from: <eban@lclark.edu>
July 3, 2008

Dear friends,

Focus the Nation is supporting PowerVote, a terrific national campaign by Energy Action to engage young people around climate change in the fall election. Please forward widely this call for participation at the PowerVote training camp in August. The deadline for applications is JULY 7th.

Meanwhile, Focus is also HIRING organizers to build Focus the Nation 2009, and help save the future- based out of our office here in Portland.  Check out our job ad and apply today!

Along with Hunter Lovins, Winona LaDuke, Steve Schneider and others, Eban will be speaking at the Rothbury music festival outside of Grand Rapids this weekend—the festival is sponsoring an exciting “think-tank” focused on global warming solutions.

Thanks for the work you are doing.

Eban Goodstein, Project Director
Chungin Chug, Communications Director

POWERVOTE  — please forward widely

Dear Educators,

We need your help in finding amazing young student leaders who are interested in having the chance to build a strong set of organizing and campaign skills and who are interesting in playing a pivotal role in our nation’s historic upcoming election.  Last fall we all came together to make Power Shift 2007 a reality - over 6,000 young people came to Washington DC for a life-changing weekend to learn and take action on  the defining issue of our generation, global warming.  They listened to thought provoking panels, sat-in on informative workshops and stormed Capitol Hill for the largest lobby day on global warming ever.  It took all of us to make this happen, and we all contributed in our own way, from advising students, organizing campus groups or just passing the word on.  We want to say THANK YOU to each and every one of you, and also ask you for your help as we set-off on our next great big endeavor.

With the election season in full swing there are huge opportunities to have discussions with young people about global warming, our future and civic engagement - that’s why we’ve launched Power Vote  http://www.powervote.org), a national campaign to turn up the volume on climate change in the elections and engage millions of young people on the issue.  Between now and November, we’ll be out on the campaign trail asking the candidates what their plan is on global warming, educate young people on candidates positions on the issue, and continue to build a broad and diverse movement to fight for a clean and just energy future.

We are currently looking for young leaders who would be interested in working on the Power Vote campaign, and we would love your help in identifying these people.  To prepare them for the fall and beyond, the Energy Action Coalition is hosting a MEGA training camp lead by the exceptional trainers at Wellstone Action.  Selected students and youth will get to participate in a life-changing intensive five-day training, which will equip them with many essential skills to organize and strategically campaign for change.  We have registration fee-waivers and travel scholarships available.  We do not want cost to be a barrier for anyone.  You can find out more about the training here: http://energyactioncoalition.org/powervo…

We are currently looking for applicants and it would be a great help if you could pass the information below to any young person who you think would be interested, and pass it onto listservs and other forums.  The application deadline is July 7th, so please spread the word soon.

Thanks again!
Arthur, Brianna, Madeline, Ragini, Jessy, Kassie, Whit, and the whole Energy Action team

Focus News
Forty Percent of Car Trips are within two miles of your home: Take Clif Bar’s Two-Mile Challenge and ride or walk instead! Check it out.
Nike rejoins Focus for 2009. Nike brings to Focus the Nation over a decade of business commitment to global warming solutions on a global scale. Watch for future info about our partnership to green campus athletics.
Join BRITA Climate-Ride 2008!  Focus is partnering with this four day, NYC-DC cycle event this September. Join the Focus the Nation team.
The Focus the Nation Wind Turbine! Thanks to Native Energy, Focus the Nation teams can offset their projects and help build a wind turbine on a family farm in Minnesota .
What Did You Teach at Focus the Nation? Help us collect educational material on global warming solutions; find out what others are up to at ClimateChangeEducation.org.
The President’s Climate Commitment: Has your University or College President signed on?
Donate to Focus—Stop Your Junk Mail! Sign up with 41 Pounds, and a portion of the income is donated directly to us here at Focus the Nation.

New Books & Videos on Fighting Global Warming

On video: Jon Isham and Eban Goodstein talk about their recent books on building the global warming solutions movement–  Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction (Goodstein) and Ignition (Isham and Waage)

Other recent books of note: Gary Braasch’s Earth Under Fire; and Gary and Lynn Cherry’s How We Know What We Know About Our Changing Climate: Scientists and Kids Explore Global Warming, Laurie David’s Down to Earth Guide; Jay Inslee and Bracken Hendrick’s Apollo’s Fire and  Fight Global Warming Now from Step it Up.

Global Warming Organizing Films: Everything’s Cool (Dan Gold and Judith Helfand);  Revolution Green (Stephen Stout and Jessica Kelly)

Focus Update is the e-bulletin of Focus the Nation. If would prefer not to receive this update, please reply to this message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the header.

