Top Ten Reasons to Vote Obama/Biden

8/27/08 Press Release from www.lcv.org :

The League of Conservation Voters has endorsed Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States because of his record-setting plans for a clean energy future and his proven record as an environmental champion. As the party conventions highlight the differences between Senators Obama and McCain, LCV presents the Top Ten Energy and Enviromental reasons why every American should vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden on November 4:

10. Look to the future: Senator Obama offers the most comprehensive energy plan of any Presidential nominee in history, it will end our dependence on foreign oil and create as many as 5,000,000 jobs. Senator McCain’s plan continues the Bush Administration’s policy of appeasement to Big Oil, does nothing to reduce our dependence on oil, and isn’t as good as Paris Hilton’s.

9. You pollute, you pay: Obama and Biden support plan to make polluters pay for pollution credits and to clean up toxic waste. McCain wants us to foot the bill for clean-up and to give polluters billions in tax breaks and subsidies.

8. Keeping us healthy: Obama and Biden have fought to keep our air and water clean. McCain has voted against clean water ten times and voted six times to make it harder for states and the EPA to keep our air clean.

7. Listening to the scientists: The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that America must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050 in order to avoid the worst effects of global warming. Obama’s plan will reach that goal. McCain’s plan falls far short.

6. The record speaks for itself: Senator Barack Obama earned a lifetime environmental voting score of 86%. Senator Biden earned an 83%. Senator John McCain earned a 24% score.

5. Decisions are made by those who show up: In the last two years, John McCain missed EVERY SINGLE major vote on energy. One vital 2007 bill, to move billions of dollars in tax credits from the oil industry to wind, solar and other clean energy sources, failed by one vote: John McCain’s. Obama and Biden, also running for President, voted for it.

4. Saving money at the pump: Obama proposes to double the fuel efficiency of our cars in 18 years, reducing our oil consumption by at least 35% or 10 millions barrels per day. McCain voted against increasing fuel efficiency in 2003 and 2005. He missed the 2007 vote. Presumably, he ran out of gas.

3. We’re not alone: For more than 20 years, Joe Biden has been at the forefront of the fight against global warming. In 1986, he offered the first Senate bill to fight global warming pollution. Since then, he has been the Senate’s strongest voice for making America the international leader in reducing global warming pollution and exporting clean technology.

2. Higher standards: To create millions of new jobs, we must boost production of renewable electricity. Obama plans create 25% of our electricity from clean energy by 2025. McCain opposes any national renewable energy standard.

1. Judge him by his friends: Senator McCain accepted more than $2 million from the oil and gas industry, more than half of that since he changed his position on offshore drilling last month. His forthcoming plan to open America’s playgrounds and sandboxes to drilling is expected to net another $1.2 million.

For original post source, click here to go to The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) site

Photo source, click here.

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

A diet with meat is responsible for producing in a year the same amount of greenhouse gases as driving a mid-sized car 4,758 kilometres (2,956 miles).

But the food a vegetarian consumes in 12 months is responsible for generating the same emissions as driving 2,427 kilometres.

The calculations are based on emissions of greenhouse gases, including methane produced by the animals themselves, as well as emissions from food production including manufacturing feed and fertiliser and the use of farmland.

Going vegan -- giving up meat and dairy products -- would cut the emissions released in making what you eat more than seven-fold, to the equivalent of driving 629 kilometres.

And if it is all organic, your food footprint is almost a 17th of that of a meat-eater -- the equivalent of driving 281 kilometres.

Switching to organic farming can cut emissions dramatically, "but what counts is the way we feed ourselves ... production and consumption first and foremost of beef and milk must be cut drastically," the study said.

Click here to go to the full article

For the picture, go here

Hat tip to Berman!

Peak Oil and the President: An Energy Plan I Can Vote For

By Chris Heuer

Here’s a joke about America’s Energy Plan for you: A guy walks into a bar filled with average Americans and randomly asks them if they’ve ever heard of global warming (and the potentially serious impact it could have on future generations of human beings all over the world).

“Of course,” almost everyone replies. “I saw An Inconvenient Truth! I know all about…”

“Have you ever heard of peak oil?” the guy asks, interrupting them all.

Practically nobody has, and that’s the joke.

If you don’t get it, don’t feel bad. As recently as last April I wouldn’t have gotten it either. Oil has been around my whole life. I have never had any reason to question its presence or potential absence. Yes, there were dim and then more urgent warnings in the background, but these were always related to pollution, to environmental devastation. And after all, I’ve seen An Inconvenient Truth too.

I never thought that worldwide oil production might peak in my lifetime. I never thought about what would happen if it did peak and then remained flat while worldwide demand for it continued to rise. And I certainly never thought about what might happen if worldwide production entered terminal decline in the midst of that overwhelming demand.

Then a friend of mine told me what peak oil was all about, and I haven’t been able to look at anything in the same way since. I can’t look at the furniture in my living room without trying to calculate how much oil went into its manufacture and transport. My bookcase, for example, is made out of the wood of an old barn (I recycled and did my part to save the environment, yay me!) but how much gas did the carpenter burn driving out to the site of that old barn to load the two by fours into the back of his pickup truck? How much electricity did he burn cutting the wood with his table saw? My television, this laptop, how many barrels of oil? My easy chair, my front door, its lock, my son’s plastic swing, the light bulb glowing in my lamp? The entire townhouse I live in, the city I live in?

