Happy Earth Day!

Good morning friends of the planet, I love Earth Day because it reminds us that this rock we're standing on is something we really need to take care of all the time.

I came across this graphic on a friend's Facebook page today and thought it was the perfect Earth Day image to share.

What do you think? What are YOU doing to make the Earth a better place to inhabit on this day?

Clean Energy Needs to Be a National Priority

The BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is turning into the worst man made disaster in the history of, well, history. People’s jobs are impacted, lives have been turned upside down and visions of success have dwindled away. But there is something we can do to at least mitigate the blow, to turn it back around.

We can all stand together as a nation and demand that changes are made.

We can all stand together as a nation and say ‘I want to reduce my dependence on fossil fuels.’

We can all stand together as a nation and call for clean-energy!

A few days ago I added my name in support of a clean-energy future by signing a petition that is backed by the group Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee. Since signing the petition I have received a few emails requesting that I forward the link on.

This morning, following right behind President Obama’s Oval Office Address last night*, the committee sent another request to share the link to sign in support of clean-energy and I decided to do a little more digging.

I responded to the Director of Organizing for America, Mitch Stewart and simply inquired -- what are you going to do with all of these names?  I haven't yet heard back but will certainly keep everyone apprised of what he has to say as soon as they get in touch.


With regard to our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and the impact the depletion of this finite resource will have on our nation (as well as nations around the globe), The President said last night:

“We cannot consign our children to this future. The tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean-energy future is now. Now is the moment for this generation to embark on a national mission to unleash America’s innovation and seize control of our own destiny.”

Yeah baby!

So because I firmly, unequivocally, and without doubt believe in every single word of the paragraph above, I am including the link to the petition for Organizing for America. If they can get even 1,000 more signatures to propel this initiative in front of the President and help ensure new jobs are created while we make use of the rapidly renewable natural resources our planet has to offer as our primary energy sources, then I say more power to them!

Now I know this will meet with negative comments from many of the ‘hippie’ generation -- that they attempted to do this too and got nowhere, that gas was a commodity in the 1970’s -- and they are absolutely correct. And 30 some odd years after they started the fight it sounds like a pretty great idea to finally finish it.

Let’s be the generation that prevails, the one which elicits positive change.

Let’s take what our former generations started and finally bring it to fruition.

Clean-energy is not a pipe dream. It can happen, and on the heels of this Gulf Coast disaster there is no more apparent time than right now to support it. Fully.

If you believe in clean-energy and all it can provide for our country please sign the petition today by visiting:

Organizing for America

*If you missed the President’s address from last night you can read the full text here.

Bloom Box Already In Place at Major Corporations

Google, eBay, Staples, Walmart. These are just a few of the companies who are taking advantage of the latest in fuel cell technology as provided by Bloom Energy.

The Bloom Box is a tightly packaged box that can draw energy from just about any source to provide electricity at about half the usage need as other types and will utilize solar, wind, methane, hydro, natural gas or fossil fuels to draw its power. Not only does it save the source but it will save the client boat loads of money.

I only had a chance to catch this last night on 60 Minutes so I haven’t done a bunch of research into its history, viability or future plans but I encourage everyone to check out the clip from last night’s show and see for yourself how this latest inexpensive, zero emission, fuel cell innovation could potentially revolutionize energy technologies for the Greener. If K.R. Sridhar has his way there will even be one gracing the organic vegetable garden at the White House.

Go directly to the Bloom Energy video where they encourage us to be responsible, part of the overall solution.

Or check out the full 60 Minutes segment from last night’s show (also below).

What do you think? Can this type of technology change our way of thinking about how and where our energy comes from?


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Recharge a Cell Phone, With No Cords!

The cutting edge of technology these days is always the latest wireless offering such as laptops, gaming system components or even a traditional cell phone. But once the batteries run down or run out completely we are forced to grab the cord and plug into an outlet. Not only does this limit mobility with the device, but it draws on energy that is new to re-power it. Well Nokia is attempting to figure out a way to take the unused energy floating around everywhere to act as a recharging system for a new cell phone they are developing and hope to have operational within the next three to five years.