Eban Goodstein
Project Director
Focus the Nation
 info at focusthenation.org
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We received an e-mail showing how little costs to buy gasoline (in German called Benzin) and diesel fuel if you live in a so called developing oil-exporting country or in the USA

Date: July 4, 2008

1 Liter = 0.264174 gal (US Liq)
US$ 1 = Euro 1.5682 as of 7/4/2008

The Austrian e-mail evokes the following list. We went then and looked up other countries and found that Austria is actually a bargain when compared to other developed economies.

The Austrian 1.32 Euro/liter is 2.16 times what the complaining American sissies are paying, but only 78.7% of what Norwegians are paying or 80.7% of what the Dutch are paying.

On the other hand Japan at 0.99 Euro/liter is another chaeap-shot so is Canada at 0.88 Euro/liter.

And you know already what we think? Those that pay more for their gasoline have also decreased their dependence on oil by efficiency methods and conservation - they also developed alternatives to oil and have started building the economy of the future. So, it is actually the US that is falling behind while it transfers its funds to the Gulf States hoping that the increased National Debt will devalue the US$ to the point that it remains valueless paper in their hand.The problem is that they do not sit on the money anymore. They actually buy assets with that money - among that buying spree they also buy up chunks of America. So what then? Will they agree to American taxation without representation - or the US will eventually find out that Bush made a Faustian Deal with the US oil companies and with his Arab friends.

Our advice to our Austrian readers is thus - DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE TAX ON FUEL - BUT MAKE SURE THE MONEY IS USED SO THAT EVENTUALLY YOU WILL HAVE TO BUY LESS OF IT.

The following is what we got in the mail - then look at what we added for the sake of analysis. if our other readers want to get the actual numbers in US dollars, please use the above conversion factors.

BENZINPREISE INTERNATIONAL

Benzin that is Gasoline - but much of the posting is about Diesel - this because in Europe the motor-fuel of choice is high quality Diesel.

Afghanistan Normalbenzin € 0,43

Algerien Diesel € 0,11

Aserbaidschan Diesel € 0,31

Ägypten Diesel € 0,14

Ãthiopien Super € 0,24

Bahamas Diesel € 0,25

Bolivien Super € 0,25

Brasilien Diesel € 0,54

China Normal € 0,45

Ecuador Normal € 0,24

Ghana Normal € 0,09 !!!!!!!

Grönland Super € 0,50

Guyana Normal € 0,67

Hong Kong Diesel € 0,84

Indien Diesel € 0,62

Indonesien Diesel € 0,32

Irak Super € 0,60

Kasachstan Diesel € 0,44

Katar Super € 0,15

Kuwait Super € 0,18

Kuba Normal € 0,62

Libyen Diesel € 0,08 !!!!!!!

Malaysia Super € 0,55

Mexico Diesel € 0,41

Moldau Normal € 0,25

Oman Super plus € 0,20

Peru Diesel € 0,22

Philippinen Diesel € 0,69

Russland Super € 0,64

Saudi Arabien Diesel € 0,07 !!!!!!

Südafrika Diesel € 0,66

Swasiland Super € 0,10 !!!!!!

Syrien Diesel € 0,10 !!!!!

Trinidad Super € 0,33

Thailand Super € 0,65

Tunesien Diesel € 0,49

USA Diesel € 0,61

Venezuela Diesel € 0,07 !!!!!

Vereinigte Arabische Emirate Diesel € 0,18

Vietnam Diesel € 0,55

Weißrussland Diesel € 0,51

EU und dem Finanzminister sei dank ist der Österreicher bzw. Europäer dumm
genug sich abzocken zu lassen (Mineralölsteuer und Mehrwertsteuer auf
Benzin).

Bitte dieses E-Mail weiter zu schicken damit wenigstens einige Leute
erkennen wie stark Österreich geneppt wird.

Benzinpreise auf der eigenen Webseite

And looking at international prices for July 4, 2008 at - http://benzinpreis.de/international.phtm…

Land Normalbenzin in € Superbenzin in € SuperPlus in € Diesel in €

Österreich 1,26 1,29 * 1,28 1,32 *

UK 1,40 1,46 1,50 1,58

Finnland 1,47 1,50 1,50 1,36

Frankreich 1,39 1,34 * 1,44 1,37 *

Irland 1,26 1,26 1,15 1,43

Island 1,35 1,40 1,47 1,50

Israel - 1,05 - -

Italien 1,36 1,46 1,34 1,45

Japan 0,99 1,08 - 0,79

Kanada 0,88 0.87 0.82  0.90

Neuseeland 1,03 0,97 - 1,46

Niederlande 1,56 1,61 1,69 1,31 **

Norwegen 1,60 1,61 1,46 1,56

Schweden 1,37 1,39 1,36 1,47

Schweiz 1,24 1,21 * 1,23 1,37 *

Ungarn 1,29 1,26 1,20 1,31

For this year’s summit, the G8 has invited China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico, Australia and South Korea to its “outreach” session on climate change.

