Beautiful Birds of Botswana - A Photo Diary

by Haole in Hawaii

Aloha! I am back in the islands after my second once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Okavango and Linyanti wilderness of northwest Botswana. I have to say that re-entry into my work life and also into the blazing insanity that is American politics after two weeks of wildlife photography is jarring to say the least. This diary as all my diaries here is meant primarily as a respite from the craziness and as a reminder that we share this fragile planet with some incredible creatures.  

For my first Botswana diary I am sticking primarily to some of the beautiful birds of the Okavango Delta.

Dawn

continued at Daily Kos...

Next Steps 4 Climate Movement:Al Gore on Repower America Town Hall call (liveblogged)

by raines

The National Wildlife Federation chair Larry Shweigher just warmed us up.

The topic: "Next Steps for the Climate Movement"

starts with thanks to Maggie Fox, Larry Schweigher
and deep thanks to everyone on this call

"I have a diffiicult task tonightRepower
I have to call you to action
I have to begin by telling you what you know
in all candor
the United States governement
in its entirety
largely because of the opposition in the US Senate
... has failed us

(continued across the jump)

(all words are America Chair Al Gore's verbatim utterings unless otherwise noted - I try to indicate gaps by hitting return or typing an ellipsis but don't always succeed.)

(wrapping up call at 6:16 PM... Maggie says "tell your friends and family about the call")
http://www.RepowerAmerica.org/

continued at Daily Kos...

Burning Coal + Hot Days = Unhealthy Air Warnings

by Bruce Nilles

Yesterday and today are code orange unhealthy air alert days in the Washington, DC, region where I live. The 95+ degree temperatures and excessive ground-level ozone create extremely unhealthy air – especially for kids, senior citizens, and people with pre-existing breathing conditions.

These aren't the first days this summer where we've had these warnings, and I know that the Washington, DC, region is not alone in its unhealthy air warnings. Temperatures are soaring across the U.S. - and while one major source of air pollution is vehicles, the other major cause is burning coal for energy.

continued at Daily Kos...

Green Light! Flywheel Energy Storage

by aaraujo

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has finalized a $43-million loan guarantee for Beacon Power Corporation’s 20 megawatt innovative flywheel energy storage plant in Stephentown, NY.

Beacon’s Gen 4 flywheel system is specifically designed to perform frequency regulation on utility grids by absorbing and discharging energy to balance power generation and consumption on the electric grid. The technology operates by using flywheels to quickly store and release from the grid in order to follow rapid changes in grid demand.

Flywheel-based regulation is fast and efficient, ramping up or down 10 times faster than ramp rates for conventional fossil fuel generators that typically perform this service.

Beacon estimates that a 20 megawatt flywheel-based frequency regulation plant will reduce carbon dioxide emissions up to 82% over its 20-year life compared to a coal, gas or pumped hydro plant. The flywheel plant also does not emit air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide or sulfur dioxide.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/...

continued at Daily Kos...

Impact of Climate Change Is Obvious in Antarctica

by RogerShuler

Cross Posted at Legal Schnauzer

Anyone who doubts that climate change is real, and already is having a profound impact on the world's environment, should spend some time talking with James McClintock.

McClintock, a professor of polar and marine biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is an international expert on Antarctica. The National Academy of Sciences has invited him to be part of a panel of 25 scientists who will participate in a workshop later this month on the impact of rapid climate change on polar marine ecosystems.

McClintock, who is writing a book called Meltdown: Climate Change on the Antarctic Peninsula, says the impact in one of the world's most remote locations is dramatic.

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What’s Green, White and Blue? American Jobs

by Leo W Gerard

Two Chinese companies have agreed to manufacture in America, instead of in China, a significant portion of the wind turbines needed for a Texas wind farm. The deal is a result of white collar Chinese executives negotiating with blue collar union officers to create green collar jobs in the U.S. The agreement defies stereotypes about unions as constantly combative, excessively expensive and environmentally challenged. The United Steelworkers union, which struck the deal, has a track record of engaging with enlightened CEOs for mutual benefit. It has a long green history. And it has worked to return off-shored jobs to the U.S.

continued at Daily Kos...

Village Green: 'Peace Gardens' Bring Needy Communities Together

by Kaid at NRDC

This is a great story: grassroots-driven gardening in western North Carolina is bringing diverse, underserved communities together around the cause of local sustainability, enlivening neighborhoods in the process.

continued at Daily Kos...

BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 77

by Gulf Watchers

Please rec the new Mothership #78 here. This one has expired.
The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV # 288 Storm Delay - BP's Gulf Disaster - Pam LaPier

Look for the Gulf Blogathon starting tomorrow afternoon.

Rules of the Road

• We take volunteers for subsequent diaries in the sub diaries or ROV's as we have playfully coined them.
• Please rec this mothership diary, not the ROVs.
• Please be kind to fellow kossacks who may have limited bandwidth and refrain from posting images or videos.

PLEASE visit Pam LaPier's diary to find out how you can help the Gulf now and in the future. We don't have to be idle! And thanks to Crashing Vor and Pam LaPier for working on this!

continued at Daily Kos...

The Famine Of 2011

by Stranded Wind

 Thanksgiving of 2008 I published The Famine Of 2009. I was right about starvation, only partially right about the causes and conditions, and two years premature.

    I called my wheat farmer friend Bryan Lutter today to double check my thinking, and I'm really, really worried about what I see coming at us in 2011.

continued at Daily Kos...

Ice, Fire, Deluge, Famine, Heat and a Definitive Trend: Act Today

by LaFeminista

Ice:

"Nobody can claim this was caused by global warming. On the other hand nobody can claim that it wasn't," Muenchow said

Fire:

"The mortality rate has doubled," said Andrei Seltsovsky, head of the city's health department. There were usually 360 to 380 deaths a day in the city, but "now that number is about 700".

Deluge:

The full scale of the tragedy engulfing Pakistan  is now emerging, with the United Nations saying today that the floods, which have entered their third week, have now affected 13.8 million people.

Famine:

The Diff animal herders who, by most estimates, have lost more than half of their livestock, say this year’s drought is not only worse than the one in 2005, but the worst in living memory.

continued at Daily Kos...