Monday, December 1, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Senator Daniel Akaka
Senator Daniel Akaka has served the state of Hawaii since the 1970s, he is the first senator of Hawaiian ancestry, and the only member of the senate that is Chinese-American. In my lifetime I've seen Daniel Akaka elected and re-elected many times (despite the fact that he's obviously blowing it) simply out of respect for his position (I'm serious). Daniel Akaka has constantly attempted to pass the Akaka Bill that tries to get Native Hawaiians the same rights as Native American on top of the rights they receive for being of Hawaiian decent. He's been elected amongst America's Five Worst Senators, the article calling him "master of the minor resolution and the bill that dies in committee". He's been a staunch supporter of the democratic party, and has done little more than trying to pass the Akaka Bill.
With a little bit of history on Hawaii's everlasting senator, we can look at what his stance on the environment is. He's been a strong advocate for clean oceans (like most people from the Islands) and has made the point that the protection of the environment isn't a new thing to the islands and its inhabitants, the debate has been going on for nearly 30 years when increased carbon dioxide levels were first detected by Mauna Loa observatory. Senator Akaka has been a constant supporter of technological advancements for the control of green house gases, and has been an ardent supporter of bills that will enable to advancement of alternative energy and the limiting of greenhouse gases.
Senator Akaka has seen most activism towards the islands attempting to combat (with the assistance of Governor Lingle) invasive species, cleaning of debris in the oceans and shores, and helping to preserve the coral reefs. In 2006 he participated in the proclamation ceremony of the NWHI marine sanctuary with President George W. Bush. Akaka has been a strong advocate for the expansion and protection of forests and our national parks, the Senator has had a strong voting record to help our national parks, and has been named a friend of the national parks by the National Park Service.
Daniel Akaka Wiki
Enviro-Issues
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Light Someone's Life, Give Them A Free Hug
Free Hugs Campaign
I know that this post isn't about global warming, but it is about something very important:
Improving the world.
Free Hugs is a humanitarian movement that is based on something we all need some times, a hug. It is a movement built around hugging a stranger, to spread good will, and if a single person goes away with a smile it is worth it. This is a worth while campaign because it spreads good will, it spreads togetherness, and it breaks barriers. Sometimes people underestimate the power of a hug.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Help! The Ice is Falling!
According to major news sources, Al Gore, and National Geographic the world is warming to a point that is very beyond the norm, and this is causing enormous amounts of ice to break off from the main parts of the antarctic shelf, which in turn causes the ice on the mainland to melt as well. This is interesting considering the fact that rising water temperatures (largely caused by volcanic activity) are causing ice to melt from the bottom up, not rising atmospheric temperatures, what's also interesting to note is that, while it is reported to the average citizen that very large chunks are coming off the Antarctic peninsula, but what they don't report is the fact that the ice chunks that fall off very rarely only account for roughly 2% of all total ice on the continent, as well that it won't cause anything significant because the ice has already displaced all the water it is going to, melted or not. They also fail to note that in recent years we've had some of the coldest winters ever (people are still reeling from the heating bills!), and the falling snow easily replaces what is lost at the sea on the main land mass. Ice has been cooling and accumulating since the early 1970s. According to Michael S. Coffman, Ph.D, only 2.67% of the Wilkin's ice shelf and only .01% of the entire Antarctic continent, despite the media coverage of it using such powerful words as "collapse", and "explosion". Joseph D'Aleo former director of meteorology at the Weather Channel, and executive director of Icecap.us compared it to "an icicle falling from a snow and ice covered roof".
What else is interesting to note is that for every scientist that favored the IPCC conclusions in any way 792 scientists signed the petition saying that there is not any conclusive evidence for catastrophic man-made global warming. And for every Ph.D who believed it there were 1,800 who signed the petition.
