Posts

Showing posts from March, 2009

BEEF EATERS

Image
. . . . .IN ONE PHOTO IS A VIEW OF SOEUL KOREA IN 2008,DURING A RALLY TO PROTEST THE IMPORT OF BEEF CATTLE....the beef cattle industry is NOT eco-friendly.

EARTH HOUR SINGAPORE STYLE

. . . .And despite business on a Saturday night usually being brisk, many hotels, including Four Seasons, Parkroyal on Beach Road and Hotel Rendezvous will offer candlelight meals and special refreshments to mark the occasion in their food and beverage outlets. Even Changi Airport will mark the occasion by having decorative and non-operational lighting switched off in the three main terminals for one hour. Amidst the soaring corporate and individual pledges to Earth Hour, a group of 1,200 student volunteers is also taking the message to the heartlands. The students, from schools such as Damai Secondary and Singapore Polytechnic and aged 15 to 25 years old, will knock on the doors of 30,000 households to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourage residents' participation in the global 'switch off'. Their efforts are estimated to reach out to over 105,000 residents in areas such as Bukit Panjang, Bedok and Eunos. Read the full story in today's edition of The

MANULIFE

TORONTO (Reuters) - Manulife Financial Corp will pay outgoing chief executive Dominic D'Alessandro $12.5 million for less than six months of work in 2009, following a year in which its stock price nearly halved. (news item:reuters march 27 2009) . . . .EVER WONDER . .WHERE THEY SPEND THEIR MILLIONS ?

BRAZIL OIL STRIKE

Image
. . . . . . .Tens of thousands of Brazilian oil workers have begun a five-day strike to protest against pay cuts and working conditions. At least 50,000 of 74,000 production workers at Petrobras, the state-run oil firm, halted work at refineries, oil wells and platforms on Monday, said the National Oil Workers Federation.(ALJAZEERA NEWS ITEM MARCH 25 2009) . . .THE HUNT FOR FOSSIL FUELS CONTINUES. . .IN THE OCEANS AND ON LAND EVERYWHERE.

TOYOTA DARLING

. . . . . . TOKYO (MarketWatch) -- Japanese automakers reported on Tuesday sharp declines in domestic sales and exports for the month of February, along with similar drops in global production. Toyota Motor Corp. Japan's largest automaker, reported that worldwide auto production, including output from its subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. Ltd. and Hino Motors Ltd., fell by 49.6% in February from a year ago, to 434,179 units. For Toyota, February auto output in Japan fell by 64% and domestic sales were down by 32.5%, with exports falling 68.5%. Including the two subsidiaries, Japanese production was down 56.4%, domestic sales fell 25.2% and exports sank 68.4%. Japan's second-largest automaker, Honda Motor Co. said its global automobile production for February fell for a fourth month in a row, down 42.7% compared to a year ago at 190,680 units, as output in Japan fell by 48.4%. . . . . . . . . . . . .TOYOTA . . .ONCE . . . . THE . . . . . DARLING .. . . . .OF.. THE.. AUTOMOTIVE

CHINA EARTH HOUR

12,000 POUNDS CO2

. . . . . . . . .. IS EMITTED . . . . .FROM THE AVERAGE CAR PER YEAR . . . .OR 19 . .. . POUNDS . . . PER GALLON OF GASOLINE (AFTER COMBUSTION) . .AND YET . . . . WE CONTINUE TO . . . .TOLERATE THIS INDUSTRY WITH . . . . BAILOUT MONEY . . .COURTESY OF THE . . . . . GENEROUS BUT GULLIBLE TAXPAYERS . . .(YOU AND ME). . . .AN EXELLENT REPORT IN THE MARCH 2009 . . . . .NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE IS A MUST READ . . . . . . FOR ANY ONE THAT WANTS . . . . . .TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUES SURROUNDING . . . . . . CARBON DIOXIDE(GREENHOUSE GAS) EMISSIONS . . .. . . FROM NORMAL HOUSE APPLIANCES . . . . . . .AND ALSO VERY GOOD INFO AND PICTURES . .. . .. OF THE TAR SANDS OIL EXTRACTION . . . . . .. GOING ON IN ALBERTA CANADA. . .HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

