Simon

July last month could have been better for the French nuclear industry. Several accidents occurred at the French nuclear site Tricastin-Pierrelatte. Now Greenpeace in France has launched two court cases in an "effort to find out what’s really been going on" at the nuclear plant. "We're suing French power company Areva and its subsidiary company Socatri for causing water pollution, and for the abandonment and illegal deposit of waste. Our aim is to bring into the public eye the circumstances that led to these problems and expose the terrible safety record of the nuclear industry." Here is what the public in France knows so far about the nuclear incidents: On July 7, 11PM, over 74 kilos of uranium is leaked into the environment from Tricastin. Eight hours later the authorities are informed. July 8, 1PM, Restrictions on fishing, bathing and drinking local water are introduced 14 hours after the accident. July 17, investigation of the leak reveals that there is more radioactivity present than the leak could have caused. Further investigation suggests that the military, who stored radioactive material at the site underground without proper containment in the 60’s and 70’s could be to blame. July 23, a leaking pipe results in 100 workers being exposed to radioactive particles from a leaking pipe. July 29, a false alarm results in 120 workers being evacuated, tests show that 45 employees have traces of radiation on them from the previous weeks’ leak. When the first incident came to light the French police launched an investigation. Tests of the ground water at all nuclear power facilities have also been ordered by the French Environment Minister.

The Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama has released his "New Energy for America" plan. If elected some of the things in his plan are 10% renewables by 2012, one million plug-ins by 2015 and energy efficiency now. John McCain’s energy plan in comparison is, let’s say, a bit weaker. He is all about nuclear energy, a $300 million battery prize, nothing on energy efficiency and an opposition to clean renewable energy. Here are some of the energy plans Barack Obama has for America: Increase Fuel Economy Standards Obama will increase fuel economy standards 4 percent per each year. The plan is expected to save nearly a half trillion gallons of gasoline and keep 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases away from our atmosphere. Invest in Developing Advanced Vehicles and Put 1 Million Plugin Electric Vehicles on the Road Obama wants to invest in “advanced vehicle technology with a specific focus on R&D in advanced battery technology” so that 1 million plug-in hybrid/flexible fuel vehicles, "which can get over 150 miles per gallon of gas," could get on the roads by 2015. To help American consumers switch over to the more eco-friendly cars Obama will "provide a $7,000 tax credit for the purchase of advanced technology vehicles as well as conversion tax credits." Mandate All New Vehicles are Flexible Fuel Vehicles "Obama will work with Congress and auto companies to ensure that all new vehicles have FFV capability – the capability by the end of his first term in office". With alternative fuel Obama means "sustainably produced biofuels." Develop the Next Generation of Sustainable Biofuels and Infrastructure Besides making all new vehicles have FFV capability Obama will require at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels "are developed and incorporated into our national supply" by 2030. A sustainability provision will ensure that increased biofuels production does not come at the expense of environmental conservation. This sustainability provision will come from Obama's plans to Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard. "The standard requires fuels suppliers in 2010 to begin to reduce the carbon of their fuel by 5 percent within 5 years and 10 percent within 10 years". Deploy the Cheapest, Cleanest, Fastest Energy Source -- Energy Efficiency Obama wants to reduce electricity demand by 15 percent by using the energy generated more efficiently. It is expected that this "will save consumers a total of $130 billion, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 5 billion tons through 2030, and create jobs". Related to this Obama will Set National Building Efficiency Goals. The goal is to make all new buildings carbon neutral, or produce zero emissions, by 2030. "He'll also establish a national goal of improving new building efficiency by 50 percent and existing building efficiency by 25 percent over the next decade to help us meet the 2030 goal". "The current Department of Energy has missed 34 deadlines for setting updated appliance efficiency standards, which has cost American consumers millions of dollars in unrealized energy savings." That is why Obama will, if elected, Overhaul Federal Efficiency Standards. Invest in a Smart Grid This is, just like it says, smart. "Obama will pursue a major investment in our national utility grid using smart metering, distributed storage and other advanced technologies to accommodate 21st century energy requirements: greatly improved electric grid reliability and security, a tremendous increase in renewable generation and greater customer choice and energy affordability". Require 10 Percent of Electricity to Come from Renewable Sources by 2012 Obama will "require that 10 percent of electricity consumed in the U.S. is derived from clean, sustainable energy sources, like solar, wind and geothermal by 2012," and 25% by 2025. Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology Unfortunately Obama hasn't ditched the "clean coal" lie yet. Safe and Secure Nuclear Energy Obama wants "key issues" like security of nuclear fuel and waste, waste storage, and proliferation to be addressed before "an expansion of nuclear power is considered." If elected "Obama will make safeguarding nuclear material both abroad and in the U.S. a top anti-terrorism priority. In terms of waste storage, Obama does not believe that Yucca Mountain is a suitable site. He will lead federal efforts to look for safe, long-term disposal solutions based on objective, scientific analysis". And last but not least Obama will Implement Cap and Trade Program to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. "Barack Obama supports implementation of an economy-wide cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. This market mechanism has worked before and will give all American consumers and businesses the incentives to use their ingenuity to develop economically effective solutions to climate change. Obama's cap-and-trade policy will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all industries pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these valuable emission rights away to companies on the basis of their past pollution. A small portion of the receipts generated by auctioning allowances ($15 billion per year) will be used to support the development of clean energy, invest in energy efficiency improvements, and help develop the next generation of biofuels and clean energy vehicles – measures that will help the economy and help meet the emissions reduction targets". These are just some of the plans from Barack Obama's energy plan for America. You can read the full plan here (PDF).

