According to a new report from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), as of 2008 the U.S. has become the world’s largest player in terms of total wind power installations. With a total installed capacity of 25 GW installed, the U.S. has now officially overtaken Germany, with 24 GW of wind.

The U.S. wind energy industry installed 8,358 MW of new generating capacity in 2008, according to the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). AWEA says the combined development channeled investment of some US $17 billion into the economy, positioning wind power as one of the leading sources of new power generation in the country today.

“The U.S. wind energy industry’s performance in 2008 confirms that wind is an economic and job creation dynamo, ready to deliver on the President’s call to double renewable energy production in three years,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “The hope is that provisions such as those included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act bill to restore the effectiveness of the tax incentives for renewable energy will quickly become law and provide the capital needed to continue to build projects,” said Bode.  “Because wind projects can be built quickly, positive legislation from Congress will have immediate and visible effects.  Looking forward, it will also be important for the new Administration and Congress to put in place long-term, supportive renewable energy policies to make the new clean energy economy a reality.”

Wind energy is a smart, practical investment.  I’ve seen windmills that were hundreds of years old still in operation doing the work for which they were originally built. The fuel to run them still costs today what it cost the day they were built—-exactly 0. It is also an investment that puts citizens’ money to work in their own economies rather than transferring it to a handful of fuel-exporting nations that may not always be “friendly”.

Scariest article read last week had to be Mike Adam’s over at Natural News spilling the tale of how Big Pharma is killing us all. The article is huge so I thought I would break it down into four parts. Today’s take: Time to Choose, pills or plants.

Centuries of the chemical Destruction of our planet

Scariest article read this week had to be Mike Adam’s over at Natural News spilling the tale of how Big Pharma is killing us all. The article is huge so I thought I would break it down into four parts. Today’s take: Big Pharma is not our friend.

Big Pharma as a major chemical polluter

By Mike Adams, Natural News

These findings are now added to the revelations of pharmaceutical contamination unveiled by the Associated Press last year, which found that the public water supplies in virtually all U.S. cities tested were contaminated with pharmaceutical chemicals.

What’s emerging from these disturbing discoveries is a picture of Big Pharma as a global corporate polluter that’s dumping chemicals into the world’s sensitive waterways, polluting villages, cities and aquatic ecosystems around the world.

Polluted waters are not a pretty picture

Under the Bush Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency outright refused to regulate pharmaceuticals as environmental hazards. With Obama in the White House, it remains to be seen whether the new administration will clamp down on pharmaceutical pollution.

Big Pharma now has something in common with Exxon, Cargill, Alcoa and Chevron: The outrageous pollution of the environment with toxic chemicals. But in many ways, Big Pharma’s chemicals are far more dangerous. HRT drugs, for example, are toxic at parts per billion, and they’re now being found in public water supplies around the world.

Municipal water treatment facilities, by the way, don’t remove pharmaceutical chemicals from the water! Whatever HRT drugs, psychiatric drugs or other chemicals that exist in the water are passed right through the water treatment centers which unwisely add yet more chemicals (fluoride and chlorine, typically) to the toxic brew.

Citizens drinking public water supplies in India, the U.K., Canada and the United States are now verifiably participating in a grand experiment involving the mass medication of the population with low levels of utterly untested pharmaceutical combinations.

A tidal wave of prescription drugs.

How long will this be allowed to continue before the environmental protection authorities clamp down on pharmaceutical dumping?

So far, environmental regulators have done nothing to stop the dumping of drugs into public water supplies. This is true even in America, where hospitals routinely dispose of drugs by simply flushing them down the toilet (injecting them directly into the water supply consumed downstream).

Consumers also need to realize that the drugs you swallow are also environmental pollutants. Many drugs pass right through the human body unaltered, where they are flushed back into the water supply that’s consumed downstream. (Yes, the toilet water from one city becomes the drinking water of the next city down the river. If you didn’t know this, you have a LOT to learn about the water supply, and you probably won’t like what you learn… especially if you live downstream…)

to be continued Monday…

Scariest article read this week had to be Mike Adam’s over at Natural News spilling the tale of how Big Pharma is killing us all. The article is huge so I thought I would break it down into four parts. Today’s take: toxic stew, it isn’t what you want for dinner.