Thermal count is rising
In perpetual writhing
The primordial ooze
And the sanity they lose
Awakened in the morning
To more air pollution warnings
Still we sleepwalk off to work
While our nervous systems jerk
Pretending not to notice
How history had forebode us
With the green house in effect
Our environment was wrecked
Now I can only laugh
As I read our epitaph
We end our lives as moles
In the dark of dawn patrol
What else is interesting to note is that for every scientist that favored the IPCC conclusions in any way 792 scientists signed the petition saying that there is not any conclusive evidence for catastrophic man-made global warming. And for every Ph.D who believed it there were 1,800 who signed the petition.
Thermal count is rising
In perpetual writhing
The primordial ooze
And the sanity they lose
Awakened in the morning
To more air pollution warnings
Still we sleepwalk off to work
While our nervous systems jerk
Pretending not to notice
How history had forebode us
With the green house in effect
Our environment was wrecked
Now I can only laugh
As I read our epitaph
We end our lives as moles
In the dark of dawn patrol
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Global Warming 101
Video found here, National Geographic.
What, precisely, is global warming? Global warming is the collection and retention of heat. Normally radiation comes from the sun, a small portion of which is absorbed by our atmosphere and land/water masses, but for the most part it is deflected back into space, keeping our Earth at a temperature that allows the environment to remain livable by plants and animals, more importantly it keeps our climate system in check. But what is causing the Earth to retain so much heat? They're called Greenhouse Gases:
On Earth, the major greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36–70 percent of the greenhouse effect (not including clouds); carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9–26 percent; methane (CH4), which causes 4–9 percent; and ozone, which causes 3–7 percent.[19][20] The issue is how the strength of the greenhouse effect changes when human activity increases the atmospheric concentrations of some greenhouse gases.
What the Greenhouse Gases do is let the heat radiation in, but not out, thus warming the Earth. There are several major problems that can stem from this warming, the first and most obvious is that it melts the major arctic regions across the Earth. As Al Gore demonstrated in his film An Inconvenient Truth, when the ice melts in the ice shelves, the water puddles don't refreeze, instead they continue to melt, all the way to the water beneath. What this does is is make a series of holes in the ice, which makes it weak, and causes large chunks of ice to break off from the main mass into the sea. What's the importance of the ice caps? Well the ice arctic regions in our world provide a placenta to multiple species of animals, as well as keeping the environment in check. At first it was estimated that the ice caps would last until 2100, despite global warming, but scientists are now estimating that they will be completely gone by 2030. What will this do? Well it will submerge millions of acres of land, and throw our entire climate out of whack.
In recent years (approximately the last 50) we've witnessed the highest amount of climate change in recorded history. What does this do? Well for one thing is causes more droughts in dry regions and can cause higher amounts of climate phenomena such as hurricanes. In recent years we've seen a very high amount of hurricanes and tornadoes, whether this is caused by global warming remains to be seen, but they've gotten bigger and heavier as the years go on. Global warming is causing our oceans to get warmer, and whether a hurricane starts as a big one, once it hits warm patches of water it speeds up and gets bigger. To conclude this article global warming causes hating of the Earth, which melts ice, which can kill species and change the climate system, and currents, which can cause strange changes in the way the climate works.
-Remix Theory
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Drive Less, Drink More!
What is the culprit behind Global Warming? Most say Carbon Dioxide is behind it, human activity has pumped more CO2 into the atmosphere than ever before, and according to former vice president Al Gore the only way to stop it is by replacing every bulb in your home with fluorescent light bulbs, purchase hybrid cars, and purchasing carbon offsets from the company that he owns. The climate system is very diverse and complicated, it is a fact that there is not a single person on the Earth that knows even a quarter of what there is to know about the climate system, what we do know is this:
In the last few years (roughly 20) there have been major fluctuations in the climate, about 10 years ago the Earth was going through a major cooling cycle which was going to lead up to the next ice age (oh no!), but now the Earth is going through a massive heating cycle which is melting the ice caps, with no one to explain that sudden change in what's happening. We also know that because of human activity (America is obviously the most to blame) there has been a huge jump in CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere and that is heating the Earth, melting the ice, throwing off currents, killing numerous endangered species, etc.
