Awaken Your Inner Gaia

Exxon Ain't Screwing Nothing

With gas prices rising and lowering and rising again, we're often riding a veritable rollercoaster just to search for the cheapest gas station, and it seems to be a daily routine. Recently, Exxon smashed up the record for the largest annual profit ($40.6 billion) as well as the record for the largest quarterly profit ($11.7 billion). Almost every news station wrote articles about these record breaking figures, and many people commented against the great amount of money that Exxon made.
ONSLOW1066 wrote, "Dont buy gas from these big greedy companies. That's the only way to hurt them.",and Fredefam commented, "The goverment continues to let the oil companies screw the American public."

But I agree with graber4543, one of the only sane people in the comment feed, who wrote, "They are only making a 10% profit. Just do the math. $40.6 billion on an annual sales of $404.5 billion = 10%. Almost all successful companies make a profit of 10%. Any company that makes less is headed down the drain. Retail stores operate on a 40% mark up. Contractors bid a job at cost plus 10%. They are not out of line."

I agree because this is just a business at work. Breaking records like this shouldn't make people "not" want to buy Exxon fuel, but rather the high in the sky numbers just show that this is a good company doing what they can to stay afloat in hard times. They earned their money morally, and shouldn't be castrated because of it!

In fact, this even makes me want to buy fuel for my VW from a successful, dependable business like Exxon. This my friends, is not a rip off.

What you should be doing is complaining to the Prez and asking the candidates in 2008 to pay more attention to finding and utilizing new, renewable energy sources instead of yelling about EXXON's banner year. I mean the price of oil per barrel just keeps going up for all sorts of reasons beyond our control. So of course we are going to pay for it at the pumps. Let's take back control! If you're gonna say something then say something constructive and talk about wind, geo-thermal, solar, hydro, all are a means of energy that would end our dependence on a dying fossil fuel. I mean, dude we are at peak oil(http://www.hubbertpeak.com/ ). We are at the MAXIMUM and the only way we can really save ourselves is to use less. We need to use alternative fuels and unconventional sources. Unfortunately, this method won't support the gas companies at alllll.

And if that doesn't convince you, check out this video on youtube!

Why I love energy drinks (An intro to conservation of energy)

Monsters, bulls, rockstars, and bawls are all hardcore, manly things. They also produce a lot of energy - in the form of energy drinks! Companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola produce billions of cans of these high-energy, sugar-filled delicious beverages like there is no tomorrow. Sounds exhausting...

They don’t stop producing, so you don’t stop buying, and with all that energy you’re getting, you keep going, and going, and going

soon you’ll be running like a Kenyan. (Let me tell you, that is a lot of fun!)

But what about other types of energy? Like the kind that can’t be reproduced in factories...what about oil, gas, water, wind, solar, corn and trees? These next couple of blogs will be about just that. Here at Team Gaia we believe in a better future, and I think respecting this “Law of Conservation of Energy” will help our Earth out big time in the long run. I mean, I’m sure you all knew that already. RIGHT? You only drive a macho man SUV because you completely reuse, reduce, and recycle everything else in your life, as well as also needing a bigger car to transport the eight kids you adopted from third world countries. Am I hitting home? I want to hear from you, speak up or forever hold your piece of the planet in jeopardy. It's all about dialog and dialog unites humanity - DUH! So let's get this party started - I'm on my third bull now.

On The Road

I drive a lot. A LOT.
I drive perhaps four hours out of my day, whether I’m going across town to school, or simply running errands. Even though there are demanding gas prices and then on top of that the building mileage counting down the days until my next 15 dollar oil change, the thing that bothers me the most about driving is the bad habits of the other drivers. Mainly, littering. It’s absolutely disgusting.

I see people throw out bags of McDonald’s and little pieces of paper with spit swabs of Juicy Fruit. The biggest offense at nighttime is the flaming cigarette butt darting like fireworks out the window.

In Florida, we have our “Adopt a Highway” system, where groups of people or businesses take care of a highway or stretch of road. These people have pride in their state, unlike those that don’t care at all and simply trash whatever they want, wherever they want – the world is their trash can. There are no consequences for them, nothing matters to these litterbugs, but them. Freakin’ slobs!

