Rik's Blog

Vote for Steve Bellone: Long Island Business News Poll

2011-05-28T13:09:00.000-04:00

The matchup is set.

Although it took a bit longer than expected, the combatants are now in place for Long Island's Suffolk County Executive race coming this fall.

For the Democrats, the candidate is Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone, who had been the presumptive nominee ever since County Executive Steve Levy turned Republican.

For the GOP, the nominee is Suffolk County Treasurer Angie Carpenter, the only one who really wanted the job after all. Others, such as businessman Randy Altschuler and state Sen. John Flanagan, flirted with running, but Carpenter from the start was overt and enthusiastic about the position.

Now, who should win?

Click on Picture above to Vote and leave a comment below.

USGBC-LI's Peter Caradonna Foresees a Sustainable Future

2011-05-20T10:26:00.002-04:00

As a 3^rd generation architect, Peter Caradonna eventually married (what else?) an architect. But his life’s work truly started in the mid 1990’s, working on a branch library in Brooklyn. Peter was handed the NYC Department of Design and Construction High Performance Building Guidelines. Curious what such a building would be, Peter spent the weekend reading the guidelines, gaining a new understanding of “the future of our business.”

Peter’s introduction to sustainability convinced him that architects could regain their former importance to society, becoming “a catalyst to a critical paradigm shift.” Starting his own firm in 1996, He sought to learn everything he could about green building.

In 2000 he joined the US Green Building Council (USGBC), working on the programs committee for USGBC New York, one of the organization’s six original chapters. Recruited to help start the Long Island Chapter, Peter became its first chair. His leadership skills impressed the national organization, where he now sits on the Chapter Steering Committee. USGBC now has over 79 chapters, and Peter enjoys a national network of bright, forward-thinking progressives to share ideas with anywhere he goes.

Of course, sustainability faces a huge challenge from entrenched business and political entities. Peter says the green movement must work twice as hard to achieve its goals. He also believes the next generation will use their life-long relationship with computers to take up this struggle, informed by a different understanding of the world. “I can’t wait to see what they come up with,” he says. “They’re my greatest hope.”

“Anywhere you go on earth,” Peter notes, “the human footprint is evident. Even in the furthest wilderness areas.” In addition to sustainability, he foresees restorative and regenerative systems to maintain the planet, even as our society grows exponentially.

For now, the current generation needs to determine the standards for making all buildings carbon neutral. “And you know what?” Peter asserts. “That’s not a bad way to end this generation’s work.”

Post written by David Sporn.

Originally posted on the USGBC-LI Blog

My Top 5 Android Apps for Long Island

2011-04-11T12:21:00.002-04:00

I can't say enough about my Droid X which runs on Google's Android Operating System. I had previously owned a BlackBerry and it just doesn't compare. Below is my Top 5 Android Apps for Long Island. Enjoy.

The Long Island Wine Country (LIWC) app is an interactive guide to Long Island's wine region, with hundreds of listings for accommodations, restaurants, and wineries! This app makes it easy and convenient for you to plan your Long Island Wine Country getaway, or simply navigate the vineyards once you have arrived.

The #1 source for what's happening in New York - news, sports, gossip and more. No other city is quite like New York and the Daily News is the number one paper for coverage of what goes on – from the politics to the gossip. And when it comes to Sports, our writers know the Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets better than any – its why year after year we win awards for the best Sports coverage.

The latest breaking news in New York, New Jersey, and Long Island; plus weather, sports and entertainment headlines from the PIX11 News Team.

App features:
Read on the go even when you lose your network connection.
Share your favorite stories via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail.

Enjoy the award-winning journalism of The New York Times on your Android™- powered smartphone. Download the application and get our Top News section for free, or subscribe to unlock all the sections in the app of The Times, plus blogs, videos and slide shows. The app downloads and syncs the latest news directly to your device for online or offline reading. Improved design, a directory of New York Times blogs and added offline bookmarking features enhance your reading experience. View in portrait or landscape, with adjustable font size. Share articles via e-mail, SMS, Facebook and Twitter. And get breaking news alerts to be the first to read about events as soon as they occur.

WABC 7 Online ABC New York News is now available for Android!

We offer tons of local content, including:

-Constantly updated news articles

-Weather with maps

-Sports scores and news

-Flight tracker

-Horoscopes

-Lottery results

-Local cheap gas prices

-Movie showtimes

-Streaming video

-Slideshows

Who Will Be The Star Trek Generation?

2011-04-08T11:50:00.003-04:00

As I listened to Billy Joel’s “Summer, Highland Falls” last night I couldn’t help but compare it to the political climate of today. We live in a world without compromise. Neither side wants to give, they only want to get. When Billy Joel sings this song in concert he usually dedicates it to “All the Manic Depressives in the audience.” Is that what our society has become?

Our leaders can’t seem to look past today. They have become obsessed with today while sacrificing tomorrow. It is not a sustainable political or social environment. Everyday we are confronted with our own inhumanity, the rising poverty rate and the decline of the middle class, the spread of disease and infection, and the differences in each others religious beliefs. Our leaders seem to choose their own madness over the reality of the situation. They needlessly dissipate their energies promoting their own selfish agendas while distracting others from the respective similarities of the issues.

They have been arguing and so called compromising on the same issues for over 6 decades but it seems that nothing has changed. They are still standing on the ledges of their own unwavering beliefs with an unwillingness to take a step back and see it from another perspective.

What generation is going to standup and sacrifice to become what I like to call, The Star Trek Generation? By that I mean, the generation that is going to put the future of our world ahead of their own agenda. If any of you are fans of Star Trek you know that in that world there is no more disease, social classes, or political unrest. Everything is done with the good of society as a whole in mind. Only then will we truly become a sustainable society.

Roger Waters: Why am I doing the Wall again now?

2010-12-16T17:34:00.003-05:00

I recently came across this quote of mine from 22 years ago:

” What it comes down to for me is this: Will the technologies of communication in our culture, serve to enlighten us and help us to understand one another better, or will they deceive us and keep us apart?”

I believe this is still a supremely relevant question and the jury is out. There is a lot of commercial clutter on the net, and a lot of propaganda, but I have a sense that just beneath the surface understanding is gaining ground. We just have to keep blogging, keep twittering, keep communicating, keep sharing ideas.

30 Years ago when I wrote The Wall I was a frightened young man. Well not that young, I was 36 years old.

It took me a long time to get over my fears. Anyway, in the intervening years it has occurred to me that maybe the story of my fear and loss with it’s concomitant inevitable residue of ridicule, shame and punishment, provides an allegory for broader concerns.: Nationalism, racism, sexism, religion, Whatever! All these issues and ‘isms are driven by the same fears that drove my young life.

This new production of The Wall is an attempt to draw some comparisons, to illuminate our current predicament, and is dedicated to all the innocent lost in the intervening years.

In some quarters, among the chattering classes, there exists a cynical view that human beings as a collective are incapable of developing more ‘humane’ ie, kinder, more generous, more cooperative, more empathetic relationships with one another.

I disagree.

In my view it is too early in our story to leap to such a conclusion, we are after all a very young species.

I believe we have at least a chance to aspire to something better than the dog eat dog ritual slaughter that is our current response to our institutionalized fear of each other.

I feel it is my responsibility as an artist to express my, albeit guarded, optimism, and encourage others to do the same. To quote the great man, ” You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”

- Roger Waters, 2010

Aliens Among Us — Just Don't Expect ET

2010-12-02T15:08:00.000-05:00

Alien life has been among us all along, according to new biological findings announced by NASA Thursday.

