Lessons from Penguins

THE ANTARCTIC -The Emperor penguins which featured in the film Happy Feet have suffered a devastating population slump in the past 50 years, according to a report by the WWF or so the article begins.

The problem here is the remoteness of penguins to most of our lives. The only people reading this article are those who care about penguins or have little kitten posters on their walls because they care about all living things. For the rest of us, we have seen penguins probably once or twice in our lives, most likely in a zoo, most likely behind glass..

Now, if the article read:

GEORGIA - 90% of the population of the state of Georgia have moved or are dead due to lack of water in the region, according to whatever hack of a president happens to be in the White House in the next 50 years... Now this is an article that might give us notice to read and care and want to do something.

Unfortunately, if it's getting so bad you can't inhabit Georgia, it's probably too late to do anything to change global warming for another 75 years or so, you just have to ride it out at that point.

If however, we do something now, hell, if every college student replaced a light bulb or something else that had no downside, then maybe Georgia will remain a lovely livable place.

Or will it? The bigger problem is we haven't maxed out on our energy needs quite yet. In other words, if I could afford to run my heater at 74 degrees in the winter, I would. If I could afford to drive two cars at the same time because it was half as expensive, I would find a way. It's called the Efficiency Paradox and it basically says that while energy efficiency in the US has increased almost 50%, our energy consumption has gone up 40%.

At some point this levels off, I mean, I don't want my house at 104 degrees in the winter and really, how big of a car does everyone really need? There's cargo room and then there's cargo room. The bigger question is on the business side. If it cost a business pennies to light up hundreds of neon flashing ads all over the place, believe me they would do it.

Obviously the answer is to increase cost of energy as we increase efficiency of energy, but where's the capitalism in that? We commoditize energy to make it available to more people so they can buy more things that require energy, which translates to bigger profits for those making said energy, right?

This is a tough problem to solve. Reducing consumption, changing lifestyle is the only way to climb this hill of sand we've made. For the 2% that are smart enough to make a lifestyle change, who cares? There's still 98% who continue to wear their blinders and consume like their forefathers.

For the broader America to reduce consumption, that's a paradigm shift.... Those only happen because something big (and usually life changing or catastrophic) just occurred necessitating the change. We won't do it given the current state. Kind of like what's happening to the Emperor Penguins right now. I'm sure they are trying like mad to adapt to their new situation.

Perhaps Now We Can Focus on a Solution

In the past few months, while the bloggers and journalists have all said they agree that global warming was indeed a fact, there was still disagreement on whether this was man made (and thus had a solution) or a natural occurrence (implying that there is nothing we can do).

The UN article on global warming, which states not only are we in for some badness in the future but that humans are the main cause of global warming should help put an end to the debate.

Even so, what is the solution? It appears that even if we take every car off the road, the sea level could rise another 4.6 feet from where they were back in 1850. Nothing that drastic will ever occur and the two worst offenders, the US and China, are slow to react.

Here's one thing folks can do, a fairly brain dead video and well, okay, it's a parody on installing an Eco friendly light bulb, but good all the same - gets the message across:

Politically - It's Business as Usual

The White House apparently used white out on testimony regarding global warming. The justification here is that it didn't match UN findings in spite of UN panel findings supporting the parts deleted.

Another bill on setting limits on greenhouse gases isn't getting the support it needs, flailing in part because the limits purposed can't be met with given technologies.

Meanwhile, some of the first recipients of the negative effects of global warming belongs to a group of residents of the Carter Islands in Papua New Guinea, who are losing their homes due to higher sea levels.

Maybe they can move to the White House and help edit the testimonies..

JitterBook

Some folks have recently asked, how is JitterBook: the Blog, related to JitterBook: the online site? The site was created to offer students a place to sell back their books, the blog is my commentary on articles I read on global warming plus my own thoughts. These thoughts are my own and don't reflect or represent the company JitterBook. The two are tied together only in that a portion of the profits we make on www.jitterbook.com will go to charities fighting global warming.

As the CEO of JitterBook and the author of this blog, I would really like to keep the blog about global warming as it is an important issue. I don't want the blog to be misrepresented as a marketing tool, so aside from this little quip, the two should never meet. Equally, JitterBook, the textbook buyback site isn't a charity site. Aside from the little globe icon, this blog is hardly mentioned on the site. It's all very low key.

