It’s not that I do not believe in global warming, I simply do not believe “going green” is going to amount to a hill of beans to alter it. Because many scientists agree that the earth has been through similar cycles and altogether different climate cycles many times before and without human input (ice age…anyone?). You do not hear any opposing opinions or different takes in the media, not because there aren’t any from very qualified people to do so, but because it doesn’t tow the politically correct line. Yes “Green” is essentially a political advertising campaign. Its been such a successful one that more and more companies are picking up on it and using it to their advantage. Al Gore made a fortune on his book “An Inconvenient Truth” all the while being one of the heaviest residential users of electricity in Nashville. After all it takes a lot of lights to illuminate the Gore mansion, even when Big Al is away making it snow somewhere by his presence.

We are told that everything, including cow flatulence causes global warming. If it’s a hot summer it must be global warming. If it’s a mild winter, you guessed it, global warming. Let’s all go GREEN, whatever that really means. I will be the first to say we need to wean off of oil as quickly as possible because it’s expensive, limited and it smells, but are we so delusional to think that if we simply change a few habits or feed our cows Gas X that we will halt global warming? It’s really about money in my opinion. President Obama is proposing many new lofty environmental control laws that in the end will cost the American tax payer money and not change anything. The only result will be that government gets bigger, and the economy continues to tank and if the earth is on a warming trend, it will continue to be. As influential as we humans are, and as damaging as we can be, ultimately the earth can still kick our butts.

Dr. Greg Butcher

Dr. Greg Butcher, Director of Bird Conservation at the National Audubon Society, will address the relationship between bird movement and global warming during a special program Thursday evening at the APSU Sunquist Science Complex, Room E103A, at 7:30  p.m.

Dr. Butcher’s program, “Bird Movement Reveals Global Warming Threat In Action,” is sponsored by the Warioto Audubon Chapter and the APSU Center for Excellence in Field Biology. The event is free and refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the event.

Gregory S. Butcher, Ph.D., is Director of Bird Conservation for the National Audubon Society. In this role he oversees Audubon’s State of the Birds analyses and other research related to bird conservation. He also works closely with Audubon’s partner organizations including Bird Conservation Alliance, BirdLife International, the North American Bird Conservation Initiative, and Partners in Flight.

From 1992 to 1998, Greg served as Executive Director of the American Birding Association (ABA) where he spearheaded the addition of education and conservation initiatives to the organization’s program agenda. Under his leadership, ABA’s membership grew from 11,500 to 20,000 in five years.

Previously, Greg was the Midwest Coordinator for Partners In Flight where he served on the species assessment technical committee, which determined many of the scores that underlie Audubon’s State of the Birds: WatchList methodology today. He also has served as editor of Birder’s World magazine.

Greg is an elective member of the American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) and past president of the Association of Field Ornithologists. and has field experience in Costa Rica, where he completed the Tropical Ecology course of the Organization for Tropical Studies, organized a symposium and field workshop on monitoring bird populations at the First International Wildlife Management Congress, and organized a joint meeting of the American Birding Association, Association of Field Ornithologists, and Costa Rican Ornithologists’ Association that attracted more than 400 participants.

Greg earned his B.A. in Zoology from Connecticut College and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington. He has been an active field birder since the age of 11, birding in 47 of the 50 states, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Chile, Europe, and South Africa. His number one birding goal is to see male birds of paradise displaying at a breeding lek.

From the desk of Cathy Zoi, CEO, RepowerAmerica.org:

In April 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide if it is harming our health and welfare. After more than a year of delay, the EPA is finally now requesting public comments on whether carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants are endangering our health and our climate.

For nearly eight years, the Bush administration has done nothing to address the growing threats we face from global warming. Hurricanes are getting stronger, the North polar icecap is melting, and we’ve suffered through intense droughts, floods and killer heat waves.

The deadline is November 28th. Let’s help end the era of delay.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Join us, and send a message about how crucial it is to reduce harmful carbon dioxide pollution. That you expect the EPA to use its powers to protect our health and welfare. That we can “Repower America” by using energy sources that don’t emit carbon dioxide, and make the switch to 100% clean electricity. And that the solutions to the climate crisis are the same ones needed to address our economic and security challenges.

