Environment

Thanks, but no thanks, AIA.

The AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION ads on KOS are hard to miss. Either they're at the top of the page or somewhere on the left-hand side. Which is not to say I object to them. Really, the only thing that's objectionable is that they're really hard to capture. FLASH is not susceptible to copy and paste. So, I ended up refreshing the page about a dozen times to get the exact verbiage. The reason I bothered is because I really don't think the ads here ought to go without the critique we apply to other media offerings.


So, below the fold we'll consider this addition to our universe in detail. I will admit up front that I am not an admirer of anything aerial.

What Does $82 an Acre Buy in Utah?

22,000 acres of prime conservation land that the oil/gas industry wants to exploit.


SOURCE: Salt Lake Tribune

Impostor disrupts lands bid

By Patty Henetz

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 12/20/2008 07:11:02 AM MST

He didn't pour sugar into a bulldozer's gas tank. He didn't spike a tree or set a billboard on fire. But wielding only a bidder's paddle, a University of Utah student just as surely monkey-wrenched a federal oil- and gas-lease sale Friday, ensuring that thousands of acres near two southern Utah national parks won't be opened to drilling anytime soon.

Tim DeChristopher, 27, faces possible federal charges after winning bids totaling about $1.8 million on more than 10 lease parcels that he admits he has neither the intention nor the money to buy -- and he's not sorry.

Air Force--Assassins and Sundries

Every now and then it seems advisable to check in on our United States Air Force, currently being directed by Michael B. Donley in his second tour as Secretary, having been approved by the Senate on October 2, 2008 after the prior Secretary was canned by Robert Gates.

No doubt, Secretary Donley is not responsible for the continuing turmoil nor the persistent aspirations to grandeur.

Air Force Seeks More Air Space Over Eastern Nevada

Posted: Dec 22, 2008 01:07 PM

Environmental groups are opposing an Air Force proposal to extend a supersonic operations area by 1.6 million acres in eastern Nevada....

Opponents say operations would jump from about 400 flights per year to as many as 9,500....

Friedman: While Detroit Slept

SOURCE: NYT

December 10, 2008
OP-ED COLUMNIST

While Detroit Slept
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

As I think about our bailing out Detroit, I can’t help but reflect on what, in my view, is the most important rule of business in today’s integrated and digitized global market, where knowledge and innovation tools are so widely distributed. It’s this: Whatever can be done, will be done. The only question is will it be done by you or to you. Just don’t think it won’t be done. If you have an idea in Detroit or Tennessee, promise me that you’ll pursue it, because someone in Denmark or Tel Aviv will do so a second later.

Why do I bring this up? Because someone in the mobility business in Denmark and Tel Aviv is already developing a real-world alternative to Detroit’s business model. I don’t know if this alternative to gasoline-powered cars will work, but I do know that it can be done — and Detroit isn’t doing it. And therefore it will be done, and eventually, I bet, it will be done profitably.

Jim Rubens of the Union of Concerned Scientists Leads Discussion on Merrimack Station Coal Pla


Sun, 12/07/2008 - 1:00pm

THE FELLS CLUBHOUSE, 1 FELLS DR. Amherst
Please join us Sunday, Dec. 7th in Amherst for an
important opportunity!

Women Making A Difference is hosting Jim Rubens of
the Union of Concerned Scientists who will be
educating us on the current status of the Merrimack
Station Coal Plant in Bow, NH. Mr. Rubens is former
State Senator from Hanover and presently is the Energy
Policy Consultant for the Union of Concerned
Scientists. He coordinates the campaign in NH to help
pass a strong national climate bill.

Our hope is to fully educate people as to the very
important opportunity to reassess how our ratepayer
money is being spent in relation to this coal plant
and how the public can best be served.
I will include a few of the particulars below.

This will be a HUGE issue in NH..... and we could have
the opportunity to set the bar for the rest of the
nation! Mr. Rubens is traveling a fair distance
in order to speak with us, so let's make sure we have
a good group to take part.

Please join us for this very important discussion -

Environmentalists draft bold roadmap for Obama

SOURCE: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — A united and diverse coalition of environmental advocacy groups has sent President-elect Barack Obama its roadmap for change _ and it represents a U-turn from the policies of President George W. Bush.

