Showing posts with label alternative energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label alternative energy. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Wind Power: Energy Independence Blocked by Petty Politicans--Beyond the Picken's Plan
To view the video click here
Wind energy is renewable, environmentally friendly and available yet zoning regulation block its use. It is time to elect representatives who will be willing to update our energy policies to adjust to technological advances instead of holding on to the dark ages.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Thursday, August 02, 2007
We the People--As Powerful As We Chose To Be
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.....
Declaration of Independence
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Preamble to the United States Constitution
So many people have forgotten that "we the people" are the ultimate source of power in the government. From the President to the local city board members, they are all elected by the people. Yet they have forgotten the definition of public servant and have set themselves up as masters of society. Instead, of serving they use the privileges and power temporarily granted to them to further their own greed, bigotries and lust for power. Yet on their own without the machinations of the government, many of them are nothing.
Above excerpts are part of the Unites States History and government, but they are no longer a reality. The Civil Rights original afforded and those, which have been hard fought for, have been eroded by petty individuals, large corporations, and public servants who see themselves as above the law. Phone calls and bank accounts are monitored without obtaining search warrants. Individual are no longer safe from unreasonable searches in their homes, cars or on the street. Religious, medical and sexual decisions have been usurped by bigots in their attempt to force their religious and moral values on others.
The Scales of Justice System are no longer balanced as individuals from the Justice department to the local deputy sheriff have their fingers on their end. Based more on financial and personal ambition, the justice no longer is fair or balanced. Mike NiFong is only an example of the increasing problems in the judicial system. His personal ambitions were more important to him than the representing the truth. The college boys and the local woman are all equal victims of his lust for power. Yet he is only one of many prosecutor who are more concerned about building a reputations and racking up convictions than protecting the public or being representatives of justice. Law enforcement is worse. No longer serving and protecting, they use their power to intimidate, harass and humiliate those members of society they see as weak. Incidences law enforcement abusing individuals on the bases of racial, religious or lifestyle have been rapidly increasing. For most of them, promotions and job security is based on arrest track record. Yet there are those who see the badge as a source of personal power over others. It is all about have control over others. However, even with undisputable documentation, these officers are rarely held accountable for the harm they do. The blue wall protects its own even to the point of lying, altering records and intimidating. Enforcement of the laws are on longer based on laws, civil rights or common sense, but who can afford the best legal council.
The greed of big business has polluted the environment, manipulated the political system, and eroded the middle class. Companies who deliberately damage the environment receive only minor retribution in comparison to the damage they do. Whether it be contamination of ground water or release of toxic waste through improperly filtered smoke stacks, the companies pay small fines, while the public moneys clean up the hazardous situations. Oil, insurance and drug companies have manipulated prices and available of necessary product and services to insure they maintain a monopoly and thereby maximize their profits. Although alterative fuels like bio-diesel, solar, and wind are viable options, their availability has been limited by legislation and lack of governmental support. Drug companies’ sole goal is to maximize their profit margin. It is why they attack alternative healing methods and solutions, such as herbs, so aggressively. If they can’t sell it for a large profit, then it must be debunked or made illegal. It is the same tack they use to prevent individuals from buying the same drugs across both borders for sometimes less than half the cost. While medical insurance used to be an automatic benefit of having a full time job, many companies are no longer covering the costs of the premiums or not offering the benefit at all. With the reduction of coverage, the addition of co-pays and the increase in price, few individuals are able to avoid medical insurance on their own. Yet at the same time, insurance company’s profits are sky rocketing. The economic structure of the country is top heavy. CEO make obscene salaries, while the workers, who actually produce the services and products, are forced to struggle as wages and benefits are rapidly reduced. No longer can a single income support a family; at the same time, CEOs are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars as retirement bonuses or part of separation packages after being fired. Both the Japan and Germany have thriving economies, yet the difference in the salaries between the CEO and the person who cleans the bathroom is approximately 20%.
