Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 11/03/2010 - 23:38.
Last night's election gives way to a Republican Majority in the House of Representatives while Democrats will retain control of the Senate.
This split control of Congress will be a challenge, but we have no intention of ceding America's future to Big Oil.
Do you?
We've worked too hard to turn back now.
I want to thank and acknowledge the tens of thousands of you who volunteered with the Sierra Club and local campaigns across the country. While there were some painful losses, your presence in campaigns across the country bolstered our champions and helped drive our agenda forward.
The question is, which side will the new House Republican Majority choose? Will they bow to the Big Oil and Coal interests who expect a return on their $247 million investment in the elections? Or will they listen to what Americans want: clean energy jobs that will lift our economy up.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 11/02/2010 - 14:52.
I once told an supposedly "green" friend that in the future he will not get to jet off to India or Brazil if he can afford, as that will not be ecologically responsible. He nearly cried.
It's not easy being "Green" - that is life... as highlighted here, and provided in full below, from AlterNet:
The trouble with this is that flying is the single most ecologically costly act of individual consumption, one that requires the exploitation of large amounts of environmental and human resources. In a world of deep inequality, it thus also speaks to privilege -- most notably what we might call ecological privilege -- and its ugly flipside, disadvantage.
Moreover, the climate-destabilizing effects of air travel -- per passenger mile -- dwarfs that of other modes because of the enhanced climatic “forcing” it brings about: due to the height at which planes fly combined with the mixture of gases and particles they emit, conventional air travel detrimentally impacts global climate approximately 2.7 times more than that of its carbon emissions alone, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 10/29/2010 - 15:51.
These poll results, just released today, explain why I will vote and I will vote ANYTHING BUT REPUBLICAN - followed by ANYTHING BUT CONSERVATIVE - followed by ANYTHING BUT 65+ OLD FART... those groups of people are found by most recent Gallop polling to be most likely to be flat-Earther anti-science tools of industry and are not welcome as leaders of my society.
Those I will seek out to vote for will be, in the following order, LIBERALS, THOSE 18-49, from the WEST, DEMOCRATIC and INDEPENDENT, as they poll as most real about public health, liberty, economics and freedom... which is what the issue of legalization of marijuana and hemp is all about.
How I shall ultimately cast my most important ballot is with my feet, choosing to move where I find people most like myself, being liberal, Independent, young (at heart) and West... until Ohio shakes its old-fart conservative Flat Earther failure and gets real.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 10/16/2010 - 08:11.
I've learned first-hand how people become environmentalists. They realize they are being polluted, get mad as hell, and do something about it... NIMBY... Not In My Back Yard!
Learning the harm of lead poisoning in my back yard made me an environmentalist against lead poisoning in my community and worldwide.
Learning the harm of pollution from the Arcelor/Mittal Cleveland Works steel mills in my back yard made me an environmentalist against steel production pollution in my community and worldwide.
Learning the harm of pollution from Medical Center Company coal burning in my back yard made me an environmentalist against coal burning in my community and worldwide.
Which has me exploring how big is my back yard... how big is my community?
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 09/21/2010 - 10:28.
scheme [skeem] noun, verb, schemed, schem·ing. –noun 1. a plan, design, or program of action to be followed; project. 2. an underhand plot; intrigue. 3. a visionary or impractical project. 4. a body or system of related doctrines, theories, etc.: a scheme of philosophy. 5. any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement. 6. a plan, program, or policy officially adopted and followed, as by a government or business: The company's pension scheme is very successful. 7. an analytical or tabular statement. 8. a diagram, map, or the like. 9. an astrological diagram of the heavens. –verb (used with object) 10. to devise as a scheme; plan; plot; contrive. –verb (used without object) 11. to lay schemes; devise plans; plot.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 03:32.
The chart above shows citizens of Northeast Ohio have the worst level of mortality from coal fired power plants in America - based on an online risk assessment tool accompanying the September 2010 Clean Air Taskforce study The Toll From Coal - An Updated Assessment of Death and Disease from America’s Dirtiest Energy Source. As the introduction states: "Among all industrial sources of air pollution, none poses greater risks to human health and the environment than coal-fired power plants – perhaps most consequential of all from a public health standpoint – fine particle pollution."
Fine particles are especially dangerous because they can bypass the body’s defensive mechanisms and become lodged deep in the human lung. Indeed, research also indicates that short-term exposures to fine particle pollution is linked to cardiac effects, including increased risk of heart attack. Meanwhile, long-term exposure to fine particle pollution has been shown to increase the risk of death from cardiac and respiratory diseases and lung cancer, resulting in shorter life-expectancy for people living in the most polluted cities compared to people who live in cleaner cities. And although research suggests fine particles reduce the average life span of the general population by a few years, the life of an individual dying as a result of exposure to air pollution may be shortened by 14 years.
