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Get Rich. Save the Environment. Save the World.

August 4, 2008 By 6 Comments

Last Tuesday I was in Chicago, and all was going well until a seemingly unlikely event started a chain reaction that would lay me up in bed for nearly three days… It rained.

View of Chicago from Navy Pier

Yep. It didn’t rain very hard, or very long, but it just so happened that I was walking about a mile or so through the city back to my hotel during the light rain. I could have caught a cab, but instead I ducked into a Walgreen’s and got a baseball hat and kept walking.

I know what you’re thinking. But no, I didn’t catch a cold!

I was taking my time, even stopping to snap photos of skyscrapers in the rain, when about halfway back to the hotel I started having difficulty catching my breath. Now I don’t have asthma, and I can generally out walk anyone I know, so it took me a few minutes to figure out what was going on. I was having an allergic reaction to something.
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Filed Under: Environment, Videos, Work Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Exxon Profits Nearly $90,000 a Minute!

August 1, 2008 By 16 Comments

Wow. I speculated about getting ready for $5 per gallon gas here in the US a few weeks ago, but when you read that the oil companies are breaking the record for most profit in a single quarter – ever! For any company! Ever! It kind of makes you pissed off.

The New York Times reported today that Exxon’s Second Quarter Earnings Set a Record:

HOUSTON — Exxon Mobil reported the best quarterly profit ever for a corporation on Thursday, beating its own record, but investors sold off shares as oil and natural gas prices resumed their recent decline.

Record earnings for Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, have become routine as the surge of oil prices in recent years has filled its coffers. The company’s income for the second quarter rose 14 percent, to $11.68 billion, compared to the same period a year ago. That beat the previous record of $11.66 billion set by Exxon in the last three months of 2007.

Exxon’s profits were nearly $90,000 a minute over the quarter, but it was less than Wall Street had expected. Exxon’s shares fell 4.6 percent, to close at $80.43. (The company calculates that it pays $274,000 a minute in taxes and spends $884,000 a minute to run the business.)

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Filed Under: Environment, News Tagged With: , , , ,

Independent Comparison of Democratic vs. Republican Platforms

March 25, 2008 By 64 Comments

Republican vs DemocratFolks, I’m neither a Democrat, nor a Republican. But my mom asked me to give her an unbiased, factual rundown on the political platforms – so what my mother wants, my mother gets! Here you go Mom…

I’m making the presumption that the two candidates who are going to actually be running for President are Barack Obama, and John McCain. So, below I’ve taken the liberty of narrowing down all the data to these two guys. What you need to do is line up as many of your political ideal matches and then you can rationally choose who you are voting for.
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Filed Under: Environment, Health & Fitness, Philosophy, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Vectrix Electric Scooter

March 2, 2008 By 12 Comments

Vectrix ScooterThe Vectrix is a brand new battery powered maxi-scooter capable of carrying two adults around town all day in silence without burning a single drop of gasoline.

Here are a few stats:

  • This sucker weighs a whopping 462 lbs (Holy bloat Batman)! That is as much as my old 160 MPH Sprint ST!
  • The electric motor produces 48 lb ft. of torque (65 nm) and 27 horsepower (20.2 kw)
  • Accelerating the big scooter to 50 mph takes 6.8 seconds.
  • Top speed is 62 MPH, with a max range of 68 miles at 25 MPH. (Range decreases with higher speeds.)
  • The battery pack has a rated battery capacity of 3.7Kwh and is designed for up to 1,700 full charging cycles.
  • The 1.5 kW on-board charger plugs into a standard outlet and provides an 80% charge in just over 2 hours.
  • Effective cost of operation should be 10% of the equivalent cost of gasoline.

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Filed Under: Environment, Vehicles, Videos Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Crying Indian Commercial

February 11, 2008 By 8 Comments

The Crying IndianThis classic 1971 public service announcement featuring the fictional Chief Iron Eyes Cody is one of the most famous commercials from the 1970′s. Also known as the “Crying Indian” commercial, this Keep America Beautiful public service announcement features the chief shedding a tear after some trash is thrown from a speeding car and lands at his feet while the announcer states “People start pollution; people can stop it.”

