You’re Invited
by Lloyd GordonNovember 27th, 2006 at 15:51:04
Climate Change
The newspaper on Thanksgiving morning carried splendid tidings, the kind that richly deserve praise and thanksgiving. Thank you, Register-Guard.
Page one of the first section noted the return of Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury from Tennessee, where he graduated from Al Gore’s training camp for the fight against global warming. Bradbury is well equipped and more than willing to produce Gore’s slide show for any audience of fifty or more persons anywhere in the state. I’ve seen the movie and I bought the book, and I’ll go see the presentation again. It will be in Eugene on 12/11 at the South Eugene High School auditorium at 7 p.m. it’s free and you’re invited. Bradbury’s already scheduled into Corvallis, Medford, Ashland and Bend before mid-December. Anyone who can provide the space and an audience of 50 or more can contact Bradley’s scheduler Leslie Roth at (503) 986-2361 or e-mail her www.leslie.roth@state.or.us. You’ll be penciled in and will have become a show promoter without having to pay a thing for the talent.
Meanwhile, Al is training many more to go out and spread the word. The Tennessee faculty includes not only Al Gore, who is himself trained by the finest scientific minds in the world, but a panel of distinguished scientists are on hand to answer any questions from the fledgling lieutenants. I betcha discussions got a bit intense during the training period. Wish I’d been a fly on the wall. Ultimately the goal is 1,000 people trained to go out and spread the word.
More Climate Change
Lead story in the City/Region section was the announcement that Eugene will seek to induce its residents to reduce the amount of carbon they send into to the atmosphere. Mayor Kitty Piercy has signed on to a version of the Kyoto Protocol, which calls for a 7 percent cut in greenhouse gases within the city borders by 2012.
This is the article that gave me the 22 ton annual emission per individual of carbon input to the atmosphere. What is underway is a voluntary program. Individuals seeking more information on what can and should be done can consult:
The Climate Trust www.CarbonCounter.org
TerraPass at www.terrapass.com
Conservation International at www.conservation.org
www.carbonfund.org.
Each of the resources listed above provided ‘carbon counters, all of which tended to be non-specific in their estimates, though sometimes offering nice bits of information. Average carbon emissions from autos, for instance, varied from three tons a year for the small hybrids to ten tons per year for SUVs. And a cross-country airline trip uses about 100 gallons of fuel per passenger. One could wish for comparative data for comparable car, train and bus trips, but hey, we’re hunters-gatherers here. We’ll pick up whatever we find and take it home and use it when we need it.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:29 am
That’s Bill Bradbury, not Bill Bradley. Love ‘em both, but only one lives in Oregon.
November 28th, 2006 at 11:05 am
Most will agree that the effects of global warming and disastrous and need attention. One way the government or other private entities are suggesting we combat the problem is very problematic in and of itself.
Not much has been heard about an ominous senate bill now under consideration in Washington. SB 517 and HB 2995 would allow the government and others to experiment with weather change by spraying dangerous chemicals into the atmosphere. Since 1996, these experiments have been going on illegally. Government and the Air force have denied it but there is ample evidence. This issue deserves careful research to determine if this program presents a danger to our environment. I wonder if OSPIRG has done research on this issue. This activity has been conducted in Oregon. In California, there is evidence of heavy metal contamination of soil and water as a result of these experiments.
More attention needs to be paid to this very dangerous activity.
Thank You.
Tom Hopkins
December 11th, 2006 at 5:58 am
The Good News About LATOC
There are plenty of people who, by ignorance or some other reason, choose to debunk Greenhouse effects as a trumped up idea by those liberal, reactionary, bas***.
The time is coming when proof will be presented. Oil is timing out. Simple as that: Too many people using too much oil. Never mind the other effects of this loss. We are running out of oil. The good news is that the reduction in automobile use will be the perfect proof of the greenhouse effect.
It is kind of like the fellow who stopped hitting his head with a hammer. It felt real good to quit, but the results will still be there, just not getting worse.
It looks like Mother Nature has decided to take pollution matters in hand for her ( the planet’s ) own sake.