AUTO BAILOUT SCAM

George Mobiot - Paying drivers to scrap their old cars and buy new ones will do nothing to catalyse a low-carbon transport revolution So prepare yourselves, ladies and gentlemen, for the worst scam of all. It's another reward for failure, but this one offers no prospect of rescuing the economy. Thanks to its cunning disguise as an environmental measure, we seem willing to be conned. Every pound we spend on driving is a pound withheld from the alternatives, many of which (such as buses and trains) employ far more people for the same amount of money. This leaves only the value of preserving the industry for its own sake. It is hard to think of a less deserving cause. The motor companies have repeatedly failed to anticipate trends in demand. They have carried on producing thunderous gas guzzlers long after the market collapsed. Every so often the bosses wring their hands about jobs, put out the begging bowl, get the money, then shaft their workers anyway. Like the bankers, they have w

PICKERING NUCLEAR

Image
Greenpeace activists are blocking a main gate at the Pickering nuclear station to demand nuclear energy be replaced with green energy. Three activists have tied themselves to a flatbed truck carrying a large caricature of Energy Minister George Smitherman with a caption reading, "Don't nuke green energy." Spokesperson Shawn-Patrick Stensil says his group wants Smitherman to explain why he won't replace the Pickering nuclear station with green energy when the reactors reach the end of their lives in 2013. Stensil says the minister talks a lot about green power but needs to take concrete action. He adds if Smitherman is really interested in expanding green power, he can prove it by replacing the nuclear reactors. Stensil, one of 14 activists taking part in the protest, says spending money on nuclear plants robs renewable energy of the financing it needs to grow in the province. "You can't plan to spend tens of billions on nuclear reactors and call yourself gree

USE LESS ELECTRICITY

"The Green Energy Act is certainly a serious attempt to strengthen green energy in the province, but the government seems to be going on two tracks," said Mark Lutes, climate change and energy policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation. "On the one hand, they're putting some serious effort into [renewable energy] … but on the other hand, they may also be going full steam ahead on new nuclear acquisitions … If they invest significant resources now in the tens of millions of dollars they're thinking of investing in nuclear, it would undermine the intentions of the Green Energy Act." Lutes is not the only one who has expressed concern at the McGuinty government's seemingly contradictory message surrounding their commitment to green energy. Jack Gibbons, the chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance voiced an opinion similar to that of Lutes and the David Suzuki Foundation. "Yes, we think the current proposed act is good, it's an important step for

AUTO INDUSTRY HYPE

. . .IN THE USA,JAPAN,INDIA,GERMANY AND KOREA THERE IS A CHORUS OF HYPE IN FAVOUR OF BAILOUTS FOR THE AUTO INDUSTRY. . . .THIS IS A FAMILIAR TACTIC USED BY CAR SALESMEN WHEN THEY WISH TO SELL THEIR PRODUCT . . . .AND THEY ARE MASTERS AT THEIR CRAFT . . .HOWEVER IT DISPLAYS AN IGNORANCE THAT SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED BY THINKING PEOPLE . . . ALL OVER THE WORLD . .A . .SLIGHT BLIP . .IN SALES OF MOTOR VEHICLES IN A PREVIOUS MONTH IS BALLY HOOED AS A RESURGENCE OF THIS DINOSAUR CAR INDUSTRY . . .AND THE SCARY PART IS THAT SOME GOVERNMENTS ARE ACTUALLY BELEIVING THIS UNMITIGATED HYPE . . . .AND WILL SHOVEL IN TONNES OF TAXPAYERS DOLLARS TO BAIL OUT THIS COLLOSAL UNSUSTAINABLE CAR INDUSTRY. . . .GOD HELP THE PLANET.

