Green and Healing

Save the Earth, and Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil At the Same Time

Mother Earth is crying in pain, and we need to stand up and take heed.  No, not every person who looks at the environment and realizes that something needs to be done is a radical 60s leftover or activist.  Some of us are scientists and engineers who see these issues as presenting a challenge - and the old school attitudes that told us conservatives to "forget the environment" were simply voices of those who lacked faith in the collective intelligence and skill of the scientific and engineering communities. 

Every day, a new company is formed that promises to dramatically shift our dependence on foreign oil and overall energy consumption - which provides one step towards healing the earth by eliminating the need for offshore drilling, etc., not to mention reduces carbon emissions and polluted air from dirty fuels.  I am a Republican and I stand with Sarah Palin for the need for offshore drilling now - but wouldn't it be nice if all our cars in the future ran on water, or electricity - and we could remove the oil rigs from the ocean ? 

I say hats off to the VC firms who are funding these new and innovative companies - Mantra Energy Group in Canada, Al Gore in conjunction with Silicon Valley's own Kleiner-Perkins, and the Hudson Clean Energy funds.

We have some incredibly good ideas out there, but nothing that is cheap, clean, easy, and doesn't create an economic upset in another section (like bio fuels).   Funding teams of resourceful scientists and engineers will help us find a new solution that is eluding us at present, without making Iowa corn farmers into the next generation of oil millionaires. 

Does the Best Interest of the American People Healthwise Overrule Profits?

I realize this is strong - but I really believe that where capitalism should be tempered is when it comes to the health of the populace. We have outlawed saccharin - but cigarettes are sold in every corner gas station. Which product has killed more people? Go figure!!

There is just mounds and mounds of evidence that Splenda and anything with Aspartame in it destroys nerves and nerve tissue - but will the FDA outlaw it? No - the Searle lobby was too powerful, and instead of banning potentially harmful substances, instead, a completely safe sugar substitute called Stevia is banished to be sold as a "dietary supplement" only. Thank you Equal and Splenda lobbies, for placing your profits above the best interests of the American people.

And what about additives, such as sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite?  Every hot dog and piece of lunch meat in the nation has one or the other.  Yet both have been shown to cause cancer in laboratory rats.

I believe in capitalism and the free market economy - yet I realize that one of the causalties of capitalism is the health of the common people - people who can't afford to buy health food groceries or believe, naively, that that FDA wouldn't allow foods on the market that could compromise their health.

I say wake up - if you want a free market, you HAVE to educate yourself and learn what additives are harmful and which are safe.  Make your own judgements, and plant a garden.

Green and Being a Computer Geek

I used to think that being green and being a computer geek were mutually exclusive -  but no more.  In fact, I think the techical intelligensia will be the ones to solve the global warming problem, given time and support. 

Case in point is startup CherryPal.  Cherrypal makes a Freescale based computer that consumes no more power than an alarm clock, uses Cloud Computing in a hosted fashion so you don't have to worry about virus checking or spyware anymore, is designed to last 10 years, and has no moving parts (sorry Seagate, no disc drive!).  

No Intel, and no Microsoft - which could be tragic for those of us who rely on Microsoft's monopoly to have files that are compatible with everyone elses.  

But for those who use computing for Internet access, fun, and to manage their iPod - CherryPal is the way to go.   Use this code - CPP293 to get $10 off of the already totally reasonable CherryPal pricing.