Simon

The former unknown Alaskan Governor who is now running mate with John McCain and, maybe, soon even Vice President of the USA has been awarded the 2008 Rubber Dodo Award. It is the Center for Biological Diversity that this year gives their unflattering Dodo Award to Sarah Palin. Why? Because she "has sought to remove endangered species act protection for the polar bear, suppressed and lied about state global warming studies, and denied that global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions." "Governor Palin has waged a deceptive, dangerous, and costly battle against the polar bear" said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Her position on global warming is so extreme, she makes Dick Cheney look like an Al Gore devotee." "All global warming deniers are eventually forced to suppress scientific studies, and Palin is no different," said Suckling. "To maintain her ludicrous opposition to protecting the polar bear in the face of massive scientific consensus, Palin stepped over the line to lie about and suppress government science." "Palin's insistence that Arctic melting is 'uncertain' is like someone debating the theory of gravity as they plunge off a cliff," said Suckling. "It's hopeless, reckless, and extremely cynical." You can read more about the award and why the Center for Biological Diversity gave the award to Sarah Palin here. The Guardian has even more shocking news about Sarah Palin and her fight against polar bears. They reveal that Sarah Palin got help from known climate change deniers and the oil company ExxonMobil "to back efforts to stop polar bears being protected as an endangered species." "In official submissions to the US government's consultation on the status of the polar bear, Palin and her team referred to at least six scientists who have questioned either the existence of warming as a largely man-made phenomenon or its severity. One paper was partly funded by the US oil company ExxonMobil." Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace US, says that this "shows that she is completely out of touch with the urgency of the climate crisis." Tonight is Sarah Palin's big debate night against the Democratic Vice President candidate Joe Biden. If you want to know more about the two candidates’s stances when it comes to the environment we got all you need to know: Sarah Palin's awful environmental record and why the League of Conservation Voters Hails Joe Biden.

"Europe, it's time to lead" and "keep global warming below 2°C". That is what a new campaign from Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and the Climate Action Network Europe is demanding. And they want you to help put pressure on your MEPs to take action now, before it's too late. ">" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="349"> Who will answer the call in Europe?

Tangent, who mainly provides computer solutions to education, government, corporate, and healthcare markets, have announced Evergreen 17, a "green" and "ultra power efficient" touch screen PC. According to Tangent the Evergreen 17 only consumes 24 watts, which is 72% less than the Energy Star 4.0 rating requires. "Not only do users experience computing with a touch screen LCD in a space-saving form factor, they also get industry leading power efficiency at 24 watts and 72% less energy usage than Energy Star 4.0 limits," said Douglas Monsour, Tangent's President. "This translates into cost-savings while, at the same time, helping the environment." The Evergreen 17 comes with the Via Eden 1.0 GHz (fan-less) processor or the ViaC7 1.50 GHz (low noise fan), hard drive capacity from 60GB to 250GB and up to 2GB RAM memory. Each Evergreen 17 is equipped with a high brightness TFT panel and resistive touch. It weighs15.8 lbs. and is only 2.25 inches in depth. The operating system is either Windows XP Professional (or Windows XP Embedded for server and web-based computing) or a Linux operating system. The Evergreen 17 starts at $1,195 and comes with a one-year parts and labor warranty. The computer is available now over at www.tangent.com.

DAVOS/SWITZERLAND, 30JAN05 - Al Gore at the Annual Meeting 2005 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 30, 2005. Photo by Severin Nowacki. Last week, during the Clinton Global Initiative, Al Gore encouraged young people to use civil disobedience to stop the construction of CO2 emitting coal plants. "If you're a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration." Countries around the world are investing money into new coal plants while ignoring their obvious threat to our climate and environment. For example, about 28 coal plants are under construction while 20 other projects "have permits or are near the start of construction" in USA alone. None of these coal plants have any carbon capture or sequestration. In fact there is not a single commercial-scale project that does this anywhere in the world. And probably there will never be any at all. Al Gore most likely found it safe to urge for civil disobedience after the "landmark global warming trial" in UK two weeks ago. Either way, having a politician like Al Gore encouraging people to take direct non-violent action against CO2 emitting coal plants really show us how deep into trouble we are when it comes to climate change. But then I have to ask myself. Why just young people Al Gore? And wouldn't it send a powerful message around the world if you yourself took part in these actions?