GREEN IDEAS
Well as I’m learning, this blogging stuff is not easy. I’ve been doing a lot of surfing and reading and thinking and for the moment I am just about drowning in ideas, green and red and blue.
For the moment, I am going to borrow some green ideas from the penguins. The way I see it, they’re on the front lines. And they at least have a website: http://penguinsunited.com
I haven’t found one from the polar bears.
Anyway, the penguins have put together some really interesting green ideas:
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view it’s hard to avoid Directv and Tivo even here in the Antarctic. And so just about every penguin knows the American expression: “What’s it to you?”
Well when it comes to global warming, it’s everything to you. To the you’s everywhere. And especially to us. We’ve been waiting for humans to come up with a plan that’s bold enough to save our world. Instead the American government delays and blames the Chinese for their new power plants. The Chinese blame the Americans for all the carbon dioxide they’ve thrown into the air for a hundred years. The rich nations want to stay rich and continue to increase their emissions. The poor nations desperately want to be richer. And they are convinced that only by using more power, building bigger buildings, driving more cars will they get to be rich.
Well we’re tired of waiting. Over the last year our Penguin Planners have been reading and studying and debating the ideas of some of the most forward-thinking of humans.
Here are some of the best ideas we’ve seen:
We are going to research plans and programs from around the world, taking those that are both bold and doable; ideas and projects from little to large. For example:
Al Gore’s proposal for an immediate “carbon freeze” that would cap U.S. CO2 emissions at current levels, followed by a program to generate 90% reductions by 2050.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/3/21/10136/4144
George Monbiot’s plan that the world’s total carbon emissions must be reduced to 60 percent below current levels by 2030 - a target that would require the developed world to reduce emissions by 90 percent (to compensate for growth in China, India and other developing countries). Monbiot’s plan: each nation would be allocated a carbon limit based on urban population and each individual an annual carbon allowance. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17954879/site/newsweek/
Nicholas Stern, the former Senior VP of the World Bank, plan to invest 10 billion dollars annually to halve deforestation in the fight against global warming.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070323/sc_afp/climateenvironmentforestsindonesiastern
The Scottish Socialist Party’s proposal for universal free public transportation to be financed by a payroll tax on businesses with more than 10 employees. They argue that congestion already costs businesses about what the plan would costs, and points to the Belgian city of Hasselt which has seen a 1000% increase in public transportation since making it free.
http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.1284334.0.time_is_ripe_to_push_for_free_public_transport.php
Al Gore’s and Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards’ proposed ban on any new coal-fired plants that don’t capture and sequester CO2.
http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/3/26/131321/888
The Carbon Tax Center’s plan to charge businesses and individuals a price to emit carbon dioxide. Instead of taxing employment, tax carbon.
http://www.carbontax.org/faq/
A new international framework - with stricter limits on greenhouse emissions than Kyoto.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/3/21/10136/4144
And http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070319/wl_nm/globalwarming_dc_1
40% of the oil we use goes to our cars, SUVs and light trucks. Each gallon of gasoline burned pumps 28 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere. Raise fuel efficiency (CAFE standards) from 27.5 mpg for cars and from 20.7 mpg for trucks to 40 mpg now.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070329/sc_nm/globalwarming_buildings_dc
Homes and office buildings consume 30-40% of our energy. According to a Achim Steiner, head of UNEP, “A more aggressive energy efficiency policy might deliver over two billion tons or close to three times the amount scheduled to be reduced under the Kyoto Protocol.” Green buildings like the new federal building in San Francisco, the planned Bank of America building in New York, and the Pearl River Tower in Guangzhou, China use innovative ways to heat and cool and generate electricity. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1604908,00.html
Gore’s proposal for an electricity grid that allows individuals and businesses to feed power back in at prevailing market rates.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/3/21/10136/4144
And http://www.globalenvironmentfund.com/GEF white paper_Electric Power Grid.pdf
Sweden’s decision to offer citizens $1,400 cash bonus to purchase green cars.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17858992/
Baltimore’s use of solar-powered public trash can compacters, dramatically decreasing carbon-emitting trash trucks.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/858560/baltimores_trash_cans_go_hightech__at_3795/index.html
Join us. Read. Think. Debate.
If you’ve got some better ideas now is the time to speak up.
We’ll take the best you’ve and add some old-fashioned penguin wisdom. And soon we’ll offer you A PENGUIN PLAN.
I’m pretty impressed with these penguins.
Here are some interesting green possibilities in no particular order:
From the Netherlands comes an innovative LED bulb developed by Lemnis Lighting:
From the article:
“Apparently, this 3.4 watt bulb is a serious replacement for a 40 watt incandescent bulb. The lumens per watt is about equal to a compact fluorescent bulb, but LEDs have a much longer bulb life. It is also more eco-effective when compared to other LED lamps, because the production does not include phosphor.”
Here’s another exciting technological development. According to the VOAnews:
Share This“Engineers at the University of Hong Kong have developed a micro wind-turbine that can be installed on rooftops and balconies in crowded cities.”
