Hollywood thinks Hmmm…QuestPoint

In Midst of Gulf Disaster, New National Ocean Policy Gives Hope for Our Seas

Sigourney Weaver

I have always loved the oceans. My father was a Navy man and one requirement he had for us growing up was that we had to live near a body of saltwater. I was raised listening to foghorns by night and being chased by horseshoe crabs by day.

The oceans are filled with so much life and variety — nearly all of it hidden from our sight. This makes the process of learning about the seas an endless series of surprises, a constant discovery of secrets. Like a lot of us, I always thought the oceans were infinite, vast and forgiving of what we were doing to them. They seemed somehow indestructible.

Now we know that’s not true and these same features that make the oceans wonderful — their mystery and other-worldliness — have also worked to their disadvantage. Life beneath the surface is often out-of-sight and therefore out-of-mind. As a result, we tend to forget a rather important fact: we depend on the oceans for our survival regardless of where we live or what we eat. After all, our oceans generate most of our oxygen, regulate our climate, and directly provide a critical food source for much of our population. We cannot prosper unless the oceans prosper, too.

But as the oil disaster continues to ravage the Gulf of Mexico and the people who depend on it, we are being reminded daily of the often-forgotten value of these resources, and our responsibility to protect them. That’s why I was filled with hope today when President Obama announced he is creating the first-ever comprehensive national policy — like a Clean Air or Water Act — to protect our oceans. It is now clearer than ever that our country needs this to protect our oceans from the threats they face. If we had a policy like this in place before the Deepwater Horizon rig sunk — not only would we have better able to respond, an accident like this might not have happened there are at all. Read more

Oliver Stone: Nationalize Oil Industry

RAPHAEL G. SATTER

LONDON — The Gulf of Mexico oil spill shows that the United States should follow the example of South American socialists in nationalizing its energy industry, filmmaker Oliver Stone said Tuesday.

The Academy Award-winning director of “Born on the Fourth of July” and “JFK” said that America’s country’s natural wealth was too important to be left in private hands, telling journalists in central London that oil and other natural resources “belong to the people.”

“This BP oil spill is typical” of what happens when private industry is allowed to draw revenue on what should be a public good, Stone said.

“We shouldn’t make this kind of profit on oil or on health or on war or on prisons. All these industries should be public industries.”

Stone, 63, is in the British capital to promote his documentary, “South of the Border,” which tells the story of firebrand Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his left-wing Latin American allies.

The 75-minute film is meant to draw attention to the social improvements ushered in by Chavez, who has nationalized parts of Venezuela’s economy, including important bits of the oil sector and big chunks of the banking, electric and steel industries. Bolivian leader Evo Morales, also interviewed by Stone for the documentary, has similarly expanded the state’s control over the country’s energy infrastructure.

Critics of the film accuse Stone of painting a fawning portrait of the Venezuelan leader and his cohorts, saying the documentary ignores the anti-Chavez opposition – which human rights groups say is being squeezed by a crackdown on private media.

Stone accused critics of “nitpicking,” telling The Associated Press Television News that he was trying to offer an alternative view of the regime.

“You hear all the criticism, all the exceptions to the rule, but generally speaking the economy has surged in Venezuela from 2003 to 2008. … This is a story that people don’t know,” he said.

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The director occasionally digressed during the press conference, discussing Latin American history, sharing his thoughts about President Barack Obama (who he dismissed as “Bush not-so-lite”) and musing about the possibility of making a film about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

“I don’t know, that’s a hot potato for me,” Stone said when asked whether a movie about Ahmedinejad was in the works. “Obviously he’s gotten a lot of bad press in the West.”

“South of the Border” had its U.K. premier Monday at the Curzon Cinema in central London.

Things that make you go

Hmmm…

See the video click below…Things that make you go

Hmmm

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Solar Energy Companies Step Into the Branding Spotlight

By UCILIA WANG

A fake oil tycoon. The biggest sports event in the world. A Formula One racing team. What do they have in common? They’re all part of branding initiatives by solar panel makers seeking to make their names in a fast-growing industry.

The biggest news that heralded the first day of Intersolar North America, a solar-energy trade show and conference in San Francisco July 11-15 that drew more than 20,000 attendees, was a video of Larry Hagman, who played a Texas oilman in the old nighttime soap, Dallas. German solar panel maker SolarWorld managed to lure national media and local bloggers to a press event with the promise that a “former oil tycoon will give a keynote address calling for radical change within the U.S. energy market.”

Some reporters thought SolarWorld would produce someone who made a fortune in black gold. In real life. But Hagman showed up instead in the video, which contained the slogan “shine, baby, shine,” a solar counterpoint to Sarah Palin’s “drill, baby, drill.” Read More

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GE ECOMAGINATION CHALLENGE

The GE Ecomagination Challenge

Is a $200 million innovation experiment where businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators and students

share their best ideas on how to build the next-generation power grid – and just might get funded.

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BP Fall Fashion

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Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins

Green For All

As Senators enter the final rounds of negotiations on the climate and energy bill,
big utility companies are apparently making unconscionable demands that threaten the
health and safety of all Americans.

From trading carbon limits for relaxing smog, mercury and acid rain pollutants to
bargaining away Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to protect America from
dirty air and water, *these demands are unacceptable*.

Please take action now:

And, if the bill limits the ability of the EPA to enforce greenhouse gas regulation,
or worse limits its ability to enforce regulation of mercury and ozone, the American
people will suffer immediate and long-term health consequences, from asthma to early
death.

The American people deserve a climate and energy bill that not only improves air
quality, but also creates jobs that will help pull the economy out of recession.
This bill is in danger of doing neither.

Please take action and tell your Senators not to shortchange the American people:

If the Senate can get this right, this historic climate and energy bill will
maintain our clean air protections, while opening the door to a new era: one in
which our nation is no longer addicted to dirty, dangerous fuels; no longer
dependent on overseas supplies of oil; and finally able to put millions to work in
clean, new industries.