The hopeful news for Northeast Ohio in this science is:
Because most fine particle-related deaths are thought to occur within a year or two of exposure, reducing power plant pollution will have almost immediate benefits.
The worst news is, considering the greatest harm to human health comes from fine particle pollution, and Northeast Ohio has many more sources of fine particle pollution than just the 500 major coal power plants considered in the data of this study (think Mittal), it is an understatement to say the air pollution situation in Northeast Ohio is far worse than it appears in this Clean Air Taskforce report, and there Ohio is ranked the second-worst America gets... and the Cleveland-area is the 8th most toxic metropolitan area in the county...
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Mon, 09/06/2010 - 15:15.
I'm exploring where to base ICEarth brightest greenest development in Ohio, going forward, and am open to suggestions. I already know I will co-locate in Austin, Texas, and in Colorado and California... but where shall we operate from in Ohio?
For example, the Breakthrough Institute has a posting about Senator Brown - The Sherrod Brown Test: Finding Consensus on Climate Policy... If we want to pass policies that will truly catapult the United States into a clean and prosperous energy economy, slash global warming pollution, and make clean energy cheap and abundant, we need to pass the "Sherrod Brown Test." - to which I posted the following clarification for the world:
You should disclose Senator Sherrod Brown's brother Robert Brown is Chairman of the Board of Medical Center Company (MCCO), which is a coal fired steam plant in a poor urban disadvantaged Cleveland neighborhood... burns 44,000 tons of coal a year... pumps over 4,000 tons of pollution into our air (since the 1930s) - all to heat private institutions like Case Western Reserve University (where Robert Brown is Treasurer), University Hospitals, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art - and they want a license to burn coal for 5 more years... and want to build an additional coal plant in the same neighborhood... Sherrod is the King of Coal in Ohio.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 09/02/2010 - 17:59.
Susan Miller just sent me County Executive Green Party Candidate David Ellison's written statement to the Federal EPA protesting the burning of coal by Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown's brother (Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz' Brother-in-Law) Robert Brown's Medical Center Company (MCCO), which harms the health of my family and the millions of citizens of Northeast Ohio... spreading death and destruction worldwide.
Is David Ellison the only candidate for County Executive who formally protested the burning of coal at MCCO? That should be easy to determine.
I challenge the other candidates for County Executive... and ALL standing local politicians... to put forth their written positions submitted to the Federal EPA regarding burning coal at the politically-corrupt MCCO plant, in politically-corrupt University Circle, or withdraw from offices and races to represent citizens in government anywhere in the world, for cause (being murder).
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 08/31/2010 - 11:27.
Case Study: Modus Operandi of Illuminati... Fabricate Crisis and Fear... Switch Idols on Braindead Citizens... Leverage Racism.
Witness!
If you ever come to question the intent and modus operandi of the Illuminati, just witness how they fabricated a crisis in the trading of LeBron James... creating instability and fear among millions of loyal Ohioans and Americans... and then witness how they just switched idols on hate-programmed braindead zombie Citizens of Northeast Ohio, fabricating broad public outrage against a talented, young black man to stir racial hatred against an entire class of new leaders, in an important swing election year.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Wed, 08/25/2010 - 06:26.
Facts prove it is unsafe to live near the Arcelor/Mittal Cleveland Works steel mill, and citizens of Northeast Ohio have reasons to be concerned about 100s of other major toxic pollution point sources in the greater Cleveland area, yet our regional pollution monitoring has been broken since 2003, and is broken today, and citizens and the media do not care at all. How is it possible the people living in one of them most polluted places in America do not care about public health - about their own health? How did citizens here become such nihilists?
Northeast Ohioans must rise up from metal and soot ashes still being spewed upon us by excessively polluting toxic industrial forces that have corrupted local politics and destroyed the region and the lives of those living here... yet leaders and citizens here do not care.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 08/14/2010 - 07:12.
As I explain to "outsiders" what obstacles to true economic development we are confronting here in Northeast Ohio, I point to the concluding half of my "Preamble: Real Co-op for Open Food, Information and Community Development 2009", where I explain "you can't manage what you don't measure. Leadership here does not want to be measured."
