Carbon Footprint News Blog @newzblogz.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned a radio face-off Wednesday with conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh into a lengthy explanation of his own proposals, asserting that his plans to extend health care to the uninsured and raise the minimum wage improve people's lives.

The Republican governor barely let Limbaugh speak on his own program, a fact the radio host acknowledged after the 15-minute appearance. Limbaugh said that he had previously blamed first lady Maria Shriver, a Democrat, for influencing the governor's views leftward but noted that "after this interview I'm not sure Maria gets a word in edgewise."

Schwarzenegger called into Limbaugh's program after calling the host "irrelevant" on NBC's "Today" show one day earlier. The conservative radio icon retorted that Schwarzenegger was "selling out" his Republican principles.

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Bonita Springs officials could put the city at the forefront of the governor?s new green initiative for the state.

The city council will hear a presentation this morning about using alternative fuels in city vehicles.

Councilwoman Martha Simons proposes that the city looks into a ?green fleet? ordinance to see if the city could save energy and money by using alternative fuels, such as ethanol.

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Wouldn't it be great to know that the sun heated your hot water? It is possible and cost-effective to take a hot shower with water that is heated without the use of electricity or gas. Solar power is a proven technology.

I am a conservationist and think we all should try to conserve energy and reduce our carbon footprint. Solar heating is a good way to heat our water, and because of the federal, state and new city plan it becomes more attractive financially. The city of Tallahassee recently announced a $450 solar-hot-water rebate. There are existing rebates from Florida and a tax credit from the Internal Revenue Service of 30 percent of the cost up to $2,000. The city will loan you the money to install the system - up to $5,000 at 5 percent for 10 years.

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Talking political punishment' allegation back into realityBy Don PolsonArticle Last Updated: 03/19/2007 10:27:45 AM PDT

"Was it political punishment?" asked NBC's Campbell Brown, in a tone that conveyed both suggestion (Yes!) and assumption (It was wrong, wrong, wrong if it was). I don't blame the network (and cable, I guess, since I don't have it) news for coming up with "teaser" lines to keep you in suspense, tuned in and ready for their delivered wisdom to come.

If you thought she was introducing a story about faithful travel office employees, targeted by an incoming administration for replacement with connected political supporters, you would have been wrong. That, of course, was the fate of those unfortunate workers that stood in the way of the Clintons' plans to reward their friends by unceremoniously firing the existing travel staff. Political reward for some equals political punishment for others.

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FRISCO - Hold your hydrocarbons! The Climate Crossroads Series, a weekly film and discussion series that runs March through April, will stop at Frisco Town Hall at 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 19 for a look at the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Plan and the Town of Frisco's efforts to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The Town of Frisco has signed onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Plan and has begun the process of auditing the community's carbon footprint and developing plans to reduce carbon emissions. Some steps recommended by the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Plan include increasing energy performance in buildings, increasing the use of fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels and educating town employees and community members.

"The Town of Frisco takes its role in addressing climate change very seriously," town manager Michael Penny said. "We're using a variety of strategies to cut its emissions, and we're eager to share our progress with the community."

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According to Mr. Chicken Little, Al Gore, and his cohorts, the world is coming to an end.

Research will show you the earth has gone through warming and cooling periods since the beginning of time. Scientist and meteorologist can’t predict day-today weather accurately, but they are trying to tell you in the next 50 years the earth’s temperature will rise, the ice caps will melt and we’ll all be flooded.

We’d all better hold on to our wallets. I believe this is just another big scam, like acid rain, ozone depletion and dying oceans. They want to guilt you into believing greedy capitalistic America has caused all of this global warming. These same alarmists fly all over the world in private jets, drive SUVs and live in multiple enormous chateaus consuming outrageous amounts of fossil fuel — all the while telling the regular folks to reduce our electricity use, dependence on foreign oil and our carbon footprint.

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FRISCO - Hold your hydrocarbons! The Climate Crossroads Series, a weekly film and discussion series that runs March through April, will stop at Frisco Town Hall at 5:30 p.m., Monday, March 19 for a look at the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Plan and the Town of Frisco's efforts to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals.

The Town of Frisco has signed onto the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Plan and has begun the process of auditing the community's carbon footprint and developing plans to reduce carbon emissions. Some steps recommended by the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Plan include increasing energy performance in buildings, increasing the use of fuel-efficient vehicles and alternative fuels and educating town employees and community members.

"The Town of Frisco takes its role in addressing climate change very seriously," town manager Michael Penny said. "We're using a variety of strategies to cut its emissions, and we're eager to share our progress with the community."

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Al Gore's money justifies his using more than his share of resources. Does that make sense?

