PUMA CITY Boston Build - Volvo Ocean Race

This is the shore team of the Puma Volvo Ocean Race boat. They are setting up the Puma store on the docks of Boston Harbor, using recycled shipping containers. This is one of the many examples of ways to recycle industrial materials for common use. This three-level, 11,000-square-foot retail store and event space made of 24 refurbished shipping containers. The portable Puma Store was designed by shipping container architects LOT-EK, makes clever re-use of discarded shipping containers and has been traveling around the world as a spokes-structure for both Puma and prefabricated buildings.

The store, which has a full bar equipped with a sunning deck and dance floor on the top level, seemed to be a magnet for young Bostonians and sailors eager to catch a few rays and look out over the harbor from a new elevated vantage point. The popularity of the venue was evidenced by a long line and the precariously packed look of the deck, which appeared to be so full of people that it might tip over at any second. I've talked to a few friends who checked it out and said it was amazing.

Twista "Wetter"

The Chi-town speedster.

Commission on Climate Change and Development: Closing the Gap - Disaster Risk Reduction and Adaptation to Climate Change in Developing Countries

Just got out of a panel discussion with the leadership of the Commission on Climate Change and Development about their recent report entitled "Closing the Gap" about adaptation in the developing world. The panel was hosted at the BEAUTIFUL House of Sweden on the Georgetown waterfront which also houses the Swedish embassy. It was there because the Swedish Environmental Minister was part of the commission, and Sweden will hold the presidency of the EU for the next 6 months, during which the Copenhagen negotiations will happen. The head of WRI was also there, bunch of UN people, World Bank, etc.

I've just gotten through the executive summary, but it's a damn good summary of the changes and necessary steps for tackling climate adaptation and sustainable development. The seem to understand the inseparable goals of development and climate adaptation, and the necessary steps to amp up regular ODA. The give a comprehensive set of recommendations for every level of governance from the local and community level to the international multilateral.

More after I get through it.

Rick Ross - Yacht Club (feat. Magazeen) David Letterman Live

Not sure whether to tag this as Hip Hop or sailing. I could see Rick Ross at the Nantucket Yacht Club wearing Nantucket reds, boat shoes, a Vineyard Vines polo, drinking a dark and stormy.

Regardless, I like this song. Rick Ross isn't normally my style, but i love the reggae infusion. MIA reps.

DAILY THROWBACK: The Roots "Proceed"

After a great deal of introspection and random surveying, I'm changing the "Old School Video of the Day" to "Daily Throwbacks."

Today: The Roots "Proceed" off of "Do You Want More?!!!??!" circa 1995.

Check out the early genius of the Legendary Roots Crew.

Living Moss Carpet Adds a Touch of Green to Your Bathroom

I saw this a few months back on a blog and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Would love to get one, but I doubt these will ever be manufactured............so, I'M GONNA BUILD ONE for my new place. Won't be stone, probably not even clay, but wood. If it is successful, and works, and I can maintain the moss, I am willing to sell them.

Anyone? Pre-order?

There’s nothing like the feeling of fresh cut grass under the toes, especially when stepping out of the shower. This Moss Carpet by Nguyen La Chanh brings the outside indoors in an unconventionally natural way by placing it underfoot. The lush green lawn thrives in humid environments, which makes your bathroom a perfect place to grow.
Chanh’s ingenious design is made from a decay-free foam called plastazote, and populated with three varieties of moss: ball, island, and forest. Maintenance required for this little patch of green is limited, as the moss thrives off of the humidity released from daily bathroom rituals. Who knew taking a shower could provide for such efficient multi-tasking, growing a little extra dose of green to start your morning or end your day.

Green Architecture: Singapore’s Energy Efficient Green Heart Center

The very heart of Singapore beats green, thanks to the new design for the National Heart Center by multinational firm Broadway Malyan. The ambitious 35,299 square-meter building at the center of Singapore General Hospital’s Outram Campus redevelopment plan will hopefully score high green marks with its unique design that places people first. Recognizing that the medical world advances quite quickly, the design incorporates modular building methods to ensure that the structure of the building remains flexible and adaptable both internally and externally, easily and efficiently allowing for future growth.Visitors to the National Heart Center will arrive via a convivial and naturally lit concourse and reception area. The first six floors of the building will contain facilities for day surgery, operating theaters, clinics, laboratories, radiology, and retail centers, while levels seven to ten will be reserved for non-patient areas, including medical records, research laboratories, staff training, and administrative offices.

