Can't ditch the car? Take these tips from Ford.

Taking a cue from astronomical gas prices and the American consumer’s abrupt U-turn away from gas-guzzling vehicles, Ford has developed ten tips for EcoDriving (or, driving down your fuel usage). Attempting to be EcoCute, Ford calls EcoDriving ECOnomical (it saves money) and ECOlogical (it saves the environment). So, straight from the fossil-fuel reliant auto giant itself, here are ten tips to decrease the impact on the earth and your bank account when you’re in the car:
1. Slow down and maintain steady speed. Drive 55 miles per hour, aim for a constant speed and use cruise control whenever possible on the highway.
2. Relax. Aggressive driving wastes fuel, so accelerate smoothly from a stop and brake softly.
3. No idling. Today’s engines don’t need to warm up in cold temperatures. State the car and gentle drive away. Turn the engine off in non-traffic situations, such as at bank and fast-food drive-up windows, when idling more than 30 seconds.
4. Check your tires. Keep tires inflated to the recommended tire pressure. This alone can reduce the average amount of fuel use by 3-4 percent.
5. Be kind to your vehicle. Keep the wheels aligned. Replace air filters as recommended.
6. Travel light. Avoid piling a lot of luggage on the roof rack and remove excess weight from the vehicle.
7. Minimize use of the heater and air conditioning. Decreasing your usage of the air conditioner when temperatures are above 80 degrees can help you save 10-15 percent of fuel.
8. Close windows at high speeds. Don’t drive with the windows open unless your speed is under 50mph.
9. Choose the right oil. Look for cans marked with the symbol ECII, which is the American Society of Testing Materials logo for fuel-efficient oils.
10. Consolidate trips. This will enable you to bypass congested routes, lead to less idling, fewer start-ups and less stop-and-go traffic.

Hat tip to The Examiner, 24 July 2008.

Bag Ladies

Contributed by M.P. Crawford

I find myself chuckling to myself many times over a not-so-funny matter: the climate crisis and humanity's complacency and the fact that I thrive on causes... But, to clarify, I will scale the scenario down a bit and focus on the "paper or plastic" dilemma and the small-scale war my family has waged against what that little phrase represents. Many months ago my daughter and I declared a two-woman campaign at our local food market known for its proliferation of senior citizens and aging upper middle-class "Baby Boomers". Armed with cloth bags pilfered from a much more globally-conscious food store chain we set our sights on changing the world one person at a time. I thought I was really making an impression, my various and sundry organically-derived bags languishing on the conveyer belt along side my purchases and my staunch views on ridding the Earth of pesky plastic bags and their cousins, the tree-depriving paper variety. Well what to my eyes did I see, none other than the elderly gent behind me in line requesting a cloth bag. YEAH! VICTORY! But, wait, not so fast... yes, he purchased one bag but no he did not use it. He fell under the spell of the "paper or plastic" mantra and requested his new earth-friendly bag be placed in the sinister blue villian. Many more instances of seeming defeat in this war have been witnessed by this persistent crusader.

Fast-forward two months: Same store. Same socio-economic mix. Different attitude? Yes!, albeit a tentative one. Now there are rows of the recycling cloth bags lining each check-out aisle. Before there was only one stand for the same. The check-out personnel, in particular the young ones, are especially helpful with packing the cloth bags ("It's not too heavy for you, is it?") and there is definitely an increaed amount of customers using at least one non-plastic/paper bag for their purchases. Is this learning by example? Are the rhetorical challenges and exhortations from the activists making inroads? Or, are we disgusted by a view of blue plastic "leaves" swaying from sickened trees and clogging the drains to our Bay? Perhaps the answers are none of these OR all of the above. Only time and trees and birds and fishes will tell... And this Bag Lady will continue to wage her "war" for the world!

Are you a “Greenfluencer”?

Porter Novelli, global communications mogul, recently coined a term for the small but powerful group of consumers now shaping trends and decisions in the mass market: Greenfluencers. Forming a small percentage of the United States population, roughly 4%, this group wields tremendous influence despite its diminutive size. The group is “young, racially diverse and outspoken on a variety of social and political issues. And while Greenfluencers are more economically savvy than their peers, they are still relatively mainstream in their lifestyle choices. This accessibility combined with a high level of social connectivity has enabled this group to become the voice of authority on the sustainable lifestyle.” (Baltimore Examiner, 24 July 2008)
Greenfluencers seek out energy efficient products and use their buying power to chastise companies with poor environmental track records by boycotting their goods. With this knowledge and a newly developed “Green Gauge”, Porter Novelli intends to assist its corporate clients with green product concepts and marketing claims that appeal to this new and persuasive group of consumers. Who says a small group can’t affect big change?

