Statue of Liberty. Photo by satosphere. (Creative Commons)

Summer in New York City means tourists. Many people, from all over the world, make NYC their summer vacation destination. And why wouldn’t they, we have amazing museums, attractions, parks and of course shopping.

However, those of us that live in the big apple rarely get the time to appreciate those things. We’re always on the move, running from work to the gym to a restaurant and maybe to a play, movie or party. More and more folks are beginning to change that though in an effort to save money and gas by taking a “staycation” right here.

Staycations can range from visiting the sites you’ve never seen (like the Statue of Liberty) or staying at home and watching TV during the day. Either way you’re doing something different than your regular routine and you’re also saving money and gas - both things that folks are having trouble with these days.

Read the rest of this entry »

TakePart hero Al Gore is speaking tonight at the Democratic Convention tonight! Seems like a good time to remember his challenge to us all!

1) Remix: Al Gore’s Challenge to Repower America

For the Cinema YouTube Video of the Day, Click here >>>

Read the rest of this entry »

The state of California is proposing something a little different in an effort to get more cars off the roadways: pay-as-you-drive auto insurance policies. The regulations, introduced by insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, would “base annual rates partly on the exact number of miles driven and would allow people to pay less if they drive less,” per the Los Angeles Times. The plan is two-fold: one, many families would save money. From the Times article:

Two out of three households in the state could save an average of $276 per vehicle, and lower-income people, who generally use their cars less than the middle class or the wealthy, might save even more, said a July study by the Brookings Institution in Washington.

The second goal is to give an incentive to drivers to simply drive less, which of course would be a tremendous environmental impact. In fact,

If just a third of California’s licensed motorists switched to the plan, it would be the equivalent of taking 10 million automobiles off the road, Assemblyman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) said.

Insurance companies in the state are happy with the idea, pending some more information.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, this is another Inconvenient Truth of the Day.

From CNN: new satellite measurements show that crucial sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has plummeted to its second-lowest level on record.

Tropical Storm Gustav is continuing on its perilous path today. It is swirling near Cuba and likely to enter the Gulf of Mexico as a hurricane this weekend. Yesterday, Gustav slammed into Haiti and the Dominican Republic as a deadly hurricane, killing at least 22 people.

Reuters is reporting that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said evacuations in New Orleans could begin as early as Friday — three years to the day after Hurricane Katrina.

____

Monsoon rains caused the Kosi River to shift its course and burst through its banks flooding the impoverished state of Bihar, India.

1 million had to flea for their lives and over 2 million are affected. Monsoon season in India has caused more than 800 deaths this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti today with winds near 90 mph and very heavy rain. Many fear that this is just the beginning of an extremely dangerous storm.

“Most indications are that Gustav will be an extremely dangerous hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea in a few days,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Center projected.

Longer-term projections show Gustav slicing along the south coast of Cuba during the week and possibly growing into a perilous Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph (190 kph) winds before entering the central Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.

Oil prices soared today as investors fear the hurricane will threaten the Gulf’s many drilling platforms. According to the AP, traders on the New York Mercantile Exchange were caught off guard by how fast the storm grew, and the price for a barrel of oil jumped $5 within minutes Tuesday morning.

Read the rest of this entry »

David Orr went on to moderate the next panel titled, “Climate Problems and Solutions; Local to Global” with Bill Becker , Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project; Robert Kennedy Jr, Chief Prosecuting Attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper and President of Waterkeeper Alliance; and Michelle Wyman, Executive Director for the US Office of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability.

Darryl Hannah, who looked stunning in person, introduced the panel. She was extremely well versed on the subject and seemed to speak from the heart when introducing the panel.

But, it was Robert Kennedy Jr. who stole the show. Wow. I don’t know if it’s his lineage, good looks or political savvy but he was all that and more. He made a strong argument for using federal funds to build out infrastructure to transmit clean energy. There is enough energy in the barren northwest to power the whole country, we just lack the means to get it where it needs to go. He also talked about the importance of creating a free market driven by clean energy where innovators are incentivized and inefficiency is punished. So instead of trillion dollar subsidies to oil companies, the wind farmer in Texas would finally be styling!

Read the rest of this entry »

I sat in on same great panels today. And let just say that while the media has been preoccupied with creating controversy and ill will between the Obama and Clinton camps, the mood on the ground is far from derisive. And there is overwhelming consensus on the issue of the environment. In the Big Tent, there were two great panels featuring leading experts in the space. The first featured Lester Brown, a lifelong advocate and head of the Earth Policy Institute; Randy Hayes, Climate Policy Officer at the World Future Council; David Orr, Author, Environmentalist, named “an Environmentalist Hero for 2004″ by Interiors & Sources Magazine; and Chuck Kutscher, Principal Engineer and Manager of the Thermal Systems Group at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Betsy Taylor, executive director of the Center for a New American Dream, moderated.

There were so many strong points made that I wouldn’t even know where to begin so I’ll focus on what was not outright said. This group is frustrated. They have spent the better part of 20 years proving that the science is right, the technology is there, and yet the political will hasn’t materialized to bring clean, renewable energy into the mainstream. Chuck Kutscher asked, “How long would you drive your car in the red?” and David Orr went so far as to say, that it is the “greatest political failure in history.”

Excerpts from the panel will be posted on the Big Tent’s YouTube channel so check in often:

http://www.youtube.com/bigtentdenver

David Orr was one of 50 leading scientists featured in The 11th Hour. takepart at the 11th Hour Action site, , for tips on what you can do!

Related:

TakePart at the DNC

These top 10 green Twitter feeds, courtesy of the Huffington Post, are a great way to catch up on all things green - over 2 million collective users cover the gamut in everything from renewable energy to local organic eats. Twitter, for those unfamiliar, is a free micro-blogging and social networking site that enables users to upload “tweets,” or small messages under 140 characters about a variety of topics, including those of the sustainable variety. Check out a quick list of our eco-favorites after the JUMP —->

Read the rest of this entry »

So we already know the dangers of Arctic ice melting due to global warming - more storms, higher water levels, polar bears sadly treading water. But yesterday a new study was released that gives us one more reason to worry. It turns out that underneath all that ice, Arctic soil contains extremely high levels of carbon dioxide that would be released into the environment if the ice melts, thus creating a cycle of more global warming, more ice melting, and so forth and so on. And it seems that this much carbon was not taken into account when doing studies and forecasting models of the effects of global warming.

The AFP reports “that the stock of organic carbon ‘is considerably higher than previously thought’ — 60 percent more than the previously estimated.” This accounts for approximately one sixth the entire amount of carbon in the atmosphere today. It’s not a stretch to imagine that if all that carbon were unloaded on the environment all at once, or even in a steady stream, the implications to the climate would be huge.

Read the rest of this entry »