Does Mother Nature have the capacity to heal herself?

I am attempting to research the possibility that the earth's closed environment can self correct itself through the usage of weather and sea level. If you have seen scientific articles that deal with this subject please let me know.

Thanks!

Whats up with the Entrecard toolbar?

The last couple of days while I have been doing my daily drops I noticed something strange. I usually use the Entrecard toolbar in Firefox and open a bunch of favorites in tabs by clicking the double green arrow button. Yesterday when I did this the blogs that opened up where not my favorites. Very strange.

Today the same thing happened so I selected Inbox from the first drop down and newest from the second drop down box. I checked the blog that loaded to the newest dropper at the Entrecard web site. Guess what. They were NOT the same blog.

So my question to you, loyal reader [or random Entrecard dropper who is just surfing by on your way to 300 drops and taking time to read this post (not that there is anything wrong with making 300 drops or blowing by a blog that you have no interest in reading)], is: are you experiencing the same problem?

Picking out a new tree

With all the carnage [neighbors cutting down trees] in recent weeks, the privacy that I use to enjoy in my back yard has been greatly reduced. Admittedly I have contributed to the destruction to a lessor extent but I plan to redeem myself a little bit by planting at least one tree near the property line in order to get some privacy back.

So I'm trying to decide what type of tree(s) I should purchase for planting. I'm really considering evergreens because of the screening that they would provide. The second type that I'm considering is an ornamental variety so they won't grow to large and overhang the house thus becoming a potential hazard.

I will need to take the cost into consideration as finances this year have been challenging.

The new bike

My son decided that he wanted a new bike. So badly did he want this new bike he was willing to raid his savings account to purchase it. His old bike is [we still have it] a mountain bike. Nothing special. It cost about $125.00 at Meijer about three years ago.

He got the itch for a new bike while riding with some buddies. Of course they had pretty nice road bikes that flew down the street. So off to shop for a road bike we went. We were thinking of spending between $300 and $400 but none of the bike shops had a road bike in that range. After some conversation we were shown a Jamis "street" bike. The handle bars are similar to a mountain bike but the wheels are pretty skinny like a road bike.

We took it for a test ride. First him then me. It rode very nice and the components worked well. But the cost was about $200 more than he had hoped to pay. I agreed to float him a loan for the $200 extra that was needed to make the purchase. The benefit to me is now he will ride the bike to his high school soccer practice with his friends and I won't need to fire up the car's engine and create more CO2.

Yard work guilt

On Saturday I spent several hours mowing, cutting up a fallen tree and pruning several other trees on my property. As I was working in the back of my mind I was feeling guilty. Not for cutting up the fallen tree [it had fallen during a storm last fall but it was out of site out of mind]. Guilty because of the pruning, which would have little impact on the planet's greenhouse gas levels, and because the pruning turned into the act of cutting down a small tree. As you may know when a tree is cut down all the CO2 that it had been storing is returned, over time, to the atmosphere.

The tree was technically on my neighbor's property but 99% of it over hung my property and it was going to overhang my house if I let it continue to grow. In addition to the small tree I trimmed several trees whose branches hung low to the ground. The yard looks better but is that Mother Nature glaring down on me? Am I a hypocrite?

The high cost of gas = physically fit

Two of my childhood friends stopped by my house over the weekend. As we caught up on each others lives Tom said that he was losing quite a bit of weight. He attributed the weight lose to riding his bike more.

I asked him why he was riding more. Thinking that there was an environmental angle to follow. I was right. He said he was trying to save money because of the high cost of gas and the additional benefit was shedding some poundage.

Coincidentally I have working on a thesis that basically amounts to the high gas prices are an opportunity for Americans to not only become better stewards of Mother Earth's assets but for us to become a healthier nation buy doing more walking and bicycle riding.

Entrecard's toolbar for Firefox

I saw the post from Entrecard today regarding their new toolbar for Firefox. So I thought that I would give it a try.

First of all you need Firefox version 3. Luckily I had upgraded last month. The install was quick, as usual for a Firefox plugin, and required a reboot of Firefox. I logged into Entrecard right from the toolbar and started visiting blogs from my Inbox. I think this will speed up my dropping quite a bit.

My current credits and drops are shown next to my blog's name. I can switch between blogs by just picking from a drop down.

My assessment: Wow! Great job guys!

Pickens' Energy Plan - Wonderful or Worrisome

T. Boone Pickens, the wealthy Texas oil man, has a plan to reduce or eliminate America's dependence on foreign oil. Perhaps you have seen the ads that he is running on TV. Pickens is estimated to be worth $3 billion, which according to Forbes makes him the 117th richest person in America.

The plan sounds wonderful. It moves America's oil dependent energy usage to wind power and natural gas. The plan compares United States wind power potential to Saudi Arabia's oil production. "The United States is the Saudi Arabia of wind power." The plan that is touted online is basically an overview and doesn't delve into specifics like how the energy will be transported from the wind farms to the consumer. Or how all of the current gas stations will be converted to natural gas dispensers. Not minor details for sure.