Research conducted by biochemist Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon from the U.S. Geological Survey has turned the quest for alien life on its ear, suggesting that phosphorous, carbon, and the other fundamental elements found in every living thing on Earth aren't the only signs of life. Wolfe-Simon will explain the findings at a hotly anticipated NASA press conference today at 2 p.m.

After a two-year study at California's Mono Lake, near Yosemite National Park, Wolfe-Simon found that a bug will grow in the presence of the toxic chemical arsenic when only slight traces of phosphorous are present. It's a radical finding, says molecular biologist Steven Benner, who is part of NASA's "Team Titan" and an expert on astrobiology -- forcing the space agency to redefine the quest for other life in the universe.

"When we're searching for alien life, if it's not a Ferengi from Star Trek, what would it be?" Benner asked FoxNews.com. In his estimation, we've always defined life as something that has the exact same chemistry as a life-form on Earth. The new discovery will likely change that equation, because it means the basic building blocks of DNA are not quite what we thought.

Benner, said the arsenic-loving organism at Mono Lake grew without high levels of the nutrient phosphate (although some phosphates were still present). Just as important, it could change how we look for alien life on other planets, especially on Saturn and the moons of Jupiter.

"It's a paradigm shift," says Dimitar Sasselov, an astrobiologist who leads the Origins of Life Initiative at Harvard University. "The possibility that Earth-life biochemistry is not universal is a transformational concept. It fills the search [for alien life] with optimism. NASA is moving in a good overall direction. What is needed is to take alternatives for life's chemistry to heart and fund research work better."

Arsenic is poisonous to nearly all forms of life on earth. Even small amounts of the poison become embedded in living tissue, causing liver failure and ultimately death -- in nearly everything BUT these bacteria.

However, as science fiction author Robert Sawyer told FoxNews.com, there could be even more profound implications. We have always looked for alien life that matches our biology, but now we have found a different life-form that uses arsenic in its basic DNA structure, he said.

Sawyer explained that NASA science probes have always looked in the most likely places we thought life could exist -- on Mars or Europa, a moon of Jupiter. There is an old joke, he says, about how someone lost a quarter in their garage, then looks out in the yard for it. A neighbor asks why they are looking there instead of in the garage; the light is better, he answers.

"We tend to use the tools we know and the places we know to look for alien life," Sawyer said, explaining that humans want to find a walking, crawling alien and not one that just has different DNA.

The change, he says, is that NASA will start looking for arsenic as well, and possibly other chemicals. This could mean new missions to Titan, which is known for having traces of arsenic. Another change could be the scientific equipment we send to space – probes might be retrofitted to search for arsenic.

Benner said the finding even impacts earlier research. Several years ago, when a Martian meteorite crash-landed on Earth, scientists examined it for the presence of phosphates. Now, it may be possible to re-visit some of the earlier findings. This hints at what experts call the "shadow biosphere" -- the existence of other life-forms, even on Earth, that have a radically different DNA structure.

"It's a huge breakthrough. It changes the probabilities for their being life on other planets," Sawyer told FoxNews.com. "If there is more than one recipe that makes life, then there are chances of rolling the dice in a chemical soup of all over the universe, and the chances of that chemical soup giving rise to life is much larger."

For NASA, the scientific discovery could help the agency acquire new funding, serving as a catalyst to convince Congress to green light for new missions to Mars or Titan.

In fact, the Internet buzz about finding alien life, as Sawyer noted, is partly due to how NASA has timed the announcement. A new Congress means new opportunities for scientific missions. He says the reality of the finding is somewhat of a joykill -- we have not found E.T. -- but there are still major implications for science and the search for extra-terrestrial life in our solar system and beyond.

Benner says the findings need further review -- there are questions about how much phosphorous is needed to sustain life.

"The next phase is to grow more of the stuff in a lab using a defined cultured, maybe cook up a broth that contains no phosphorous at all, look at this with a critical eye," he said.

However you view the announcement, the Lake Mono findings are profound, and the possibilities for finding life -- especially the primordial kind -- are now even greater.

Story taken from FoxNews.com

WikiLeaks Prove The Facebook Effect Definitely Has Limits

2010-11-29T17:55:00.002-05:00

I have recently finished reading The Facebook Effect by David Kirkpatrick. A much more detailed and less salacious account of the story behind Facebook than the book with which the screenplay for the movie, The Social Network (Horrible movie. Don't waste your money.) was based off of. It is a great book that tells the story of how Facebook grew up and the decisions (and no decisions) by Mark Zuckerberg that have kept him in control of his dream.

The Facebook Effect is the causatum of Zuckerberg's dream to turn our society into a more open, transparent world with the ultimate goal of uniting our fractured cultures via Facebook. Zuckerberg's logic is that people and governments in that kind of society will be more accounable for their actions in such an open and transparent world in which everyone is so forthcoming with their information about their likes and with what, how, and with whom they spend their time. The key to Zuckerberg's theory is the information that each individual volunteers to share with his/her network. The more people share, the more open each individual network becomes and the more transparent and accountable our society as a whole becomes. With some small privacy control exceptions, there is No Hiding on Facebook.

Google was created to index the world. To gather all the world's information in one place to be easily searched, accessed, and engaged. (That has been accomplished and now they are just starting to try to take over the world tech markets with their Android operating system.) Facebook was created to unite our own individual social network of friends and family to create a strong, open, and transparent world (network) in with which to live and share. Although you can Google and find a group, business or any individual's Facebook Profile you can't actually gain access to that information without that party's explicit consent. That is the real value in the business of Facebook; Their Ad Space. The very accurate personal data that is voluntarily entered into their system by people sharing information about themselves within their network has helped Zuckerberg create the first "Pin Point Marketing" System that he can sell to advertisers looking to get their brand or product in front of the most precise demographic as possible. The Google model of Cost-Per-Click (CPC) advertisements cannot compete. It is why Google has attempted to buy Facebook countless times and Zuckerberg hasn't broken yet. Google can't Google the information inside Facebook's servers. Facebook has basically created the very first world wide intranet.

And then in The Facebook Effect's Ripple, comes WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks is an international non-profit media organization that publishes submissions of otherwise unavailable documents from anonymous sources and leaks. Its website, launched in 2006, is run by The Sunshine Press. Within a year of its launch, the site claimed a database that had grown to more than 1.2 million documents. The organization has described itself as having been founded by Chinese dissidents, as well as journalists, mathematicians, and start-up company technologists from the U.S., Taiwan, Europe, Australia, and South Africa. Newspaper articles and The New Yorker magazine (7 June 2010) describe Julian Assange, an Australian journalist and Internet activist, as its director.

WikiLeaks has made headlines recently by releasing hundreds of thousands of State Department documents with dangerous and unknown consequences to our national security. In this Age of Facebook, this is exactly the kind of transparency that, in theory, Facebook is trying to create. But with one major problem. The information was not voluntarily shared by The State Department. The information was stolen by an individual now being held in solitary confinement for months by the United States government. This article started out many weeks ago titled, "Will We Be Thankful for Facebook?" I wanted to get it out in time for Thanksgiving. But I was having trouble writing the article and tying all my thoughts together coherently. Thanksgiving came and went with me not having enough to publish the article. So I let it go. Almost deleted everything that I had staring frustrated at the screen very early Thursday morning.

