Aid Pakistan With Money or Action

by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse

LaughingPlanet asked Why Doesn't the World Care About Pakistanis? I answered his question the day before as part of my Climate Change News Roundup for tonight because why the world does not simply rush without question to help our brothers and sisters is crucial to our shared future. (However, my CCNR grew to over 5,000 words so will post it as a separate diary tomorrow.) The world has been discussing the reasons that are generally related to fear and fatigue. In the U.S., Bush used racism to spread fear with the now presumption that all Muslims must be terrorists. Even if the financial crisis precludes our ability to donate to Pakistan, we can take actions to dispel the fears and support each other to override the fatigue so that friends or colleagues will donate money. Everyone can help to try to prevent future disasters because government officials and some scientists now openly state that the fires in Russia and the floods in Pakistan are linked to climate change.

continued at Daily Kos....

Prop 23: California's Future Fights Back Against Oil Money

by RLMiller

This fall, California voters will vote on Proposition 23, officially termed a "suspension" of California's global warming law (AB32) "until unemployment reaches 5.5%" and named by its supporters a "jobs initiative."  

The battle should play out exactly as similar battles over federal climate policies: conservatives claim it'll destroy jobs, raise taxes, and increase family energy costs; environmentalists valiantly-yet-unsuccessfully try to set the record straight, only to be ignored by middle class voters worried about pocketbook issues.

But a funny thing is happening.

The narrative is shaping up to be quite different.  The shadowy interests behind Prop 23 are being exposed to the light.  And Prop 23 is being opposed by clean technology investors who see a stark choice: build the future or burn the planet.

Consider it evidence of hope.

continued at Daily Kos....

Sunday Train: Guaranteeing Rural Transport in the face of Peak Oil

by BruceMcF

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

Remember to check in next week around 8pm Eastern

In the firefly-dreaming edition of last week's Burning the Midnight Oil for Progressive Populism diary, RiaD raised the issue:

only that i'm a rural dweller, we must have a vehicle as there is no mass transit here. but we do pay very close attention to our trips to town (10+ miles) & city(40+ miles) and do as much as possible each trip. i would guess we actually use less gas living rurally than most city/urban dwellers.

we've got to start thinking differently as a nation.
become more citizens of the planet than american consumers
imo anyway.

... which set me thinking about the difference between One-Size-Fits-All solutions like Auto-Uber-Alles and A-Fit-For-Each-Size solutions. One size fits all makes is seem as if "that does not do this" is a massive obstacle ... when under A Fit for Each Size, it is a challenge to find the means of accomplishing that task.

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An ENERGY Comparison Between Nuclear Plants Now Under Construction, and World Solar PV Production.

by NNadir

(Cross posted at Charles Barton's Nuclear Green Revolution with Chagall's Golgaltha)

One of the pleasures of the new Department of Energy under Steven Chu and the DOE of past years is clarity.

Until recently, if one wanted to find out from the Department of Energy website what portion of so called "renewable" energy actually came from solar PV, wind, biofuels, blah, blah, blah, one couldn't do it.   With the exception of dangerous and deadly hydropower, the figures of so called "renewables" were all lumped together.  

(One may contrast this with the "Drill, Baby, Drill!" nation of Denmark which lists in excrutiating detail the output of every single one of the wind turbines that that august nation uses to put lipstick on its offshore oil and gas pig.)

Now though, the new transparent energy department breaks out solar from wind from biofuels - with the exception that solar is still lumped with "tidal," not that either actually matter. We may now determine what 50 years of "solar will save us" talk has produced besides complacency and self delusion.

continued at Daily Kos....

Final Update #11: The Week in Editorial Cartoons, Part I - Soup Recipe for Daily Kos Trolls

by JekyllnHyde

John Sherffius, Comics.com (Boulder Daily Camera)

Note: Due to a deluge of editorial cartoons over the past week or so, I'm going to, time permitting, post Part II of this weekly diary in the next few days.  In addition to some of the issues covered in this edition, I'll include more cartoons on the floods in Pakistan, the withdrawal of combat U.S. forces in Iraq, and Rupert Murdoch's $1 million contribution to the GOP.

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An optimistic diary (for once)

by Jerome a Paris

I'm usually known as one of the doomers'n'gloomers round here, with diaries and comments on the economy heavily leaning towards negative views. And to a large extent, I still stand by these positions and fully expect (i) the economy to dive again and (ii) an even worse financial crisis coming our way.

I'm also part of the peak oil / peak resources crowd, and do not consider our current civilisation, especially as hundreds of millions in emerging markets rush to embrace it, to be sustainable. The Chinese and Indians and others cannot all live with the same resource consumption as we currently have in the West, and something will have to give at some point.

And this is a matter of years rather than decades, and most of us here will get to see that problem 'solve' itself. And of course, climate change adds a whole other dimension to that emergency.

But, surprisingly, I also have a number of arguments to be optimistic for the medium term, ie that let me hope that I will not spend my late years in poverty and/or in the middle of societal collapse.

continued at Daily Kos....

Ken Hechler .. a name maybe you've never heard of.

by shpilk

Ken Hechler is running for US Senate in West Virginia.
Of course, you'd be hard pressed to know that here.

http://abcnews.go.com/...

Ken's first act would be to offer legislation ending mountaintop removal of coal [MTR].

Here's his campaign site
http://www.kenhechlerforwestvirginia...

Joe Manchin will try to appear moderate, but he's in the pocket of coal mining interests, even as he mouths approval of a carbon tax, his past actions show him to be a Friend of Coal.

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Animal NUZ #8: Color Comic Strip ONLY(!) on Daily Kos

by ericlewis0

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Dawn Chorus Birdblog: The Virginia Rail And Poetry

by Pam LaPier

A secretive, diminutive bird that seldom vocalizes outside the breeding season, the Virginia Rails are a hard bird to track so its precise status is unknown. One thing is for certain, the oil that has proven so deadly for the other wildlife of the Gulf region will have an impact on these vulnerable creatures.

continued at Daily Kos....

BP Catastrophe Liveblog Mothership: 89

by Gulf Watchers

Please rec the new Mothership #90 here. This one has expired.
The current ROV DIARY: Daily Kos Gulf Watchers ROV #324 - More fishin' - BP's Gulf Catastrophe - peraspera

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!

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Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Woodward Dream Cruise 2010 edition)

by Neon Vincent

Welcome to Science Saturday, where the Overnight News Digest crew informs and entertains you with this week's news about science, space, and the environment.

This week's featured story comes from Michigan Radio.

It's Dream Cruise weekend on Woodward Avenue
Steve Carmody

Tony Michaels is the Dream Cruise executive director. He says in a time when more hybrid and electric cars are hitting the streets, he expects the popularity of the Dream Cruise will grow.

"It probably put more importance on the nostalgia for the people who own these older cars and keep them in great shape and keep them pretty much forever," says Michaels.

People are already feeling nostalgia for the gas-guzzling, fossil-fuel-burning past.  I consider that to be a good thing.  It means that era is about over.

More after the jump.

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