This commercial made such an impact in it’s day that it almost single handedly eliminated what, at the time, was a major ecological problem. Younger people today can’t really imagine it, but decades ago people would drive down the street and just throw their trash out the windows. Trash was everywhere, and it was disgusting.
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Filed Under: Environment, Videos Tagged With: , , ,

A Video Collection of Reasons to Quit Smoking

January 9, 2008 By 10 Comments

Smoking KillsI’ve written about smoking several times in the past because “…a billion people will die this century from tobacco-related illnesses….” And everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, so why is it that smokers just don’t give a crap?

Sorry, but as a sidebar… I know this person who is a smoker and also a die-hard environmentalist. Can someone please tell me how you can complain about me driving a gas guzzling vehicle when the production of cigarettes is causing massive deforestation along with the production of waste from consumption (including paper and plastic packaging and cigarette butts)? I mean seriously, if you smoke you don’t give a damn.

Quotes from a report by Environmental Health Perspectives.

Globally, tobacco curing requires 11.4 million tons of solid wood annually, according to Geist’s study. Adding insult to injury, tobacco plants may replace the trees cut down and leach large quantities of vital nutrients from the soil.

Worldwide, an estimated 5.5 trillion commercially produced cigarettes were consumed in 1995 (the last year for which statistics are available) and 83% of cigarettes were filter-tipped. Filters and plastic wrap from packages remain in the environment for long periods. Cigarette filters contain cellulose acetate, which persists under normal environmental conditions for 18 months or longer. Moreover, cigarette butts pose a health hazard to children and animals if they eat them.

Anyway, back to the point at hand. I’ve assembled a nice little collection of videos from around the Web that focus on the effects of cigarettes. If you’re a smoker, feel free to go ahead and ignore these. It’s always better not to know whats coming…
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Filed Under: Environment, Health & Fitness, Videos Tagged With: , , ,

Pollution Kills 750,000 Chinese Each Year

December 17, 2007 By 8 Comments

Chinese PollutionSixteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China, according to World Bank research. Yet a report sponsored by the Chinese Government which uncovered potentially scary information was edited to “prevent social unrest”.

Missing from this report are the research project’s findings that high air-pollution levels in Chinese cities is leading to the premature deaths of 350,000-400,000 people each year. A further 300,000 people die prematurely each year from exposure to poor air indoors, according to advisers, but little discussion of this issue survived in the report because it was outside the ambit of the Chinese ministries which sponsored the research.

Another 60,000-odd premature deaths were attributable to poor-quality water, largely in the countryside, from severe diarrhea, and stomach, liver and bladder cancers.

The mortality information was “reluctantly” excised by the World Bank from the published report, according to advisers to the research project.

Sepa and the health ministry declined to comment. The World Bank said that the findings of the report were still being discussed with the government.

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Filed Under: Environment, Health & Fitness, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

It’s Official – Al Gore Wins Nobel Peace Prize

October 12, 2007 By 21 Comments

Al Gore Wins Nobel PrizeFolks, I’ve been saying that if you haven’t already, you NEED to see An Inconvenient Truth. If it doesn’t change the way you look at the world, then you probably have no heart. (Grin!)

I also previously reported that Gore had been Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. This is not just because he made a movie and won an Oscar, it’s because he has devoted his private life to the cause of climate change – and like it or not many, many, many people happen to agree with him and are happy he is carrying out this work.

So, today Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2007 along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC):

“for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”

It’s too early to see the announcement on video, but Nobel has a YouTube channel which will no doubt post the video of this announcement shortly. View it here.
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Filed Under: Environment, News, Philanthropy, Philosophy, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Death Valley’s Sailing Stones Mystery – SOLVED!

September 6, 2007 By 37 Comments

Sailing Stones of Death ValleyDeep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world’s most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley.

These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals.

These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long.

They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move.
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Filed Under: Environment, Travel, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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