Ford: no more thinking
yeah, why even pretend you’re a green company?
Yahoo! News Full Coverage – Business – Ford to Discontinue ‘Think’ Electric Car Ford Motor Co. on Friday said it was pulling the plug on its Think electric vehicle division due to poor customer demand and lack of government support for the environmentally friendly cars.
Visit from Hell: Invasion of the aliens
Talking about climate change: lots of species are extincted every day but pest species are holding up, creep move increasingly into fields and lakes. Follow the link to read about the ‘biological evil-doers’
The Globe and Mail: Search The most recent studies put the costs of damage from just a handful of alien species in the U.S. at $137-billion (U.S.). The costs to industry alone of Canada’s most famous alien species, the dreaded zebra mussel (Driessana polymorpha), which has invaded the Great Lakes and some European water systems, is roughly $1-billion since 1989 and counting.
Some of the aliens that have just arrived, or are inexorably on the way, could inflict even more expensive damage. Asian carp, which, like the snakehead fish, can make its way across land if it needs to, is nearing the Great Lakes.
Water wars heat up
following an interesting update and briefing. worth checking out.
Who Owns Water? (1) s the World Summit on Sustainable Development draws closer, clear lines of contention are forming, particularly around the future of the world’s freshwater resources. The setting of the summit paints the picture. Government and corporate delegates to the September meeting will gather in the lavish hotels and convention facilities of Sandton, the fabulously wealthy Johannesburg suburb that houses huge estates, English gardens and swimming pools, and has become South Africa’s new financial epicenter. There, they will meet with World Bank and World Trade Organization officials to set the stage for the privatization of water.
McAfrica: only skin and bones
from the department of indigestible news
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | New from McDonald’s: the McAfrika burger (don’t tell the 12m starving) McDonald’s has been accused of extreme insensitivity after releasing a new sandwich called the “McAfrika” in Norway, one of the world’s richest countries, at a time when 12 million people are facing starvation in southern Africa. The launch of the new hamburger has infuriated the Norwegian equivalent of Christian Aid and the Norwegian Red Cross and generated a storm of bad publicity for the American fast-food giant.
Spendy Johannesburg summit
Pretzel boy George W. Bush won’t show up but around 65.000 people will invade Johannesburg soon. Now a leaked memo reminds delegates they will be in southern Africa at a time when food shortages are affecting 13 million people in the region — so delegates shouldn’t stay at top hotels…helloooohooooo! not to speak of the apparent aids problem just in the host country: 24.8% of all pregnant women in south africa were infected with aids by the end of 2001 (aids foundation south africa) …and there are a bunch of talking heads at the summit, not even an agenda and a watered down outcome, damn diplomatic, lofty goals and just ‘recommendations’..just imagine all that money it costs to fly out these people and the costs for hotels. That money could have been spent to actually cure some burning problems right away…oh well. The article below gives some more facts on this one.
NATIONAL POST Studies for the Climate Legacy estimate the delegates’ journeys and activities at the conference will generate 289,619 tons of carbon dioxide, one of the so-called greenhouse gases that are said to be contributing to global warming.
Johannesburg Summit 101
good introduction and background info on the upcoming summit in Johannesburg. follow the link
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | The journey to Johannesburg The World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa is the latest effort by the international community to balance human needs against what nature can provide. Rapid population growth, combined with increasing demands for food, water and energy is leaving the world’s eco-system struggling to cope.
Floods, water, water, water — and we talk about climate changes again and again
Terrible to see the pictures of all that water in Prague and Eastern Germany. In Prague, 200.000 people had to be evacuated, in Germany entire cities are displaced, away from that brown monster, making it’s way down into the Northern Sea..and it’s not going be over soon: The peak in Dresden ist not expected before Saturday. And in Prague’s Zoo: a gorilla drowned, several seals and two hippos escaped from the flooded zoo — just imagine sitting on one of the sand bags, relaxing from the good fight, eating your lunch, watching a hippo swim by…anyways, good timing for the German government. General election is coming up Sept.22nd and though politcians swear not to use this natural desaster and the media attention for their own sake (which basically is “pick me, pick me!”), they skulk around in their yellow rubber boots like media savvy storks in chicken soup — always waiting for that camera light be switched on..
But one thing’s for sure: There is and will be more talks and discussions on climate changes. Read (the translation) of the article below. German scientists see that as a wake-up call, a taster for more trouble to come. Well, don’t we all see that something’s screwed up here? What else do we need? Certainly not more water, at this point.
Klimaforscher zum Unwetter: “Warnschuss vor den Bug” – Wissenschaft – SPIEGEL ONLINE In den schweren Regenfällen der letzten Tage sehen Experten Anzeichen eines gravierenden Wetterwandels. Womöglich sind die Unwetter nur eine Kostprobe des künftigen Klimas.
• English translation of source using FreeTranslation.com
Canada — waiting for Kyoto, eh!?
Is Canada going to jam on Kyoto? looks like it. The Alberta (oil) connection is quite strong in fighting against the Kyoto accord. Well, Canada has to decide on several fronts: GM corn, lumber and climate politics — join Europeans and the rest of the world or stick with the US….”We are oh-so-dependable on the US..” I hear all the time from my Canadian friends. Probably true. But ever thought about alternatives, really? Going with the US means: you’re not going to sell your genetically modfied grain to Europe, Japan or even China; in Europe ‘eco-certified’ lumber is in demand (but to keep up with the US means a lumber war about cheap wood and clear cutting..) and not signing Kyoto will offend Europeans even more. And what do you get: The US is going to invade you if they’ll need more oil and gas (they have to import already 60% of their oil and gas from other countries, most of it from Canada..) just for the sake of ‘homeland security’. Better think twice. The weird thing is, that even Albertans overwhelmingly approve the Kyoto accord. Only big business is against it. How do Canadians define themselves: “We are Canadians. Proud of not being Americans.” When it comes to environmental protection I don’t really see many differences any more. Then, I’ve heard rumours that Chretien may sign it today. Brazil signed it and Canadians are looking to China and India. Chretien needs to show his country and his party that he’s a real leader. If he’s going to flake out on that the Paul Martins of this country will gobble him up alive. So, we’ll see. O Canada….!
The Globe and Mail: Search If people are so concerned about the issue, why are they waiting for an institutionalized nod toward the problems of global warming and environmental degradation? If we are serious about saving the world as we know it, we are going to have to make personal sacrifices and change how we live. We should use cars only when absolutely necessary, outfit them with the best emissions-reduction technology, support the development of less harmful fuels, cut back on consumption of manufactured goods, and stop throwing poisonous chemicals at everything we don’t like.
But instead, we get selfish attitudes such as those of the couple in rural Ontario who are against a wind-power project in their area because it might spoil their view (Wind Turbines May Be Green But Some See Only Eyesore — Aug. 5).
It seems that people want Kyoto because it will assuage their guilt about living highly wasteful and environmentally damaging lifestyles, with the presumption that it will mostly affect the industrial sector but not our right to own cars (especially those evil SUVs) and drive them on the slightest pretext.