Al Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth," was billed as "a passionate and inspirational look at one man's fervent crusade to halt global warming's deadly progress in its tracks by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it." But right after the movie won an Oscar for best documentary, America learned that Gore's crusade ends at his front door. A conservative think tank, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, released a press release that showed the Gores spent $30,000 a year on...

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Goldman Sachs has been one of the most aggressive firms on Wall Street about taking action on climate change; the company sends its bankers home at night in hybrid limousines.

--The New York Times, Feb. 25

Written without a hint of irony--if only your neighborhood dry cleaner sent his employees home by hybrid limousine--this front-page dispatch captured perfectly the eco-pretensions of the rich and the stupefying gullibility with which they are received.

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ROSES: I am writing to express my great appreciation to everyone who assisted with the tragic shooting incident at ETMC Tyler on Feb. 28.

There were many heroes from our ranks that day, including people who walked into harms way to help the two injured victims, identifying the gunman, and to ensure that the building was secured. Despite the fear that a shooting naturally brings, there was little panic as everyone responded according to safety and medical training.

We commend the Tyler Police Department for its extremely fast response and expertise. I also wish to thank ETMCs Level I Trauma Center team, Security officers, plant services employees and chaplains, as well as the many other groups who assisted. We also appreciate the outpouring of prayers and concern for Luccendia White our Food Services employee and the gentleman who also was injured.

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This whole thing with global warming and its leading apostle Al Gore is just more of the political left's habit of talking the talk but never walking the walk.

Gore has proven time and again to be a complete hypocrite. He preaches the need to eliminate man-made pollution. On his Web site advising people to fight global warming by discovering what their so-called carbon footprint is, he says, "You may be surprised by how much CO2 you are emitting each year," and advises that you should "calculate your personal impact and learn how you can take action to reduce or even eliminate your emissions of carbon dioxide."

Mr. Gore, however, does not practice what he preaches. He wants you to curb your lifestyle drastically, but on the record he's doing everything he doesn't want you to do, and doing it extravagantly.

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"Green" home ideas 10 steps to cut carbon emissions ...

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Both the Dixie Chicks and Brandt Mannchen can claim environmental cred, but only one has the latest trendy accouterment. (Hint: It's not the five

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After years of warnings from environmental and socially responsible investing groups, it seems that corporate America is catching on to the risks of climate change. Investment banks, insurance companies, and big investors are taking a close look at the greenhouse gases that companies are emitting. So how can you avoid a portfolio meltdown if the planet heats up? The Monitor's Laurent Belsie sat down with Matt Patsky, portfolio manager for the Winslow Green Growth Fund in Boston, to get some answers. Here are excerpts of their conversation:

Question: Are we at the tipping point in terms of corporate awareness of global warming?

Mr. Patsky: Yes. It certainly appears that there has been a growing level of awareness. It started with smaller companies, but we are now seeing the large multinationals actively engaging in a strategy to look at their carbon footprint and look at ways of reducing that carbon footprint.

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I thought it was a joke. The March 12 cover of Sports Illustrated shows the

Florida Marlins' Dontrelle Willis standing in a stadium filled with water. The

cover story: "Sports and Global Warming ... Time to Pay Attention." The

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A cheap weekend in Vail, if such a thing exists, is far from a weekend in a Motel 6.

Luxury, convenience, extravagance, whatever you want to call it, is this valleys life blood. It beckons skiers and builds our multi-million dollar condos. It keeps the foie gras in our restaurants and the chairlifts running. Theres no place like a ski resort, especially ours, to make you feel like a Forbes cover story.

Sometimes though, while skiing down the mountain and overlooking 40 years of urbanization, its easy to forget how things used to be. Our luxury has an impact that goes beyond what a weekend getaway costs.

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The area's chief housing officer on Wednesday threw cold water on a recent proposal to allow locals to make extra money on price-controlled housing.

Tom McCabe, director of the Aspen/Pitkin County Housing Authority, said he is worried that the plan would hurt local government's ability to prevent the conversion of some 224 housing units into free-market condominiums.

McCabe said the entire stock of condos and apartments at Centennial and at the Castle Ridge complex near Aspen Valley Hospital are due to revert to free-market status in the future.

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Last week this column may have misspoken. In suggesting that Al Gore would slip right into the Democratic presidential nomination for 2008 after Obama and Hillary beat each other up, there was one factor not considered. Gore is a huge hypocrite and it is becoming very public. Gore, as the head missionary for the global warming religion, doesn't practice what he preaches. While in reality this is to be accepted as he is the consummate elitist, his wasting ways became very public last week.Go...