At that time - February, 2009 - I explained the risk from having poor local leadership was greatest then, as we had just brought into office a wonderful new President, who must stimulate bad local, state, national and global economies... we had tough battles ahead requiring good local footsoldiers, as $ billions in NEW federal funding initiatives was flowing our way.
They raise the stakes, in exploitation of the difficult economic times here, by attempting to corrupt the good will of our new President.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Thu, 08/12/2010 - 09:08.
Environmental Health Watch Outreach and Education Director Kim Foreman testifying at the August 10, 2010 EPA License Renewal Hearing AGAINST renewing their permit to burn coal, reading into the record and excellent statement offering a holistic, realistic perspective from the Cleveland environmental community - view this video.
"I don't know about Cleveland, man, there is nothing going on," Noah said Sunday, lamenting the options for his off day on a typical cloudy and chilly spring day. "It's bad, man."
"NO GOING OUT IN CLEVELAND MAN - IT'S ALL FACTORIES. DO YOU LIKE IT - DO YOU THINK CLEVELAND IS COOL?"
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 15:03.
Hexa the Pollution Fighting Witch visiting a cheap new office location she recommends for the Headquarters of NOACA, the pollution monitoring and highway planning people for our region. Hexa thinks they need a clearer view of the reality they cause.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Sat, 08/07/2010 - 11:37.
Cleveland Institute of Art BFA and Kent State University Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative planning Master Joseph Stanley had a more intelligent design for the future of Cleveland than the leaders of our community have embraced
Back of napkin sketch of new I-90 Bridge... blending of visioning with Ed Hauser, Joe Stanley and Ken Prendergast...
FIRST - REPLACE ALL ODOT LEADERSHIP, CONSULTANTS, PLANNERS, ENGINEERS, ARCHITECTS AND POLITICIANS WHO EVER TOUCHED THIS DISASTER.
IMPRISON AS MANY AS POSSIBLE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
TERMINATE ALL RTA LEADERSHIP
Keep the damn bridge we already have and decommission it for highway use - the carbon footprint return on saving this embodied carbon and not wasting unmeasurable more pollution buiilding an unnecessary new bridge alone is worth $ billions.
Pay the union mafia $ millions to stop crying about jobs and go do something to improve the world
As Steven Litt points outs out in the Plain Dealer today, as he slams all the designs and design processes leading to the $3.5 billion boondoggle that is the Cleveland ODOT I-90 bridge replacement disaster...
Several years ago, ODOT rejected a brilliant urban design proposal by Cuyahoga County Planning Director Paul Alsenas, which called for building a single new east- and westbound span further south of the existing right-of-way.
The Alsenas concept would have opened up new land for development around Gateway and shortened the total length of the bridge, producing savings in construction and long-term maintenance.
Matt, thanks for the update on this issue. After reading your message, I'm concerned about the human impacts of pollution in northeast Ohio.
First and quite simply, I think that it's inadequate to expect networked monitors in a region as large as northeast Ohio to be able to compensate for each other's outages, and that it's a matter of opinion whether high particulate levels are unhealthy only if they persist for a 24-hour period. I'd say it's downright insensitive to claim otherwise, particularly for those who live in a relatively less polluted area.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 08/03/2010 - 12:56.
08/04/2010 - 00:00
08/05/2010 - 06:00
Etc/GMT-4
It seems I suddenly need to go to Washington DC to meet with Federal officials about air pollution in Northeast Ohio. As timing is critical, I need to leave tonight and drive - returning tomorrow night. Rather than make the trip alone, wasting all that gas for just one person, I thought I 'd see if anyone else in the realNEO community would like to share a ride to-and-from DC for a day-trip there - we should be there for full business hours... 8am-midnight.
Submitted by Norm Roulet on Tue, 08/03/2010 - 09:45.
The NOACA Air Pollution Time Series line chart left above shows the region has had unsafe air quality since midnight, as per many monitoring stations - Cleveland is excluded from this chart but represented in the Rose Chart right above, which indicates the air in Cleveland was Unsafe at least at 5 and 6 AM, before they cut the data stream off.... meaning it is likely unsafe NOW. DO NOT TRUST THEIR DATA BEFORE 5 AM!
Right now - TUESDAY MORNING IN CLEVELAND AND ALL AROUND NORTHEAST OHIO - the air appears unsafe to breathe. According to data hidden throughout air quality monitoring reporting in the region, our air has been AT BEST UNSAFE FOR SENSITIVE GROUPS since MIDNIGHT. In other words... it is still UNSAFE from yesterday. Of course, the Ohio EPA forecast for today was "Moderate".
Regional Economics Action Links North East Ohio