The 391-page report titled "Transition to Green" lays out what the administration can do in its first 100 days and beyond at more than a dozen different agencies to achieve the dual goals of cleaning up the environment and revitalizing the economy.

"It gives a whole vision on how to move forward to repower, rebuild, refuel America," said Jim Lyon, senior vice president for conservation for the National Wildlife Federation, one of 29 groups that signed onto the laundry list of policy recommendations.

Many of the suggestions in the report released Tuesday echo what Obama has said on the campaign trail and signaled during the transition: capping the gases blamed for global warming; basing environmental decisions on sound science; and taking a more cautious approach to energy production on federal lands.

Sierra Club victory party


Sun, 12/14/2008 - 4:30pm

Concord IBEW
Dear Sierra Club Fan

We did it! Thank you for your work to help elect environmental candidates up and down the NH ballot! We’ve helped to elect Barack Obama President, Jeanne Shaheen to the US Senate, Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter to Congress and over 90 environmentally friendly state legislators. These elected officials will lead us toward a clean energy economy that will create good jobs and protect the environment. Over 1,000 NH Sierra Club members and supporters volunteered their time knocking on doors, making phone calls, doing data entry, holding signs, and even making food to keep the campaign workers fed. We're so proud of all your hard work.

Its time to celebrate! Join us on Sunday December 14th at 4:30pm at the Concord IBEW Hall for a Victory Party. We'll have free food and drink, share Election stories, and get the chance to check out all the cool clean energy technology located at the IBEW's state of the art training facility. Sign up today!

Check out Sierra Club Volunteer Stories from the Election Below:

Tyranny of Oil--Lecture


Fri, 11/21/2008 - 7:00pm

River Run Bookstore, 20 Congress St. Portsmouth, NH
In Tyranny Juhasz provides the hardest-hitting exposé of the oil industry in decades, answering today's pressing energy questions: Why are prices rising so quickly? Where will prices go and who’s really controlling them? How much oil is left? How far will Big Oil go to get it? And at what cost to the economy, environment, human rights, worker safety, public health, democracy, and America’s place in the world?
Tyranny blends history, original investigative research and reporting, candid interviews with key insiders, and a unique focus on activism with a host of real-world policy solutions
Antonia Juhasz is a policy-analyst, author and activist living in San Francisco. She is a fellow with Oil Change International and the Institute for Policy Studies and a senior analyst for Foreign Policy In Focus. Juhasz is a frequent media commentator and an award winning writer.

info@seacoastpeaceresponse.org

Gore: The Climate for Change

SOURCE: truthout.org

The Climate for Change - Sunday 09 November 2008

by: Al Gore, The New York Times

The inspiring and transformative choice by the American people to elect Barack Obama as our 44th president lays the foundation for another fateful choice that he - and we - must make this January to begin an emergency rescue of human civilization from the imminent and rapidly growing threat posed by the climate crisis.

The electrifying redemption of America's revolutionary declaration that all human beings are born equal sets the stage for the renewal of United States leadership in a world that desperately needs to protect its primary endowment: the integrity and livability of the planet.

The world authority on the climate crisis, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, after 20 years of detailed study and four unanimous reports, now says that the evidence is "unequivocal." To those who are still tempted to dismiss the increasingly urgent alarms from scientists around the world, ignore the melting of the north polar ice cap and all of the other apocalyptic warnings from the planet itself, and who roll their eyes at the very mention of this existential threat to the future of the human species, please wake up. Our children and grandchildren need you to hear and recognize the truth of our situation, before it is too late.

Congratute the elected environmental champs


We did it!

As you know there are tremendous victories to report up and down the ballot.

Time to get right to work to ensure that President-elect Barack Obama and the incoming members of the new Congress tackle the pressing environmental issues facing our state and the nation.

But first, here's an opportunity to congratulate the candidates who won and applaud their commitment to the environment.