Great floating green gardens, reminiscent of the medicinal courtyards of the Middle Ages, are meant to provide social connectivity and expedite the process of healing by offering patients healthy doses of natural light, ventilation, and views. The plants also act as carbon filters and help reduce the heat island effect, an important feature in a city that crams over 4 million into a 265-square mile area. The building is oriented around these communal internal spaces to encourage human interaction.

Demolition is expected to begin in September 2009, and the £73 million Heart Center is expected to be completed in Spring 2012.

Borrowed from Inhabitat

NYtimes: In Ecuador, Resentment of an Oil Company Oozes

MORE Chevron in Ecuador! NYtimes:

Mention to Anita Ruíz the name of the giant oil company Chevron, and she trembles with rage. At her wooden hut here in the Amazon forest, where oil-project flares illuminate the night sky, she points to a portrait of her youngest son, who died seven years ago of leukemia at age 16.

“We believe the American oilmen created the pollution that killed my son,” said Ms. Ruíz, 58, who lives in a clearing where Texaco, the American oil company that Chevron acquired in 2001, once poured oil waste into pits used decades ago for drilling wells.

Texaco’s roughnecks are long gone, but black gunk from the pits seeps to the topsoil here and in dozens of other spots in Ecuador’s northeastern jungle. These days the only Chevron employees who visit the former oil fields, in a region where resentment against the company runs high, do so escorted by bodyguards toting guns.

They represent one side in a bitter fight that is developing into the world’s largest environmental lawsuit, with $27 billion in potential damages.

Chevron is preparing for a ruling by a lone judge in a tiny courtroom on the top floor of a shopping center in Lago Agrio, a town rife with slums that Texaco founded in the 1960s as its base camp in the Amazon.

Chevron faces claims for an era when oil companies were less purposeful about protecting the environment than they are today. It also faces potentially huge damages in a country where American corporations once wielded strong influence but are now treated with discourtesy, if not contempt.

The sympathies of the judge, a former military officer named Juan Nuñez, are not hard to discern, and he appears likely to rule against Chevron this year. “This is a fight between a Goliath and people who cannot even pay their bills,” Mr. Nuñez, 57, said in an interview in his office, where more than 100,000 pages of evidence were stacked to the ceiling.

But his ruling is not likely to end the case. Already, the dispute is the subject of intense lobbying in Washington, which could apply pressure to Ecuador on Chevron’s behalf. If the company loses, it is ready to pursue appeals in Ecuador and, if necessary, to seek international arbitration.

Texaco laid down stakes here in the 1960s, and began producing oil in the early 1970s when Ecuador was still under military rule. Before the oil began to flow, the region was inhabited by forest tribes, including the Cofán and the Siona-Secoya.

Political tension permeated Texaco’s presence in Ecuador much of the time it operated here in a partnership with the government, and by the time it was prepared to leave, in the early 1990s, a cleanup of its operations was needed.

So Texaco reached a $40 million agreement with Ecuador to clean a portion of the well sites and waste pits in its concession area, absolving it of future liability. But that cleanup, carried out in the 1990s, was far from the bookend Texaco hoped to achieve.

Instead, villagers in Ecuador became convinced they were getting sick from the pollution left behind. They filed suit in 1993 in the United States, and later claimed that their grievances were not covered by Texaco’s settlement agreement.

As the case snaked its way through American courts, Ecuador seemed to fall to pieces, going through 10 presidents in a decade by 2006. The American lawsuit was eventually thrown out, on grounds the case should not be tried in the United States, and the plaintiffs reformulated it and filed it here.

Today, Chevron has absorbed Texaco, and Ecuador has gone through a metamorphosis under the leftist President Rafael Correa. He has repeatedly sided with the plaintiffs, calling Chevron’s Ecuadorean past “a crime against humanity.”

Such sentiment holds strong appeal to those who claim that people here, like Ms. Ruíz’s 16-year-old son, are dying from the pollution that Texaco spawned. Citing scientific studies, the plaintiffs claim that toxic chemicals from Texaco’s waste pits, including benzene, which is known to induce leukemia, have leached for decades into soil, groundwater and streams. A report last year by Richard Cabrera, a geologist and court-appointed expert, estimated that 1,400 people in this jungle region — perhaps more — had died of cancer because of oil contamination.

Chevron rejected the claims, contending that Mr. Cabrera had no medical evidence to back up his conclusion that the company should pay $2.9 billion just to compensate for excess cancer deaths.
Continues.....

