Chasing Clean Air

Lester Brown's Plan B is a Fabulous Environmental PBS Film

Last night I happened upon the amazing, highly recommended PBS 90-minute film, which is based on the environmentalist and globally-respected thinker, Lester Brown's Plan B book series:

Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization

The biggest take-away of the film, which beautifully illustrates global problems and solutions through Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, New Delhi, Rome, Istanbul, Ankara, and Washington, DC, is this:

There is an urgent need now for government to create a massive response to our energy and climate change problems.

Harness the wind, the sun, and geothermal. On massive scales.

President Roosevelt's response to WW11 was given as an example of how this could happen. Roosevelt went to auto makers and told them that instead of building cars they'd build tanks. And within a very short period of time, the US was ready for war on a massive scale.

Just Say No To Cap and Trade & Yes for Clean Air

David vs Goliath has been elevated to a band of minorities attacking Cap & Trade for the right to breathe clean air in California.

Writing the Chasing Clean Air blog, I hear the refrain all the time:

Where is my right to breathe clean air?

The Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment is going for the jugular attacking Cap & Trade at the heart of California's AB 32 Global Warming bill. They are suing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for creating an environmental law that unfairly burdens their beleaguered communities. 

Communities living near polluting industrial sources have higher rates of cancer and asthma.

The Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment motion could delay the implementation of parts of the Global Warming Solutions Act.

Good for them. Great! Great for bringing attention to what in my opinion is a preposterous cap-and-trade program, a so-called "solution" to climate change and air pollution, which gives polluters the right to buy offsets anywhere but where they pollute! 

In other words, cap-and-trade green lights polluters to keep polluting.

Here's a list of some of California's top polluters which happen to be in Los Angeles county. Would you prefer industry invest in a Wyoming wind farm instead of cleaning up their own back-yard?

How will that help global warming, air pollution and impacted California communities?

Instead of polluters putting their money into offsets, how about making them fix leaking valves and find better technology?

AB 32 requires 360 California businesses representing more than 600 polluting facilities to limit greenhouse gas pollution, or purchase offsets through a market-based system.

The cap-and-trade-program approved by the CARB board in December 2010, allows companies to compensate for their pollution by buying a carbon credit for projects located in other states, and in some cases, in Mexico.

What To Do With a Lot Of Money. Preserve Land

Most of us don't have this problem, and for some reason I've thought about what if?

Just in case.

Not the case.

But I came up with buying a lot of land preferably with trees and lakes. Or donating to a cause like The Nature Conservancy.

Meanwhile, two men with lots of money are buying up land in Patagonia and Maine/New Hampshire to preserve. A lot of undeveloped land...

Radiation From Japan Arrived To Southern California This Morning

I woke up in sunny Southern California to learn that radiation from Japan arrived earlier than expected today.

We're told not to worry.

It's tiny amounts of radiation. We get more radiation just walking the dog, talking on a cell phone...

No one has mentioned a potential cumulative effect over a period of days/weeks/months? I guess they'd say the same "it's safe".

Maybe it is. I'm no scientist.

What happens if the third reactor with plutonium blows? (I read plutonium is heavy and unlikely wouldn't be carried by wind)

I don't feel like worrying, I feel like calling Obama and Governor Brown. I just did. To share how I feel about nuclear energy in California.

Be heard

To leave a message for President Obama: (202) 456-1111

To leave a message for California's Governor Jerry Brown: (916) 445-2841

We have old nuclear power plants sitting near fault-lines in earthquake country. I don't believe Obama when he says our 104 nuclear plants are safe. How can he know?

Who Is Testing For Radiation in America and British Columbia's West Coast?

Given the magnitude of Japan's tragedy, it's the story on North Americans lips.

A lot of us are helping, and you can too.

Japan Fundraiser To donate $10 to the Red Cross to aid Japan text REDCROSS to 90999

But in California there's also a hushed conversation, a self-centered conversation you might say given Japan's massive suffering, but it's going on quietly in coffee shops, cell phones between friends, strangers at the gym, and consumers at pharmacies wanting to know about iodide tablets:

Is it time to prepare for potential nuclear fallout from Japan's wind blowing to America's west coast?

On the news 3/16/11 a Japanese government spokesman said he,

"Can't rule out possibility of a melt-down."

I'm not educated well enough on this subject, and there are conflicting ideas out there.

Yet...

Writing from earthquake prone California where we're supposed to be prepared at all times for an earthquake that may or may not occur, I'm not sure why health officials in America are playing down potential radiation fallout from Japan.

The distance between Japan and California is approximately 5,500 miles.

We still don't know how the nuclear plants will fare with time.

As of this writing there hasn't been a for sure total nuclear meltdown but if it's possible, let's get educated.

A few days after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown, Stockholm, Sweden--1000 miles away--is thought to have experienced radioactive rain which got into their soil because winds carried nuclear particles.

Japan

I wanted to express my condolences and sympathy for Japan's people during their earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear tragedy.

I have great respect for Japan, its people, customs, and products.

I am personally indebted to Japan for bringing me pleasure combined with reliability through my Nikon camera and awesome lenses, my 13 year old Lexus that never breaks down and provides a safe and comfortable ride, my 5-year old Sony flat screen TV that never breaks and provides excellent pictures.

My love for sushi and seaweed salad at local Japanese restaurants, wherever I travel, visiting Japanese gardens, and now I'm learning how civilized a culture can be based on how they treat one another during a disaster.