This is another one of these things wherein I show you some critters that I have photographed under the waves off the island of Oahu. It is meant to remind you that we share this planet with some amazing creatures, even some that are not covered in oil and dying. It has been a while since I have posted because I am been buried at work this week. I hope you enjoy this little respite from the stuggles of the day.
Sunset
http://www.core77.com/...
1 Hour Design Challenge: Emergency Shelters
Core77 sponsors these one hour design challenges from time to time.
http://www.core77.com/...
Betacup Design Competition
The object was to replace the disposable cup.
http://www.taipeicycle.com.tw/...
international bike design contest
Annual event based in Taiwan.
http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/
Electrolux Design Awards
Sponsored by the appliance firm and focused on the home.
http://nationaldesignawards.org/...
National Design Awards
Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Week: October 9–17, 2010
Disruptive innovation is a term used in business and technology literature to describe innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect, typically by lowering price or designing for a different set of consumers.
Imagine cutting US electrical use by a third, but still receiving all the benefits of electricity, and more. Imagine flexible computer screens you can roll up like a pen, newspapers that automatically refresh and fold up, and brilliant, energy-efficient full-color displays for television, computers, and signage.
If you don't read the rest of this diary, please take away these two requests:
Also, check out the 'Singing for the Planet' concert report by WarrenS, and rec the mothership!
I don't normally ask for much, but today I want a small piece of the meta pie. You know, the good kind, without the falme wars.eKos has received a lot of support from the eco-community, and for that we are thankful, but we'd like to spread the word far and wide. I'm hoping that this shameless bid for the rec-list will do the trick.
Follow beneath the fold for more info, and of course, more pooties!
Last Saturday, June 12, we held a concert in Boston.
"Singing For The Planet" featured the Latin Jazz of Mili Bermejo, Warren Senders (that's WarrenS to you!) performing Hindustani music, and the great Jazz singer Dominique Eade — almost three hours of singing! And the best part of it was that we raised a little over eight hundred dollars for www.350.org.
This was the second of what I hope will be many such concerts. Last year I put on a huge show as part of the International Day of Climate Awareness on October 24. "Playing For The Planet" had six different acts and went on for almost four hours.
Everybody agreed that while it was fun, they thought it went on a little too long. Furthermore, the logistics of arranging six different performing groups was just too daunting. Three? Three I could handle. So I made some calls to some friends in the singing world...
Follow me below the flip for a full concert report with photographs and video!
By now everyone has realized the tool box for fixing BP's oil leak is more than deficient. It's abysmal. Those of us who have been against off shore oil drilling weren't able to get much more out than we are against off shore drilling.
No one understood why we are against off shore drilling other than, "What if something horrible happens?" For those of us who know why, BP's heinous environmental crimes are a nightmare come true.
The facts are harsh. BP has failed and other big oil companies don't have anything better to offer. The U.S. government has few, if any tools to deal with a blown underwater oil well. The U.S. government employs too few engineers and scientists with both the know how and experience to deal with a blown underwater oil well.
This is counter to every cultural belief of every American. It's inconceivable to us that we might have hit a problem bigger than our technology can solve in a week or two.
Don't believe me?
Unfortunately it is only in Obama's birthplace [snark, blue dog kossacks].
Kenya Geothermal Development Co. seeking job applicants
...GDC is seeking to engage highly motivated staff to support the development of steam equivalent to 5000 MW in the next 20 years.
...The ideal candidates should be able to work in camping environments in remote areas
One has to admit that there has been some training along that line with all the Obamavilles that have sprung up.
It's hard to work on days like this.
As you probably already know, Joe Barton apologized on behalf of you and me, i.e. the federal government, to BP for making them set aside $20 billion to compensate the people whose lives they've ruined.
When I heard the name, it rang a bell. Turns out I've written about this piece of shit before, when I was much younger, much more naive, and much more earnest.
As usual, Joe Biden says it best:
I slept through the oil disaster. It gushes still, and has not stopped for two months. But I had to sleep through some of that. And work. I've seen a couple of good movies in that time too, and went away for a few days. I've been out to dinner, the gym, played some tennis, and done laundry and dishes. And while I was thinking of other things, that oil did not stop spewing for a single second.
Even during an event as staggering as BP's monumental screw up, we must put it out of our minds some of the time, and simply live our lives.
This diary is the fifth installment in a short series about air pollution. Links to the previous diaries are listed below:
-Air Pollution 101 - Basics and the Clean Air Act
-Air Pollution 102 - All about Ozone
-Air Pollution 103 - Reactive Organic Compounds
-Air Pollution 104 - Oxides of Nitrogen
Today's diary is all about airborne particulates.