What we also know is that the climate system is incredibly complicated, no one has any hard grasp on why the Earth does what it does, we know for fact that the Earth has gone through at least 3 major heating and cooling periods. What else is fact? You might be asking yourself that when confronted with this information, we know that human activity in the last 200 years has pumped roughly 30 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, this may seem like a daunting number, but guess how many pounds of atmosphere there actually is. A rough estimate is aroun 4 quadrillion pounds of atmosphere.
What can we take from Al Gore's video An Inconvenient Truth?
Well a few things we can take from it is this:
1. Human activity has caused some fluctuation in the natural course of things, nothing that is irreparable, mind you. But a fluctuation nonetheless.
2. The ice caps are slowly melting, this melting will cause many species to perish, but not only this, coastal cities will be under water, and the natural currents of the world will go out of whack, killing many more species, as well as throwing off the wind systems, and putting the world at an environmental stand still.
3. Al Gore likes himself A LOT, also is a poor loser.
Those are just 3 things that we can take from his video. An Inconvenient Truth, does show the inconvenience, somehow mankind is solely responsible for this travesty. This is our fault, and we have to fix it, and we can fix it. What we can do is drive cars with less emissions, donate ridiculous amounts of money to help refreeze the ice caps by placing giant ice cubes into the ocean, and we can stop our mining, and everything else that puts any sort of bad stuff into the air. Because we know it is bad, we need to stop. Just like farming tobacco when he was a boy, his dad found out it was bad, and he didn't stop doing it. Yes, but Al, that tobacco money gave you a college education, and put you on a pretty good start so that you can be the environmental hero you are today.
What else can we take from Al Gore's video? He never actually gives any of his sources names, unless of course their names are "my friend", "my friend the scientist, or "a friend of mine". Al might not be able to sight sources, but I can:
"Laboratory experiments have shown that there are so-called 'endocrine disruptors' present in in forty-three different foods common in human diet, including corn, garlic, pineapple, potatoes and wheat. Most amusingly, soybean, that product so beloved of the vegetarian liberal environmentalist, is a particularly potent source of phytoestrogens. One study found that, even ten years ago, the U.S. soy harvest was producing about 230 million pounds of thos natural endocrine modulators annually."- Iain Murray, The Really Inconvenient Truths, The Pill as a Pollutant.
"I'll admit to being conflicted on the subject of renewable sources of energy like wind and solar. While these do have their place in the energy mix, their ability to help the global warming problem is pretty limited. I routinely encounter people who argue that renewable sources of energy can 'fix' global warming. But the global demand for energy is so large that renewables will probably never be able to substantially contribute to our needs."- Roy W. Spencer, Climate Confusion, chapter 8.
These two men are both scientists that have degrees in studying the climate system, and have been doing so for many years unlike, Al Gore. These two men I see as realists, they see the world as it is, and deal with it as such. They understand that Global Warming is a universal world problem that can't just be solved by delusional "fix-its" like the sudden introduction of renewable resources, or in Al Gore's case, dropping giant ice cubes into the ocean.
-Remix Theory
In the last few years (roughly 20) there have been major fluctuations in the climate, about 10 years ago the Earth was going through a major cooling cycle which was going to lead up to the next ice age (oh no!), but now the Earth is going through a massive heating cycle which is melting the ice caps, with no one to explain that sudden change in what's happening. We also know that because of human activity (America is obviously the most to blame) there has been a huge jump in CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere and that is heating the Earth, melting the ice, throwing off currents, killing numerous endangered species, etc.
What we also know is that the climate system is incredibly complicated, no one has any hard grasp on why the Earth does what it does, we know for fact that the Earth has gone through at least 3 major heating and cooling periods. What else is fact? You might be asking yourself that when confronted with this information, we know that human activity in the last 200 years has pumped roughly 30 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere, this may seem like a daunting number, but guess how many pounds of atmosphere there actually is. A rough estimate is aroun 4 quadrillion pounds of atmosphere.