After reading the papers today outlining exactly what was leaked, this article became much clearer but my main question was still unanswered. I don't know if I am "thankful" for Facebook. Yet. It is way too early to weigh all the positives and negatives to come up with a grand conclusion for its effect on our society. For as much good it has and will do for us, it has created a world of vultures who think that everything is a matter of public record. You did not have to read the paper today to know that not everything is for the public's consumption. The key to Facebook's society is the voluntary submission of information by persons directly involved with said information. There has to be a line, and not a fine one either. It has to be clear and concise. No Shades of Gray. This what not a bunch of papers leaked that showed how our government was mismanaging our tax dollars. There was no benefit to the world's peoples by leaking this information. Besides damaging American relations with foreign dignitaries, the only people benefiting from this information besides Wikileaks was our enemies. New York Representative Peter King is calling for the swift prosecution of the founder and persons directly involved at WikiLeaks. Which I believe to be totally justified. They put many American lives at risk for their own financial benefit. That to me is the true definition of terrorism. They should be arrested, tried, and hung from the top of The Empire State Building with all of world watching on YouTube. They should not be incarcerated and protected from a society that they have knowingly damaged.

The goal of an open and transparent society is a great one. And one I hope we get to. It can only benefit our society to hold individuals, corporations, and governments accountable for their actions. We are definitely not their yet, we still have major boundaries to define. But the information has to be shared voluntarily and cannot come at the expense of other individual lives and reputations.

WikiLeaks has shared their information, we know who they are and what they are about. Let's now hold them accountable for their actions.

Hopefully many years from now I will be able to write an article entitled, "Why We Are Thankful for Facebook."

Here In 'No Man's Land' (a.k.a. Long Island)

2010-05-28T15:05:00.000-04:00

The first time I heard Billy Joel’s No Man’s Land off his River of Dreams album I was seventeen years old. It was very early in the morning on my way to football practice the summer before my senior year of high school. It struck a chord in me that his song about one of the loves of his life was so unilluminated. He really does not paint a pretty picture of Long Island with his lyrics. Backed up by very heavy drums and an almost unfinished synthesizer. It was the first song on the new album that I had been waiting four years to hear. I didn’t exactly understand why he would choose to kick off four years of silence with such an angry song about an object of his affection. Only a few months later, I was able to hear him play that song live at the Nassau Coliseum on New Years Eve 1993. Billy kicked off the concert that night with it. Sounded amazing. His songs always sound better live. But still, I did not understand the dark images he was portraying to his audience. That was over 16 years ago.

I have been an avid Billy Joel fan since as way back as I can remember. On my 8^th birthday my parents gave me the greatest gift I have ever received, tickets to his concert on my birthday. Since then I have consumed his music. Much to the ribbing of my friends, family and co-workers. I probably have 30+ Gigs of just his music on my portable hard drive. And even though I ate his music and memorized all the words, it was not until my early twenties that I shed my cocoon and fully understood his lyrics. I finally realized that they were not just words to go in rhythm with the music. He was actually saying something. Still to this day, probably the greatest thing any fan of a band or musician can say is that, it feels like he is speaking directly to me.

I bring up this song for this post for a reason. I heard it today for the first time in awhile and it made me think about all the times I've listened to it before. In my opinion, as a whole, Long Island is still the same place Billy Joel was screaming about almost 17 years ago. Really to me, not much has changed. The skies over the Island are is still clouded with uncertainty. Go through the lyrics with me, they could just have very easily been written yesterday:

I've seen those big machines come rolling through the quiet pines
Blue suits and bankers with their Volvos and their valentines
Give us this day our daily discount outlet merchandise
Raise up a multiplex and we will make a sacrifice
Now we're gonna get the big business
Now we're gonna get the real thing
Everybody's all excited about it

We have turned into a society of gluttonous combative consumerholics sliced up into a million demographics by the mainstream media and government agencies for their own profiteering. The “blue suits and bankers” have taken us down a slippery road of economic turmoil our country hasn't seen in 70 years. Our financial system epitomizes the “Needs of the Few Are Greater Than the Needs of the Many” idealism which has become prevalent in our society. And I’m ashamed to say I was probably leading the gluttonous charge on a few nights, as we all have at some point or another I’m sure. And New York’s government is Ineptitude’s Poster Boy. Everyone wants their way, just because it is their way. And nothing gets accomplished. Hopefully Billy Joel's song Miami 2017: Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway does not go down in the annals of history as a prophecy.

There ain't much work out here in our consumer power base
No major industry, just miles and miles of parking space
This morning's paper says our neighbor's in a cocaine bust
Lots more to read about Lolita and suburban lust
Now we're gonna get the whole story
Now we're gonna be in prime time
Everybody's all excited about it

You just have to change the line about the Lolita (Amy Fisher) for any of the Dina Lohans that have tried to make themselves famous through the tasteless medium of Fake Reality TV.

I see these children with their boredom and their vacant stares
God help us all if we're to blame for their unanswered prayers
They roll the sidewalks up at night, this place goes underground
Thanks to the condo kings there's cable now in Zombietown
Now we're gonna get the closed circuit
Now we're gonna get the Top 40
Now we're gonna get the sports franchise
Now we're gonna get the major attractions

Billy grew up on the streets of Long Island. He came from a broken home. He knows what it is like to be an easily influenced Long Island youth. Just listen to his song Captain Jack. That should speak volumes. There is nothing to do at night if you are underage on Long Island. Nothing but movie theaters and street corners to mold these young minds if you wanted to venture away from the TV or internet for a few hours. Kids don’t even play outside in the street anymore. I think me and my friends were the last age group of kids that played outside without the need to be setup on a “Play Date.” We would leave our houses at 10:30am and didn’t return until 10pm. There was always 8-15 kids playing the popular seasonal sport out on the street in front of someone’s house. Not anymore. When he wrote this song, his daughter was still young. Young enough for him to be concerned with what it would be like for her growing up on the Long Island he was observing. And all these years later, much doesn't seem to have changed. Maybe that is why Billy Joel has not written an album of new material since the last one almost 17 years ago. Maybe he is tired of being the voice of Long Island, only to have his message fall on the deaf ears of people who are blinded by his “Rock Star” status and are only interested in the photo op.

The Refrain and ending of Billy Joel’s ‘No Man’s Land’ goes like this:

Who remembers when it all began
Out here in no man's land
Before the whole world was in our hands
Out here in no man's land
Before the banners and the marching bands
Out here in no man's land
Low supply and high demand
Here in no man's land

That’s a good question. Who remembers when it all began? Well, I certainly don’t. My parents were still a few years from being born when Long Island became the first suburb of America after World War II. And the members of ‘Our Greatest Generation’ that are still with us, will not be around for too much longer. Take the time to ask one next time you are in their company. But I’m sure it was a time that was filled with endless possibilities in their eyes. Before all the Pomp and Circumstance and giant shiny carrots, this was No Man’s Land, vast sprawls of potato fields surrounded by bright blue water. Having just faced down the greatest evil the world had ever known, that generation of Long Islanders reached for the stars and landed humans on the moon among many other great achievements.

When I heard Billy Joel’s No Man’s Land today, for the first time since I was fully able to comprehend what he was talking about, I do not share his opinion of a dark and unilluminated Long Island. Yes shades of gray still cover the Long Island skyline but in all its turmoil, it has created a Long Island filled with endless possibilities. It has made some Long Islanders start to think outside the box. Believing in their hearts that there has got to be a better way to do things then the way we have been going about our business. There is a select group of individuals and organizations that in their own way have started to shine their lights through the darkness to lead Long Island into a bright and sustainable future.

These individuals and organizations are vital if Long Island is going to pick itself up and lead the charge into the 21^st Century. Their work already has been instrumental in the progress Long Island has made into a greener economy. To me, Green = Smart. It also the first movement to promote the “Needs of the Many Are Greater Than the Needs of the Few” idealism that must become our mantra if we are to be an example for the rest of the county to follow. It is the first movement that is taking a look at what we have become, the damage we are on pace to dump on our children’s laps, and the first to realize that somewhere along the line, we are going to have to pay the price.