Most people don’t know about this opportunity for public comment, so your voice can make a real difference. And with a new president in the White House, it’s likely that someone will actually be listening. Submit your public comment to the EPA here: http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/EPA

This is our chance to go on the public record — all the comments will be posted on the EPA’s website. To post your public comment, just go here.

Cathy Zoi, CEO www.RepowerAmerica.org

Depressed about Global Warming? Using amusing and inspiring stories Kilowatt Ours teaches how you can personally make this a greener world.  This 2008 updated version of Kilowatt Ours will be broadcast on Nashville Public Television, NPT Channel 8, on Friday, October 24 at 7:00 pm.

Kilowatt Ours provides simple, practical, affordable solutions to America’s energy crisis and shows how we can save electricity, save money and make a difference for ourselves and the planet. It is unique in that it is a solutions-oriented look at one of America’s most pressing environmental challenges. Yes, this film has solutions for us; it is not “this is too depressing” and it is not “this problem is too big”. 

Filmmaker Jeff Barrie offers hope as he turns the camera on himself and asks, “How can I make a difference?”

In his journey Barrie explores the source of our electricity and the problems caused by energy production including mountain top removal, childhood asthma and global warming. Along the way he encounters individuals, businesses, organizations, and communities who are leading the way, using energy conservation, efficiency and renewable, green power all while saving money and the environment. For more information, visit kilowattours.org

“Our readers think of the Almanac as a reliable friend that they can turn to for advice, novel ideas, and a clever, witty, or amusing item,” says Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. “These days, countless distractions compete for people’s thoughts and time, and information sources abound. The benefit of the Almanac is that it can be enjoyed both today, in the moment, and in the weeks and months to come. In fact, it’s the one book you can read all year long!”

• The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac features all-new stories guaranteed to be fun and factual, interesting and entertaining. Here are a few highlights: “Tastes and Trends”: This comprehensive and colorful section reports on and forecasts fashions, food, hobbies, home amenities, farm and garden interests, collector markets, and more for the year, with comments from experts.
• “Is Global Warming on the Wane?”: Convincing evidence suggests that an extreme cooling period is imminent or already under way. Don’t miss this chilling account!
• “About Trout”: Going fishing? Take along these handy hints for catching and cooking some beauties.
• “Foot Notes”: Got tender feet? Is your arch your enemy? Are you a pronator or a supinator? Here is where you can find your best footing and sample a few pedi-cures.
• “Directions from the Dark Side”: Your dreams are trying to tell you something! Learn how to capture, decode, and benefit from the symbols, settings, and situations that play in your mind at night.
• “Butterflies for Free”: Monarch butterflies love milkweed and so should you. Having this plant in your garden practically ensures that a flutter will follow.
• “How to Live to Be 100 or More”: Life expectancy may be at its highest point ever, but why leave your longevity to chance? Take this advice from centenarians.
• “Tomato Love”: Meet a man who annually harvests 4,000 pounds of heirloom tomatoes,  from his own one-acre garden and learn how to grow a ton-or just a few pounds-of your own.

While the Almanac is known for its garden, home, food, and feature stories, everybody is interested in the weather.

“Brides, city managers, business owners, event planners, farmers-people from all walks of life-use the Almanac every year for the weather,” says Stillman.

So, what does The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac say about the weather year ahead?

• Cooling is on the radar for Winter 2008-09, with heavy snowfall from southern New England southwestward into the Ozarks. Temperatures will be below average throughout much of the nation.
• Spring 2009 will bring cooler temperatures to the Southwest and West. Rainfall will be above normal in Florida and the Southeast.
• Hot will describe Summer 2009 in Florida and an area from the Great Lakes southwestward into New Mexico. The rest of the country can expect below-normal or average temperatures

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is produced by Yankee Publishing Inc. of Dublin, New Hampshire. The Almanac family of publications also includes themed calendars for 2009: Gardening, Country, and Weather Watcher’s (for wall display); Every Day (in the page-per-day format); and a spiral-bound Engagement Calendar.

Created for cooks (and anyone who likes to eat) is the just-released Old Farmer’s Almanac Everyday Cookbook. This collection features more than 400 home-style recipes, including updated classics and family favorites passed down through generations.

