Enhanced Energy Efficiency

photo by Craig Smith

Solving global warming isn't only about installing majestic wind turbines and glistening solar energy systems in the desert. One of the cheapest, most effective, and safest ways to reduce global warming pollution is to increase our energy efficiency. In fact, by using energy efficiency technologies and today's know-how, we could cut our global warming pollution by a third. So why aren't we? In the United States, we're off to a good start - innovation and improvements over the past 30 years have allowed our economy to grow faster than our energy consumption. Unfortunately, in the next 22 years our electricity consumption is expected to grow by 25%. That'll mean an extra 550 million tons of CO2 each year that we'll have to reduce to stop global warming. The good news is that by aggressively improving our energy efficiency now, we can nearly eliminate this increase. It'll take leadership, but there are plenty of examples of how energy efficiency has worked. For example, people using energy-efficient appliances in 2007 avoided global warming pollution equivalent to nearly 27 million cars. If everyone did likewise -- and we similarly improved America's buildings, industry, and transportation -- we could reduce annual emissions equivalent to nearly 400 million cars. That's 2 billion fewer tons of carbon dioxide (more than 6,000 times the weight of the Empire State Building!). Building for energy-efficiency: In the United States alone, buildings are responsible for 25-35% of greenhouse gas emissions. By making simple changes, like using the proper amount of insulation, we can save half of the energy it takes to heat, cool, light, and otherwise provide power to buildings. And, with buildings lasting for 40-50 years or more, efficiency choices we make now will last at least a generation. Cutting fuel costs on the road: CO2 emissions from cars and trucks account for about one-third of all energy-related global warming pollution in the United States. Cars bought in the United States last year averaged only 20 miles per gallon (mpg), which is less than half the gas mileage available on the most efficient cars today and about the same as a 1908 Model T. We can do better than a car introduced 100 years ago. With American innovation and technology, we can offer all cars with much better fuel economy and the same level of safety and features we expect. And the opportunities are not just available for cars: heavy-duty trucks, which transport about 60% of the goods we buy and use 39 billion gallons of fuel every year, can also become more efficient. Effective gas mileage standards and support for innovative technologies will keep our transportation system moving while greatly decreasing our environmental impact. Making new appliances more energy-efficient: By using energy-efficient products at home and at work, we can significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing function, style, or features. For the home and at work, we already have excellent federally rated EnergyStar appliances that are designed to use 10 to 50 percent less energy and water than other appliances. In a nutshell -- buy the most efficient technologies available. Stop wasting energy at home, at work, and on the road. And importantly - ask your leaders to set new standards for efficiency for all sectors, so that from now on 'best practice' in energy efficiency becomes normal practice for everyone.
From: http://www.wecansolveit.org/

from: Coastal Conservation League ~South Carolina Conservation Bank

from CI ~Reconcile With Nature

A March 19, 2008 article from Conservation International (CI):