How much oil?

I’m from Wisconsin, land of row upon row of corn green and wheat yellow in the summer. How much diesel (derived from oil) to power the tractors to plow and harvest the fields? How much more to transport the kernels and grain to the trucks and boats and planes that take it all over the world?

How much mass starvation if oil hits three hundred, four hundred, or five hundred dollars a barrel? You can maybe put a solar panel on the roof of a tractor’s cab to run some of the air conditioning, or the radio, but can that solar panel drag a plow? How much oil goes into the production of a solar panel, anyway? Or a wind turbine? How much oil to mine the metal that makes a propeller blade?

I’m not an energy expert, so I need to know the answers to these questions. Because there are things that I just don’t get. John McCain wants to build nuclear power plants. Barack Obama wants to temporarily tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to bring down gas prices. How much oil does it take to mine and transport an ounce, a pound, a ton of uranium? If you release a million barrels of oil from the Reserve, how many barrels of oil does it take to fill it back up again, especially if (and probably when) gas prices go back up a few months or a year from now?

I don’t know if this is going to amount to much, but I’m not going to vote for the guy who can’t or won’t answer this stuff. And for what it’s worth, I’m going to tell my wife and everyone else I know not to vote for him, either. I want both candidates to discuss their views on peak oil on public television. I want them both to tell me what they plan to do if the peak is five years off, twenty, or if it occurred five years ago. “America is addicted to oil” doesn’t cut it anymore… that’s like saying human beings breathe oxygen and water is wet. “I’ll get America off foreign oil in ten years” isn’t good enough for me either. I don’t care if oil isn’t going to entirely vanish tomorrow. I want a president who plans—and acts—as if it will.

Did you know, for example, that algae holds great promise as a third generation biofuel? What do our candidates think about that, and how will they scale up production beyond a few demonstration plants? Does either candidate have a plan for creating hydrogen production facilities that run on renewable power? How about installing an infrastructure to transport and store hydrogen so our cars and trucks and tractors can run on it… without relying on petroleum? How do we rebuild our electric grid so that plugging in our hybrids five years from now doesn’t black out an area the size of Los Angeles?

I don’t know the answers to these questions. But my President has to. If the era of cheap and easy oil is over, the political era of cheap and easy promises is over, as well.

Originally posted on DeafDC.com, reposted here with author's permission.  © Copyrighted material. This article cannot be copied, reproduced or redistributed without the express written consent of the author.

Photo added by EcoDeaf from here.

Waste Not, Want Not

Jennifer Henry, a deaf blogger in West Virginia shares tips and advice on how to shed the current label of the "throw-away generation" and return to our grandma's generation of "waste not, want not generation".

Read her Waste Not, Want Not online article starting on page 14 on a new & awesomely cool magazine, Kiss-Fist, created and assembled together with Deaf and CODA contributors!

Also do visit Jennifer's blog which covers topics from surprise turtle visitors and hissy fits over tinkerbell sheets.... curiosity piqued yet?  :)

Hat tip to Raylene!

Deaf Yoga Week in DC Metro Area

DeafYoga Foundation presents....

"Yoga Week" @ Gallaudet University

Mon Sept 8 - Fri Sept 12

(click on photo to enlarge)

and Sivanada DeafYoga Workshops & Asana Classes 

in Frederick, MD on Sept 13

and Greenbelt, MD on Sept 14

(click on photo to enlarge)

All classes are taught in ASL.

All classes are free.  Donations are appreciated at the door.

For more information, visit:

www.deafyoga.org

Inquires?  Please contact:

info@deafyoga.org

Thanks to Lila Lolling, founder of DeafYoga for sharing this information!

Earth-friendly Weddings

If you try to live the green life, why stop on your wedding day?

                                             

Or - if you want to start living the green life, but not sure when or how to start, start on your wedding day!

EcoDeaf reader Anthony, shares the link to an article that has some hints, insights, and weblinks on how to make weddings go greener, too.

The Buffalo News
Life
Monday, July 21, 2008

Planning an Earth-friendly wedding
By Jane Kwiatkowski

image credit: http://z.about.com/d/weddings/1/0/S/4/RohdiumfingerprintWeddingBands.jpg

College students create a new lifestyle

Washington Post Express, Look Out
Friday, 2008.07.18, Page 35

GREEN LIFE LESSONS
(Lifestyles)

More colleges are offering eco-friendly dorms and programs.

This fall, students at Sara Lawrence College's Warren Green hall will be composting together, monitoring their electricity usage and drying their laundry on a clothesline. They will share appliances, cooking and shopping to reduce waste and energy, and use as little electric lighting as possible.

Read the entire story at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/express/pdfs/EXPRESS_07182008.pdf#page=35

shared by an EcoDeaf reader

Fall Events!

Yes, it's still summer!

