The last thing we want is for future generations to reminisce one day, “The ocean was dead when we were children.”

via asahi.com（朝日新聞社）：VOX POPULI: This year, we ought to apologize to the ocean – English.

Waka Waka Dance – Haiti from Jonathan Wooley/RTC Pictures on Vimeo.

This post originally appeared at Al’s Journal.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-gore/27000-potential-leaks_b_649510.html

Along the coast, droplets of oil are being found inside the shells of young crabs that are a mainstay in the diet of fish, turtles and shorebirds.

And at the base of the food web, tiny organisms that consume oil and gas are proliferating.

If such impacts continue, the scientists warn of a grim reshuffling of sealife that could over time cascade through the ecosystem…

via Business & Technology | Scientists say Gulf spill altering food web | Seattle Times Newspaper.

WASHINGTON , DC — Two solar companies — one building a giant solar power plant in Arizona and the other constructing state-of-the-art factories to make thin-film panels — have been offered conditional commitments for $1.85 billion in loan guarantees backed by Recovery Act funds, President Barack Obama said.

The president announced the offers to Abengoa Solar Inc. and Abound Solar Inc. on the eve of the Fourth of July during his weekly address. He described the measures as the latest efforts by his administration to strengthen a foundation for a clean energy economy and create jobs.

via Obama Pledges $2B in Stimulus Funds to Solar Firms | Business | GreenBiz.com.

With a top speed of 112 miles-per-hour, the DeZir is powered by a lithium-ion battery and an electric motor. The two-seater coupe comes with a kevlar body and tubular steel frame, and has a 100-mile range. It can be re-charged to 80 percent of capacity in 20 minutes.

The DeZir will debut in October at this year’s Paris Motor Show, but no date has been set for its full release. According to Fast Company, by the end of 2013 the Renault-Nissan alliance hopes to produce 500,000 electric vehicles globally, including the 2011 Fluence ZE and the 2011 Kangoo ZE electric van.

Check out pics of Renault's DeZir Gullwing Coupe:

via Renault DeZir Gullwing Coupe: An Electric Sports Car To Rival The Tesla Roadster? (PHOTOS).

Right now the left brain really isn’t doing the trick. We’ve known about climate change for 20 years—known that it’s the greatest threat humans have ever had to deal with. And so far we’ve done…nothing.

Environmentalists have believed that the scientific facts— unimpeachable, and unbearable—would be enough to force action. They’ve believed fervently in statistic, in bar graphs, in pie charts, in white papers, in executive summaries, in closed-door briefings. It’s all noble, but it’s meant that we never managed to build a movement around global warming. You don’t build movements with bar graphs.

via Bill McKibben: Want to Light up a Movement? Think Art, Engage the Heart.

The only question is: What will the next Deepwater Horizon disaster look like? …here are four possible scenarios for future Gulf-scale energy calamities:

Read more The Coming Era of Energy Disasters | The Nation.

Thanks to Ed Brown for sending this our way:

Through the forum of Solutions, we hope to collectively come up with strategies for overcoming the political and cultural hurdles standing in the way of soil-based carbon capture.

…Humanity has always been carbon based. The carbon that supported us through most of history was slow carbon embodied in trees, other plants, and animals. Since the Industrial Revolution we have shifted to using fast carbon in the form of oil and natural gas. Fast carbon is mainly finite and nonrenewable. What if we used carbon as a universal currency? What if people around the world were paid to capture and sequester carbon, particularly in soils? What if enterprises that emit carbon into the atmosphere, including, for example, coal-fired power plants, had to pay for the right to pollute based upon every ton of carbon they emitted? A tectonic shift in the way the world conducts its business, from farming to aerospace, might ensue. Let’s continue the conversation. The stakes are too important not to.

Read more: Back to Our Roots | Solutions.

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