The 81st Race for the Rain Forest Thread

Please give your husband a hug for me, teeny. What a rich life she must have lived! Blessings.

Clicked here.

Sue,
I knew you were here, so I posted a general announcement. I was feeding homeless veterans, for the 2nd year in a row, when I received the call. My husband is the youngest and was the apple of her eye. She waited until he came before she sighed her last. It was so, her! Roland had helped us set up everything, before he left for the hospital. I had a fitful night, not much sleep. Our friends from the American Legion, have already asked if we wanted a repast, after the services. We are known, throughout the state of NJ, for our work with veterans and veterans causes, so everyone is reaching out to my husband. I know I'm married to an angel. God had to send someone, to watch over me. Thank you, so much for your thoughts.
Sharon

And everyone is watching over everyone else. The way it should be.

teeny,

I'm so sad to hear about your mother in law.

Please accept Patti and my condolences.

What an extraordinary life Phoebe Louise Boone must have lived. She must have seen so much in those years.

Danon and EhBeth,
Until the end, she remembered more than I forgot in the last 40 years.
She had a remarkable memory! Her sister is even more remarkable! They both got around, on their own, save for driving places and that's when it's good you have a son, close by. Her arrangements are set for Tuesday, buriel, immediately following. She will be laid to rest, next to her husband.
Thanks you for your kind words. She will be missed by all of us.
Sharon

You and your 300 friends have supported 2,831,479.0 square feet!

~~~

1 Aktbird57 .. 2004 64.998 acres

~~~

sneaking up on 65 acres!

time for a new thread?

beginning of the month ... advent calendars ... hanukkah ...

Teeny, so sad to hear your mother in law passed. Sending prayers and blessings to you and your family.

###

note: At the bottom right side of the page there is a listing of features for a2k. Click on "turn on e mail updates" and you'll receive notification from the thread.

Forgot to post a couple of articles. Here is one:

December 1, 2007
Editorial

Endangered Species

In early June, the Audubon Society released a report chronicling the disturbing decline of some of America's most common bird species. This week, it issued a grim sequel: a survey that highlights the status of the species in most serious trouble, those at or near the verge of extinction.

In most cases, these are not familiar birds. Some, like the golden-cheeked warbler, live only in one small region. Others, like the ashy storm-petrel, live offshore and are not likely to be seen by casual observers. According to this report, called WatchList 2007, nearly a quarter of the 700 bird species in America are threatened, usually by direct human economic activity, like development and gas and oil production.

The shock of the decline of common species is easily felt by most of us, if only because the numbers involved are so large and the birds at risk ?- including several kinds of sparrows and the common tern ?- are so familiar. But the value of a species is not determined by its numbers. The loss of any species is a tragedy.

What the Audubon Society, and its partner the American Bird Conservancy, have compiled is an index of potential extinction. It makes it clear that humans are directly responsible for the threats that most of these birds face, but also that Americans have the ability to save many of these species by wise use of the Endangered Species Act.

The simple fact is that birds designated by that act, like the condor or the whooping crane, stand a much better chance of survival, and even population growth, than undesignated birds. What precedes protection, as always, is awareness ?- the recognition that a bird like the lesser prairie-chicken, which few of us are likely to encounter in the wild, also deserves to survive.

New York Times

November 30, 2007

Study Details How U.S. Could Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases

By MATTHEW L. WALD

The United States could shave as much as 28 percent off the amount of greenhouse gases it emits at fairly modest cost and with only small technology innovations, according to a new report.

A large share of the reductions could come from steps that would more than pay for themselves in lower energy bills for industries and individual consumers, the report said, adding that people should take those steps out of good sense regardless of how worried they might be about climate change. But that is unlikely to happen under present circumstances, said the authors, who are energy experts at McKinsey & Company, the consulting firm.

The report said the country was brimming with "negative cost opportunities" ?- potential changes in the lighting, heating and cooling of buildings, for example, that would reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels even as they save money. "These types of savings have been around for 20 years," said Jack Stephenson, a director of the study. But he said they still face tremendous barriers.

Among them is that equipment is often paid for by a landlord or a builder and chosen for its low initial cost. The cost of electricity or other fuels to operate the equipment is borne by a tenant or home buyer. That means the landlord or builder has no incentive to spend more upfront for efficient equipment, even though doing so would save a lot of money in the long run.