India has miles of waterways

India’s Waterways A Toxic Stew of Pharmaceutical Chemicals Dumped from Big Pharma Factories

by Mike Adams, Natural News Editor

Many of the pharmaceuticals consumed in the United States are made in India, where labor is cheap and environmental laws are lenient on powerful corporations. U.S. drug companies are exploiting this situation to manufacture hundreds of millions of doses of high-profit pharmaceuticals in India, where ingredients purchased for a few cents can be re-sold to U.S. health patients for hundreds of dollars (the markup on some drugs is literally over 500,000%).

There’s something else Big Pharma doesn’t want you to know about its drug operations in India: Big Pharma’s manufacturing facilities dump millions of doses of toxic pharmaceutical chemicals directly into India’s waterways.

Chemicals being dumped into waterway.

Researchers were recently stunned to discover that 100 pounds of a powerful antibiotic called ciprofloxacin was being dumped into a local stream every day! That’s a quantity of antibiotics that could treat an entire city of 90,000 people every day.

But that’s not all: The same waterway contained an astonishing 21 pharmaceutical chemicals reports the Associated Press, some at levels that were 150 times the highest levels of contamination found in U.S. waterways. (And even the levels found in the U.S. were quite alarming.)

Wind Turbines generate energy for the Philippines.

Where Are the Local Stimulus Packages?

Add California to the list of states that “see renewable energy as their future,” as the LA Times reported earlier this month. Our employment figures are down on a net basis, but renewable energy and energy efficiency remain bright spots in an otherwise maudlin economy.

“Some states — including Michigan — already see renewable energy as their future: It’s the only sector that appears to be making room for more employees despite the recession.” Los Angeles Times, January 4, 2009.

With President Obama now inaugurated and many states already working on climate change mitigation plans, 2009 will be the year to turn the rhetoric of the green energy revolution into reality. He stated on the campaign trail: “Breaking our oil addiction . . . is going to take nothing less than the complete transformation of our economy.”

Now he’s doing more than talk; he has already presented his stimulus package to Congress, calling for over US $800 billion in tax cuts and incentives for infrastructure and — most importantly, from my perspective — US $15 billion in various incentives for renewable energy, better transportation and energy efficiency. Obama has said repeatedly that the need for action on climate change and energy independence is urgent. And he recognizes that strong action to mitigate these problems will also provide a substantial boost to our economy, helping to address the current economic slump.

By my count, that’s at least three birds with one stone: climate change, energy independence and a major boost to the economy.

Source

Tam Hunt

Tam Hunt is Energy Program Director and Attorney for the Community Environmental Council in Santa Barbara. See www.cecsb.org for our regional energy blueprint. He is also a Lecturer in renewable energy law and policy at the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara.

…to Ice Age.

Last Ice Age about 16,000 B.C.

Since most of us are concerned with “global warming” after watching “An Inconvenient Truth”, I found this article to be extremely interesting.

Earth on the Brink of an Ice Age

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.

Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.

Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials.

Source: Pravda.Ru

Pollit-Brick made with recycled water bottles .

… turning plastic bottles into green architecture.

From the maker of the HYmini wind and solar portable charger comes a polymer architecture brick combining post-consumer materials with environmentally friendly function. The POLLI-Brick is made entirely of recycled materials and offers passive cooling, natural ventilation and even integrated solar/wind powered LED lighting.

The brick features a unique interlocking cylindrical shape and each brick is created from around four recycled PET plastic bottles. The shape incorporates a great deal of air; thereby providing the thermal and sound insulation. The POLLI-Brick offers excellent bond strength with minimal silicone sealant required due to self interlocking design. The strength to weight ratio is also impressive thanks to the honeycomb geometry, combined with reinforced wall thickness.

