Oil Company Profit: Billions of Dollars

Earlier today (or really, yesterday) the US Senate voted to let the oil companies continue getting 4 billion dollars a year of tax breaks (subsidies!) which was the bill to eliminate unnecessary tax subsidies and promote renewable energy and energy conservation.

It didn't seem to matter to them that the top 5 domestic oil companies have made 32 billion dollars in profit this year. That's in addition to the $130 billion dollars in profit from last year. The heads of the top 5 domestic oil companies testified under oath a few years ago that they do not want, need or ask for these tax breaks, but some of their pals in Congress want to continue with them anyway. http://www.petrostrategies.org/Links/biggest_us_oil_and_gas_companies.htm

There were 47 senators who voted to end the tax subsidies. They received $5,873,600 in campaign contributions from big oil. There were 51 senators who voted to continue with the tax subsidies. They received a whopping $23,582,500 in campaign contributions. Hmm, what does this tell us?

Here's the link to see how your senator voted:

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=2&vote=00063

The 5 top US oil companies control 56.3% of the domestic oil refinery capacity. A barrel of oil is 42 US gallons. It costs the oil companies $2 per barrel to get oil out of the ground in the traditional way (derrick.) It costs them $35 per barrell to get oil out of the ground where they have to go through deep water. So the price of oil that is above $45 per barrel is pure profit.

The current price of a US barrel of oil as of 2:31 am on 3/30/12 is $103.52.

You do the math!

Some Interesting Facts

Wrapping paper -

The global packaging market is worth $429 billion.

Nearly 1/3 of Americans' waste is packaging. Just 43% is recycled after use.

In 2007, Americans threw away 78.5 million tons of packaging - 520 pounds per person!

Between Thanksgiving and New Years, Americans produce more than 1 million tons of additional garbage per week.

If every family reused the wrapping from 3 gifts, it would save enough paper to cover 50,000 football fields.

Last year, clam shell-type packages sent more than 5,700 Americans to the ER.

Americans annually buy enough plastic wrap to cover Texas.

Exxon Mobil Pleads Guilty

WASHINGTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. will pay about $7,000 each for dozens of birds killed at various company properties.

Exxon Mobil pleaded guilty to causing the deaths of approximately 85 protected migratory birds, most of whom died after exposure to natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities. Birds died in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas between 2004 and 2009.

The firm will pay a fine of $600,000 and has also agreed to make changes to prevent such bird deaths in the future. The company says it has already spent $2.5 million in the effort.
Justice Department officials are discussing the case following a guilty plea by the corporation in federal court in Denver.

Finally

Exxon to pay interest on Valdez oil spill damages

By MARY PEMBERTON, Associated Press Writer

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. has decided not to appeal hundreds of millions of dollars in interest on punitive damages resulting from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The Irving, Texas-based company will pay about $470 million in interest on more than $507.5 million in punitive damages following the 11 million gallon spill of crude in Prince William Sound, company spokesman Tony Cudmore said Monday.

The company expects to make payment on the interest in the next few days, said plaintiffs' lawyer David Oesting. Exxon's decision was first reported Monday by the Anchorage Daily News.

The decision is a turnaround for the company. Exxon Mobil since the mid-1990s has appealed court rulings on punitive damages.

"I think they recognized they weren't going any further from a legal standpoint," Oesting said.

Earlier this month, Exxon Mobil was ordered to pay interest on the punitive damages. The ruling issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco nearly doubles the average payout of about $15,000 to 33,000 Alaska Natives, fishermen, business owners and others.

Numerous studies have found the region has not fully recovered from the disaster that fouled 1,200 miles of coastline in the nation's worst crude oil spill.

In June 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court set punitive damages at $507.5 million. But two months later, the high court declined to decide whether Exxon Mobil must pay interest on the punitive damages and instead sent it back to the appeals court.

Cudmore said he couldn't elaborate on why Exxon Mobil decided to pay interest, except to say the company felt it should adhere to the appeals court decision.

Exxon argued unsuccessfully that if interest had to be paid, it should be calculated from the date the punitive damages were set last by the Supreme Court. But the appeals court said interest on the $507.5 million judgment should run from 1996, when the original settlement was entered into court records, at a rate of 5.9 percent.

Legal battles over the Exxon Valdez spill have lasted years but now appear to be ending. The only remaining sum in dispute is $70 million in court fees, Cudmore said.

An Anchorage jury in 1994 awarded plaintiffs $5 billion. That was cut in half by the 9th Circuit. The Supreme Court in a split decision reduced the total to $507.5 million.

Oesting said the plaintiffs' have "clearly prevailed" in the case, even if the original $5 billion judgment was drastically reduced.

The Lovely Little Hummingbird

Late spring signals the arrival of special spring visitors — those flighty little jewels called hummingbirds.

If you haven’t put your hummingbird feeder out yet, you may want to do it in the next few days, because those gorgeous birds will soon look for food and nesting sites.

Hummingbird experts recommend this recipe for your feeder: Use one part white cane sugar to four parts water. Some say boil the water, some say don’t boil the water, so take your pick.