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First, I just have to say (repeat) one thing in response to Kenneth Thornes column in last weeks VJ. If we take the side that global warming is man-caused and take action now, and we later find out that we had nothing to do with it, so what, we will be the better for it innovation has always made this country great.

If we take the stance that it isnt man-caused, or as Kenneth suggests, that the globe isnt even warming, and this is just some Hollywood, tree-hugging approach to doomsday that will only make the U.S. economy tank, and it turns out that we (Kenneth) and all his sound science is wrong, we stand to create serious environmental, social and economic consequences for generations to come.

So, when it comes down to it, is it purely science that will drive our decision to change our buying habits and our lifestyles to consume less and make less waste? Would Kenneth bet his unborn great-great-great-grandchilds happiness on the facts he quoted in his article? Science is great to inform and direct many of the complicated decisions humans have to make, but Im going to listen to my heart on this one. I am a bleeding heart liberal after all.

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Firing back at his opponent's proposal to boost the appreciation rate of affordable housing, mayoral candidate Mick Ireland on Wednesday unveiled his plan for ways to use the city's robust housing fund.

His ideas center on increasing the quality of the affordable housing stock, creating an interest-generating trust fund with part of the housing dollars, building more housing (particularly for seniors) and preserving the affordable housing status of the Castle Ridge and Centennial projects.

"There are better alternative uses of the real estate transfer tax, which was approved by voters for the creation of housing, not as a slush fund for election year promises," Ireland wrote in a position paper about his housing proposal.

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EDITORS NOTE: There are two basic arguments about hybrid cars. Ones emotional and stubborn, based in traditional notions that cars should make some noise. The other is also emotional and stubborn, but based in the science that cars are contributing to turning our planet into a wok.

Here they both are:

I can feel our collective carbon footprint shrinking by the second.

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We are blessed, here in Pasco County, to have a lively and unrelenting debate regarding one of the fundamental freedoms laid out in Mr. Madison's Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

After all, given the subjects cable news television thinks interests us - the after-life of Anna Nicole Smith, the rehab travails of Britney Spears, which nationality of tot Brangelina will adopt next - it is reassuring to see that our neighbors are capable of making cogent, passionate arguments about any civics topic, let alone one fundamental to the founders of this very fine nation.

If harnessed, the level of energy generated by the back-and-forth probably could satisfy downtown San Antonio's electrical needs for an entire year, including the Rattlesnake Festival. Which would make up, carbon-footprint-wise, for all the ink and current local newspapers have expended printing the enthusiastic give-and-take.

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WALL, N.J. - New Jersey Resources, parent company to one of the state's largest natural-gas suppliers, has pledged to aggressively reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions as part of efforts to fight global warming.

In a ceremony attended by Gov. Corzine yesterday, company officials announced plans to cut greenhouse-gas emissions 20 percent by 2020, using methods such as changing their company cars over to low-emission vehicles and using renewable energy at their offices.

The governor, who has said that he wants to put New Jersey on the forefront of efforts to halt man-made climate change, praised New Jersey Resources for showing that it is possible to make money and still protect the environment, and he called on other businesses to follow suit.

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TURLOCK — The city and the Turlock Irrigation District, like everyone else in California, must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to conform to the landmark Global Warming Solutions Act.

But they hope to do more than just "go green" — they want to bring in some green, too.

Assembly Bill 32, signed into law in September, requires the state's polluters to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

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The global warming train finally is leaving the station with almost everyone onboard - except for a few die-hard deniers from ultra-conservative groups and the Flat Earth Society.Now comes the really difficult task - one that demands a thorough debate among all governments and all peoples: What can we humans do to prevent global warming and ameliorate its more negative impacts?

The decisions we reach are vital; they almost surely will determine if our small, fragile planet survives and whether we Americans continue to enjoy all of the freedoms we hold so dear.There can be no doubt that Earth has entered a warming period - temperatures have risen about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 120 years - and there is good evidence that human generated greenhouse gas emissions have played a significant role since 1940.The most recent report by the United Nations' respected Inte...

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As California regulators move forward with the state's sweeping plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, one of the big questions they will face is whether the government should sell or give away the right to dump carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Assembly Bill 32, the landmark measure passed last year to put California out front in the fight against global warming, requires the state's industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

To get there, state regulators at the Air Resources Board are planning to order some industries to change their practices. Auto manufacturers will be required to make their cars more efficient. Utilities will be forced to produce more of their power from renewable resources. Oil companies will have to make fuels that burn with fewer carbon dioxide emissions.

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LONDON (Reuters) - In a change of position, European light bulb makers like Philips and Osram are lobbying governments to promote low-energy light bulbs over traditional incandescent bulbs.