Several years ago I went to MOSH (Museum of Science and History in downtown Jacksonville) and learned that when litter is thrown in the road, small animals can smell it and think its food, then check it out. Then a fast moving vehicle on its way to Disneyworld slams into the creature, spreading it like animal jam across the road. The guts and juices from the small creature attract larger animals, like a raccoon or an opossum. Then a car hits them. Their sumptuous aroma and succulent scraps of delicious, tender meat attracts a predator like the peregrine falcon, an endangered species. The falcon approaches, sniffs, and devours. Then a car hits it. A never-ending cycle of death that no one thinks about on a daily basis.

There are many reasons why littering ruins our Earth, but this one reason changed my mind for good years ago. So think about what you’re doing when you are about to pitch your cigarette or half eaten burger and fries out of your car window, and please, don’t litter! You’ll save a small creature, an opussum and a falcon while you’re at it.

Vote 2008-The Republicans!

On November 28th 2007, Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson were all invited to the Republican debate in St. Petersburg Florida, also known as the CNN/YouTube debate--moderated by the great Anderson Cooper. Though the debate was very insightful, I want to discuss my opinions on the “top four” Republican candidates, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and John McCain.
Since birth i have been raised by republicans, at first rebelliously seeking different points of view. Eventually i found the world through the eyes of an elephant to be intriguing. Now you will know exactly how i feel about the republican candidates. I hope I don’t let my Republican family down.

Mike Huckabee:

This former Arkansas Governor, and a man that’s jumping ahead in the polls in Iowa, plans to solve America’s energy crisis. He preaches every energy source you can think of - clean coal, bio diesel, nuclear, wind, solar power, hydrogen, biomass, corn-based ethanol, cellulostic ethanol, the highly controversial drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and even conservation. But he doesn’t tap in on any specific plan or even lay out the steps for us to see.

Wildly enough, he believes he has a responsibility to God to protect the planet. “This world doesn't belong to me. I'm a guest here. I don't have a right to abuse it, any more than I have a right to abuse someone else's property if they were to let me stay in their apartment for a weekend." (Hmm, I guess drilling for oil in the Refuge isn't abusing any homes for living beings...) "It's a sin against future generations for me to act as if there are no future generations that should enjoy the world as I do.” And though this isn’t a bad thing at all, he shouldn’t feel like God told him to save the planet, I think he should - we all should - have an un-divine calling to take care of planet Earth.

Something that really bothers me about him, and other republican candidates, is that he doesn’t believe that climate change is related to human activity, which is something I find to be pretty "obvious". He should take a look at the scene in "An Inconvenient Truth" where Al Gore shows the graph comparing CO2 emissions since the first Ice Age. That should change everyone’s mind.

Even if he isn’t my first choice for a Republican President, it’s pretty cool that he doesn’t think we need to increase our fuel-economy standards to become energy independent- I am extremely sick of forking out forty dollars to fill my tank!
Official website

Mitt Romney:

Mitt Romney supports contraceptives in schools, and has actually experimented with this in Massachusetts. Considering my previous blog on this subject, I first believed that I might actually like this Romney fellow. I was wrong. He has a great idea (as well as the other candidates) to fix America’s dependence on oil and energy efficiency, but he supports some terrible subjects to go along with it. He supports drilling off of US waters and also drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (he opposes oil drilling in the Florida Everglades), and nuclear power.
I probably wouldn’t vote for this guy either. But, at least he has a 54 page PLAN to fight climate change, even if he doesn’t believe in "global warming."
Official website

John McCain:

John McCain was the first high-profile Republican to begin talking seriously about climate change, and has even called Bush’s approach on the issue “disgraceful.” In fact, he is very outspoken about Bush’s lack of action on several topics. In lieu of sponsoring the first Senate bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as similar bills since then, he has earned the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters in his 2004 Senate campaign.

He is known as the strongest candidate for Republicans that want to “vote green.” He also wants to use the cap-and-trade proposal that Obama is also planning on using if he becomes President. In an interview with Amanda Griscom Little of "grist.org" he quotes Tony Blair for his reason for believing that global warming is important “Suppose we're wrong, and there's no such thing as greenhouse-gas emissions, and we adopt green technologies. All we've done is give our kids a better planet. But suppose we're right, and do nothing? Then what kind of a legacy are we handing on to future generations of Americans?”

McCain also has a strong reason for keeping troops in Iraq, not exactly a war for oil or nuclear weapons, but a war for national security. He was also a war hero, which I think would be good for our country because a) he has had great training and could run this country with responsibility, discipline, and a charge to get things done and b) when was the last time we had a kick-butt war hero president!? John F. Kennedy? Mayyyybe George Bush senior? The only thing more powerful is if California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was our President.(Can you say "Terminator?") These points really almost won me over for him, though I am a bit mystified by his views on war.

