If you haven't read Bill McKibben's recent article, it's worth the time, as well as the follow-up by Nicholas Arguimbau below.

Our carbon/greenhouse gas production is unsustainable to our continued existence on this planet.

Subsidies to wildly profitable Dirty Energy Companies have not made sense for more than a decade.

Our failures to embrace alternative energy have been tepid, at best, while the rest of the world moves forward.

The US, with 5% of the world's population, consumes 25% of the world's resources, not because we're the most productive, but rather because we're energy gluttons.

There will be a 'tipping point' that Al Gore described, a point beyond which we cannot return.

Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Three simple numbers that add up to global catastrophe - and that make clear who the real enemy is

Illustration by Edel Rodriguez

By Bill McKibben

July 19, 2012 9:35 AM ET

If the pictures of those towering wildfires in Colorado haven't convinced you, or the size of your AC bill this summer, here are some hard numbers about climate change: June broke or tied 3,215 high-temperature records across the United States. That followed the warmest May on record for the Northern Hemisphere – the 327th consecutive month in which the temperature of the entire globe exceeded the 20th-century average, the odds of which occurring by simple chance were 3.7 x 10-99, a number considerably larger than the number of stars in the universe.

Meteorologists reported that this spring was the warmest ever recorded for our nation – in fact, it crushed the old record by so much that it represented the "largest temperature departure from average of any season on record." The same week, Saudi authorities reported that it had rained in Mecca despite a temperature of 109 degrees, the hottest downpour in the planet's history.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719#ixzz228VdrBLa



Bill McKibben Is Wrong, We Must Not Forget That
"We Have Met The Enemy And He Is Us"
By Nicholas C. Arguimbau

http://www.countercurrents.org/arguimbau300712.htm 

Phew!

The Daily Show
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A Sad Loss! Time for Change!

#1 in incarceration, #1 in military spending, high on the list of poorly educated.....the old truths we believed are no longer true...worth watching....close to the top in mindlessly following blind politicians who support Predatory Gambling ....






Time to turn this around and rid ourselves of Corporate influence and extremists.

One to Watch - Canal plant owner to merge

Canal plant owner to merge

 

By ROBERT GOLD

rgold@capecodonline.com

July 28, 2012

SANDWICH — GenOn Energy, which owns the power plant on the Cape Cod Canal, recently announced plans to merge with a New Jersey energy company.

GenOn and and NRG Energy signed a "definitive agreement" to merge, they announced, with the name remaining NRE Energy.

GenOn formed in 2010 when Houston-based RRI Energy and Mirant Corp. merged. It remains based in Texas.

Its Massachusetts properties include the canal plant, which has a capacity of 1,126 megawatts; back-up diesel generating facilities in West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs; and Kendall Cogeneration Station in Cambridge, which has a 256-megawatt capacity.

Selectman Frank Pannorfi said the board was briefed on the merger by a GenOn official Thursday night.

"My initial reaction was, 'Gee you have big-time organization, major players nationally in the energy generation business and unless you're buying for tax write-off purposes, you may be thinking about a green energy development — gas or hydroelectric, who knows?" Pannorfi said. "I can't wait until (the merger) develops a little more."

The merger is expected to close within the first three months of next year, according to the companies.

It will have to be approved by several groups, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and shareholders of both companies.

GenOn spokesman Chip Little said the Sandwich facility will continue as a power plant. An NRG spokesperson did not return a call seeking comment.

The canal plant, under an agreement with the town, agreed in 2005 to pay $2.4 million annually in taxes until 2013.

Doug Lapp, assistant town manager for Sandwich, said he doesn't foresee any problems getting a new contract signed between the plant and the town.

"That is not an issue," he said.

NRE Energy will keep both existing headquarters — in Princeton, N.J., and Houston, Texas, according to the companies.

Staff writer George Brennan contributed to this report.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120728/BIZ/207280312/-1/NEWSLETTER100

The Sky Will Fall!

Here we go again! 

This defines how Special Interests own Beacon Hill!

