Greenspiration News: energy, war, cars

[angela bischoff]

Greenspiration News

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was
service. I acted and behold, service was joy.

- Rabindranath Tagore - philosopher, author, songwriter, painter,
educator, composer, Nobel laureate (1861-1941)

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We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

$427 million. That’s what the oil and coal industries spent during the
first half of 2008 on lobbying and advertising. They’re protecting their
interests – and hurting ours.

This 1 minute ad is running on US TV stations right now. Watch it here.
http://www.wecansolveit.org/content/pages/371/

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Talkin' 'bout my generation
Good news! Soaring energy costs could get even worse, spurring a new era
in which people make clean power for themselves.
Blaine Greteman | Ode Magazine, September 2008 issue

In the 1920s, millions of rural Americans got their energy the same way
they got their butter—they made it themselves. Off-grid when off-grid
wasn’t cool, they used some 600,000 windmills to run radios and power,
maintaining sputtering lights with an electric current that ebbed, flowed
and sometimes simply disappeared with the prairie wind. Fully 90 percent
of those windmills disappeared within a generation, as even the most
isolated farmers eagerly plugged in to the new centralized power system.

But today the same technologies that help iPod-bedecked college students
steal music are reviving the model of microgeneration—clean, decentralized
power that people make themselves—by linking homes into a vast network
that keeps buzzing even when the wind stops blowing. Microgeneration, meet
the YouTube generation.

“We’re talking about a new meaning of ‘power to the people,’” raves Jeremy
Rifkin, alternative energy activist and adviser to the European Union and
many European governments. Forget about wind farms and solar plants run by
conventional utility companies, he says. “In the new energy regime, the
people are the utilities and their houses are the power plants.”

Full article: http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/56/talkin-bout-my-generation/

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Nuclear waste containers likely to fail, warns 'devastating' report

Environment Agency reveals thousands of holders do not meet basic
specifications for storage and disposal

The Independent (UK), 24 August 2008

Thousands of containers of lethal nuclear waste are likely to fail before
being safely sealed away underground, a devastating official report
concludes.

The unpublicised report is by the Environment Agency, which has to approve
any proposals for getting rid of the waste that remains deadly for tens of
thousands of years.

The document effectively destroys Britain's already shaky disposal plans
just as ministers are preparing an expansion of nuclear power.

It shows that many containers used to store the waste are made of
second-rate materials, are handled carelessly, and are liable to corrode.

The report concludes: "It is cautious to assume a significant proportion
will fail." It says computer models suggest up to 40 per cent of them
could be at risk.

Britain's leading expert on nuclear waste yesterday called the report
"devastating" and Peter Ainsworth, the Conservative environment spokesman,
said he would write to ministers to urge them to "make changes to ensure
public safety". He added: "Such a warning from the Environment Agency must
be taken extremely seriously. The failure of just one container could
prove catastrophic."

Full article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/nuclear-waste-containers-likely-to-fail-warns-devastating-report-907200.html

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War Resisters Support Campaign -- Stop the Deportations
Let U.S. Iraq War Resisters stay in Canada

Sat. September 13th is a pan-Canadian Day of Action to support U.S. Iraq
war resisters and to demand that the Harper government immediately stop
the deportations.

Actions, demonstrations, and pickets will take place in cities and towns
all across Canada.

For more info: http://www.resisters.ca/september13.html

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move against torture

Join the Fall 2008 Caravan to End Canadian Involvement in Torture
Southwestern Ontario, October 17-22, 2008

Join a nonviolent community on wheels for part or all of our journey as we
travel through dozens of communities.

The Caravan intends to expose and challenge the many ways in which the
Canadian government is increasingly involved, both directly and
indirectly, in policies and practices that result in the torture of human
beings.

Although Canada has traditionally been no wallflower when it comes to
supporting regimes that engage in the most brutal of human rights
violations (whether politically or economically), its complicity in the
torture of human beings has come into sharper focus in the years following
9/11/2001. The Canadian government is openly flouting its international
and domestic legal obligations NEVER to be involved directly or indirectly
in acts of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment. Some of the world's most vulnerable people are being abandoned
in the name of "national security".