I would like to let everyone else know what I have seen over the last few years that has given me hope. Hope that we are not really like the MTV style society that we have become. This is the next Greatest Generation of Long Islanders who are poised to lead our region down the path to sustainability and be a model for the rest of the country and future generations of Long Islanders to follow.

Babylon Town Supervisor Steve Bellone – Founder and President of The Babylon Project and helped create the Town of Babylon’s nationally recognized Long Island Green Homes Program.

Town of Babylon’s Sammy Chu – Board member for the Long Island Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC-LI). He also helped create Town of Babylon’s nationally recognized Long Island Green Homes Program.

Vince Capogna and the USGBC-LI Executive Board – Vince Capogna, President, and the U.S. Green Building Council Long Island Chapter’s Executive Board have been instrumental in leading the charge in the green building industry on Long Island. The USGBC LEED rating system is the premiere green building rating system in the country. The purpose of the Long Island Chapter of the US Green Building Council is to mirror and advance the core purpose of the US Green Building Council locally; to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

Sarah Lansdale, Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island - Sarah Lansdale was selected as Sustainable Long Island’s second Executive Director in September 2004. Under her leadership, the organization has engaged thousands of community leaders and elected officials to rethink, rebuild and renew communities across Long Island, resulting in tens of millions of dollars of investment, hundreds of units of housing, and dozens of new businesses.

Sarah serves on the Board of Directors of the Women Economic Developers, was appointed by the Governor to sit on the MTA Sustainability Commission, and was appointed by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy to the Suffolk County Planning Commission. She co-produced an Emmy-nominated documentary Farming the Future: Farm Life on Long Island. Sarah is a 2006 graduate of the Energeia Partnership and was honored as a Community Leader by the 100 Black Men of Long Island and most recently by the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko – Supervisor Lesko in only a short term in office has become a champion for the future of Long Island and The Town of Brookhaven by creating The Town of Brookhaven Comprehensive Plan 2030. And just recently his launch of the “Blight into Light” initiative.

LIPA CEO Kevin Law – Just some of the amazing things Kevin has accomplished at the help of Long Island’s Power Authority:

· LIPA CHIEF KEVIN LAW, TO UNVEIL NEW FEDERAL PLAN TO ALLOW LIPA TO REFINANCE BILLIONS IN DEBT – WOULD SAVE LI’ERS HUNDREDS ON THEIR ELECTRIC BILLS AND LOWER THEM BY 5 PERCENT

· LIPA Applies for over $17 Million in Stimulus Funding For Renewable Energy Projects

· LIPA and Smithtown Schools Announce Largest School Solar Project on Long Island

· LIPA Proposes 2010 Operating & Capital Budget Which Stabilizes Rates in Volatile Energy Market and Expands Investment in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

· LIPA Increases Funding for Renewables and Creates New Solar Thermal Program

· LIPA CEO Kevin Law Announce $12.5 Million Award for Rte 110 “Smart Energy Corridor”

· LIPA Approves the Largest Solar Energy Project in New York State

RELI - Renewable Energy Long Island - RELI is a membership-based, not-for-profit organization promoting clean, sustainable energy use and generation for Long Island. RELI seeks public participation in energy policy decisions to encourage energy efficiency, use of renewable energy sources, and to protect our environment, economy, and public health.

Ted Reiff, Founder / President of The ReUse People of America - The ReUse People (TRP) are relatively new to the Long Island Community and not many people have heard of TRP or Ted Reiff. But his not-for-profit organization is the leading building deconstruction and building material reuse organization in the counrty. Through their efforts The ReUse People have diverted over 260,000 tons of valuable construction and demolition waste from fragile overburdened landfills. He will teach us how our old buildings are a valuable resource for other Long Islanders. With Long Island's only 3 working landfills, Ted Reiff and The ReUse People will be a vital cog in the wheel that will shape the future of Long Island.

KIOLI - Keep It On Long Island Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 - KIOLI is a catchprase. An acronym to be more exact. It is a philosophy and a movement. It stands for Keep It On Long Island, but it means many things.

It means keeping our money here where it cannot be manipulated by treacherous Wall Street investments. It pleads with consumers to spend money in local businesses that are owned by local residents. Businesses founded by investments made by Long Islanders that result in profits staying here and circulating through our economy. It is a movement that dreams of providing our children with affordable housing alternatives and productive skilled employment. It is a notion whose time has come and kioli.org is where it resides.

Now I can see what these organizations and individuals are accomplishing. But that is only because I am looking. Their work has not cleared out all the darkness. There is still along way to go. That will not happen until the rest of Long Island can start to see who the leaders of Long Island really are. For I believe that if Billy Joel could see what I see, it would inspire him to break 17 years of silence and write a less ominous album of songs about the land we all love, our home, Long Island.

My Response to Cablevision Editorial: Brookhaven Town Supervisor Mark Lesko's "Blight into Light"

2010-05-21T08:46:00.001-04:00

Dear Supervisor Lesko,

I have just finished reading the Cablevision Editorial on your "Blight into Light" projects for the Town of Brookhaven. Let me commend you on a great idea and the amazing job you have done in only a short time in office. I hope other town leaders follow you down the path of sustainability sooner rather than later.

My only concern with your plan is what are you going to do with the old homes and buildings? How are they going to be removed? The "Blight into Light" project is great for the revitalization of these neighborhoods and the Long Island community but I feel there will be a blight on the "Blight into Light" projects if current demolition practices are used to remove the old structures from these communities.

Traditional bulldozer style demolition hurts the very Long Island Community that you are trying to revitalize. Buildings, like everything, have a life-cycle. When a building is no longer fit for use and has to come down, does this happen just as all of its parts and components wear out? Most old buildings have some systems and building materials with useful lives. The trick is efficiently identifying the materials and getting them out of the building. When redeveloping a Long Island property, it is difficult to see the old buildings as anything but obstacles. Also, it is important to consider whether their contents and/or components may actually be resources that have net value.

Current demolition practices are not sustainable. They are also not in the best interest of Long Island and our environment. They hurt our community by over-burdening our already fragile landfills with valuable building materials that are not at the end of their life cycles just because the homes and buildings they make up are. Those same building materials can benefit a fellow Long Islander who might not be able to afford brand new building materials.

Building Deconstruction and Building Material Reuse on Long Island is the systematic dismantlement of building materials and building components, specifically for re-use, recycling, and waste management. It differs from demolition where a site is cleared of its building materials by the most expedient means and a majority of the demolished materials are hauled to a landfill for disposal. Building Deconstruction is new by name, but not by practice, as the recovery and reuse of building materials in order to build new structures is as old as buildings themselves. Reuse of materials might be considered one of the "original" green building techniques, along with the use of local materials. In the pre-industrial era, building material conservation was driven by the high intensity of the labor effort required to harvest and prepare them. Reuse of materials provided an economic advantage. In the mid-to-late 20th century, the emergence of machine-made and mass-produced materials, chemically complicated materials, and the relatively low cost of oil allowed this basic idea of "waste not, want not" to fall from usage in the creation of built environment.

We live in a different world now. The cost of oil is out of control and puts a heavy burden on some Long Island families who have to pay the increasing gas prices. And there is no end in sight to our dependence on foreign oil. Dumping fees are continually going to rise. Especially as the number of landfills decrease because of capacity issues and remediation is needed on the sites that are still in use. The reusable building materials from your "Blight into Light" projects could be worth a significant tax write-off when donated to a not-for-profit organization on Long Island like The ReUse People (TRP) and receive a tax-deductible receipt to help offset the overall cost of the "Blight to Light" projects. These services are among the first steps in the green building process and provide a faster payback and better return-on-investment than any other product or service offered by the green building industry on Long Island.

