Baby Steps: Bush, Peters Admitting America's Oil Addiction

Eric Fredericks • Friday January 26, 2007

Some of our readers might have guessed by now that I’m not a fan of the Bush Administration’s policies on energy, the environment, transportation – the list goes on and on. Yes, I am admitting that I have an intense political side to me. Those that know me know this all too well. Those that know me also know that I have friends on both sides of the political spectrum, but most of them share one thing in common – they deeply care about the environment and the world that we live in. Most people you’d ask would say the same thing probably, but it’s another to actually practice what you preach. That’s the sense I get (and see) from the Bush Administration, that they don’t practice things that they preach.

Consider this for a second: how different would the US and the world be if Al Gore was appointed President by the Supreme Court? He has done so much for this country and for bringing attention to global warming – and he dropped out of politics. Imagine the influence he would have because, like it or not, when the American President speaks, the world listens.

However terrible this administration has been on these types of policies, I wanted to watch the State of the State Tuesday night to see just what President Bush was going to say with a new Congress in place and in the wake of the post- An Inconvenient Truth world. I have to admit, I was astonished. He spent a lot of the speech talking about investing in alternative energy, reducing foreign oil dependence, raising fuel efficiency standards, using ethanol, and so on (see a transcript of his speech here). He even mentioned that climate change is a serious issue! I was really impressed that he went as far as he did in mentioning these facts. I would have really been blown away if he mentioned walkable neighborhoods, pedestrians, bicyclists, or even transit. Of course, he didn’t, but at least we are starting to make significant progress on the global warming front. I think it took a lot for President Bush to say what he did – we know everyone in his administration has strong oil ties and many in his party disagree with the science of global warming. Of course, it’s going to be hard to argue with scientists after this smoking gun report. >>Continue Reading This Article>>

 

Category: Global Warming •• Region: United States •• comments

Governor Schwarzenegger's Alternative Fuels Plan for California: Just Big Talk?

Eric Fredericks • Friday January 19, 2007

This is pretty impressive news coming out of the Governor’s office. Of course, I am still a bit skeptical. California Governor Schwarzenegger signed an executive order yesterday for unprecedented standards for lowering emissions within the United States. However, the standards are set for the year 2020, and Arnold will be out of the office by then. Will the next Governor be so bold? Is Arnold banking on the next Governor to follow through while he gets out clean? Will this stand up to the political pressure from the oil industry? It remains to be seen. This is very good news to see a Governor with as much political influence as he has to make these bold statements. Hopefully the rest of the country is listening. Here is what Governor Schwarzenegger released yesterday:
California’s alternative fuels plan
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The San Francisco Chronicle

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to debate legislation today aimed at reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and I am glad to see Washington finally focus on this vital issue.

But in California, we’re not waiting for Washington to act. We are moving forward on our own because the issue is too important to wait for someone else to lead.

Under an executive order I am signing today, California will establish the world’s first carbon standard for transportation fuels. This is a follow-up to the historic global warming legislation I signed last September, and it has the benefit of being great for the environment and great for the economy and national security. Our global warming act set the most ambitious targets in the world for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. It commits California to reduce climate change emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 — a 25 percent reduction. By 2050, we will reduce emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels. The plan goes farther than the Kyoto Protocol, as those targets only extend to 2012. And the Kyoto target is to reduce green-house gas emissions 12.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. We will do this while creating jobs and raising incomes. But to achieve these goals, we must reduce our dependence on oil for meeting our enormous transportation needs. That’s where my new executive order comes in.

We have more than 24 million registered motor vehicles in California (and more registered drivers than anywhere else in the nation) and 96 percent of the fuel they use is high-carbon-content gasoline.

Because of that, transportation fuels are responsible for 41 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions. We can’t possibly meet our climate change goals if we keep burning high-polluting oil in our vehicles.

Being so dependent on oil also leaves our economy — and therefore our national security — dangerously vulnerable to price shocks caused by world events or actions by oil cartels outside our control. When oil prices jump, sales and wages fall. Money flows offshore instead of into our domestic economy. No business can afford to be hostage to a single supplier for its most critical raw materials. Nor can any state or any nation. To protect our jobs and wages — and clean our air — we must diversify our fuel sources and reduce our oil dependence. >>Continue Reading This Article>>

 

Category: Global Warming •• Region: California •• comments [2]

Global Warming Creating Hardship For Aboriginal Canadians, CAA Wants to Help

Eric Fredericks • Monday November 20, 2006

Why is it that seemingly indigenous peoples of every country continuously receive a raw deal? Now it’s aboriginal communities in Canada facing a new kind of hardship – global warming. CNN reports that rising temperatures are melting their solid blue winter ice pack, making it impossible for trucks that normally use a frozen network of rivers and lakes to to deliver bulk supplies like fuel and building materials.