What can we take from Al Gore's video An Inconvenient Truth?
Well a few things we can take from it is this:
1. Human activity has caused some fluctuation in the natural course of things, nothing that is irreparable, mind you. But a fluctuation nonetheless.
2. The ice caps are slowly melting, this melting will cause many species to perish, but not only this, coastal cities will be under water, and the natural currents of the world will go out of whack, killing many more species, as well as throwing off the wind systems, and putting the world at an environmental stand still.
3. Al Gore likes himself A LOT, also is a poor loser.
Those are just 3 things that we can take from his video. An Inconvenient Truth, does show the inconvenience, somehow mankind is solely responsible for this travesty. This is our fault, and we have to fix it, and we can fix it. What we can do is drive cars with less emissions, donate ridiculous amounts of money to help refreeze the ice caps by placing giant ice cubes into the ocean, and we can stop our mining, and everything else that puts any sort of bad stuff into the air. Because we know it is bad, we need to stop. Just like farming tobacco when he was a boy, his dad found out it was bad, and he didn't stop doing it. Yes, but Al, that tobacco money gave you a college education, and put you on a pretty good start so that you can be the environmental hero you are today.
What else can we take from Al Gore's video? He never actually gives any of his sources names, unless of course their names are "my friend", "my friend the scientist, or "a friend of mine". Al might not be able to sight sources, but I can:
"Laboratory experiments have shown that there are so-called 'endocrine disruptors' present in in forty-three different foods common in human diet, including corn, garlic, pineapple, potatoes and wheat. Most amusingly, soybean, that product so beloved of the vegetarian liberal environmentalist, is a particularly potent source of phytoestrogens. One study found that, even ten years ago, the U.S. soy harvest was producing about 230 million pounds of thos natural endocrine modulators annually."- Iain Murray, The Really Inconvenient Truths, The Pill as a Pollutant.
"I'll admit to being conflicted on the subject of renewable sources of energy like wind and solar. While these do have their place in the energy mix, their ability to help the global warming problem is pretty limited. I routinely encounter people who argue that renewable sources of energy can 'fix' global warming. But the global demand for energy is so large that renewables will probably never be able to substantially contribute to our needs."- Roy W. Spencer, Climate Confusion, chapter 8.
These two men are both scientists that have degrees in studying the climate system, and have been doing so for many years unlike, Al Gore. These two men I see as realists, they see the world as it is, and deal with it as such. They understand that Global Warming is a universal world problem that can't just be solved by delusional "fix-its" like the sudden introduction of renewable resources, or in Al Gore's case, dropping giant ice cubes into the ocean.
-Remix Theory
New Article + Suffer Album
Band: Suffer
Album: Global Warming [EP]
Year: 1993
Alright, alright! So I found this hard to find album by Swedish Death Metal band Suffer, thanks to my friend Dan over at The Black Circle Blog. It’s an EP called Global Warming, so I figured it might be relatively appropriate for this blog. It’s only four songs including Impressive Turns, Infectious, Global Warming, and Wrong Side of Life, but it’s good. It’s a sweet reminder of how Death Metal used to be, the good ol’ days in the 90’s before Death Metal was epitomized by Dethklok, and other such very fictional bands that Hot Topic propagates.
Suffer was a band out of
NEW ARTICLE!
