It all makes sense now.

I finally figured out what the problem has been this whole time. Shrub, while well-intentioned (well-oiled? I get so confused) has simply been looking at the nation as a whole as well as the job of being a national leader upside-down (look closely at the title of his book). The schoolgirl beside him got it right (like my bumper sticker says king george, "listen to children"). This explains everything from his budgetary policies, to his incomprehensible speeches and all manner of comedic (tragicomedy folks) blunders in between. Now that I've solved this mind-bending riddle that has been shrub's puppetancy (oops spelling error I meant "presidency" ha ha ha funny concept Bush as a leader) I can finally get some rest.

The Truth Will Set You Free

"In every land, the truth-once known-has the power to set us free.”(Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi)

Well said, now we need to discover the truth. Dig deep, but avoid striking oil (seems to lead to trouble). Seriously, if we want a positive change (or many) then we need to become aware. This awareness needs to encompass both what is presently not working for us, but even more importantly what the alternatives we most desire look like.

There is a need to become very clear on this, because without clarity and focus we would dissipate valuable time and energy. The people who benefit most from maintaining the status quo have been very organized for a long time. Our advantage is largely one of numbers. We also have available to us the choice to simply opt out of much of the current situation through daily mindful action or in some cases daily mindful inaction (whichever is situationally appropriate).

Through the choices we make, whether conscious or not we are building a bridge to the future. It is up to us to determine what the world is like across that bridge. Many of us, myself included will be
raising children as we make this journey. Many very important trends and events are converging during our lifetimes with profound implications for generations to come. A few key drivers of the future appear to be reaching a tipping point. I believe that we still have time and we unquestionably have the motivation to tip them in the correct (notice that I didn't say right) direction.

Buddha

Is America The Villian In Bali

For Al Gore, it was time to utter a new inconvenient truth that diplomatic niceties precluded others from telling: "My own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here," he told a packed audience at the U.N. climate change summit in Bali. "We all know that."

"Over the next two years, the United States is going to be somewhere it is not right now," said Gore. "We are going to change in the U.S."

"You have to look to where we're going to be," Gore urged the Bali delegates. The problem with that advice for the Bali delegates, however, is that Gore is not the President.

Washington's official delegation has emerged as the chief spoiler in moves to take meaningful action on climate change. But among the most vocal critics of the official delegation has been an array of American environmentalists, legislators and state and local government officials. Carl Pope, president of the Sierra Club, called the U.S. performance "the most explicitly irresponsible action that any American Administration has taken in any of our lifetimes."

"I wanted to make certain that those folks who are involved in the negotiations understand that they are not alone in dealing with this," says (Senator John) Kerry. "The Administration is isolated in its own country." Kerry, Maine Republican Senator Olympia Snowe and 50 other members of Congress sent a protest letter Wednesday to President Bush calling for U.S. negotiators to drop their opposition to emission targets.

"People here are acutely aware of what's happening in the U.S. beyond the Bush Administration, and they take great heart in the growing momentum," says Eliot Diringer, director of international strategies for the Pew Center on Climate Change.

(excerpt from Time Magazine Dec 14, 2007 By BRYAN WALSH/NUSA DUA)
[I added photo of shrub and Saudi puppeteer making out from Flickr ("The best kleptocracy oil money can buy.")]

Bring Eco-Power To The People

Van Jones, activist and visionary.

"Power by the people, for the people," says Jones. "This is the vision of the future right here."

Everywhere Jones goes, he repeats a simple message. "Give the work that most needs to be done to the people who most need the work," he says, and solve two pressing problems--pollution and poverty--at once.

"When we bring together the best of the business community and the best of the tech community and the best of the racial-justice community, we'll get the coalition we always wanted." Even better, he adds, "we'll get the country we always wanted." In his vision, that means the map won't be divided between red and blue, but will be all green.

(excerpt from Time Magazine article by Bryan Walsh, photo by Eros Hoagland)

Sherrie's Birthday

Today is Takeo and Akayla's mother Sherrie's birthday. Everyone who reads this and knows how to contact her please wish her a Happy Birthday. If you know her (and me) and need contact info for her let me know, I'm not going to post it publicly, but I will give it to friends.

Thank you,
Buddha

California Judge Denies Auto Industry Attorneys

A federal judge in California today rebuked the auto industry's attempt to block California and 16 other states from setting tough new limits on global warming pollution from automobiles, calling these efforts "the very definition of folly."

Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining Movie from iLoveMountains.org

My sister just sent me this link because this is how her local (Tampa, Fla.) power is generated. I believe she is working on blueprints for a bicycle-dynamo generator so that her husband can provide all of the modern conveniences without the guilt [I wonder how she feels about spousal slavery (RUN JEREMIAH RUN)]. Maybe she can hook up a treadmill and let him run there.

The more I learn, the more urgent and obvious the need for a paradigm shift becomes. We can gain control of the economy and from there it's a whole new arrangement. "What you do with your money is how you vote on what exists (or doesn't exist) in the world." Vicki Robin (parenthetical from Buddha)

Q. What steps can you take to reduce your dependence on fossil fuels?

A. Some answers can be found within the links on this blog, but please use your imagination as well. Feel free to send your answers or new links as comments or straight to my e-mail.

http://www.ilovemountains.org/

Europe's Cities Take The Lead On Cutting Emissions

Outpacing global efforts, they've set targets even more ambitious than those on the table at this week's climate talks in Bali.(excerpt)

By Mark Rice-Oxley | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the December 12, 2007 edition
(encouraging start, title link)

NO OIL EXTRACTION IN ANWAR

Hey kids,

They're at it again (still?). The point is we need to stay on top of this. If this fragile ecosystem is stomped on, the footprints will last an unacceptably long time at best. Tell your congressional representative what to do [that's what we pay them for (you know the job they keep voting themselves raises to perform)].

bush (shrub) vetoes kids health insurance bill (again)

Australia gets Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with immediate and positive change and here in the U.S. we get......