NYtimes: China Outpaces U.S. in Cleaner Coal-Fired Plants

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Coal-fired power plants, even when built to be "ultra-supercritical," still put out a great deal of CO2. Yes, it is better than having a less efficient technology because you are putting out more kWh per ton of CO2 emitted, but it is still emitted a shitload of pollution. AND when you build a new plant, which will have a lifespan of around 50 years, you are also making that 50 year commitment to mining coal for that plant, which has a great deal of environmental degradation related to it as well. "Ultra-supercritical" sounds awesome and would have been a great 80s hair band, but it also requires more energy to keep the process going, so while is more efficient than other coal plants, it isn't that much more efficient. Financing new plants, like Tianjin which is in the study we did on public financing for coal-fired power plants, is committed to a constant new source of CO2 emissions for the next 50 years. Bottom line, DON'T FUCK WITH COAL.

NYtimes:

China’s frenetic construction of coal-fired power plants has raised worries around the world about the effect on climate change. China now uses more coal than the United States, Europe and Japan combined, making it the world’s largest emitter of gases that are warming the planet.

But largely missing in the hand-wringing is this: China has emerged in the past two years as the world’s leading builder of more efficient, less polluting coal power plants, mastering the technology and driving down the cost.

While the United States is still debating whether to build a more efficient kind of coal-fired power plant that uses extremely hot steam, China has begun building such plants at a rate of one a month.

Construction has stalled in the United States on a new generation of low-pollution power plants that turn coal into a gas before burning it, although Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday that the Obama administration might revive one power plant of this type. But China has already approved equipment purchases for just such a power plant, to be assembled soon in a muddy field here in Tianjin.

“The steps they’ve taken are probably as fast and as serious as anywhere in power-generation history,” said Hal Harvey, president of ClimateWorks, a group in San Francisco that helps finance projects to limit global warming.

Western countries continue to rely heavily on coal-fired power plants built decades ago with outdated, inefficient technology that burn a lot of coal and emit considerable amounts of carbon dioxide. China has begun requiring power companies to retire an older, more polluting power plant for each new one they build.

Cao Peixi, the president of the China Huaneng Group, the country’s biggest state-owned electric utility and the majority partner in the joint venture building the Tianjin plant, said his company was committed to the project even though it would cost more than conventional plants.

“We shouldn’t look at this project from a purely financial perspective,” he said. “It represents the future.”

Without doubt, China’s coal-fired power sector still has many problems, and global warming gases from the country are expected to continue increasing. China’s aim is to use the newest technologies to limit the rate of increase.

Only half the country’s coal-fired power plants have the emissions control equipment to remove sulfur compounds that cause acid rain, and even power plants with that technology do not always use it. China has not begun regulating some of the emissions that lead to heavy smog in big cities.

Even among China’s newly built plants, not all are modern. Only about 60 percent of the new plants are being built using newer technology that is highly efficient, but more expensive.

With greater efficiency, a power plant burns less coal and emits less carbon dioxide for each unit of electricity it generates. Experts say the least efficient plants in China today convert 27 to 36 percent of the energy in coal into electricity. The most efficient plants achieve an efficiency as high as 44 percent, meaning they can cut global warming emissions by more than a third compared with the weakest plants.

In the United States, the most efficient plants achieve around 40 percent efficiency, because they do not use the highest steam temperatures being adopted in China. The average efficiency of American coal-fired plants is still higher than the average efficiency of Chinese power plants, because China built so many inefficient plants over the past decade. But China is rapidly closing the gap by using some of the world’s most advanced designs.

After relying until recently on older technology, “China has since become the major world market for advanced coal-fired power plants with high-specification emission control systems,” the International Energy Agency said in a report on April 20.

China’s improvements are starting to have an effect on climate models. In its latest annual report last November, the I.E.A. cut its forecast of the annual increase in Chinese emissions of global warming gases, to 3 percent from 3.2 percent, in response to technological gains, particularly in the coal sector, even as the agency raised slightly its forecast for Chinese economic growth. “It’s definitely changing the baseline, and that’s being taken into account,” said Jonathan Sinton, a China specialist at the energy agency.

But by continuing to rely heavily on coal, which supplies 80 percent of its electricity, China ensures that it will keep emitting a lot of carbon dioxide; even an efficient coal-fired power plant emits twice the carbon dioxide of a natural gas-fired plant.

Perhaps the biggest question now is how much further China can go beyond the recent steps. In particular, how fast will it move toward power plants that capture their emissions and store them underground or under the seafloor?