The ReUse People and their Long Island TRP-Certified Building Deconstruction contractor, Advanced Restoration Corporation, aim is to recycle or reclaim for reuse up to 80% of the structure rather than dumping the materials into Long Island landfills for the next generation of Long Islanders to deal with.

I truly believe Sarah Lansdale, the Executive Director of Sustainable Long Island, when she said, "With the attention and focused resources provided by elected officials such as Supervisor Lesko, we can revitalize our communities and ensure that Long Island is prosperous and beautiful for generations to come." Please Supervisor Lesko I implore you, don't leave a blight on the "Blight into Light" projects, choose building deconstruction and building material reuse over current demolition practices and help me turn it into a force for the sustainable development and future of Long Island.

Learn How EPA Lead Regulations Impacts New York Insurance Industry

2010-05-17T00:47:00.000-04:00

New York DKI Member Companies Host Seminars On How the New EPA Lead Regulations Will Impact the Insurance Industry on Long Island and New York City.

In April 2010, new rules on lead contamination developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went into effect for contractors that disturb painted surfaces in buildings constructed prior to 1978. These Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RPR) regulations require all contractors to:
Become an EPA certified firm
Have certified lead renovators on staff
Check painted surfaces to determine if they contain lead
Utilize specific types of engineering controls, containments and work practices
Perform specific cleaning tasks, verification and test their work area
Unfortunately, these new EPA Lead Regulations will have a major impact on the Insurance Industry on Long Island and New York City. Insurance Companies, Insurance Agents, Insurance Brokers, and Insurance Adjusters will all have to adjust to the new regulations that are now required of restoration contractors on property damage claims in structures built before 1978.

Please visit New York DKI Member Company Website for the Lead Seminars

Register In Advance. Registration is Mandatory.

On the Web:    www.DKI.LI

                                                By Phone:       1-800-734-9947

                                                By Email:        emartin@advancedrestoration.com

Dates: Thursday June 17^th, 2010 @ Westchester Hills Golf Club

            Friday June 18^th, 2010 @ Brookville Country Club

Time: Registration @ 8:30am
            Seminar @ 9am – 1pm
            Lunch @ 1pm – 2pm

Continental Breakfast and Snacks Served

New York DKI Member Companies are fully trained and certified to handle ALL lead issues that may arise on property damage claims.

About New York DKI Member Companies – The DKI Member Companies sponsoring the seminars on the new EPA Lead Regulations service Long Island and New York City.

Advanced Restoration Corporation

                                    All Pro Cleaning and Restoration

                                    Branch Restoration

                                    Milro Restoration

Disaster Kleenup International (DKI) is a network of the leading, independent property damage restoration contractors across North America. DKI member companies provide full service to their customers: Emergency response, water damage mitigation, mold remediation, complete reconstruction and much more 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, returning damaged property to pre-loss condition fast and efficiently, delivering complete satisfaction to their consumer, insurance, and corporate customers.

About Dr. Michael Pinto: CSP CMP CEO Wonder Makers Environmental, Inc. - Wonder Makers Environmental, Inc., a manufacturing and environmental consulting firm that specializes in identification and control of asbestos, lead, IAQ, mold, industrial hygiene, and chemical problems. Mr. Pinto is the author of over 150 published articles and several books including, Fungal Contamination: A Comprehensive Guide for Remediation. He completed doctoral course work in environmental engineering and holds numerous certifications in the environmental and safety areas including Certified Safety Professional and Certified Mold Professional.

Dr. Michael Pinto Wins Restoration Industry Association’s (RIA) Martin L. King Award - Given annually, the Martin L. King Award recognizes an individual's exceptional service and dedication to the restoration industry. Pinto was honored for his efforts as an industry instructor on a variety of environmental and restoration topics, his monthly column in Cleaning & Restoration magazine as well as articles in other industry publications, his innate ability to take complex issues and distill them down to their essential points, his unwavering efforts to consistently advocate for "doing things right," and for supporting the industry and practices that truly do "make it better" for everyone.

Martin King, CR, ASA, RIA's technical advisor and creator of the Certified Restorer^SM program said, "In this instance, instead of honoring the recipient with this award, the award is honored by its recipient."

The ReUse People (TRP), Long Island Building Deconstruction, and Advanced Restoration Corporation

2010-05-03T18:47:00.002-04:00

Advanced Restoration Corporation is proud to partner with The Reuse People (TRP) on all our Building Deconstruction projects to make the Long Island Community the Leader in Building Deconstruction and Building Material Reuse in New York and throughout the country.

By partnering with us, The ReUse People are able to expand into the Long Island market to promote Building Deconstruction and the salvage and sale of reusable building materials while diverting construction and demolition (C&D) waste from our overburdened landfills.
These services are among the first steps in the green building process. Furthermore, tax-deductible donations of reusable materials to TRP, a nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation, provide a faster payback and better return-on-investment than any other product or service offered by the green building industry on Long Island.

How The ReUse People (TRP) Started

The ReUse People (TRP) started in April, 1993, with a drive for building materials to help the flood victims in Tijuana, Mexico. The drive, Project Valle Verde, was planned and coordinated with the mayors of Tijuana and San Diego, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, the County Board of Supervisors, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Waste Management, and the Building Industry Association.

On April 23 and 24, contractors, other private companies, public agencies and the citizens of San Diego donated over 400 tons of building materials valued at $1.2 million. Twenty-seven tractor trailers crossed the border carrying this material in an unprecedented demonstration of bi-national cooperation and assistance.

The success of Project Valle Verde demonstrated the need for used building materials and the impact of this need on our already overused and over committed landfills.

The ReUse People started as Building Materials Distributors in San Diego in 1993 and, due to a name conflict with an existing corporation, the name was soon changed to The ReUse People.

Who Benefits from Our Partnership On Long Island?

All of us through a better environment on Long Island
Low income families who cannot afford to buy new building materials
Building deconstruction can also lead to the creation of new jobs and businesses
Building owners by virtue of tax donations
Architects, builders and contractors through better service to their clients
Reduced unemployment strengthens the Long Island economy directly as well as indirectly in areas such as retail sales and housing

While we obtain reusable building materials from a variety of sources, our own deconstruction efforts and those of over 30 TRP-Certified Deconstruction Contractors throughout the country contribute over 90 percent of them.
Whether you are an architect, general building contractor, building owner, or government agency on Long Island we stand ready to provide you with a package of benefits including:

Environmentally sound demolition (We like the words building deconstruction)
Building materials salvage
Advanced Restoration Corporation's skilled building deconstruction technicians
Tax donations for all the materials donated to The ReUse People (TRP)
Lower overall project costs
The assurance that someone, somewhere reuses the salvageable building materials generated from your project(s) on Long Island

The ReUse People (TRP) President - Ted Reiff

Prior to founding The ReUse People (TRP) in 1995, Ted Reiff was managing partner with an investment banking firm that provided financial services to young technology companies. Now, in addition to guiding TRP's national expansion program, he consults with private companies and government bodies on a variety of demolition and waste diversion projects. A graduate of Ohio State University and a licensed demolition contractor, Ted served three terms as board president of I Love a Clean San Diego and is an advisor to Urban Habitat Chicago.

The ReUse People (TRP) Long Island Regional Manager - Mike Yurish

Mike holds a B.S. degree in environmental science from SUNY Purchase, New York, and has been an amateur deconstructionist for some 20 years. He serves on the board of directors of the ReCONNstruction Center in New Britain, Connecticut, and is a licensed realtor and appraisal trainee in New Jersey. A resident of Connecticut, Mike currently works as a senior print technician for a major printing company.