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer (excerpted, click title for full article)

An already relentless melting of the Arctic greatly accelerated this
summer, a warning sign that some scientists worry could mean global
warming has passed an ominous tipping point. One even speculated that
summer sea ice would be gone in five years.

Greenland's ice sheet melted nearly 19 billion tons more than the
previous high mark, and the volume of Arctic sea ice at summer's end was
half what it was just four years earlier, according to new NASA
satellite data obtained by The Associated Press.

"The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the
government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colo.

Just last year, two top scientists surprised their colleagues by
projecting that the Arctic sea ice was melting so rapidly that it could
disappear entirely by the summer of 2040.

This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay
Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at
the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

So scientists in recent days have been asking themselves these
questions: Was the record melt seen all over the Arctic in 2007 a blip
amid relentless and steady warming? Or has everything sped up to a new
climate cycle that goes beyond the worst case scenarios presented by
computer models?

"The Arctic is often cited as the canary in the coal mine for climate
warming," said Zwally, who as a teenager hauled coal. "Now as a sign of
climate warming, the canary has died. It is time to start getting out of
the coal mines."

It is the burning of coal, oil and other fossil fuels that produces
carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, responsible for man-made
global warming. For the past several days, government diplomats have
been debating in Bali, Indonesia, the outlines of a new climate treaty
calling for tougher limits on these gases.

What happens in the Arctic has implications for the rest of the world.


NASA's "Tipping Points" panel and slide show materials:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/tipping_points.html

U.N. Climate Conference in Bali ( Al Gore's Petition )

Dear Friend,

In less than forty-eight hours, I will step on stage at the UN Climate Conference in Bali. With me I will bring hundreds of thousands of messages demanding a visionary global treaty be completed and brought into effect by 2010.

If we want to solve the climate crisis, we need to demonstrate the broad public support for action together. That's why it is vital you sign our petition right now by visiting:

http://www.climateprotect.org/standwithal

Over the past few months we've taken many positive steps towards uniting governments worldwide around the goal of solving the climate crisis. Just over a week ago on December 3rd, Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was sworn in. His first formal act in office was to ratify the Kyoto Treaty. This was a clear demonstration of Australia's priorities.

Yet this progress has not swayed the Bush Administration. With thousands of delegates gathered in Bali for the UN Climate Conference, this is our last chance in 2007 to show the world how serious the American people are about ending the climate crisis. That's why it is so vital all of us join together and demonstrate the political will of our country.

Only two days remain before I deliver your messages to the delegates meeting in Bali. Over the past few days more than 174,612 people have added their voices. Don't miss this incredible opportunity to demonstrate your support for a visionary global treaty to end the climate crisis.

Sign our petition, then reach out to everyone you know and ask them to sign today by visiting:

http://www.climateprotect.org/standwithal

Your activism and enthusiasm for this cause inspires me every day.

Thank you,

Al Gore

[ forwarded by Kiwilassy (my hero) ]

I'm supporting Al Gore, please add your voice too!

Polar Bear S.O.S.

By speaking out today, you could help save polar bears from
extinction.

The Bush Administration has proposed listing the polar bear as
"threatened" under the Endangered Species Act because its Arctic
sea ice habitat is rapidly melting from global warming. This
proposed protection comes after successful legal action by NRDC
and its partners to protect the imperiled bear.

However, this proposal won't become reality without a huge
outpouring of public support.

Please send a message to the Bush Administration today by going
to: http://www.PolarBearSOS.org/takeaction

Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are completely dependent
on sea ice for survival. But 80 percent of their summer ice
could be gone in 20 years and all of it by 2040. They are
already suffering the effects: birth rates are falling, fewer
cubs are surviving, and more bears are drowning.

Time is running out. Without protection, polar bears could
become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat to
global warming.

Please speak out now. Go to
http://www.PolarBearSOS.org/takeaction

Thank you for speaking out at this critical time.

Sincerely,

Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/polarbearsos_0407?rk=K1MTmZs1cYmMW

(forwarded to me by Kiwilassy)

Australia Ratifies Kyoto Global WarmingTreaty

Click this link to get the full article. Rudd is fantastic! Go Oz!!

One Prize Fits Al

Al Gore and IPCC awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Posted at 7:51 AM on 10 Dec 2007

Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change received their Nobel Peace Prizes this morning in Oslo, Norway. In his acceptance speech, Gore emphasized humanity's role in the climate crisis, saying, "We are what is wrong, and we must make it right ... We never intended to cause all this destruction, just as Alfred Nobel never intended that dynamite be used for waging war. He had hoped his invention would promote human progress. We shared that same worthy goal when we began burning massive quantities of coal, then oil and methane." Gore called for a moratorium on coal-burning power plants that don't sequester their emissions and stressed the need for a carbon tax. In his own speech, R. K. Pachauri, chair of the IPCC, spoke of science and peace. "Peace can be defined as security and the secure access to resources that are essential for living. A disruption in such access could prove disruptive of peace," he said. "In this regard, climate change will have several implications, as numerous adverse impacts are expected for some populations in terms of access to clean water, access to sufficient food, stable health conditions, ecosystem resources, [and] security of settlements."

source: Aftenposten

What is Al's next trick? I know he just linked up with some heavy hitters in the venture capital world (Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in Menlo Park). Hopefully he can leverage this into some really serious changes. He's one to watch.