Never use honey or artificial coloring, and store unused portions of your recipe in the refrigerator.

Always keep the feeder clean, not only replacing the sugar solution but washing all parts of the feeder every couple of days, because disease-causing mold appears quickly during hot, humid weather. (Would you eat food that had been left out for two days in summer heat?)

In addition to a feeder or two (a second one is needed if you have male hummingbirds engaging in territorial battles), fill your yard with plants that entice them. Although red flowers are supposed to attract them best, hummingbirds are enticed to many other colors, including blue, yellow and purple. Hummingbird flowers often have long tubes for their long bills and tongues.

Hummingbirds like to be around people and have no trouble flying close to where you sit, so put feeders and flowers close to where you can sit and enjoy them.

Their nests, on the other hand, are not easily seen, because they are so small and in out-of-the-way places like a small tree branch 10 to 20 feet tall. Shaped like an open cup, the nest of a ruby-throated hummingbird is fashioned from thistle and dandelion down, all secured with spider web and covered with lichens on the outside.

If you like to put out dryer lint, twine and other soft material for songbirds to use as nesting material, you may want to try the new Hummer Helper ready-made nesting material. One member of The Hummingbird Society testing it found 15 active hummingbirds nests within 100 feet of the bright-red wire frame holding the soft, fluffy stuff. You’ll find Hummer Helper and similar nesting products at local birding stores and online at sites such as http://www.songbirdessentials.com/.

PLANTS TO DRAW HUMMINGBIRDS

Azalea
Beautybush
Buckeyes
Butterfly bush
Chaste tree (vitex)
Glossy abelia
Hardy hibiscus
Mimosa
Wisteria
Flowers:
Ajuga
Bee balm
Begonia
Bellflower
Black-eyed Susan
Butterfly weed
Cardinal flower
Catmint
Cleome
Columbine
Coral bells
Daylily
Flowering tobacco
Gaillardia
Hollyhock
Hosta
Lantana
Petunia
Purple coneflower
Salvia
Verbena

Four Forty AM

Every morning, exactly at 4:40 the birds start tweeting outside! Not at 4:39 or 4:41, but 4:40 right on the dot. It's almost like an alarm goes off somewhere in nature and wakes all the birds up.

I noticed this last year as well, and may have even blogged about it. Now that I'm on the 2nd floor I'm much closer to the tree tops and hear them even better. Thank goodness they don't get the birds inside started, they wait for sunrise.

Something to look forward to. Chirping and tweeting birds.

Swine Flu

I have previously warned about bird flu and a possible pandemic. It seems that this newest flu has taken the World Health Organization by surprise. Here's a link to help you know what to do to prepare for any type of global virus or pandemic: http://www.pandemicflu.gov/health/whatyoucando.html

A unique strain of swine flu is the suspected killer of dozens of people in Mexico, where authorities closed schools, museums, libraries and theaters in the capital on Friday to try to contain an outbreak that has spurred concerns of a global flu epidemic.

The worrisome new virus — which combines genetic material from pigs, birds and humans in a way researchers have not seen before — also sickened at least eight people in Texas and California, though there have been no deaths in the U.S.

"We are very, very concerned," World Health Organization spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human ... It's all hands on deck at the moment."

The outbreak caused alarm in Mexico, where more than 1,000 people have been sickened. Residents of the capital donned surgical masks and authorities ordered the most sweeping shutdown of public gathering places in a quarter century. President Felipe Calderon met with his Cabinet Friday to coordinate Mexico's response.

The WHO was convening an expert panel to consider whether to raise the pandemic alert level or issue travel advisories.

It might already be too late to contain the outbreak, a prominent U.S. pandemic flu expert said late Friday.

Given how quickly flu can spread around the globe, if these are the first signs of a pandemic, then there are probably cases incubating around the world already, said Dr. Michael Osterholm at the University of Minnesota.

Epidemiologists are particularly concerned because the only fatalities so far were in young people and adults.

The geographical spread of the outbreaks also concerned the WHO — while 13 of the 20 deaths were in Mexico City, the rest were spread across Mexico — four in central San Luis Potosi, two up near the U.S. border in Baja California, and one in southern Oaxaca state.

Scientists have long been concerned that a new flu virus could launch a worldwide pandemic of a killer disease. A new virus could evolve when different flu viruses infect a pig, a person or a bird, mingling their genetic material. The resulting hybrid could spread quickly because people would have no natural defenses against it.

The most notorious flu pandemic is thought to have killed at least 40 million people worldwide in 1918-19. Two other, less deadly flu pandemics struck in 1957 and 1968.

Earth Hour 2009

Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm until 9:30 is the hour that we all turn our lights, our computers and our televisions off for (at least) one hour.

Earth Hour is both a symbolic act and the start of a practical habit, at least I hope it becomes a practical habit. Take it from me, someone who loves the dark and usually has most lights turned off, it can be a great experience.

Lighting accounts for about 11 percent of a typical American home's energy bills, while computers and electronics add another 9 percent. So by shutting off these things when we're not using them, we can lower our load significantly.

