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Thursday, July 26th
Forbidden City, Forbidden Drink?
I heard from NRP four days ago that the Starbucks store inside the Forbidden City Museum (also called the Palace Museum) was closed because it undermined the "solemnity of the Forbidden City and (trampled on) Chinese culture."
China's national pride has grown as fast as its economy booms. However, even though such news was not totally unexpected, it still shocked me with its underlying extreme patriotism.
If the irrational impulse is to be peeled off from the above argument, the tradeoff of having a Starbucks store inside the most prestigious museum in China should be analyzed from both benefit and cost perspectives.
The benefit of having rest and snack stops can only be fully appreciated if one has been to the museum before. The Forbidden City Museum is about one kilometer long and 800 meters wide, with 9,999.5 rooms (of which I still haven't figured out where the half room is) dispersed along a central axis and two symmetrical sides. It is a formidable task to explore such a palace complex in great detail. Most visitors are totally exhausted before they even reach the elegant Royal Garden on the other end. Starbucks provides refreshment such as coffee and snacks, as do other convenience stores inside the museum. Such service is definitely not auxiliary, but necessary and indispensable.
Complete Article
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.26.07 @ 14:08PST
Tuesday, July 24th
New Report: Temperatures in Pennsylvania on the Rise
Temperatures were above average in cities across Pennsylvania in 2006, according to a new report released by PennEnvironment. PennEnvironment said this warmer-than-normal weather is indicative of what Pennsylvania can expect with continued global warming, and the group called on Governor Rendell and Pennsylvania’s federal elected officials to take immediate action to cut global warming pollution.
According to the National Climatic Data Center, the 2006 summer and 2006 overall were the second warmest on record for the lower 48 states. 2007 is on track to be the second warmest year on record globally.
To examine recent temperature patterns in the United States, PennEnvironment compared temperature data for the years 2000-2006 from 255 weather stations located in all 50 states and Washington, DC with temperatures averaged over the 30 years spanning 1971-2000, or what scientists call the “normal” temperature.
PennEnvironment was joined in releasing it's "Feeling the Heat" report by Sen. Bob Casey, Jr., Pittsburgh City Councilman Bill Peduto, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Clean Air Council, Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture), Sierra Club Pennsylvania Chapter and Bishop Charles Bennison, Jr., head of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. Sen. Casey announced his support last week for the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most aggressive legislation being debated in the U.S. Senate to deal with the global warming issue.
Key findings of PennEnvironment's "Feeling the Heat" report for cities in Pennsylvania include:
• In 2006, the average temperature was above normal in cities across Pennsylvania. Specifically, Allentown was 3.1°F above normal, Wilkes-Barre was 1.7°F above normal, Erie was 1.5°F above normal, Harrisburg was 2.2°F above normal, Philadelphia was 2.4°F above normal, Pittsburgh was 1.6°F above normal and Williamsport was 2.9°F above normal. Nationally, the average 2006 temperature was at least 0.5°F above normal at 87 percent of the locations studied.
• In 2006, cities across Pennsylvania experienced average maximum temperatures — the highest temperatures recorded on a given day — that were above normal. Among the Pennsylvania cities experiencing the biggest changes in 2006 in this category, Allentown experienced average maximum temperatures 3.2°F above normal, Philadelphia experienced average maximum temperatures 2.9°F above normal, and Williamsport experienced average maximum temperatures 2.8°F above normal.
• Cities across Pennsylvania experienced average minimum temperatures — the lowest temperatures recorded on a given day, usually at night — that were higher than normal in 2006. Among the Pennsylvania cities experiencing the biggest changes in 2006 in this category, Allentown experienced average minimum temperatures 2.5 °F above normal, Harrisburg experienced average minimum temperatures 2.0°F above normal and Williamsport experienced average minimum temperatures 2.4°F above normal. Warmer nighttime temperatures exacerbate the public health effects of heat waves, since people need cooler nighttime temperatures to recover from excessive heat exposure during the day.
• These Pennsylvania cities’ above-average temperatures in 2006 are part of a broader warming trend since 2000. All seven Pennsylvania cities cited in the report experienced average temperatures between 2000 and 2006 that were above the 30-year averages for those cities. Nationally, the average temperature during this seven year period was at least 0.5°F above normal at 87 percent of the locations studied.
In April 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that North America could experience significant water stress, forest fires, and “an increased number, intensity, and duration of heat waves” as temperatures continue to rise. To avoid the worst consequences of global warming, the United States must halt increases in global warming emissions now, cut emissions by at least 15-20% by 2020, and slash emissions by at least 80% by 2050.
The United States could substantially reduce its global warming pollution by using existing technologies to make power plants, businesses, homes, and cars more efficient and generate more electricity from clean, renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.
Pennsylvania could do the same at the state level, and Governor Rendell is expected to announce a state-level global warming plan later this summer. PennEnvironment is urging the governor to include science-based pollution reduction targets in his much-anticipated plan.