That technology could, in theory, create power plants that contribute virtually nothing to global warming. Many countries hope to develop such plants, though progress has been halting; Energy Secretary Chu has promised steps to speed up the technology in the United States.

China has just built a small, experimental facility near Beijing to remove carbon dioxide from power station emissions and use it to provide carbonation for beverages, and the government has a short list of possible locations for a large experiment to capture and store carbon dioxide. But so far, it has no plans to make this a national policy.

China is making other efforts to reduce its global warming emissions. It has doubled its total wind energy capacity in each of the past four years, and is poised to pass the United States as soon as this year as the world’s largest market for wind power equipment. China is building considerably more nuclear power plants than the rest of the world combined, and these do not emit carbon dioxide after they are built.

But coal remains the cheapest energy source in China by a wide margin. China has the world’s third-largest coal reserves, after the United States and Russia.

“No matter how much renewable or nuclear is in the mix, coal will remain the dominant power source,” said Ashok Bhargava, a China energy expert at the Asian Development Bank in Manila.

Another problem is that China has finally developed the ability to build high-technology power plants only at the end of a national binge of building lower-tech coal-fired plants. Construction is now slowing because of the economic slump.

By adopting “ultra-supercritical” technology, which uses extremely hot steam to achieve the highest efficiency, and by building many identical power plants at the same time, China has cut costs dramatically through economies of scale. It now can cost a third less to build an ultra-supercritical power plant in China than to build a less efficient coal-fired plant in the United States.

Daily Throwback: Fugees - Vocab

Fugees - Vocab
by hiphopmomo

Couldn't help myself. Gotta post another old school video. The original Fugees. Why can't they just work it out?

Cap and Trade Explained in Under Four Minutes

Report in the Lancet: Climate Change is the Biggest Global Health Threat of the 21st Century

Climate change poses the biggest threat to human health in the 21st century but its full impact is not being grasped by the healthcare community or policymakers.

This report, compiled by a commission of academics from University College London and published in The Lancet, warns that climate change risks huge death tolls caused by disease, food and water shortages and poor sanitation.

The authors said that the NHS would face serious incremental pressures from heat and hygiene-related illnesses because of increasingly hot summers, greater pathogen spread with warmer temperatures, and the heightened risk of flooding.

Professor Anthony Costello, said that he had not realized the full ramifications of climate change on health until 18 months ago.

Describing the threat as a "clear and present danger" that would affect billions of lives, he said that the world needed a 21st-century public health movement to deal with climate change. He added that failure to act will result in future generations feeling the same moral outrage as is felt today towards those "who brought in and did nothing to stop slavery".

I've only gotten through the executive summary of the study so far, but this is a very insightful and comprehensive paper. This will have heavy implications for climate change adaptation and mitigation financing, especially in the developing world who will bear the brunt of global climate change. I read somewhere that along the India-Bangladesh border, Indian officials are putting up razor wire fences in anticipation of climate refugees attempting to flee Bangladesh.

I am meeting with some USAID officials on Friday to talk about shifting their climate adaptation funding into the public health funding, and this paper came out just in time to get me some credible arguments beyond my own BA in philosophy.

Full paper

Daily Throwback: A Tribe Called Quest "Electric Relaxation"

A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relax
by hushhush112

So as I post new stuff on the regular, I'm starting to think that I should post at least one old school song per day to keep it real with the roots of hip hop. Today, I'm going with Tribe's "Electric Relaxation." These cats are timeless, and some of the smoothest MCs in history.

"I like 'em brown, yellow, Puerto Rican or Haitian."

Chevron Trying to “Greenwash” Polluter Image In Washington Conference On Clean Technology Oil Company Scrambling after Media Coverage Exposes Enviro

Chevron Ecuador Saga continues........

Amazon Defense Coalition:

Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2009) – Chevron today is taking part in a “Green Technology” roundtable in an apparent attempt to deflect some of the harm caused by its increasingly high profile as a corporate polluter in Ecuador, where it faces a potential $27 billion clean-up tab for dumping billions of gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon, campaigners who monitor the company said today.

The meeting, entitled “Green Technology and the Developing World: Global Energy Challenges, Economic Development and the Deployment of Green Technologies,” is being held just a week after CBS News’ 60 Minutes aired a story highlighting the extensive toxic contamination that the company left behind in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. Kristen Thorne, a Corporate Advisor on Global Issues and Policy for Chevron, is expected to participate in the roundtable discussion to introduce members of Congress to the company’s so-called “green” energy policies.

