Green Options » al gore

Google Earth Shows Climate Change Effects

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 12:35:33 +0000

A new tool in Google Earth shows you the “effect” of climate change in your area.

Using Google Earth, you can look at climate effects under three different scenarios — 1) Confronting Climate Change — “with Al Gore”, 2) IPCC High Emissions Scenario, and 3) IPCC Low Emissions Scenario. Other new tools let you examine other aspects of climate change and how to adapt to climate change.

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Can the Internet Help Fight Climate Change?

Govind Singh — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 09:13:54 +0000

Last week, the Internet celebrated its 40th birthday! Forty glorious years that saw not just the transition from ARPANet to the now popular Internet but also Web 2.0 and what not! The Internet has been a revolution–in the making! The Internet that we know of today has been around for a little over a decade. That is also the time period when awareness and action on the “global” climate crisis has been phenomenal. And the link, evident!

According to the Internet Governance Forum, Internet consumes up to one trillion kilowatt hours of electricity per year, amounting to around 5% of the world’s total electricity consumption. The ‘tools’ of the IT sector are also manufactured using metals of various kinds. So the question remains, can Internet really help solve the climate crisis? The answer, on behalf of a generation grown up with the Internet, a firm Yes!

Here are five ways how Internet is helping fight climate change:

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Gilding the Lily on Green Jobs

Joe Walsh — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:25:54 +0000

Following on Red Green and Blue’s lead last week, today’s New York Times editorial notes that the White House and their Congressional allies on cap-and-trade have all but acknowledged that the climate change argument will not be enough - on its own strength - to win support for comprehensive energy and environment legislation in 2009. So, while climate-based arguments by the movement’s superstars - like Al Gore - are gaining wider public acceptance and near-unanimous adoption in the intelligentsia, the case is still not enough to win political support when the Senate takes the issue up in the fall.

Last week brought us climate as a security threat and White House officials are continuing to float trial balloons throughout August as they grope for a communications strategy. This week’s angle: green jobs. Steven Chu has been making the green jobs pitch a strong part of his summer road show. He continued to beat the drum as part of a round table discussion with Gore and others at Senator Harry Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 last week in Las Vegas. Taking the measure of the two approaches, the Boston Globe editorial page joined today’s NYT in bringing the White House’s previously tacit acknowledgment of the need for a new course out into the open.

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Mean Joe Green #68: Glenn Beck Hates White People

Joe Mohr — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:13:40 +0000

Glenn Beck recently called President Obama a ‘white racist’ and Van Jones a ‘black nationalist’ and ‘avowed communist’. He’s also compared Al Gore to Hitler, has expressed hatred for Jimmy Carter, and has said he’s thought about killing Michael Moore, among many other wonderfully angry things.

Well Glenn, it’s well known in the world of psychology that what you hate most in others may be the shadow in yourself. Therefore, apparently under that doughy, tough-talking exterior lies a little, angry (still doughy) man who is dying to let out his white-people hating, liberal loving, black nationalist, communist, socialist, Hitler-esque self…

Mean Joe Green Archives (a few more Glenn Beck toons can be found in the archive)

Alec Loorz: A Kid on a Mission to Curb Global Warming

Allison Wolff — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:43:14 +0000

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I had the pleasure of seeing Alec Loorz speak and show his film at the Telluride Mountain Film festival, a documentary film festival chock-full of disturbing and inspiring content from around the globe. Alec is fourteen and is quickly becoming the Al Gore of his age group. In fact, he is now the youngest trained presenter for Al Gore’s The Climate Project.

Alec, a resident of Ventura, CA, founded Kids vs Global Warming when he was 12 years old after watching Al Gore’s film, “An Inconvenient Truth“. Since then, Alec has spear-headed multiple global warming education projects around Ventura County and inspired hundreds of other kids to do the same in their communities across the nation. One project, cleverly named S.L.A.P. (Sea Level Awareness Project), educates people on what future sea levels will look like in coastal communities due to global warming. To do that, Alec and a team of volunteers posted signs throughout Ventura beach and city to show people what areas would be under water by when. S.L.A.P. is now expanding to coastal areas in Washington DC, NY, and throughout CA.

Alec also authored the “Declaration of Independence from Fossil Fuels“, available for people of all ages to sign on the website.

Most impressive is Alec’s film “iMatter“, an eye opening, entertaining, and informative short built to inspire youth to action-and his Gore-like (for kids) presentation. Alec got a standing ovation from the audience at Telluride Mountain Film. Watching this confident, optimistic 14-year-old kid fire up a room of 600 people with his talk and film gave me hope that the next generation might actually have a chance at reversing some of the damage ours has done. Alec is now The Climate Project’s youngest trained presenter.

Alec, keep up the good work. Can I ask your parents a few questions on how they raised you?

What Ever Happened to the Lawsuit Brought by Weather Channel Founder Against Al Gore over Global Warming?