Apart from the G8’s inability to come up with anything on global warming, some world leaders have questioned the value of the summit’s current framework.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on June 3, French President Nicolas Sarkozy vehemently argued that the G8 forum should be expanded to include such countries as China and India, according to Japanese diplomats.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also appears to be positive about expanding the group, although he has not explicitly discussed it, they said.

Fukuda strongly disagrees, saying the G8 should remain a forum for a small number of states bearing a large responsibility for the international community.

Tokyo fears expanding the meeting would diminish Japan’s clout on the world stage.

“Japan, Germany and Italy are reluctant about expansion. They do not want to weaken the power of the G8 to send out political messages,” said a senior Foreign Ministry in charge of European affairs.

“President Sarkozy is of the opinion that the G8 was originally started as a forum for economic discussions, and talking about economic issues without the participation of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is meaningless. He believes noneconomic issues should be discussed at the U.N. Security Council,” the official said.

But Japan, Germany and Italy are not permanent members of the Security Council and attach greater political value to the G8 forum, the official said.

Another senior Foreign Ministry official argued that expanding the G8 membership would only increase political taboos that member states can’t touch on during the closed-door summit.

For example, adding China would make it impossible to discuss human rights issues and world currency issues related to the yuan, the official said.

Despite speculation that the G8 leaders may discuss the expansion issue in Hokkaido, Japanese officials insist it will not be a formal topic.

“I guarantee that will never be on the formal agenda,” Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday. “None of (the foreign ministers) of the G8 has discussed the issue yet.

At least Japan has not said it wants to expand the G8.”

—–

Really, if they want relevancy, why not create first the United European Group of States Federation or whatever they want to call it, so little States like Italy are not allowed to interfere with the work of the big ones. So - EU, US, Russia, China, India, Japan, Brazil are a good start for a relevant compact G7. Candidates-in-waiting or whatever you want to call it are then - Australia, South Africa, Canada, Indonesia, Korea. 

OK, not to have another upset State - probably the inclusion of Canada could give us the new starting G8.

In any case, it seems that unless Japan gets a seat on the UN Security Council, the G8 will continue to show its irrelevancy for all to see. 

From:    jeh1 at columbia.edu
Subject: Dear Prime Minister Fukuda
Letter sent to Prime Minister Fukuda before the G8 meeting is at http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2…

makes some very interesting points about relative parts of coal, oil, and gas in 2007 emissions and their historic part in the present composition of the air, and the various sources of these emissions.

He makes suggestions and asks for Fukuda’s leadership. Please open the above link in order to read Jim Hansen’s intervention to the G8.

Canadian Abortion Rights Pioneer Awarded Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor.
Posted by Amanda Marcotte, Pandagon at 11:29 AM on July 2, 2008.

Dr. Henry Morgentaler receives the Order of Canada.

This is neat—Dr. Henry Morgentaler, a Canadian abortion rights activist, is getting the Order of Canada.

Naturally, anti-choicers are wailing. The shamelessness of people will never cease to amaze me.

The man is a hero to humanity who has helped save lives both in the physical sense (the lives of women who might have resorted to dangerous methods) and in the more philosophical sense (the way that your life is saved if it’s made more worth living because you are genuinely free).

People like Dr. Morgentaler are living reminders that there is good in the world writes Amanda.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Teams from 24 nations to hold camps in Japan before Olympics.

Kyodo News
Sports teams from at least 24 countries including Canada, Germany, France, Israel and the United States will hold camps in Japan for final preparations prior to the Beijing Olympics in August.

Concerns about air pollution, food safety and “political tension” in China, and good facilities in Japan, were cited as reasons for making a final stop here prior to the Aug. 8-24 Olympics.

Japan’s proximity to China, with only a one-hour time difference with Beijing, was another selling point.

The teams will hold camps in 20 prefectures, from Hokkaido in the north to Kumamoto in the southwest, starting in July.

