Quote of the day -- on the and our future

Pushing the positive today

So frequently people announce that the news is "too negative" or they feel the world is just that.  As a brief solution today? Some good news. This from economist/author/professor/political commentator  Robert Reich and his Facebook page today:

Too often we forget how much social progress has been made in recent years, mainly because determined people have organized and mobilized for change. Some examples: 

(1) Despite its rocky start, the Affordable Care Act in January alone redistributed $34 billion in healthcare subsidies to low and middle-income families. Total healthcare spending (the main driver of the national debt) is now growing at the slowest rate since the creation of Medicare in 1965. 

(2) More solar power was installed in the United States last year than the previous 30 years combined, and the per unit cost of solar power is falling so rapidly it’s soon likely to drop below that of coal.

(3) Smoking (the leading preventable cause of death) is now barred in most workplaces, restaurants, office, and public facilities in the United States -- and the percent of Americans who smoke continues to decline.

(4) Gay marriage is now legal in 17 states and the District of Columbia -- and federal judges have ruled against bans in Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Virginia, and Texas.

(5) The rate of childhood obesity has dropped 43% over the last decade, and sales of sugary soft drinks and cereals have plummeted.

(6) Two states have legalized marijuana, and 20 others now allow it sale for medical purposes.

(7) America has its first black president, and seems very likely to have its first female president within a few years. 

I can only add to this list that, God willing, the same political party that gave us our first black president in the White House is just about to give us the first female president of the nation, in our next big election.

Or, barring that, Senator Bernie Sanders as our next President. Either way, it's a huge win for America and middle- and lower-class Americans.

Think happy thought, campers.

Have a great weekend.

Very cool thing coming out of Cape Girardeau this weekend

An electric car convention? In Cape Girardeau, Missouri?

Believe it:

Convention on electric cars set in Cape Girardeau

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — A convention designed to help people convert cars to run on electricity is scheduled this week in Cape Girardeau.

About 150 people are expected to attend the Electric Vehicle Conversion Convention, which runs Tuesday through Sunday. Organizers say educational sessions and hands-on work will be held at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. The Southeast Missourian reports (http://bit.ly/1en6Kwc ) nearly 45 electric vehicles will be on display for the public.

Co-organizer Jack Rickard says the convention is drawing people from across the country, as well as countries such as Canada and Australia. He says many attendees are coordinating electric car projects with people on other continents, and the convention gives them a chance to meet.

It gets even more unpredictable, too:

The convention also will offer electric-vehicle drag races and autocross Friday afternoon.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/05/4390759/convention-on-electric-cars-set.html#storylink=cpy

Facts about our country right now

On the anniversary of the "Clean Air Act"

This week, most people won't know, is the anniversary of the "Clean Air Act" by Congress, in Washington, of 1990. It turns 21 years old, thank goodness. As we know, our air in the 1960's, at least, had gotten pretty fouled and dirty and awful and we needed to do something about it--we needed to clean it up. So clean it up we did, thank goodness. And, as it turns out, the Act did help us clean our air, some, anyway, and set us on a good, intelligent, healthier and far more sustainable path. Sure, we need to do more about our air and cleaning it and it will have to come from partnerships with corporations but some of those companies have found that clean air is not only in their best interests but that it can also help create both more business for them as well as new technologies and jobs. We need to develop more in this arena--we need to create yet more, "greener" and cleaner technologies and capabilities, including and especially solar power, particularly photovoltaic cells that create our electricity. So in this week that we say "Happy birthday!" to the Clean Air Act of 1990, I am reminded of Oliver in the Charles Dickens story and later, movie and can only tell the US Congress the following: Unfortunately, too many in Congress now think there's too much "regulation". (http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/11/16/7399/5-questions-william-ruckelshaus?utm_source=iwatch&utm_medium=social_media&utm_campaign=facebook). All I can say is, we don't want to end up like polluted China. Let's not go backward. Let's keep cleaner air and progressing forward. Link: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/16/370028/happy-birthday-clean-air-act-jobs-innovation-saving-lives/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

How's this for irony?

Check out this headline today from The Star:

Memorial Day winds cause power outages in Kansas

I couldn't resist the irony of this one.  High winds causing power outages in Kansas.

Of course, they need to somehow, eventually maybe put the power lines underground, if possible, but what got me was that if more of Kansas' energy needs were met with wind turbines, the last thing that would happen is power outages.

There and Oklahoma, too, for that matter.

My own "Solar Power Day", Part II

There is an article out today, just now, on Germany's mastery of clean, "green" solar power and the fact that they both get "percent of the country’s power from renewable sources like solar panels and wind turbines" already AND they're challenging themselves, as a country to "reduce national greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent between 1990 and 2020, and by 80-85 percent by 2050." I'm telling you, folks, not only do we need this and need it badly, but the country or countries that dominate clean energy, particularly solar power, are the ones that will dominate the planet for at least decades to come, if not the next century. We need to be on this. Have a great weekend, y'all. Link to original post: http://www.causecast.org/news_items/9862-germany-plans-to-switch-to-renewable-sources-for-all-electricity-by-2050?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+causecast%2Flatest_news+%28Causecast+-+Latest+News%29