Turn your outside lights off also! I love looking at the night sky and find it almost impossible to find a truly dark spot to look for satellites, meteors and just the beauty of all the stars. Try getting timers or motion sensors so that the lights only come on when you need them. I recently bought some solar lamps to light the walkway to my deck. We need to use the sun more than we do.

Some famous buildings will be going dark on Saturday including: The Empire State Building in New York City, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the St. Louis Gateway Arch, the Sydney Opera House, the Sears Tower in Chicago, Seattle's Space Needle, the Great Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Broadway theater marquees in New York City.

Even the flashy Las Vegas Strip will turn dark for an hour.

So turn off the lights - have a candlelight dinner or just sit and enjoy the darkness and turn off all those LED lights from TVs, radios, phone chargers, clocks, and everything else that glows.

Think of it as a retreat, a time to be quiet and peaceful. And you'll also save some money on your electric bill.

20 Years Later - Still Reasons To Boycott Exxon/Mobil

Twenty years after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil in Alaska's Prince William Sound, oil persists in the region and, in some places, "is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill," according to the council overseeing restoration efforts.

"This Exxon Valdez oil is decreasing at a rate of 0-4 percent per year," the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council stated in a report marking Tuesday's 20th anniversary of the worst oil spill in U.S. waters. "At this rate, the remaining oil will take decades and possibly centuries to disappear entirely."

The council's findings come two decades after the March 24, 1989 disaster, when the single-hulled Exxon tanker hit a reef, emptying its contents into Alaskan waters. The spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals.

Captain convicted of misdemeanor
The council, made up of three state and three federal appointees, was created to administer the $900 million that Exxon paid to settle lawsuits filed after the accident, which also resulted in criminal charges against the ship's captain, Joseph Hazelwood.

Hazelwood, was accused but then acquitted on a charge of being drunk at the time. He was, however, convicted of negligent discharge of oil, a misdemeanor, and sentenced to a $50,000 fine and 1,000 hours of community service.

In the weeks and months following the spill, thousands of people tried to clean up the contamination. But two decades later, oil persists and is estimated to total around 20,000 gallons, according to the council. One of the lessons learned is that a spill's impacts can last a long time in a habitat with calm, cold waters like Prince William Sound, the council said.

"Following the oil and its impacts over the past 20 years has changed our understanding of the long-term damage from an oil spill," the council stated. "We know that risk assessment for future spills must consider what the total damages will be over a longer period of time, rather than only the acute damages in the days and weeks following a spill."

"One of the most stunning revelations" from studies over the last decade, the council said, "is that Exxon Valdez oil persists in the environment and, in places, is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill."

As a result, some sea otter populations as well as bird species have been slow to recover. Overall, some 200,000 seabirds and 4,000 otters were thought to have died from the contamination.

Oil found 450 miles away
Moreover, surveys "have documented lingering oil also on the Kenai Peninsula and the Katmai coast, over 450 miles away," according to the council.

None of that was expected "at the time of the spill or even ten years later," it added. "In 1999, beaches in the sound appeared clean on the surface. Some subsurface oil had been reported in a few places, but it was expected to decrease over time and most importantly, to have lost its toxicity due to weathering. A few species were not recovering at the expected rate in some areas, but continuing exposure to oil was not suspected as the primary cause."

It turns out that oil often got trapped in semi-enclosed bays for weeks, going up and down with the tide and some of it being pulled down into the sediment below the seabed.

"The cleanup efforts and natural processes, particularly in the winter, cleaned the oil out of the top 2-3 inches, where oxygen and water can flow," the council said, "but did little to affect the large patches of oil farther below the surface."

Sea otter concerns
That area is also biologically rich with mussels, clams and other marine life that help sustain sea otters and ducks.

"Sea otters usually have very small home ranges of a few square kilometers," the council said.

"In these small ranges, it is unlikely that the otters are avoiding areas of lingering oil when foraging.

As a result, "while overall population numbers in western Prince William Sound have recovered, local populations in heavily oiled areas have not recovered as quickly."

There is a plus side to the foraging by otters, since digging in oiled areas does release the contaminants to the water, where they are diluted and dispersed.

Bird concerns
The American Bird Conservancy issued its own warning, stating that while many bird species have recovered several significant ones have not.

The spill killed 5-10 percent of the world's population of Kittlitz's Murrelets, the group said, a species whose numbers declined 99 percent from 1972 to 2004.

"Prior to the spill, the rate of decline was 18 percent per year, but since 1989 that rate has increased to 31 percent," the group stated. "The growing impact of global warming in the Arctic and the melting of glaciers, caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, may also be a factor in this decline."

Two other species cited are: the Pigeon Guillemot, whose populations have steadily declined throughout the sound since the spill; and the Marbled Murrelet, which has not met the recovery objective of a stable population.

The group cited a faster transition to double-hulled oil tankers as the best protection for wildlife. Single-hulled tankers are still allowed in U.S. waters until 2015.

"A similar requirement for double-hulled tankers needs to be made globally to protect birds and other wildlife from future spills," said Michael Fry, the group's conservation director. "Additional marine reserves and no-go zones for tankers during sensitive breeding and staging seasons should also be implemented to protect the most vulnerable species."