For more info: http://homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/

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Out of Sight – Out of Mind:
Toronto's ‘Streets to Homes’ Response to Homelessness

John Clarke, OCAP

The City of Toronto's ‘Streets to Homes’ program is a finalist for one of
two awards that will be presented during the celebration of United
Nations' World Habitat Day. These annual awards are given for “practical
and innovative solutions to current housing needs and problems.” ‘Streets
to Homes’ is an initiative that focuses on placing people who are on the
streets in housing units, and is presented as a bold and vital step that
can actually eliminate the destitution of poverty in Toronto.

There is a glaring contradiction between the ‘Streets to Homes’ initiative
as it is presented by its boosters in Toronto City Hall and the quiet,
hidden misery that plays out in the lives its ‘success stories.’ Even
viewed, simply and immediately, as a program that has put some 1,500
homeless people into housing units over three years, there is much that is
flawed and even shameful about ‘Streets to Homes.’ However, the bigger
question and the greater outrage lies in its role in both concealing and
serving an agenda of driving the poor and homeless from the centre of the
city in the interests of redevelopment.

Full article: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/bullet134.html#continue

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>From the latest Harper's Magazine Harper's Index:

Number of deaths in Florida last year caused by illegal drugs: 946.
Number caused by prescription drugs: 2,002.

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Drivers to pay for oil shock

The Dominion Post | Friday, 22 August 2008

Motorists should pay more to drive cars - including more expensive car
parks, and fees to use the roads - if New Zealand is to survive rising oil
prices, a comprehensive new report says.

The increased costs would be coupled with investment in public transport,
tax breaks for fuel-efficient vehicles, laws requiring new developments to
provide showers and lockers for walkers and bikers, improved urban design,
and encouraging businesses to swap company cars for cash or bus subsidies.

The independent report, Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices
Rise, was commissioned by the Government's New Zealand Transport Agency as
a response to rising petrol prices.

Full article here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4664442a6000.html

Report "Managing Transport Challenges When Oil Prices Rise" is here:
http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/research/reports/357.pdf

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California to offer pay-as-you-drive insurance plan

Californians who minimize their driving could shell out less for insurance
under a pay-as-you-go plan proposed Wednesday by Insurance Commissioner
Steve Poizner. 

Under the voluntary plan, annual insurance rates would be based on miles
driven, incentivizing Golden Staters to stay out of their cars. 

"As a strong advocate of healthy market competition and a healthy
environment, I am especially pleased to encourage this kind of innovation
and additional options for consumers," says Poizner. 

A recent study found that two-thirds of California households could save
an average $276 per vehicle by opting for the plan; participation by 30
percent of Californians would save 5.5 billion gallons of gas and cut
greenhouse gases by 55 million tons over the next 11 years, according to
the Environmental Defense Fund. 

Thirty-four other states have similar pay-as-you-go plans; Poizner hopes
to have California's in place by no later than fall 2009.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure28-2008aug28,0,1949890.story

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GREENPEACE ACTION CAMP
Sept. 19-21st
Edmonton, Alberta

Greenpeace is offering a 3-day action camp to help you expand your
activist toolbox.

The 3-day camp will cover a variety of different areas. From informational
sessions on the Alberta tar sands, to workshops on topics ranging from
non-violent direct action, media, art and activism, campaign planning and
more.

There is something for everyone in this camp and a great way for the new
activist to learn a bunch of skills and meet a lot of people and for the
veteran activist to hone old skills and learn some new ones.

The camp will be out of town. Transportation by bus will be provided.

Accommodations are through camping but all meals are provided.

Cost is between $30-$50 for the weekend but no one will be turned away due
to lack of funds.

To request a registration form contact Mike at
<mailto:itstimetoriseup at gmail.com>itstimetoriseup at gmail.com.

Action Camp
September 19-21st.
Outside of Edmonton.
Starts at 7:00 on the 19th.

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