Overall, I think I would most likely vote for him, because while looking at his platform I found almost nothing that I disagreed with (the two exceptions being that he is Pro-Life and supports protection of the "Second Amendment":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution) and through performing extra research I believe he is the most responsible Republican candidate and I personally would most likely vote for him.
Official website

Rudy Giuliani

Giuliani has had perhaps the most impressive gain of support than any other candidate in this election.

Just as every other candidate, he believes in strong energy independence and that climate change is a problem, but doesn’t recognize it as a major issue. "I do believe there's global warming, yes. The big question has always been how much of it is happening because of natural climate changes and how much of it is happening because of human intervention."
He supports several things that I am strongly against, like offshore drilling (including the Everglades) and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He also has tried to sell hundreds of community gardens in New York City.

Giuliani also believes that freedom is going to win this war of ideas. America will win the war on terror. He also has several points that I support on the “war on terror.” He prays for the war to be over and the troops to return home, but he thinks a timeline planning their return would be ridiculous, and will encourage our enemies. And when it comes to abortion he is pro-choice, supporting reasonable reasons for abortion while increasing adoptions.
He used to be my first choice for a republican candidate because of the impressive amount of support he's getting-so something must've been great about him. So i talked to my friend about it and heard all of these great things! But then i remembered how super republican/pro-bush she was, and realized how pro-bush Giuliani is. Oof.
He isn’t my first choice for the Presidency, but if he did win, I think he would take great charge of issues that need it because he did take great charge when he took care of New York City.
Official website

Vote 2008-The Democrats!

The 2008 elections are just around the corner and it seems to me that it is time to talk about candidates! Since the environment, energy, and global warming are on everyone’s minds, why not start the Vote 2008 blogs on that tough topic.

Let’s first review the top three Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.

Sen. Hillary Clinton

It seems the question on everyone’s minds is “I wonder if America is ready for a woman president?” Though considering that this would be a fair election, I don’t think America should have much to be prepared for. Even though she is a woman, she is a powerful woman with great plans on her mind-we shouldn’t hold back our applause for her because, as said by several of my friends, “she might paint the white house pink!”
But Hillary the Great may be the exception to the ordinary first lady and presidential candidate. Her platform clearly shows her support for “energy independence”. Most believe that she doesn’t give the full deal on the energy crisis, emphasizing her support for “clean coal” while the other candidates support corn ethanol.
Hillary’s past efforts have earned her a 90% lifetime voting score from the League of Conservation Voters.
I believe Clinton would be a fair choice for a Democrat president, probably my second choice for a president of our country. All in all I think America needs a president that could restore our economy, and once that is restored, begin a campaign to conserve our Earth. If she represents what you believe, vote for her-Argentina already has a “pink house.”

For an interview with grist.org on energy and the environment, click here.
Official Website

Junior Sen. Barack Obama

Another controversial candidate…our only African American candidate (the only African American candidate in the U.S. Senate), raised by a Muslim father, and spent most of his childhood outside of Continental U.S. He’s so different and exotic!!
Despite all of the taboo, Obama is a champion of the national effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions and he has a sure-fire plan to tackle both our economy and global warming.
He has mapped out the steps for this type of progress in our country, focusing on implementing an economy-wide cap-and-trade program, which contrasts other approaches such as carbon tax. A cap-and-trade program takes its roots in the marketplace by creating a cap on carbon emissions, the capped emissions then are divided into individual allowances that ultimately represent the amount that is allowed that can be emitted.
He also has other ideas that make sense, like countering terrorism while Clinton has been noted to be inconsistent on her opposition of the Iraq war. Obama plans that the first thing he will do is begin deployment and said “It is very important for us to draw a clear line and say, ‘We are not going to be governed by fear. We will take threats seriously and take action to make sure that the US is secure.’”
Despite all of the gossip, I think Obama would be my first choice out of the Democratic Party for president. He takes care of everything that I think is important for our country to value, our earth and our economy.
Official Website

Sen. John Edwards

Though third in the Democratic field, John Edwards also works to save the environment, eliminate poverty, universal health care, and withdrawing troops from Iraq. Edwards is also a family man, and plans to unite America. Which I think is a great quality to have because when you look at other countries, they all have a loving bond towards each other and the people strange to them, while Americans are taught in school and home to not talk to strangers. Overall I think he sounds rather weak compared to the other candidates, but I did strongly support him in the beginning of his race. What changed my mind about him was when all of his plans seemed too surreal to actually work. His domestic values rested so much in the home, like eliminating poverty and restoring rural towns and communities, but he seemed to miss a crucial step for this plan -taking our country out of debt.
Official website