The [re]Drive from SimpleTech is an eco-friendly external hard drive that would look great by the side of the new Studio Hybrid from Dell, or by any computer for that matter. The [re]Drive is Energy Star Level 4 qualified and uses 30% less energy than other non Energy Star drives. The external hard drive is made and designed using recyclable aluminium and bamboo. According to the makers the packaging also comes from recyclable materials. The external hard drive automatically powers on or off with your computer. It offers 500GB of storage capacity and 2GB free online. It works on both Macs and PCs and costs from around $200.

There have been a lot of discussions about the high gas prices in USA the past months and what exactly should be done to curb this trend. Some politicians, like McCain, Bush, and Gingrich, are taking advantage of the situation and tries to push for the ending of a 27-year moratorium on offshore drilling along the coastlines of USA. But offshore drilling is not a "quick fix" and it won’t help to lower the gas prices. The only ones that will profit from this are Bush and McCain’s friends in the oil industry. While people are suffering from the high gas prices the oil companies are reporting record profits after record profits. Greenpeace has listed a bunch of reasons why offshore drilling is not the answer to high gas prices at the pump: "The United States burns 24 percent of the world's oil, yet we only have 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves. Even if we drilled every drop of oil the U.S. has on shore or off its coasts, we will never be able to drill our way to lower oil prices or energy security. We simply burn more than we could ever drill." "Offshore oil drilling is not a short-term fix. It would take at least a decade to bring new leases into production. And, it will be years before exploration could begin and years after that before production would start. If any effect were to be felt on gas prices (most likely only a few pennies per gallon), that effect is decades away." "Offering up more of our coastline for drilling won’t lower gas prices. Since President Bush took office in 2000, the number of wells in federally leased areas has increased exponentially, yet gas prices have doubled during that same time. Yet, this type of evidence is never mentioned in the media or by proponents for offshore drilling." "Another reason that drilling for more oil in the U.S. won’t result in lower gas prices is because oil prices are set on the global oil market. What this means is that all oil produced around the world is sold all at the same price. There is no guarantee that we would even be using the oil that was drilled here in the U.S. And, we certainly wouldn’t get a discount just because we drilled for it on U.S. soil. We would pay the same rate as the rest of the world." The only things that will lower the fuel prices, create more jobs, solve the climate crisis and fix this fragile economy is to invest in clean renewable energy sources, setting strict mpg standards for all automobiles and transform our current society to a sustainable one. Going green will fix many problems, one of them are high gas prices.

Earlier this May I reported that Dell was going to sell a "never before seen" eco-inspired computer with a bamboo casing later this year. We could also see an early design concept of the computer. And now Dell has released their brand new eco-friendly computer, the Studio Hybrid. It’s small and it looks great. According to Dell the Studio Hybrid is their "smallest, most personalized and most environmentally responsible consumer PC" to date. The computer is about 10% smaller than the average desktop minitower. It also uses up to 70% less energy and is Energy Star 4.0 compliant. "Our goal was to design a desktop that fits in the office or in the living room, or anywhere space is at a premium," said Michael Scheschuk, Dell desktop product marketing. "We've created a desktop PC category that combines style, performance and a high degree of energy efficiency." Dell has also designed the computers packaging to be more environmentally responsible: Reduced packing materials about 30 percent by weight as compared to typical tower desktops. Packing materials are also 95 percent recyclable. Reduced printed documentation 75 percent by weight on average as compared to typical tower desktops. System recycling kit is included. You also have the option to personalize the computer with six external "jewel-toned color bamboo sleeves." If you choose the more eco-friendly bamboo case it will unfortunately cost you $130 extra. The Dell Studio Hybrid starts at $499 and is available at www.dell.com/hybrid Has eco-friendly computers finally gone mainstream?

