By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 3, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Politics of the Planet
Life is discovered at new depths beneath the Earth’s surface. [bbc]
Countries abroad are leasing or buying land in Africa to grow wheat. This could lead to the destabilization of African countries, especially Egypt. [nytimes]
UK report claims that “nature is worth billions”. [bbc]
The food pyramid undergoes a change. Vegetables are more important and grains and meat are less important, will this help to change our farming system? [cnn]
Bees and beekeeping are vital to all aspects of our food supply, but they’re numbers are dropping at an alarming rate. [washingtonpost]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri May 27, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of the Planet
Hundreds of European flights are cancelled due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland. Fortunately, scientists say the eruption could end by the weekend. [Bloomberg News]
Two teen Girl Scouts have been leading a five-year crusade against the Tagalongs, Thin Mints, and other cookies they love and sell. The trademark cookies are made with palm oil, which is the single ingredient under protest because of its link to Rainforest deforestation and Orangutan endangerment. [CBS News]
Urban farmers embrace new technology and invest in Aquaponics, an indoor farming method that produces both greens and fish. [Chicago Tribune]
Even in these weak economic times, more people in the United States and Europe are willing to spend more money for organic foods, which in turn is attracting more investors to this growing mass market. [NY Times]
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed May 25, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
A number of friends remarked that I showed a lot of chutzpah in my inaugural Huffington Post piece last week — by coming out of the political closet to endorse gay marriage.
My second piece, published by HuffPo this morning, takes on the Lamestream Media, the Big Science Establishment, and nearly one thousand years of international conspiracy.
Yes, I prove conclusively that the Earth is flat. Here’s an excerpt:
It’s finally happening. Thanks to the courage of such TRUTH pioneers as Glenn Beck, Alex Jones, and Harold Camping (So what if his Rapture prediction was a little off?), the iniquitous conspiracy between Big Science and the Lamestream Media is finally beginning to crumble.
The first sign was cable news’ wall-to-wall coverage of 2009’s “Climategate.” We know that public exposure of a handful of snarky emails exchanged by British climatologists proved once and for all that all of the so-called “peer-reviewed findings” and “scientific consensus” that the Earth is warming as a result of human activity were a cruel hoax. And the liberal media refused to conspire (finally!) with Big Science’s attempted whitewash: There was scant coverage of the four “independent” investigations which, all-too-conveniently and coincidentally, cleared the scientists of misconduct and reconfirmed the global warming fallacy.
That’s why it’s high time for real, TRUTH-loving Americans to employ the same logic and observational methods used by climate change deniers to debunk a far more pernicious fantasy perpetuated for centuries by Big Science: The “theory” that the Earth is round, that it spins wildly on its own axis, and that it hurtles madly through “outer space.”
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue May 24, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
We’re now ready for Part 3 of the most spectacular film I have ever directed and produced. (OK, it is the only one. Still…) Hopefully, it is more like Return of the Jedi than Godfather III.
Last week, RPTV shared with you Part 1 and Part 2 of My Home Energy Efficiency Rehab which taught you about the initial energy audit of my residence, and gave you some illustrative examples of some of the problems your own house might be facing. It also shared some of the energy savings that you might be able to capture with just a small investment — an investment that will be returned in spades.
Today, Part 3 focuses on the rehab itself. The 15-minute film will give you a brief overview of the plans, as well as show you much of the work being done at my home. As you will see, I have decided to install geothermal in my home — a big production, but something that will pay for itself and far more in the long run.
If I’ve inspired you to explore an energy efficiency rehab at your own residence, and you live in Kentucky, we have a great new program called KY Home Performance – that I’m using for my own home — which provides low-interest loans or generous rebates to KY citizens. You can find out more here.
If you live in the region, amd you’d like to specifically contact Jamie Clark of Arronco — who is both the contractor of the rehab as well as the tour guide of this film — go to this link. Arronco can install geothermal, as well as the more traditional electric and gas rehab work, in an extraordinarily affordable and environmentally-friendly way.
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri May 20, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
The Politics of the Planet
The Mississippi River Flooding has not only affected those who live on the river, but with the Corps of Engineers deciding to open spillways people are being displaced in order to save the larger cities. The water from the floodgates is unleashed with a force greater than Niagara Falls. [huffingtonpost][abcnews]
As I discussed yesterday, while many of us would like to take meaningful steps to adjust our lifestyles to help protect the plan; often times, the remedies can be expensive.
With a home energy efficiency rehab, however, your rehab expenses will be paid off by the savings in your utility bills after only a few years; then the savings go directly into your pocket.
Today, I will share with you part 2 of the energy audit of my house. In the coming week, films will feature the rehab itself.
If I’ve inspired you to get an energy audit and/or explore an energy efficiency rehab at your own residence, and you live in Kentucky, we have a great new program called KY Home Performance – that I’m using for my own home — which provides low-interest loans or generous rebates to KY citizens. You can find out more here.
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed May 18, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET
Inspired perhaps by learning my friend and political cohort, Jeremy Horton, was an accomplished flimmaker, I’ve decided to join the show biz.