Timothy B. Hurst — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:46:36 +0000

Remember when Weather Channel founder and global warming skeptic, John Coleman, said he and 30,000 “scientists” were going to sue Al Gore for perpetrating the “greatest scam in American history”? If not, Coleman turned a few heads last year with a barrage of op-eds, conference engagements and television appearances saying that 30,000 scientists (only 9,000 of whom actually have PhDs) wanted to sue Al Gore over the fraud.

Coleman’s arguments rest on the tired arguments that global warming is a ‘left-wing conspiracy’ made up by the UN and the environmental movement to justify a world government and a massive redistribution of wealth [yawn]. Unfortunately, Coleman’s scientific credibility is overwhelmed by his political bias.

Needless to say, conservative media outlets had a field day with the news, reporting it as if Coleman had already found a court to hear his dubious legal challenge.

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So, what ever happened to that lawsuit anyway? To the best of my knowledge, nothing.

For Action on Climate Change, the Time is Now: Waxman-Markey Bill Gives Us a Start

Jeff Wolfe — Wed, 27 May 2009 23:01:02 +0000

Editor’s Note: Jeff Wolfe is the co-founder and CEO of groSolar. This is his second post. See also: Building a Solar Company in a Recession Economy.

I am at the North American Climate Presenter’s Summit. I am privileged, and burdened, by being one of the 1200 people in the US trained by Al Gore to deliver his climate slideshow. I say privileged because it is an incredible group of people and fantastic training. I say burdened because, well, ignorance is bliss, and not only am I not allowed to be ignorant, I am required to understand and spread both the message of the crisis confronting us and the solutions we must undertake immediately.

We’re getting updated science from some of the leaders in climate science. We’re getting information on human health effects (right now while I’m multi-tasking and typing this actually). We’re getting information on the just released draft of the Waxman–Markey climate bill. And of course, we’re getting motivation and direction for immediate action.

The overriding message is that the time is now, this is the moment. Historians look back through time and note those periods when significant change happened. It is unusual to be able to understand at the time of occurrence, that this is an historic moment in the history of the world. This is such a moment, such a time.

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SUNfiltered: Do Solar Panels Belong on Historic Buildings?

Jeff McIntire-Strasburg — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:22:59 +0000

If you’ve spent any amount of time in buildings with historical significance (and you probably have), you recognize that such structures are more than the sum of their physical parts. The confluence of design, material, and human action that occurred in those buildings allow you to step out of time momentarily, and experience how past generations imagined the combination of form and function as they created a built environment.

Now, imagine those same buildings with solar panels on the roof. Does that take away from the experience?

» See also: Low cost solar panels and energy efficiency retrofits through group purchasing.
» Get Sustainablog by RSS or sign up by email.

The New York Times‘ Green Inc. blog dove into that question this morning, and attempted to dissect a hot debate among preservationists. From Al Gore’s Nashville mansion to a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed cottage in Wisconsin, the preservation community is wrestling with “where the line is between acceptable and unacceptable green improvements.

Read the rest at the Sundance Channel’s SUNfiltered blog.

Image credit: Bill Fitz-Patrick and whitehousemuseum.org

“Our Choice” Coming in November

Allison Boyer — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:26:35 +0000

Love Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth? It’s about to get a sequel, which will give readers an update on the climate crisis.

From Reuters:

Nobel Peace Prize winner and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore will publish a follow-up to his global warming awareness bestseller “An Inconvenient Truth” on November 3. The book will be called “Our Choice” and will describe solutions to global warming, the environmental crusader and U.S. publisher Rodale Inc. said in a statement

All of the proceeds will be donated to the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Image via Kjetil Bjørnsrud.

Global Warming Skepticism: Not Just for Wingnuts Anymore?

Alan Smith — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:47:09 +0000

Yes, but where is the PROOF?

In my recent quest to discover why people feel the need to fight so hard against the idea that humanity might be causing the globe to warm, I’ve started looking at everything I can find that illuminates skeptic science. If you missed this profile of the physicist Freeman Dyson in the New York Times, check it out now. Dyson, I would say, is the most highly respected scientist to publicly come out against global warming.

His point (in a tiny and simplified nutshell)? There really isn’t a lot of proof of global warming beyond a series of simulations and models. If you don’t buy their prognosticating power, you’re left considering the fact that we don’t know, for sure, the exact ratio between temperature and human interaction.

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PETA Likes Gore’s .ECO Domain, Wants OffsetAlGore.eco

Alex Felsinger — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:39:06 +0000

PETA already has a website dedicated to pressuring Al Gore to drop the meat from his diet, but when they caught wind of his proposed new .ECO domain, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to take another stab at him.

Ingrid Newkirk, PETA’s president and founder, sent a letter to the CEO of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announcing PETA’s support for the new domain and their intention to register www.OffsetAlGore.eco if the application for the domain suceeds.