Whether financial, political or legal, intimidation only works if people back down. When we the people remember that we have the power to create change than change will happen. However, we all have to have the courage to say no more. 2008 is the next Presidential election. It is time to stop voting against an individual and start voting for the person who will represent the best interest of all the people of this country, not just special interests or big business. On a local level, we the people can hold law enforcement responsible by reporting abuses and speaking publicly. By being frightened into silence or by defending the abusers, the violence will only escalate. Bullies are bullies with or without a badge or a title. The only way to stop this is to stand up to them. We the people have the power. We the people can make changes. If we the people chose to have courage.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.....
Declaration of Independence
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Preamble to the United States Constitution
So many people have forgotten that "we the people" are the ultimate source of power in the government. From the President to the local city board members, they are all elected by the people. Yet they have forgotten the definition of public servant and have set themselves up as masters of society. Instead, of serving they use the privileges and power temporarily granted to them to further their own greed, bigotries and lust for power. Yet on their own without the machinations of the government, many of them are nothing.
Above excerpts are part of the Unites States History and government, but they are no longer a reality. The Civil Rights original afforded and those, which have been hard fought for, have been eroded by petty individuals, large corporations, and public servants who see themselves as above the law. Phone calls and bank accounts are monitored without obtaining search warrants. Individual are no longer safe from unreasonable searches in their homes, cars or on the street. Religious, medical and sexual decisions have been usurped by bigots in their attempt to force their religious and moral values on others.
The Scales of Justice System are no longer balanced as individuals from the Justice department to the local deputy sheriff have their fingers on their end. Based more on financial and personal ambition, the justice no longer is fair or balanced. Mike NiFong is only an example of the increasing problems in the judicial system. His personal ambitions were more important to him than the representing the truth. The college boys and the local woman are all equal victims of his lust for power. Yet he is only one of many prosecutor who are more concerned about building a reputations and racking up convictions than protecting the public or being representatives of justice. Law enforcement is worse. No longer serving and protecting, they use their power to intimidate, harass and humiliate those members of society they see as weak. Incidences law enforcement abusing individuals on the bases of racial, religious or lifestyle have been rapidly increasing. For most of them, promotions and job security is based on arrest track record. Yet there are those who see the badge as a source of personal power over others. It is all about have control over others. However, even with undisputable documentation, these officers are rarely held accountable for the harm they do. The blue wall protects its own even to the point of lying, altering records and intimidating. Enforcement of the laws are on longer based on laws, civil rights or common sense, but who can afford the best legal council.
The greed of big business has polluted the environment, manipulated the political system, and eroded the middle class. Companies who deliberately damage the environment receive only minor retribution in comparison to the damage they do. Whether it be contamination of ground water or release of toxic waste through improperly filtered smoke stacks, the companies pay small fines, while the public moneys clean up the hazardous situations. Oil, insurance and drug companies have manipulated prices and available of necessary product and services to insure they maintain a monopoly and thereby maximize their profits. Although alterative fuels like bio-diesel, solar, and wind are viable options, their availability has been limited by legislation and lack of governmental support. Drug companies’ sole goal is to maximize their profit margin. It is why they attack alternative healing methods and solutions, such as herbs, so aggressively. If they can’t sell it for a large profit, then it must be debunked or made illegal. It is the same tack they use to prevent individuals from buying the same drugs across both borders for sometimes less than half the cost. While medical insurance used to be an automatic benefit of having a full time job, many companies are no longer covering the costs of the premiums or not offering the benefit at all. With the reduction of coverage, the addition of co-pays and the increase in price, few individuals are able to avoid medical insurance on their own. Yet at the same time, insurance company’s profits are sky rocketing. The economic structure of the country is top heavy. CEO make obscene salaries, while the workers, who actually produce the services and products, are forced to struggle as wages and benefits are rapidly reduced. No longer can a single income support a family; at the same time, CEOs are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars as retirement bonuses or part of separation packages after being fired. Both the Japan and Germany have thriving economies, yet the difference in the salaries between the CEO and the person who cleans the bathroom is approximately 20%.