At the federal level, Congress is poised to consider global warming legislation this fall. The Safe Climate Act in the U.S. House and the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act in the U.S. Senate are the only bills that would reduce pollution to levels that scientists say are needed to prevent the worst effects of global warming.
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.24.07 @ 10:54PST
Sunday, July 22nd
John Kerry and Newt Gingrich Global Warming Debate
Watch Now
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.22.07 @ 13:21PST
Thursday, July 19th
Oakland a Leader Again
Oakland, California, proves itself a leader in sustainability once again with its recent ban on the provision of grocery-type plastic bags at checkout counters. The ban affects establishments with sales of $1M or more a year and requires them to provide either recyclable paper bags with at least 40% post-consumer recycled paper content and no old-growth content, and to offer reusable cloth or other durable bags as well.
What's most interesting in the ordinance is the statistics offered to justify the ban, some of which we quote here:
- Up to 1,000 billion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, or about 1,000,000 per minute
- Californians alone use about 600 bags per second, or about 52,000 tons each year, only 1/10th of one percent of which is recycled
- 80% of all ocean debris is plastic from land-based sources, and it kills over 1,000,000 seabirds, 100,00 marine mammals, and millions upon millions of fish annually
- 10% of US oil consumption goes to make plastics of all kinds, including plastic bags
You may view a text version of the ordinance at
oaklandnet.com.
Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.19.07 @ 06:11PST
Wednesday, July 18th
Is Recycling Always Good?
Watch this ABC News story
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.18.07 @ 10:19PST
Tuesday, July 17th
John Edwards and Youngstown: Turn Grandma's Picture to Face The Wall
This morning on NPR I heard that presidential contender John Edwards was to be in Youngstown, Ohio today. They did a short piece on Youngstown's desire to "shrink." The name Hunter Morrison came up and I came home to do a search and find an interview online. Shrinking it seems is an alternative to building houses that there isn't a market for.
"The fact that you're shrinking means you're not compulsive about putting houses on every parcel. What happened before is tax-credit developers were coming in and buying lots and putting up houses on streets with nothing else on it. It's happening in Cleveland now, where tax-credit housing is going up on streets where we're saying why don't you just deprogram all of that? If you try to rebuild the old neighborhood back to the way it once was you wind up making a whole bunch of mistakes."
He also compares Youngstown to New Orleans in that Youngstown lost half its population over a period of 25 years. New Orleans lost that in a weekend.
If you've ever been to Youngstown you'll understand that it simply has to shrink. There are large, quite expensive originally, homes in good condition available for less than $100,000. It still has solid institutions, Youngstown State, The Butler Museum of American Art, etc., but you can't help but want to rearrange the place.
here's Hunter's article
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.17.07 @ 04:16PST
Monday, July 16th
The New Colonist Encourages Cities To Turn on The Tap
America's Mayors are being asked to encourage citizens to forego bottled water in favor of tap water. In the coming weeks, the editors of The New Colonist, a web magazine about sustainable city living, will be sending letters to several big city mayors asking them to stop purchasing bottled water for municipal uses and inform citizens of the value of drinking from the tap.
"When cities purchase bottled water for use in municipal offices, it raises the question of what's wrong with city water," said New Colonist editor Eric Miller. "In most cases bottled water is not discernibly better or worse than from the tap."
Miller pointed out that several cities including New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Portland have municipal water supplies so good it needs little or no filtration. More, some studies have shown that some bottled water actually contains higher bacteria levels than tap water and that federal bottled water standards are actually based on tap water standards.
"The reality is New York City water is more reliable and even cleaner than some of the bottled water out there," Miller said. "Yet you won't see Boston on a bottle of water, that doesn't sell."
It's the environment rather than economy that's the primary concern, however. The majority of the plastic bottles containing water end up in land fills. More, shipping water from France requires the burning of oil. That oil burning contributes to global warming, which leads to the melting of the ice caps pictured on so many bottles of water. These are among the reasons that have lead San Francisco and Los Angeles to stop purchasing bottled water for municipal use, and lead others, Salt Lake City, New York and Minneapolis, on a campaign to get consumers to open their faucets.
LETTER
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.16.07 @ 13:37PST
Thursday, July 12th
A Quarter Million Dollar Parking Space and other Obnoxious Indulgence
There's a parking space for sale in Manhattan right now, and priced at $225,000 and there's a waiting list. I'm not sure what all we can read into this-- a further indication that the gap between rich and poor in the U.S. is growing? Support for the idea that the super rich are congregating along the coasts (where they just might be moving into the path of global-warming related storms and flooding)? I don't know too many people, here in Pittsburgh anyway, who paid more than $225,000 for their home. I'd place the value of a parking spot here at around $5,000 in most neighborhoods. I'm sure there are plenty of people, even in Manhattan, who shake their heads wondering just who can plop down $225,000 on a parking spot. It's a good thing that most people in Manhattan don't need cars or parking.
Also, One of my MORE
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.12.07 @ 12:02PST
Monday, July 9th
Don't Drink The Water!
Click here for story
Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.09.07 @ 02:39PST
