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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 4th, 2008 from: <eban@lclark.edu> 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 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! Focus News 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 ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 4th, 2008 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) 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 Bitte dieses E-Mail weiter zu schicken damit wenigstens einige Leute 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 ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 3rd, 2008 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. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 3rd, 2008 From: jeh1 at columbia.edu 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. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 3rd, 2008 Canadian Abortion Rights Pioneer Awarded Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor. 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. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on June 30th, 2008 Monday, June 30, 2008 Kyodo News 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.
G8 COUNTDOWN By ERIC JOHNSTON 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. ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on June 29th, 2008 As per e-mail and Conference website at http://www.aspo-usa.org/aspousa4/
—————– Agenda Spotlight: Sunday afternoon, Sept. 21 On Sunday you will be able to choose from the following concurrent sessions: - Reporting the Peak Oil Story
- Scenarios Planning for State and Local Government
————— Two Full Days of Plenary Sessions, on Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday, Sept. 23 Monday, Sept. 22 Demand, Meet Supply 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
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on June 28th, 2008 No Ice at the North Pole ? by: Steve Connor, The Independent UK
Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change. 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. |























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