Spring Has Arrived

Is your garden wildlife-friendly? Welcome wildlife to your yard by creating a Certified Wildlife Habitat™ through National Wildlife Federation. You’ll enjoy attracting all kinds of beautiful birds, butterflies and other small animals all year-round.

A PERSONALIZED CERTIFICATE that recognizes your NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat™

YOUR NAME LISTED in NWF’s National Registry

FREE NWF MEMBERSHIP, which includes a full year’s subscription to the award-winning National Wildlife® magazine and more.

FREE SUBSCRIPTION to our quarterly e-newsletter,Habitats, which is full of wonderful tips and information on gardening and attracting wildlife.

Plus, your $15 application fee will help support NWF’s nationwide efforts to safeguard wildlife and wild places for future generations to enjoy.

So, bring your yard to life by certifying today!

How To Save A Major Automobile Company

by Neil Young (acdc note: A couple of weeks ago, for who knows what reason, this thought popped into my head - I wonder what type of house Neil Young lives in? I hadn't just heard his music or read anything about him. I just wondered as the original grunge rock legend, is it a raised ranch or maybe a cape cod style. Ya see, if you think about it, ya kind of have to wonder what it's like. So I chuckled a little when I read his post on the Huffington Post website. Maybe I will find out what his house is like.)

Find a new ownership group. The culture must change. It is time to turn the page. In the high technology sector there are several candidates for ownership of a major car and truck manufacturer. We need forward looking people who are not restricted by the existing culture in Detroit. We need visionary people now with business sense to create automobiles that do not contribute to global warming.

It is time to change and our problems can facilitate our solutions. We can no longer afford to continue down Detroit's old road. The people have spoken. They do not want gas guzzlers (although they still like big cars and trucks). It is possible to build large long-range vehicles that are very efficient. People will buy those vehicles because they represent real change and a solution that we can live with.

The government must take advantage of the powerful position that exists today. The Big 3 are looking for a bailout. They should only get it if they agree to stop building autos that contribute to global warming now. The stress on the auto manufacturers today is gigantic. In order to keep people working in their jobs and keep factories open, this plan is suggested:

The big three must reduce models to basics. a truck, an SUV, a large family sedan, an economy sedan, and a sports car. Use existing tooling.

Keep building these models to keep the workforce employed but build them without engines and transmissions. These new vehicles, called Transition Rollers, are ready for a re-power. No new tooling is required at this stage. The adapters are part of the kits described next.

At the same time as the new Transition Rollers are being built, keeping the work force working, utilize existing technology now, create re-power kits to retrofit the Transition Rollers to SCEVs (self charging electric vehicles) for long range capability up to and over 100mpg. If you don't think this technology is realistic or available, check out the Progressive Insurance Automotive X prize. Alternatively, check out Lincvolt.com or other examples.

A bailed out Auto manufacturer must open or re-purpose one or more factories and dedicate them to do the re-power/retrofit assembly. These factories would focus on re-powering the Transition Rollers into SCEVs but could also retrofit and re-power many existing vehicles to SCEVs. These existing vehicles are currently sitting unsold at dealerships across America.

Auto manufacturers taking advantage of a government bailout must only sell clean and green vehicles that do not contribute to global warming. No more internal combustion engines that run exclusively on fossil fuels can be sold period.No Big Three excuses like "new tooling takes time".

New tooling is not a requirement for SCEV transition rollers.

Build only new vehicles that attain the goal of reversing global warming and enhancing National Security.

Government legislation going with the bailout should include tax breaks for purchasers of these cars with the new green SCEV technology. The legislation accompanying the bailout of major auto manufacturers must include directives to build only vehicles that attain the goal of reversing global warming while enhancing National security, and provide the financial assistance to make manufacturing these cars affordable in the short term while the industry re-stabilizes.

Eventually the SCEV technology could be built into every new car and truck as it is being assembled and the stop gap plan described above would have completed its job of keeping America building and working through this turbulent time. Detroit has had a long time to adapt to the new world and now the failure of Detroit's actions is costing us all. We pay the bailout.

Let's make a good deal for the future of America and the Planet. Companies like UQM (Colorado) and others build great electric motors right here in the USA. Use these domestic electric motors. Put these people to work now. This plan reverses the flow from negative to positive because people need and will buy clean and green cars to be part of World Change.

Unique wheel covers will identify these cars on the road so that others can see the great example a new car owner is making. People want America to win!

This plan addresses the issue of Global warming from our automobiles while enhancing our National Security and keeping Detroit working.

Neil Young, activist (Bridge School, Farm Aid) rock legend, has assembled a team that in the process of transforming his gargantuan 1959 Lincoln Continental from a gas guzzler into a showcase for green technology and sustainability. The car will be entered into the Automotive X Prize that offers a $10 million prize to develop a vehicle that can get 100 miles per gallon or better. The almost 50 year old Lincoln, one of the biggest, heaviest production cars of all time, has been re-named "Linc Volt" and is the subject of a feature documentary called "Repowering The American Dream" that is now in production under the aegis of Young's Shakey Pictures.

