Rio 20 - Another Conference

Rio 20 - June 2012

It seems like every year or so there is some big conference of nations that is supposed to be the beginning of saving the world. They usually start with a few letter and followed buy a number. G8, G20, Rio 20, etc. Rio 20 is the next of these types of conferences. The interesting twist with the Rio 20 is that it focuses not just on the environment but on sustainable development. It seems idea is that they world is going to grow in population (we just hit 7 Billion and 8 Billion is probably just a little more then a decade away). Much of this population growth seems to be in developing nations. So if we as a planet can get involved and try to get this development to happen in a green way right from the start we can at least stem some of the bad effects that developed nations went through. 

Will it end in Disappointment? 


Like I mentioned it seems that most of these conferences just end in disappointment. Part of the problem though is that they come in with such lofty goals. Like they are hoping that the leaders will come to some kind of conclusive decision on some key point. They really want it to go their way because it will really set the world in motion to being greener, even though they know all the folks with money who back all the campaigns of all these leaders are against it. What do you think is going to happen right? It seems like every time the leaders make it look like it was really close and they say they really wanted to but they just couldn't agree to some small issue and it all fell apart. What a surprise!

So far I haven't heard of any such lofty goals for the Rio 20. So from that stand point it appears its more of just a meeting without specific goals so it would be hard to classify anything as a failure. They really just are saying they are trying to launch a global conversation. Now, don't get me wrong I'm all for this, but at the same time without some kind of concrete goal it hard to see them really getting anything does except for collecting frequent flyer miles and hotel points. I sincerely wish them luck though and hope they succeed. We as a planet really need to shift our thinking and begin to change our actions. We are going to run out of oil and it is going to dynamically change how we live, especially because there are just too many people in the world to sustain without oil energy! The only real question is how early we as a population really realize we are close to this kind of crash. The early we start acting the softer the landing is going to be. If we wait until we just can't afford gas for our car anymore it's going to be a really rough go!

So for Rio 20, and any other conference with some letters and numbers for that matter. I wish you luck but then again its not folks like me you have to convince, it's the folks with all the money that pay for election campaigns!

How the Occupy Wall Street Movement Relates To The Environment

Occupy Movement

A few weeks ago the Occupy Wall Street movement started. I have to admit that at first I didn't really take too much notice. I didn't really know what it was and what it was about. That seemed to be the read on the whole thing in general at first, but impressively the protesters stuck with it and pushed long enough for people to start looking into what they were doing. 

It turns out that while they may not have a 100% concrete mission statement, they are basically fed up with 1% of the population of the US making most of the annual income. Of the the last couple decades this disparity has widened greatly and it's causing many of the financial issues that we all see today.

The more I find out about the whole Occupy movement the more it seems to make great sense and I'm behind them. I think I could write quite a bit about what they are fighting for now, and why it's so important. This blog those is more focused on the environment, green, and saving money and then planet. The interesting thing though as I got thinking about it is how involved these two areas are. The occupy protesters are pushing back against the top 1% income earners. These 1% earners are typically the major owners of the largest companies in our country. Typically it's these companies which are polluting out planet and have the largest vested interest in keeping and rules from changing to stop them.

So while the focus of the Occupy Movement isn't on cleaning up the planets, they are directing their efforts on many of the very same people who are fighting against environmental regulations which would help slow global warming. Depending on how successful this whole Occupy Movement ends up being (and I'm not totally sure how to define success at this point) I feel like the green folks will get along quite nicely with the occupy people.

I heard an interesting thing mentioned on a radio show this morning. I was flipping channels so I can't tell you the name of the person who said it unfortunately, but he said he is really hoping that the tea party nonsense is coming to an end, and maybe this Occupy Movement will be the new Tea Party. In that they will take the country by storm, open some eyes, excite the base, and be a new party with some actual power to do good and start to really get something done.

So if you found this blog you might not be looking to specifically find financial balance, as you can see, you probably should be. Let's get behind Occupy and get things all moving in the right direction, for all of us!

Environment Jobs

Green Jobs

I personally think that "Environmental Jobs" is what is going to save us from what industry has done to the planet. Oil, plastic, and general chemical pollution has really harmed this planet to what many think is near the tipping point. The problem is those industries have really made their owners an insane amount of money. No matter where you stand on the 1% vs. 99% argument, you can't deny that these industries have employed millions and made our economy what it is today. 