I am interested in folks comments on global warming, especially on solutions, charities that focus on solutions and any sites, ideas, and thoughts on the subject.

The Myopia of Global Warming

When I search news stories on global warming, I am curious to find that there are a lot of articles about what on earth (pun kinda intended here) could be causing this change. What is curious is the focus on the root cause, as if there is one as opposed to many contributors. It's as if to say that if we find this one little trouble maker and just get rid of it, all our troubles will pass.

The latest piece to this is a relief that agricultural soil erosion is not a contributor to global warming (cuz I was really worried it might be). Apparently, some pundits were worried, saying that ag soil erosion added 13% to the fossil fuel emission contributions of carbon in the air. This study concludes that contribution is more like 1.5%. Thank god we've put that to rest.

In fact, why worry at all. According to White House spokesperson Dana Perino, global warming can actually be good for us - and fun too! There's humor enough in the article itself, so I'll leave it to you to read it rather than take the obvious jabs.

Finally, it being Friday and all, I thought I should end on an article that talks about a Hollywood power cocktail that gets you drunk and fights global warming, all in the same gulp. Now there's a cause worth taking up.

my own dog food/from theories to realities

When I said Al Gore should spend more time discussing solutions, I didn't think that the very next article I would read suggested that most web sites and blogs don't offer more than information... I guess I too could provide more about the solution, though I have to admit, I'm still learning. This is worth a read, looks at global warming impressions in our society from the time Gore got nominated to the time he won the Nobel Peace Prize

In other global warming news, the change in the climate isn't just causing minor problems, GA is suing over lack of water, (like a lawsuit will end the drought and bring more aqua to all the states that use that watershed).

On the nervous laughter front, Mike Morin writes a editorial stating among other things that NH residents will no be able to participate in late January ski binges - (see? Drastic climatological changes can be funny..)

On an even more positive note, the Wall Street Journal foretells that there really is no hard evidence that global warming will have serious effects on life - so keep investing folks, nothing to worry about! Honestly, the author makes a nice case for the adaptability of species, which isn't a bad angle. However I think articles like these that tell us there's nothing to worry about causes us to lose focus.

Al Gore's nickname: Al Gore

I was fortunate enough to see Al Gore in person last week, the same night he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

It was a tremendous effort and he showed a lot of passion towards the subject of global warming. Whispering at times, bellowing at others like a preacher, he had the audience on their seats which is saying something. Let's face it, for many the subject is either boring, lame or both.

All in all, I have a lot of respect for Al Gore. He's done a tremendous job getting the word out. He's a politician so sure, you're going to see some ghosting of that image as he tries to get the message across, but all in all, I have a lot of respect for the man.

I have to say though, I was more than a bit disappointed with his lecture. In the 90 minutes he talked, 85 minutes were spent getting us to believe there was a problem and in one quick slide, he rattled off a bunch of solutions. Sure, there were a few gasps in the audience when he showed the before and after photos of glaciers, but there was more silence, which told me he was for the most part preaching to the choir.

I was hoping he would give a chapter 2 to his Inconvenient Truth speech. He did a great job of telling us there's a problem and we have to do something!!!! -- and a horrible job of detailing what that something is. (There is a lot more on "the solution" on his web site, but in person, he doesn't talk to it much at all).

In scouring for this blog, there are so many solution theories and thoughts on what will and won't work. Many of them are very good ideas, but they have become lost in the noise of too much choice. It would be awesome to see Mr. Gore pick a handful of solutions and rally folks towards those.

Back when he was Clinton's side kick there was a joke that Al Gore was so boring that his secret service nickname was "Al Gore"... He's come a long way from that time; he is now the de facto voice of global warming. You have to admire that. I think it's time to use that voice to spur folks to action.

Change in the Weather

Causes changes in other areas too:

A virus called Bluetongue is spreading to Europe as a result of warmer temperatures. Not the end of the world, it doesn't affect humans and it can be vaccinated against. Still, its a growing problem, the article states.

There is, however, a fix for global warming, in a can. If only all problems could be solved this way! The solution is compared to a "fad diet" and is "a dangerous delusion". Still a global warming fix in a can? You gotta read that one.



