes beyond "buy American" (which means little - my subaru was built in the midwest, but aren't a lot of american cars now built in Mexico where labor is cheaper?)

Besides... buying local helps your neighbor. It keeps him in business. It keeps money in your community, and you can directly see who benefits. It keeps your neighbor employeed. It keeps their mortgage paid, their house lived in.

For instance: I decided I wanted a turkey pot pie yesterday. Turns out that the turkey farm 5 min up the road sells more than Thanksgiving Turkey's. In 15 minutes, I had gone to the store, picked up not only a frozen turkey pot pie, but also a turkey meatloaf for later use, come home & put them in my freezer. I know where those turkey's came from, and where that meat was processed - and I trust it. Meanwhile, ConAgra was fighting to avoid a recall on their chicken pot pies, even though 139 people in 30 states have gotten salmonella poising from them. I did a quick spreadsheet yesterday using recall notices on the USDA website. To date, over 22 MILLION pounds of meat have been recalled this year. That's just WRONG.

The silly season is coming. My mother & my sister are already bugging us about what we want. I'm going to try to see whether I can do the whole christmas gift thing by buying local. I'll let you know how it goes.

Eventually, our entire lifestyles are going to change drastically over time. We can deny it, or we can make it for the better, and make it ours. It's kind of like the difference between aging gracefully or repeatedly getting costly & drastic plastic surgery and continuously dying your hair/mustache/eyebrows...

I have a lot of changing to do. My lightbulbs were all changed years ago. It's not enough. I garden, I compost, I recycle. But it's not enough. There is always one more step to take, one more small thing I can do. So we'll try doing Christmas gifts local. It's a start.

Firefighter

Recently, 2 firefighters in Boston died while fighting a fire. This week, their autopsy reports were leaked to the media because traces of cocaine were found in one of the firefighter's system, and the other firefighter had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.10, where in Massachusetts the legal limit is 0.08.

Now, everyone is upset about the reports being leaked, and there is an official investigation in the works. From the families points of view, I can understand why you'd be upset - they lost their husbands/fathers and now these results come to light. I can't imagine the suffering that they were going through before these results were released, and now they have to deal with this too? It's awful.

BUT - the fact that the mayor, and the firefighters union seems to be MORE upset about the leaking of the reports than the content of the reports seems a little suspicious. They said that they are reviewing drug testing procedures, but no one has said "they have a clean record, they've always tested negative" - I wonder if they had been tested at all? It just seems...odd.

It's not like these guys are sitting in an office all day, not hurting anyone. They had jobs that required the use of heavy machinery, and they were directly responsible for public safety. Their job required on the spot smart decisions at a moment's notice. How would you feel if you were in a horrible car accident, and the guy that came to pull you out of your twisted car smelled of alcohol? Would you trust any instructions he gave you? Would you trust that person to try to revive your spouse, or use the jaws of life while your kid was inside a car? What about their coworkers? Firefighters have to depend on each other for their lives. You HAVE to know that the people you work with are able to do their job and do it well - it's a matter of life & death.

It's very unfortunate. I feel very badly that at least one of these guys made a bad decision, and ended up paying for it with his life, and dragging his family into hell in the process. It's sad to see, and I wish it hadn't happened. But at the same time, maybe we need to look at WHY it happened & how to prevent rather than critizing the media for bringing it to light. Maybe they should be focusing on how to prevent this from happening again, rather than prosecuting the people who leaked the story. These guys are paid with public funds - shouldn't we know when they are abusing controlled substances while on the job, and when they may be impairing the safety of those people who pay their bills?

While writing this, an incident from August comes to mind. We went to a pub in the town next to us - there was one very drunk and beligerent guy yelling, starting fights stumbling around. He was wearing a firefighter's t-shirt (like some of the guys in this picture), as were all his buddies (and the apparently very young-ish girl with him - she was at least 10 years younger than him, barely old enough to even be IN a bar). It was only 5 p.m. - and someone called the police about this guy. The police basically showed up, told him to knock it off & settle down (it looks like they knew him on a first-name basis) and then the police left. They didn't even make him leave the bar, let alone take him into protective custody. This guy was completely lit up. He smelled like alcohol, he was slurring his speech, he was litterally stumbling drunk. His friends were holding him up. AND he was itching for a fight - taking on the very people who were trying to help him.

I'm not saying that all fire fighters are bad - on the contrary. I know some very good people who are firefighters. However, it's like every other job: there are good people & bad people. Unfortunately, though, the few bad apples have a lot of responsibility for public safety and it just seems like a bad mix.

do it yourself!

I've just found instructions for a do-it-yourself solar hot water heater. It sounds like something that could be right up my alley. I've been looking for a way to wash the dogs outside without making poor Kuma shiver to death (whether its irrational Kuma-fear or a reaction to near-freezing well water, I'm not sure). The best part? The instructions say it'll cost $5. Thats WAY cheaper than paying a plumber to put a hot water spigot on the outside of my house, which may or may not be "legal".

The Northwest Passage exists after all!

The fabled Northwest Passage DOES exist. Or at least as of early September of this year it did. All those explorers were just early!

The BBC reported on Sept. 21, 2007 that the NW passage is open, and we might see an ice free arctic by 2040. The scariest part of this article is that in it someone says "yay, now we can get to more oil"...

Alternative estimates for an ice-free summer arctic range from 2015, 2023, 2040 to the end of the century. Corresponding sea level rise? somewhere between 1m (now considered outdated, after this summer's melting) and 25m. Or 80m, depending on where you look.

At what point do we all sit down, stare at each other and say "Oh CRAP!" ? Take a look at this google map. Look up where you live, and where your friends & family live....

Here's an interesting article regarding one reason why maybe we haven't heard an appropriate alarm about this: when scientists raise a big red flag, their funding gets cut off. Damn. Makes it hard to do any research that way.

As of 2005, NASA says that sea level has risen 16mm. Not that much. Read the above article though. I can't find any sea level data more recent than 2005. I'd love to get my hands on that.

The National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) posts updates every few days regarding the shifts of sea ice/melting of sea ice. It changes THAT quickly that they update surface area figures & such every few days. Amazing. Here is their "melting season wrap-up" for this past summer - published yesterday. They detail the NW passage, and also note that the date of lowest ice extent in the year is getting later every year. And the winter re-building is shorter & not as extensive.

Apparently all these changes are already impacting the indigenous cultures in the arctic. They use the sea ice to travel & hunt. If there is less of it, they have to completely alter how they survive, and it's already happening. The Polar Bears are being impacted, and I imagine seals are also being impacted.

I've just been told all this is on the front page of the NY Times....