But we'll start posting autumn events so you can mark your calendars!

E-mail EcoDeaf (ecodeaf @ gmail.com) if you have more events you'd like posted.

Washington, DC/MD/VA

Takoma Park Folk Festival

Saturday, September 14th

http://tpff.org

DC Green Festival

Saturday & Sunday, November 8th and 9th

http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/625/280/

Planet Green

KJ Balogun shares...

If you get information and/or inspiration from the television, here is a channel that offers information on green living.  

The Discovery network has Planet Green

If you want to know which channel it is on in your area, check this out: 

Planet Green Channel Finder

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KJ Balogun shares that even though the video streaming online is not accessible, the television show itself is captioned...

"Very interesting stuff which includes information on which celebrities are green conscious, and the ideas are amazing there.  For example, I caught Cindy Crawford commenting that she wants to do research before switching to gasoline cars with Electric Cars or Hybrids (Prius) because she had to spend nearly $100  just to fill up.   Jay Leno said, "If you do not believe in Al Gore's Global Warming information, then believe in Self-Sufficiency.  I don't see why we can't do things for ourselves." 

KJ has also contacted Discovery Channel inquiring about making online video streaming captioned and encourages you all to do the same if you want to see online videos captioned!

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If you'd like to see Discovery's other shows centered on green living check out an earlier EcoDeaf post: Discovery Home Channel Green Shows

Children and Nature

"I Remember"

I remember looking forward to high snow so I won't have to go to school. I remember cold summer mornings and beautiful sunrises.  I remember watching lightning show during spring and summer nights. I remember watching big people picking up snow and throw them as if they were football. I remember seeing snow taller than my father and it sure looked like north pole. 

I remember going to beach in New York, and waves were always lively. I enjoyed watching my uncles diving through the waves and come out of the water with smile. I remember seeing humpback whales dancing in open ocean when I was on a small boat with other Deaf children in Massachusetts. I remember building boys' club in the woods behind a project housing. I remember recesses at elementary and middle schools where we kids would get to play football, basketball, soccer, tag, races, riding on swings,hide-n-seek and many other games we could invent. I remember riding on rolling skates in winter, slipping on ice, and landing on sharp icicle with my left hand (still have this scar). I remember looking forward to summer so I could ride my bike everyday and developing tricks like riding bike on one wheel up the huge hill, and boy, it sure was a challenge, and in the end of the day, I made it.

KJ Balogun

Still, I wonder if those experience do have impact on my health, on spirit, emotion, and psyche levels. Apparently, we haven't seen evidences in scientific approach until now. Generally, people are starting to look in that direction to see if there's any influences from nature toward our children, let's find out:

I found this website after submitting my previous article on National Legislative Forum on Parks and Recreation, The National Environment Education Foundation website. This caught my eye:

For the full article from National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF), click here:  Children and Nature Initiative

“Evidence suggests that children and adults benefit so much from contact with nature that land conservation can now be viewed as a public health strategy.” [1]
- Howard Frumkin, MD, Dr.PH, Director of the National Center for Environmental Health/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, CDC
- Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods

Our children may be the first generation ever at risk of having a shorter lifespan than their parents [2]. Sedentary lifestyle and physical inactivity have contributed greatly to the numerous health problems plaguing today’s children. Chronic conditions such as childhood obesity, asthma, and attention-deficit disorder have all increased over the past few decades [3]. These chronic conditions may lead to pulmonary, cardiovascular, and mental health problems in adulthood. Outdoor activity in the natural environment has taken a back seat to television, video games, the computer, and a demanding schoolwork schedule. Today’s youth are losing the contact with the natural environment that is extremely beneficial for their health and well-being.

The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages children to have unstructured, free play not only for their physical development, but also for their emotional, social, and cognitive development as well [4]. Key scientific evidence has shown that being outdoors:

1. increases a child’s physical activity [5];
   
2. reduces stress[6];
   
3. aids in childhood development [4];
   
4. is a coping tool for children with attention disorders such as attention-deficit disorder [7];
   
5. and contains restorative and therapeutic properties [8].
   

The National Environmental Education Foundation joins the movement to reconnect children with nature. We encourage parents and caregivers to get your children out into the natural environment. Together we can teach them how to protect the environment and their health.

[1] Frumkin H & Louv R (2007). Land Trust Alliance Special Anniversary Report.
[2] Ludwig, DS (2007). New England Journal of Medicine, 357(23): 2325-27.
[3] Perrin JM, Bloom SR & Gortmaker SL (2007). JAMA, 297(24): 2755-59.
[4] American Academy of Pediatricians- Clinical Report. Ginsburg KR, et al (2007). Pediatrics, 119(1): 182-191.
[5] American Academy of Pediatricians – Position Statement. Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, and Council on School Health (2006). Pediatrics, 117(5): 1834-42.
[6] Wells NM & Evans GW (2003). Environment and Behavior, 35(3): 311-330.
[7] Kuo FE & Taylor AF (2004). American Journal of Public Health, 94(9): 1580-86.
[8] Ulrich RS (1984). Science, 224(4647): 420–421.

KJ Balogun, thanks for sharing!