TresSugar

Protesting the Weather: Climate Change Activists Storm Capitol

LibertySugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:01:03 -0800

Activists braved the cold and snow yesterday to participate in Capitol Climate Action Day. The day of civil disobedience focused on getting the capitol's power plant to ditch coal for natural gas. Participants cut off access to the plant's entrances and refused to leave when asked. The group followed action guidelines, which included a ban on violence and damage to property.

NASA's chief climate scientist Dr. James Hansen took some heat for encouraging the act of civil disobedience. The scientist, who claimed the Bush administration muzzled him, thinks:

We need to send a message to Congress and the president that we want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for young people and future generations and all life on the planet.

DC's nonvoting congressperson Eleanor Holmes Norton also supports the cause. She says the plant has "poisoned untold numbers of people who live in the District of Columbia." Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the plant, to switch it to natural gas. Maybe the protesters will get what they asked for.

To see more photos of the protest, read more.

View 9 Photos ›

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The Coen Brothers Take on Dirty Clean Coal

CitizenSugar — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:38:02 -0800

Academy Award-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen are taking on the oxymoron that is "clean coal." The brothers directed the spot for the Reality Campaign to "call out the coal industry on their dirty lies." The group wants to spread the message that "clean" coal is like a healthy cigarette, while also pointing out that no clean coal plant actually exists in the US.

While the Coen brothers work on the powerful PR message against clean coal, President Obama gave it a shout-out in his speech to Congress this week, calling it an environmentally friendly, and cost-effective energy source. Maybe Obama was swayed by the American Coalition For Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), which spent millions of coal industry money in advertising last year to promote clean coal.

Dancing For Energy! Partying Powers Dutch Nightclub

LibertySugar — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 07:00:47 -0700

All music is ~~electronic~~ electric at Rotterdam's Club Watt. A newly installed dance floor traps energy generated from dancing, and then converts it to electricity.

Yesterday's New York Times profiled the sustainable dance club, explaining that people can see the results of their energy creation. The floor powers a light show displayed around the dancers. At Watt, other green innovations help keep the party going: rainwater fills the toilets, and everything from the bar is recycled. When it's cold, band amplifiers and other musical equipment generate the heat.

The head of the group behind the Dutch club says: "Our idea is that there’s enough energy in this world, you just have to use it the right way. If you have a full dance club, there’s lots there, you just have to turn it into a usable product.” Sounds like a great idea to me!

Friendships That Drain Your Energy

DearSugar — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:00:00 -0700

An article in the Huffington Post earlier this week noted how difficult it can be to find good friends, which is something we've all dealt with I'm sure. In response, the article offers some tips for successful friendships, the last of which I found particularly relevant. It states:

Before you spend time with a friend check out how your energy feels on a scale of 1 to 10. Then once you have spent time with them, notice if you feel more energized or drained and again, give it a number between 1 and 10. If they have drained you and you seem to feel that each time you are with them over a long period then perhaps it is time to move on from that friendship. If you feel energized after your interaction or time together, then fantastic, that is a nourishing relationship.

I've noticed this phenomenon in my own life. After time with some of my friends, my mood is immediately perked whereas there are others I tend to avoid spending time with because I know I'll feel drained afterwards. It's not that they're bad people; they just tend to demand more energy and leave me feeling anything but nourished. Do you have any friends or people in your life that leave you feeling like this, too? If so, how do you deal with them?

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Are We There Yet? Long Campaign Devolves Into Party Favors?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 08:16:22 -0700

It seems impossible to remember a time BC: Before Campaign. That may be because we've been at this game seriously since 2006. By the time the US votes, it will be a vote two years in the making (at that rate, isn't it time to start the 2012 campaign?) Perhaps because of this stretched out schedule, the capacity for substantive debate has been also stretched - to the snapping point.

Whether a function of the campaigns themselves running out of ways (gimmicks?) to keep themselves in the public eye for an interminable amount of time, the media's fatigue with covering yet another town hall in yet another town, or the public's appetite for newer, better, flashier, the campaign we're seeing now, well it's a little stinky.

Case in point: the Obama Energy Plan tire gauge. I admit, I saw it and winced. Because now that we've seen it all, every move, especially during these lazy days of summer, is heightened in import to a major event - and when McCain is actually out there and talking about his plan in a more conventional way.