We can't afford it!
The Expanded Bottle Bill will lead to unemployment!
The Expanded Bottle Bill will lead to more costs!

CONSUMERS WANT THE EXPANDED BOTTLE BILL!



[Personally, I'm tired of recycling the bottles, so no longer purchase them! How many others do the same?]


Keller @ Large: Bottle Bill Expansion Unlikely To Gain Traction On Beacon Hill

VIDEO

Supporters of expanding the Bottle Bill have made it clear they’re tired of waiting for lawmakers to make a move they claim will cut waste, help keep our streets cleaner and ease the pressure on overburdened landfills.

But, one State Rep. believes bottle law expansion is a job killer.

“It’ll be devastating. We just lost 2,600 jobs last month. A jobs bill This is not the right place for this,” said Rep. Rich Bastein of Gardner. “It just gives another incentive for people to continue to drive over the border and drive more business out of the state.”

Another state official disagrees.

“It doesn’t raise the cost of the bottled water or whatever the other juice might be, so there’s no empirical evidence that it raised any costs,” said Rick Sullivan, the Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary.

For every claim one side makes, there’s a critic terming it irredeemably false.

“They want… to put another $22 million into the state coffers. This is nothing more than an indirect tax on consumers,” said Chris Flynn of the Massachusetts Food Association.

Key House leaders say the bill is going nowhere.

You can see why the bottle law has been a bitter political battleground in this state for more than 30 years, as the two sides can’t seem to agree on anything.

On Beacon Hill, there’s one bottom line: do you have the votes? And right now, it appears proponents of expanding the bottle law do not.

You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/07/25/keller-large-bottle-bill-expansion-unlikely-to-gain-traction-on-beacon-hill/

Time to Pass the Bottle Bill!

OPINION: Vote now on bottle bill extension
GateHouse News Service

Posted Jul 26, 2012

 

There must be something in the bottled water on Beacon Hill this month.

After years of committee ducking and dodging, the Legislature last week pulled Melissa’s Bill out of endless committee, voted and sent it to the governor for signing.

Now, in a stealth maneuver that took both advocates and opponents by surprise, the Senate has made another bold move and unanimously passed a measure that would extend the state’s bottle bill to include containers that hold water, iced tea and other non-carbonated beverages.

With no debate last week, that body unanimously approved the proposal, which had been bouncing around various committees for 14 years, as an amendment to a jobs and economic development bill.
The measure would extend the 5-cent deposit on carbonated beverages and beer by adding water, juice and sports drinks to the 30-year-old law.

Just last month the bill appeared dead on Beacon Hill. The legislative committee reviewing the bill opted to send it to a study committee. Few bills sent to study committees ever emerge.

The bill’s critics have argued for years that expanding the existing law would amount to a new tax on consumers and hurt small businesses that would be required to handle increased bottle returns.

Proponents point to the success of the state’s current recycling programs and to statistics that show many of the beverage bottles included in this expansion legislation are already being voluntarily recycled by consumers. As of April of this year, some 208 cities and towns in the commonwealth, including Bridgewater, Abington, Raynham and Randolph among others in southeastern Massachusetts, have passed resolutions in favor of the bill.

But, as we know well in Massachusetts, nothing in politics is over until it’s over.

The proposal must still get onto the floor of the House for a vote before July 31 and then to Gov. Deval Patrick for signing before becoming law.

We say 14 years is probably enough time for thoughtful deliberation, full study and polling of constituent sentiment on the issue.

It’s time to vote.

If you agree, contact your state representative and urge action. Now.


Read more: http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1052261224/OPINION-Vote-now-on-bottle-bill-extension#ixzz21j4WfgnO

The Truth About the Deficit and the Disclose Act

Love this man!

The Social Security surplus funded phony wars waged by the US, rather than raise taxes.

Social Security didn't cause the deficit!

Feeding US children and providing Americans with Health Care didn't cause the deficit.

The Republican Tax Cuts for the Wealthy caused the DEFICIT!