FIRE: JAPAN NUCLEAR PLANT

Image
One person has been injured after a fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan. The fire broke out at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant on Thursday, inside a cooling pump at a building which houses the plant's nuclear unit. An operator at the Tokyo Electric Power Company plant (Tepco), in Niigata, said there had been no radiation leak. A Tepco spokesman said a worker who was first on the scene suffered minor facial injuries and was taken to hospital. It is the eighth fire to occur since the nuclear plant, the world's largest, was closed after being damaged by an earthquake in July 2007 . . . .NOTE:(news item al jazeera march 5-2009) . . . . . . .. ALSO NOTE: ONTARIO (CANADA) GOVERNMENT WANTS TO SPEND $26,000,000,000.00 . . .TO BUILD NEW REACTORS . . .NEAR THE FRESHWATER LAKE ONTARIO DESPITE HUGE OPPOSITION FROM FROM CITIZENS AND ENVIRONMENTALISTS.

DALLAS JOINS EARTH HOUR

Dallas is joining 800 cities in 79 countries for "Earth Hour" this year. On March 28th, these cities will turn off the lights for one hour. Organizer of the event, the World Wildlife Fund, says the idea is to make a global statement about climate ... . . . . .toronto is also taking part in the celebration at 830 p.m. . .on saturday march 28-2009 . . . .a good chance to have a candlelight dinner. . . . . . . . . note:video is from celebration at city hall last year(2008)

CONSUMER BEWARE

Image
Companies like Colgate-Palmolive, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson (and many others, not to mention all the pharmaceutical companies) test their consumer products (like toothpaste, shampoo, household cleaners etc) in horrifically cruel experiments on animals. These tests are redundant, unethical, inhumane, and unscientific. It doesn't take more animal testing to know that if you get shampoo in your eyes it will sting, or that you shouldn't drink oven cleaner, or mosquito repellant! Animal testing is bad science for many reasons. Animal testing is a disgusting and grotesque error of science, killing millions of animals each year world wide. There are many great animal friendly products and alternatives available. Check out caringconsumer.org . . . . WHO KNEW RESEARCH LIKE THIS WAS GOING ON ? . .BE INFORMED FOR A MORE HUMANE WORLD . . . . . ETHICS BEFORE SCIENCE,

CAPITAL CLIMATE RALLY

Image
When all the trees have been cut down when all the animals have been hunted when all the waters are polluted when all the air is unsafe to breathe only then will you discover you cannot eat money. - Cree Prophecy . . . . . . . . . . Three rallies hit Capitol Hill on Monday. First, several thousand young attendees of the Power Shift climate conference rallied on the west lawn of the Capitol before heading off to lobby their representatives. Second, more than 2,000 people gathered for a high-profile protest at the Capitol Power Plant, demanding an end to the burning of coal. Third, folks from the Competitive Enterprise Institute held a pro-coal counter-rally, also at the Capitol Power Plant ... attracting a total of 16 people. . . . . . . . .IN SPITE OF THE COLD SNOWY WASHINGTON WEATHER THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE RALLIED TO PROTEST THE USE OF DIRTY COAL FOR POWER GENERATION . . . .. .CLEAN POWER IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANTED FOR THEIR FUTURE.

ORGANIC WASTE

. . . . .Pushed by the Ontario government to recycle organics, municipalities collected 251,368 tonnes of kitchen scraps in green bins in 2007 – a jump of nearly 30 per cent over 2006. Those numbers will only go higher. Toronto is expanding its green bin program into apartments, increasing organic collections from about 115,000 tonnes a year to 170,000 tonnes within the next 16 months. The green bin program has grown so fast that it has outstripped the ability of municipalities to process the organics locally, creating a new carbon footprint since the material is trucked to facilities hundreds of kilometres away. The program collects mountains of leftover steak, hamburgers, vegetables and (depending on the municipality) diapers and pet waste, diverting them from the landfills into compost. It is the meat products that tend to cause the odours. . . . . .STRONG ODOURS FROM ORGANIC WASTE HAVE CAUSED 2 PROCESSING FACILITIES TO CLOSE .. . .ITS A MYSTERY TO ME WHY THESE ODOURS (METHANE GAS)