Chasing Clean Air

How to feel better

I confess. I woke up in a funk, and to ease my discomfort I bought a Luna Luz dress in shocking pink on Ebay.

Then, knowing it was an emotionally-charged buy (regarding life details I haven't shared), I went to the beach in my blue Luna Luz dress and walked in the sand with tides coming up and going and covering my toes, going out again, leaving salt sparkling in the sand like a million diamonds beaming hello, I'm all for you.

A blanket of diamonds spread before me...

And I was reminded no matter what's going on, I need nature rain or shine (it never rains here) and I don't need to spend a dime.

Sparkling diamonds in the sand are free, and more special than a dress.

Though I'm glad this new dress is coming.

Not Everyone Can Drive A Car If We're To Save The Planet

This is today's topic on the blog, How You Can Save The World, which is a platform for visionaries intent on making the world a better place.

PBS and Frontline's Heat: The Story of Global-Warming Airs

Frontline's film Heat aired on PBS this evening. It was a comprehensive show about global warming.

I think they did a very good job of showing the worst culprits on the path to global warming... coal, fossil fuel, corrupt leadership.

They interviewed bright scientists, and lame U.S. political leaders, and selfish leaders of coal companies in China and N. America. Leaders more interested in shareholders views than the view of millions who will be gravely impacted by floods, fires, hurricanes and other extreme weather events coming to a city or town near you.

They gave an overview, skimming the surface of what's happening at major energy and auto companies, which are our biggest carbon polluters contributing to global warming now.

Along with these polluters the documentary mentioned co-conspirators. My words. That would be you and me and our habits driving and turning on the lights (a pound of coal?) and the stove, and how about this computer I'm typing on?

Heat did an excellent job of this overview, especially explaining how there is no clean in "clean coal" which is a big hoax.

I do hope our leaders watch this show since I've heard even Obama talks of clean coal, which clearly does not exist. The chances it ever will are slim to none.   

One thing the documentary didn't do, perhaps because of time constraints, was to showcase just how fertile alternative fuel and energy businesses are quickly coming to market.

Algae farms and tidal waves for example. As well as while GM futzes with its hybrid Chevy Volt, trying to perfect its "engines", there are several auto companies in California, Singapore, and the Netherlands, to name a few gearing up to sell an electric car somewhere near you. I've written about many, but I'm too tired to go through my previous posts to name them now. You can go to my category Clean Cars, and read about Think and others.

Help Stop Gorilla Massacre & Educate A Child

I'm recommending a new children's book called Looking for Miza: The True Story of the Mountain Gorilla Famly Who Rescued One Of Their Own.

The book was produced as a joint project with the Clinton Global Initiative to raise awareness of our planet's endangered mountain gorillas.

Heat - Frontline's film to air on PBS

Heat!

Tuesday evening, October 21, at 9pm on PBS (check local listings) Frontline will air a show about climate change entitled Heat.

While I haven't seen it yet, I plan to and encourage you to watch Heat, too.

The film will be online and accessible after it airs, here.

This photo is the melting Athabasca glacier along the Columbia Icefield Parkway, which I took this summer when I went to glorious Canada and scouted clean air locations, as well as documented climate change's effects on eco-systems. For example this melting glacier will contribute more water to local rivers that feed Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. I wrote about my climate change glacial exploration here.

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How I Voted Today in Presidential Election: Obama. Yes on 7. No on 10.

I voted absentee this morning, and this is how I voted on clean air issues and leadership, and I include spiritual clean air, too.

Obama.

Obama is by far our best presidential choice, though I disagree with some of his clean energy ideas. You can read what and why here.

Yes on 1A for a safe, reliable high-speed passenger train bond act.

No on 4 which would change Calif. constitution prohibiting abortion for minors until parent notification.

I personally know of a teenager who killed herself because of her strict catholic upbringing rather than tell her family and face consequences.

Yes on 7, which will require government owned utilities to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable energy by 2010, and raises requirement for all utilities to 40% safe renewables by 2020, and 50% by 2025.

I took this photo of Los Angeles air from plane in Aug. 2007. Almost 17% of California's electricity comes from climate change producing coal from Utah and other western states. That may not sound like a lot to you but consider California powers homes and buildings for almost 37 million people!

And we 37 million need to plug our electric cars and trucks into renewable energy sources so we don't have black unfit-to-breathe air.

The No on 7 backers talk about taking decisions for renewables away from local communities, and how the bill is poorly written.

Our dirty air/climate change problems are incredibly bigger than any one community or flawly written plan. 

I don't know how flawly written the plan is but I do know that all plans put into action go through tweaking and changing, and the bottom-line is we need big safe renewable projects put into motion fast now.

Some environmentalists argue that there won't be enough environmental due diligence when constructing new solar or wind plants. This we won't know, but then we never do.

We'll need competent people in place at the energy commission, that's for sure. We do whether they work fast or slow. When I was a student I frequently finished a test first in the class because I tend to be a fast worker and I got an A, which makes me think when the right people are in place, working toward a worthy goal, all will be sky blue sooner rather than later.

We must do the right thing now for the sake of clean air, climate change and protecting the planet, which is why I voted Yes on 7.

No on 10. This alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy initiative would take billions from California's General Fund to help mostly rich people like T. Boone Pickens materialize his natural gas fuel vehicles and highway plan.

What makes much better sense is to create a reliable high-speed passenger train (Yes on Prop 1A) and get our renewable energy up and running, (Yes Prop 7) and create plug-in electric cars so we can all drive clean along a blue sky horizon very soon.