Advanced Restoration Corporation - Eric Martin

Eric Martin has been in the family business for over 16 years. He is certified by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning, and Restoration Certification (IICRC) in Water Damage Mitigation and Advanced Structural Drying as well as holding his certification by the Restoration Industry Association (RIA) in Mold Remediation. Eric has worked in New York City for 8 months after 9/11 cleaning up the building surrounding Ground Zero. He also worked in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. A Green Risk Professional from Vale Training Institute he is also a member of the Communications Committee from the U.S. Green Building Council's Long Island (USGBC-LI) chapter in charge of handling USGBC-LI's social media accounts.

***********************************************************************

Green Drinks Babylon Next Event

2009-11-10T14:12:00.001-05:00

Participate. Educate. Connect.

The next Green Drinks Babylon Event will be held on November 17th, 2009 at Horace and Sylvia's Publick House from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. There will be a $5 donation at the door.

Green Drinks Babylon is a monthly gathering of like-minded individuals committed to shaping our future and making Long Island a greener community. Come out and charge your eco-spirit and make some new connections.

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business from all over Long Island. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just ask, "Are you green?" and we will introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network. These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity.

Solargle

2009-11-08T14:37:00.001-05:00

How is Solargle helping to clean up our world?

A recent Global Warming forecast released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states the following:

"As early as 2020, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will suffer water shortages. Residents of Asia's large cities will be at great risk of river and coastal flooding... Europeans can expect extensive species loss, and North Americans will experience longer and hotter heat waves and greater competition for water... If unchecked, global warming will spread hunger and disease, put further stress on water resources, cause fiercer storms and more frequent droughts, and could drive up to 70 percent of plant and animal species to extincti..." The full report can be seen at National Geographic News

The above report was deliberated on by 140 national delegations before being adopted, and its message is clear: In the words of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, "These scenes are as frightening as a science fiction movie... But they are even more terrifying because they are real... Only urgent, global action will do..."

Solargle aims to be a symbol of that global action. It is not enough for our policyholders to take action, and we must each do our part, every single day, to reduce the carbon emissions polluting and destroying our earth.

Solargle's hosting is 130% wind powered. This means that we are not only neutralizing our environmental impact, but reversing it! Our host's contribution to saving the planet is approximately equal to preventing the emission of 3117 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or, in other words:

Removing 444 cars from the road for a year, or

Powering 321 homes with clean energy for a year, or

Saving 5,654 barrels of oil, or

Protecting 551 acres of forest for a year

Click here to see our host's Green Tag purchase certificate!

Solargle's searches are powered by Google's Custom Search.

How can you help make a difference?

This planet needs all the help it can get. The more people we have concerned for the planet's future, the more chance we have of healing the planet. Please, set Blackle as your home page. By doing so, you will be able to browse the internet in a manner that doesn't damage our planet. Encouraging your friends to do so as well, giving us a hand by mentioning us on your social networking status or spreading the word about us means you are doing your part, every single day, to prevent a little bit of pollution entering our atmosphere. It's that simple.

Tips for Building That Elusive Business Currency Called Rapport

2009-11-04T14:08:00.000-05:00

by Jeffery Gitomer

Published: September 21, 2009

Long Island Business News

Jeffrey, In your presentation you said if you can’t build rapport, don’t start. I deal with attorneys. What is your recommendation if a prospect just won’t build rapport?

Kevin, if an attorney prospect “just won’t build rapport,” it’s because you haven’t asked him the right rapport building questions. Ask about the toughest case he’s ever had or the reason he chose to get into law, or the most rewarding part about his career. Ask something significant about him. I’ve never met anyone that won’t spend a minute or two talking about themselves.

Many salespeople make fatal mistakes trying to establish rapport around “things” – the weather, the ball game, the economy or the news. That’s not rapport; that’s idle chatter. Real rapport has an emotional base to it. And it comes from the prospect’s personal experience, personal opinion, and personal wisdom. The key to earning rapport is keeping it light and keeping it positive. There’s a secret of rapport, and the secret is “the link” – finding things in common that you both know about and like. The easiest example is children who are the same age or who have gone to the same college. These are things you can talk about with a smile and then move on to business.

Professional people tend to be self-indulgent people. When you walk into their offices, their statues, trophies and educational achievements are always in plain view, as are pictures of their family. Whenever I go into an office, I take a moment to walk around, not just look around. I look at educational achievements, other awards and family photos. Sometimes the first question I ask is, “How old are your children?” because oftentimes the photograph will be several years old. Whatever it is that I’m looking at, I try to ask a question that will elicit personal information, personal history or some type of positive emotional response.

That was Kevin’s issue. How’s your rapport building going? Do you understand that rapport is the gateway to an agreement? Do you understand that rapport is NOT small talk or chit-chat? Do you understand that rapport is the insight you gain about the person you’re trying to build a relationship with and entails giving them a little insight about you in return? Do you understand that rapport is NOT qualifying the customer, it’s engaging her personally and intellectually? Do you understand that rapport is a time when the customer is qualifying you?

Here is some additional insight into the rapport-building process:

• Rapport is delicate and must be professionally understood before you can be personally engaging.

• Rapport is exchanging information of personal value.

• Rapport is gaining insight into the person and their personality.

• Rapport is gaining an understanding of the other person.

• Rapport is the ability to begin the engagement process.

• Rapport is a learning time about them, not a bragging time about you.

• Rapport is asking – then creating dialog around the answer.

• Rapport is permission to smile, even laugh, without doing so at someone’s expense.

• Rapport is your opportunity to establish yourself as someone they would like to get to know better and maybe even do business with.

Is there a secret formula for building rapport? No – but the key actions from you are friendly and approachable. The key to success is “ask.”

And during the brief time you ask questions and exchange dialog, you may find the LINK. Something you both like and know about. The moment the link is realized, rapport deepens.

Maybe it’s a sports team, or a college or a child. Maybe it’s a vacation spot or a piece of art. Whatever it is, it’s personal and business gold. Story exchange, smiles, mutual good feelings and emotional thoughts and memories.

Once you have built some personal rapport, it’s time to segue to business rapport. Start with a career question – maybe something about length of service, the best accomplishment, goals for future success – and then say something about your business career.

When I finally segue to the business at hand I get right to the point. I tell my prospective customer, “The reason I asked for this meeting was to find out … .”

NOTE WELL: I DO NOT SAY, “The reason I asked for this meeting was to tell you about … .” Subtle, but powerful. Telling is selling. I want my prospective customer to BUY. So do you.

Some people tell me that trying to build rapport is awkward. Awkward is not a problem; it’s a symptom. The problem is a total lack of preparation on the part of the salesperson – that would be you.

Maybe if you spent less time boning up on the economy, and did some personal research on your prospective customer, YOUR economy would be better.

For a few more rapport insights go to http://www.gitomer.com/ and enter RAPPORT in the GitBit box.

Long Island Inaugurates Hydrogen Refueling Station

2009-11-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

Source: Newsday
Class: SYNDICATED NEWS

SYNOPSIS: $2.2-million station will be used to refuel retrofit vehicles including shuttle bus.

Long Island's newest refueling spot is an exclusive club: It's open only to drivers of hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered vehicles.

The $2.2-million hydrogen fuel station, financed by a combination of local and state funding with partners such as LIPA and National Grid, sits in a parking lot next to the Town of Hempstead's Department of Conservation and Waterways in Point Lookout.

Long Island Needs Plan for Sustainable Future

2009-10-30T09:55:00.000-04:00

Great article. Just wanted to pass it along

John D. Cameron Jr. is the chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council.