About 150 athletes, coaches and other staff from Sweden will hold camps for 13 Olympic events in Fukuoka, partly because the city has numerous facilities and its airport provides direct flights to Beijing.

A 30-member Dutch track and field team will also hold a camp in Fukuoka around the same time.

A track and field team from Bahrain will hold an Olympic camp in Kaminoyama, Yamagata Prefecture. It decided against holding a camp in China partly because of worries about air pollution and food.

The Bahrain team also held a camp in Kaminoyama before the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka.

For that visit, Kaminoyama provided the team from the Muslim country with clarification regarding food ingredients, which apparently played a role in the team coming back.

A French track and field team will hold a camp in Wakayama. The team initially planned to use Shanghai but judged it was better to avoid China because of “political tension” in the country, a team source said.

Anti-France demonstrations were held in China after the Olympic torch relay in Paris drew rowdy protests.

An Irish track and field team has selected Matsue, Shimane Prefecture.

Monday, June 30, 2008

G8 COUNTDOWN
U.N. chief calls for leadership on setting midterm emissions cuts

By ERIC JOHNSTON
Staff writer
KYOTO — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Sunday that while long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are important, it is more critical that a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty with midterm targets be concluded in Copenhagen by next year.

But he warned there appears to be insufficient political leadership, especially among developed countries, to reach that goal and said Japan needs to do more to push the matter forward.

“Japan’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent to 80 percent by 2050 is impressive. Japan has also indicated that it might reduce emissions by 14 percent from the current level by 2020. Today, I call on Japan to provide further leadership in developing an even more far-reaching proposal,” Ban told a group of scholars, students and local residents during a meeting at Kyoto University.

“There is a lack of political will at the leadership level (for midterm targets). Each country must contribute, and this is something I will discuss with Prime Minister (Yasuo) Fukuda on Monday,” Ban said.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, and efforts are on to hammer out a new agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009.

“Ambitious targets by all major emitters are essential to conclude the deal,” Ban said. “By Copenhagen, we must agree not only on long-term goals, but also on short and medium-term targets.”

Ban arrived in Japan on Saturday on the first leg of a two-week Asia tour that will also take him to South Korea and China as well as next week’s Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido.

His visit comes at a time when international pressure is growing on Japan as host of the G8 summit to aggressively push other summit leaders to make a strong statement on the need for binding midterm emission reduction targets.

However, hopes for strong leadership from both Japan and the G8 summit for such a statement dimmed earlier this month when Fukuda said it is up to U.N. negotiators, not the G8, to agree on midterm targets.

Ban’s visit to Japan is designed to put political pressure on Fukuda to get the G8 leaders to make a statement that will show developing countries the rich nations are serious about taking the lead in reaching a climate change agreement.

Many in Japanese industry, especially the steel and utility companies that burn a lot of coal, oppose midterm targets.

At Sunday’s meeting, a representative from Kansai Electric Power Co. said the industry agrees that long-term goals are important, and spoke on the need for improved green technologies as the ultimate solution for reducing greenhouse gases worldwide.

However, others noted that the consensus of the scientific community, as outlined by the U.N. last year, is that climate change is occurring much faster than previously thought and that action between now and 2020 is needed to prevent a global climate catastrophe.

Ban praised Fukuda’s recently announced plan for a low-carbon future society, saying it is the kind of leadership by example other developed countries need to follow.

He also said that improved energy efficiency and the widespread use of renewable energy sources are necessary to cut emissions by half by 2050.

As per e-mail and Conference website at http://www.aspo-usa.org/aspousa4/

2008 Sacramento Peak Oil Conference, September 21-23, 2008.
Hyatt Regency Sacramento, California
ASPO-USA is A Non-profit, Non-partisan Research & Public Education Initiative Addressing America’s Peak Oil Energy Challenge.

—————–

Agenda Spotlight: Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21

On Sunday you will be able to choose from the following concurrent sessions:

- Reporting the Peak Oil Story
National journalists Neil King (Wall Street Journal) and Bart Anderson (Energy Bulletin), Rob Collier, Stuart Leavenworth, Lisa Margonelli, and Tom Whipple

- Investing in the new Energy Economy
Investment specialists Rick Schechter, Jim Puplava, Jim Hansen and Atticus Lowe

- Tracking the Public Data
Nate Hagens, Kyle Saunders, Jeff Vail, Euan Mearns, Robert Rapier, and Gail Tverberg of The Oil Drum

- Scenarios Planning for State and Local Government
Connecticut State Representative Terry Backer, Bryn Davidson, Dan Bednarz, John Kaufmann, and Dick Lawrence

The day will conclude with a social reception and an evening presentation on “The Oil Story in Iran and Iraq” by Peter Wells.