Environment New Hampshire, as part of Environment America, endorsed 29 candidates for Congress and Sen. Barack Obama for president. We're excited to announce that, so far, 25 environmental champions were victorious on Election Day -- including Jeanne Shaheen for U.S. Senate and Reps. Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter for Congress -- giving us an enormous head start on our agenda for 2009. (The other four races are still too close to call.)

Turn America green by volunteering your time to elect Sen. Barack Obama to be the next president.

Here, and in 9 other battleground states nearly 1,600 have signed up to volunteer in the critical 96 hours before the election.

We're putting out names down for the last 96 hours because we worry this race could be much closer than the polls predict.

Will all of the hard work and long hours be enough?

With your help, it will be.

Click here to Volunteer in the final 96 hours

Here are a couple of reasons why we shouldn't take anything for granted.

* Record turnouts are expected on Election Day, but it's unclear if polling places are ready for the deluge of new voters. With long waits and new voting technology in several states, polls can't predict how voters will react.
* Polls -- even exit polls -- got it wrong in 2004. Not much has changed: On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, the polls showed Barack Obama up by 8.3 points in the average of all state polls. The media had started to write off Hillary Clinton and declare Obama the winner. By the end of the day, Hillary Clinton was declared the winner with a margin of victory of 2.6 points. The campaign that was supposed to be "over" went on for another five months.

Democratic Policies Promote High CO2 emissions

It is the Democratic Party that is responsible for savaging the World’s climate with high CO2 emissions, not Republicans. Yes, you heard that correctly.
First of all, through its longstanding and continuing opposition to nuclear power, the Democratic Party has forced and will continue to force this country to rely on coal and oil for much of its energy needs for the foreseeable future. Nuclear power is safe and emits next to nothing in terms of greenhouse emissions, but your Democratic Party will have none of it. And anyone who thinks Barack Obama and the current cast in your Democratic Congress will build nuclear power plants is dreaming.
Secondly, the Democratic Party is also responsible for high CO2 emissions because its anti business policies have driven more businesses overseas to China and India(where the businesses can pollute the environment as they wish). Your Democratic Party seems to have forgotten that, as far as the greenhouse effect is concerned, the world’s environment is not helped simply by moving polluters from one spot to the next.

1Sky: Welcoming the new Congress and President


Tue, 11/18/2008 - 7:00pm

http://www.1sky.org/
Nov. 18: Welcoming the new Congress and President

Given the challenges facing our country, November 4, 2008 is one of the most important elections in U.S. history. But regardless of who’s elected on Nov. 4, it will require ongoing action to hold our leaders accountable and push them to enact bold climate solutions. With a key round of international climate talks coming up in Poland in December, it is critical now to send our elected officials a message to take bold leadership on climate.

On November 18, two weeks after the election, we will “welcome” the 111th Congress and the new President to office. Through hundreds of distributed actions across the country, we will call upon them to make climate a top domestic priority in 2009. As an immediate first step, the actions will also urge the President-elect to attend the Poland climate talks and re-engage the international community by calling for strong global action.

Together, we will ensure that elected officials hear about climate between Election Day and Inauguration Day and counter-act the influence of the fossil fuel lobby. We will demonstrate the power of the emerging bloc of climate and environmental voters, building a base for action through 2009 and beyond.

Take action for green jobs this Saturday

NOTE: The new location for the day of action is the Fellowship Hall of the Concord Unitarian Universalist Church, at 274 Pleasant St. in Concord, at 11 am on Saturday. As before, we're going to have speakers from groups including the Sierra Club and the New Hampshire Council of Churches, tables and information from some of our partner groups, and an art project for kids to participate in!

Hey folks,
This Friday, the presidential candidates will come together in Mississippi for their first debate, to lay out their platforms in front of a national audience of millions. But while each candidate will claim to have a vision that can protect our country's safety and prosperity, neither of them is going to articulate a strong enough platform on stopping global warming.

The candidates are far behind the American people on this issue. You and I know that global warming is a threat to our health, our security, and our future, and that it's time to implement solutions that will address this crisis while creating good new jobs and pathways out of poverty. But if we're going to make the candidates face up to this reality, we're going to have to make some headlines of our own so that our concerns get heard.