According to development economist Jeffrey Sachs the fight against climate change won't cost us more than 1% of global income per year, a sum that the world can afford. "If we look seriously at mitigation, it is not too expensive," he told a conference in Geneva on the humanitarian impact of climate change." "If we invested around $700 billion per year, we would be able to create a sustainable energy system." "The United States spent just $3 billion on sustainable energy last year - equal to 36 hours of spending by the Pentagon on defence, according to Sachs, who is director of the Earth Institute at New York's Columbia University." Jeffrey Sachs also criticised governments around the world for failing to live up to their promises to provide development aid and relief to poor people already affected by the effects of climate change, saying "how the rich world leaves the poor world to die is the biggest mistake on the planet."

31% of men believe climate change "is a myth invented by the hippies." At least that is the case if you take a look at the results from the 2008 great male survey from AskMen.com, one of the most comprehensive opinion polls of men ever conducted on the web. 31% might seem like a high number in the light of overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus in favour of man-made climate change. Luckily the majority are no climate change deniers as 69% the men asked are worried about the effects of global warming. Besides all the ordinary sport, movie, celebrity and TV questions the men who participated in the survey were actually asked a couple of serious questions. For example, if money wasn't a factor, 53% says they would buy an eco-friendly car to help the environment. 33% says "no, I would only buy an eco-friendly car to save on gas." And 14% don't see any reasons to buy an eco-friendly car at all. Even though we face a planetary climate crisis the number one issue which determines who the men will vote for in the upcoming election in USA is not climate change. 35% said the number one issue that matters the most for them is "economic stimulus." Sure, you could say that fixing the economy is the same as investing in green renewable energy, stopping pollutions and greenhouse gases etc. On second place Iraq came with 22% of the votes. After that taxes with 16% and then health care with 12% of the votes. Climate change shared the fifth place along with immigration with only 7% of the votes. Unfortunately we couldn’t compare these results to the great female survey. Because it seems the people behind AskMen.com are more interested in women’s sexuality and dating trends than women’s views on politics and climate change. Image credit: BeccaG. Image licensed under a Attribution-No Derivative Works license.

This 38-year old-video which shows a lion being reunited with his two childhood owners has already been seen by millions on video sites like YouTube. And now it has come to Green Blog (Yes, we are suckers for cute movies). The lion named Christian was bought from an exotic animals department in Harrods in 1969 by the two Australians John Rendall and Anthony Bourke for 250 guineas. They took him home and raised him in their flat. SkyNews reports: "The urban lion became a popular local figure in their London antiques shop, until he went from a manageable 35 pounds to 185 pounds, a year later. Christian was moved to the Kenyan wildlife sanctuary featured in the movie Born Free, and after a year living in the wild, was found by his former owners with a pride of his own. The 38-year-old video captures the emotional moment which shows the lion stalking towards the two men, until they call out his name." Watch the video: Christian left the Kora Reserve in 1973. He made his new territory along the Tana river, but when the Wakamba herdsmen kept bringing their livestock to his hunting ground, he moved on. George Adamson said in his autobiography: "I used to count the days on which we hadn't seen Christian, but when they reached 97, I gave up recording them in my diary." Because a lion can live from 12 to 15 years in the wild, Adamson believed that Christian ended his days in the Meru National Reserve only a few miles up river.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the largest labor unions in USA, has announced that they no longer support President Bush's platform for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. During a summit in California on "good jobs and clean air" Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa announced that their labor union is leaving the ANWR coalition. "We are not going to drill our way out of the energy problems we are facing—not here and not in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. We must find a long-term approach that breaks our dependence on foreign oil by investing in the development of alternate energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal power." Jim Hoffa also said that if the USA invests in green renewable energy it would "reap the benefits of curbing its dependence on oil through a revitalized economy with the creation of millions of new jobs in a rapidly growing industry". "Our economy is in shambles. Gas is climbing to $5 a gallon. The dollar has collapsed. Inflation is on the rise. Americans are seeing their paychecks shrink. Their family health care is being slashed. Finding a long-term solution has a tremendous upside. It will be environmentally friendly and will serve as a much-needed boost to our sagging economy."