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do Or Go Without

It's been one heck of a week. Other than the economy, we've pretty much gotten good news this week. Mr. President-elect Obama hasn't wasted any time, that's for sure. His transition team has made a list of 200 Bush actions to overturn. Among them are stem cell research (yeah!!) climate change (double yeah!!) and re-productive rights (infinitesimal yeah!!!) He's particularly looking to undo Bush regulations imposed for "overly political" reasons!! So far, so good.

One of the things that I hope happens under the Obama Administration (oh, I love saying that) is a nationwide recycling plan. There are many states that have no recycling programs in place.

Recycling is not only environmentally important, but it is also cost effective. It reduces the amount of waste for disposal, saves space in landfills, is more energy-efficient than burning materials, and conserves natural resources and, at this truly difficult time in the economy, would create new jobs.

Here in Rhode Island, many city and towns have been recycling for years. Hopefully the cities and towns that do not recycle will soon begin recycling!

I'll be the first to admit that it can be a pain in the neck to recycle at times. It's both convenient and annoying to always have a paper bag next to or under my desk for recycling papers. Every little piece of paper goes into that bag, and I mean every little piece of paper! Whether it's an envelope or a grocery list, it goes right in. And I always seem to have a pile of broken down cereal boxes and other paper packaging on the sideboard in my kitchen. It's just a few feet to the paper bag at my desk, but it sometimes takes a few trips before I remember to bring the paper packaging with me. Once the paper bag is filled, I take it out to the recycle container by the front steps.

Also on the kitchen sideboard are assorted plastic, aluminum and glass jars, jugs and containers that need to go into the plastic and glass wastebasket that's located in the front hall of my house. Again, once that wastebasket is filled, I transfer the contents to the recycle container outside.

So, while it's a little bit of work and a little bit of inconvenience having the recyclables hanging around the house, the satisfaction of being responsible and not adding more trash to the landfill makes it all worth it!

Another way to save the landfills from exploding is "Source Reduction" which is defined as reducing the volume of and decreasing the toxicity of your waste. It can be achieved through product design, package design, or by actions taken by individuals to reduce their waste. It is sometimes referred to as "waste reduction" or "pre-cycling." Reducing the amount of waste you create is more important than recycling or reusing because you can save money, energy and raw materials.

I've decided that I am going to join the organizations that are already lobbying for nationwide recycling. Here are some websites that have good information on how you can start recycling:

Rhode Island Resource Recovery: http://www.rirrc.org/main.cfm?sec_id=33&guid=be337dfa-11a6-421b-8e22-4715515ef136

What grows in Rhode Island: http://www.whatgrowsonri.com/

Grass Roots Recycling Network: http://www.grrn.org/zerowaste/kit/event/zw_kit.html

Grass Roots Recycling Network - Kids Recycle!: http://www.kidsrecycle.org/overview.php

BOYCOTT Exxon Mobil

HOUSTON (AP) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported income Thursday that shattered its own record for the biggest profit from operations by a U.S. corporation, earning $14.83 billion in the third quarter.

The Irving, Texas-based company has reported unprecedented back-to-back quarters, the end of the most recent coinciding with a rapid plunge in crude prices. Benchmark oil prices fell another $2.21 to $65.29 Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, about 56 percent off record highs in July.

Exxon said net income jumped nearly 58 percent to $2.86 a share in the July-September period. That compares with $9.41 billion, or $1.70 a share, a year ago.

The previous record for U.S. corporate profit was set in the last quarter, when Exxon Mobil earned $11.68 billion.

More On Palin

May 23, 2008

Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor

The polar bear should be removed from the endangered species list because its protected status will hamper drilling for oil and gas in Alaska, the state's Republican Governor has demanded.
Sarah Palin is suing the Bush Administration over its decision last week to place the animal under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, claiming that climate models predicting the continued loss of sea ice - the main habitat of polar bears - are unreliable.

The lawsuit came as a surprise because most of the outcry after last week's decision came from environmental groups. Although pleased that the Bush Administration had singled out climate change as a reason to place an animal under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, the green lobby were dismayed about restrictions attached to the listing.

The listing came with a big caveat: that it should not be misused to harm the economy and “set backdoor climate policy”. Some environmentalists also accused the Administration of deliberately delaying the ruling to make it easier for oil companies to finalise $2.7 billion in offshore oil leases in the Chukchi Sea, an area that is home to about 20 per cent of the world's polar bears. Numerous lawsuits were threatened by the green lobby.


Yet the Governor of Alaska - a state whose residents overwhelmingly support oil exploration - is arguing that the polar bear does not need added protection, and the bear populations have increased significantly over the past 30 years because of conservation. Ms Palin maintains that any commercial development in Alaska requiring federal permits or funding would have to go through a consultation process - described by Steven Daugherty, Alaska's assistant Attorney-General, as “basically a big time-and-money waster”.

He added: “We believe that the listing was unwarranted and that it is unprecedented to list a currently healthy population based on uncertain climate models.”

There are an estimated 20,000-25,000 polar bears in the Arctic, but scientists from the US Geological Survey predict that two thirds of the world's bears will disappear in the next 50 years because of a decline in the Arctic sea ice.