Also available is The Old Farmer’s Almanac for Kids, Volume 2. Released every other year, this colorful book was created with the wit and wisdom of its parent publication, but for kids ages 8 and up. This newest edition features wacky and fascinating (not to mention educational) facts, stories, and projects that will keep kids occupied for hours.

The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac is now available for just $5.99 from Almanac.com or wherever books and magazines are sold. Look for it on the newsstand or in the reference section of bookstores. The 2009 Old Farmer’s Almanac is available wherever books and magazines are sold. Folks who can’t find it in bookstores, supermarkets, or hardware stores can order individual copies or subscriptions at Almanac.com* or by calling 800-ALMANAC.

Did you know the Almanac.com is loaded with even more recipes, trivia, and advice than the Almanac. Try the home-page personalization option, the podcasts, the blogs, and the newsletter-free! Be sure to visit Almanac4kids.com, too.

James Hansen, director of Nasa's Goddard Institute

As the world hots up, so does the market for books about climate change. Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers, looks at the latest works on the crisis, and sizes up their solutions, from nuclear energy to genetically engineered trees.

(August 9) — Most of those interested in climate science nowadays access information online, and one of the most significant of such contributions was recently posted by James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute, and his colleagues, who have provided a partial explanation for these changes. They revisited a key piece of science underpinning the IPCC’s work – the findings about how much warming a given amount of atmospheric CO2 pollution would produce – and discovered that, when viewed over the longer term, Earth’s climate system is about twice as sensitive to CO2 pollution as is illustrated in the panel’s century-long projections.

One conclusion they drew is that there is already enough greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere to cause 2°C of warming – bringing about conditions not seen on Earth for 2m to 3m years, and constituting, according to the authors, “a degree of warming that would surely yield ‘dangerous’ climate impacts”.

Hansen and his colleagues pointed to a new understanding of how long it takes for the full warming consequences of a given amount of greenhouse gas to be felt. They concluded that we could expect to feel a third of any warming in the first few years. As Hansen and his colleagues put it: “Sea-level changes of several metres per century occur in the palaeoclimate record, in response to forcings slower and weaker than the present human-made forcing. This indicates that the ice may disintegrate and melt faster than previously assumed, and that the warming may be delayed less by the ice than assumed.”

They also make a useful discrimination between climatic “tipping points” and “the point of no return”. A tipping point is that at which the greenhouse gas concentration reaches a level sufficient to cause catastrophic climate change, while a point of no return is reached when that concentration of greenhouse gas has been in place sufficiently long to begin an irreversible process. Humanity is currently suspended between a tipping point and a point of no return, and the point of no return is likely to be reached within two decades.

Oliver Tickell’s just-published book Kyoto2 (Zed Books), provides a big-picture approach to the prevention of climatic catastrophe. In essence, Tickell provides a blueprint for a global climate treaty. He documents the failings of the Kyoto protocol, then goes on to summarise the latest climate science, including the work of Hansen and his colleagues. The replacement to the Kyoto protocol, Tickell writes, must work effectively to achieve a level of atmospheric CO2 below 350ppm. At the heart of the proposal is a global trade in carbon with a series of reducing caps sufficiently rigorous to bring about such an outcome.

For more information, refer to guardian.co.uk

Click here to view the embedded video.

Warming so far, about two degrees Fahrenheit over land areas, seems almost innocuous, being less than day-to-day weather fluctuations. But more warming is already “in- the-pipeline”, delayed only by the great inertia of the world ocean. And climate is nearing dangerous tipping points. Elements of a “perfect storm”, a global cataclysm, are assembled.

Climate can reach points such that amplifying feedbacks spur large rapid changes. Arctic sea ice is a current example. Global warming initiated sea ice melt, exposing darker ocean that absorbs more sunlight, melting more ice. As a result, without any additional greenhouse gases, the Arctic soon will be ice-free in the summer.

More ominous tipping points loom. West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are vulnerable to even small additional warming. These two-mile-thick behemoths respond slowly at first, but if disintegration gets well underway it will become unstoppable. Debate among scientists is only about how much sea level would rise by a given date.

