Running Out of Oil - and Time

"Industrial economies, hungry for energy, would begin making it from any source available – most likely coal – regardless of the ecological consequences. Worse, competition for remaining oil supplies would intensify, potentially leading to a new kind of political conflict: the energy war ..."

Los Angeles Times editorial, March 7, 2004

Clearing Land = Climate Change

Researchers in Australia have found strong evidence that land clearing can trigger devastating climatic changes. The study will be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research and says, "It may be that when the effects of deforestation suddenly exceed a threshold the climate is likely to respond in a dramatic way."

You are WANTED!

OVEC and Citizens for Clean Elections are looking for at least one volunteer per county to help with a postcard campaign. This is not a time-intensive project, but would be very valuable to our work. If you would like to help restore democracy in West Virginia by contributing just a few hours of volunteer work, please notify Janet Fout at (304) 522-0246 or send an e-mail with Clean Elections Volunteer in the subject line to: ohvec@ezwv.com for details.

"It’s just a fact: Democracy doesn’t work without citizen activism and participation, starting at the community. Trickle down politics doesn’t work much better than trickle down economics. It’s also a fact that civilization happens because we don’t leave things to other people. What’s right and good doesn’t come naturally. You have to stand up and fight for it – as if the cause depends on you, because it does. Allow yourself that conceit –to believe the flame of democracy will never go out as long as there’s one candle in your hand."

— Bill Moyers, journalist

"Clear Skies" Initiative Allows More Deaths Than Other Air Pollution Plans

(from June 10 BushGreenWatch.org.)

Pollution caused by coal-burning power plants causes 24,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year, according to a new analysis of government data. And while the Bush administration’s Clear Skies proposal will help alleviate that problem, it will save fewer lives than any other plan under consideration – including simply retaining the laws already on the books, the analysis found.

"For all their differences in predictions, the authors agree that it’s entirely within society’s power to successfully meet the twin challenges of resource depletion and climate change. The technological solutions exist. The problem is political: Our leaders are so deep in the pockets of the Carbon Barons that they are failing to respond to the impending crises. So it’s up to us – ordinary concerned citizens – to lead the charge ... we are going to have to be the ones to lead, and demand that our elected officials start looking past the next election and toward our children’s future and their children’s future."

Lights Out! The End of the Oil Age
by Jason Mark, AlterNet, April 14, 2004