Renewable Energy City to Be Built by Middle Eastern Oil Giant

The oil-laden Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which currently holds 10 percent of the world’s oil reserves, has just launched a decade-long campaign to build the world’s first renewable energy city.

Proof that even if money is involved, people are capable of taking moral initiative against their financial interests, the city will have no carbon footprint and will be run entirely by sustainable energy despite the major oil interests that Abu Dhabi currently possesses.

Masdar City will be built from the ground up and will, upon completion, contain 50, 000 inhabitants. Despite the seeminly gigantic conflict of interests that comes with a major oil-exporting nation pioneering alternative energy, those in charge of building Masdar City see no problem with the idea.

Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., the developers planning the city, answers the “Why?” question simply: “There are two reasons. Number one, because we can. Number two, because we should. And because this is a logical step and a natural extension for our involvement in the energy markets.” It seems that someone in the oil industry is finally catching on to the wealth that will soon be booming in the field of renewable energy.

Abu Dhabi has already committed $4 billion for the project and plans to raise another $18 billion, and it is attracting attention from many Western firms and organizations including MIT and the Foster and Partners architectural firm.

Bush Continues to Press Drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

Unsurprisingly, instead of using exorbitently high gas prices as a reason to advocate conservation, dear ol’ Dubya is once again urging congress to allow drilling for more oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

This month is the beginning of the birthing season for ANWR caribou, who depend on the area for the perpetuation of their species. Bush’s plan would exploit ANWR for 4 million gallons of gasoline per day, ironically, the same amount that American drivers could save every day if they inflated their vehicle tires to the proper amount. It would take ten years to get the same amount of oil out of the Arctic refuge. SMART plan Mr. President…

We here at Borrowed Earth would like to raise a collective middle finger to the dear old President and shout a resounding “Stay the hell out.” In a polite way, of course…

Poverty-Stricken Children Are The Main Victims of Climate Change

A United Nations report released this morning states that the poorest children of the world are the most affected victims of climate change. Although the global climate crisis has no roots in the global south, poor children in underdeveloped countries are paying the highest price for the climatalogical consequences brought on by the rich developed nations of the world.

The UN report calls for urgent action and highlights exactly how the sad truth of the situation came to be in the first place. The report places a child’s ability to attend school as crucial to his or her survival, because school is, in many areas, the only place that children are guaranteed at least one meal a day. Economic damage due to climate change would force parents to withdraw their children from school to help the family cope with the immediate needs like fetching water and fuel.

The range of deadly diseases is already on the rise with climate change as well, such as malaria which is not being seen in previously unaffected areas.

“Rich countries’ responsibility for the bulk of past emissions demands that we give our strong support,” said Nicholas Stern whose report in 2006 on the economic implications of the climate crisis sparked international concern.

“Business-as-usual or delayed action would lead to the probability of much higher temperature increases which would catastrophically transform our planet,” he wrote in a foreword to Tuesday’s report.

“It will be the young and the poor and developing countries that will suffer earliest and hardest. We cannot allow this to happen.”

New “We Can Solve It” Ad- Featuring Pelosi and Gingrich

In the next ad in Al Gore’s “We Can Solve It” Campaign, former and present Speakers of the House Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi have teamed up in the same fashion as Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson a few weeks ago. It’s quite funny, if anything. Check out the new ad:

Happy Earth Day!

In light of our favorite day of the year, we encourage everyone to get outside! Stop reading stuff online and go play in the grass.

Today is a day not only to appreciate the planet, but more importantly to think about what we as individuals can do to put actions behind our appreciation. So get up, get out, and do something nice for Momma Earth today. For ideas and info on Earth Day, visit the EPA’s Earth Day Site.

“Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure.”

— John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day

Experts on Flooding Fear for the East and Midwest This Summer

Global warming and the odd late-winter weather it has brought on much of the U.S. have made the outlook for this year’s spring flood season dire.

Flooding experts now believe that the heavy precipitation in the form of rain and snow this past winter has paved the way for a potentially disatrous flooding season.

Packed snow in the Northeast mountains that has not yet melted and the fact that moany Midwest rivers are already filled are signs that the flood season this year could be worse than usual. The inter-connectednness of systems of rivers is a major contributor as well. As flood-chasers working on a river in Indiana stated, “It’s like dominoes, if you blow it on the upper end, it kind of cascades on down.”

People like these “flood-chasers” are doing everything in their power to ensure that occupants of potential flood-zones are warned in a timely fashion before a flood occurs. Many rivers are soon expected to crest above their flood stage.

Accolades! ‘We Can Solve It’ Campaign Transcends Party Lines

Before now, you wouldn’t catch Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson in the same city, much less on the same couch. But yet, in the new ad for Al Gore’s “We” campaign, there they are, sitting chummily together on a sofa on a beach. Sound crazy? It is, but damn it all if it won’t work.