Well, not really…
But using my handy and soon-to-be-discontinued Flip Video device, I am sharing with you over the next week a series of short films about an energy efficiency rehab that is going on at my home residence.
Many of us would like to take meaningful steps to adjust our lifestyles to help protect the planet from the growing threat posed by climate change. Often times, the remedies can be expensive.
But with a home energy efficiency rehab, not only do you do good, but you also do well: Your rehab expenses will be paid off by the savings in your utility bills after only a few years; then the savings go directly into your pocket. Additionally, by hiring a rehab firm to do the work on your house, you are helping create green jobs in this new economy.
It is one of those rare win-win-wins.
Today and tomorrow, I will share with you films about the energy audit of my house. I was surprised to find how much energy inefficiency and leakage there was in my relatively young (13 year) building. In watching the film, you may identify similar issues at your own house.
If I’ve inspired you to get an energy audit and/or explore an energy efficiency rehab at your own residence, and you live in Kentucky, we have a great new program called KY Home Performance — that I’m using for my own home — which provides low-interest loans or generous rebates to KY citizens. You can find out more here.
And now, without further ado, here is my filmmaking debut — and find out why I call myself the Sy Sperling of energy efficiency — My KY Home Performance Energy Audit, Part 1:
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri May 13, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
Politics of the Planet
Good news for animals who may be endangered but do not have that distinction from the US government yet. [nytimes.com]
The Mississippi River flooding is wreaking havoc on cities and its occupants. It is also displacing wild animals who are coming into contact with humans. Mosquitoes, leeches, and snakes are also following the rising river banks. [cnn.com]
A year after the spill, five new offshore drilling sites are approved. [wsj.com]
“Green-washing” is becoming more popular among large companies hoping to cash in on the trend. Know exactly what you are buying. [huffingtonpost.com]
Our newest contributing RP, Sherwood Boehlert, served in the U.S. Congress from 1983-2007. A proud Republican, Boehlert was a staunch environmentalist and a passionate advocate for measures to battle climate change. While that may seem incongruous today, Boehlert suggests that supporting science is very consistent with the legacy of President Reagan.
Read Boehlert’s recent op-ed on this issue from The Washington Post:
Watching the raft of newly elected GOP lawmakers converge on Washington, I couldn’t help thinking about an issue I hope our party will better address. I call on my fellow Republicans to open their minds to rethinking what has largely become our party’s line: denying that climate change and global warming are occurring and that they are largely due to human activities.
Why do so many Republican senators and representatives think they are right and the world’s top scientific academies and scientists are wrong? I would like to be able to chalk it up to lack of information or misinformation.
By Robert Butkin, on Mon May 9, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
When asked to provide a post for a website called “The Recovering Politician,” I tried to figure out what in the blazes I’m supposed to be recovering from. In fact, in the six years since I left my position as Oklahoma State Treasurer, I have never looked back or regretted either the time I spent in elective public service or my decision to leave after a decade in office. I left when I determined that I had accomplished all that I had set out to do when I first ran for the job.
That’s not to say that there is not much still to be done with the agency, and in fact my successors have developed new initiatives that have improved the operations of the office. I had accomplished everything that I had set out to do. Despite my concern about the advisability of term limits, I do believe that all of us who are privileged to serve in elective office should be willing to limit our own terms and turn our offices over to energetic– and hopefully idealistic– successors when we have accomplished our mission. One should never be a “placeholder” when holding an office of public trust.
In many ways, I was the most unlikely of political candidates. Nobody in my family had ever run or thought of running for political office, but like many who came of age in the 1960s and the 1970s, I was convinced that elective public service was the highest calling a democracy could offer. A chance meeting with a candidate for Oklahoma Attorney General in 1986 gave me an opportunity several months later to join his staff to serve as an Assistant Attorney General, and in that capacity I had the opportunity to serve as the people’s advocate in utility rate proceedings and to represent Oklahoma in a landmark Clean Water Actcase, Arkansas v. Oklahoma, that I argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991.
In 1993, I began to think seriously about a race for political office. We had had a bi-partisan tradition in the Oklahoma Treasurer’s office –a bi-partisan tradition of crumminess. Democrats and Republicans alike had been beset by scandals, investigations and indictments. Confidence in our state’s ability to manage our finances with integrity was at an all time low, and as somebody who believed in public investment, I knew that if the citizens of Oklahoma could not trust where and how their tax dollars were managed, they would not be willing to come together to invest in better schools, roads, and health care.
We won narrowly in 1994, a victory that truly would not have been possible had not dozens of volunteers, who normally pay no attention to elections for offices like state treasurer, cared enough about the need to restore integrity to the office that they joined our cause. And I would not have been successful without an outstanding staff who every single day put the interests of our state first. Many of our earlier accomplishments were far from glamorous, involving new accounting controls and speedier processes to convert cash to investable funds. But when I began giving taxpayers a running total of how much money we had saved or earned through cost saving efficiencies without a need for tax increase, they responded, and I believe our work has played a role in the willingness of Oklahomans to support new investments in education and health care over the last decade.
Read the rest of… Robert Butkin: Leaving Politics With No Regrets