In a stark warning last year, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Centre said that the total Arctic ice cover had melted to its lowest level in modern times, and that if melting rates continued the summertime Arctic could be ice-free within 80 years.

Kassie Siegel, of the Centre for Biological Diversity, said that it was unconscionable for Ms Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming's threat to the polar bear's habitat. “Even the Bush Administration cannot deny the reality of global warming,” she said. “The Governor is aligning herself and the state of Alaska with the most discredited, fringe, extreme viewpoints by denying this. “She is either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading, and both are unbecoming.”

Dirk Kempthorne, the US Interior Secretary, who made the listing, said that it was based on three findings. “First, sea ice is vital to polar bear survival; second, the polar bear's habitat has dramatically melted; third, sea ice is likely to further recede in the future.”

6 Ways You're Wasting Gas

With all the worry over fuel prices, you'd think drivers would do whatever they can not to waste gas. But look around and you'll see lots of them tooling around as if they owned their own tanker fleet. One of them might be you.

Here are six ways drivers typically waste gas on every trip:

1. Racing away from green lights
When the light turns green, you don't have to take off as quickly as possible. That pedal under your right foot is called the "gas pedal" for a good reason. The more you press down on it, the more gas you're pumping into the engine. Press lightly on the gas pedal, and you'll still accelerate, and you'll still get where you're going. You might be surprised at how little pressure it takes to get your car up to speed in a reasonable time.

2. Racing up to red lights
When you're driving down the street, and you see a light red light or stop sign up ahead, you should lay off the gas sooner rather than later. There's no point in keeping your foot on the gas until just before you reach the intersection. Let off the pedal sooner and give your engine a rest as you coast to the stop while braking gently. As an added benefit, your brake pads will last longer, too.

By themselves, these first two tips can improve your fuel economy around town by as much as 35 percent, according to tests conducted by automotive information Web site Edmunds.com.

3. Confusing the highway with a speedway
Even if it doesn't involve hard acceleration, speeding wastes gas. The faster you go, the more air your vehicle has to push out of the way. It's like moving your hand through water. The faster you try to move your hand, the harder the water pushes back.

In tests by Consumer Reports, driving at 75 miles per hour instead of 65 miles per hour reduced fuel economy by between 3 and 5 miles per gallon, depending on the vehicle.

4. Bumper-buzzing
Tailgating is a bad move for many reasons. First of all, it's unsafe. You reduce your ability to react if the car in front of you slows or stops. It also means you have to pay ultra-close attention to that car which reduces your ability to scan for other hazards ahead of you and to the sides.
And tailgating wastes gas. Every time the driver ahead taps his brakes, you have to slow down even more than he did. (That's because you can't react immediately so you have to slow even more because you're slowing down later.) Then you accelerate again to get back up to speed and resume your bumper-buzzing routine.

Hang back and you'll be safer - plus you'll be able to drive more smoothly and use less fuel. A good rule of thumb is to allow two seconds of space between your car and the one ahead. You can figure that out by counting off two seconds after the car in front of you passes an obvious landmark like an overpass.

5. Driving standing still
You've probably heard that it takes more gas to restart a car than to let it run. Maybe that used to be true, but it isn't anymore. With modern fuel-injection engines, it takes very little extra gas to restart a car once it's warmed up.

Idling, meanwhile, burns about a half-mile worth of gas every minute, according to the California Energy Commission. That's why hybrid cars shut down their gasoline engines whenever they stop, even for a moment.

Now you don't want to shut your engine down for every little stop in your regular, non-hybrid car - it's not designed for that - but if you're waiting for someone to run in and out of a convenience store, turn off the engine.

And don't go through the drive-through at fast food restaurants. You're already paying enough for the oil in those chicken nuggets.

Bonus tip: Don't idle your engine to let it warm up before driving. It does your engine no good and it wastes gas. Instead, start driving right away, but drive gently until the engine is warm.

6. Short hops
For really short trips, take advantage of the opportunity to get some exercise. Try walking to the store instead of driving. You can save gas and burn a few calories instead.

If you can't hoof it, save up your errands. A lot of short hops that let the engine cool down at home between trips can use twice as much gas as starting the car once and making a big sweep to all your stops, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Go to your farthest destination first so your engine has a chance to reach its optimal operating temperature. Then make your other stops on the way back. With the engine warmed up, the car will restart easily and run efficiently all the way home.

Teen Science Whiz with the Plastic Bag Breakthrough

It may surprise you to learn that Daniel Burd does not consider himself an environmentalist. The Canadian teenager has become bit of an environmental hero over the past few days, as word of his potentially revolutionary science fair project has spread. In case you missed it, Burd managed to isolate the naturally occurring microbes that degrade plastic bags in landfills, cutting degradation time from lifetimes to mere months.

Maybe anyone could have done it, but no one else has. And that, says Burd, is part of what inspired him to pursue the project, which he started researching at the end of 2006. "As I began to research more and more, I found out we're not doing too much," he told me in a phone call from his home in Ontario. He is, in his words, "just a scientist trying to solve a huge problem."