Click here for the Porter Novelli description of Greenfluencers: http://www.porternovelli.com/site/pressrelease.aspx?pressrelease_id=181&pgname=news

Press Release: Al Gore's Climate Challenge

Washington, DC – To reset the way Americans think about the energy future and the climate crisis, former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore issued a bold challenge Thursday: that 100 percent of U.S. electricity production come from sources with zero carbon emissions within 10 years.
Gore also clearly made the case that the biggest problems we are facing right now are connected and must be solved together. "We are borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that’s got to change," Vice President Gore said. "But if we grab hold of that common thread and pull it hard," Gore continued, "all of these complex problems begin to unravel and we will find that we are holding the answer to all of them right in our hand. The answer is to end our reliance on carbon-based fuels. I’m convinced that one reason we’ve seemed paralyzed in the face of these crises is our tendency to offer old solutions to each crisis separately – without taking the others into account. And these outdated proposals have not only been ineffective – they almost always make the other crises even worse."
In the speech hosted by the "We" Campaign, Gore challenged all Americans to solve America’s economic, environmental and national security crises by rallying behind a single, comprehensive objective.
"This goal is achievable, affordable and transformative. It represents a challenge to all Americans – in every walk of life: our political leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, engineers and every citizen," said Gore.
Among the dangers in not creating a new energy infrastructure, Gore said, is that fuel prices will continue to rise and weaken the U.S. economy. He encouraged Americans to not accept the solutions of the past, like drilling for more oil. Gore described the following as components of meeting this challenge:
The growing wind and solar sectors need to be expanded through continued investment and innovation.
Other renewables should be added to the mix – geothermal and solar thermal with storage capability – and we should start planning for that now.
The greatest gains can be made in energy efficiency. For instance, existing technologies can raise household efficiency by 30 percent.
America must invest in a Unified National Grid that would link every household and move cost-effective renewable electricity from places where the supply is vast to where the power is needed most.
We should retain the existing fossil fuel-free energy production from nuclear and hydroelectric power.
We must learn to safely store and capture carbon from coal and gas. Until then, these fossil fuels cannot be "clean."
Cathy Zoi, CEO of the Alliance for Climate Protection, which is coordinating the nearly 1.4 million-strong "We" Campaign, noted that Gore has laid down a bold yet achievable goal, and that the only thing missing was the political will. She vowed to focus the energy and resources of the "We" Campaign behind this effort. "This is ambitious and achievable," Zoi said, "but in order to make it work, all Americans need to come together. Investors and innovators must continue to develop solutions and bring them to market. Businesses can lead by example, improving efficiency and supporting policy changes in the right direction. Political leaders – at every level – must commit to this goal and see it through. And individuals must press their leaders for change." In the speech Gore noted that Americans had proven before that they can rise to a transformational challenge within a decade.
"When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to land a man on the moon and bring him back safely in 10 years, many people doubted we could accomplish that goal. But 8 years and 2 months later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface of the moon," Gore said.
A variety of voices spoke out in support of Vice President Gore’s challenge. Noting that this is a non-partisan issue that all Americans need to get behind, former Republican Congressman Sherwood Boehlert added, "Meeting this challenge is not a political issue; it is a fundamental issue about our economic future. This plan would provide real stability to the American economy for the next generation. Once we make the initial capital investments, the fuel is free and no other country or group can restrict our access to it. Renewable fuels – sun, wind, geothermal – are free; they’re not traded on the global market so they are not subject to huge spikes in price. This is the kind of economic security American families want and deserve." Calling Gore’s challenge both "audacious" and "timely," President of the World Resources Institute Jonathan Lash said: "Imagine our future and our children’s future if we seize the moment. We need to change the debate in this country from what we can’t do to what we can do. America has led every major technological shift in the last 100 years, and we can lead the next one as well. The problem is not technology, it is political will." Author and climate activist Bill McKibben said: "Finally a response to both the science of climate and the economics of energy on a scale commensurate with the problem. This is a plan that breaks us out of muddling, temporizing stalemate and sets a clear path forward towards an imaginable future. I’m not sure what prize you get once you’ve won the Nobel, but this initiative deserves it." Dr. James Hansen, the director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, added: "This is just what the doctor ordered: to cure our carbon addiction and stimulate the economy." Meeting this challenge, Dr. Hansen said, "would be the turning point that is needed to lead the world to a stable climate." At the end of his remarks, Gore asked all Americans to answer the call of history.
"Many Americans have begun to wonder whether or not we’ve simply lost our appetite for bold policy solutions," Gore said. "And folks who claim to know how our system works these days have told us we might as well forget about our political system doing anything bold, especially if it is contrary to the wishes of special interests. And I’ve got to admit, that sure seems to be the way things have been going. But I’ve begun to hear different voices in this country from people who are not only tired of baby steps and special interest politics, but are hungry for a new, different and bold approach."
"We must now lift our nation to reach another goal that will change history. Our entire civilization depends upon us now embarking on a new journey of exploration and discovery. Our success depends on our willingness as a people to undertake this journey and to complete it within 10 years. Once again, we have an opportunity to take a giant leap for humankind," Gore concluded.