In my opinion, if emissions follow a business-as-usual scenario, sea level rise of at least two meters is likely this century. Hundreds of millions of people would become refugees. No stable shoreline would be reestablished in any time frame that humanity can conceive.

Special interests have blocked transition to our renewable energy future. Instead of moving heavily into renewable energies, fossil companies choose to spread doubt about global warming, as tobacco companies discredited the smoking-cancer link. Methods are sophisticated, including funding to help shape school textbook discussions of global warming.

CEOs of fossil energy companies know what they are doing and are aware of long-term consequences of continued business as usual. In my opinion, these CEOs should be tried for high crimes against humanity and nature.

Conviction of ExxonMobil and Peabody Coal CEOs will be no consolation, if we pass on a runaway climate to our children. Humanity would be impoverished by ravages of continually shifting shorelines and intensification of regional climate extremes. Loss of countless species would leave a more desolate planet.

If politicians remain at loggerheads, citizens must lead. We must demand a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. We must block fossil fuel interests who aim to squeeze every last drop of oil from public lands, off-shore, and wilderness areas. Those last drops are no solution. They yield continued exorbitant profits for a short-sighted self-serving industry, but no alleviation of our addiction or long-term energy source.

A price on emissions that cause harm is essential. Yes, a carbon tax. Carbon tax with 100 percent dividend is needed to wean us off fossil fuel addiction. Tax and dividend allows the marketplace, not politicians, to make investment decisions…..

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TwentyYearsLater_20080623.pdf

Accompanying slides:

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TippingPointsNear_20080623.pdf

About the author: Dr. James E. Hansen, longtime director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said in a January 29, 2006, New York Times interview that officials at NASA headquarters had ordered the public affairs staff to review his coming lectures, papers, and postings on the Goddard Web site and requests for interviews from journalists. Since 1988, he has been issuing public warnings about the long-term threat from heat-trapping emissions, dominated by carbon dioxide, that are an unavoidable byproduct of burning coal, oil and other fossil fuels.

I explore below paths that might, if followed, lead out of the chaos of an open-ended climatic disruption. Unfortunately the issues are complicated, the time for action is now late, and effective action is growing more difficult daily. Effective action is possible, however….

The changes in climate are far more serious than they may appear…. These changes, the warming of the higher latitudes, the destruction of forests, the accelerated decay of organic matter in forests and tundra soils, the melting of permafrost, the change from a reflective frozen white to black open water in the Arctic Ocean, and the warming of the surface water of the oceans all point to an acceleration of the warming trend. These are “positive feedbacks” which dominate as the earth warms and accelerate the disruption. Despite their importance, they have not been included in appraisals that suggest that a two degree average change in the temperature of the earth might be acceptable. The fact is that the feedbacks will almost certainly take the disruption beyond human control well before the temperature rise is two degrees C. Stopping at 2 degrees will not be possible.

Worse, there is now a common suggestion that a two-degree change – one-degree more than that at present — in the temperature of the earth would be acceptable and might be achieved by an 80% reduction in emissions of fossil fuels by 2040 or 2050. A two-degree change in the average temperature of the earth would be 4-6 degrees or more in higher latitudes, a catastrophic warming that would risk the mobilization of massive stores of carbon in forests and soils of the north, and a further release of methane as permafrost thaws and coastal waters warm. The positive feedbacks would own the earth and the warming would be beyond human control. Such assertions such as the two-degrees assumption are the ultimate in fallacy despite their popularity. An 80% reduction in emissions must be a much earlier objective. If it were set for 2012 it might be effective in avoiding run-away feedbacks.

It is clear that continuing on the present course of accelerated use of fossil fuels will lead to an open-ended climatic catastrophe whose earliest effects are underway now and accumulating in number and severity. These changes will inevitably produce a new, progressively impoverished world, a chaos that no one wants.

The era of fossil fuels must end abruptly. The immediate challenge for the first years of a responsible United States administration is clear leadership, first, in stabilizing the atmospheric burden of heat trapping gases in preparation for a major global program of reduction toward 350 ppm carbon dioxide or less.

