Friday, June 25, 2010

BE GREEN


It is so simple to be green. It actually makes ones life so much more enjoyable. Doing all the little things that respect Mother Nature can only make you feel good about yourself. Today as everyday I gather "KARMIC GOLD" litter from the park in the forest behind my home. I recycle a much of this litter as possible. I recycle so much at my home that I rarely have to put out any trash for pick-up.
Be Green, Blessed Be,
Alan

Friday, June 18, 2010

Carbon emissions harming the Oceans!

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a disaster, but it may pale compared to what scientists say is brewing in the world's oceans due to everyday consumption of fossil fuels.

The billions of tonnes of carbon dioxide sent wafting into the atmosphere each year through the burning of oil, gas and coal are profoundly affecting the oceans, says a series of reports published Friday in the journal Science.

One says there is mounting evidence that "rapidly rising greenhouse gas concentrations are driving ocean systems toward conditions not seen for millions of years, with an associated risk of fundamental and irreversible ecological transformation."

Another says that the effects are already rippling through the food web in Antarctica.

And a third says humans, and their ever-increasing carbon emissions, are acidifying the ocean in a "grand planetary experiment" that could have devastating impacts.

Marine scientists Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, at the University of Queensland in Australia, and John Bruno, at University of North Carolina, describe how the oceans act as a "heat sink" and are slowly heating up along with the atmosphere as greenhouse gas emissions climb.

The warming, they say, is "likely to have profound influences on the strength, direction and behaviour" of major ocean currents and far-reaching impacts on sea life.

The oceans also soak up close to a third of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the atmosphere and it reacts with sea water to form acidic ions. The rising acidity "represents a major departure from the geochemical conditions that have prevailed in the global ocean for hundreds of thousands, if not million of years," the scientists report.

Add it all up and they say there is there is "overwhelming" evidence human activities are driving changes on a scale similar to volcanic eruptions or meteorite strikes, which have driven ecosystems to collapse in the past.

"The impacts of anthropogenic (human) climate change so far include decreased ocean productivity, altered food web dynamics, reduced abundance of habitat-forming species, shifting species distributions and a greater incidence of disease," they say.

In a second report, Oscar Schofield at Rutgers University, and his colleagues describe how rising temperatures over the last 30 years have coincided with a shift in the food web along the West Antarctic Peninsula — most notably to a shrinking of marine algae cells. Organisms known as tunicates are so efficient at feeding on the smaller algae they appear to be displacing krill, a mainstay of many creatures up the food web. Fish, seals, whales, penguins and other seabirds could all be affected, they say.

A news report, accompanying the Science papers on the oceans, says by increasing the ocean's acidity "humans are caught up in a grand planetary experiment" that could take a "potentially devastating toll on marine life." The rising acidity could erode the calcium carbonate shells and skeletons of corals, mollusks and some algae and plankton — and there is some evidence it is already starting to occur.

"The physics and chemistry of adding an acid to the ocean are so well understood, so inexorable, that there cannot be an iota of doubt — gigatons of acid are lowering the pH of the world ocean, humans are totally responsible, and the more carbon dioxide we emit, the worse it's going to get," it says.

It goes on to quote a recent issue of the journal Oceanography that said unconstrained growth of emissions is likely to leave the current era of human planetary dominance "as one of the most notable, if not cataclysmic, events in the history of our planet."

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A Future Product here NOW.

Check out the solar shingles now available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P8fOQ9V9mg&feature=email

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Unbelievable!

Yesterday the US Forest Service turned me down for a permit to run a small hydroelectric system to power the three homes here on Elf Way in Candler, NC. This is a system with virtually zero impact on the creek, producing clean energy and sparing the use of coal and oil in powering my home.

A week ago the Forest Service permitted yet another cellphone tower and would likely permit BP to drill in the National Forest. Somehow I had the illusion that our government would be more environmental friendly given the Gulf Oil disaster.

Today we start a campaign to change this absurdity. Our present Administration claims to be environmental friendly, so lets make them walk the talk. Please help with any suggestions or ideas of how we can make this happen. Today we can become a government of the people and by the people.

Note the new DONATION button to support the cause.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Trash


Been awhile since posting so....not a spec of trash in my forest and picnic area today, Amazing! Did you know "Insects are more evolved that litterbugs? Insects do not intentionally trash their environment."