I have a friend that won't like global warming for the following reasons: it's driving up humidity levels. He just doesn't tolerate humidity well at all.

And finally, a game that helps understand global warming effects. Sim City Societies will include impacts to your virtual world based on energy decisions made.

Recent Headlines

• Orangutans take a hit due to rising temps and rainfall

• The Swiss recognize that their Alps are losing ice

• Best read of the day: Lessons on the "Bovine Curtain", eating meat, global warming and you.

Welcome to Easter Island...

When you hear that 3,200 miners were trapped somewhere deep in the bowels of the earth, I can't help but extrapolate this to all the bowels that we are tapping into, dragging out those raw resources and adding an exorbitant amount of order to them to create all the stuff we need to live our lives.

All 6.6 billion of us, consuming. Some of us more, some of us less, but we are all leaving our little impact on the world we live in.

So when I hear that global warming is the Sun's fault.... Yea, maybe the Sun is the major contributor to global warming, why not, its an easy target. It's huge, easy to blame (as it can't fight back) and allows us to point the finger at someone besides ourselves.

At the end of the day though, with all of us doing all those things we do, this is no longer a planet getting trampled on by a few small villages living in scattered valleys. This is a planet getting trampled on by a modern society, using vast amounts of energy and resources to make highly ordered things like iPods and plasma TVs and cars and french fries. Wow.

Have you ever gone out and looked at how fast your electric meter is running when you are actively using your abode? Turn everything you normally turn off and take another look. Even when we aren't around, we are having an impact.

Which leads me to finding charities that aim to minimize or reverse our impact. As I and everyone around me withdraw from the world's resources, I also need to make some deposits as well so that I can make further withdraws down the road. Forget whether it's the sun's fault or it's ours, we do impact the environment, which is fine to a point. I don't want to live in a cave and eat food that's fallen from the trees. I like warmth and wood homes and hell yea, iPods are very cool. But I also would like to feel that I can do something to give back for all those resources it took to keep me warm and allow me to enjoy You Tube wirelessly from Starbucks.

Easter Island is a great example of where we are today. An island, like the planet, with limited resources. Easter Island was once nicely forested, but the villagers took down all the trees. Do you think the guy who chopped down the last tree, sealing the fate of everyone on the island, do you think he asked himself, "hey, maybe this will have a lasting impact, maybe I shouldn't do this"... (BTW: I'm borrowing from Jared Diamond here, credit goes to him). No, he chopped down the freakin tree and everyone either died or fled.

Welcome to the macrocosm of Easter Island, aka Planet Earth - sorry no life rafts.

The Hunt for a Decent Global Warming Charity

Some articles of interest:

News video speaking to the 12 degree increase in Arctic temperatures and their impact to the Inuits.

UC San Diego college article on how politics got in the way of doing some goodness

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nation's committee, gives solutions on global warming, still a bit vague on what the solutions actually are.


I found myself at Charity Navigator typing in global warming as my keywords. So intellectual honesty, I did this back in November as well when I started to brainstorm the idea.

The thing then and now is the same - as there is no one solution, there is no one non profit organization that is working to stop global warming. Why this is seems simple to me: since there are many contributing factors to this issue, there are equally a number of contributing solutions.

So the answer for me then would be to create a matrix of charities and give in weighted amounts to each depending on how much impact each has towards solving this issue, right? Gee, with JitterBook just starting out, I'm not seeing a lot of money going to any one charity. I think it might be better to pick one or two and start there.

The link to Charity Navigator goes directly to the page of charities that match my search criteria. There are a number of charities there that look worthy of JitterBook's money, but I want to take a deeper dive before committing.

What's next?

So first some interesting articles:


- Scientists talk about shooting sulfur dioxide into the air to curb global warming:


- It's okay to be a capatilist and be green:


- River species to decline by 12-25% over the next 50 years:

- And my personal favorite: Global Warming could shorten the length of an earth day (think about it):

Now back to the journey. So far I've discovered there is a lot of passion about global warming and only one shared vision; that it is occurring. Why it occurs - better not go there. How to solve it - again, lots of opinions. So how do I contribute?

