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7 Things Obama Should Do Regarding The Environment

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 7:19:54 PM
   Treehugger has a list of seven things President elect Obama should do to better take into effect climate change.

1. Reduce the Federal Carbon Footprint

2. Consider Climate Change in All Decision

3. Protect Children from Chemicals
4. Environmental Justice
5. Transparent Regulatory Review
6. Protect Stronger State Laws from Weaker Federal Ones

7. Promoting Ecological Integrity

   The two that stand out are numbers two and three. Taking number three first, the "we must think of the children" mantra is a long used classic in all debates. As far as number two goes, doesn't that kind of make the other six a moot point?
 
   Also remember now, that these are Executive Orders. There is no congressional debate on these issues. These are laws and or rules written and inacted by the President of the United States. There is no citizens opinion on the matter, no voting on it.
 Not a good idea.
 
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Secretary Of State Al Gore?

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:48:23 AM
   Richard Cohen has his picks for Obama's cabnit posts in his Washington Post article, and Al Gore tops the list at Secretary of State.
 
   If there is a single appointment Barack Obama could make to signal how dramatically things will change in Washington, it would be to name Albert Gore Jr. -- former House member, former senator, former vice president, former presidential nominee and current Custodian of the Planet -- as secretary of state. For all the other aspirants to the job, sorry -- this is an inconvenient truth.
 
   The drivel continues:
Can you imagine a bolder statement about a new direction when it comes to global warming and the general care of our abused planet? Gore has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in this area (and an Oscar, to boot), and his appointment would signal a dramatic shift from the indifference of the Bush era with its cold shoulder to the Kyoto treaty. In one stroke, the United States would emerge as the leader of nations in the effort to save the planet from ourselves -- and could prepare for the consequences of a changed world.
 
   Wow! You think Mr.Cohen likes Al Gore? Jeez!
 
   His next pick would be at odds with Al though. He wants Lawrence Summers as Treasury Secretary, whom I posted a story about a few days ago, and the dumb things he has suggested regarding the environment.
 
   It will be interesting to see how it all plays out...I guess.
 
 
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GM Going Full Bore With New Volt

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Monday, November 10, 2008 7:35:26 PM
   General Motors has decided to dump more money into the Hybrid market and theChevy Volt. And why shouldn't they? Barack Obama said he would bail out the auto industry, and GM is calling him out. 
 
 
 
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China Tells West to Clean-Up

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Monday, November 10, 2008 7:16:51 PM
   China has decided that it needs the wests money so they can do a better job at not polluting.
 
   Wen's suggestion was controversial, because China counts as a developing nation but is widely believed to be the world's largest carbon-dioxide polluter. Wen said rich nations nevertheless had to take responsibility -- and commit money -- because of their longer history of industrial pollution and their higher per-capita carbon footprints. He said a coming recession was no excuse to abandon commitments to reducing greenhouse emissions.
    
China wants to be clean, they just don't want to pay for it.
 
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao: "The international community must not waver in its determination to tackle climate change."
 
I don't believe Los Angeles ever looked that bad. Well, maybe so...
 
First recorded photo of smog in Los Angeles, 1943
 
China's indoor air is bad as well.
 
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"I Wish I Had My SUV Back!"

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Friday, November 07, 2008 12:02:20 PM
   This WSJ article kind of sums up what happens when people jump the gun and dump their Suburban's and Buick's for Prius's and Aveo's.
 
   "I kind of regret the decision to get rid of the Suburban, which had a lot to do with the price of fuel," says Mr. Schomas, a marketing manager in Hudson, Wis. While his Pacifica's fuel economy beats the old truck's by as much as 40%, the new vehicle seems downright small compared with the Suburban. The big problem is that its third-row seat takes up what would otherwise be room for cargo.
 
   "We have two kids, and if one of them wants to bring a friend, our storage space is reduced to nothing," says Mr. Schomas. It also lacks the bigger truck's "family room" comfort, he says.
 
   I like this one...

"A lot of people who like their small cars haven't gone through a winter with them yet," Ms. Lindland says.

Driving in harsh winter weather can be more harrowing in small cars because they can feel less stable and secure on snow-covered roads. Less ground clearance means their undersides scrape in a few inches of snow. This also compromises traction, making them harder to control and more likely to get stuck.
 