To watch the video of Gore's speech and read the full transcript, click here: http://www.wecansolveit.org/pages/al_gore_a_generational_challenge_to_repower_america/

News Flash: Al Gore to Deliver Unprecedented Speech

On Thursday, July 17th at 12pm (EDT) Al Gore will deliver a speech at D.A.R. Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.
The speech is hosted by the "We" Campaign and will provide a new way of thinking about energy production and consumption in the United States, as well as a view of what is attainable when we work together. Gore intends to propose a means of utilizing America's innovative skills to build a more stable and secure energy future.
Stay tuned for details following the event.

***
D.A.R. Constitution Hall is located at 1776 D St., NW, Washington, D.C.
The "We" campaign was founded by Al Gore and is an organizing and mobilizing effort using grassroots partnerships and online activation to garner support for solutions to the climate crisis. For more information, visit www.wecansolveit.org.

Food & the Climate Crisis: What You Can Do!

What food we chose to eat is probably the single most important decision we make as individuals. While not always something we give much thought to, this choice has such a wide-spreading impact on the health of our bodies, our community, and the world around us. The environmental impact of food production and consumption is often a large piece of the puzzle that is left out of the conversation when discussing the climate crisis.

Ever since the Green Revolution, industrial agriculture has been expanding at alarming rates. One of the most important contributions of the Green Revolution was the creation of synthetic fertilizers. Before this time, plants were dependent on the sun’s energy to grow, and so they had certain physical limits to growth. When it was discovered that energy could be manufactured by fixating nitrogen into soil through the use of petroleum, agriculture, and the food we eat, was changed forever. No longer do plants rely on the sun for energy, but on petroleum. Therefore, the energy we consume comes from fossil fuels. It has been estimated that over 70% of all energy we intake is now from oil!

That doesn’t even take into account the massive amount of energy that is required to package, ship, and refrigerate food. All of this is done through the use of petroleum. We then purchase the food in a grocery store, drive home in our cars, and put it into our fossil fuel powered refrigerator. Nor does this take into account the massive amount of (petroleum-based) pesticides and herbicides that are sprayed onto our food. These not only leach into local water supplies and destroy ecosystems, but also lead to cancer in humans.

And one of the major contributing sources of greenhouse gases in the world is meat production. (This is not meant to be a rant to turn people into vegetarians or vegans, but it is meant to make people think about where their meat came from and the environmental impact it truly has). It takes about 20 pounds of grain just to make one pound of beef. All of this grain must be grown (with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides) and then fed to the cattle. It takes about eight pounds of grain to make a single pound of chicken. This is not even taking into account the literally tens of thousands of gallons of water it takes to make a single pound of meat.

According to the Center for a New American Dream, eating one less beef meal each week saves 300 lbs of carbon dioxide each year. That’s one less beef meal a week! Think about the impact one could have by cutting a majority or all of the meat from their diet. The single greatest thing an individual can do to stop the climate crisis is to eat less meat or none at all! I know people don’t like to hear it, but it is true! Becoming a vegetarian shrinks your personal carbon footprint more than switching your car to a Toyota Prius. Not only that, but every time an American becomes a vegetarian, 1 acre of trees and 1.1 million gallons of water are saved each year. That individual will also pollute half as much water every year.