The companies have realized that a mass switch to the more expensive bulbs, following a similar push in Australia, not only would help cut global warming, but also could also boost their profits.

While in some cases there is still a yawning gap between rhetoric and reality, European businesses are rapidly going green -- albeit driven more by profits and regulations than a desire to do good.

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As California regulators move forward with the state's sweeping

plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions, one of the big questions they

will face is whether the government should sell or give away the right

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Assembly Bill 32, the landmark measure passed last year to put California out front in the fight against global warming, requires the state's industries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

To get there, state regulators at the Air Resources Board are planning to order some industries to change their practices. Auto manufacturers will be required to make their cars more efficient. Utilities will be forced to produce more of their power from renewable resources. Oil companies will have to make fuels that burn with fewer carbon dioxide emissions.

At the same time, regulators hope to create a market in which companies can buy credits allowing them to pollute. The idea behind this market-based approach is to allow companies to reduce their emission of greenhouse gasses in the most efficient way possible. Some would do it by retooling. But if those measures prove too expensive, a market in pollution permits would allow firms to pay someone else to do more than their share. The state still meets its goal but with less disruption of the economy.

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Why aren’t laws shoveling snow ever enforced?

I am writing to try to find out what happened to our ordinance that requires sidewalks to be shoveled within 24 hours after snow has stopped?

My husband and I are retired and we love to walk. Much of the time we are walking on the streets‚ as the sidewalks are still covered with snow. I can’t just blame the homeowners‚ but also the borough‚ or whoever is in charge of clearing the walks around the cemetery.

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Dutch Pacific Resources has revealed its plans for the development of a 627-acre destination resort near Camp Sherman. The development concept is a significant departure from the established models of destination resorts in Central Oregon.

Dutch Pacific was founded by Shane Lundgren and James Kean in 2005 with the intent of purchasing property in the area for the development of a destination resort. Lundgren is a fourth-generation resident of Camp Sherman and is intimately familiar with the area and its environmental concerns. Kean is a Portland resident but shares a love of the natural habitat of the Sisters-Camp Sherman area. He has hiked the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada covering the entire 2,700 miles.

Early in the presentation Kean stated emphatically, "We are strongly opposed to building another golf course in the area."

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We're not prejudiced, but we do think our state is the best

Editor, The Times:

I was shocked to read the downright nasty letters from out-of-staters criticizing Washington residents for not wanting a NASCAR track in our area ["Who might be a redneck," Northwest Voices, March 7]. I've never met the bigoted, hate-filled snobs described in those letters.

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"I am very dedicated to preserving the environment," he says, adding that one day he would like to purchase a car that runs solely on electricity and can go 100 miles without a recharge.

That technology is not yet available, so Miller did the next best thing: He bought solar systems for his home to run his electricity and heat his water.

The advantages of installing a solar energy system in the home are noble — what is called a solar photovoltaic system can use energy from the sun to provide 50 to 80 percent of a home's electricity needs.

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Among potential Democratic candidates for president, he may be the best of them all.

He's a Vietnam vet. He's been against the war in Iraq since the beginning. He's leading the fight against global warming. He served as congressman, senator and vice president of the United States. He's star of one of the most successful documentary films in history. He just won an Oscar. And he's been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yes, Al Gore's on a roll. So why doesn't he run for president? That's what a lot of Democrats are asking. And even some Republicans. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, former Republican congressman, recently wrote a column practically begging Gore to run. After all, advised Scarborough, Gore "has to know that while fame in Hollywood can be fleeting, history may finally be breaking his way. 2008 is looking like Al Gore's year."

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How can I describe Al Gore's lips-sealed, cheeky smile when he quite expectedly won an Oscar for best documentary: as a used car dealer who'd snagged the mark? The smile ran broadly. Those of us who find the former vice-president's science flighty marveled at his basking delightedly in the approbation of the stars.

But, alas, although it won't necessarily follow that he'll have a hand- and footprint shortly at Grauman's Chinese restaurant, his carbon footprint leapt up almost immediately to bite him in the shins, or wherever.

It was his electric bill--not that he hadn't paid it, but an average bill of $1,359 per month, according to the conservative Tennesee Center for Policy Research? It certainly seemed a tad hypocritical even allowing that this is a conservative group.

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Thanks to Al Gore, the term gains political traction.

SWATI PANDEY

March 4, 2007

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Dancers brushed past banyan and palm trees surrounded by the moist, fragrant air of the tropics during recent performances of "In the Garden."

Their stage was the conservatory at the University of Michigan's Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor, a place that some audience members and dancers had never visited before.

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