http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/obamas-transportation-secretary-america-is-one-big-pothole.php

This is a transformational president, and the department is following the president’s lead. People haven’t really been thinking about these things. They have been thinking about how to build roads, how to build interstates, how to build bridges. People now are thinking differently about where they want to live, how they want to live, and how they want to be able to get around their communities.

[+ Read More]

The Suburban parked at a Shell Station in New Jersey, behind a new Prius.

The Administration is sanctioning (through the “Stimulus Bill”) payment to anyone who brings in their old car, and uses that payment toward a new car. The environmental and carbon impacts of this program is devastating. The amount of new carbon dioxide that shall be spewed into the atmosphere by the recycling of old cars and creation of new cars vastly outweighs simply driving our old clunkers until they die. Preferably, we would repair our cars until they have literally rusted away. The amount of carbon dioxide and new pollution that is tacked onto the production of a new automobile is burdensome. I wish the U.S. Government would consult scientists prior to passing these programs that are meant to “bolster the economy.”

Fun Commentary on this:

http://www.journalgazette.net/

http://forums.treehugger.com/

A Constant Shore

And through the ages of Impermanence
Through nations: rise and fall
Through long and short winters
The taste of Constancy has riddled our tongues

Hey all – Greg and I treked down to the Garnerville Industrial Arts Center in West Haverstraw, New York (actually to take a headshot for me). The complex, which houses tons of artists and craftsmen, is called GAGA (SoHo of the north). It’s a fantastic place.

As you all might know, our Citizens Schools sixth and seventh graders have been learning about sustainability, renewable energy, and also have been building solar cars to race at the Junior Solar Sprint at MIT in a few weeks! In our last class, we focused on sustainability, in which we did a “web of resilience” exercize and then we finished off by discussing Peak Oil.

What if all brains/souls are connected through a device that automatically and unknowingly uploads experiences, knowledge, information, and various emotions into the brains of all of Humanity’s subconscious?

The hardest part about starting a business is dealing with different personalities. How do you make them mesh? How do you get everyone to work toward a combined/consolidated vision? How do you OWN your vision?!

Last summer, I sat in the Town Hall in Merrill, Maine listening to the Town Clerk cry over the town not having enough money for road salt this winter; the town had no way to get the money, since they couldn’t raise taxes with such a depressed economy. The Clerk made it clear to me why she was so upset – she was afraid that one of her friends’ children will skid off a slick road and hit a tree.

We’re starting a movement. The Emergent Posse is an online group/movement/community of highly-motivated community activists spread across the nation working to educate and empower communities and community leaders in order to implement real sustainability programs and projects. We’ve hit a paradigm shift: oil isn’t cheap, the planet has a fever, and the economy is in the toilet. I’ve heard smart people calling for BIG government intervention and Europe-styled Socialism. That’s not the answer here in America.

If you google search (or yahoo, we don’t discriminate) for “Energy Bill” under news you get a bonanza of results for both the new national energy and climate bill, just released, as well as for numerous states who are all releasing their own far reaching bills. California just passed one which requires all utilities to purchase 33% of their power from renewable resources by 2020. Tennessee will be releasing their own in a few weeks for discussion and is expected to be a ‘lead by example’ type bill with much of the focus being on greening the government and its operations. It also may include a residential code for certain green and efficiency standards for new homes. And they’re not all rosey…