Gosh Darn You, Al

Because of An Inconvenient Truth, I'm now driving an ugly little box of a car.

Ok, it's not totally Al's fault. Part of it might have to do with the price (23k); the gas mileage (60 around town--verified by my two tree hugging friends who already own them) and the fact that we had to get a new car (lease is up on the Pathfinder), but a lot of it has to do with my husband's conversion to greenie, tree-hugging environmentalist after he saw the movie.

I grudgingly admit to feeling good about conserving energy (we've changed every light bulb in the house to CFL's), and I love the price tag, but for a girl who loves cars, the aesthetics of this one leave me with a face of distaste.

World Water Day

World Water Day 2007 is tomorrow. World Water Day, observed on March 22, is an international day of observance and action to draw attention to the plight of the more than one billion people in the world without access to safe drinking water.

Get involved: Select an Event

You can help. Join WaterPartners International, the United Nations, Ethos Water, and many other organizations and individuals as we take action to address this critical global problem.

Walk For Water: Join a Walk For Water in one of 15 cities on March 24. The Walk For Water is inspired by the example of women in water-stressed countries who often walk 6 miles each day just to get water for their families. To join a Walk, select a city from the “Events” menu.

You'll find more information here.

Warm Winters And Sugaring Don't Mix

We need look no further for proof of global warming. If a skeptical Yankee can be convinced, it must be true:

“You might be tempted to say, well that’s a bunch of baloney — global warming,” said Mr. Morse, drilling his first tap holes this season in mid-February, as snow hugged the maples and Vermont braced for a record snowfall. “But the way I feel, we get too much warm. How many winters are we going to go with Decembers turning into short-sleeve weather, before the maple trees say, ‘I don’t like it here any more?’

Seriously, the quote is taken from a New York Times article on how changing seasonal conditions are affecting the sugaring industry, and it doesn't look good:

“It appears to be a rather dire situation for the maple industry in the Northeast if conditions continue to go toward the predictions that have been made for global warming,” said Tim Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research Center at the University of Vermont.
“In the ’50s and ’60s, 80 percent of world’s maple syrup came from the U.S., and 20 percent came from Canada,” said Barrett N. Rock, a professor of natural resources at the University of New Hampshire. “Today it’s exactly the opposite. The climate that we used to have here in New England has moved north to the point where it’s now in Quebec.”

And, it's those sugar maples that produce the fall foliage, so global warming could wipe out two of Vermont and Maine's biggest money makers.

A Real Reason to Stop Global Warming

Global Warming, Climate Change, call it what you will. All I know is that we've got two inches (barely two I should add) of snow on the ground and it's February in Maine.

We watched An Inconvenient Truth the other night (pay per view--another Mainely Entertainment that does not involve leaving the house) and were sufficiently convinced by Mr. Gore's data and statistics that this stuff is real. We're worried about the impact on low-lying countries, water supplies and farm lands and we especially worried about the polar bear. We'd already started to reduce our carbon footprint before seeing the movie---and we're so glad that we did.



Now I find this article:: Climate change could crush wine industry the headline reads....

OK--this is a real crisis. I'm going to have to ask each of you to jump in and help out here. No California Chardonnay? No Old Vine Zinfandel? What would we do?

A little recyling, a few energy efficient light bulbs to save the wine industry. It's not too much to ask is it?

Plowing the Ground in Aroostoock County

The county, as Mainers call Aroostoock County, is getting ready to turn on the turbines at New England's first major wind farm. Twenty windmills are already in place and eight more are still to be added.

The Portland Press Herald has the full story, and has included a wonderful slideshow--those turbines are taller than the Statue of Liberty. Who knew? According to the article, the 28 windmills will be spread more than four miles across the ridgeline of Mars Hill. Each stands 262 feet tall at the hub, with three 115-foot-long blades sticking out.

I'm thinking road trip to see this.

maine