All of this sounds overwhelming, and it is! But there are many small-simple steps that everyone can take to start changing your diet to one that is healthy for your body, your family, your community, your county, and the planet!

1) Eat Local – Purchase as much produce as you can from sources that are as close as possible. This will cut down significantly on the amount of shipping that is necessary to get your food from farm-to-fork, in turn reducing the amount it contributed to the climate crisis. Plus, eating local helps to invest in local agriculture instead of large agricultural corporations

2) Eat Organic – While it has become a green washing tool for many large agribusinesses, organic agriculture is important in the fight against climate change. Organic food was grown without synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified foods and it uses practices that replenish the soil instead of destroying it.

3) Eat in Season – This will ensure that your food is fresh and foods will not have to be shipped across the globe to reach your plate. Eating in season goes hand-in-hand with eating local and helps support community food security!

4) Eat Lower on the Food Chain – This might mean eating one meal without meat per week or completely cutting meat and dairy from your diet, but whatever you do, lowering or eliminating meat from your diet is the single most important thing you can do to help fight climate change!

Below are a list of some recommended websites to learn more about the connection between food & the environment and steps you can take towards a more sustainable future!

Sustainable Table: www.sustainabletable.org

Eat Well Guide: www.eatwellguide.org

Local Harvest: www.localharvest.org

The Vegetarian Resource Group: www.vrg.org

GoVeg: www.goveg.com

Forget what Kermit said. It IS easy being green!

There is a common misconception that switching to a greener lifestyle requires a great deal of sacrifice, but making small changes to reduce your consumption and decrease your carbon footprint is easy. In fact, there are several things you can RIGHT NOW to decrease your impact on the environment. Read on for a brief list of painless steps to a greener you.

1. Unplug your cell phone/iPod/ PDA/ laptop charger when it isn’t in use. Surprisingly enough, these little power cords suck up energy just by sitting there.

2. Turn off your screensaver. The flying ribbons and hypnotic pipes were developed to extend the lifespan of monochrome monitors, which are not obsolete. Your swanky new machine is much less likely to experience the image “burn in” to which old machines fell prey. Better yet, just turn off your monitor altogether or adjust your power settings to enable hibernation or sleep mode when the computer is idle.

3. Change your light bulbs. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs) use about 75% less energy and last much longer than incandescent bulbs. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls

4. Make your home cooler in the winter and warmer in the summer. Adjusting your thermostat down 2o in the winter and up 2o in the summer will save about a ton of carbon dioxide each year—not to mention the money you’ll save on your heating and cooling bills.

5. Cover your pots and pans while cooking. Trapping heat in the dish decreases cooking time and saves energy.

6. Sing in the shower, not the bath. The average bath uses 30-50 gallons of water, while the average 4-minute shower uses 20 gallons of water. Don’t believe there is much of difference? Stop the drain while you take a shower and compare the water level to that of your usual bath.

7. Take shorter showers.

8. Use a clothesline. Mother Nature can dry your laundry just as effectively as your dryer, and she even gives your clothes that fresh, sunny scent without the help of dryer sheets.

9. Recycle. Enough said.

10. Invest in a reusable water bottle instead of buying bottled water. You’ll reduce plastic waste and save money. http://www.kleankanteen.com/

11. Don’t brown-bag it. Pull your old lunch box/bag out of storage and use it to pack your lunches instead of plastic or paper bags. I find that my lunch sack from middle school with the multicolored frogs on it is an excellent conversation starter at work.

12. Buy locally grown foods. If your fruits and vegetables have crossed more state lines than you did on your post-college road trip, there is a problem. Buying locally reduces fuel consumption and stimulates the community economy.

13. Snag a reusable grocery bag. Most major food markets have jumped on the reusable bag bandwagon so it’s easy to pick up one or four when you’re checking out. Using these bags eliminates the need for plastic grocery bags, which end up in trees and streams too frequently. Bonus points if you can find one made of organic materials.

14. Walk, bike, carpool, or take mass transit on your daily commute. Cars run on gasoline and emit carbon, so the fewer miles you drive, the better—especially now that you have to take out a loan to buy gas.