Another problem, the report said, is that consumers often pay no attention to energy use in choosing gear. Computers, for instance, can be manufactured to use less power, but with most users oblivious to energy efficiency when they are shopping for a computer, manufacturers perceive no competitive edge in spending the extra money on efficiency.

"What the report calls out is the fact that the potential is so substantial for energy efficiency," said Ken Ostrowski, a leader of the report team. "Not that we will do it, but the potential is just staggering here in the U.S. There is a lot of inertia, and a lot of barriers."

The country can do the job with "tested approaches and high-potential emerging technologies," the study found, but doing the work "will require strong, coordinated, economywide action that begins in the near future."

The report focused on describing the problem, rather than on advocating fixes. But it did mention some possible solutions. Rules for utilities could be rewritten so they make as much money in promoting conservation as in selling electricity, the study said.

The task might also require emissions limits and other government mandates, as well as incentives like tax breaks to promote efficient buildings, cars and appliances, the study said. The McKinsey report said "lifestyle changes" by Americans could play a role in improved efficiency, even though they were not a major factor in the potential gains the report cited.

"A broad public education program around wasteful energy consumption could be mounted," the report said. Modeled on the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign of the 1960s, it could promote reduction in "carbon littering" by increasing people's awareness of the problem.

In contrast to improved efficiency, measures like capturing carbon dioxide from coal power plants and storing it would be relatively costly, and they account for less than 10 percent of the potential to cut emissions, the study said. The potential contributions from new nuclear plants and renewable energy supplies from wind or solar sources are also relatively modest, the report said.

The study, released yesterday in Washington, was conducted by McKinsey & Company for DTE Energy (the parent company of Detroit Edison), Environmental Defense, Honeywell, National Grid, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Pacific Gas & Electric and Shell.

Its release comes a week before a United Nations climate conference is to convene in Bali, and as Congress approaches a vote on proposals to limit emissions of greenhouse gases.


Also New York Times

Early click, and going to Duke Chapel this afternoon for the Messiah.

A couple of worthy articles to start the day off with:

December 2, 2007

San Francisco Fleet Is All Biodiesel

By CAROLYN MARSHALL

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 30 ?- Claiming it now has the largest green fleet in the nation, the city of San Francisco this week completed a yearlong project to convert its entire array of diesel vehicles ?- from ambulances to street sweepers ?- to biodiesel, a clean-burning and renewable fuel that holds promise for helping to reduce greenhouse gases.

Using virgin soy oil bought from producers in the Midwest, officials said that as of Friday, all of the city's 1,500 diesel vehicles were powered with the environmentally friendlier fuel, intended to sharply reduce toxic diesel exhaust linked to a higher risk of asthma and premature death.

"Just like secondhand smoke, diesel is one of the worst things we can breathe," said the city's clean vehicle manager, Vandana Bali of the Department of the Environment.

The announcement came without fanfare from Mayor Gavin Newsom's office late Thursday, even as Congressional lawmakers dickered over the particulars of an energy bill that would give automakers incentives to produce cars that burn biofuels.

Ms. Bali said the city's diesel vehicles now all used a fuel known as B20, a mix of 20 percent soy-based biofuel and 80 percent petroleum diesel fuel, which reduces toxic emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and other pollutants that lead to global warming.

A spokesman for the mayor, Nathan Ballard, said the goal was to cut such emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

In November, Mr. Newsom announced a new project called SFGreasecycle, a program to collect fats and cooking oils from restaurants, at no charge.

"We are collecting grease," Mr. Ballard said. "Waste fats and oils are a major source of backup in our sewage system. But we're taking the grease that would have gone down the drain and turning it into biodiesel."

December 2, 2007
Op-Ed Columnist

The People We Have Been Waiting For

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

It was 60 degrees on Thursday in Washington, well above normal, and as I slipped away for some pre-Christmas golf, I found myself thinking about a wickedly funny story that The Onion, the satirical newspaper, ran the other day: "Fall Canceled after 3 Billion Seasons":

"Fall, the long-running series of shorter days and cooler nights, was canceled earlier this week after nearly 3 billion seasons on Earth, sources reported Tuesday.

"The classic period of the year, which once occupied a coveted slot between summer and winter, will be replaced by new, stifling humidity levels, near-constant sunshine and almost no precipitation for months.