Whether financial, political or legal, intimidation only works if people back down. When we the people remember that we have the power to create change than change will happen. However, we all have to have the courage to say no more. 2008 is the next Presidential election. It is time to stop voting against an individual and start voting for the person who will represent the best interest of all the people of this country, not just special interests or big business. On a local level, we the people can hold law enforcement responsible by reporting abuses and speaking publicly. By being frightened into silence or by defending the abusers, the violence will only escalate. Bullies are bullies with or without a badge or a title. The only way to stop this is to stand up to them. We the people have the power. We the people can make changes. If we the people chose to have courage.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Solar Flashlight Lets Africa’s Sun Deliver the Luxury of Light to the Poorest Villages
By WILL CONNORS and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
FUGNIDO, Ethiopia — At 10 p.m. in a sweltering refugee camp here in western Ethiopia, a group of foreigners was making its way past thatch-roofed huts when a tall, rail-thin man approached a silver-haired American and took hold of his hands.
The man, a Sudanese refugee, announced that his wife had just given birth, and the boy would be honored with the visitor’s name. After several awkward translation attempts of “Mark Bent,” it was settled. “Mar,” he said, will grow up hearing stories of his namesake, the man who handed out flashlights powered by the sun.
Since August 2005, when visits to an Eritrean village prompted him to research global access to artificial light, Mr. Bent, 49, a former foreign service officer and Houston oilman, has spent $250,000 to develop and manufacture a solar-powered flashlight.
His invention gives up to seven hours of light on a daily solar recharge and can last nearly three years between replacements of three AA batteries costing 80 cents.
Over the last year, he said, he and corporate benefactors like Exxon Mobil have donated 10,500 flashlights to United Nations refugee camps and African aid charities.
Another 10,000 have been provided through a sales program, and 10,000 more have just arrived in Houston awaiting distribution by his company, SunNight Solar.
“I find it hard sometimes to explain the scope of the problems in these camps with no light,” Mr. Bent said. “If you’re an environmentalist you think about it in terms of discarded batteries and coal and wood burning and kerosene smoke; if you’re a feminist you think of it in terms of security for women and preventing sexual abuse and violence; if you’re an educator you think about it in terms of helping children and adults study at night.”
Here at Fugnido, at one of six camps housing more than 21,000 refugees 550 miles west of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Peter Gatkuoth, a Sudanese refugee, wrote on “the importance of Solor.”
“In case of thief, we open our solor and the thief ran away,” he wrote. “If there is a sick person at night we will took him with the solor to health center.”
A shurta, or guard, who called himself just John, said, “I used the light to scare away wild animals.” Others said lights were hung above school desks for children and adults to study after the day’s work.
Mr. Bent’s efforts have drawn praise from the United Nations, Africare, Rice University and others.
Kevin G. Lowther, Southern Africa director for Africare, the largest American aid group for Africa, said his staff was sending 5,000 of his lights, purchased by Exxon Mobil at $10 each, to rural Angola.
Dave Gardner, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, said the company’s $50,000 donation in November grew out of an earlier grant it made to Save the Children to build six public schools in Kibala, Angola, a remote area of Kwanza Sul Province.
“At a dedication ceremony for the first four schools in June 2006,” Mr. Gardner said in an e-mail message, “we noticed that a lot of the children had upper respiratory problems, part of which is likely due to the use of wood, charcoal, candles and kero for lighting in the small homes they have in Kibala.”
The Awty International School, a large prep school in Houston, has sent hundreds of the flashlights to schools it sponsors in Haiti, Cameroon and Ethiopia, said Chantal Duke, executive assistant to the head of school.
“In places where there is absolutely no electricity or running water, having light at night is a luxury many families don’t have and never did and which we take for granted in developed countries,” Ms. Duke said by e-mail. Mr. Bent, a former Marine and Navy pilot, served under diplomatic titles in volatile countries like Angola, Bosnia, Nigeria and Somalia in the early 1990s.