Chevron’s participation in the event is little more than an attempt to distract Congress from damaging reports regarding the environmental disaster Chevron left behind in Ecuador, including a report aired on CBS News’ 60 Minutes, according to Kevin Koenig, a corporate campaigner with Amazon Watch, a group that monitors Chevron’s environmental record.
“Chevron’s participation in a ‘green’ energy roundtable discussion is laughable,” said Koenig. “This so-called discussion by one of the world’s worst corporate polluters is just the latest example of the company trying to deceive the public while it uses Ecuador as its trash bin.”

Chevron faces a potential liability of $27 billion in a 15-year class action lawsuit over the environmental damage in Ecuador, which experts have called the "Amazon Chernobyl". The lawsuit, being heard in Ecuador at Chevron’s request, alleges that Texaco (now Chevron) dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into a pristine area of rainforest that was once home to six thriving indigenous groups.

Texaco also gouged more than 900 large, unlined pits out of the jungle floor to store oil sludge left over from exploration and well maintenance that are still leaching toxins into soils and groundwater, according to an independent court expert in the case.

A decision in the case is expected later this year.

Attempting to brand itself as an environmentally conscious company is becoming more difficult for Chevron as the company’s toxic legacy in Ecuador has garnered extensive news coverage by large media outlets in the past few weeks. Reports about the pollution have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post and on National Public Radio, among others.

Chevron’s failure to clean-up the pollution in Ecuador led recently to the company being named to two separate “Worst of 2008” lists by corporate and environmental watchdog groups.

If hip hop wasn't dead yet, it just died

I am NOT happy about this. SERIOUSLY. Complex, how could you keep a straight face during this interview. I don't want my blog to come up when you search this "person's" name, so just click the link below and see what I'm talking about.

THE MOST FUCKED UP THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

Tommy C on the Mic

For those of you who are unaffiliated, my boy Tommy C is rocking the mic tonight at DC Improv, debuting his comedy stylings in front of a live audience. This is the same place where Dave Chapelle got his start.

Renowned throughout the DMV for his karaoke skills, Tommy C has been studying the fine arts at DC Improv for a few months now, and this is his graduation into being funny.

Doors open at 7 PM, show starts at 8.

I know the Caps are in Game 7, but he's assured us to only go on when they are in half-time. Hockey has half-times right?

DC Improv is at 1140 Connecticut Ave N.W.

http://www.dcimprov.com/comics/52

His classmates:

Kanye West "Welcome to Heartbreak" featuring Kid Cudi

KANYE WEST "Welcome to Heartbreak" Directed by: NABIL from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Aight, so after posting the Nabil directed K'Naan "T.I.A." video, I have to follow it up with the Nabil direct Kanye West "Welcome to Heartbreak." First time I saw this, as I'm sure everyone did, I thought my computer was screwed up. THAT is the genius of the cinematography. Not only does it have weird special effects, he recognized the viral nature of music videos these days; both the limitations of bandwidth, computer graphics, etc. AND the fact that despite its present limitations, the internet is the resource we explore hip hop and media these days.

The Roots and The Lonely Island on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

One of the advantages of insomnia is being able to watch the Roots every night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Here they are being the house-band for Lonely Planet. These cats are funny, but just peaked playing a live show with the Roots.


Final thoughts:
-Blackthought is much better than T-Pain at T-Pain's own songs.
-I have been on boats nearly every weekend since this song came out, and for some reason it has never popped in my head. I think at the one minute gun at the start of the Annapolis to Newport race, I'm gonna run a speaker up the mast and blast this song on repeat down the bay.

K'Naan "T.I.A."

K'NAAN "T.I.A" music video directed by: NABIL from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

Love this song, love this video. I grew up in Africa, and it holds a special place in my heart. K'Naan does not disappoint with the song, and neither does Nabil who directs the video (also directed Kanye's trippy video for "Welcome to Heartbreak"). African art, beats, dance, people. While no video can truly capture the experience of visiting or living in Africa, it still helps to hear the poetry of the continent. The problem is that Africa, like every other continent if not more so, is an extremely diverse place with an extremely diverse people. Every tribe, country, ethnicity, religion, city, village, etc. has its own culture, stories, history.

I'd recommend that everyone visit, and while there, get off the reservation. The world would be a very different place if everyone got a chance to experience even a fraction that Africa had to offer. I have lived on the continent off and on for about 12 years, traveled throughout frequently, but most of Africa is still a mystery to me that I can't wait to explore.


