new video

Hey everyone… check out the new video from This is Reality.

It was created by the Coen Bros. and is pretty good.  It will be in the video section at least all week.

clean coal, part 2

The folks at www.thisisreality.org did it again!

remember: in reality, there is no such thing as clean coal

someone has been spreading rumors

 

There are some myths out there about climate change, global warming, and “green” stuff, in general. TreeHugger has a great article dispelling some of those myths. HERE is the article. Below I have some summaries.

 

Myth #1: Genetically Modified Crops Have Higher Crop Yields and Help Reduce Poverty

Don’t believe the hype.

“The majority of GM crops are not destined for hungry people in developing countries, but are used to feed animals, generate biofuels, and produce highly processed food products–-mainly for consumption in rich countries. GM crops have not increased food security for the world’s poor. None of the GM crops on the market are modified for increased yield potential and research continues to focus on new pesticide-promoting varieties that tolerate application of one or more herbicides.”

Myth #2: Clean Coal Technology Will Solve the Coal Pollution Problem

“Historically, coal combustion wastes rarely exhibit the characteristics of hazardous waste. However, if coal burning utilities and the so-called “clean coal plants” were required to meet air emissions standards protective of human health, fly ash produced by them could be regulated as hazardous waste due to the elevated levels of mercury that would result. We might suppose that any fly ash with hazardous characteristics due to heavy metal content would have to be sent to special and expensive waste fills or be treated at great cost.”

Myth #3: Developing Nations Need to Stop Having Babies

“…for those of us living in conditions of comparative material luxury, it’s all too easy to point the finger elsewhere and mutter something like ‘why can’t they just stop having babies.’ However, when you consider per capita natural resource consumption and environmental impact the problem is more complicated. Just consider this one statistic: Over the course of a lifetime, a baby born in the UK will produce 160 times the carbon emissions of an Ethiopian baby. Then this one: According to data gathered by Global Footprint Network the 972 million people living in high income countries have double the total ecological footprint of the 5.4 billion people living in middle and low income countries.”

Myth #4: Wind Turbines Are a Serious Threat to Birds

more birds are killed annually by colliding with moving vehicles, flying into windows or by cats kept as house pets than by modern wind turbines. There are genuine environmental, visual, and social issues regarding where wind farms get built but it is patently false that wind turbines are a serious threat to flying birds.

Myth #5: Small Green Steps Won’t Make a Big Difference

This is probably the most important one, because this is the one that you and I will do on a daily basis.

More than (the genuine) positive environmental changes they can bring, advocating small changes is about this: Getting people to start thinking more acutely about the ecological impact of their actions, their consumer purchases and what they put into their bodies. Once this increased awareness has been ingrained then people will more easily and naturally move on to greater changes in the way they live their lives–and have an even greater impact on creating an ecologically sustainable society.

clean coal

A lot of people are throwing around these words…. clean coal. I have wanted to write an article for a long time about it, but have yet to find the time. Expect something soon because this will be discussed by your government. In the meantime, here is a funny little commercial:

Make no mistake: There is no such thing as ‘clean coal’; there is only ‘dirty’ coal. And that’s true no matter how it’s mined, processed or burned. In fact, environmental experts all agree that coal is the dirtiest fuel America uses to produce electricity.