The worrisome parts of Pickens' Plan are the potential destruction of native floral and fauna while constructing the massive wind farms and transmision lines and that Mr. Pickens has a substatial investment in wind power that dates back to at least June 2007 when he announced that intended to build the world's largest wind farm.

In an August 2007 Electric Reliability Council of Texas filing, Pickens indicated that his project would be 200,000 acres and consist of 2,700 turbines.

Opportunity for America due to high gas prices - part 1

I believe that the high price of gas is an opportunity for Americans to become better stewards of the environment. And a wake-up call that we are not the only nation with large energy needs. We can also use the cost of gas as a reason to become a more healthy nation.

Better Stewards

As we drive back and forth to work, school and/or grocery stores in our behemoth vehicles that consume gas like a college student at an all you can eat buffet, we need to realize that we are killing the planet and ultimately ourselves. The green house gases that are created by our beloved vehicles are large contributors to global warming.

It is time to reduce the amount of gas that we use daily.

• Drive less - consolidate trips, walk or ride a bike
  
• Drive more fuel efficiently - Stop driving aggressively
  
• Drive a fuel efficient vehicle - If you are able to, purchase a hybrid vehicle
  

New Design

Ok the new design is up and running. I need to add back on some of the modifications that the old design had. I found this template at EBlog Templates. By tomorrow I should be back on track and posting interesting environmental information and theories.

This is actually the second template that I've installed today. I liked the first one but this one is so much cooler and it presents itself without problems unlike the first one.

Coming soon a new design

I figure that if I'm going to change the direction of this blog I might as well change the design while I'm at it. Unfortunately, that means that I will have to figure out what modifications I have made to the template so I can have the same information displayed and collected.

Some examples are Google Analytics, Feedburner, and SocialSpark. I think I will start a log for each of my blogs that will detail the modifications that I make to the templates. So that way if I need to change templates I will know for sure what changes I will need to add to the new template without looking through the code to find those changes.

Does anyone else keep a log like this? Just curious.

CO2 Scrubbing

There is a company in Arizona called Global Research Technologies [GRT] that is experimenting with scrubbing CO2 from the air with "Atmospheric Carbon CapturE SystemS" or ACCESS. This system consists of plastic "leaves" that collect CO2 similar to a tree collecting CO2. With the ACCESS system the CO2 is stored until it is either sequestered underground or sold to the energy or agricultural sectors.

A 9 foot by 4 foot ACCESS unit is capable of removing 50 lbs of CO2 per day. A representative from GRT has indicated that a unit the size of the Great Wall of China that was working at 100% efficency would capture half of the world's CO2 emissions.

New Direction

Effective today this blog's new purpose is to rant about environmental issues and create a voice for my environmental theories.

Last week the area in which I live suffered Mother Nature's wrath. There were severe thunderstorms that knocked out power to over 100,000 homes. It took days to get power restored. While driving around over the holiday [4th of July for those of you not in the United States] weekend the sound of chainsaws filled the air. It occurred to me that not only were downed trees being cut up for removal but people were cutting down trees that were not damaged in the storm.

The tree trimming/removal business was booming but at the expense of the wondrous carbon reducing flora. Huge trees were coming down and all of the carbon that they had been storing for years will begin reentering the atmosphere. Like the trees that were in the path of Hurricane Katrina. In that extreme case the carbon reentering the atmosphere equaled 60 to 100 percent of the carbon that is taken out of the atmosphere annually by trees in the United States.

Obviously the impact on global warming from the storm in my neck of the woods will not be as huge as Hurricane Katrina but it does not help in the least.

Plant some trees!

Denied

This blog was denied by Social Spark. It was due to lack of content. So I guess I need to increase my content production ASAP. I have reached a road block with my stories. I sure didn't get very far.

So my dilemma is should I try to remove the road block or should I take this blog in a new direction.

Suggestions anyone?

The Jabberwock's background

His name is Ohmlod. He is a powerful creature capable of ripping limbs from a man's body. Ohmlod is intelligent, smarter than some men. He has an even temper and is difficult to provoke.

Ohmlod believes that he is part human but doesn't know why he is so different from mankind. He has lived for nearly 200 years in a post apocalyptic world.

CentSports wagering contest

Ok this is a little off topic but I thought that I would share with everyone a sports wagering contest that is being held by a sister blog. Just follow the link for more information. You could win actual cash. The amount is unknown at this time but more participants means more money. As of right now there are three people vying to win the prize.

Updated background on the Jabberwock

^ He was once known as Ohmlod and was considered a myrmidon for the government, fighting injustice. Of course he was not a Thessalian as the reference to being a myrmidon might lead one to believe. He would be ancient if he was. But he was incredibly loyal to the government until the regime change that brought corrupt leaders that demanded his fealty. ^