I hope you've got your passports, and vaccine shots

I'd take rappers on a field trip any day
They never been opposite real clip anyway
I know where all the looters and the shooters stay
Welcome to the city we call Doomsday.

When niggaz is just fried chicken like Tuesday
Oh, you from the hood huh? who say?
My Nigerian niggaz would call you Pussy
My Somali niggaz are quick to grab the uzi

Around here we only bumping Fela Kuti
Tupac, or Bob Marley, Lucky Dube.
So we don't really give a fuck about your groupies
This Is Africa, Hooray.
T.I.A!!!!

Mos Def "Casa Bey"

Mos Def - "Casa Bey" - The Ecstatic - 6.9.09

Take it easy Mos, the Casa Bay single was just released last week. Now the video? Dude is a work horse. The Ecstatic will be in stores June 9th. Video directed by Coodie and Chike.

Editorial by Robert Redford: Harnessing Nature's Power

Anyone who knows Utah knows the power of wind, water and sun. You can see that power in Utah's sculpted arches of stone, in our majestic mountains capped with snow, and in the cracked earth of our deserts.

Nature's power is so obvious that you have to wonder why we've mostly ignored it as a source of energy to run our homes and businesses, and to propel our cars and trucks.

After all, if we did a little more to harness that power, we could begin to solve some of our most pressing environmental and economic challenges. In fact, creating electricity from the energy nature gives us is critical if we're going to reduce global warming pollution, protect public health with clean air and water, create jobs in Utah and ultimately bring down energy prices.

We know that burning fossil fuels is destabilizing the atmosphere and acidifying the oceans. We know that our dependence on oil shackles us to dangerous foreign regimes and to the escalating prices they'll inevitably charge as demand outstrips supply. But we also know how to break our dependence and free ourselves from this destructive cycle.

Why keep buying foreign crude when we could be making energy right here in Utah from sunlight, wind and geothermal power? Why rip up more pristine wilderness to extract dirty fuels when we could generate clean power from the energy nature delivers to our doorstep?

Dollar for dollar, investing in clean energy creates more jobs than investing in traditional energy sources like oil and gas. That really matters, especially when you consider that more than 30,000 Utah workers lost their jobs last year.

We've got tens of thousands of windy acres here in Utah, sites for geothermal energy abound, and the southern part of the state has tremendous potential for solar power. We will have to carefully pick renewable energy sites that don't endanger critical habitat and wilderness quality land, but the opportunity is vast.

So how can we jump start a home-grown clean energy economy?

Right now Congress is working on a landmark clean energy jobs plan that would boost the amount of wind, solar and other clean energy our country produces. The American Clean Energy and Security Act will also make our vehicles, appliances and buildings more efficient, and update our antiquated electricity grid.

Our investments in clean energy and efficiency today will pay dividends for generations. They will create good, family-sustaining jobs that can't be shipped overseas, and they will lower energy prices in the long run. They will reduce energy dependence and global warming pollution, and make our economy more competitive.

It's true that the economic and environmental challenges we confront are serious. But Americans have never encountered a challenge of any kind that we couldn't overcome by working together and applying our ingenuity.

That is what we need to do right now. The only missing ingredient is a spirit of innovation, cooperation and resolve amongst our political leaders. From the copper-domed Capitol in Salt Lake, to the halls of power in Washington, our leaders need to reconsider their allegiance to the dirty fuels industry, stop their bickering, and act boldly to move America towards a new energy economy.

In the coming weeks, Representative Jim Matheson (D-Utah) can lead the way. As a key member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he'll play a pivotal role before Memorial Day in determining whether Congress even gets to vote on the clean energy jobs bill. Now is the time to let Rep. Matheson and all of our leaders know that we expect them to do what's right for our people, our economy, our land and our future.

[This piece first ran in the Salt Lake Tribune.]

The Story of Stuff

I'm guilty. Just check out the previous post. We all need to make behavior changes. Every action of consumption requires a great deal of energy along the production line.


Full movie

Kinesis K3 Charger

Ok, so I'm admittedly a gadget hound, and if you've seen my car or my ebay bidding record, I love solar-powered stuff. Ideally, I'd like to set up my house, car, ipod, computer, cell, life, etc. with renewable energy generating gadgets, and the Kinesis K3 Charger will get me that much closer.

This thing is cool as hell.

