Hurricane!

It takes many fund raising events to help victims of Hurricane Wilma.

Last year’s inaugural NavAid, also held in conjunction with the opening day of the Miami International Boat Show, raised money and awareness for the victims of Hurricane Wilma which decimated the Florida southeast coast in the fall of 2005. The event, organized in conjunction with the American Red Cross Broward County Chapter, raised $7,000 through generous contributions from our co-sponsors Raymarine, Northstar, Furuno, Humminbird and Lowrance, as well as all those who attended the event. All proceeds were used to help the 21,000 victims and 46 families that were left homeless as a result of the hurricane.

With increasing human population, cyclones and other natural disasters bring increasing casualty reports.

With growing population and infrastructures the world’s exposure to natural hazards is inevitably increasing. This is particularly true as the strongest population growth is located in coastal areas (with greater exposure to floods, cyclones and tidal waves). To make matters worse any land remaining available for urban growth is generally risk-prone, for instance flood plains or steep slopes subject to landslides.

Space mirrors are an interesting idea to protect against climate change, but maybe other technologies will help sooner.

From the nation that called its anti-ballistic weapon system, “Star Wars”, comes a predictable response to global warming: reflective dust & giant space mirrors.

Click through for more info about a fast-track procedure authorized by Texas governor Rick Perry to issue permits for proposed new coal-fired power plants.

The additional coal plants would add 30,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, over 115 million tons of carbon dioxide, and nearly 4,000 pounds of toxic mercury each year, according to the Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition.

If you have need big shoes for your carbon footprint, maybe you can lose some carbon weight.

Anyway, his email got me thinking. Planes are great for travel but horrible for the environment. Our love affair with intercontinental flights is having a massive impact on the environment and global warming. We no longer go 4 hours up the road for the weekend. Instead, we go to another country and occasionally another continent. The UK long weekend is not spent in Bath or Edinburgh anymore. It's spent in France or Spain. A quick plane trip to Mexico from just about any US city is almost as easy as drive down the coast - our carbon footprints (the measure we have on the environment by carbon dioxide) are getting bigger and bigger.

Not everyone buys into climate change.

In a Human Events Online article, Walter Williams exposes the agenda of the global warming liars:

Finding ways to take action to reduce human impact on the environment and climate change.

We also talked last night about how focusing on the enormity of the problem is often not helpful. I think I am generally pessimistic about the chances of our society curbing our carbon dioxide emissions in time. I think we can save the planet, but I think that it’s unlikely that we will do so before natural disasters kill millions of people. However, I hope to keep the mood of my blog entries more optimistic because I don’t think it’s quite time to throw in the towel.

If you buy your music electronically or buy used CDs and DVDs, you'll help cut down on carbon emissions that create climate change.

You can still have your CD’s, and be carbon-neutral if you buy used copies. Although not as effective as buying digital music, it effectively halves the resource use by allowing at least 2 people to enjoy, or discard the physical manifestation of the record instead of the usual one. It also helps fuel a cottage industry for retired sound guys and radio dj’s.

Climate change appears to be interrupting ski plans this year.

To demonstrate that climate change is happening, some Vermonters went inner tubing in a river in January. As one who has spent considerable time in Vermont during the winter, I can say this is beyond unusual.

Markets for CO2 may help control climate change.

The business world is gearing up to ‘go green’. Although still being beaten into shape, California’s September ruling to engage in a mandatory carbon cap, amongst other U.S. movements, is causing many businesses to rethink their environmental position and get ready to join the expected new carbon economy.

If you're in the neighborhood, try to help out with typhoon recovery in the Philippines.

Just as we entered the holiday season, another tragedy has befallen the Filipino people –mudflows from the slopes of the Mayon volcano, triggered by heavy rains from typhoon “Reming” (international codename: Durian) buried at least eight villages in Albay province in the Bicol region. As of December 1, the mudflows have killed at least 338 people, more bodies are still being recovered. Local officials have warned that the death toll could hit a thousand.