This is sad news: in Brazil, hundreds of baby penguins are washing up dead on the shores of Brazil’s beaches.
The culprit? It’s unclear but many speculate it’s either due to: 1. overfishing, which causes penguins to fish closer to shore and get caught in swift current; or 2. pollution, the Campos oil field (off the shores of Brazil) and other pollutants are weakening penguins’ immune systems.
It’s pretty sad to see so many plant and animal species being so detrimentally impacted by our environment. Honeybees, polar bears, penguins and more… what next?
I’m going to take a break from George W today. I need something positive to talk about. We all know the U.S. economy has slowed down. Unemployment is up, inflation is up, the stock market is down, earnings are down, and the pace of venture capital investment has slowed dramatically. We’ve seen dramatically fewer technology IPOs this year, and even the once “immune” technology sector is seeing the effects of the ailing economy.
One area bucking this trend is green technology. A United Nations report indicates over $148 billion was invested into alternative energy last year, up a whopping 60 percent from the $92.6 billion spent in 2006. The report describes this as a “green energy gold rush”. Wind energy led with $50 billion in investments, but solar was the largest gainer with a 90 percent rise, totaling $28 billion in investments. Even high profile venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins have established funds and partner areas earmarked for green investments.
What’s great is that this appears to be a global trend led by Europe, which as we all know is far more advanced from clean tech and alternative energy perspectives than the rest of the world. There appears to be strong and growing interest in emerging countries such as Brazil, China, and India as well, as these countries recognize their growth and development will soon be hindered by their consumption and dependence on foreign energy. In case you’re wondering, not only do we pollute the most in the U.S. (on both an absolute and per capita basis), but we are one of the worst, least advanced clean tech, developed countries in the world.
I know JB just posted about George Bush, and not that it’s even any fun anymore to point out his infinite stupidity, but here’s yet another one. Last week, at the G8 summit in Tokyo, Bush ended a meeting with other world leaders with this amazing quote, presumably referring to the fact that he will be leaving office soon: “”Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter.”
According to this article:
He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock. One official who witnessed the extraordinary scene said afterwards: “Everyone was very surprised that he was making a joke about America’s record on pollution.”
What a disaster. I’m amazed that George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush have not died in shame and remorse yet.
Good old George W. is at it again: today, he lifted the executive ban on offshore oil drilling, citing increasing gas prices as the reason. His rationale: Every dollar that is spent towards gas could be spent towards putting food on the table.
Sure, I suppose this is true, but I don’t particularly have any confidence in Big Oil companies that they will lower prices as supply increases…do you? They have a long history of greediness.
I thought these quotes were good:
From Senator Barbara Boxer:
President Bush is giving another gift to the oil companies that will do not one thing to lower gas prices for the American people. This proposal is something you’d expect from an oil company CEO, not the President of the United States.
Senator Dianne Feinstein said the President was “deluding the American public” into believing that new offshore drilling is a quick fix to $4 per gallon gasoline.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We cannot drill our way out of this problem.
I totally agree.
Today Al Gore gave a powerful speech calling for, as the 