Applications for the POLLI-Brick include creating patio screening and roofs, skylights, translucent fences, vertical planters and a curtain wall system with UV protected laminate and PVC backing for fireproofing. Solar modules can be integrated to the curtain walls to power LED lamps inside the bricks’ cavities. Beyond their architectural uses, the bricks are multi-purpose. MINIWIZ suggests a number of applications such as creative lighting and growing plants within the cavities. The addition of the company’s Solarbulb turns the POLLI-Brick into a mood light.

MINIWIZ displayed the POLLI-Brick at the 2009 CES in Las Vegas.

Emily Clark

Pollit-Bricks made from recycled water bottles.

-from Gizmag.com

These sound amazing to me. I can already think of tons to do with them around my house. I wonder how long it will be before I can find them at the local building supply store? I bet they aren’t cheap either. Now that would be nice. Cool, environmentally-friendly, and inexpensive, the perfect product. I think I’ll go google “Polli-Brick” to see if I can find an answer to where/when/how much?

Troubled water at Yellowstone National Park

It seems calm enough on the Yellowstone National Park website. The scariest thing going on there is this:

SYLVAN PASS: CLOSED for oversnow travel

Sylvan Pass is temporarily CLOSED to ALL oversnow travel due to avalanche danger. ALL travel by snowmobile, snowcoach, skis and snowshoes over Sylvan Pass is PROHIBITED.

Only those National Park Service employees specifically assigned to and involved in avalanche forecasting and avalanche hazard mitigation operations may travel in this area during this time.

Sylvan Pass will remain temporarily CLOSED until forecast conditions permit Yellowstone National Park employees to conduct avalanche hazard mitigation operations and groom the route for motorized oversnow travel.

It is not possible to estimate the duration of this temporary closure, since it is entirely dependent upon changing weather conditions.

Okay, avalanches are scary. I looked over at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory to see if they had anything better. I found this:

Yellowstone Recent Status Report, Updates, and Information Releases

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION RELEASE
Friday, January 9, 2009 19:44 MST (Saturday, January 10, 2009 02:44 UTC)

YELLOWSTONE VOLCANO (CAVW#1205-01-)
44.43°N 110.67°W, Summit Elevation 9203 ft (2805 m)
Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Aviation Color Code: GREEN

Small Earthquake Swarm on 9 January 2009 near northeast corner of Yellowstone Caldera

A currently modest swarm of earthquakes began in the northeast corner of the Yellowstone Caldera, about 10 miles (16 km) NNE of the north end of the Yellowstone Lake swarm that was active in late December and early January. As of 1930 MST, 10 earthquakes had been located by the University of Utah Seismograph Stations, the largest with M= 3.3 and two other events with M >2.0. Located depths are between 2 and 4 km.

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory staff and collaborators are analyzing the data from this and from the earlier Yellowstone Lake swarm and are checking for any changes to the thermal areas located near the epicenters. We will provide further information as it becomes available.

Okay, that’s scarier than closed roads and possible avalanches. I’m not sure it’s panic worthy though. Then I ran across this:

I’m not even surprised to see that Fox/Faux logo in the background.

Want another opinion? Read more here.

From Current.com:

Mystery as dead birds fall from the sky over Western Australia.

More poisoned birds?

Dead birds are falling from the sky in Australia for the second time in seven months, raising fears of a possible public health threat.

At least 200 seagulls have been found dead in Perth’s popular beachside suburbs of Woodman Point and Henderson this week, baffling local authorities.

Post-mortem examinations have failed to determine the cause of the birds’ deaths. Last December 5,000 birds died in the coastal town of Esperance, 500 km south of Perth, after being poisoned by lead carbonate blowing through the town as it was being exported through Esperance Port.

The latest incident of dropping birds has led to a major investigation of local industries but government officials admit they are at a loss to know what is killing the gulls. A Department of Health spokesman admitted they could not rule out a risk to public health until the cause of the birds’ deaths had been established.