Michael E. White is the council’s executive director.

from

Long Island Business News

The news, opinion pages and blogs of LIBN have been filled with the challenges Long Island is facing, and it seems that the very best of what “Our Island” has to offer is at risk. While we share many of the problems faced by other communities, we have regional challenges that make our plight unique and in some ways more desperate. The Long Island Regional Planning Council is tackling these challenges and will ascertain how Long Island may achieve a sustainable future. If we are to be successful in solving these challenges, Long Islanders must be ready to embrace a future that preserves appealing aspects of our suburban life, recognizes our remarkable assets and creates a community based upon the principles of stewardship and sustainability.

Our distinction as the most highly taxed populace, with the highest energy costs in the continental United States and a lack of housing options to meet the needs of our changing population has resulted in an accelerated loss of our talented and educated work force, particularly our young people. The affordability problems of our young work force are shared by our seniors, a growing segment of Long Islanders. You have heard this before.

“Our Island” also faces an aging and inadequate infrastructure. We cannot build or revitalize our downtowns without adequate sewer capacity and treatment to protect our drinking water. We cannot alleviate our traffic congestion without better transportation and transit choices. The natural resources that attract us to the Island are stressed or even disappearing. Failure to address global climate change and reduce greenhouse gases could bring more unhealthy air and permanent flooding. Our ability to attract and retain quality businesses which employ highly skilled, highly paid workers must be strengthened. These challenges threaten our quality of life and our economic viability.

Acknowledging these challenges and problems as daunting, there is hope that we can still right the ship. The council, with core support from our counties and in collaboration with our towns, villages, cities and an array of stakeholders, is embarking upon a sustainability planning initiative to ensure that not only does Long Island remain an economic engine, but that our quality of life will be preserved and enhanced. Our “LI-2035 Regional Comprehensive Sustainability Plan” initiative will produce an integrated sustainability action plan. It will NOT merely be another study of existing deficient conditions or a vision devoid of a charted course of how and what to change.

Assisting the council is a team of talented planners, engineers, scientists, economists and sociologists headed by Arup, an internationally respected firm, supported by local firms and community-based organizations in conjunction with federal, state and local government. The work product will draw upon sustainability successes from around the world with specific application to Long Island.

First, we will identify and assess the challenges we face in economy, infrastructure, resources and land use. We then will establish goals; develop a series of sustainable strategies with metrics to assess their impact on meeting our challenges; and identify the necessary governmental actions and funding mechanisms required to implement the strategies to reach the goals. Second will be the integrated action plan providing the “how to” and “who needs to do what” to reach a condition of sustainability by the year 2035.

The council is supported in the development of this plan by a Leadership Advisory Cabinet comprised of Long Island leaders in business and industry, institutions, regional government, the community, the environment and nonprofits. The cabinet is co-chaired by Bob Catell and Pat Foye. Supporting the cabinet will be stakeholder resource groups acting as technical advisors in specific thematic areas. The experience and expertise of our cabinet and stakeholder resource groups as well as broad public outreach will ensure that the critical issues affecting Long Island will be addressed, practical solutions proposed, information generated widely disseminated and that the action plan will be implementable.

The critical challenges and associated problems we face are real and significant. It is up to all of us to seize the opportunity to create a sustainable future for “Our Island.”

2009-10-12T01:17:00.000-04:00

Posted

PhysOrg.com

Anyone who has ever stepped barefoot onto blacktop pavement on a hot sunny day knows the phenomenon very well: Black surfaces absorb the sun's heat very efficiently, producing a toe-scorching surface. In the wintertime, that can be a good thing: A dark roof heats up in the sun and helps reduce your heating bill. But in summertime, it's definitely a bad thing: Your house gets even hotter, and your air conditioning has to work harder. In most places, the summertime penalty is greater than the wintertime gain, it turns out, so that's why many people, including U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, strongly advocate switching to white roofs.

It's no small matter. In fact, Chu says that turning all the world's roofs white would eliminate as much greenhouse gas emissions in 20 years as the whole world produces in a year. But some critics point out that in northern cities, the gain in summer could be outweighed by the loss in winter. The ideal situation, then, would be to get the advantage of white roofs when it's hot and black roofs when it's cold.
Now, there may be a way to have both. A team of recent MIT graduates has developed roof tiles that change color based on the temperature. The tiles become white when it's hot, allowing them to reflect away most of the sun's heat. When it's cold they turn black and absorb heat just when it's needed.
The team's lab measurements show that in their white state, the tiles reflect about 80 percent of the sunlight falling on them, while when black they reflect only about 30 percent. That means in their white state, they could save as much as 20 percent of present cooling costs, according to recent studies. Savings from the black state in winter have yet to be quantified.
The team, which the students call Thermeleon (rhymes with chameleon, because of its color-changing property), was one of the competitors in this year's Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest (MADMEC), a competition for teams of MIT students (or 2009 graduates). Now in its third year, the contest this year was specifically devoted to projects aimed at improving energy efficiency through innovative uses of materials. The final showdown was held Wednesday night, and the Thermeleon team took first place, earning $5,000 in the process.
Nick Orf PhD ’09, a member of the Thermeleon team, explains that he and his teammates originally tried to develop a color-shifting roof tile using a system of mixed fluids, one dark and one light, whose density would change with temperature: the dark substance would float to the top when it was cold, and white would float when it was hot. But the system proved too complicated, and instead they hit on a simpler, less expensive method.

Now, they use a common commercial polymer (in one version, one that is commonly used in hair gels) in a water solution. That solution is encapsulated — between layers of glass and plastic in their original prototype, and between flexible plastic layers in their latest version — with a dark layer at the back.
When the temperature is below a certain level (which they can choose by varying the exact formulation), the polymer stays dissolved, and the black backing shows through, absorbing the sun's heat. But when the temperature climbs, the polymer condenses to form tiny droplets, whose small sizes scatter light and thus produce a white surface, reflecting the sun's heat.
They are now working on an even simpler version in which the polymer solution would be micro-encapsulated and the tiny capsules carried in a clear paint material that could be brushed or sprayed onto any existing surface. The tiny capsules would still have the color-changing property, but the surface could easily be applied over an existing black roof, much more inexpensively than installing new roofing material.
Although they have not yet made specific plans for forming a business to commercialize their concept, Orf says the team members are determined to pursue the project and develop it into a marketable product.
Because the materials are common and inexpensive, team members think the tiles could be manufactured at a price comparable to that of conventional roofing materials — although that won't be known for sure until they determine the exact materials and construction of their final version.
The biggest remaining question is over durability, and answering it will require spending some time to do accelerated testing by running the material through repeated hot-cold cycles.
Hashem Akbari, leader of the Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, is a long-time advocate of white roofs as an energy-saving measure. He says that some other groups, including a team at the University of Athens, have done research on the use of color-changing materials for roofs, but that in those tests, "the cost and durability has been a serious issue."
The Thermeleon team hopes to address those concerns. "It's got to stand up to very harsh conditions," Orf says. "Those sorts of tests would have to be done before we'll know if we have a viable product."
Provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news : web)

USGBC Wants an Environmental Label for Every Building

2009-09-16T15:37:00.000-04:00

This article appeared in:

Environmental Leader

Every building in the U.S. should have a label as to its environmental impact, said the U.S. Green Building Council’s president at the Healthy Buildings meeting. At the same event, IBM told how it is taking green buildings one step further with bright-green buildings, which converges green buildings with intelligence, said an IBM executive, reports Central New York News.

Rick Fedrizzi, president of the U.S. Green Building Council, would like to see a label similar to nutrition labels found on food packaging on the side of every building, that discloses the quality of the air, water and other environmental factors inside, reports Central New York News. Fedrizzi was the opening keynote speaker at the Healthy Buildings 2009 conference.

