ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

thank you for picking this up and make the first review, Tyler! i simply have not had the time. (i'm even writing this during a break at school). folks, Tyler's spot on in his review and assessment...there are TONS of things we each can do, and you know what the kicker is? most of them are EASY. i'm COMPLETELY on board with re-opening the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement work in our valley, so let's keep talking about this. more to come...

Thanks, evan. I had another thought about the movie last night, which is that the movie acts as a catalyst for each of us, provoking thought about our own positive contribution to the world. It's not that we all have to be on the global warming bandwagon, its that we each need to reach deep down inside, see what's really important and translate that into action which will help humanity and our planet.

willing (happy) cattle-puppets we!

> > consumed all ... green, breath, water, stone ...

rised-up, serfs we:

> > 'above' this our new sterile planet throne ...

once loving home!

I just read your article on the movie - thank you for keeping us informed. I feel like my life has been work/Lily/home/Lily/work/Lily. Ironically, after seeing this movie I'm sure I'll realize that in order to KEEP all of that (Lily/home/life) I need to do something about it, right?!!! I really want to see that movie w/ Matt so maybe next week.

That 7:25 comment was from my friend, Lynn Haag, who is referencing her 1-year-old daughter, Lily, and her husband, Matt! Lynn, I think a double date is in order for us to get out there and see the film with our husbands!

Right on, Lisa, take some people to go see it. It's shocking, but ultimately not depressing. You'll feel better about your abilities to contribute once you've seen it.

Nuclear Power
We must begin planning for six new nuclear power plants, to be operational no later than two years from now. Don’t like this, or don’t think it’s a safe idea? Then you had better read this:

Nuclear Power Plant Safety and Pollution
If you think that nuclear energy is dangerous and causes radioactive pollution, guess again.

For instance, our power plants burn billions of tons of coal each year, and since this coal contains radioactive uranium and thorium, burning coal actually puts 2,000 tons of radioactivity into our atmosphere each and every single year! Don’t believe us? Then read this report by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. : http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html

According to Bill Wattenburg, the Kyoto conference’s goals of reducing carbon-dioxide (CO₂) emissions can be met by closing down 2–4 coal-fired power plants (out of the hundreds in the US) and replacing them with nuclear power plants, while at the same time reducing total radioactive emissions. Given a typical coal-fired plant, producing 1000 megawatts, it burns 2.3 million tons of coal per year, produces 200,000 thousand tons of fly ash a year, 7.5 million tons of CO₂ per year, 200,000 tons of sulfur oxide, 25,000 tons of nitrous oxide, and 1000 tons of carbon-monoxide (CO).

Ordered my TerraPass today. Thanks for the link/info on that. I feel better already!

Hi Jill - great news! I ordered mine last week, still waiting for the package in the mail. I feel better too! Maybe getting some compact flourescents next week.

Not that I don't think that gas consumption is a problem, it's just when you want to solve problems you need to address them and not just send money somewheres and feel better about yourself. It's very simple as to why these problems haven't been solved (and for the same reasons tobacco is still legal) is money. Ca doesn't know how to make up for it's lost money in gas taxes. It is the most traded commodity worldwide, we can't just stop using it, markets would crash. The process of moving over to an alternative fuel is going to be a slow progressive change which allows for markets to compensate, and governments to adjust to allow income from somewheres else. A lot of progress has been made, and much more needs to be made. It wont happen overnight, and surely not by sending a cheque in the mail... keep wasting your money people

Dear Brian - thanks for participating. However, I certainly take exception that we are throwing away our money by purchasing a Terrapass, which is a positive step towards reducing one's own personal impact on the environment.

From Terrapass.com:
Your car puts several tons of CO2 in the air every year. With TerraPass, you can take it back out.

TerraPass funds clean energy projects like wind farms, methane capture and more.

Third-party organizations verify that TerraPass has a guaranteed impact.

You advocate nuclear power, which is a BIG answer, but where's the personal responsibility? What are you personally doing to lower the impact of your daily life? You say that if "you want to solve problems you need to address them," isn't that EXACTLY what we are doing with Terrapass? There is a very well established carbon credit system in place for big business - why can't it be executed at the consumer level?

Seeing as how you run a bee farm, I would assume you have some positive feedback on what we can do on a personal and local level to be in harmony with our environment.

Here is an excerpt from an article on new coal burning plants:
"The move back to coal raises environmental concerns. Mr. McIlvaine estimates that if 50 of the 94 planned projects are built, they would add roughly 30 gigawatts or 10 percent of base load generating capacity nationwide. Using industry rules of thumb, he estimates coal consumption would rise about 10 million tons, or 1 percent, from today's 1 billion tons annually. That, in turn, would add 120 million cubic feet of exhaust gases from the stacks every minute of every day for decades to what is currently vented".
This is from: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0226/p01s04-sten.html

Coal is the dirtest filthest stuff in the world to be burning and were moving full speed ahead in building more coal burning plants !!!!
On a personal level we need to get our local legislators to address this problem. Read the article it has some quotes from someone in the sierra club.

France, as you may know, is a big user of clean nuclear power, and they even are now exporting power to other European contries such as Germany. They have excess power during the nightime hours that they are using to produce hydrogen. This is still in the prototype stage but it's looking really good. It takes energy to make hydrogen but it does not make sense to be making a clean fuel like hydrogen by burning coal to produce it, you are simple defeating the whole purpose. Solar and wind power are great clean energy producing avenues and I have been involved in both but they are limited, and they require maintenance just like anything else. Our nation has growing energy needs and they will be meet in some way it's too bad that it looks like now that is going to be coal burning plants. Just because we don't see the plants out here is clean beautiful California doesn't mean we aren't using the dirty coal power. The California Energy commission is planning for new transmission lines the the coal plants as we speak!

Brian

Hi Brian - so you sum up what you are doing on a personal level as this: "On a personal level we need to get our local legislators to address this problem." Really, that's it? Try to get Elton Gallegly and David Bury to stop the production of coal burning plants?

I am glad you are thinking about the macro issues, but if you are going to criticize me and others for attempting to make a difference on our own, what you suggest on a personal level seems woefully inadequate in addressing the issues that face us.

Terra Pass arrived today. I put the bumper sticker on the car and am ordering a pass for my husband's truck. And, they will be stocking stuffers this year for friends and family! I love the idea and think it's a great way for armchair activists such as myself to do something. Indeed, I give money to all sorts of causes in order to help make a difference. I also do my best on a personal level, but there is no way I can do enough. We need more organizations like TerraPass to take up our slack!

Your California Energy Commission (and your polititions in Sacramento) are actually proposing to build more coal burning power plants (the filthiest stuff in the world).
Of course they will not be built here in Califiornia because there would be such an uproar. But they are going to be built in Wyoming, Utah, and Montana and they are going to build power lines out there to get the energy to encourage more coal burning plants, while they point their finger at you, being the cause of earth warming because you want to drive your car or have some electricity. It is criminal hypocracy what they are doing.