Stabilization globally can in fact be achieved through reducing the use of fossil fuels combined with management of land to favor forests. No other action offers short term corrections in the range of billions of tons of carbon. One combination of actions that would meet the need would require:

• Preserving all remaining primary forests globally, worth about 1.5 billion tons of carbon
• Reforestation of 1-2 million square kilometers of abandoned or impoverished land,1.0 -1.5 billion tons per year
• An immediate global reduction in the emissions through use of fossil fuels of 25% of the current 8.5 billion tons about 2.1 billion tons per year.

The important step at the moment is to realize that the emergency exists, requires immediate stabilization of the atmosphere, and that the stabilization is possible. While such steps seem at this late date heroic, they are small relative to the chaos assured if we continue to fail to take them.

From awkward facts at http://www.whrc.org/resources

Worsening Amazon deforestation embarrasses Brazil’s government

June 3 — Alarming new figures showing worsening deforestation in the Amazon have embarrassed Brazil’s government, which is accused of making concessions to the powerful food producer lobby.

Brazil’s National Space Research Institute, which uses satellites to calculate how much of the vast rainforest has been destroyed, this week announced that another 1,132 square kilometers (437 square miles) had been cut or burned down, based on April imagery.

A Greenpeace representative in Brazil, Sergio Leitao, told AFP that the April data were “extremely worrying.”

Brazil’s new environment minister, Carlos Minc, acknowledged that “the deforestation this year will be greater than that of last year.” He blamed high world prices for soya and beef — two major Brazilian exports — for the increased clearing of the Amazon by farmers.

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/080603201344.selg893l.html

About Dr. Woodwell

Dr. Woodwell is an ecologist with broad interests in global environmental issues and policies. Prior to founding the Woods Hole Research Center, he was founder and director of the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole and a senior scientist at Brookhaven National Laboratories. He was also a founding trustee and is vice chairman of the board of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is a former chairman of the board of trustees and currently a member of the National Council of the World Wildlife Fund, a founding trustee of the World Resources Institute, a founder and honorary member of the board of trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund, and former president of the Ecological Society of America. Dr. Woodwell is the author of more than 300 major papers and books in ecology. He holds a doctorate in botany from Duke University and is the recipient of several honorary degrees. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of “Forests in a Full World.”

Dear Governor Gibbons,

I hope that I may communicate with you as a fellow parent and grandparent about a matter that will have great effects upon the lives of our loved ones. I refer to climate change, specifically global warming in response to human-made carbon dioxide (CO2) and other pollutants.

Governor Gibbons, the scientific advances in just the past few years, paradoxically, carry both bad news and good news. We have already passed the threshold of atmospheric CO2 levels that we can allow to exist over the long-term. Mother Nature, as a friend of mine has noted, is wagging her finger at us, saying “Now you have gone too far!” Consequences of ignoring this admonishment would be dire. The Earth is nearing climate “tipping points” with potentially irreversible effects, including extermination of countless species, ice sheet disintegration and sea-level rise, and mass dislocation of populations.

The good news is that it is still feasible to solve the problem, to reduce CO2 emissions over coming decades and draw down the atmospheric CO2 amount through natural processes and with the help of improved agricultural and forestry practices.

However, solution of the problem has one unavoidable implication for fossil fuels. As the attached “Fossil Fuel Facts” make clear, atmospheric CO2 can be successfully constrained only if coal use is phased out except where the CO2 is captured and sequestered so that it does not enter the atmosphere. Utilities and the fossil fuel industry must reckon with the fact that the laws of Nature and the human instinct for survival will overrule any paper agreements that may exist now or be wrangled in the near-term.

Is it possible that I am wrong, that the governments are so larded with fossil fuel special interests that they will allow us to destroy the planet that we leave for our children and grandchildren? Sure – just as there was a chance that the United States and the Soviet Union could have blown each other off the face of the planet with nuclear weapons – but it is much more likely that we will come to our senses soon, as the scientific story and empirical evidence overwhelm the deceit of short-term special interests.

One of the “Fossil Fuel Facts” is that a substantial fraction of fossil fuel CO2 emissions stays in the air for what is, for all practical purposes “an eternity”, more than 1000 years. That is a well- established scientific fact – there is no debate. A direct implication is that we cannot be aiming for a 50, 80 or 90 percent reduction of emissions. We must transition over the next several decades to practically zero net CO2 emissions. Thus our energy focus must be to develop renewable energies and energy efficiency.