As an environmental historian who has worked on fisheries-related issues for more than two decades, I’m not surprised by the popular discourse surrounding the oil gushing uncontrollably in the Gulf of Mexico. It is only the most recent assault in a long, destructive campaign by humans to bend Nature to its will.
The most frequent questions that have arisen from this crisis could have been written in advance out of the rhetoric of the last crisis: "What does this mean for fishermen and their ‘way of life’", "What does this mean for tourism and the dollars tourists bring to the region?", "What does this mean for the political futures of Governor Bobby Jindal, or President Barack Obama?", "What will this mean for the price of shrimp?"
In short, "What does this mean for me?"
Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the leader of the Federal response to BP's oil spill, says that BP siphoned off 25,000 barrels of oil yeterday from its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico.
This represents an increase of about 10,000 barrels per day over previous levels. The expanded capacity comes from a new vessel, the Q4000, which can augment the 18,000 barrel per day capacity of the vessel currently on site.
According to new estimates released this week, between 35,000 and 60,000 barrels per day are flowing into the Gulf. Depending on what the actual flow rate is, that means 25,000 barrels may represent between 40 and 70 percent of the total flow.
Meanwhile, in other news, a new report indicates that BP knew of cracks in their well as far back as February, two months before the explosion that opened up the leak. So it's not just that the knew they could very well have problems -- it's that they knew they already had problems. That pretty much defines reckless and irresponsible.
A telling comparison on the toxity warnings given to residents of the Utah Oil Spill and the Gulf.
Utah: Stay away, don't touch, it's hazardous material.
The Gulf: well, you know.
What do you think?
Is BP et al downplaying the health risks for the Gulf residents and/or clean up workers?
I noticed even the Coast Guard personnel were not wearing any protective gear/respirators while boating in a sea of oil. Why not?
By Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger
President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders spent this week trying to stand up to the oil industry. In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Obama pushed BP to siphon $20 billion into a escrow fund that will cover liability claims, and Congress grilled BP CEO Tony Hayward and other oil bigwigs as to how they were protecting the country’s coastal waters.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that Michele Bachmann is back in the news.
After all, even as Minnesota families struggle to make ends meet, Congresswoman Bachmann is more interested in publicity and promoting a personal agenda than in getting anything done for the people she's supposed to represent.
Still, even for her, leaping to the defense of BP in the wake of the massive Deepwater Horizon spill is shocking.
That's why we are lauching a first-of-its-kind ad campaign to hold Congresswoman Bachmann accountable.
America and the rest of the world are being brought face to face with the harsh realities of energy and environment. As much as America has tried to, we can't control the rest of the world. We do have power to make choices about our own future and to influence the choices of others. Are we ready to make hard choices? I am inclined to doubt it.
It's inevitable. Inescapable. You write a diary or a comment, noting a worthwhile effort or the need for one, and somebody pops up within minutes, crying "You do it! Why are you sitting around staring at a screen stuffing Cheetos in your face? Get off your duff! Make it happen! You do it!"
Noble sentiments, that certainly apply in a lot of situations. In the face of the oil hell, eh, not so much. Not many of us have the leisure to head down to the gulf, or the proper gear and training if we did. Some of us, in fact, are burned out old farts who can barely get around the block.
But perhaps there is a way for bloggers to use our natural strengths to help out in this crisis.
You probably know that Halliburton, the contractor BP hired to cement the well, is under investigation for its role in this disaster.
You may also know that Dick Cheney has ended his seclusion in a secure, though disclosed, location.
But do you know just how much of this disaster could be attributed, both directly and indirectly, to Dick Cheney? Viewed as a whole, his actions while in office make him look at least as culpable in the Gulf oil disaster as Tony Hayward. Please bear with me - this will take a while to explain...
People want to know what they can do for the Gulf as many find themselves steeped further and further in anger and frustration. It's well founded and I think this all this pent up rage is what finds us struggling to grasp on to who we should blame, what's not being done fast enough, what can we do, what does this mean for our future, ecologically and energy wise.
There are so many answers and people aren't getting enough questions. Dying animals and sick workers is just the least of our worries. The future of our Country and how we are going to power our very existence without further destroying Mother Earth is an important question and we need more answers that go beyond nuclear, coal and gas.
This is a chance to set a new course, just as many horrible catastrophes have changed the course of human history, we can hopefully find a way to make this the dawn of something better for us, for our Children and for the planet.