In 2001 he went to work as the general manager of an oil exploration team off the coast of the Red Sea in Eritrea, for a company later acquired by the French oil giant Perenco. But the oil business, he said, “didn’t satisfy my soul.”
The inspiration for the flashlight hit him, he said, while working for Perenco in Asmara, Eritrea. One Sunday he visited a local dump to watch scavenging by baboons and birds of prey, and came upon a group of homeless boys who had adopted the dump as their home.
They took him home to a rural village where he noticed that many people had nothing to light their homes, schools and clinics at night.
With a little research, he discovered that close to two billion people around the world go without affordable access to light.
He worked with researchers, engineers and manufacturers, he said, at the Department of Energy, several American universities, and even NASA before finding a factory in China to produce a durable, cost-effective solar-powered flashlight whose shape was inspired by his wife’s shampoo bottle.
The light, or sun torch, has a narrow solar panel on one side that charges the batteries, which can last between 750 and 1,000 nights, and uses the more efficient light-emitting diodes, or L.E.D.s, to cast its light. “L.E.D.s used to be very expensive,” Mr. Bent said. “But in the last 18 months they’ve become cheaper, so distributing them on a widespread scale is possible.”
The flashlights usually sell for about $19.95 in American stores, but he has established a BoGo — for Buy One, Give One — program on his Web site, BoGoLight.com, where if you buy one flashlight for $25, he will buy and ship another one to Africa, and donate $1 to one of the aid groups he works with.
Mr. Bent, who is now an oil consultant, lives in Houston with his wife and four young children. When he is not in the air flying his own plane, he is often on the road.
Traveling early this month in Ethiopia’s border area with Sudan, Mr. Bent stopped in each town’s market to methodically check the prices and quality of flashlights and batteries imported from China.
He unscrewed the flashlights one by one, inspecting the batteries, pronouncing them “terrible — they won’t last two nights.”
On his last day along the border, Mr. Bent visited Rapan Sadeeq, 21, a Sudanese refugee who is something of a celebrity in his camp, Bonga, for his rudimentary self-made radios, walkie-talkies and periscopes.
The two men huddled in the hut, discussing what parts would be needed to power the radio with solar panels instead of clunky C batteries. “Oh, I can definitely send you some parts,” Mr. Bent said. “You can be my field engineer in Ethiopia.”
Will Connors reported from Fugnido, Ethiopia, and Ralph Blumenthal from Houston.
By WILL CONNORS and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
FUGNIDO, Ethiopia — At 10 p.m. in a sweltering refugee camp here in western Ethiopia, a group of foreigners was making its way past thatch-roofed huts when a tall, rail-thin man approached a silver-haired American and took hold of his hands.
The man, a Sudanese refugee, announced that his wife had just given birth, and the boy would be honored with the visitor’s name. After several awkward translation attempts of “Mark Bent,” it was settled. “Mar,” he said, will grow up hearing stories of his namesake, the man who handed out flashlights powered by the sun.
Since August 2005, when visits to an Eritrean village prompted him to research global access to artificial light, Mr. Bent, 49, a former foreign service officer and Houston oilman, has spent $250,000 to develop and manufacture a solar-powered flashlight.
His invention gives up to seven hours of light on a daily solar recharge and can last nearly three years between replacements of three AA batteries costing 80 cents.
Over the last year, he said, he and corporate benefactors like Exxon Mobil have donated 10,500 flashlights to United Nations refugee camps and African aid charities.
Another 10,000 have been provided through a sales program, and 10,000 more have just arrived in Houston awaiting distribution by his company, SunNight Solar.
“I find it hard sometimes to explain the scope of the problems in these camps with no light,” Mr. Bent said. “If you’re an environmentalist you think about it in terms of discarded batteries and coal and wood burning and kerosene smoke; if you’re a feminist you think of it in terms of security for women and preventing sexual abuse and violence; if you’re an educator you think about it in terms of helping children and adults study at night.”
Here at Fugnido, at one of six camps housing more than 21,000 refugees 550 miles west of Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, Peter Gatkuoth, a Sudanese refugee, wrote on “the importance of Solor.”