   The other problem with that is people like me willl be pulling these "smart cars" out of ditches this winter. Actually, I might be towing them home if we get more than four inches of snow here in Denver. Anybody remember the one---two punch of two years ago?
 
   It is easy to get caught up in the "got to get rid of this gas guzzler" mentallity. I even considered getting rid of my Tahoe...for about three seconds.
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Obama's Green Folks Already Looking For Payment

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Thursday, November 06, 2008 3:18:12 PM
 Obama has his hands full, and he hasn't even got the new curtains up yet.
 
    President-elect Barack Obama could be the nation’s first green president — whether he likes it or not. The Greens’ early investment in Obama’s political soul has matured, and they’re already angling for — and even demanding — payback.
 
   Though the financial crunch should place economy-harming global warming legislation on the back burner, the Natural Resources Defense Council is pushing for it within the first 100 days of the new Congress, supposedly as a means of easing the credit crisis and financing renewable energy projects, according to a report in the November 3 issue of Carbon Control News.
 
   Barack better be careful; you can't please everybody, and there will be hurt feelings, it just better not be the general publics.
 

 
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Obama's Possible Treasury Pick

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Thursday, November 06, 2008 3:05:32 PM
   You have got to be careful when writing memos, emails, or voice messages; you never know what is going to bite you later. Like this article from Max Blumethal and the Huffington Post. Seems that Lawrence Summers, the discredited Harvard President of a few years ago is on Obama's short list for Secretary of the Treasury. His problem is a memo from 1991 and his obvious lack of environmental savoy.
 
   But there is a lesser known episode in Summers' past that further highlights his reckless tendencies, and foreshadows a politically nettlesome nomination process.
On December 12, 1991, while serving as chief economist for the World Bank, Summers authored a private memo arguing that the bank should actively encourage the dumping of toxic waste in developing countries, particularly "under populated countries in Africa," which Summers described as "UNDER-polluted." Summers added that public outrage over the heightened rates of prostate cancer caused by his proposed dumping would be mitigated by the fact that poor people in developing countries rarely live long enough to develop prostate cancer.
 
   How is it that this guy was ever allowed to hold any type of  high office after saying a stupid thing like that?
 
   When the Summers memo leaked to the public in February 1992, Brazil's Secretary of the Environment, Jose Lutzenburger, responded with an indignant missive. "Your reasoning is perfectly logical but totally insane," Lutzenburger told Summers. "Your thoughts [provide] a concrete example of the unbelievable alienation, reductionist thinking, social ruthlessness and the arrogant ignorance of many conventional 'economists' concerning the nature of the world we live in... If the World Bank keeps you as vice president it will lose all credibility
 
   Logical but insane? How about "only logical too the insane".
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Rubbish Has No Value

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Thursday, November 06, 2008 1:18:52 PM
   Guess what? The recyclable rubbish in London has no value. What a surprise! And now they have nowhere to put it. They are doing a great job at recycling though:
 
   Jane Kennedy, the Environment Minister, will announce this morning that more than 90 per cent of local authorities are meeting or exceeding their household recycling targets. East Lindsey District Council has the highest recycling rate, with 58.4 per cent of all household rubbish, and 18 other authorities exceeded 50 per cent.
 
But here is the problem:
 
   Steve Eminton, of letsrecycle.com, said: “Warehouses around Britain could start to be filled with waste paper, metal and plastic bottles. There's nowhere for these materials to go at the moment. It's rapidly becoming a very serious problem.”
 
   He said that mountains of plastic bottles, paper and steel cans were likely to build up by the end of the year and that the problem would be exacerbated by the Christmas festivities, when a surge of packaging materials and drinks containers would fill recycling bins.
 
   It's like everything else in the world; the best of intentions still require some thought.
 
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Environment Losses At The Polls

Posted by BLOGASSAULT on Thursday, November 06, 2008 11:34:13 AM
   Two initiatives on the California ballot this election cycle, Prop. 7 and Prop. 10 both failed by large margins Tuesday.
Prop. 7 was asking that California energy suppliers get half of their energy from renewable sources by 2025.  Prop.10 wanted to create a subsidy for people who purchased vehicles that run on other fuels besides gasoline.
   Californian's realized that it was going to cost them and the state a lot of money, and in this economy, like so many other things, the citizens aren't buying.
 
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