It'll be 77 degrees today, 1/6/07.  It's nice and all, but frightening.

Now excuse me, I am off to the pool to sun-bathe.

It's great that Wal-Mart wants to sell 100,000,000 Compact Flourescent lightbulbs, but until they overhaul their entire "Destroy the working class to make a dozen billionaires" business model, there is no excuse to ever give them a cent.

You can buy your CFs anywhere.  Don't believe the Wipe.

that I can get at Home Depot.  They come in different colors - the "warm" color is very close to the color of light given off by an incandescent bulb.

I haven't used the n:vision bulbs long enough to say much about the lifetime of the things - so far so good though.

For linking me.  I'm going out to buy An Inconvenient Truth today or tomorrow (I've still YET to see it). 

This issue is so important, it can't be overemphasized.

I gave one to each of my sons for Christmas, and since I hadn't seen it either, put one in my husband's stocking as well!  I hope that our local committee can use it in conjunction with a speaker for some type of small dollar fundraiser and make a fun evening out of the event, too.

As for those n:vision bulbs you referred to--try Lowe's instead of HD if they have it.  I say this because Lowe's is supposed to be a lot more friendly to Dems and HD is known as a big Republican contributor.  I try to support Blue Businesses when possible.

In general, we should all try as much as possible to patronize companies that do not exploit their workers and do not trash the environment.  But the bottom line is that we all need to crank up our efforts towards reducing our energy consumption.  A few more ideas taken from Al Gore's "climate crisis" website:

Install a programmable thermostat
Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
Look for the Energy Star label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models. If each household in the U.S. replaced its existing appliances with the most efficient models available, we’d eliminate 175 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year!

Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket
You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the thermostat no higher than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500

Unplug electronics from the wall when you’re not using them
Even when turned off, things like hairdryers, cell phone chargers and televisions use energy. In fact, the energy used to keep display clocks lit and memory chips working accounts for 5 percent of total domestic energy consumption and spews 18 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere every year!

There's lots more, and it's really easy.  Improving energy efficiency is the lowest of the "low hanging fruit."  So, let's start picking it! :)

I saw Incon Truth in the movie theatre when first issued. Absolutely essential that everyone see it. I suggest having a party at your house, invite friends and neighbors (especially those who are doubters), serve drinks and chow, and show the movie. While I did get a little tired of seeing Al Gore trundle his suitcase through airports, and wished the movie editors had found some other way to present a transition, it is still one of the most important, convincing, frightening movies I have ever seen.

There was something in the news yesterday where Obama was pushing a CTL (Coal to liquids) plan.  Essentially a way of chemically converting coal into a liquid fuel that can be used for transportation.

http://www.greencarc...

My main beef with all CTL proposals is that they don't address global warming at all.  It is a last-ditch effort to maintain the status quo.

I have to admit that my opinion of Obama just went down about 4 or 5 notches.

It's not a great option, but at this point we need to try EVERYTHING. Coal to fuel, solar, wind, ethanol, biofuels, electric cars, Nuclear (Yes Nuclear), HYBRIDS HYBRIDS HYBRIDS.

If you have extra time, then after watching an Inconvenient Truth, I highly reccomend reading "Big Coal" by Jeff Goodell (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).  Its a passionate treatment of the countless social and environmental abuses of the coal industry.  Its divided into three sections:  "the Dig" (environmental effects of mountaintop removal, corporate abuse and disregard for coal miners, and cultural and social effects of over a century of coal's stranglehold on the Appalachian economy), "the Burn" (various adverse health effects from coal mining and pollution from coal-fired power plants), and "the Heat" (Global Warming).

I was particularly impressed that, unlike so many environmentalists, Goodell had a great deal of respect for Appalachian people and others who have no real economic choice but to mine, as well as for the industrial history of the country, even while calling the coal industry out on its unconscionable environmental AND ECONOMIC short-sightedness. 

On liquified coal plants, it seems that they release significantly less carbon into the air, which is great, but they enable another generation of coal plants to be built in lieu of focusing on alternative energy sources.  They're better than nothing, but the most important thing is for individuals to get engaged on this issue.  Stopping global warming is like winning back Congress - it has to come from the grassroots. 

everyone has taken note of the (2) asinine comments I've gotten from the "doubters" on this.  It really sickens me that this is (for whatever reason) a R vs. D issue.

Have you noticed how the Republican party is cooking down to a religion, or cult?  There isn't reasoned discussion, or questioning of the party line, only Belief.  The last to leave re-branded themselves as "libertarian". The remainder are down in the bunker, tuned into Rush, Michelle, O'raly, Grover, or Karl -  chanting in sync. Science or complicated ideas don't fit into their orthodox. Better just to memorize the words of the leadership and repeat endlessly. Global climate change doesn't exist, global climate change doesn't exist, global climate change...

Go checkout the inane comment left to this post on Vivian's blog.  I love how ridiculous they love to make themselves look by saying stupid things such as "well it's snowing in Colorado, but nevermind that FACT, hippy tree hugging liberals blah blah blah..."  how A.S.I.N.I.N.E!!!!!!