When the Esperance birds began dying, tests showed that local children and adults had potentially dangerous levels of lead in their blood. A local company, Magellan Metals, escaped prosecution over the way it handled the transportation of lead through the town, but fears remain over the potential threat to humans.

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DoEC) believes the latest deaths may have been caused by a chemical or pollutant. The birds were found on Monday and Tuesday near water outfall pipes at Woodman Point, south of Fremantle and at nearby Henderson which has a large boat-building industry. Water and sediment samples have been taken from the area for testing.

Kevin Morrison, from the DoEC, said the birds appeared to die a quick and painless death.

“The birds, when they are showing signs of having been poisoned become a bit wobbly on their feet, they sit down and within 10 to 15 minutes they’re dead,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Coproration. He said it was particularly puzzling that the deaths were confined to seagulls. In Esperance, wattle birds, yellow throated miners and honey-eaters died.

Although many of the birds were found near the outflow pipes, Mr Morrison said the birds may already have ingested something toxic at a rubbish or landfall site before going there for water as they died.

The beach at Woodman Point, a popular sailing and fishing area, has been closed as a precaution until further notice. Officials do not expect the test results on the birds for a week.

Turns out it was the domoic-acid poisoning mentioned in yesterday’s post.

Domoic-acid poisoning

Here’s what Earthweek.com had to say:

Recent sightings of sick and dead pelicans, sea lions and dolphins along stretches of the Southern California coast have been linked to increased levels of a toxin in the ocean.

Marine biologists say that domoic acid, which builds up in shellfish and fish during outbreaks of algae bloom known as red tide, is then passed on to the birds and other animals that eat them.

Scientists believe that environmental degradation, such as overfishing, pollution and the destruction of wetlands, is encouraging algae blooms to flourish, creating the toxin.

Pelicans with domoic acid poisoning, which affects the brain, can have seizures while flying. Some poisoned pelicans have literally fallen out of the sky dead, according to the International Bird Rescue Research Center (IBRRC) in San Pedro.

The center has documented recent cases of pelicans crashing into car windshields and ending up on airport runways and freeways.

IBRRC Director Jay Holcomb says that outbreaks of sick and dead wildlife occur in the area each spring, but this year has been much worse.

Although domoic acid is a naturally occurring toxin produced by microscopic algae, something is making recent blooms of the algae especially virulent.

“I have been doing this work for 35 years and I have never seen anything like this as far as the number of species affected, other than an oil spill,” said Holcomb.

From the Seattle Times

Pelicans fall out of sky from Mexico to Ore.

Pelicans suffering from a mysterious malady are crashing into cars and boats, wandering along roadways and turning up dead by the hundreds across the West Coast, from southern Oregon to Baja California, Mexico, bird-rescue workers say.

By Pat Brennan

The Orange County Register

:

Authorities believe eco-terroist are responsible for the destruction of three homes in a Seattle suburb. The homes were located on the “Street of Dreams”, a showcase “of unoccupied, furnished luxury model homes where tens of thousands of visitors last summer eyed the latest in high-end housing, interior design and landscaping.”

A sheet marked Earth Liberation Front was found a the scene. The Earth Liberation Front is a group of radical environmentalist that engage in economic sabotage. Authorities estimate that $7 million dollars worth of damage was done.

Here’s the thing. Common sense should tell us that we’ve over built, over commercialized and generally done great harm to our natural resources as a result. Burning down someone’s property is certainly a disastrous way to bring about change.

What about all the toxic chemicals that were released into the environment as a result of the fire? What about the animals that were harmed? What about the people that could have been killed? A change of wind could have destroyed more homes and further damaged the already delicate ecosystem. Fires created by man cannot be controlled by men or women.

Environmentalism is the new black.  That’s probably a good thing. We all could do better.  Here are simple ways to combat global warning.

1. The next time you buy a vehicle as least consider a smaller one or a hybrid.

2. Install a water filter in your home instead of buying cases of water.

3. Do as much banking online as you can.  By doing you’ll eliminate paper checks.

Going green doesn’t have to be radical, painful and over the top.  Every little bit helps.  What have you done to cut down on global warming?

