Think Bigg

I’m about to retract my earlier post on TerraPass.

Though I support the idea of living carbon-neutral, I’m beginning to question the merits of handing out wads of cash to companies who may or may not know what to do with it. With the entire world now focused on pursuing alternative energy solutions, are the business school founders of TerraPass going to determine accurately the highest and best use of my funds?

Here’s an alternative that seems to balance the scales more directly: Trees for the Future.

Trees for the Future began in the 1970s, planting trees throughout the world. Nearly 20 years later, the group claims credit for the planting of over 50 million trees!

Not only does planting a tree work directly to sequester the atmosphere’s excess carbon dioxide, planting trees carries the added benefit of keeping people productive on their lands, and preserving their traditional livelihoods and cultures for generations to come.

Here’s my suggestion:

1. Use the super-slick TerraPass website to calcuate your carbon emissions for any given activity.

2. Once you’ve determined how much carbon you’ve released, head over to Trees for the Future and purchase a Tree Planting Certificate to offset the offending activity. Not only will you sequester enough carbon in one year to balance out your carbon emissions, your tree will continue to pull CO2 out of the air for years to come!

At a cost of just $.10 per tree, it’s hard to imagine an activity that provides a bigger bang for the buck. Trees are not exactly a high tech solution, but perhaps a little less tech and a little more nature is the antidote we need most.

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You may have seen this via some email chain that’s been going around, but just in case you missed it, there has been a rather alarming recall on many respected brands of pet food.

According to CNN.com,

Menu Foods — a major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands — recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, the company said in announcing the North American recall.

The recall covers the company’s “cuts and gravy” style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between December 3 and March 6 throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Procter & Gamble announced Friday the recall of specific 3 oz., 5.5 oz., 6 oz. and 13.2 oz. canned and 3 oz. and 5.3 oz. foil pouch cat and dog wet food products made by Menu Foods but sold under the Iams and Eukanuba brands. The recalled products bear the code dates of 6339 through 7073 followed by the plant code 4197, P&G said.

Please check your pet’s food and discontinue use if you are using any of these recalled brands:

Recalled cat foods

Americas Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Best Choice; Companion; Compliments; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat, Shep Dog; Food Lion; Foodtown; Giant Companion; Good n Meaty; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Li’l Red; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Nutriplan; Nutro Max Gourmet Classics; Nutro Natural Choice; Paws; Presidents Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Sophistacat; Special Kitty; Springfield Pride; Sprout; Total Pet; My True Friend; Wegmans; Western Family; White Rose; and Winn Dixie.

Recalled dog foods

America’s Choice; Preferred Pets; Authority; Award; Best Choice; Big Bet; Big Red; Bloom; Bruiser; Cadillac; Companion; Demoulas Market Basket; Fine Feline Cat; Shep Dog; Food Lion; Giant Companion; Great Choice; Hannaford; Hill Country Fare; Hy-Vee; Key Food; Laura Lynn; Loving Meals; Main Choice; Mixables; Nutriplan; Nutro Max; Nutro Natural Choice; Nutro; Ol’Roy; Paws; Pet Essentials; Pet Pride; President’s Choice; Price Chopper; Priority; Publix; Roche Bros; Save-A-Lot; Schnucks; Springsfield Pride; Sprout; Stater Bros; Total Pet; My True Friend; Western Family; White Rose; Winn Dixie and Your Pet.

Menu Brands lists the brands on its Web site, www.menufoods.com, and advises consumers to call 1-866-895-2708 for more information.

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Despite his recent drop in Britain’s popularity polls (or perhaps because of it), Tony Blair seems determined to leave a political legacy that goes beyond just the war in Iraq.

According to the NY Times,

As nations and politicians in many parts of Europe compete to burnish their green credentials, Britain on Tuesday became the first national government to propose binding laws enforcing a steep cut in carbon emissions, in this case a 60 percent decrease by 2050.

If approved, the draft Climate Change Bill could affect many Britons in many ways. Officials might be summoned to appear before judges for failing to meet targets, households could be pressed to switch to low-energy light bulbs and install home insulation, and manufacturers could be asked to build TV sets without standby modes that consume energy when the devices are not in use.

The British draft law was announced only days after the European Union committed itself to a 20 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2020, but Britain went far beyond that target, setting for itself a reduction of 26 to 32 percent in the same time frame.

Perhaps President Bush will take a page from Prime Minister Blair’s playbook on this one? We can only hope.

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I don’t often find myself on the same side of an issue as Senator Bill Frist, so when it does happen, it’s probably worth passing along to you!

I received an email today through the Save Darfur Coalition from Senator Frist, encouraging me to call the White House to launch “Plan B” to stop the genocide in Sudan.

Here is an excerpt:

Due to a series of increasingly violent attacks on foreign aid workers in Darfur over the past six months, international efforts to protect civilians and provide them with food, clean water, shelter, and medical care are in a state of crisis.

Please join me in calling the White House comment line today to urge President Bush to launch “Plan B,” his tough, three-tiered plan to push Sudan to end the genocide, before more lives are lost in Darfur.

Simply follow these steps to make your voice heard:

1. Dial 1-800-671-7887 (toll-free)
2. Once you’ve been transferred to the comment line leave your comment using the talking points below:

I’m calling to urge President Bush to implement “Plan B” to help bring an end to the genocide in Darfur. Specifically, I am asking him to:

Enforce tough sanctions against Sudan;
Work with the UN to authorize and enforce a no-fly zone over Darfur to protect civilians from Sudanese bombers; and
Press the UN for faster deployment of UN peacekeepers to protect civilians in Darfur.

3. Click here to report your call back to the Save Darfur Coalition (this step is crucial - please don’t skip it!

Let’s be thankful we live in a country where we have the freedom to voice our opinions, and call the White House comment line today! Certainly the people of Darfur deserve no less.

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Curious about what FEMA employees might do at their desks when they’re supposed to be working?

Check out Stop Disasters — a funny little game developed by the United Nations and the ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster Reduction) to highlight the issues involved in disaster relief around the world.

The game sets up a virtual community just minutes before a disaster scenario — a wildfire, tsunami, earthquake or hurricane — and gives you fifteen minutes to set up defenses, build hospitals and implement evacuation scenarios before disaster hits.

My tsunami disaster resulted in 62 dead and 62 injured. Not quite as bad as a real disaster, perhaps, but with limited funds and limited time, it was impossible to save everyone.

On second thought, perhaps the sim-tsunami isn’t that different from a real disaster, after all.

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