These are cloudy hills just below the entrance to Yerba Loca, a natural sanctuary located to the NW of Santiago.

Ozette Petroglyphs

For years according to the accounts of the white trader, John Hancock, the Makah people believed that the white man put smallpox in bottles and buried it in the sand (see Indians of the Pacific Northwest by Robert Ruby and John Brown). The Makah people were often in conflict with the imposing whites from the arrival through at least the 1860s.

This photograph is of a coastal stone petroglyph seen on the shores of the Ozette Triangle of the Olympic Peninsula also referred to as Wedding Rocks. The white man's ship is directly aimed at a fertility symbol. The photograph seems to suggest the threatening nature of the arrival of the whites on the beautiful coasts of the Northwest. Another site offers this explanation created by Daniel Leen: "According to a nautical historian, this sailing "ship" is actually a "hermaphrodite brig", a sailing vessel with square sails on the main mast, and fore-and-aft gaff rigged sails on the mizzen mast (Ellison 1977). A vessel of this rig was constructed at Nootka Sound by John Meares in 1788 and subsequently used to trade along the west coast, the first of its kind to be built on the Northwest Coast."

SMUD Announces Feed-In Tariff

SMUD Announces "Feed-in Tariffs"-- But Can Program Deliver as Promised? - Renewable Energy World

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Climate Change Deniers - Deny This! 5 Stages of Grief.

Climate change deniers still make the same obsolete arguments against climate change. Their coverage is everywhere (except respectable science journals) and nobody has to point you to it.

Now it seems as though they are still in the first of the five stages of grief: #1 Denial.

My favourite thing to point them to (which if isn't enough then I give up on logic) is this handy pdf from the Climate and Energy Project (CEP). If they have any cells at all in their noggins, they'll consider listening to some of the highly respected individuals at these organizations.

I just hope we aren't going through all five stages of grief. If the second stage (#2 Anger) is the next one then that whole wars of resources thing terrifies me. Maybe that was what 9-11 was all about or maybe anger will be like the resource wars suggested in books by Michael Klare. Or perhaps we're already to the third stage (#3 Bargaining); and if so, the ACES bill will likely lead us into the fourth stage (#4 Depression) in its current form.

From that low point, we have one of several routes to the last stage: #5 Acceptance. Either we accept the science and act drastically to prevent and adapt to climate change to the best of our capabilities, or we accept our fate, succomb to it and return to denying. Or best yet, it will be the return of the grievous angel.

Green The Block

A new campaign announced yesterday from Green for All and the Hip Hop Caucus will target pollution and poverty. According to the website, the Green The Block campaign will have the following mission:

"Green The Block seeks to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color have the resources and platforms needed to access the benefits and opportunities of the growing clean-energy economy. The four pillars of the Green The Block campaign are:

• Education and awareness
• Legislative advocacy
• Youth activism
• Private-sector development"

In my view, efforts such as this, based on both justice and sustainability, will be the most worthy and valuable resources for all types of communities united in battling the environmental and economic problems of the times. I hope that the clean energy industry is ready to partner with coalitions like Green for All and the Hip Hop Caucus, so the best of both worlds can be shared. Best of luck Green the Block folks!

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Volcán Lanín in Patagonia

This is a dormant volcano on the border of Chile and Argentina in beautiful Patagonia.

California's Adaptation Strategy

California is particularly vulnerable to climate change given its long coast and wide range of ecosystems and natural resources. This adaptation plan is a long-time coming, especially with the focus everywhere on mitigation of climate change. We are already seeing the effects of climate change and we need to plan our defense accordingly. I for one hope that other states follow suit soon.

Edward Markey raps lobbying group on forgeries - Chris Frates - POLITICO.com

Edward Markey raps lobbying group on forgeries - Chris Frates - POLITICO.com

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Mr. Energy Efficiency

I just got another notice for some sort of "look at me, I'm a hero of sustainability" awards nomination deal. What's up with all of these? Yes, let's pat ourselves for a job well-started. But let's also remember that the hole we're digging ourselves in collectively is still growing. Perhaps we shouldn't get too carried away with these awards. We can celebrate each other more later if we're lucky.

Seattle Sky

Fossil Fuel Funding Under Allowances of HR 2554

The World Resources Institute's John Larsen has shown the breakdown for allowances distributed under HR 2554 (the energy/climate bill recently passed by the US House) in this cool graph.

Several recipient categories apply. Most seem worthy of funding (eg $ to low income families, $ to customers of utility enegy programs , etc). However, the yellow portrays what is freely given to the coal and petroleum industries. Why should they get any free allowances, especially this huge amount through at least 2026? Climate change is calling for drastic action to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the fossil fuel industry. This is not the dramatic action science is calling for. I still think it's probably better than nothing though.

Local News | New strategy to save forests: logging | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | New strategy to save forests: logging | Seattle Times Newspaper

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A lonesome horse in the foothills of Los Andes at Parque Yierba Loca, Chile.

Big Sur coast, California.

The Ozette Triangle, Olympic Peninsula coast.

Us and Them - The Melting Game

Scientists, lawyers, activists and policymakers hear the call. The US President, a majority of the US House of Representatives, many senators and governors across the country claim to trust in the massive, irrefutable evidence. Numerous city mayors and other local leaders have been working hard for several years on the issue and believe in addressing it passionately. Other presidents and prime ministers of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe want to join together and act in response to the devastating effects climate change will very likely wreak on us all. And a global poll reports that the majority of countries in the world wants political leaders to put more emphasis on climate change; in fact "move it to the top of the agenda," they say.

But others have always been melting in their thinking...

Two key players here at home seem out of touch: most US Republican Senators and Congressmen and 56% of the US public. Without raising support in these two groups, climate change mitigation efforts will not be running at their full capacity. The lack of effort on our own soil and the wide misunderstanding of the issue has already taken away from our time --perhaps all the time we have. If we are to have a chance, though, we must act quickly and as a people conscious of what our global leaders have passed down to us.

The only climate change bill that has stood a chance of passing in Congress was supported by a mere eight Republican representatives. Republicans and their dirty pundits and thinktanks have continuously supported false claims about climate realities, scientific consensus on anthropogenic causes, and mitigation options. The funding of conservative thinktanks and other climate deniers has often come from the fossil fuel industry.

And a recent poll suggests that over 50% of the US public may not be fully aware of the implications of what they are thinking or just plain don't care. If the former is true, then the other half of Americans in the know must talk to their neighbors and coordinate an Obama-like and Obama-supported campaign to fight this thing with all we have.

If the latter is true, then I hope those in the way, melt first.

Sammish Bay Seastar along the Chuckanut Coast

Sammish Bay Seastar along the Chuckanut Coast

NOAA: Two Greenhouse Gases Continued to Rise in 2008