Source

It’s amusing how the media fawns over politicians like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. There he is in all his glory, on the cover of the June 25 issue of Time Magazine, snuggling The Terminator, also known as California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And there the good mayor was at Googleâ„¢, or to be precise, on the Google campus, offering his wisdom to the ultimate Geek Squad. Is the mayor a closet candidate for a presidential bid?

The New York Sun reported Bloomberg is really bored with the presidential debates, saying they’re a waste of time. But what really worries Bloomberg, says the Sun, has to do with matters of the spirit. Bloomberg counseled the Google-sters as follows:

“It’s probably because of our bad educational system, but the percentage of people who believe in creationalism is really scary for a country that’s going to have to compete in a world where science and medicine require a better understanding,” he said in one such foray.

I don’t know about you, but I’m still turning that statement over in my mind. For me, the one doesn’t necessarily follow the other. I mean, you got your faith and then you got your science. The two are not necessarily exclusive.

Until recent times, most scientists practiced some sort of faith, simply because faith was in vogue until now. Those scientists got us to where we are now. So what’s the problem with faith?

The way I look at it, God gave us the common cold, right? I mean, if you believe in God, all things come from his or her power.

Science gave us decongestants and saline spray, right? I mean, if you believe in self-help, you get a nasty cold, you medicate.

The thing is, science hasn’t found a cure for the cold. Or for menstrual cramps. Or arthritis. Or a zillion other conditions and illnesses. Perhaps as an apology, science came up with narcotics.

Science has sent men to the moon too. So that’s pretty impressive. But the learned men and women still can’t tell me, beyond a shadow of a doubt, where the moon actually came from.

Some might stipulate that science as well as God put us in the dire situation the world is in today. Remember Hiroshima? Anthrax? Hitler’s death chambers? Iran’s (alleged) nuclear weapons program?

I’d like to present a scenario.

You got two men in a room—a scientist and a preacher. Both have the power to blow up the world. I say they’re men because I don’t think most women would even consider blowing up the world.

So the scientist makes calculations, he wants his explosion to occur by the most efficient method possible. Energy-savings and all that. Naturally, he wants the process to be painless, because he’ll be a goner too.

The deacon on the other hand will likely pray. If he believes in the Ten Commandments (and probably the Golden Rule too), he will not be capable of total devastation.

So which fellow is the scariest?

Word Press, Technorati, Tags, Bloomberg, New York, geeks, faith, creationalism, God, religion, U.S., persecution, science, Darwin

The Rocky Mountain News (Colo.) unveiled Denver’s new green plan aka the Climate Action Plan in a news feature and shortly thereafter, the Drudge Report popped up a link. Then, the paper says, Mayor John Hickenlooper’s phones started ringing. Read about the plan and you’ll wonder if the mayor recently took a ride on a UFO.

People around the country started calling the plan a “crackpot scheme.�

Here are a few highlights courtesy of the News:

The plan includes several controversial ideas, including making residents who use large amounts of electricity and natural gas pay higher utility fees, boosting insurance rates for people who drive long distances and mandating that homes be energy efficient before they can be sold.

The mayor told the paper, “According to most polls, 70 percent of the people in Colorado recognize there is global warming,” he said.

Politicians love those polls. On a daily basis, media outlets cite polls for everything from how often married people have sex to Americans’ top ten priorities.

What intrigues me, other than a near-complete distrust of all polls, is who takes the time to answer these things?

If a pollster calls my house, I politely (most of the time) decline.

Here’s why. The way most polls are worded requires an absolute answer. Check out online polls. There’s almost always no wiggle room. As a wordsmith, I could design a poll that would produce any outcome I wanted, or come close to it.

I even wonder is there some sort of psychology at play in people who respond to polls. Is there a type of personality that enjoys this sort of probing confessional? Do such people see the world in terms of absolutes? I especially find irony in polls conducted in foreign countries where there is little to no freedom of the press. Do you think people always tell the truth in such matters?
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