Reconcile with Nature
By Carolina Hoyos, Staff Writer
A Partnership of Science, Faith, and Media
During this year’s Holy Week, Father Alirio Lopez will bring his tried-and-true environmental message to more than 5,000 parishioners of La Veracruz, a colonial church in downtown Bogotá, Colombia. Asking them to change their traditions to save a plant and a parrot has become much easier over time.
"At the beginning people were very resistant to stop using the threatened wax palm. For many years it has been used to reenact the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and the blessing of the fronds is a key part of the celebration," recalls Alirio, a Catholic priest for more than 30 years.
In 2002, Alirio began using his sermons to teach the public about the science behind the religious Palm Sunday ceremony. Following tradition, hundreds of wax palms – Colombia’s national tree – are cut down every year for their fronds.
Decades of cutting has produced an unfortunate domino effect. Scientists now consider this symbolic tree to be highly threatened, impacting the yellow-eared parrot – a unique bird that depends on wax palms for food and nesting. The crisis reached a climax when the parrot was categorized as Critically Endangered by IUCN, the highest possible category of threat for a species before it becomes extinct forever. Time was running out.
Alirio's campaign slogan, "Because Life is Sacred, Reconcile with Nature," is touching hearts. The campaign has reached more than 20 million people, and Catholics in many regions of the country have stopped using threatened palms in their ceremonies.
In Colombia, Palm Sunday has become a religious day with an environmental twist.
Success from the Ground Up Seven years ago, a diverse group of leaders – scientists, conservationists, priests, and government officials – understood the critical link between wax palm conservation and religion. Together, they launched a national campaign to protect long-held beliefs without further endangering wildlife.
In 2008, with the continuous leadership of ProAves, a nongovernmental organization that protects birds, and Conservation International, the campaign attracted additional partners and now has support from the Episcopal Conference of Colombia, the Botanical Garden Jose Celestino Mutis and government authorities.
The campaign has been all-inclusive from the start, with a focus on on-the-ground conservation. In 1998, Dr. Paul Salaman, International Program Director with American Bird Conservancy began working with communities living near precious parrot habitat, relying on their knowledge and involvement to protect the bird. The program’s initial success eventually spawned the creation of Fundación ProAves.
"Today, local people play a major role in saving the species by providing crucial data about its location, migration, and habitat protection," says Jose Castaño, ProAves conservation tools coordinator.
Other campaign initiatives include creating artificial nesting boxes for parrots in places where habitat degradation is increasing, training farmers and cattle ranchers in restoration techniques, establishing wax palm tree nurseries, and donating trees that are key to the yellow-eared parrot's survival.
With support from many partners, environmental educators travel around the country by bus bringing stories about the parrot to remote areas. The Loro-Bus, or Parrot-Bus, took its first tour in 2005. Since then, it has reached 1,620 rural schools, classrooms, and universities in 105 municipalities. More than 40,000 children and 5,000 adults have boarded the Loro-Bus to receive information about protection of the species and learn more about conservation in general.
These collective efforts show that community-based conservation and research can work. Today, about 850 parrots survive in the wild in the Colombian Andes. In 2002, there were only 82.
"It's important that all the citizens of Colombia support this campaign," says Fabio Arjona, executive director of CI-Colombia. "Protecting and conserving biodiversity is everyone’s responsibility because of the important role it plays in the balance of diverse ecosystems, but also for its role in our own survival as humans."
As another Palm Sunday passes, thousands of Colombians are striving to live in peace and harmony with nature.

Heart Stuff ~ There Are Many Kinds of Artists

From: the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute

"Whatever Happened to Peace On Earth"

Click on the headline "above" Willie's picture.....to see the video and hear his song "Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth". Below is extra information, written and posted by Jay that accompanied the video post on the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute website on April 1,2008:

The never ending quest for new sources to replace depleted resources creates conflicts with traditional communities that do not wish to give up or sell the resources on which their communities are based.
Usually traditional communities must be destroyed before their land can be ravaged for resources such as gold, oil or hydroelectric power.
In either case, any way of life based upon the accelerating consumption of nonrenewable resources demands widespread violence.
Violence appears everywhere to perpetuate a life style that must inevitably end.
This violence has been rationalized when necessary but more often it is ignored. Silent permission is favored over any requirement to furnish an excuse. Uncounted millions of indigenous people and their traditional communities have been sacrificed upon the altars of production.
Any threat to this production, any resistance to the exploitation of resources and the destruction of traditional communities of indigenous people is met with unrelenting ruthless violence. This is called justice, the spreading of democracy and the manifest destiny of our culture.
If a halt is not put to culture, to this system of violence and exploitation, then civilization as we have come to know it will relentlessly grind on needlessly creating pain and suffering while degrading the planet until the system collapses.
Peace On Earth would halt this process.
The longer the destruction goes on the worse things will get for those living through it and those who will come after us.
We depend upon the natural world.
We depend upon the aid and good intentions of our neighbors.
We destroy the natural world and alienate our neighbors at our peril.
Perhaps those who survive the collapse will have learned their lesson and live together in peace with each other and their environment. Sooner or later, the human race will need to live in balance with the rest of the world.
Sooner would be better that later.

http://willienelsonpri.com/

Heart Stuff ~ We Have A Chance

from: Conservation International

Shhhh. Did you hear that?
That was the sound of another species doomed with extinction.
And that's the problem. There was no sound. No loud explosion. No sonic boom. No tremor that shakes the world when another beautiful creature goes extinct. Instead magnificent creatures like the leatherback turtle slip nearer to the edge in utter silence every 20 minutes.
That's about 3 species every hour. 72 of Mother Nature's precious creatures each day. A devastating 500 a week and a world-changing 26,000 a year.
In fact, right now the world's largest turtle and the second largest reptile on the planet, the leatherback, may be nothing more than a memory in a few decades if current rates of loss continue.
So, we're talking about an incredible creature that has survived on this planet for more than 100,000,000 years. Yet populations of these sweethearts of the sea have declined by more than 80% in many areas thanks to pollution, poaching and commercial development, not to mention the potential for climate change to cause havoc, such as raising water levels and swallowing up their nesting areas beach by beach.
But you can give a voice to these helpless creatures and help stop the extinction clock for the leatherback turtles and all species right now, simply by signing our petition and encouraging 5 friends to do the same.