I looked at StopGlobalWarming.org. Seems logical and easy, (so very easy), but something doesn't sit right about this group. They say they aren't political, but have a lot of political backing . They also don't appear to be non profit, in fact they appear to be a spin site of the Tides Center, a for profit company whose business is to sell social innovation. I'm not saying they are doing the wrong thing, but there isn't a way to measure their impact. Also, just the home page alone is trying to sell you cars and books and Microsoft, wow. It looks like this is how big business does global warming.

I wanted to stay with the non-profit organizations. In the suggestion given by one of the developers of JitterBook, "keep the blog entries short", I'll leave this entry at this: I next headed to "Charity Navigator" for my next step.

The Evolution of Misdirection

In pouring through the news briefs, it's interesting to watch the opposing theory that states that global warming is caused by oceans, sun activity, anything but human origin. The story broke with the video I pasted below and was quickly challenged by other scientists, each stating the other is wrong.

The evolution here is that in recent articles, the source of the movie that started this view is omitted and now "new" stories are coming out saying essentially the same thing; that a) global warming is a natural phenomenon (with supporting theories by intelligent scientists and b) we are being scared by corporations looking to capitalize on this green movement (I suppose I belong to "b").

The concern here is that this opposing story is gaining ground, which could stall this call to action that has been taking hold of late. I think it's human nature to do nothing rather than do something. We are such adaptable creatures and will certainly rally to a cause if we our backs are against the wall. But throw in a seed of doubt and the momentum wanes. This is why conservative political views will always have a large measure of popularity. It's simply easier to point out the faults of others and do nothing than to create and implement a solution. The hill is steeper and rockier for the team that wants to change the paradigm.

Forget global warming for a second, think global changes. Our oceans our being fished up to three times sustainable rates, we are losing species to extinction at a rate of 100 to 1000 times historic background rates, each day we lose an area of forest twice the size of Paris. Beyond man made CO2 vs natural solar phenomenon, we - us humans - "man", we are having an impact on the planet, without question.

When it comes down to the question, "should I do something to help?", the debate of whether global warming is natural or man made is moot. Of course it's natural, but on the same hand, it's hard to deny we aren't playing a large catalyst in this natural evolution. When you see a house on fire, you don't first try to figure out why, you get some water and try to put the fire out. One thing we are learning in all this is the earth is in a delicate balance with a lot of different factors. We are definitely a factor in the balance and any change in that balance.

Just as a story can be peddled and rehashed, re-invented and reborn, we need to evolve as well. The solution for global warming, global deforestation, fishing, poverty, drought, global anything - is do everything you can to help create sustainability of our resources.

Don't get me wrong, we should understand what is causing the problem, it helps in pinpointing a more exact solution, but there is so much low hanging fruit where we can help, right now without ever needing to know the cause.

Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4563499.stm
http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0704/feature1/index.html
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/40837/story.htm

An Opposing View on the Cause of Global Warming

Here is the opposing documentary that basically says yes Global Warming exists, but it's just a natural occurence.

Link to full video here: The Great Global Warming Swindle:

Video player of same here:

I think the most interesting aspect is now that this documentary is starting to make the rounds, news articles stating that the documentary is while compelling, actually unfounded, are coming up through the media.

Here is one article stating the documentary is flawed, even saying that scientests in the film feel misrepresented:

Move to block emissions 'swindle' DVD::

Global Warming and Foreign Agression

Quick editorial that states that as the environment changes, people may fight over the limiting resources available.

Warming and global security - New York Times
Article Last Updated: 04/23/2007 11:34:44 AM PDT

PEOPLE WHO give short shrift to environmental matters pay attention when national security becomes part of the conversation. So the debate over global warming took a useful turn last week as diplomats and retired military officers drew persuasive connections between climate change and the very real potential for regional upheavals.

Last Monday, 11 retired admirals and generals released a detailed 68-page report arguing that climate change could be a "threat multiplier" in already fragile parts of the world. Rising sea levels could threaten the livelihoods of 4 billion people living within 45 miles of Asia's coastlines. In Africa, recurring heat waves could cause widespread shortages of food and water, leading to large-scale migrations and escalating tensions.

Anthony Zinni, a retired Marine general, made the point elegantly when he said that "we will pay for this one way or the other" — either now, to control the emission of greenhouse gases, or later, in military engagements and "human lives."