New Research from Oxford May Prove More Concrete

Scientists have found a way that might soon show the real possibility of extreme weather like the floods and heat waves being due to global warming. Huge heat waves have spread across Europe. Greece has hit 113 degrees fahrenheit, following closely behind a record-setting heat-wave in June of almost 114.8. The heat has killed 500 in Hungary, left 350,000 in Britain without running water. I think it is astounding that simply the heat is killing people. It has been frustrating for me to see people squandering around wondering "Is it Global Warming?" But hopefully these scientists, particularly Myles Allen, who hails from Oxford, (one of the most highly respected universities in the world), with all of these computer simulations, will be able to finally end the questions for skeptics around the globe.

Of course there will always be the howling from "scientists" placed in high places by oil companies, but hopefully the truth will ring out from these complex experiments. Allen claims that is simply a matter of calculating the probability. He, in particular, is running a team conducting thousands of simulations on one particular British flood. Each individual computer runs one climate simulation. Allen says that the results will be published later this year. Hundreds of scientists in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted more and more drastic changes in the weather like floods and heat waves. The heat wave overtaking Europe that I mentioned earlier is a huge example of what the IPCC predicted. With this new technology of pointing the finger at a particular variable in one situation... I think we will be able to revolutionize the way people look at global warming research. I think that soon we will have the most concrete evidence ever presented to the public.

Team Gaia’s Live Earth Party!

On July 7th, 2007 people all over the globe celebrated at Live Earth 'Parties for the Planet', a reaching-out to all kinds of people around the world to raise awareness and actually do something to stop global warming. People everywhere were encouraged to throw parties of their own, not just to watch the ones on TV, because you don't need a concert hall to tell people how to save the earth. We, Team Gaia, an Atlantic Beach based teen environmental organization, decided to do just that. We decided to throw a big Live Earth party in our very own studio office in Mayport. We posted our party on MoveOn.org, an environmental and political website that acted as a HQ for people who wanted to go to a Live Earth party. People all over typed in their zip code, and if they were near us, our party showed up on their screens. We also got together and invited a bunch of our friends to join in! We got around 70 people, and their ages were very diverse. We had about 50 adults, some of them seniors, some middle age, and some of them even in their twenties. But at the same time we had about 20 teenagers from different schools in the area. Aside from the mere diversity, a lot of the people who came were very progressive. Members of local organizations like the Sierra Club and JaxTaxpayers.com came, along with lots of other concerned members of the community like UNF professors and school board members. All of us at Team Gaia were really excited to meet all these amazing people!

At the party we had a huge potluck where everyone brought in vegetarian and organic dishes, and we even organized getting some biodegradable silverware. The food that was there was absolutely delicious! People ate, mingled, and we showed the concerts from all over the globe on a projection screen in our studio. We kicked things off with an introductory piece from the Live Earth campaign by Al Gore, and then showed a 30-minute town meeting with different people running for government talking about the environment. We (Team Gaia) also showed our own pieces we ourselves produced about Global Warming. At Team Gaia we produce all kinds of videos spanning from global warming, to getting teens to vote, to organic food and healthy eating. We got some awesome feedback from all kinds of people, and it was really rewarding. The whole experience was simply exhilarating, and it was great to say that we took action, that we will continue to take action, and that we've encouraged others to take action.

Most importantly, you can take action against the climate crisis even as a simple reader of this blog! You don't need to be a member of Team Gaia or Sierra Club or anything like that to make a change. You can change the light bulbs in your home to compound florescent, you can turn the AC up a couple degrees when it's hot and down a couple when it's cold, you can do what you can to use less hot water like take shorter showers, and on top of all that, you can drive less! Together, all of us can do our best to prevent global warming-- that's what 'Party for the Planet' and Live Earth was all about!

Rooftop Horticulture a Possibility for New York?

An environmental group called New York Sun Works thinks the rooftops of New York could be used as gardens to provide food for the whole city. To prove their point, they created a garden on a barge on the Hudson River. The barge is a greenhouse that uses solely rain, solar panels, wind turbines and biofuel to subsist. New York Sun Works says that if these 'hydroponic systems' with no water or soil were installed on the rooftops of New York, the provided food could feed 20 million people.

