This week's #thepete #podcast: what's Worse than #GlobalWarming? Our own #Ignorance.

In this week's #thepetepodcast, I ask the question: What's next after #ClimateChange? Are we done ruining our planet or can we do more to change the #environment on a #global scale?

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Solar plants are cheaper than fossil fuel plants--will conservative coal huggers please shut up now?? (via @io9.com)

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From the io9 post, a Minnesota judge sums up his findings in why a solar-based plan for energy generation in Minnesota should move forward:

"[T]hese proposals offer competitively-priced energy generation; at firm prices; the fewest new environmental impacts; and significant protections against the imposition of project cancellation costs....[I]t bears mentioning that this procurement represents an important turning point in Minnesota's energy resource planning process. Since 1991, Minnesota has had a statutory preference in favor of renewable energy sources. Yet, that preference is overridden when the nonrenewable source has a lower total cost. Notwithstanding the statutory preference, it seemed that nonrenewable energy sources always won the head-to-head cost comparisons. Not anymore. Geronimo entered this bidding process as the sole renewable technology and beat competing offerors on total life-cycle costs."

The fact that the sun is a giant ball of never ending energy that is hurling insane amounts of said energy at us all day long yet all rich energy companies can do is keep digging in the ground (presumably where they hide their heads) tells us that these rich companies have entirely too much power and our politically leaders are entirely corrupt. The fact that we still need to have this conversation in the 21st century is absurd. The sun is a source of essentially limitless energy. Why the fuck do we still let these asshole oil companies tell us where we'll get our energy from? Wars are fought in the Middle East for oil. Terrorism is used to fight corrupt governments in Africa because of oil. So much death and pain, all for oil. All the sun has ever done is cause some skin cancer. Meanwhile, it's thes ource of all life. But no, lets keep digging for oil.

But why do we keep digging for oil? Simple. Our political leaders let it happen. They take money from corporations to keep the old ways going. Well here is proof that the old ways are the wrong ways. At least, when it comes to energy production.

Read the whole io9 post: http://io9.com/why-solar-power-is-more-cost-effective-than-natural-gas-1497305827

So sad: "The Ocean is Broken" theherald.com.au reports on dwindling signs of life in the oceans.

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From the article:

What was missing was the cries of the seabirds which, on all previous similar voyages, had surrounded the boat.

The birds were missing because the fish were missing.

Exactly 10 years before, when Newcastle yachtsman Ivan Macfadyen had sailed exactly the same course from Melbourne to Osaka, all he'd had to do to catch a fish from the ocean between Brisbane and Japan was throw out a baited line.

"There was not one of the 28 days on that portion of the trip when we didn't catch a good-sized fish to cook up and eat with some rice," Macfadyen recalled.

But this time, on that whole long leg of sea journey, the total catch was two.

No fish. No birds. Hardly a sign of life at all.

"In years gone by I'd gotten used to all the birds and their noises," he said.

"They'd be following the boat, sometimes resting on the mast before taking off again. You'd see flocks of them wheeling over the surface of the sea in the distance, feeding on pilchards."

But in March and April this year, only silence and desolation surrounded his boat, Funnel Web, as it sped across the surface of a haunted ocean.

Read the rest of "The Ocean is Broken" here: http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1848433/the-ocean-is-broken/.

This is a very sad read. It actually should be more sad, since they pin the debris in the Pacific to the Japanese tsunami when the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (which was made worse by the Tsunami) has existed in the Pacific since the 90s while evidence of it goes back as far as far as 1988. We've been doing this to our planet for a long time. We're just now catching on, as a people, that it's causing serious damage to sea life.

The saddest part of this article is when they mention the part about how cleaning up the mess would cause more damage to the environment than just leaving all the garbage in the water. This fact alone should be enough to spur the boat industry to develop clean energy powered boats. Instead everyone just sulks about how bad things are. I think we've forgotten how to be inspired.

I think there is still hope, however. We just have to realize that we caused all this change in the world and that means we can change it back--but we have to choose to change it back.

Special thanks to my old friend Zoe for posting about his on Google Plus.

700,000km Wad of Trash Floating in the Pacific Ocean

700,000km Wad of Trash Floating in the Pacific Ocean, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

This shouldn't be too surprising, but the lack of surprise doesn't make up for the lameness of its existence. Yep, it's a giant floating wad of refuse the various Pacific ocean currents have picked up and gathered toward the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Wikipedia entry for the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" explains that "The patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of suspended plastic and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre."

It goes on: "It has been estimated that 80% of the garbage comes from land-based sources, and 20% from ships at sea. Pollutants range in size from abandoned fishing nets to micro-pellets used in abrasive cleaners. Currents carry debris from the west coast of North America to the gyre in about five years, and debris from the east coast of Asia in a year or less. An international project led by Dr. Hideshige Takada of Tokyo University studying plastic pellets, or nurdles, from beaches around the world may provide further clues about the origins of pelagic plastic, including that of the Pacific garbage patch."

OH and here's what Wikipedia says the wad does to wildlife: "Many of these long-lasting plastics end up in the stomachs of marine birds and animals, including sea turtles, and the Black-footed Albatross. Besides the particles' danger to wildlife, the floating debris can absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and PAHs. Aside from toxic effects, when ingested, some of these are mistaken by the endocrine system as estradiol, causing hormone disruption in the affected animal. Marine plastics also facilitate the spread of invasive species that attach to floating plastic in one region and drift long distances to colonize other ecosystems."

The Wikipedia article also mentions that the debris field is: "estimated to be twice the size of Texas."

Isn't that great? It's a giant floating garbage pile bigger than the biggest state in the union (assuming two-Texases > Alaska). I'm pretty sure there isn't a person alive who wouldn't find this fact pretty disappointing. Luckily, there are a few people looking into whether or not it can be cleaned up, but the fact that this has happened at all is pretty sad.

Thanks be to @Blogdrop who posted about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch" on his Posterous blog, blogdrop.posterous.com. You should go subscribe to it--it's got a lot of great stuff--art, politics, current events, environmental stuff, too.

My Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

At 8:30pm on March 28, 2009, Earth Hour will be held. What's Earth Hour? Well, it's when people around the world, for one hour, turn off all of their lights to help draw attention to just how much we rely on light and the energy that creates it. Though, let me let EarthHour.org explain it:

For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming. WWF are urging the world to VOTE EARTH and reach the target of 1 billion votes, which will be presented to world leaders at the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009.

This meeting will determine official government policies to take action against global warming, which will replace the Kyoto Protocol. It is the chance for the people of the world to make their voice heard.

So, over at http://12seconds.tv they're helping with the cause by encouraging folks to do 12 second clips promoting the whole Earth Hour thing. Check out what folks have been shooting here: http://12seconds.tv/tag/EarthHour09

Though first, watch the one I shot with Siskita:


12seconds Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

And here's Jay ThePal's:


12seconds Earth Hour Commercial on 12seconds.tv

I think both are pretty good. :)

So, there ya have it! At 8:30pm, your local time, THIS SATURDAY please turn out every light in your home for one hour!! Make sure to tell people you're doing it, too! Post a Tweet, a 12second video, blog about it, send an email, or just post a comment right here!

The Earth will thank you for it!

All right, not really, but future humans should be thankful!