Category: environment

Al Gore at TED

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Just watched this video of Al Gore at TED or Technology, Entertainment and Design.

I must say that Gore is much more at ease being a professor than he was being Vice President of the United States. I have a strong desire to see him run again but it appears that he is far too committed to the climate crisis to stop now. It’s a shame really, had we seen this aspect of Gore way back in 2000 maybe the chimp wouldn’t have gotten elected at all. Oh who am I kidding, the god damned Republicans would have pulled any trick to make sure Bush got in.

You can even run your own carbon footprint on Gore’s site that I listed above. The only issue I have with the carbon calculator is that it bases everything on cost and not usage. Since energy costs have been rising at a regular rate, the use of dollar amounts will skew your carbon footprint.

And check out this interesting little animation about Earth.

Things that make me proud to be a Rhode Islander

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I think it is because we take the environment seriously. Granted, politics is screwing rotten as usual and our moral has hit rock bottom (Name the song and group please. If you don’t know it was “Stand or Fall” by the Fixx).

But back to the environment. We have one of the bigger open space initiatives in the country with thousands of acres protected from development. And we even have Environmental Police. I kid you not, they have full jurisdiction when it comes to wooded areas, waterways, etc.

I remember the time I was with my buddy and he tried to put his boat with the 135HP motor in the water where the limit was 15HP. The DEM Police showed up and to this day my friend has a record.

The fact that we have birds of prey nesting in Providence is amazing. For many years the rivers that make up the Providence River (Woonasquatucket and Moshasuck) were disgusting. There are still spots that need cleanup but it is nowhere near as bad as it once was. For one, the river was decked over for many years. It’s only in the last 15 years or so that it hasn’t been covered over.

Another thing is our respect for personal liberties. RI is one of the only states in which roadblocks for DUI are illegal. The .08 limit is ridiculous. It’s all because of FUD spread by MADD. We also have protections for gay people, but no civil marriage yet thanks to the Catholic Church.

Now if we could just clean up campaign finance it’d be utopia.

Bush admin wants to sell national forests.

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First I must tell you that I’m a little greener than most people where I can make changes to do so. By that I mean, if there’s fiscal incentive for me, I’ll do it. Thus far I don’t own a vehicle although its looking like thats going to have to change sooner than later.

Of course the enviro-nut (aka cheapskate) in me wants to take said vehicle, rip out the engine and plunk in some batteries, power regulators and electric motors. After all, most of my commutes are everything is up for bid. And of course they’re using the ruse that this is for the schools, particularly after that odious bit of legislation called the No Child Left Behind Act. If anything the act leaves more kids behind than ever before.

It’s too bad that it took the voters of this country this long to put a Democratic majority in the congress, because if we’d done this say in 2002 or so they’d have impeached the sons of bitches by now. While I’m on the subject, could Hillary Clinton please drop out of the race now? She’s damaged goods and would hurt the party more than help it.