"In the end, all problems come back to us," he says. "The plastic bags in the water, they don't dissolve, and they attract hydrophobic chemicals. Fish or other organisms may eat polluted plastic bags, and then we have millions of marine animals dying. If they don't die, then we may eat these fish, and then we have a statistical increase in healthcare problems directly attributable to that pollution. That's why everybody should be concerned."

"I would hope that through my project I'm able to, first of all, show a viable solution, economical and doable, and then get people more aware of it," he says. "Then we can fix it."

I wasn't the first person to call Burd—far from it. Since news of his project broke, he says that his high school and the local newspaper have been fielding constant calls from journalists, scientists, and "concerned citizens," all interested in what he's going to do to make his discovery viable on an industrial scale. A scientist since he first planted a tomato seed to see if it would grow, Burd says he's completely dedicated to pursuing the project and improving his method using some of his scholarship and prize money. For now, however, he'll have to balance his continuing work with other obligations. Like, um, high school.

—Casey Miner
MotherJones.com

Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires

For those of us who grew up in the 60's and 70's, Smokey The Bear was often seen on the TV in commercials telling us how to be safe in the forest. He's kept a low profile lately, and now is making up for lost time. Here he is welcoming folks into the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. He sure is cute!



Smokey The Bear has had many advances over the years, it seems. He now can drive and his ride of choice looks to be an ATV quad. I'm sure that a bear with his high standards has a license and insurance for his safety.

But wait!! It looks like Smokey has a truck!! Wow, he rides ATV's and drives a pick-up truck? You know, there's something women like in a pick-up man, uh, bear! However, it looks like there may be a problem. Or maybe Smokey's just doing a little preventative maintenance.

Holy Smokes!! (Pardon the pun.) It looks like he really has gotten around, now he's picked-up a woman (or has she picked him up?) She really is looking quite pleased with herself and she IS giving a thumbs up!

But Wait!! She's taking Smokey The Bear away, just as he has re-emerged from his self imposed hibernation!! Though he looks like he might be trying to get away. Or she probably laid hard on the gas and he's falling off?

Ah, Smokey, we're gonna miss you. But we hope you have a happily ever after with this woman who kidnapped, uh, took you away.

PS. SMOKEY THE BEAR IS MY FRIEND, JOE, WHO WORKS IN THE FOREST EVERY SUMMER AND HAS FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS. GOOD JOB, JOSEPH!!

The Idiot's Administration Does Something Right...

...and they still get it wrong!

Today, quite unexpectedly, the Idiot's Interior Secretary declared the polar bear a threatened species, saying it must be protected because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming.

This was long overdue, the sea ice has already caused the beautiful polar bear to already feel the effects of a warmer climate.

The problem is that this declaration is short on protection for the bears and long on the continuing of offshore oil development in waters where bears and oil drilling are expected to coexist. There has been concern within the business community that protecting these gorgeous bears could have far-reaching impact and could be used to regulate carbon dioxide. Well, duh, carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced anyway, because some of these businesses will be under water if reduction doesn't start right away.

The department's scientists state that sea ice loss will likely result in two-thirds of the polar bears disappearing by mid-century. The bear population across the Arctic from Alaska to Greenland doubled from about 12,000 to 25,000 since 1960, but he noted that scientists now predict a significant population decline.

What's Your Baby's Carbon Footprint?

EXHIBIT: 8lbs, 21 inches, and 3,800 diapers worth of planet-pummeling joy

72% of American adults have children.

60% of American children say they're more afraid of global warming than of terrorism, car crashes or cancer.

Between 2000 and 2050, the US will add 114 million kids to it's population. Africa will add 1.2 billion - but their respective CO2 emissions will be the same.

One American child generates as much CO2 as 106 Haitian kids.

Zahara Jolie-Pitt will produce 45,000 lbs of CO2 yearly, compared with 221 lbs if she still lived in Ethiopia.

A typical baby goes through 3,800 disposable diapers in her first 2.5 years.

96% of American babies were disposable diapers. In China, only 6%. In India, 2%.

China claims it's one-child policy has prevented 400 million births - saving 1.5 billion tons of CO2 in 2004 alone.

For $20, British parents can have 7 trees planted to offset the 1,430 lbs of greenhouse gases generated by their child's first 2.5 years of nappies.

Civil conflict is twice as likely to occur in countries where young adults make up more than 40% of the population.

In 2007, a Hungarian couple had 300 trees planted to offset their newborn's lifetime carbon footprint.

Twin births in the US have risen 70% since 1980. In 2004, 3.2% of newborns were twins.

Uganda (50% children) has been at war for most of the last 30 years. Monaco (13%) has not been at war since 1815.

Citizens of the Russian city of Ulyanovsk get September 12 off to "conceive a patriot."

Due to it's low birthrate, Singapore runs a dating program called LoveByte that promotes "the importance of marriage and family, and the need to start early."

Members of the "Quiverfull" movement believe that very large families populate "God's army."

In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI called for tax incentives for large families. Last fall he vowed to "recreate a strong alliance between man and Earth."