Now, the gauge itself, kind of funny. Obama did say we should inflate our tires. The doohickey just takes a statement and gives it legs in a party favor format. And I don't doubt it was meant as a joke - McCain is famous for them, like when Obama was on his big trip abroad, and the McCain team handed out gag press credentials to the domestic-bound crew traveling with him that read "JV Squad: Left Behind to Report in America." I mean just using the word "JV" in an adult setting is inherently funny - but what does it say about the discourse? To find out, and see Paris Hilton's response to the celebrity ad with an energy plan of her own, read more.

Here's the rub: even though stunts like this and the celebrity-filled ad get picked up and talked about, I question whether they might do more harm than good. McCain has an energy plan, the Lexington Project, and it's not too shabby. Obama's got one too and there are substantive comparisons out there, in addition to the candidates' own websites that spell out their entire energy policies. I have faith that there is room for levity and gravitas in the campaign, but given the duration of constant scrutiny, one tire gauge can be spun as the sum total of a plan when that's far from the truth.

Do stories like the tire gauge and the celeb ad make the campaign lighter than air - or simply lighten the mood?

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The How-To Lounge: Preventing Work-Week Burnout

DearSugar — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:00:00 -0700

Between early morning wake-ups, a full day of work or school, the usual obligations like taking out trash and doing laundry, weekdays are both burdensome and exhausting. And while visions of Friday night might keep us relatively sane, I have a few more things to remember while you’re trying to avoid work-week overload. To see them please read more.

Live a little! Give yourself something to look forward to in the middle of the week, like a pizza night with girlfriends or a trip to the movies.
A late night or two during the week is manageable, but avoid getting into the pattern of extending your bedtime. Maintaining a reasonable schedule will make a huge difference in your energy level during the week.
Getting accustomed to healthy patterns like going to bed early, exercising in the evenings, or bringing healthy lunches to work are great ways to keep you focused during the week. But it’s important to keep your routine exciting. Every week or two, switch things up to keep a little spice in your weekday life.
Give yourself a night off. Order take-out or come up with a no-cook meal. Grab a magazine, paint your nails, enjoy a long hot bath, or a take walk at sunset. All the chores you need to do will still be there tomorrow.
Try a new hobby that you can work on during your free time, like scrapbooking or tennis. It will feel great to accomplish something outside of the office, especially something that’s just for you.

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Barack Obama is Jesus Christ, George W. Bush the Devil?

LibertySugar — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:00:35 -0700

Barack Obama and George W. Bush share one thing in common: they produce strong reactions. Filmmaker Spike Lee has recently likened Obama to Jesus Christ, while over at John McCain's camp they've released a statement that suggests showing McCain with George W. Bush is enough to constitute an attack ad.

Spike, confident that Obama will win, uses the Jesus imagery to suggest that after Obama becomes president we will no longer use BC and AD to chronicle time, but BO and AO. Spike explained:

"When that happens, it will change everything . . .You'll have to measure time by "Before Obama" and "After Obama." It's an exciting time to be alive now."

Meanwhile, the George W. Bush embrace of McCain in Obama's new energy ad, used to show the two Republicans' similarity on energy, has made the devil out of President Bush. The ad goes on to debunk distortions included in McCain's ad on energy. To see the latest Obama ad read more.

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T. Boone Pickens Is Going to Save the Economy With Hot Air

CitizenSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:15:44 -0700

I'm saying it right now: T. Boone Pickens for president. The former oil-man-billionaire-turned-wind-power revolutionary is suddenly everywhere and it's like a breath of fresh air. Pickens of his eponymous Pickens Plan is building the world's largest wind farm. His website, which launched today, is determined to shock the US into becoming the Saudi Arabia of wind.

The hemorrhaging of $700 billion dollars a year, an increase of about 50 percent more reliance on foreign imports since the 1970s, is ruining our country. Pickens says, "I've been an oil man my whole life, but this is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

To see a consciousness-rocking explanation of the Pickens Plan by T. Boone himself (oh, and also changing my name to T. Boone) read more.