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Al Gore Throws Support Behind New .eco Domain

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:00:36 +0000

On Wednesday, Al Gore threw his considerable support behind a new social venture that aims to secure the .eco domain name. Dot Eco LLC’s founders say that by financing environmental initiatives with a positive impact on the environment, the new domain will be much more than a trendy label.

Founded by Fred Krueger and Clark Landry in 2008, the new social venture’s charter states that profits from .eco registration fees will be used to fund scientific initiatives and research in climate change, ocean analysis, and economic policy, among others.

“We fully support Dot Eco LLC in its efforts to secure the .eco top level domain through the ICANN application process and look forward to working with Dot Eco LLC to promote .eco,” said Gore. Speaking on behalf of the Alliance for Climate Protection, Gore said “This is a truly exciting opportunity for the environmental movement and for the internet as a whole.”

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Glenn Beck Says Al Gore Creating ‘Hitler Youth’ [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 10:53:51 +0000

Fox News blow hard Glenn Beck likens the youth climate movement of today to the Hitler Youth of, well, Nazi Germany. And who is responsible for this brainwashing and indoctrination? Al Gore, of course. Watch it:

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Hat tip: Crooks and Liars

Coal Industry and Environmentalists Wage “Clean Coal” Ad War

Alex Felsinger — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:45:50 +0000

Clean coal doesn’t exist. We know it, but for many Americans the jury is still out. Environmentalists and the coal industry are battling for public opinion.

While proponents of carbon capture technologies try to ride on the coat tails of Barack Obama’s approval ratings by quoting his pro-coal sentiments from the ‘08 campaign trail, the Reality Coalition has stepped up their ad campaign in coal-heavy states like West Virginia.

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EU President Klaus: ‘No Such Thing as Global Warming’ [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 03:55:24 +0000

As we previously reported, Czech President Václav Klaus used his bully pulpit while speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to peddle his anti-global warming rhetoric and apparently hawk some books in the process. Now you can watch it for yourself:

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Klaus, who currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, has taken aim at global warming before, previously criticizing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as a group of one-sided, politicized scientists. He also concluded in his 2007 book, Blue Planet in Green Shackles, that global warming was a “valueless theory.”

Czech President Questions Global Warming Yet Again As He Attacks Al Gore’s Climate Campaign

Mridul Chadha — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:49:56 +0000

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who is also the current President of the European Union, has once again voiced his skepticism about global warming.

At an event at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, the Czech President said he doubts that global warming is actually occurring and that many scientists fail to consider alternative theories regarding the issue. He also attacked former US Vice President and environmental activist, Al Gore, of failing to look at the complete picture in regard to the global phenomenon.

>>Watch video of EU President Vaclav Klaus at Davos

The Czech President didn’t mince his words in questioning the legitimacy of the scientific community’s concerns regarding global warning.

I don’t think that there is any global warming, I don’t see the statistical data for that. I’m very sorry that some people like Al Gore are not ready to listen to the competing theories. I do listen to them.
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Al Gore’s Call to Support Economic Stimulus Package [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:20:50 +0000

In a week that Gore testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, here he again urges passage of stimulus package and other policies to Repower America with 100% renewable energy:

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Al Gore Senate Testimony on Global Warming [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 07:19:16 +0000

Al Gore testifies before Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, January 28, 2009. Gore said that the key elements for a successful agreement in Copenhagen include strong targets and timetables from industrialized countries and differentiated but binding commitments from developing countries to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other global warming pollution, the inclusion of deforestation, the addition of carbon syncs, the assurance that developing companies that will have mechanisms to help them adapt to climate change, and finally, a strong compliance and verification regime. (Below is part 1 which is an introduction and the beginning of his slide presentation. You will be prompted for the remaining parts.)

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Dennis Miller: ‘What if Al Gore is wrong about global warming?’ [video]

Timothy B. Hurst — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:41:06 +0000

Dennis Miller on the O’Reilly Factor pulls out the rather tired ‘Al Gore’s thermostat is the problem’ argument and dismisses Gore by wondering if the former Vice President has ever thought he is wrong about global warming. Then he goes on to say all politicians are like Blagojevich, they just don’t get caught. And I say, what if he isn’t wrong, Dennis?

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Book Review: American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau

Timothy B. Hurst — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Whether you’re (still) trying to figure out what to get that hard to shop for greenie for Christmas or you’re looking for a good book to hunker down with over the holidays, a new volume edited by Bill McKibben and titled American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau is so packed with high-quality writing it is literally hard to put down.

McKibben, well known for his environmental writings, including The End of Nature (1989), the first book for a general audience about global warming, and more recently, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future (2007), has compiled the foundational writings of American environmentalism and stuffed them into a 1,000 page epic tome that anyone with a green bone in their body would love to add to their bookshelf.

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