the european union compares our current crisis to a flooded basement in letter to obama - clever…
what i’m going to say next may shock you, but i am putting it out there on the interwebs and will deal with the consequences at a later time. so here goes…
i like europeans. that’s right. you heard me. i like them and i don’t understand why it is considered unamerican to like them. is it because they don’t get fat? i guess that’s a valid reason, but they still pwn us when it comes to the environment.
that being said, i submit for your approval a letter written by european union environment commissioner stavros dimas this week to president obama, asking us to adopt regulations on climate change.
courtesy of green inc.
now that we have a new leader, the whole world is looking at us to either step up to the challenge or run away in denial like we have in the past.
the letter has several noteworthy excerpts. one of them is a rather on-point analogy that alludes to those who say that we need to put environmental concerns on the backburner and focus on nursing our sick, sick financial system back to health:
“If someone’s basement floods and they lose their job on the same day it is certainly an unlucky day. But they would not wait until they found a new job before pumping the basement and fixing the leak. If they did, then not only would they be unemployed, but they would also have a house that is starting to fall apart. Common sense says that the longer you leave a problem unsolved the harder it becomes to find a solution. I am quite sure that even Joe the Plumber would agree with this. Climate change is similar. We know there is a
problem and it would be short-sighted foolishness to not address it immediately.”
right on! mr. dimas - you are like my brother from another mother. and you threw in that little thing about joe the plumber. bravo.
check out the rest of the letter here. a lot of the points that mr. dimas makes may seem like no-brainers, but it’ll be very interesting to see how president obama will respond.
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on wind energy: warning, this is going to be a sappy one
the fact that obama gave a shoutout to wind and solar energy in his inaugural speech yesterday was a major boost to all of us who have been using our voices (and fingers!) to get the word out on blogs, twitter and in our communities. it’s going to take a lot more work, and i applaud people like wind4me who keep the momentum going - just like the awesome force that we hope to harness.
cheers to everyone who is creating their own force!
“perhaps we cannot raise the winds. but each of us can put up the sail, so that when the wind comes we can catch it.” e. f. schumacher, small is beautiful
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happy inauguration day! send a paperless obama commemoration via facebook
what an awesome way to celebrate this momentous occassion paperlessly.
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get it here.
hurry!
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icing on the cake: free obama sticker
as if the outcome of last week’s election was not sweet enough on its own, now you can revel in a free sticker designed by shepard fairey (you may know his work from a little brand called obey). moveon.org is giving them away as a thank you to everyone who helped participate in the most momentous election since…well, ever, if you’re a twenty-something american like me.
click here for yours. and don’t look at me funny when you see me making googly eyes at mine.
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some last minute guilt trip action to get your friends to vote
i typed in “you someone” as the name of my guilt trip victim in order to keep this video anonymous, but you can enter the name of anyone you’d like to light the fire of shame under.
via: www.cnnbcvideo.com
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why is this a site?
swyyne has always been an experiment for me. with all of the other super eco sites out there, i've been feeling like i want to contribute something just a bit different. so for now, here are my random musings.
look for stuff
feed yourself