When mother nature attacks, we need to be ready.
Unfortunately for my next door neighbor, we aren’t nearly as ready as we should be…
GREENSBURG, Kan. (AP) — The rebuilding effort in tornado-ravaged Greensburg, Kansas, likely will be hampered because some much-needed equipment is in Iraq, said that state’s governor.
Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the [...]

Personally, I think this is a brilliant idea, but I know people will start crying “Nanny State” if any politician brings it up. Or maybe, just maybe, we’ll be okay with paying a few extra dollars for new lightbulbs if it can significantly cut down on energy consumption.
One can hope.
From the Montreal Gazette:
Ontario announced earlier [...]

France embraced it long ago, and it’s paying big dividends…
Because nuclear plants emit no greenhouse gases, France has the cleanest air in the industrialized world, and because the price of oil is now around $60 a barrel, it has the lowest electric bills in Europe. In fact, France has so much cheap electricity, it exports [...]

From Wikipedia…
Solar power systems installed in the areas defined by the dark disks could provide a little more than the world’s current total primary energy demand (assuming a conversion efficiency of 8%). That is, all energy currently consumed, including heat, electricity, fossil fuels, etc., would be produced in the form of electricity by solar cells. [...]

Ever heard of it?
If so, then you can skip this video. If not, you have to watch it. Scary stuff.

Want another reason to give up meat or at least go with local farmers who treat their animals humanely?
The stress, crowding and contamination inside confinement buildings foster disease, especially respiratory illnesses. In addition to toxic fumes, bacteria, yeast and molds have been recorded in swine buildings at a level more than 1,000 times higher than [...]

I am not a fan of Al Gore.
I think he is a pompous jackass and none to good of a campaigner since he was the second in command to popular president and somehow managed to not win the 2000 election handily.
That said, I do commend the former Vice President for his work on global [...]

Last week, my wife and I toured one of the few area preschools not associated with a church. We knew it was a bit hippy-dippy but we also knew it had a good reputation. Everything was going well until the school day began with all the children sitting around in a circle. They use this [...]

The House passed the legislation, and now it’s going to the Senate.
The details…
The House rolled back billions of dollars in oil industry subsidies Thursday in what supporters hailed as a new direction in energy policy toward more renewable fuels. Critics said the action would reduce domestic oil production and increase reliance on imports. [...]
The legislation [...]

The graphic says it all.

More from the NY Times.

The Cali governor is trying to make the 7th largest economy in the world a better place to live…
Much of the proposal — $40 million — would be spent only if California universities win a $500 million grant for research from oil giant BP to develop alternatives to fossil fuels.
Lease revenue bonds would be used [...]

That’s the claim for this pretty cool looking “Sport Utility Truck.” And you can go 130 miles on that single charge. Not too shabby.
From TechEBlog:
Powered by the revolutionary Altairnano NanoSafe™ battery pack, Phoenix Motorcars’ zero-emission, all-electric Sport Utility Truck (SUT) can cruise on the freeway at up to 95 m.p.h. while carrying five passengers and [...]

Oddly enough…yes.
From CNN:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation’s biggest clean-air accomplishments.
The Environmental Protection Agency said this week that revoking those standards might be justified “given the significantly changed circumstances since lead was listed in 1976″ as [...]

A new way to help solve our global addiction?
Holly Jacobson and Tessa Churchill, seniors at Greely High School in Cumberland, are at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today, explaining how they would use fast-growing algae to help solve the energy crisis.
In a nutshell, the young women may have found a way to produce more [...]

It’s the money stupid…
From the Wash Post:
Failing to curb the impact of climate change could damage the global economy on the scale of the Great Depression or the world wars by spawning environmental devastation that could cost 5 to 20 percent of the world’s annual gross domestic product, according to a report issued yesterday by [...]

See more here.

I missed this story when it first appeared a few days ago, amidst all the winds and fogs of war, so maybe you did too:
Producing biofuels such as ethanol from food crops isn’t worth the effort. That’s the conclusion of a new and painstaking study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy [...]

Raise your hand if you think DDT usage was the prime reason for the endangerment of the bald eagle population …
Yep, there are a lot of hands still up in the air despite facts that have proven this fallacy to the contrary.
News of the resurgence in Pennsylvania’s bald eagle population was recently reported, [...]

The National Science Foundation commissioned a study on Hurricane Katrina. The question being asked? Did global warming have any effect on the strength of the storm?
Here’s an excerpt of the release from the group that conducted the study, the National Center for Atmospheric Research:
Global warming does not guarantee that each year will set records for [...]

Apparently some cars that run on natural gas are using refined methane to go, go, go. The kicker? It’s 1/5th the price of regular gasoline.
Oh Bessie!