Cities like New York growing their own produce would encourage becoming organically inclined and aid the fight against global warming! Having the gardens on the tops of schools could feed the school, and teach lessons in science and horticulture. It would solve the terrible nutrition problems that American cafeterias face! And because space on land is often sought after in cities, what better place to choose for these gardens than the often unused rooftops?

I think this is an extremely exciting and inspiring idea! Think of the changes that this could create in American society-- it would be like a tidal wave of health, beauty and tasty organic food! The greenhouses apparently produce seven times more food and they use four times less water than the traditional farm. So many benefits would be in store for New York if they chose to enforce this plan. This is truly one of the best ideas I've ever heard-- there has to be a city who will do this. Please, someone listen to these wonderful people!

S O U R C E S:
Reuter`s Article
The NY Sun Works homepage

Update: China’s “Energy Police” Task Force Combat Global Warming!

A small update on my last little bit on China's battle against global warming. Chinese government's latest weapon against the cruel climate change? A sort of "Energy Saving Police" out to make sure all buildings in Beijing are obeying energy saving rules, like making sure their air conditioning is set to no cooler than 79 degrees. The Chinese government also has a phone line set up just so people can call in and report people disobeying these Energy Laws.

The effort to save energy has even become somewhat of a political campaign, considering the 2008 Beijing olympics are approaching and they truly want to get rid of all the pollution by then. The People Daily, the Communist Party's mouthpiece in China, says: "All regions and sectors must thoroughly grasp the importance and urgency of saving energy and reducing emissions," showing the government's desperation to urge things forward. According to the China Youth Daily, 84.6 percent of almost 5,000 Chinese citizens found global warming and energy conservation to be considered an urgent issue. It seems to me that China is certainly keeping its' promise so far!

S O U R C E S:
Article about China's efforts.
Article mainly about the energy police.

China Fights Global Warming without U.S. Help

Following in suit of Europe, China has recently launched its' very first "climate change" plan. However, Chinese officials are very upset towards the responses the country is receiving from others regarding the matter. Ma Kai, head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, says, "Overlooking historical facts and obligations, ignoring different development levels of different countries... it's not fair or reasonable to use climate change as an excuse to limit the progress of developing nations and hinder their efforts towards modernization.", "China will not commit to any quantified emissions reduction targets, but that does not mean we will not assume responsibilities in responding to climate change,".

China's new plan makes bold plans to fight global warming through ways that won't exactly mess with their economy. Supporting recycling in industry, cleaner transport, alternative fuels, saving energy & forest planting is their ideal. However, while these things all sound nice, the Chinese government stresses very greatly that they will not give up any part of their growing economy to meet other international demands.

While it is indeed wonderful that China has decided to employ a plan, rather than just talking about employing one, it seems like the plan is more of a shield against any criticism coming at them in the upcoming G8 summit. China wants to make sure they are not the ones with fingers pointed at them when it comes to global warming, so they employ a "climate change" plan just before the summit where they will have to face the other nations.

At the same time, though, just think about how many things you look at and see the "made in china" label on. We cannot blame China for not being able to keep up with a global warming plan they manufacture so many other, more well-developed countries' goods. Ma Kai also made sure to talk about this. He said that rich countries could not blame poor countries for pollution when the poor countries are being outsourced by the rich countries, saying that the rich nations did this while "dragging their feet with promises to share clean technology" (an obvious reference to the US).

In summation, I think that China's plan is a good step forward that has been needed for a long time. While it is somewhat of a shield against criticism at G8, it is more than the US has done. The United States shouldn't use China for manufacturing and blame them for pollution, but China has turned the other cheek, and made a new plan to help the environment.

(This piece was written June 6th, 2007)

EDIT- today.

As G-8 has most definitely drawn to a close, President Bush has agreed to keep his climate plans within UN lines. However, coming up with anything beyond Kyoto is pretty much out of the question because he'll be out of office by then. Bush has also made it completely certain that US cooperation with the climate change ideas provided by the UN will rely entirely on China and India's cooperation as well.

My question is-- why does he need China and India to be there? He is acting like a little kid who needs his siblings to be punished as well. Why can't Bush and his administration clean up their own act before pointing fingers at others? China actually has a plan.

S O U R C E S:
• Video of Ma Kai speaking about the plan.
• Article about China's plan having to incorporate growth.
• List of G8`s conclusions.