It looks like we may need to send an energy expert out to check this meter…

It seems to be running a bit too fast.

What’s that you say?

This home was made to be energy efficient a year ago?


But this home still burned “213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.”


How can that be?

Whose house is this?  í  here




All the more reason for people to be reminded to not worship this  í  here

 

No, that’s not a spelling error…

I meant to write “idle.”

This story has nanny state written all over it.





“The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor R.T. Rybak approved changes Friday, to the city’s vehicle idling ordinance that aims to reduce air pollution. The ordinance limits most vehicle idling to three minutes, except in traffic.”









Cripes!

What’s really telling is that Minneapolis had a vehicle idling ordinance in the first place. 

You know…you can put the useful information out in a newsletter… or get it to the public at registration renewal time.

Don’t idle!  Idle bad!

But do you really need an ordinance?

Read the article from ABC News   í  here

“[T]he prices that we’re paying at the pump today are, I think, going to be ‘the good old days,’ because others who watch this very closely forecast that we’re going to be hitting $12 and $15 per gallon,” [Robert] Hirsch said. “And then, after that, when oil – world oil production goes into decline, we’re going to talk about rationing. In other words, not only are we going to be paying high prices and have considerable economic problems, but in addition to that, we’re not going to be able to get the fuel when we want it.”

Hirsch told the Business & Media Institute the $12-$15 a gallon wasn’t his prediction, but that he was citing Charles T. Maxwell, described as the “Dean of Oil Analysts” and the senior energy analyst at Weeden & Co. Still, Hirsch admitted the high price was inevitable in his view.      “I don’t attempt to predict oil prices because it’s been impossible in the past,” Hirsch said in an e-mail. “We’re into a new era now, and over the next roughly five years the trend will be up significantly. However, there may be dips and bumps that no one can forecast; I wouldn’t be at all surprised. To me the multi-year upswing is inevitable.”


Read the article from Business and Media Institute    í  here


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rationing?

What’s going on here?

Boy, I remember those old days of long gas lines .

Something is really out of whack in the world.

Famine?

Disease?

 Disaster?

Energy Crisis?

Global Warming/Cooling

Endangered Polar Bears?

What Century are we living in anyway?

 Aren’t we trying to land on the moon again?

Something is really out of whack in the world.

I thought we had made progress after all of these years....

I guess it can’t be blamed on global warming climate change, though.

I mean, if it was...we would consistently be getting warmer.

But our temperature keeps fluctuating and dipping back into low temperatures.








We even had a frost warning this past week.

Oh, well....



By the way, polar bears are now officially classified as "threatened with extinction."










"The animal, whose habitat has been shrinking with the melting of arctic sea ice, is the first to be designated as threatened with extinction mainly because of global warming."


"Today's decision came after a U.S. District Court in Oakland forced the Bush administration's hand by imposing a May 15 deadline for the decision that was supposed to have been completed by Jan. 9.

[…]

"The court's deadline evolved from a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to comply with a legal deadline for the decision and from another suit challenging the offshore leases. The Interior Department's inspector general then opened an investigation into allegations that the decision had been detained by "inappropriate political influence."

[…]

"The proposal did not include a scientific analysis of the causes of climate change, which Kempthorne said was beyond the scope of scientific review under the Endangered Species Act. He directed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with the public and the scientific community to broaden understanding of what is happening to the species."


Read the full story from the Los Angeles Times   É  here


So, now what?


   I sure hope El Niño pays very close attention…

"Populations Are Growing"


"Environmental activists have presented only one academic study that shows any negative effect of warming temperatures on polar bears. That study examined only one population of polar bears, in Canada's Western Hudson Bay, and linked the early breakup of ice in the bay to a 21 percent decline in the polar bear population.Other, more comprehensive research suggests the plight of that one population does not reflect the polar bear population trend as a whole.

Since the 1970s, while much of the world was warming, polar bear numbers increased dramatically, from roughly 5,000 to 25,000 bears, a higher polar bear population than has existed at any time in the twentieth century. "

ESA Listing Not Needed for Polar Bears       É  here





 

 

Gateway Pundit says:

Over the past 30 years:

Which party blocked the development of new sources of petroleum?-- Democrat
Which party blocked drilling in ANWR?-- Democrat
Which party blocked drilling off the coast of Florida?-- Democrat
Which party blocked drilling off of the east coast?-- Democrat
Which party blocked drilling off of the west coast?-- Democrat
Which party blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast?-- Democrat
Which party blocked building oil refineries?-- Democrat
Which party blocked clean nuclear energy production?-- Democrat
Which party blocked clean coal production?-- Democrat



This Will Be The #1 Issue in the 2008 Elections-- And, It Goes to Republicans      ç here






 
What’s the answer when Democrats keep saying NO?