Peace Day Exeter


Sun, 09/21/2008 - 12:00pm

Swasey Parkway Exeter, New Hampshire 03833
The Peace Day Exeter festival will be held on Sunday, September 21 in the lovely downtown Swasey Parkway between the hours of 1 and 5 PM. Activities for the festival include workshops and games for children, music and poetry, guest speakers, panel discussions on peace and sustainability issues, and other exciting events under two tents and the Swasey Parkway gazebo. Some of the participants to date include key note speaker, peace and campaign finance reform advocate Doris “Granny D” Haddock, The Tents of Hope Project, Camps for Diversity with Marilyn Kellogg, the Taoist Tai Chi Society, yoga and meditation with Julie Rost, environmental activist Beth Tener, Mark McPeak from UUSC Just Democracy, music supplied by Chris Avery and The Sassafras String Band, Reni Taylor, Drew Sullivan, Ruth George and other musical guests and poets. The festival is planned to coincide with the UN International Day of Peace. The Blue Moon Market and Café will supply a wonderful array of food and drink. Phillips Exeter Academy students will work with children in supportive and educational roles. Films and meditative exercises for adults are also scheduled. This is a family festival, and those attending are encouraged to bring a blanket or folding chairs and enjoy the day’s activities. The First Unitarian Universalist Society of Exeter is the rain location for this event. For more information, please visit our webpage: www.peacedayexeter.org. If you’re interested in volunteering for Peace Day Exeter, please contact either Cindy at clategan@comcast.net or Bob at bmoore628@comcast.net, phone: 603-642-4648.

Political comedian/musician ROY ZIMMERMAN in NH!


Tue, 07/29/2008 - 6:00pm

Northwood, NH

The Northwood Theater Workshop announces the next installment of its ongoing concert series.

Tuesday, July 29, at 7pm, acclaimed liberal singer/songwriter/comedian Roy Zimmerman will be appearing at the theater for the New Hampshire stop of his "Thanks For The Support" 50 state summer tour. Zimmerman, from San Francisco, writes and performs comedic songs about "ignorance, war, and greed".

Examples of his work can be found on his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/royzimmerman

Zimmerman has shared the stage with the likes of George Carlin, Bill Maher, Kate Clinton, Dennis Miller, Sandra Tsing Loh, kd lang, Andy Borowitz and Paul Krassner, and played a series of shows swapping songs with The Pixies' Frank Black. In the 90's he founded, performed with, and wrote all the material for the folk quartet "The Foremen" who were signed with the major record label Warner Bros/Reprise.

"Roy's lyrics move beyond poetry and achieve perfection." -Joni Mitchell

The Global Poverty Act

I'm writing on behalf of the Borgen Project- a seattle based non profit organization working to bring political attention to severe poverty. You can learn more about our organization through theborgenproject.org.

As you will see we have created the Global Poverty Act which has passed in the House and now we're trying to pass in the Senate. The way you can help is severly important and takes only thirty seconds to help pass this act.

We need roughly a dozen people (however the more the merrier) in New Hampshire to call Senator Sununu's office at (603) 647- 7500 and simply tell the staffer on the phone: “I’m a Borgen Project supporter and I would like the Senator to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act.” People can also email his office here:

sununu.senate.gov.

If you and your members can make the call or shoot an email it would greatly help the cause. You can see here (sample call log on right) how political offices tally each call and why it’s so important. Thank you so much for your consideration and let me know if I can answer any questions.
Thank you,

Candice Hays
The Borgen Project
theborgenproject.org

Sierra Club alert: Sununu and Gregg vote to Drill in Arctic Refuge!

Sununu and Gregg vote to Drill in Arctic Refuge!
Caribou in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment by a margin of 42 to 56 (60 votes were needed for approval) that would have opened pristine lands and coastal waters, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to new oil drilling. It would have also promoted the use of expensive, dirty, and dangerous "unconventional" fuels produced from liquid coal and oil shale. Sierra Club applauds Senate for rejecting failed energy policies.

Unfortunately John Sununu and Judd Gregg were among those who voted for new oil drilling. They along with President Bush are calling for more of the same disastrous energy policies that have saddled us with our present energy and economic crises.