These same themes were taken up at the United Nations, where the Security Council — under Britain's leadership — held its first-ever discussion of the link between climate change and international conflict. An overwhelming majority of nations voiced grave concerns about climate change, and many urged stricter worldwide controls on greenhouse gases.
Among the few doubters were the United States and China — neither of which has mandatory controls (the Bush administration actively opposes them). Both argued that the Council was the wrong place to raise the issue. What they were really saying was that they don't want to be pushed. In an alliance of denial, China and the United States are using each other's inaction as an excuse to do nothing.

That is yet another reason why the Congress should be moving ahead with legislation to curb and reverse America's production of greenhouse gases. With members of the military elite joining mayors, governors and business leaders in demanding action, the Democrats in Congress have all the arguments they need to take the lead.

Ramping UP

Listening to a video on doubting that global warming is man made while reading articles and other blogs on global warming. Tons of different opinions, I mean tons, lots of passionate often differing views. What causes it, what solves it, simply put, the only thing that people agree on is that it is occurring.

I'll post the video shortly as it is interesting and does give a compelling theory that global warming is happening but is nothing to be concerned about.

Two other pieces caught my eye:

One is the article above.

The other is the news piece on Sheryl Crow and her call to action to limit toilet paper use to one square per person per visit. This great well respected clearly heard voice chose toilet paper limitations as her cause? She couldn't have stood behind bio diesel school buses or something else that doesn't involve well... areas close to one's taint? Regardless of the facts, there are so many ways to contribute positively without going to the place that is all my business and none of yours. I think this will hurt her career. She comes across like she's living in a bubble.

So since this is the beginning of the blog, let's start there. I was a professional student, spent 10 years getting 2 degrees, both of them environmentally based. I was never an activist per se, I was always more of a mediator, I saw both sides. I remember too well the ironic bumper stickers on folks cars that said, "Stop Offshore Oil Drilling". I'd see people protest against the lumber companies but not one of these folks wanted to live in a plastic house or whatever you would live in if we never cut down another tree. I don't ever want to be an extremist at anything. It just doesn't play well.

What I did want to do is find that happy ground where we protect the rare, sustain the sustainable and renew the renewable. It's a lesson that is slowly getting some traction, that a big 800 pound company can be just as profitable with a green perspective as they did when they were trashing the environment.

So I got these two degrees and then lived in several third world countries in South America over the course of the next 3 years. It didn't happen overnight, but looking back, living abroad pretty much stripped me of most of my environmental roots. I saw so much damage being done, so much unstoppable irreplaceable damage. I mean, here was a culture that burnt the skins off their tomatoes because the skins were toxic from all the pesticides used. Forests being burned, soil eroding into rivers, people washing and crapping in the same waters, no sense of exhaust emissions.

I extrapolated what I was seeing on this one continent to all the other continents that were living in similar conditions and quickly came to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do to prevent this global rape from occurring. I put my environmental hat on the shelf and started living a normal American life of material satisfaction with little regard to it's consequences.

Then we had a couple of really hot summers and I start hearing about the glaciers melting. I start reading, I see the Gore movie, and I realize there is something one person can do. Just by changing out my light bulbs to fluorescent bulbs I'm helping. I used to hate fluorescent lighting but they make some bulbs that mimic natural light pretty well. So I change out all my bulbs.

So great, I got rid of some light bulbs, what else? Well, I owned a bookstore, how could that help global warming? One evening, there it was, suddenly I had an idea for possibly creating some significant change. I tossed the idea around and these ideas created more ideas and before you know it, there was a plan - sell books online creating a national footprint and give a portion of the money to charities that are helping solve the global warming problem.

Okay, can't use exhaustion as an excuse to not start this thing. I used to write a journal back in college, put everything in there, my college life, my sex life, my spiritual life, deep thoughts went into those tomes. I think I filled 5 books worth of stuff concerning to no one but myself.

Flashing forward to today, I needed a way to communicate my desire to do something to help on the global warming front. The blog was a natural answer. See part of the problem here is I'm not exactly an expert at global warming, but I want to become one. So by creating a community that I can share my views and have other's share their views and get us all together in this melding pot of global warming issues, hell, the next thing you know I am doing the right thing.

Right now, I don't know what I'm doing. All I have is conviction and some passion to help solve the issues at hand and be less a part of the problem.