K3 FEATURES:
* 2 in 1 dual charging ability for collecting sun, wind, or both
* The largest rechargable battery capacity of its group - ready to use over and over again
* USB port built in with available adapter tips to charge various devices
* Stand up, lay down, or hang the K3 - works in any charging environment
* Always know your power status by LED level indicators with the press of a button
* Durable, weatherproof design you can take anywhere
* Storage inside for multiple device adapter tips
* AC adapter included for pre-charging before you go
* Utilize the FREE power of the sun and wind now within your reach!

Not only would it be useful to take sailing, camping, picnics, etc, but would be ideal in disaster relief when power lines are down. I have read about villagers in rural Africa who walk miles to charge their cell phones/computers because they do not have power in their villages.

It will be available in June 2009 and I'll be the first in line.

Cormac - "Day in the Life"

Recommendation from my boy Kirk Sullivan, who also shot (direct?) the video. This was my first experience with Cormac, and I'm impressed. He has both the humor and lyrical prowess of Eminem (and white?). I could easily see this up-and-comer go far.


And the shit is pretty funny. Great underground video production.

Gnarls Barkley morning kick

Getting ready for work, Gnarls Barkley came on my playlist. Here are two choice songs:

Who's Gonna Save My Soul, "performed" by ?uestlove:

Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul [NEW]
Uploaded by PeteRock - Explore more music videos.

Going on, filmed in Jamaica:

Gnarls Barkley - Going On
Uploaded by zegonzag - Watch more music videos, in HD!

Bowoto v. Chevron

A similar case to the ChevronToxico Ecuador case, but in Nigeria: Bowoto v. Chevron

From EarthRights International:

Bowoto v. Chevron is a landmark human rights case that went to trial in a US federal court in San Francisco in November 2008. Brought under the Alien Tort Statute, the suit seeks to hold Chevron accountable for serious human rights violations committed abroad. Chevron was charged with egregious human rights abuses arising from its complicity with the notorious Nigerian military and "kill and go" mobile police against members of the Ilaje community of the Niger Delta. The Ilaje were protesting environmental and economic damage caused by Chevron's oil producing activities in their area community.

The lawsuit is based on a 1998 incident in which Nigerian soldiers shot nonviolent protesters at Chevron's Parabe offshore platform. The soldiers were paid by Chevron, ferried to the platform in Chevron-leased helicopters, and supervised by Chevron personnel. Two protesters were killed in the brutal attack and others were injured and subsequently tortured.

After ten long years, the trial provided the Nigerian villagers with the opportunity to confront the oil giant and demand public accountability for the company's involvement in gross human rights abuses. The plaintiffs sought compensation for the murders and the injuries suffered. A related case also sought ongoing transparency by Chevron about its use of the Nigerian police and military.

Although U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston had previously found that there was sufficient evidence to allow a jury to find Chevron liable for the human rights abuses suffered by the plaintiffs, in November 2008 a jury found in favor of the defendants on all charges. The plaintiffs have now filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and are seeking a new trial due to improper conduct by Chevron’s lawyers and other irregularities. Nonetheless, regardless of the outcome of the appeal, the case has established and reinforced important rules supporting accountability of parent corporations for actions taken nominally by their foreign subsidiaries, and basic principles of international human rights law.

Click for Case Documents

NYtimes: When Chevron Hires Ex-Reporter to Investigate Pollution, Chevron Looks Good

In the ongoing saga of the Chevron Ecuador case which I have posted on several times, Chevron prepared a response to the 60 minutes story:

NYtimes articles:

What did Chevron do when it learned that “60 Minutes” was preparing a potentially damaging report about oil company contamination of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador? It hired a former journalist to produce a mirror image of the report, from the corporation’s point of view.

As a demonstration of just how far companies will go to counteract negative publicity, the Chevron case is extraordinary. Gene Randall, a former CNN correspondent, spent about five months on the project, which was posted on the Internet in April, three weeks before the “60 Minutes” report was shown on May 3.

“Chevron hired me to tell its side of the story,” he said. “That’s what I did.”

The two videos — one by CBS, the other by a corporation being scrutinized by CBS — run about 14 minutes long. They each discuss a class-action lawsuit filed by Ecuadoreans who accuse Texaco, a company acquired by Chevron in 2001, of poisoning the rain forest.

An Ecuadorean judge is expected to rule soon on whether Chevron owes up to $27 billion in damages, which would make the case “the largest environmental lawsuit in history,” the “60 Minutes” correspondent, Scott Pelley, said.

Both videos start with a correspondent appearing on camera and calling it a “bitter” dispute. But from there, they diverge. The “60 Minutes” report visits the rain forest, talks to the Ecuadorean judge and interviews a Chevron manager. The Chevron video interviews the same Chevron manager, as well as five professors who are consultants to the oil company, but none of the plaintiffs.