Transcending differences is what the environmental movement is all about, and using advocates who disagree on everything else is a great way to get that message across. There are more unusual pairings set to come, like Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi. Check out the Sharpton- Robertson ad here:

Accodring to Robertson, he agreed to appear in the ad because he believes people should be good stewards of the environment. He added, “Al Sharpton’s a nice guy and we had a lot of fun together.”

You Know There’s Really A Problem When…

You know there’s really a problem when this idiot finally decides to admit that there is one.

As if the rest of the nation didn’t already know that global warming was a very real and important problem, today, President Bush is finally admitting that something is wrong.

Revising his stance on global warming, President Bush will propose a new target for stopping the growth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. The radical opponent to the Kyoto Treaty has decided that he is not going to outline a specific proposal, but that he’ll lay out a strategy for “realistic” emission reduction targets he thinks Congress should follow in crafting global warming legislation.

The idiot-in-chief will “speak forcefully” about concerns he has over a possible rush to address the Earth’s warming through a “hodgepodge of regulations” under existing federal laws such as the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. Author’s note: why the hell not? I think, Mr. President that exactly what we need is a “rush to address the Earth’s warming.” Saying that isn’t needed would be like saying “although your mother is having a heart attack, lets not rush her to the hospital, it could be a rash decision.” WHAT?!

While senior Bush administration officials were traveling to Paris, France, this week to join a discussion with other countries about what actions to take on global warming, many foreign negotiators involved in such talks are increasingly looking ahead, knowing that the next administration probably will take the most decisive steps on U.S. climate policy.

Hmm…. I wonder why……

No Chinook This Year: West Coast Salmon Fishing Season Cancelled

Further proof that being good to nature has good benefits for all, and that the opposite is certainly true as well. Thursday, in the Seattle-Tacoma area, West Coast fisheries managers voted to cancel all fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year.

Why? Scientists and government officials are expecting this year’s West Coast salmon season to be one of the worst in history, due to the collapse of Sacramento River chinook, one of the West Coast’s largest wild salmon runs.

Commercial fishing in Washington is planned to proceed as scheduled, but of course, no one predicts that it will be a good season.

The governors of the three West Coast states have already put their signatures on disaster relief declarations to Congress, who will be asked to make a quick decision regarding aide for fishermen and women of the West Coast, who will undoubtedly suffer this season.

Scientists are studying the causes of the Sacramento River chinook collapse, with possible factors ranging from ocean conditions and habitat destruction to dam operations and agricultural pollution.

The Sacramento River chinook run is usually one of the most productive on the coast, but counts last fall found a record low number of chinook returning to California’s Central Valley. Experts note that the past few years have been an indication that a sharp decline was on its way, with too few juvenile fish surviving to swim out to the sea.

So far, little opposition to the cutbacks have been voiced, and the reality of the salmon scarcity sems to have hit home.

Plastic is Not the Answer- In Fact, It’s the Problem

New studies now show that regardless of growing concern over the use of plastic products, production has gone up and recycling rates have remained stagnant.

The biggest part of this problem are your everyday plastic grocery bags, of which only 1 percent are recycled globally each year. Plastic bottles are more readily recycled, yet in some countries up to 90 percent of all plastic bottles are eventually found in landfills.

Despite the stagnation in recycling, rates of production have done nothing but increase. In a statement from CNN:

“In the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer market for bottled water, sales hit a record 8.82 billion gallons in 2007, a 9.5 percent increase from 2005. Sales of bottled water in the U.S. have now overtaken sales of milk and are close to outselling beer. “

Outselling BEER?!?!?! You know something is a problem when it is close to outselling beer.

Not all nations are as bad as the US however; Sweden (yay Sweden!) has managed to reach plastic bottle recycling rates of around 80 percent. The US clearly can do something differently.

A lot of blame is placed on a market that does not look favorably on recycling. One company may often be responsible for recycling all or most of a type of recyclable material. A single company in Virginia is in charge of recycling 70 percent of all plastic bags that are turned in for recycling, and they still are not even turning a profit, having lost $75 million in 2007.

SCARY FACT: In a 2007 national survey it was discovered that as much as 72 percent of Americans don’t know that plastic is an oil-based product (around 10 percent of U.S. oil consumption goes into making plastic); while 40 percent of them think that plastic biodegrades underground, in composts, in landfills, or incredibly, out at sea.

TRUTH: Plastic isn’t biodegrade at all, at least not for up to a thousand years or more.

So lets all do ourselves a favor- if it is made of plastic- don’t buy it, if you must buy it- recycle!!