The website ecolibris is working to help people make a difference.

Let’s start with the bottom line: we believe in providing people with easy and affordable ways to take responsibility for their actions and go green. We don’t believe in preaching doom and gloom. It’s not our style. We do believe in taking action and in the power of small changes to make a big impact.

Books are everywhere, just look around: on bookshelves at home, in college students’ backpacks, in the mail from the book club or in that pile in your room right now. For some people they’re for education, for others they’re an entertaining escapade and for some, reading is really a passion. Eco-Libris is for everyone. It enables people to do something reasonable, affordable yet with an impact: plant one tree for every book they read. We believe that taking responsibility for the environmental costs of the books we read is only natural.

” Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed” – Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

NAIROBI (AFP) – A baby hippopotamus that survived the  tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said. 

 The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about  300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

“It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a ‘mother’,” ecologist Paula Kahumbu,  who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

“After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together,” the ecologist added. “The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother,” Kahumbu added.

“The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years,” he explained.

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

This is a real story that shows that our differences don’t matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God, “Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together.”

I picked up on this article because I have a cat that is suffering from thyroid disease.  The LA Times reports that “Cat thyroid disease is linked to Chemicals”

EPA scientists zero in on flame retardants in some home products and pet food. There is concern about humans.

An epidemic of thyroid disease among pet cats could be caused by toxic flame retardants that are widely found in household dust and some pet food, government scientists reported Wednesday.

The often-lethal disease was rare in cats until the 1980s, when it began appearing widely, particularly in California cats. That was at the same time industry started using large volumes of brominated flame retardants in consumer products, including furniture cushions, electronics, mattresses and carpet padding.

Scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency noted a possible connection between hyperthyroidism and flame retardants. The chemicals — known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs — mimic thyroid hormones, so experts have theorized that high exposure in cats could cause overactive thyroids.

Cats that remain indoors and eat fish-flavored canned food were found to be the most highly contaminated.  more…

Maria Energia reported that

Yesterday Merrill Lynch (MER) announced that it’s started tracking energy-efficient companies that it considers well-positioned to benefit from tough global warming policies.
The Merrill Lynch Energy Efficiency Index is currently made up of 40 companies from around that globe that fit the criteria of great growth potential from the increased emphasis on energy efficiency and cutting carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The index is divided into four components (from the news release): more

Corn Ethanol pushes up the price of your coffee at Starbucks. 

The Daily Green writes about how

the corn growing bonanza driven by government subsidies for the alternative fuel ethanol has tipped yet another domino in the economic food chain: Starbucks coffees.

At least, it’s part of the reason Starbucks is raising its prices, on average, 9 cents per drink.

They comment that

US farmers planted more corn this year than at any time in more than a half century, yet cattle ranchers, dairy farmers and other food producers are finding the supply tight.

That’s because so many corn farmers are growing their crop for fuel, not food. The rise in corn prices is one reason for the rise in milk prices, which is one reason for the rise in the cost of a latte.

This impact on the price of our skinny latte is part of the bigger picture of the move to more  corn-based ethanol.   The rush to “green our fuel” has effects that are not always apparent.  Don’t we just wish that the politicians would take their snouts out of the trough to look at the bigger picture once in a while?

Climate change is happening, maybe not quite in the way we would expect.  After all we live in the age of blockbuster movies like “The Day After” and we expect things to be seen on an epic scale.

Yesterday the residents of the county of Berkshire, UK got a taste of climate change when about 15cm of rain fell in just a few hours.

Newbry Railway Station (yes those are the rail tracks)

For this part of the world it is not usual to have this much rain in July and after an unusually wet year the ground water levels are already high.  So yesterday when the rain fell it caused some chaos.

Station Road in Thatcham

 Maidenhead town center

Even in our sleepy village which sits on the top of a hill above the Thames there were road closures as water reached 1m in depth in certain places.  Many of the roads and paths started to spring leaks as the subsurface water  looked for a way out. 

Stamford Road, Maidenhead

 So, climate change is upon us, but unfortunately most people seem not to care…

The new carbon-neutral London taxi service has a fleet of Toyota Prius petro-electric cars to provide “karmic” rides around town. Taking cash and account bookings, it costs less than many rival cab firms, which is surprising considering how remarkably posh it is.

All vehicles have sat-nav systems, leather seats, mini fridges stocked with complimentary Belu water, glossy magazines and newspapers. Drivers are smartly dressed and will always open the door for you. Cyclists who lose the will to pedal may order a Climatecar to drive them — and their bikes — home.

Next time you need a ride, perhaps you should consider Climatecars. It’s so much greener than booking a whopping petrol-guzzling family space bus for one measly mortal.

Brian T. Edmondson has written an excellent short piece on why there are 3 reasons people don’t buy from you..

1. They can’t afford it…

This means they really can’t afford what your selling, no matter how bad they want it.

For marketers, price as an objection is no excuse, but in some cases, the money just isn’t there

2. They don’t believe you…

Let’s face it, people are skeptical in nature, and tons of hype, big claims, and broken promises has made “buyers beware”…

Your job as a marketer (you’re a marketer no matter what business you are in), is to make sure people believe what you’re saying…

This is done with guarantees, testimonials, case studies, demonstrations, etc…

3. They don’t want or need what you offer…

This one is a little tricky. Basically you know whether or not you have a valuable product and whether or not people should want or need it.

Your job is to make them aware of what’s available and educate them in a way that shows them the value of what you have to offer…

They may need or want what you offer, and just don’t know it…

Keep these 3 things in mind whenever you are creating and type of sales and marketing activities.

From Steve Hargreaves of CNN  comments on Goldman Sachs’ outlined five events it says are key to the rising sector’s growth.

1. Enacting renewable portfolio standards 
2. Boost enforcement of RPS standards 
3. Enact a carbon cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax 
4. A significant increase in fossil fuel prices
5. The 2008 presidential election 

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