The Chevron video never directly claims to be journalism. But a casual viewer could be swayed by the description — “Gene Randall reporting” — and the journalistic devices used, including file footage of the rain forest and over-the-shoulder interviews with experts. Chevron posted the video on YouTube as well as its own Web site devoted to the lawsuit.

Chevron declined to answer questions about the video. But in a statement, it said that “we produced this video in response to a campaign waged by trial lawyers. They’ve turned to Hollywood to tell a fictional story. We’ve turned to an award-winning, former journalist to tell a factual story.”

Mr. Randall, who has been a corporate consultant since leaving CNN in 2001, had worked with Chevron once before, as an interviewer of the company’s chief executive for a corporate Web video. When the company approached Mr. Randall late last year, he said he had researched the Ecuador lawsuit and “became convinced that their side had not gotten out there.”

The first Google search result for the words “Chevron in Ecuador” shows a Web site created by Amazon Watch, an environmental activist group, that blames “Chevron’s negligence” for injuries and deaths in the country. Chevron has since bought Google ads so that its Web site about the lawsuit, which includes Mr. Randall’s video, appears as a sponsored link.

Mitch Anderson, a campaigner for Amazon Watch, said that Chevron had resorted to “embarrassing public relations tactics” because credible news sources had not sufficiently framed the report the way they would like, namely, to “to place all of the blame for Texaco’s environmental disaster in Ecuador on PetroEcuador,” Texaco’s former partner.

Mr. Randall’s video acknowledges the claims of the plaintiffs many times, primarily to set up Chevron’s response. “This is not a news report,” he said in an interview. “This is a client hiring a provider to tell its side of the story.” The video ends with a voiceover saying “Gene Randall reporting.”

Jeff Fager, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” said his staff would have liked the same access that Mr. Randall had to Chevron. The oil company’s chief environmental scientist appears in the corporate video, but “they wouldn’t let us interview her,” Mr. Fager said.

Mr. Fager emphasized that the “60 Minutes” segment was “well-reported and fair.”

“I’m sure that Chevron preferred the story they told to the one we told, but that’s not journalism, that’s advocacy,” he said.

Their advocacy may not have had a serious effect. While the “60 Minutes” report reached at least 12 million viewers on television, the Chevron-sponsored effort has received only about 2,000 views on YouTube. Chevron would not say how many views it had counted on its own Web site.

“Most companies like their own advertising best, and this is not a whole lot different,” Mr. Fager said.

Drake - So Far Gone (Mixtape)

At the behest of my boy Jelani (The Ellipsis) I recently checked out Drake. I'd seen his stuff frequently on the blog roll, but for some reason never clicked.

Needless to say, I've been missing out, and more likely than not, so are you. Check out his most recent mixtape. The Toronto-based MC has fresh beats, and thoughtful lyrics.



Download "Drake - So Far Gone" Mixtape



Here is his most recent single with Tanya Morgan:

Drake - Right To Left feat.Tanya Morgan by treylord

D Rose "Beautiful World"

D Rose - "Beautiful World" from Ethos Music Group on Vimeo.

Annapolis to Newport Race

Getting kind of pumped. Spent Sunday fixing up J/120 Heron (Owner Greg Leonard) to get it ready for the Annapolis to Newport race, which starts June 5th and goes till we finish. It normally takes about three days.

The Annapolis to Newport race is one of the most historic and well-known of the US East Coast blue water races. Linking two seaports dating from our nation's birth, Annapolis and Newport, the race provides a contrast between the country's largest estuary, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean. Such a challenge is the Chesapeake, that the 1997-1998 Whitbread Round the World Race for the Volvo Trophy added it to the course, as did the Volvo Ocean Race in 2002 and 2006.

The course heads south for 120 miles from Annapolis to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, then east to the Chesapeake Light and hence northeast to Newport. After navigating the shallows and currents of the Bay, navigators have to decide if they want to sail the rumbline to Newport, go in towards the shore or head further into the Ocean. The record time for the race is held by Carrera, Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 skippered by Chris Larson, which set a new course record in 2001 of 42 hours, 58 minutes, 12 seconds. This broke the previous record set by Chessie Racing, George Collins' Santa Cruz 70, in 1999 at 47 hours and 45 minutes, which in turn had beaten the 12 year old record (53 hours and 31 minutes) of Starlight Express, a ULDB 70.