Articles 4/10/08

"There are three objectives of the BLUE movement. First, to measurably improve the quality of life of the people who join. Second, to engage as many people as possible in the effort. And third, to increase their effectiveness in making a difference in their community and the world ... There's a gap between the challenges facing our world and the actions people are willing to take in their own lives." Source

"Andy Netzel drives an average of 2,000 miles a month despite living only a mile and a half from work. He's addicted to his car, but agreed to part with his keys for a month to see if he could make it without his Toyota Yaris ... My car has kept me so detached from the world around me. What I thought was giving me freedom was really giving me an excuse to ignore my surroundings."
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"There are 40 cases of cancer among people who work in the same building at NASA Glenn Research Center ... The union that represents hundreds of scientists and other workers said nearly half of the 100 employees on the third floor of the building have been diagnosed with various forms of cancer in the past three to four years ... the head of safety at NASA Glenn said an employee survey shows cancer rates among workers are within the normal range ..." Source

"Al Gore ... presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission" -- the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement -- to set it right." Source

"As I traveled through India on a recent business trip, the topic of energy was constantly on my mind (as it is every time I travel). I found out some interesting things about jatropha, toured a sugarcane ethanol plant, found a wind farm in the middle of nowhere, and encountered a native ethanol skeptic." Source

"[T]ruck drivers began taking the strongest form of action they can take: inaction. Faced with $4-per-gallon diesel fuel, they slowed down, shut down and started honking ... Dan Little tells me, "My granddad said, and he was the smartest man I ever knew, 'If you don't stand up for yourself, ain't nobody gonna stand up for you.'" Source

Global warming health implications: "Major cities such as New York and Chicago could see temperatures that would mean more heat stress and heatstroke ... Heavy rainfall may lead to flooding and overflow of sewage systems, causing an increase in the spread of disease ... Higher temperatures and decreased rain are likely to strain already limited water sources, increasing the likelihood of wildfires and air pollution ... Hurricanes and other weather events are expected to last longer and be more intense." Source

"The victory gardens and ingenious substitutions that kept the home front functioning during the Second World War are another potential source of ideas and inspiration well worth a sustained look. Still, the experiences of the Seventies offer a particularly rich resource in this regard. Close enough to the present to be part of living memory for many people, and faced with the same basic challenge of too little energy, too few resources, and too much economic instability for an overheated and overextended industrial world, it parallels our present predicament too closely to be neglected." Source