Energy departments, influenced by fossil fuel interests, take it as a God-given fact that we will extract all fossil fuels from the ground and burn them before we move on to other ways of producing usable energy. The public is capable of changing this course dictated by fossil fuel interests, but clear-sighted leadership is needed now if the actions are to be achieved in time.

Perhaps the most important question is this: can we find the leadership to initiate the tipping point among nations? Can we find a country that will place a moratorium on any new coal-fired power plants unless they capture and store the CO2? Unless this happens soon, there is little hope of avoiding the climate tipping points, with all that implies for life on this planet.

– James Hansen

Editor’s Note: This article was sent to Clarksville Online by Catherine Lowther, Ph.D. Ms. Lowther is a professor in the Goddard College Individualized B.A. Program. She holds a Ph.D. in Consciousness Studies from the Union Institute, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Vermont College, and a B.A. in Transpersonal Psychology from Goddard College. She is currently researching the relationships between peak oil, resource wars, 9/11, climate change, and the transition to sustainable living and local economies, all areas that are of interest to many of our readers.

]]> http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/05/03/a-plea-for-planet-earth/feed/ 2 http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/22/happy-earth-day/ http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/2008/04/22/happy-earth-day/#comments Tue, 22 Apr 2008 14:00:22 +0000 Beth Robinson http://www.clarksvilleonline.com/?p=4861

Ask not what your Earth can do for you.

Ask what you can do for your Earth.

I know alot of wonderful people that are working hard to make this a healthier planet. I’m sure we have many, many people in the Clarksville area that are living with the environment in mind. As a Earth Day activity, I invite you to comment to this post and let others know at least one of the actions you take to Reduce-Recycle-Reuse.

Here is a list of some of the things I do:

1. Bought a Prius (even though no rebates or tax incentives remain)
2. Buy Green Power
3. Recycle paper, plastic, glass, cardboard, tin, aluminum
4. Compost
5. Write my local, state and other government representatives to support environmental measures
6. Eat less meat
7. Use my programmable thermostat
8. Buy energy efficient appliances & HVAC system
9. Active in local environmental groups
10. Buy only CFL’s

What is one thing I haven’t done but commit to do? Calculate my CO2 footprint. I’ll post it below once I’ve figured it out.

Thanks for all you do to save energy and prevent pollution.

For in the final analysis, our most basic common link, is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, we all cherish our children’s futures, and we are all mortal. – John F. Kennedy

In 2007, 115 US plants produced 7 billion gallons of Corn Ethanol – the energy equivalent of 132 million barrels of oil using about 15% of corn production. While this sounds large, it is tiny in the context of the US economy. This is equal to only 1.6% of the energy from from oil in 2007 used in the US. But the situation is worse than this because it takes 1 unit of fossil fuel to produce 1.3 units of corn ethanol. The net energy produced was only 0.5% of the energy from from oil – while consuming 15% of the US corn crop!

Vast sums of taxpayer and consumer dollars are funding an ineffective solution to the real problems of global warming and energy independence. While the country does not sufficiently fund what can be real solutions.

The Federal corn ethanol policy is extremely costly to working people in the US and the world’s poor (through higher food prices). The ethanol equivalent of a gallon of gasoline costs far more than a gallon of gasoline. Fueling your car with corn ethanol makes the world grain shortage worse and increases food prices to the world’s poor. 15 gallons of ethanol in your gas tank uses enough corn to feed one person for a year. Higher grain prices, from corn ethanol subsidies, have a big impact on grain feed beef, chicken, milk, and egg prices for hard working Americans.

US politicians love heavily subsidizing corn ethanol because it makes great politics because of the many subsidized winners from this policy – farmers, farm states, companies and workers that make fertilizer, seed, agriculture equipment; banks and venture capital; towns wanting new factories and jobs, construction workers and mis-informed green voters. By supporting Corn Ethanol, politicians can present themselves as Green and pro-energy independence.