In March, a Vatican bishop announced seven new mortal sins, including causing pollution and being obscenely wealthy. According to news reports, the bishop said the new evils were linked to "the unstoppable process of globalization."

In 1900, 1% of Catholics lived in Africa. By 2050, 26% will.

In 1950, the typical American woman had 3.1 children over her lifetime. In 2005, she had 2.1.

In 1950, the typical new American house was 983 sq. feet. In 2005, it was 2,434 sq. feet.

In 1969, 5% of households had 3 or more vehicles. In 2001, 23% did.

Only 45% of SUV owners in the US have two kids or more.

School buses - 95% of which run on diesel - release 3,700 tons of soot and 11 million tons of greenhouse gases a year. School bus exhaust is linked to higher rates of asthma and lung cancer.

Letting a school bus idle for 10 minutes creates 3 times more particulate emissions than turning the motor off.

It would take up to 223 trees to offset the CO2 produced by a child watching 3 hours of TV every day for 18 years.

19% of US children under the age of 1 have TVs in their rooms.

Asked how many times they begged their parents for a product they'd seen advertised 11% of tweens answered "more than 50."

American children make up 4% of the world's population, but they consume more than 40% of the world's toys.

In 2006, volunteers picked up 68,720 lbs of toys and 33,469 lbs of diapers during worldwide beach cleanups.

In order to do as much laundry as Walt Disney World does in a single day, you'd have to do a load a day for 44 years.

By the time she is 18, an American child in a middle-income family will have eaten her way through $33,330 of food.

The average student trashes up to 90 lbs of lunchbox leftovers and packaging each year.

In 2007, Julia Roberts told Vanity Fair that the "highest high" would be "growing our food that I then make, and then composting and growing more."

In 2004, she paid Hollywood Cedars-Sinai Hospital $1,700 a night for a deluxe maternity suite with valets, a chef, security staff and salon service.

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT - pronounced "vehement") advocates non-procreation instead of suicide because "there's no way we could convince enough people to kill themselves."

Over his/her lifetime, each American born in the 1990s will produce an average of:

3.1 million pounds of CO2 (same as 413 plane trips from New York to Tokyo)

22,828,508 pounds of water waste (the equivalent of 48,060 ten-minute showers)

16,372 pounds of yard waste (enough to fill 442 large garbage cans)

7,249 pounds of food waste (as much as 16 households produce in a year)

She will eat 1,654 chickens, 74 turkeys, 25 pigs, 11 cows, 2 sheep, and 18,675 eggs.

And she will use 1,870 barrels of petroleum (enough to fuel a Subaru Outback for 822,800 miles).

BABY PICS AMOUNT PAID COMMENTS
Nicole Richie $1 million/People Enough to sponsor 2,976 Save the Children kids for a year
Jamie-Lynn Spears $1 million/OK! Enough to buy 2 million condoms
Christina Aguilera $2 million/People Enough to buy laptops for 10,000 students in the developing world
J-Lo/Marc Anthony $6 million/People $3 million for each twin; enough to send 1,697 kids to day care
Brad /Angelina $7.6 million/People, Hello! Gave some of it to charity, but won't say how much
Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes $0/Vanity Fair Fawning profile and Annie Leibovitz shoot? Priceless!

By Kiera Butler and Dave Gilson
Mother Jones - Smart, Fearless Journalism http://www.motherjones.com/
April 28, 2008

Oil Trumps Whales

Northern right whale with calf, Eubalaena glacialis. Photo: Georgia Department of Natural Resources

The Bush administration wants to open 5.6 million acres in the Bering Sea off Alaska to oil and gas leasing, including an area north of the Aleutian Islands near Bristol Bay designated critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale. The proposal was published in Tuesday's Federal Register by the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), as reported by the Center for Biological Diversity. North Pacific right whales once ranged from California to Alaska and across the North Pacific to Russia and Japan. They were decimated by commercial whaling and remain the most endangered large whale in the world. Fewer than 50 individuals remain in the Bering Sea population.

"Drilling in Bristol Bay would be drilling through the heart of the most important habitat of the most endangered whale on the planet," said Brendan Cummings of the Center for Biological Diversity. “If the North Pacific right whale is to have any chance of survival, we must protect its critical habitat, not auction it off to oil companies." The CBD reports the leasing proposal was made the same day the National Marine Fisheries Service, another federal agency, published a final rule in the Federal Register naming portions of the lease area as critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale. Ooops.

"Unfortunately, for the right whale it’s one step forward, two steps back," said Cummings. "One branch of the federal government is acting to protect the critical habitat of the North Pacific right whale, while another branch is simultaneously proposing to destroy it." It's also reminiscent of the recent MMS decision to lease important polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea at the same time the US Fish and Wildlife Service was considering offering the bears protection under the Endangered Species Act. Both agencies are part of Dirk Kempthorne's Department of the Oilterior, uhm, Interior.

The latest leasing proposal would sell the North Aleutian Basin lease in 2011… One more reason we need the Right President to protect the Right Whales. Not to mention the right one to wean us off the oil economy rather than enable it.

Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award. You can read from her new book, The Fragile Edge, and other writings, here.