Newsmax.com reports,
Fox News commentator Steve Milloy, founder of the junkscience.com Web site, tells Newsmax that the U.S. is at “the point of no return” as the Obama administration is set to implement environmental policies that will lead to “energy chaos” in this country.
Click here to read the entire Newsmax interview with Green Hell author Steve Milloy.
Bedbugs are back — thanks to anti-pesticide green policies.
The Associated Press reported today that,
Faced with rising numbers of complaints to city information lines and increasingly frustrated landlords, hotel chains and housing authorities, the Environmental Protection Agency hosted its first-ever bedbug summit Tuesday.
And why is this happening?
One of the problems, according to researchers and the pesticide industry, is that there are few chemicals on the market approved for use on mattresses that are effective at reducing bedbug numbers. The appleseed-sized critters have also developed a resistance to some of the chemicals on the market.
The EPA, out of concern for the environment and the effects on public health, has pulled many of the chemicals that were most effective in eradicating the bugs from the U.S. over the last 50 years — such as DDT — off of shelves.
What solutions are being considered?
Because the registration of new pesticides takes so long, one thing the EPA could do is to approve some pesticides for emergency use, Miller said.
The pesticide management industry will be pushing for federal funding for research into alternative solutions, such as heating, freezing or steaming the bugs out of bedrooms.
“We need to have better tools,” said Greg Baumann, a senior scientist at the National Pest Management Association. “We need EPA to consider all the options for us.”
The Washington, DC consulting firm Clear View Energy Partners says the recently introdcued Waxman-Markey climate bill is a “de facto ban” on new coal-fired power plants, according to a report in today’s Carbon Control News.
Waxman-Markey would impose “a major barrier on the construction of new facilities without carbon capture and storage facilities,” CVEP told CCN.
From today’s New York Times article, “Study Says Small-Car Buyers Sacrifice Safety for Economy“:
Consumers who buy minicars to economize on fuel are making a big tradeoff when it comes to safety in collisions, according to an insurance group that slammed three minimodels into midsize ones in tests…
… The [Insurance Institute for Highway Safety] concludes that while driving smaller and lighter cars saves fuel, “downsizing and down-weighting is also associated with an increase in deaths on the highway,” said Adrian Lund, the institute’s president.
“It’s a big effect — it’s not small,” he said in a telephone interview.
Click here for the IIHS report.
No stop signs. No speed limits. Econoboxes will put you on the highway to green hell.
C-SPAN broke away from covering President Obama today to cover Steve Milloy’s presentation of his new book Green Hell at the Heritage Foundation.
Watch for the polar bear activist that tried to disrupt the Q&A portion of Milloy’s talk.
Click here for C-SPAN’s breakaway from Obama and the entire video of Milloy’s presentation.
Steve Milloy will present his new book Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them at the Heritage Foundation’s Lehrman Auditorium (214 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, DC. 20002) at 12:00pm April 13, 2009.
This ABC News video, “Combatting ‘Vampire Energy’” spotlights the alleged eco-friendliness of Asus’ new laptops made with bamboo. While soaking in the the video’s empty-headedness is worth the 5 minute-watch, the relevant portion begins at 3:55 — just in case you’ve already reached the saturation point on green vacuity and want to fast forward to the laptop part.
About the laptops, ABC’s Andrea Smith reports:
… What’s great about it is that it’s not plastic, so that, No. 1, it looks really cool. You’ll look like you’re totally eco-friendly and very chic… The No. 2 thing is that when you’re done with this and you need to recycle it, there is no plastic here to clog the landfill… It’s bamboo and it’s a self-regenerating plant and there’s lots of it.
So let’s consider the Asus bamboo laptop, Ms. Smith’s report, and, importantly, reality:
The bottom line on Asus bamboo laptop?
You may look cool, chic and eco-friendly, as ABC’s Andrea Smith says, but the reality is you’re being fooled and ripped-off, while doing nothing for the environment.
The Sun (UK) reported to day that,
BARACK Obama liked a restaurant’s pizzas so much he has flown the chef 850 miles to make some at the White House.
Assuming the chef took a commercial flight, the air travel from the air travel alone produced 645 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions!
To underscore Obama’s do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do ethic, let’s recall his famous avowal from the 2008 campaign:
“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK.”
Don’t forget how our Hypocrite-in-Chief kept the Oval Office warm enough in the winter to grow orchids.
The Washington Post reported today that,
President Obama yesterday announced plans to buy 17,600 American-made, fuel-efficient cars and hybrids for the government fleet, the White House’s latest gambit to steer aid to the nation’s beleaguered automakers.
A few thoughts:
Bottom line: Obama’s plan is a stick in the eyes of carmakers, workers or consumers.
Dmitry Besanovich credits his upset victory over the Vladimir Putin-backed candidate in the mayoral race in the Russian town of Mozhaisk to his green platform, according to a report in today’s Washington Post:
He attributed his victory to his promise to protect the natural ecology of this rural municipality, which he calls the “lungs of Moscow” because nearly half its territory is covered with forests. He campaigned on pledges to block construction along rivers and a major reservoir, clean up a polluting pig farm and promote agriculture and tourism instead of industry.
Here’s a description of Mohaisk from RussianJournal.com:
A resident advertises his cow for sale in the local newspaper. The only cafe in the village, still decorated in Soviet style, offers a three-course meal for $1.50. Only one out of every 600 people here has a computer.
According to a resident, people in the city live “without too much enjoyment; however, with some cautious hopes.”
Mozhaisk, only 100 km west of Russia’s capital and the oldest city in the Moscow Oblast, has simply been left in the dust, with only its crumbling ancient churches signifying that here once existed a dynamic town.
Before Perestroika, most of Mozhaisk’s residents were employed in agriculture. However, a lack of funds in the last decade has turned the fields fallow. The only source of jobs is in the local printing house and concrete factory, and a juice factory in Borodino. As the factories employ mainly men, unemployment is especially high among women…
The dark side of the ‘village’ feel is the lack of modern infrastructure and services. There is only one hotel in the city, which leaves a lot to be desired, and only one cafe. Despite the seeming hardships, many Muscovites rent houses in Mozhaisk to spend their summer vacations.
If you are traveling by car, beware of bad roads. According to local journalist Alexei Safronov, the city’s new administration, headed by Vlasimir Nasonov, has said improving road conditions is one of his top priorities. Some new asphalt has already been laid…
It apparently has not dawned on the citizens of Mozhaisk that they need economic development. If they don’t want to be mired in rural poverty under their new mayor, they may have to rely on Putin making Besanovich an offer he can’t refuse.
A cardboard box with foil and a plastic cover, positioned as a “solar-power cooker” (see YouTube video below) won the $75,000 first prize in the Hewlett-Packard-sponsored Financial Times Climate Change Challenge. The contest goal was “to find and publicize the most innovative and scalable solution to the effects of climate change.”
The apparent idea behind the so-called “Kyoto Box” is to reduce the burning of wood for cooking. The plan of inventor Jon Bohmer is to have Kyoto Boxes distributed to poor Africans courtesy of corporations that would earn carbon credits for distributing the boxes. Each box would earn Bohmer an estimated $26-40 annually.
Some thoughts:
Though many plan to profit by exploiting poor Africans, here’s the real math behind Bohmer’s cardboard cooker:
Kyoto Box = Moral bankruptcy + Intellectual bankruptcy
President Obama’s science advisor suggested yesterday that we consider blotting out the sun as a strategy to address global warming.
Below is a YouTube video explaining geoengineering with all the seriousness it deserves.