A bit surprised...I think Newt is right!

Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich represented the 6th District of Georgia from 1979 to 1999...when he resigned due to poor Republican performance and a reprimand from the House for Gingrich's ethics violations. So, it is a surprise to me that I look to him today for his concern for America and his position that Americans don't want a Red vs Blue nation...but a Red, White, and Blue one....

While I am not in agreement with some of his supporters, like the Koch brothers...I do feel he is right that the future of America, and perhaps the entire planet, is balanced on the needs, wants and desires of the citizens of our nations and of the world...not on extreme left or right views of what the world should be.

We want change that will improve our lives, and the lives of others, while reducing our debt, limiting entitlements where there is no need, or where there is overlap or redundancy and reducing government.

How does this fit into a blog on assisting the earth? Simple really, we need to get off of Top Dead Center and back into the game and America needs to stop arguing and begin leading again. The issues of Sustainability are all linked to how and what we do to improve the Earth now and way down the road into the future.

So Thanks Newt... really, Thanks...now the rest of you...reach out and make things happen.

US and China must lower emissions....MUST!

Kind of shows it all, doesn't it... with a population of 310 million the US is by far the worst carbon emitter, but if China continues to increase its emissions it will way out pace the United States...then we are all in for a World of ....carbon!

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Report...



   This is taken from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Climate Change 2013, also known as the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report (AR5):

   'Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented over decades to millennia… The atmosphere and the ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of greenhouse gases have increased… Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850…'

NOW THAT'S A SHOCKER!
Here are a few pictures to help demonstrate the loss of glacier ice... 

Whitechuck Glacier 1973

Whitechuck Glacier 2006

With more than 95% probability being assigned to the cause...that of human kind pollution and use of fossil fuels...you should be certain that this earth changing situation is of our own making. Scientists being whom they are you will not get a stronger statement than this...and though it leaves an opening for the naysayers...we should be considering immediate action. Future generations will be forced to live much less productive lives because of our inaction... and yes, we are guilty of inaction... Now is the time to act.

Each of us needs to call our elected officials to stress the importance of action...to demand action. There are courses we can take... reduced use of coal, increased use of electric vehicles, Alternatives on an economically balanced grid, bio fuels...these are all examples of action that needs to be planned and effectively integrated into our industrial model... and a healthy profit model is viable through the application of these processes... Technology is present...the evidence is clear...and the time is past...so immediate action is required. World wide...not just here in the USA...we need to solve this for all human-kind.











Dead fish...dead rivers!

CNN in Hong Kong reported today... 

The Fuhe River is the scene of the latest disturbing example of river pollution in China.

Authorities cleared about 110 tons, that's 220,000 pounds of dead fish from a 40-kilometer (18 mile long) section of the river in the central province of Hubei, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday. 

The cause of the deaths, provincial environmental officials said, was the discharge of high levels of ammonia into the water by a local chemical plant in Yingcheng, outside the city of Wuhan. Samples taken at a water outlet from the plant on Tuesday indicated that ammonia density reached 196 milligrams per liter, a level "far in excess of the national standard," Xinhua reported, citing the provincial environmental protection department.

 Toxins in lakes offer strange surface contaminants...unexplained, yet for the color and the devastation that is ever present.

Lake Toxins in a Chinese lake near the Yangtez.

The World Health Organization says that natural levels of ammonia in groundwater are normally below 0.2 milligrams per liter and that surface waters can contain as much as 12 milligrams per liter. The Hubei environmental authorities ordered the company that runs the plant, Hubei Shuanghuan Science and Technology Stock Co., to suspend operations at the plant and sort out its pollution controls.

China has the most polluted rivers in the world, and some of the most threatening health problems related to filthy water.  

Citarum River

Yangtez (Yellow) River

These recent photos of life along the river show conditions that many of us can hardly imagine...but this is how life is in many countries of the world, including India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Russia and more...


The developed world is not exempt. In the USA the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers are danger zones, if not as bad as the Ganges and the Yangtez. Water, our most important resource, is threatened the world over.

What seems to be overlooked....its all connected!

I can't help but laugh at how smart people seem to overlook such a simple, but critical part of the world around us. It truly is all connected.

Oceans change temperature by 1 or 2 degrees and there are unbelievable storms world wide; we dose forests with pesticide to try to eliminate one species of insect...and the birds fall from the sky; we over fertilize our golf courses and it causes increased nitrogen in our streams and lakes...killing the aquatic life and bringing on red-tide like blossoms.

Now Putin is saying that our GMO products and our pretreatment of seeds with synthetic pesticides is killing the world's bee population...and he believes that this could lead to war over food shortages.

Stop the insanity...its time to hold the Dows, Syngenta Crop, Monsantos and others in check while real research can be done on how harmful GMOs and next generation pesticides really are. Profit is not the goal...sustainability is the goal...Governments are not in place to meet the demands of Industry...they are in place to serve and protect their populations...and no matter what the Supreme Court says, corporations are not citizens and the rights of individual men and women are much more important than the wants of companies.

...and remember, it really is all connected

ISO-14000... is it of any value?

Is ISO-14000 of any value? Difficult question, ISO certifications are not about what is done...they are much more general...and their focus is on the effective establishment of process ...and if the process is good, and being used...then ISO-14000 is a good way to ensure that environmental elements are being valued and acted on in a company...if not, well...it's just a program.