Mon. Nt. Gore Presenters: Vote Here!

Click on the 'comments' link below and post your thoughts on what our group should focus on. I framed the issue into two possibilities in the email I sent.... - here, I'll just cut and paste.

"a) Education re: Climate Change and what we can do about it, or
b) Doing something about Climate Change (lobbying City gov., drafting legislation, raising $ for projects, setting up a non-profit, etc.).
I expressed my opinion that we focus on one or the other. If the group feels we should do both, that's okay too - but that means a lot more work and less efficiency. I also think we should focus on L.A. - lobbying Sacramento or D.C. might become a bit much."

By all means, do not feel limited by these two suggestions - they were only meant to assist our discussion. Once you've written your comments, post or publish it and it will appear on this blog for all to read.

Feel the Heat.....

According to NOAA, this last month was the hottest January ever recorded. El Nino helped a bit, but we have yet another indicator of a trend we will be seeing for a long time to come. Here's the article.

For All Ye Traffic Geeks

I dream of a day when we don't see trucks on any roads during the day. Why? Less trucks, less traffic, less carbon in the air, easier commute, better quality of life. So, how to do it? London found one solution to the basic problem of logistics: how to get the goods to market while decreasing truck use. Here's an interesting article about trucks and delivery of goods. I prefer a system where all non-essential trucks do all deliveries in the middle of the night. I know, it's still a dream....

It's the Economy, Stupid.

In honor of our card-carrying capitalist member, David Fried, here are some articles about our changing economy and its impending symbiosis with Environmentalism. The first is a grist.com article regarding the business of big business, and the second two (L.A. Times, Gore at Harvard) discuss changing our perceptions of value. Interesting food for thought.

My Bio Buddy

Speaking of David Fried: after our meeting at Lucky's, David drove me to my car, a 2005 VW Passat TDI (Turbo Diesel), which prompted a little discussion about biodiesel and how it all works. I've been running biodiesel (B99 - 99% biodiesel, 1% petroleum diesel) in the car for approxiamately a month now with no problems. For those of you who are interested in alternatives to the hybrid, I thought I'd post a little info re: biodiesel, considering, from what I've been reading, it's growing exponentially. VW and Mercedes are coming out with a LOT of diesel cars in 2008, which won't be hard since 40% of the cars in Europe (their main market) are diesels. Also, I heard that new biodiesel plants are being built and more stations will begin providing biodiesel, making it more and more readily available. If switching to biodiesel is too costly and difficult for some, then in the spirit of Jim Stewart, we can still drive carbon neutral. But, if you're interested, this is what I did.....

1) I started reading about biodiesel: www.biodiesel.org , www.socalbug.org , www.biodiesel-coop.org/ , www.biodieselmagazine.com

2) I bought the car used online.

3) I found places where they sell biodiesel in L.A. (there are more places than listed here).

4) I took it to the biodiesel station closest to me.

......and it's been running on B99 ever since. Things to note: fuel economy is amazing for diesel engines - you can get 30 to 40 mpgs on many cars. Also, diesel engines normally last much longer than regular gasoline engines, and when the fuel you use is based on a natural lubricant, such as vegetable oil, then the engine lasts even longer. It seems to be catching on in other spin-off industries, and the military is also getting on board.

Some purists prefer converting their diesel engines so that they can run on pure vegetable oil. Treehugger.com has a great little piece on Lovecraft, a business that does these conversions, based right here in L.A. Switching to vegetable oil is my ultimate goal, but I need some time to get to that point. Right now, I think this is the industry to support, and it looks like a very viable alternative to petroleum-based fuels.