Big Oil Creates a Hybrid!

Found on the Union of Concerned Scientists site on this page

From the too true to be good department again.

Caution: Do Not Make Connections!

The narration is the text of an op ed piece in the Wasthington Post by Bill McKibben. No need to read the text since it’s all in the video with powerful imagery added. Kudos to Stephen Thomson of Plomomedia.com for a great job making this into a powerful video.

100+ Years of Electric Cars

Here are some seriously classic fully electric cars from over 100 years ago.

7 Electric Cars Over 100 Years Old

So:

• 1891 – 50 mile range, better than Chevy Volt’s pure electric range
• 1901 – 57 MPH
• 1902 – fully electric bus
• 1906 – regenerative braking, like my 2011 prius
• 1909 – 100 miles on a charge

Now, I must ask, what the hell happened?

Spill Baby Spill

As I write this, a huge catastrophe is unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. 5,000 barrels (200,000 gallons) of oil per day are spilling into the gulf and wreaking tremendous environmental devastation.

Rather than detailing this particular catastrophe that is so forefront in the news these days, I would like to point out something even more important. This is a catastrophe. This was an accident. No one meant for it to happen.

However, oil spills are not only foreseeable, they are an inevitable consequence of our horrifyingly devastating substance abuse and addiction.

Madoff Goes Global

Here’s an excellent write-up that describes the ways in which we are stealing from future generations to feed ourselves and the parallels between doing so and any other Ponzi scheme.

PONZICONOMY: Our global pyramid scheme

I’ve read Plan B 2.0, an excellent book, and notice that there is a link to a new version Plan B 4.0 by Lester Brown.

Don’t forget, the article doesn’t even mention the fact that not only is the oil at the pump a subsidized and limited resource, so is the oil we pour on our corn as fertilizer.

That’s right, industrial fertilizers are petroleum products. We’re eating oil!! That can’t be good for either our health or our long term prospects in terms of a very large population dependent on a fossil, non-renewable, resource.

Obama: Eloquently Stating What Needed to be Said

Here’s yet another incredibly eloquent speech by Obama. I find it very refreshing that we have a candidate that can correctly pronounce place names and even the word nuclear. Further, some of the sentiments expressed in this speech are sentiments I’ve been hoping to hear expressed for a long time. Here is someone who can show real leadership, something we have been sorely lacking for 7 years.

I you prefer to read the text, rather than listen to a 36 minute video, the text is available on the Obama webiste.

Tobacco Litigation Strategy for Climate Change?

In The Weather Makers, there is a chapter called “The Last Act of God”. The premise is that storms and the like were all considered acts of god from a legal standpoint. This meant that no one could be held responsible. However, in light of anthropogenic climate change, these things are now foreseeable consequences of actions of corporations, nations, and even to a very small extent individuals.

This means that these entities may now be open to litigation in international court for damages that result from climate change as a foreseeable outcome of the actions of these entities.

Life After the Tipping Point (i.e. Today?)

If this article, Beyond the point of no return, is correct, we’ll be seeing even more really bad effects of climate change very soon. I’m still hoping to live out my life before the start of the Great Human Die-Off. This article gives a number of reasons not to be so hopeful. However, it also advocates some real and significant changes to the human mind-set.

This is not something I had considered previously.

Valdez — A Deliberate Act by Exxon and BP?

The first thing to read in this post is an article entitled A well-designed disaster: the untold story of the Exxon Valdez. If that fails to make you physically ill, read on.

Here is an article from The Nation in 2004 entitled Whatever It Takes, detailing the actions ExxonMobil had taken up to that point in time. I was hoping to find something more current. Still though, 15 years of doing nothing is not a reason to hope that they’ve done anything in the last 3 years.

I read both of these articles in a book that is a collection of articles entitled The I Hate Corporate America Reader. There are many other great and depressing articles in that book as well.