Many that would like to keep industry going as it is and not worry about pollution (i.e. - the 1%'ers) have argued that getting rid of their industry would cause double digit unemployment and ruin the country financially. The sad part is they are right! Too many folks work in these industries to where if they went away tomorrow our economy would implode.

How Environment Jobs Will Save the Day


The key is that all these people are going to need some place else to work instead of for the oil and chemical industries. What the argument that we can't live without these industries fails to address is that nobody is saying that we are going to stop needing all that energy! Nobody is arguing that we no longer need cars. Nobody is arguing that we don't need electricity. Nobody is saying we don't need the products in our home that we've all become accustomed to.

What we are saying is that we still want to drive our car and power our home just as much, but we want all that power to come from sustainable sources. If we could get moving on this and really make it happen in earnest (which won't happen until the big money industry owners get out of the pockets of elected officials) then we would need to build an enormous network of solar panels and wind turbines and bio-diesel plants, etc. It's not that all the folks that work in industry now would be unemployed, it's that they would just be doing something different and good for the planet. And sure yet, people hate change, and a drastic change like that would be hard on many people. Some old workers that have known nothing but oil their whole career would have a hard time moving into green jobs where they were the new kid on the block. On a macro level though this is something that has to happen and makes total sense

What are Environmental Jobs?


Sure some environmental jobs are more research jobs. They are people who are studying the environment and looking at the effects of what we are doing to our planet and how we can change that. But the environmental jobs I'm talking about here are also knows as green jobs. They are positions at firms that are building wind turbines, solar panel arrays, kinetic wave generators, and bio-diesel plant workers. They are also the people who are researching new ways to create power in a sustainable way. Sure right now we think of wind and solar, and they are great options. But maybe the real answer that we end up using to power our lives is something that hasn't even been thought of let along invented yet.

Pollution Facts

Years ago when we thought of pollution we always thought about smog. The smoke that was pouring out of the smoke stacks on top of factories. Or maybe the CFC's coming out of hairspray that was making a hole in the ozone layer. All of that is true but there are more and worse kinds of pollution that we really need to be aware of these days. Here are the pollution facts.

It is indeed bad to see the smoke pouring out of smoke stacks on factories but not for the reason that we all though. We used to worry about the particles that cause soot and smog and breathing issue. These are still an issue, but the bigger culpret in that smoke is the CO2 that is being release into the atmosphere and causing global warming. This environmental pollution is the worst kind because it is having the largest effect on the planet. Environment pollution of any kind is obviously not a good thing, but CO2 is really killing us!

There are many types of pollution in this day an age. I personally think we need to worry most about air pollution, assuming you include our whole atmosphere in "air". I mean I worry about the particles in the air that cause breathing and other issues, but as you can tell the the greenhouse gases that bother me the most of all. Air pollution causes are really all around us. Factories are a big contributer, but everything from the cars we drive to the heat in our house are a part of the problem. Unless you are getting energy (in whatever for for whatever use) from solar, wind, or some other sustainable source you are causing air pollution. If you don't believe me, do some research and find all the pollution information you can. You'll find I'm right.

Plastic Pollution

Another form of pollution that really bothers me is plastic pollution. Not only does the process of making plastic bottles and products release harmful chemicals to the environment, but they are also bad for us. Drinking "healthy and clean and fresh" bottled water is literally killing us. The BPA in the plastic is leaching out into the food in those containers and we are drinking it right up. BPA mimick estrogen in our bodies and is having all kinds of effect on us as a population including increase cancer rates and early developmental issues. There are of course other undocumented and untrackable health effects because BPA is considered safe by the FDA, which is a sham, but don't get me started on that. On top of all those issues there is plastic pollution. As if it wasn't enough that producing the bottles is bad for us, and not enough that drinking/eating from the containers is bad for us, but then a large number of them eventually make their way to the ocean. There is literally and island of plastic garbage that floats around in our ocean. Because the water current remain basically the same in our oceans, in the areas where they loop in a circle the plastic floats and just collects. If you haven't seen this before Google plastic pollution facts. It's depressing!

Information about pollution can be found online and in many documentaries, but once you see if face to face it just sucks the life out of you! There are so many issues that are covered up or not noticed that I could write a very long pollution essay! We all say we are going to do something, and often we mean it, but good intentions aren't going to fix this planet. Do something!