Though he's started running flashy ads to promote his plan, I'm sold on this straight-forward, Perot-style chart presentation. One watch and you'll wonder why T. Boone just tipped today. Starting with the optimistic, "we got more wind than anybody else does," his plan is explained in the most lucid way I've seen, showing how his one wind farm in Pampa, TX, can save the US $300 billion a year.

Is wind power the answer, or a lot of hot air? At least there hasn't been a massive "wind spill" today, unlike some nuclear sites. Is the Pickens Plan the salvation our economy needs?

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Fighting the New American Revolution - Energy Independence

CitizenSugar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:00:26 -0700

The US is gearing up to celebrate Independence Day, the day when citizens vowed to fight against crushing taxes, inflation, and a rising price of necessities - Americans took a stand then against tyranny, and fought. Now as the country picnics and watches fireworks to commemorate that fight, is the situation any different?

Taxes, inflation, cost of necessities - what was once tea, is now Texas Tea - oil, all factors point to another fight. Is energy the new American Revolution? In this new battle for independence, are citizens willing to sacrifice to win freedom from the tyrannous and costly addiction we have to standard forms of energy?

John McCain's plan for a modern energy revolution takes that parallel seriously - he's dubbed his energy revolution the "Lexington Project," named for the town where, according to his speech last week, "Americans asserted their independence once before." To see the battle plan for energy independence, read more.

McCain's Lexington Project includes:

Expanding Domestic Oil And Natural Gas Exploration And Production: "John McCain believes it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use. There is no easier or more direct way to prove to the world that we will no longer be subject to the whims of others than to expand our production capabilities."
Taking Action Now To Break Our Dependency On Foreign Oil By Reforming Our Transportation Sector: Which includes innovation incentives like his Clean Car Challenge.

Investing In Clean, Alternative Sources Of Energy: The plan commits $2 billion annually to clean coal technologies and 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030.
Protecting Our Environment By Addressing Climate Change: Basically this: "A climate cap-and-trade mechanism would set a limit on greenhouse gas emissions and allow entities to buy and sell rights to emit, similar to the successful acid rain trading program of the early 1990s."
Promoting Energy Efficiency: By making the federal government conserve too - since they are the largest electricity consumer on the planet.
Addressing Speculative Pricing Of Oil: No Carter-inspired windfall profits tax and strict policing on energy market-wagering abuses.

Will this do it? Is the US headed into a new revolution? Is the US ready to wage a war for energy independence? Is it time for a Boston SUV party?

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You Drive Me Crazy? McCain's Car Prize and Obama's Ethanol

CitizenSugar — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:00:32 -0700

John McCain is putting money where his energy mouth is: he's just announced he's proposing a $300 million government prize for the successful development of a car battery that far surpasses existing technology. The prize haul is equal to $1 for every man, woman, and child in the country, which he says is "a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency."

If you're thinking about entering, the winning device should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have "the size, capacity, cost, and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars." Looking toward rewarding success in finding eco-autos, he's also promoting a Clean Car Challenge that will give US automakers with a $5,000 tax credit for every zero-carbon emissions car they develop and sell.

McCain says of the prize, "In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure. From now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success."

Get out of my dreams, get into my car? Perhaps.

Who's driving Barack Obama's "Pink Cadillac?" To find out, read more.

Last summer Obama was on hand to cut the ribbon at the new VeraSun Energy ethanol processing plant. As a senator from Illinois, the country’s second largest corn-producing state, he delivered a full-throttle endorsement of ethanol as an alternative fuel.
He said that ethanol, “ultimately helps our national security, because right now we’re sending billions of dollars to some of the most hostile nations on earth.” Saying that US oil dependence, "makes it more difficult for us to shape a foreign policy that is intelligent and is creating security for the long term.”

McCain sharply disagrees on the corn-as-fuel plan as well as subsidies for it, saying, “we made a series of mistakes by not adopting a sustainable energy policy, one of which is the subsidies for corn ethanol, which I warned in Iowa were going to destroy the market.” Obama favors the subsidies, some of which inevitably wind up in the hands of the same oil companies he says should be subjected to a windfall profits tax.

Who's driving the better auto alternative? More ethanol? A prize for developing a better battery? Is either plan "Paradise by the Dashboard Light?"

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