15. Take the Good Neighbor Pledge and make a promise to help stop global warming. See the National Wildlife Federation’s website for more information: http://www.nwf.org/goodneighbor/pledge.cfm

Creation Care and Environmental Stewardship

Why do people care what happens to the Earth? What makes an individual willing to sacrifice aspects of their lifestyle in order to better our common world? The motivations that people have for a concern about the environment vary wildly. The value we place on anything can be the result of personal moral conscience, personal gain, community standards, or religious codes. While some people believe that the environment is of intrinsic importance, or want to help "just because," others require a stronger theological basis in order to justify their involvement in projects that are environmentally beneficial.

Certain American Christians have recently gained publicity for their growing concern about climate change and pollution. They have coined the phrase "Creation Care" to describe their efforts, highlighting the motivation they have for working on these issues--they are literally 'taking care of [God's]creation.' Countering a previously prevalent mentality among some Christians that it didn't matter what happened to the earth because it would all be destroyed in the coming age, Evangelical groups now see the Biblical scriptures commanding humans to be 'stewards' of the created world. Because God cared enough to make it for us, and set us in charge, the logic runs, now we have to keep it going.

Obviously, Christians are a very diverse group who have a myriad of positions on political and social issues. Therefore, it is significant that the Creation Care movement has galvanized a whole spectrum of theological traditions, from more left-leaning mainline denominations to right-leaning Evangelical Protestants, to Catholics, Quakers, and Mennonites. A quick Google search yields millions of sites dedicated to discussing Creation Care, such as creationcare.org which offers scriptural support and ideas for alleviating climate change. There are obvious differences in approach, from individual or household levels of conservation to churchwide initiatives, to lobbying as Christians in the political sphere for action by the government. Yet, it seems to be a consensus that what resources we use and how we consume them matters from a faith perspective.

So what is being done in the name of Creation Care? Churches are switching their lightbulbs, banning foam cups from coffee hour, and preaching about reducing, reusing, and recycling. Christians are promoting hybrid cars and alternate transportation, supporting local agricultural initiatives, and carrying reusable grocery bags. Reverence for the earth is in! Additionally, Christians are recognizing the effects of changing weather patterns and pollution on the poorest and most vulnerable people around the world. It is no longer just about the land and sea, but also about people and how they are affected. Tsunamis and hurricanes, droughts and fuel shortages make the news daily and remind everyone that the choices they make impact others far away.

Ultimately, will local and regional efforts stem the tide of climate change? I believe that certain steps must be taken by organizations with power, like the government, to shift the way energy is created, processed, and consumed in this country. This remains a contentious issue in 'Creation Care' for those who do not like to see interference in the capitalist markets. More remains to be discussed on another day, but for now it is good to see that churches with considerable sway and prestige are opening up to the cause of the Earth and no longer find environmental protection at odds with their convictions. The Christian ethic is thus holistic, finding care of nature and care of people to be essential elements of the faith.

What is the IPCC and why should I care?

I will start out by saying this warning for all of my posts: I am not a climate change scientist. I do not claim to be a climate change scientist and I probably never will be a climate change scientist. With that out of the way, I would like to lend you my credentials: I am a current graduate student in Baltimore, Maryland studying for a PhD in Molecular Genetics. I am here as an interpreter to everything science. I will try to explain what facts are supported by scientist and what facts are not currently supported by scientists. I endeavor to present the facts and let you judge, but I have to admit a bias toward believing in climate change.

With that I would like to introduce you to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC is sort of the end all for all scientific data on climate change. It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Every few years the IPCC publishes a report detailing the basic and specific conclusions concerning climate change. It DOES NOT conduct any research. It gathers research data from around the globe on the subject of climate change.

Here are the answers to a few questions you may be asking at this point:

Who is part of the IPCC? Everyone! Litterally, the IPCC is made up of governments, scientist, and people

Why do we need the IPCC? Isn't it just a bureaucratic conglomerate of like-minded idealists?
The goal of the IPCC is to provide objective data for governments and policy-makers on the subject of climate change. In their own words:

"The role of the IPCC is to assess on a comprehensive, objective, open and transparent basis the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. Review by experts and governments is an essential part of the IPCC process."

I would make a point that the IPCC is overseen by all the world's governments and merely works with them to make them aware of the data that is present on climate change. They are like-mined idealists, this cannot be denied, but they only present the facts and what they believe the facts conclude.

As stated before, the IPCC publishes a report every few years gathering the data on climate change. It is my endevor, through the next few posts, to break down the 2007 report into it's subsequent parts and try to explain the science and implication of that research. I must warn you that this is a 52 page document and it does get hefty at points. If successful though, I hope that this information gets to a new audience.