Toad photo by Craig Smith

Out of Our Heads and Into Our Hearts

photo by Craig Smith

I think these words are so beautiful! They are from Sheryl Crow’s new song "Out of Our Heads" (a wonderful song to dance to!:))

If you feel you wanna fight me, there's a chain around your mind. When something is holding you tightly,what is real is so hard to find
If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads and into our hearts. If we could only get out of our heads, out of our heads and into our hearts.

Heart Stuff ~ Living Lightly

The New Green Deal Plan for 2009

Ideas from The New Green Deal Plan for 2009 - from Planet Drum

The New Green Deal of 2009 *
The incoming US Federal administration of 2009 will have an important opportunity to launch a New Green Deal that promotes locally directed efforts to solve many of our urgent problems. This is a time of economic and environmental crisis, and we need to demonstrate authentic leadership in pursuit of a vibrant, healthy society that is sustainable and equitable. A New Green Deal can address domestic economic, social and ecological problems in a way that also has a positive impact on foreign policy and relations.
The New Green Deal focuses on developing basic requirements for moving towards
sustainability such as green collar jobs, regional ecological restoration, and inclusion of under-
represented communities. Its mission is to enable comprehensive long-lasting social,
economic and natural resource policies. The New Green Deal can become the foundation for
healthy, productive domestic programs that reduce our nation's oil dependence and provide
proactive responses to global warming.
The New Green Deal's founding principle is there needs to be regional improvements to local
conditions and carried out by local people, businesses, and communities. This means the
overall approach to accomplishing programs will vary according to the places where applied:
New York City will have a different emphasis than Los Angeles, and Puget Sound from
Chesapeake Bay.
Below are two of the five general directions in the New Green Deal:
#4 - Green Collar employment programs in the following areas:
a) Ecosystem restoration,
b) Remanufacturing that maximizes use of recyclable and/or post-consumer materials,
c) Renewable energy production and use,
d) Regionally-based sustainable agriculture,
e) Converting all wastes into resources,
f) Water conservation and reuse,
g) Energy efficiency,
h) Green building, living roofs, and landscaping,
i) Ecology and conservation education,
j) And special Green Collar job training programs in vulnerable communities.
and #5 - Create or transform governmental institutions and agencies with policies that promote localization and embody principles of sustainability.
*A genuine "stimulus package", on the scale of the 1930's New Deal, for the present day. The New Green Deal promotes positive programs to replace catastrophic activities that underlie climate change, economic inequities, water and food shortages, habitat destruction, and species extinction.

Planet Drum

http://www.planetdrum.org

from Farm Aid

from: http://www.farmaid.org/

Secret changes in your food - it's all about the seeds

It's that time of year when the Farm Aid kitchen table is littered with seed catalogs. Most of us are backyard gardeners (or deck gardeners for some of us urbanites). We often share seeds, seedlings, or much later in the season the abundance of our gardens. Ted can grow cilantro that dies in everyone else's garden. Glenda always has amazing tomatoes. Jen just keeps expanding her garden and is joking that this year she is going to sell CSA memberships of her own.
This is our small way of connecting to the farmers all across the country who are, at this time of year, planting seeds for our food or preparing to get their livestock back on pasture.
This month we're asking you to think about the seeds farmers are sowing this spring. Are they genetically modified? Do you want your table sugar to come from genetically modified sugar beets? What about your bread made with genetically modified wheat? How would you know?
Our friends at the Center for Food Safety just put out a new book ...check it out: "Your Right to Know: Genetic Engineering and the Secret Changes in Your Food".