"?'As much as we'd like to see it stay, fall will not be returning for another season,' National Weather Service president John Hayes announced during a muggy press conference Nov. 6. ?'Fall had a great run, but sadly, times have changed.' ... The cancellation was not without its share of warning signs. In recent years, fall had been reduced from three months to a meager two-week stint, and its scheduled start time had been pushed back later and later each year."

You should never extrapolate about global warming from your own weather, but it is becoming hard not to ?- even for professionals. Consider the final report of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (I.P.C.C.), which was just issued and got far too little attention. It concluded that since the I.P.C.C. began its study five years ago, scientists had discovered much stronger climate change trends than previously realized, such as far more extensive melting of Arctic ice, and therefore global efforts to reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions have to begin immediately.

"What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future," said the I.P.C.C. chairman, Rajendra Pachauri.

And sweet-sounding "global warming" doesn't really capture what's likely to happen. I prefer the term "global weirding," coined by Hunter Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, because the rise in average global temperature is going to lead to all sorts of crazy things ?- from hotter heat spells and droughts in some places, to colder cold spells and more violent storms, more intense flooding, forest fires and species loss in other places.

While the Bush team came into office brain dead on the climate issue and will leave office with a perfect record of having done nothing significant to mitigate climate change, I'm heartened that our country is increasingly alive on this challenge.

First, Google said last week that it was going to invest millions in developing its own energy business. Google described its goal as "RE < C" ?- renewable energy that is cheaper than coal ?- adding: "We're busy assembling our own internal research and development group and hiring a team of engineers ... tasked with building one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal." That could power all of San Francisco.

Its primary focus, said Google.org's energy expert, Dan Reicher, will be to advance new solar thermal, geothermal and wind solutions "across the valley of death." That is, so many good ideas work in the lab but never get a chance to scale up because they get swallowed by a lack of financing or difficulties in implementation. Do not underestimate these people.

Last week, I also met with two groups of M.I.T. students who blew me away. One was the M.I.T. Energy Club, which was founded in 2004 by a few grad students discussing energy over beers at a campus bar. Today it has 600-plus members who have put on scores of events focused on building energy expertise among M.I.T. students and faculty, and "fact-based analysis," including a trip to Saudi Arabia.

Then I got together with three engineering undergrads who helped launch the Vehicle Design Summit ?- a global, open-source, collaborative effort, managed by M.I.T. students, that has 25 college teams around the world, including in India and China, working together to build a plug-in electric hybrid within three years. Each team contributes a different set of parts or designs. I thought writing for my college newspaper was cool. These kids are building a hyper-efficient car, which, they hope, "will demonstrate a 95 percent reduction in embodied energy, materials and toxicity from cradle to cradle to grave" and provide "200 m.p.g. energy equivalency or better." The Linux of cars!

They're not waiting for G.M. Their goal, they explain on their Web site ?- vds.mit.edu ?- is "to identify the key characteristics of events like the race to the moon and then transpose this energy, passion, focus and urgency" on catalyzing a global team to build a clean car. I just love their tag line. It's what gives me hope:

"We are the people we have been waiting for."

Both are from today's New York Times/

You and your 300 friends have supported 2,831,689.7 square feet!

~~~

We made it back from last night's concert just as the snow started to come down ... and it's still falling ... is this going to be a real Ontario winter again? that would be amazing!

~~~

1 Aktbird57 .. 2004 65.002 acres

~~~

Link to the beliefnet Advent Calendar

http://www.beliefnet.com/advent/

Nope, the snow is an event, that is all. We are supposed to be warmer and drier than usual. That may be true of you too.

Don't forget to add a round of word work at www.freerice.com after your clicking at www.care2.com

sumac, thanks for the info. I recently read an article about the resurgence of distillation to make drinking alcohol in the US. One farmer got a permit and started his still to make vodka - demand was so high he could not keep up with orders. The part of the article that I thought was most interesting was when he said that the vodka runs really well in his farm equipment and automobile.

"Fall canceled"??? I think they are right - we actually had no real Fall here either. The trees that turned bright red in the past just turned brown - same with all the other trees. No color at all this year - except brown of course.

Morning ehBeth, I saw in the news yesterday you would be getting some snow.

I wonder if the vodka would fuel my furnace instead of the propane.

in the backyard



on the front porch when I opened the door



I can normally sit on the porch and read (with a BIG sweater on) until mid-December

Very nice. I miss snow.

Quietly clicking and the song is so beautiful, from the Advent Calender. Snowed today!

Thank you!