What’s the answer when Democrats keep saying TAX?

And, now estimated untapped U.S. oil reserves have been lowered 40%.

This means the life expectancy of American oil resources is now lowered to 26 years.


''The change is significant,'' said Gary Hill, chief of the Federal Geological Survey's office of energy and marine biology. The survey produced the report in collaboration with the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service. A main reason for the lower estimate of undiscovered oil resources, Mr. Hill said, is the failure in recent years of drilling prospects that were once considered promising. "

''The amount of drilling that went on simply indicated that areas we thought were hot weren't hot,'' Mr. Hill said in an interview. Some of the most significant disappointments were in the Overthrust Belt of the Rocky Mountains, he said, and in the oceans off Alaska and the Atlantic seaboard. Shift in the Estimates Another reason for the downward revision was the discovery of about 6 billion barrels of oil in the United States since the last estimate, thus shifting those resources out of the undiscovered category."


from the New York Times



U.S. Cuts Estimate of Untapped Oil Reserves        ç here



It’s even necessary to fight for simple energy alternatives like wind farms.  They don't look pretty.  Birds fly into them.  There are 914 species of birds in the Continental United States and Canada.  They fly into windows everyday too. 


photo: FateOne


It's easy to complain about oil...but with everything that has been 'blocked," what's the answer?





 

 

Looks like these Polar Bears just wanted to get away from the crowds.

Polar Bears have survived for eras with warmer temperatures than there are today. 

And there are more Polar Bears than ever before.


Read the report


U.S. Senate Report Debunks Polar Bear Extinction Fears  å here

While chatting with Hispanic voters in a Mexican restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week, Hillary Clinton stretched for an analogy to explain how all Americans are connected and their problems interconnected despite the fact that "we treat them as though one is guacamole and one is chips."

Wow, Hillary....I'm sure THAT went over really well...

...along with your statement "No woman is illegal."
.






That's my sad but true lead-in joke to a real problem....

All you Guacamole lovers out there.....

Keep a stiff upper lip....

The California avacado crop is still in danger!

"The worst year in decades."

First the big freeze last year that sent the avacado prices sky-high.

Then the wildfires and winds.

And, there is a water cut imposed by officials due to the drought.

Avacados are still available from imports through Mexico and Chile.

Read the article from MSNBC

Freeze, Then Fires, May Wipe Out Avacado Farms   ç here




As far as Hillary and her guacamole and chips comment....

If she possibly makes it to the White House....

Maybe the Bush's will leave their own Guacamole recipe behind for Hillary....

But here it is, just in case....



President and Laura Bush's Guacamole Recipe

8 ripe avocados
4 lemons, juiced
7 shallots, finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp salt

Halve and pit avocados and scoop out flesh into a bowl. Mash to desired consistency and mix in remaining ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

 

Photo courtesy of cirrusimage.com

((YAWN))

I stopped over at the Environmental Commission meeting at City Hall at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday.

By the time it was 8:10 p.m. I was really "bugged" and had to sneak out of there (well, I had been to the School Board meeting prior to the EC meeting).

Remember back at the beginning of November, when Kevin Fischer said he had run into Kristen Wilhelm, Chairperson of the EC, and she just "smiled" and said something like "we never do anything," after Kevin asked her what was going on with the EC?

Well, after hearing the "tapes" of the meeting from last month, and experiencing over an hour of the meeting this month, I can see why nothing ever gets done.

Kristen Wilhelm does not know how to run a meeting.  I have nothing against her as an individual.  She seems like a good person.  That's not what this is about.  It's just there is so much whining about City Government and whining about the lack of funds for the EC (which appears to be zero, so go make your copies at City Hall and stop whining about it).

And to hear that something as basic and simple as Policies and Procedures has been in the works since May of 2001, and they are still not approved.  Hello .... it's 2008 in a couple days!

Then there is so much bloviating during the meetings.  Some of it seems way beyond the scope of what our EC is capable of doing.   I almost wonder if the Mayor and Alderman realize this and are sitting there chuckling to themselves as this is going on. 