There is a major economic boom in US grain farming from the massive government subsidies to corn ethanol from direct payments, credits and mandates for ethanol use – while the rest of the economy is likely in a recession. Oil companies benefit from Corn Ethanol, as it does little to reduce demand for oil and therefore keeps prices up. Big agriculture is more powerful than big oil, as big agriculture is powerful in most states while big oil is concentrated in a few states and many more people work in agriculture and supporting industries than the oil industry.

Another big interest group in the way are politicians who advocated corn ethanol, who now may be better informed that this was a bad policy – but are afraid to change for fear of “flip flopping” charges. Maybe as part the new politics, Democrats can have the courage to say as John Maynard Keynes said, “When the facts change, I change my mind ? what do you do, sir?” Then again there will be others who will do the same as Hillary Clinton did to preserve her reputation by – holding fast to the Iraq war – when it was recognized as bad policy.

It will take political courage to oppose Corn Ethanol’s powerful interests – while the rest of the public are not interested in “policy details.”

About the author

Nextstep, the author is a diarist with the Daily Kos web site.

“Hope” is a unique and powerful film with a message of peace for the future. Combining animation, archival footage and live action, in a multi-layered non-linear story, the film brings the viewer on a fascinating journey through human existence. ‘Hope’ is shaped around the knowledge and ideas of Willy Whitefeather, a man in his sixties of Cherokee ancestry, a storyteller, healer, survivalist and an individual of wisdom and heart.

Click here to view the embedded video.

We are seeing wars, genocide, diseases, climate change such as global warming, and potential earth changes which have been foretold by many seers and indigenous peoples. This is that story in animated visuals and soundtrack that will shake you to your roots. We must shift to this path, without hesitation.

Using traditions and stories from Native American and world cultures, Whitefeather combines dreams, images and reminiscences from our collective memory to send a message of hope for the future. Now is the time to reconnect with Spirit, to recognize the effects of our actions, to evaluate the underlying causes of suffering and to reshape our life and our world into a more harmonious one.

The animated scenes are in styles reminiscent of Pueblo pottery design, Sioux painted hides, Petroglyph drawings and Hopi mural paintings. The sound track is similarly layered with the sounds of a beating heart, breathing, wooden flutes, drums, rattles, a traditional Cherokee lullaby and original music. “Hope” urges us to change course and follow a path of wisdom, responsibility, beauty, simplicity and gentleness, so that one day we too can know Hope.

This film was created by Willy Whitefeather, directed by Catherine Margerin, and produced by Mary Mathaisell & Luna Media.

All of those boxes chock full of your messages, sitting right next to me as I testified, were a fantastic show of support and one that is already having an impact as our Representatives and Senators begin to debate solutions to the climate crisis. In fact, so many people signed our message in the 24 hours before the hearing, we are still working on printing them. But don’t worry, Congress now knows that you have spoken, and I will personally make sure every last message is delivered.

I also wanted to make sure that you had the chance to see the hearing for yourself, so I’ve posted video highlights on algore.com:

http://blog.algore.com/

Watch a highlight from yesterday’s hearing.Watch Al Gore’s entire opening statement.

After witnessing your incredible show of activism and enthusiasm, I wanted to give something back to you. As many of you know, Live Earth will take place on July 7. The 24-hour concert marks the beginning of a multi-year campaign to raise awareness about our climate crisis. It will feature more than 100 acts, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, Foo Fighters and Faith Hill.

Tickets are going to sell out fast, and I wanted to make sure that you have the chance to see the show. That’s why we will set aside a special block of tickets and let AlGore.com members purchase the first ones sold. I will let you know more details before these tickets go on sale.

If you would like to learn more about the Live Earth concerts you can visit:

http://liveearth.org/

In a few short weeks we have grown into a movement of more than 500,000 strong. To ultimately win, we are going to need to grow bigger – but for now we are off to a great start.

Thank you again for what you made possible today,

Al Gore

*This post is based entirely on a mass email which was sent out by Al Gore.

I saw the movie on June 24th. It’s a very powerful film. It challenges the apathy of the US in the face of a global climate crisis. Although there are no plans for it to visit Clarksville, it is playing now in Nashville and I highly recommend it.

With wit, smarts and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore’s persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue – rather, it is the biggest moral challenge facing our global civilization. – http://www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm/

Now thru June 29th: Regal Green Hills 16
June 30th – July 4 : Opry Mills theatres