I have been paying attention to this year's race for the white house, I'm surrounded by people of differing opinion, some of my friends are for Obama, some are for Mccain, I haven't really made up my mind yet on who I'm more for. My friend Zach (who is a supporter of Obama) sent me this website on Barack's stances on multiple issues. To save you all some time I would like to quote this:
20% nation's power supply from renewable sources by 2020. (Sep 2004)
I would like to point out that this would be pretty great, it might be worth the millions of dollars we are inevitably going to spend on this endeavor. I would also like to point out a simple fact that there are a lot of "environmentalists" out there that scream and scream for renewable resources, but then when they get them all they do is complain. Here in Hawaii we have the resources to be completely on renewable power, and be able to successfully power the Big Island of Hawaii for a week, just from a small amount of power on the one island. Collectively, we can generate a whole lot more, enough to power the entire state. Why do we not have renewable power here? People complain. We put up solar panels, people complain of the eye sore, you put up wind towers, not only is it an eye sore, it's a noise pollutant, and "kills native birds", and geothermal is out of the question because it puts out more SO2 than would normally be in the atmosphere. We've tried just about everything, because we have the ability to utilize all of the Earth's natural resources, but nothing satisfies. What I'm getting at is that renewable resources can only account for so much, with the demand for power, renewable energy sources cannot be relied on solely, in my opinion it would be the best thing to get nuclear power going, with renewable power, both working together to produce the power. Nuclear power is feared because of what can happen, but in actuality I see no other way, and on our way to reliance on renewable resources we're going to need something that can ween us off of our fossil fuel dependence. If we get renewable power, wind, solar, etc. what is there to stop them from dismantling it all because of such complaints that will inevitably occur.
-Remix Theory
Saturday, September 27, 2008
The Future Isn't Set...
"The future isn't set, there is no fate but what we make for ourselves". This quote from the movie The Terminator 2: Judgment Day seems to have a resounding truth when applied to the subject of the Earth and it's "impending" doom at the hands of global warming, and the environmentalists that propagate it. It may seem like a harsh reality to some and to others it seems like a radical fantasy. The my point is that the "truth" of global warming swings both ways. Global Warming is a problem facing us today that many have jumped at to fix. There are those of us such as former Vice President Al Gore who travel around and spread the word on global warming, and then there are those of us who take a more back seat approach. As Roy W. Spencer points out in his book Climate Confusion:
"The Western world's fear of global warming and its effects has reached a point of being an obsession. The media is more than willing to spread, and even amplify, the fear that humanity is filling up the Earth, pushing it beyond its ability to sustain us. Mother Nature is suffering as a result of our sins, and humans are now increasingly blamed for every hurricane, tornado, tsunami, earthquake, flood, and drought that occurs."- Climate Confusion, pg. 2
Roy W. Spencer makes a very good point in this excerpt from his book, he points out that the hysteria created from the global warming phenomena has turned the people of the world into paranoid, obsessive, and bleak. The fear of global warming has been propagated by Vice President Al Gore through his slide show and movie "An Inconvenient Truth" in this video he shows stunning images of how the environment has been changed through the millions of years, and how we as the collective peoples of the Earth have directly attributed to the problem. The finger has been pointed at humans (Americans in particular) saying that we need to change our ways, alternative energy, conservation, environazism are all propagated as the only ways that we can fix whatever we may have done. In this blog I would like to point out the truths of Global Warming, as well as show that environmentalism and harsh (not to mention expensive) changes are not the only things you can do to help.
-Remix Theory
"The Western world's fear of global warming and its effects has reached a point of being an obsession. The media is more than willing to spread, and even amplify, the fear that humanity is filling up the Earth, pushing it beyond its ability to sustain us. Mother Nature is suffering as a result of our sins, and humans are now increasingly blamed for every hurricane, tornado, tsunami, earthquake, flood, and drought that occurs."- Climate Confusion, pg. 2
Roy W. Spencer makes a very good point in this excerpt from his book, he points out that the hysteria created from the global warming phenomena has turned the people of the world into paranoid, obsessive, and bleak. The fear of global warming has been propagated by Vice President Al Gore through his slide show and movie "An Inconvenient Truth" in this video he shows stunning images of how the environment has been changed through the millions of years, and how we as the collective peoples of the Earth have directly attributed to the problem. The finger has been pointed at humans (Americans in particular) saying that we need to change our ways, alternative energy, conservation, environazism are all propagated as the only ways that we can fix whatever we may have done. In this blog I would like to point out the truths of Global Warming, as well as show that environmentalism and harsh (not to mention expensive) changes are not the only things you can do to help.
-Remix Theory
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)