See, I really think the problem with this group is that they don't want to take the time to meet in special committee meetings.  Maybe they are just too busy to commit to the Environmental Commission they care so much about.  Because what they really should be doing is breaking up into small committees during the month to do the long projects, then coming back to the main meeting to quickly report and vote on them.  Sounds simple, right?

That is what a Policy  and Procedures Committee would have done.  Meet to go over, line by line, of the proposed policies, then present it to  the Commission as a whole, and then finally to the Common Council.  Instead, they had the nerve to sit there and start going over the policies and procedures line by line during a regular meeting!  I was shocked. 

I was the only citizen in the audience.  Could you imagine if the place was full?  Also, the Mayor was there.  I had to leave ... what they were doing was just too much to comprehend.  I was embarrassed for them.  I was once on a By-laws committee.  It's a simple procedure when two people work on it.  It does not take six years!  The Mayor was  rolling his eyes when he asked how long this has been taking.

By the way, they have decided the change the name of the Environmental Commission to the Conservation Commission (CC). It's a much friendlier name, don't you think?  Titles are so important.  I know it changes my impression of how I feel about the Environmental Commission.

 

 

Meet the women who won't have babies -
because they're not eco friendly 


“Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy. But the very thought makes her shudder with horror. Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet.”


Read the full story here from the       Daily Mail    ◄

 

Quotes from another Enviro-nutcase in the article, Sara Irving:

"I realised then that a baby would pollute the planet - and that never having a child was the most environmentally friendly thing I could do."

 What I consider mad are those women who ferry their children short distances in gas-guzzling cars."

_______________________________________________


What is WRONG with these women?  

Aborting your baby to save the planet?  Right .... 

You made a big difference, didn't you, Toni? 

Maybe your baby would have been the next great scientist.  

Fine if you don't want to have any more children in the future. 

It's probably better for the world that YOU are not a parent in the first place. 

I have heard of many reasons to abort a child, but this one really has me "Unglued." 

"When I tell people why I don't want children, they look at me as if I was planning to commit murder. "

You Toni are either fooling yourself, or you are a selfish freak of the environment you want to protect . . . .

A baby is not a disposable item for the environment . . . .

 
Alright ...  so go back up and read the article if you didn't. 

Then, let's get ready for the DEBATE. 

I know there will be one. 

 WHAT DO YOU THINK??????????? 

 

     

Workers spray concrete on the walls of the Svalbard Global Seed
Vault in Longyearbyen, Norway, during the construction phase in August.

In announcing it would create a global seed bank on the Svalbard Islands,
Norway did not say exactly where but the archipelago includes a few
existing settlements like this one at Alesund

Have you ever wondered what would happen to the world's supply of seeds in case
of a global catastrophe? 

Something such as plant epidemics, natural disasters like flooding, the dreaded climate change, or war?

Are you aware of the  Svalbard Global Seed Vault  in Oslo, Norway? 

It is called the "Doomday Vault."

The vault is blasted into the permafrost of the Arctic, 300 miles from the mainland.  The temperature of the vault will be kept at zero degrees Fahrenheit.  It's like a safe-deposit box.  Each country owns what they deposit in the vault and can take it out at their own will 

The vault is due to open February 26, 2008.

"It's very satisfying to see the vault evolve from a bold concept to an impressive facility that has everything we need to protect crop biodiversity," said Norway's Agriculture Minister Terje Riis-Johansen.

Norway first proposed building what it called a "Noah's Ark" for the world's seeds in June 2005, and started construction a year later, blasting a nearly 400-foot (120-meter) tunnel into a frozen mountain and placing the vault for foil-wrapped seeds deep inside. Each sample holds about 500 seeds."


There already are about 14,000 seed banks in the world run by individual countries.  But some of these have already been wiped out, such as in the Philippines, destroyed by a typhoon, South Asia, destroyed by tsunami, or in Iraq (looters) and Afghanistan (by Taliban), destroyed by war.  The Svalbard vault is intended as a final backup for all other seed banks.  

"The vast collection is intended as a hedge against disaster so that food production can be restarted anywhere on the planet should it be threatened by a regional or global catastrophe."

Click on the icon below for information about the complete history of the Doomsday Vault, including frequently asked questions:

Were you aware we even had "seed banks" around the world? 

Do you think this is a cool idea?

Are you "unglued" when you realize the seed banks of some countries have already been destroyed and it took until 2008 to get a "Doomsday Vault?"  I mean, come on ....