“In case of thief, we open our solor and the thief ran away,” he wrote. “If there is a sick person at night we will took him with the solor to health center.”
A shurta, or guard, who called himself just John, said, “I used the light to scare away wild animals.” Others said lights were hung above school desks for children and adults to study after the day’s work.
Mr. Bent’s efforts have drawn praise from the United Nations, Africare, Rice University and others.
Kevin G. Lowther, Southern Africa director for Africare, the largest American aid group for Africa, said his staff was sending 5,000 of his lights, purchased by Exxon Mobil at $10 each, to rural Angola.
Dave Gardner, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil, said the company’s $50,000 donation in November grew out of an earlier grant it made to Save the Children to build six public schools in Kibala, Angola, a remote area of Kwanza Sul Province.
“At a dedication ceremony for the first four schools in June 2006,” Mr. Gardner said in an e-mail message, “we noticed that a lot of the children had upper respiratory problems, part of which is likely due to the use of wood, charcoal, candles and kero for lighting in the small homes they have in Kibala.”
The Awty International School, a large prep school in Houston, has sent hundreds of the flashlights to schools it sponsors in Haiti, Cameroon and Ethiopia, said Chantal Duke, executive assistant to the head of school.
“In places where there is absolutely no electricity or running water, having light at night is a luxury many families don’t have and never did and which we take for granted in developed countries,” Ms. Duke said by e-mail. Mr. Bent, a former Marine and Navy pilot, served under diplomatic titles in volatile countries like Angola, Bosnia, Nigeria and Somalia in the early 1990s.
In 2001 he went to work as the general manager of an oil exploration team off the coast of the Red Sea in Eritrea, for a company later acquired by the French oil giant Perenco. But the oil business, he said, “didn’t satisfy my soul.”
The inspiration for the flashlight hit him, he said, while working for Perenco in Asmara, Eritrea. One Sunday he visited a local dump to watch scavenging by baboons and birds of prey, and came upon a group of homeless boys who had adopted the dump as their home.
They took him home to a rural village where he noticed that many people had nothing to light their homes, schools and clinics at night.
With a little research, he discovered that close to two billion people around the world go without affordable access to light.
He worked with researchers, engineers and manufacturers, he said, at the Department of Energy, several American universities, and even NASA before finding a factory in China to produce a durable, cost-effective solar-powered flashlight whose shape was inspired by his wife’s shampoo bottle.
The light, or sun torch, has a narrow solar panel on one side that charges the batteries, which can last between 750 and 1,000 nights, and uses the more efficient light-emitting diodes, or L.E.D.s, to cast its light. “L.E.D.s used to be very expensive,” Mr. Bent said. “But in the last 18 months they’ve become cheaper, so distributing them on a widespread scale is possible.”
The flashlights usually sell for about $19.95 in American stores, but he has established a BoGo — for Buy One, Give One — program on his Web site, BoGoLight.com, where if you buy one flashlight for $25, he will buy and ship another one to Africa, and donate $1 to one of the aid groups he works with.
Mr. Bent, who is now an oil consultant, lives in Houston with his wife and four young children. When he is not in the air flying his own plane, he is often on the road.
Traveling early this month in Ethiopia’s border area with Sudan, Mr. Bent stopped in each town’s market to methodically check the prices and quality of flashlights and batteries imported from China.
He unscrewed the flashlights one by one, inspecting the batteries, pronouncing them “terrible — they won’t last two nights.”
On his last day along the border, Mr. Bent visited Rapan Sadeeq, 21, a Sudanese refugee who is something of a celebrity in his camp, Bonga, for his rudimentary self-made radios, walkie-talkies and periscopes.
The two men huddled in the hut, discussing what parts would be needed to power the radio with solar panels instead of clunky C batteries. “Oh, I can definitely send you some parts,” Mr. Bent said. “You can be my field engineer in Ethiopia.”
Will Connors reported from Fugnido, Ethiopia, and Ralph Blumenthal from Houston.
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