“The ice doesn’t have its solid blue color anymore,” said Stan Beardy, the grand chief of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, which represents Ontario’s remote First Nations. “It’s more like Styrofoam now, really brittle.”

“With the toxic waste moving north, and global warming, we don’t have that solid ice anymore, and that’s why we have problems with winter roads when it’s mild.”

About 20,000 people live in the remote reservations and rely on winter shipments of heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel to power generating stations. The fragile ice has forced them to hire more trucks to carry lighter loads.

Sea ice in other parts of northern Canada are breaking earlier in the season each year.

Canadians are not just standing by and watching their ice melt away, however. In fact, Canada’s largest club for vehicle drivers, the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), is encouraging its members to start driving less. They are trying to do their part to fight global warming and improve air quality by promoting public transit, car-pooling, car-sharing, and pushing for higher fuel efficiency standards.

“We see climate change as being one of the major issues that is going to be confronting the country and the world over the next 15 to 20 years,” CAA president David Flewelling said in a Reuters report.

“We’re…seeing a shift in attitude on the part of Canadians and we want to help them in terms of ‘How do I do something that’s environmentally responsible?”’

It is very sad to hear that the lives of so many are really starting to become affected by global warming. The worst part is, it is only going to get exponentially worse over the next few years. Carbon dioxide emissions have rapidly increased – especially in emerging private vehicle markets like China and India. I think there are several quick and effective solutions to combat global warming without using a miracle technology, but they are not politically viable at this point. That is, until the major polluting countries can see the true detrimental effects our obsession with oil is causing in their own countries. Unless we environmentalists can put enough pressure on our governments and industries to make a change, it is not going to happen before very significant impacts to our environment, health, climate, and economy are realized.

The announcement by the CAA I think is a major one, if only because how powerful and terrible the American Automobile Association (AAA) is. Many people do not know this, but the AAA has some of the biggest lobbyists both at the national and state levels specifically lobbying against ANYTHING that could potentially take one more vehicle trip off of the road. This even means opposing things like bike trails, sidewalks, ADA standards, etcetera. I’ve even seen them lobby against lowering the speed limits in California’s school zones (it’s currently 25 miles per hour). For those of you that own AAA and want to switch, there is an environmentally conscious alternative – the Better World Club. Their site also has documentation of the evilness of AAA.

I do see a lot of other positives shifting the momentum of the fight against global warming in a positive direction. If I look back to just two years ago, we’ve made significant strides since then. One instance – the emergence of hybrid cars as a major player in the automobile industry. In reality, we’re just babies taking our first steps. We have a long way to go until we become an environmentally (and economically) sensitive society.

· Global warming isolates Canadians in far north [CNN]
· CAA Climate Change [Canadian Automobile Association]

 

Category: Global Warming •• Region: Canada •• comments

An Inconvenient Truth: A Review and Video Trailer

Eric Fredericks • Sunday July 9, 2006

Yesterday, I watched Al Gore’s movie on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. The movie was quite compelling and how Mr. Gore laid out the facts left little to refute in the debate about global warming. Some of the evidence he showed was just astounding – especially with what is happening at the North and South Poles. The movie is definitely worth seeing, unless you are someone that is familiar with all of the research and believe that global warming is occurring, then you might want to wait until the movie is released on DVD. I think that one important thing that Mr. Gore states during the film is that global warming “is not a political issue. It’s a moral issue.” I could not agree more. Whether or not a person is conservative or liberal, there are just some issues we all have to look at and come to a consensus on because all the facts are there. Such is the case in this movie. If we do not act now, it will be too late to react.

While I enjoyed the movie, I do not feel like it was the best movie I have ever seen – like the hype leading up to it would have you believe. I guess it is probably because I like to find solutions to problems, and solutions really were not mentioned until the closing credits. The film did mention several solutions in the credits that we constantly address in articles on our site, so that was positive. I understand, however, that the message needs to get out first and it is up to individuals to figure out how to address it. The credits also mention the site climatecrisis.net as a resource. We certainly can provide a lot of ideas on how to reduce carbon emissions as well.

By the way, if you are worried about listening to Al Gore speak for two hours and getting bored, it should not be a concern. It is probably the most riveting slide show presentation you will ever see.

 

Category: Global Warming •• Region: General •• Comments

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