The phone would very slowly recharge on electromagnetic waves emitted into the air, something Nikola Tesla was attempting to deem possible in the late nineteenth century. I have always been fascinated with Tesla (inventor of the ‘Tesla’ coil, for more information on this breakthrough in electricity please check out this website). This man was a pioneer in adopting radio frequency, electromagnetism and a host of other seemingly impossible ways to manipulate waves that today are proving possible.

Here is an excerpt from the article on Nokia’s technological advance:

“Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.”

Please find the rest of the article here.

Recycling energy at its finest!

Closing the Carbon Loophole

President Barack Obama calls for clean energy; investing in it and the workers who will create and install these advances. He sees that the future of the planet depends on closing the loop and expresses those thoughts for the world to hear.

On a day like this, Earth Day, it is more important than ever to act on both the local and global levels to ensure our clean energy and economic future.

This is from President Obama’s press conference on April 14, 2009.



Happy Earth Day everybody!

President Barack Obama Discusses His Proposed Budget

In his most recent radio address on February 28, President Barack Obama discussed the assurances he made for increased support in key areas, and those promises which he truly plans to keep, with the new fiscal budget. He has indicated he is ready to “fight for it” but this raises the issue of understanding what is going to be supported under the new budget; what is the “it”.

I strongly encourage everyone to visit The White House and click on over to the Office of Management and Budget page to review the proposed financial outlay for each department, as well as the Full Budget pdf. The Full Budget is well worth the read as numbers, graphs and real in-your-face information is put to us plainly. It is a long document (142 pages including cover, etc) but something every American should allow themselves the time to review so President Obama’s goal of transparency can begin to be achieved. Only when we are completely informed can we understand what we are fighting for!

It’s, It’s An Email Blitz!

In the past forty eight hours I have received a bunch of emails and many of them are related to causes that are dear to my heart -- The Environment and The President. In fact two emails in particular not only show support for one or the other but managed to combine both the environment and President Barack Obama into one message. Now that is something I can sure get behind!

Let’s start by talking about 1Sky. This is an organization dedicated to creating alliances with politicians to effect real change in the realm of fighting global warming on a larger scale. Yesterday they sent all of us supporters a message to let us know that when President Obama signed the recovery plan into effect it included $87 billion in green investments. From what they have indicated this is the largest expenditure the government has ever made in the area of clean energy. Hooray!

Of course 1Sky was not simply letting us know about this wonderful turn of events, they have asked us to please send a thank you note to Congress and President Obama showing our willingness to continue to support the efforts they are standing behind with this package. The great news is they made it easy to express our gratitude! Simply go to http://www.1sky.org/green-recovery-thankyou and enter your zip code. A pre-written message of thanks (and thumbnails of our local Senators) will pop up. Enter the required information (name, email, zip) and hit submit. Then please pass this link on to as many people as possible. Showing our support for their support ensures the gratitude loop for positive change keeps revolving!

Speaking of change…

Is it time to change that old, worn out T-shirt yet? Well perhaps I could interest you in one of these:

Jason Mraz and Rock the Vote have partnered up to bring us this 100% Organic cotton t-shirt in two fun colors. As if that wasn’t enough the inks are water based and all solvents are environmentally safe. Considering all of these factors, the shirts are not expensive like many tend to be -- small to XL, men’s or women’s, silver or blue will not cost you more than $25.00 (plus shipping -- please note that I found the shipping cost to be a bit pricey but I feel the cause is worth it!). They will ship within the next couple weeks and 50% of the purchase price proceeds will go directly to Rock the Vote efforts.

That gives a whole new meaning to ‘Rock On’ as these folks spend countless hours educating and encouraging voter registration. Plus how cool will it be to walk down the street with the caricature version of President Obama emblazoned on the front of a shirt?