Make This Leap Day and Leap Year Be About Frogs (click here)

frog photo: by Robin D. Moore

Conservation International's amphibian expert

from

Conservation International (CI)

Think of frogs on this leap year’s 366th day. These slimy creatures can perform astounding acts of nature. They’re also in deep water because about a third of the world’s amphibians are leaping toward extinction. When an amphibian species disappears from the planet, it’s the equivalent of a smoke alarm blasting out a warning the minute someone strikes a match. That’s because amphibians with their highly permeable skin are ultrasensitive to environmental changes and actually serve as a harbinger of environmental conditions. So when the poison dart frogs of the Costa Rican rainforest or the striking golden mantellas of Madagascar suddenly stop making noise - it’s time to leap into action. Right now we are in the midst of a horrifying decline in amphibian species. As many as 165 species are already extinct and nearly 33% of all amphibian species are near extinction. Even worse many have gone extinct even within protected areas. And it’s not just climate change and pollution that threaten these beautiful creatures, but a raging fungal disease - Chytridiomycosis - also threatens their delicate future.

Top Ten Things You Might Not Know About Frogs
1. The world’s largest frog lives up to its name. The Goliath of West Africa grows almost a foot in length, weighs up to 7 pounds, and can easily clear 10 feet in a single hop.
2. Frogs can kill us. The toxin in a single toxic poison dart frog could wipe out 90 humans.
3. Ladies, can’t decide on a guy? A female gray treefrog picks her mate from the pool of water with the fewest predators.
4. The male gladiator frogs of Latin America use spikes on their forearms to mortally wound other competitors during courtship rituals. (Gentlemen, don’t try this at home!)
5. Toads use their eyeballs to help swallow their prey.
6. Certain frogs in deserts "down under" store water in their bladder and pockets of skin. Their "pee" is an important source of hydration for aborigines crossing the arid outback.
7. In California, due to the popularity of "toad licking," it’s illegal to possess Colorado River Toads, which produce a powerful hallucinogen called bufotoxin.
8. Thanks to chemicals that act as an internal "antifreeze," wood frogs can freeze solid and hop away after thawing out.
9. Call them superfrogs. Southeast Asia’s gliding frogs "hang-glide" from tree to tree using extensive webbing between their toes.
10. Talk about incredible births. The Gastric Brooding Frog from Australia, believed to be extinct, incubates tadpoles inside their tummies until they’re fully developed. Baby frogs then come hopping out of the mouth.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers draw lead from the ground,

leaving behind more healthier and fertile soil.

(CI)

Independent Artists Win Oscars

from: http://oscar.com/
Oscar Winning Song Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

"Falling Slowly" Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

"Falling Slowly" is a tune from Glen and Marketa’s 2006 independent film "Once"...
Based on their true story.... An Irish singer-songwriter (Glen) performing on the streets of Dublin befriends a young Czech immigrant (Marketa) who is selling flowers to support her mother and child. The pair begin a musical collaboration with the hope of producing a marketable demo, working together easily as they skirt the more difficult issue of the unex

pressed attraction that is growing between them.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Glen Hansard:

Thanks! This is amazing. What are we doing here? This is mad. We made this

film two years ago. We shot on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make. We made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we would come into a room like this and be in front of you people. It's been an amazing thing. Thanks for taking this film seriously, all of you. It means a lot to us. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all the people who've helped us, they know who they are, we don't need to say them. This is amazing. Make art. Make art. Thanks.

Marketa Irglova:

Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don't give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.

from: http://oscar.com/

From Planet Drum

Volunteer in an Eco-City this Fall:
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador!

PLANET DRUM ANNOUNCEMENT

Planet Drum Foundation is seeking volunteers for its Ecological City projects in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador for durations from a month to five months during May-September 2008.
Work with our unique revegetation project, planting and maintaining native plants to reduce erosion and create habitats for birds and other animals. Join neighborhood efforts to learn and use ecological practices. Help in renewable energy development. Assist bioregional environmental education groups for children and adults. A background in environmental education and activities, Spanish language speaking ability, and cooperative living experience are desirable. However, willing hands and a desire to help restore our damaged biosphere are most important.
(See www.planetdrum.org for background information and up-to-date reports on activities in Eco-Ciudad Bahia.)
Benefits include free accommodation in a large shared apartment, extraordinary beach and wilderness recreational activities, and opportunities to improve Spanish skills as well as
experience tropical Ecuadorian culture.


Please send a description of your qualifications and interests to:
Clay Plager-Unger,
Field Projects Manager, planetdrumecuador@yahoo.com/
For questions email Clay at mailtoplanetdrumecuador@yahoo.com/

The Power of The World

The power of the world always works in a circle,
and everything tries to be round.
The sky is round, and the earth is round like a ball,
and so are all the stars.
Birds make their nests in circles.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle.
The moon does the same, and both are round.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing,
and always come back again to where they were.
The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves.


Black Elk