—————

Two Full Days of Plenary Sessions, on Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday, Sept. 23
will each be followed by social receptions and evening presentations.

Monday, Sept. 22 Demand, Meet Supply
Presentations will include “Petroleum 101″, and “Alaskan Oil: Prudoe Bay Discovery and Outlook for North Slope Oil”; a “Peak Oil Global Overview - An American Wakeup Call”; extent and aging of Global Energy Infrastructure;and the economic impacts of $100 and €70 Crude Oil.

Our luncheon presentation will feature Jim Buckee on “Big Oil & Resource Nationalism”, and a surprise evening presentation (Hint: The words “Exponential” and “growth” will be mentioned.)

Tuesday, Sept. 23 Where Now? Choices for the Long Haul
Presentations will address Natural Gas and Coal as Liquid Fuels Substitutes; Fossil Fuel Limits on IPCC Scenarios; and the costs of renewable energy vs. coal.

Our luncheon and afternoon sessions will focus on the Future of Aviation and Ground Transportation, Sustainable Mobility, and the Transition of Fuels to Flows as the future becomes electric.

No Ice at the North Pole ?
Friday 27 June 2008

by: Steve Connor, The Independent UK

A ship navigates through Arctic Ocean ice.
(Photo: Reuters)

Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change.
It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.
The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic - and worrying - examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.
“From the viewpoint of science, the North Pole is just another point on the globe, but symbolically it is hugely important. There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water,” said Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado.
If it happens, it raises the prospect of the Arctic nations being able to exploit the valuable oil and mineral deposits below these a bed which have until now been impossible to extract because of the thick sea ice above.
Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally ice free north Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by huge swathes of thinner ice formed over a single year.
This one-year ice is highly vulnerable to melting during the summer months and satellite data coming in over recent weeks shows that the rate of melting is faster than last year, when there was an all-time record loss of summer sea ice at the Arctic.
“The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North pole is covered with extensive first-year ice - ice that formed last autumn and winter. I’d say it’s even-odds whether the North Pole melts out,” said Dr Serreze.
Each summer the sea ice melts before reforming again during the long Arctic winter but the loss of sea ice last year was so extensive that much of the Arctic Ocean became open water, with the water-ice boundary coming just 700 miles away from the North Pole.
This meant that about 70 per cent of the sea ice present this spring was single-year ice formed over last winter. Scientists predict that at least 70 per cent of this single-year ice - and perhaps all of it - will melt completely this summer, Dr Serreze said.
“Indeed, for the Arctic as a whole, the melt season started with even more thin ice than in 2007, hence concerns that we may even beat last year’s sea-ice minimum. We’ll see what happens, a great deal depends on the weather patterns in July and August,” he said.
Ron Lindsay, a polar scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, agreed that much now depends on what happens to the Arctic weather in terms of wind patterns and hours of sunshine. “There’s a good chance that it will all melt away at the North Pole, it’s certainly feasible, but it’s not guaranteed,” Dr Lindsay said.
The polar regions are experiencing the most dramatic increase in average temperatures due to global warming and scientists fear that as more sea ices lost, the darker, open ocean will absorb more heat and raise local temperatures even further. Professor Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University, who was one of the first civilian scientists to sail underneath the Arctic sea ice in a Royal Navy submarine, said that the conditions are ripe for an unprecedented melting of the ice at the North Pole.
“Last year we saw huge areas of the ocean open up, which has never been experienced before. People are expecting this to continue this year and it is likely to extend over the North Pole. It is quite likely that the North Pole will be exposed this summer - it’s not happened before,” Professor Wadhams said.
There are other indications that the Arctic sea ice is showing signs of breaking up. Scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre said that the North Water ‘polynya’ - an expanse of open water surrounded on all sides by ice - that normally forms near Alaska and Banks Island off the Canadian coast, is much larger than normal. Polynyas absorb heat from the sun and eat away at the edge of the sea ice.
Inuit natives living near Baffin Bay between Canada and Greenland are also reporting that the sea ice there is starting to break up much earlier than normal and that they have seen wide cracks appearing in the ice where it normally remains stable. Satellite measurements collected over nearly 30 years show a significant decline in the extent of the Arctic sea ice, which has become more rapid in recent years.

We mention the UN Secretary-General as tour leader to the North Pole which is closer to his home then the South Pole, where he got close in his trip to Antarctica on the way from New York to Valencia Spain - a trip on which our website had quite a few things to say in its time.