Fedrizzi said in the article that indoor environmental quality ranks near the bottom of the nation’s policy issues, and to change that, more research is needed to demonstrate the links between health and indoor air quality. He also noted that green building research attracted less than 1 percent of all federally funded research in 2007.
Jane Snowdon, a key executive at IBM’s Intelligent Building and Smarter City Research at the T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., told an audience at the Healthy Buildings 2009 conference that buildings need to be smarter because they consume 70 percent of the world’s electricity, 12 percent of its potable water and 40 percent of the raw materials used globally, reports the newspaper. T hey also create 136 million tons of waste per year worldwide, she said.

The smart grid would play an integral role in making buildings more energy efficient. As an example, National Grid, a utility in New York and New England, has applied for $200 million in federal stimulus money to create a smart grid in three states involving 200,000 customers, reports the newspaper.

Christopher Cavanagh, director of new products and services for the utility, told Central New York News that smart meters, appliances and monitoring systems will let consumers choose to consume energy when it’s cheaper — generally at night, or off-peak hours — and let the utility manage demand for energy.

To help building owners garner financial savings from green building practices, a new nonprofit organization was formed earlier this year to support and promote environmental sustainability among property owners and managers nationwide.

The Association of Green Property Owners and Managers (AGPOM) offers several services to members including a cost-effective Green Building Plan, green insurance products that provide discounts for going green, and Green Premium Plus, a program based on renewable energy credits (RECs).

Green Drinks Babylon

2009-09-11T17:21:00.006-04:00

A Force for the Sustainable Development and Future of Long Island.

Green Drinks Babylon is a monthly gathering of like-minded individuals committed to shaping our future and making Long Island a greener community. Come out and charge your eco-spirit and make some new connections.

Our 1st meeting is set for Oct 14th, 2009 @ Horace & Sylvia's Publick House in Babylon, NY.

Signup for Free@ Green Drinks Babylon

For more info email me @ emartin@advancedrestoration.com

We have a lively mixture of people from NGOs, academia, government and business. Come along and you'll be made welcome. Just say, "Are you green?" and we will look after you and introduce you to whoever is there. It's a great way of catching up with people you know and also for making new contacts. Everyone invites someone else along, so there’s always a different crowd, making Green Drinks an organic, self-organising network.

These events are very simple and unstructured, but many people have found employment, made friends, developed new ideas, done deals and had moments of serendipity.

Find us on FaceBook.

Orrino Capital Services, LLC

2009-09-09T16:32:00.005-04:00

Gino is one of my closest friends. He handles all my insurance needs. Here is his new website.

Orrino Capital Services, LLC

Orrino Capital Services, LLC is an independent agency operating out of two locations in Corona, NY & West Babylon, NY. OCS provides all lines of insurance including business, personal, life, health, and bonds. We represent a multitude of national and regional carriers such as The Hartford, Metlife, Magna Carta Company & Interboro Insurance Company among others. We are proud to service clientele in the 5 Boroughs of NYC, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam & Rockland Counties, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Our professional personalized approach has fostered our market presence and recognition.

Orrino Capital welcomes the opportunity to service your commercial, personal, life & health insurance needs. Our personal touch evaluates every risk to tailor a program unique to your needs and budget

Orrino Capital Services understands every business is unique. From the sole proprietorship to the multimillion dollar corporation you require an professional independent agent that will review your operations to tailor necessary insurance coverage that will protect your business and assets. Our team delivers experience in securing insurance coverage for a multitude of businesses. We forge relationships with some of the most financially sound and reputable insurance companies to deliver premium coverage at affordable rates. At Orrino Capital Services there is no “boilerplate” approach to assessing your risk, we provide a personalized insurance program to each and every client. Whether you are the new venture or established enterprise we are there to deliver experienced professional service every step of the way.

Coverage Types:
Property
Commercial Fire (Building & Business Personal Property)
Commercial General Liability
Products Liability
Commercial Umbrella / Excess Liability
Workers Compensation
Disability Insurance
Business Auto
Inland Marine
Ocean Cargo
Surety & Fidelity Bonds
EPLI (Employment Practices Liability Insurance)
Garage Keepers Legal Liability
Garage Liability
Beauticians Professional Liability
Errors & Omissions Liability (accountants, lawyers, doctors, technology consultants)
Liquor Law Liability
Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability
Commercial Flood
Crime & Employee Dishonesty

Gino A. Orrino: Agency Owner and President, Licensed Representative

Mr. Orrino began his career working at Goldman Sachs & Co in both their New York and London offices. His entrepreneurial spirit coupled with dedication to customer satisfaction drove him to open his own insurance agency. Enthusiastic about the prospects of the independent agency system, Mr. Orrino sought out more effective ways to service the insurance community by participating in the PIA and Young Insurance Professionals. Mr. Orrino has served as PIA/YIP liaison on the Government and Industry Affairs Committee, in an effort to bring grassroots efforts to enact legislative change that will benefit the insurance consumer in NYS.Currently he serves a director on the Board of Young Insurance Professionals of NY. Mr. Orrino is dedicated to the development of young, bright insurance professionals statewide. In June 2008, Mr. Orrino was awarded the Corona Lions Business Community Award at Russo's on the Bay & The NY-YIP Volunteer of the Year award in June 2009 at the annual PIA NY/NJ Conference at the Trump Taj Mahal. In his spare time Mr. Orrino is an active volunteer with St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.Gino A. Orrino is a licensed insurance broker in NY, NJ, CT, PA & VT. He graduated from the University of Scranton in 1998 with a BA in Economics and was a four year letter winner on the lacrosse team. Currently he is pursuing his CPCU designation.

Pumping Up the Grid: Key Step to Green Energy

2009-09-08T20:56:00.003-04:00

Yale Environment 360, 8 Sep 09

by

Michael Noble

The U.S can build all the wind turbines and solar arrays it wants, but until it does something about improving its outmoded electricity grid, renewable energy will never reach its potential. What we need is a new electricity transmission system, with the costs shared by all.

As America gets serious about the twin crises of oil dependency and climate change, many analysts believe that wind power — and eventually solar power — will make the largest carbon-free contributions to a new energy supply. But America’s aging electrical transmission system is renewable energy’s Achilles heel, and unless a broad policy consensus to upgrade our electrical grid is forged soon, the potential of wind and solar power will be vastly diminished.

Three things are needed to solve the challenge of renewable energy transmission: good technical planning, permitting and siting processes that can win public support, and broad agreement on how to pay the high cost of new power lines. Of these issues, the last one — gaining agreement on how transmission costs are spread among players — is currently the most contentious. To solve it, policymakers must come up with a plan to allocate these costs as broadly across the electricity system as possible — utilities, renewable energy generators, and consumers — since ultimately the whole system and all its users will benefit from a 21st century grid.

Today, achieving a national consensus on the importance of a better electrical transmission system is the single most important step toward vast expansion of clean, low-cost sources of energy. With every passing day, we can generate more and more energy from wind and solar power. The challenge now is getting it to the population centers where it is most needed.

Wind is the prime renewable energy source in my region of the United States, the Upper Midwest, and last year the U.S. wind market enjoyed massive growth, increasing the country’s total wind power generating capacity by nearly half. New wind energy projects accounted for more than 40 percent of all electric generating capacity added last year, as the U.S. surpassed Germany as the world’s wind power leader. A recent federal study demonstrated how wind energy could grow from 1 percent to 20 percent of U.S. electricity generation by 2030. With automakers and policymakers increasingly agreeing that electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids are important to U.S. energy security, greening the electric grid is doubly urgent.

To reach this goal, wind turbines would have to be installed across the nation and offshore. However, in many cases the highest quality wind is distant from the most densely populated parts of the country, so a major investment in a more robust grid is essential.

Our current electricity transmission infrastructure — the power lines that stretch across the landscape, the substations, the power poles and distribution lines in America’s cities — is aging and severely strained. Though not on the brink of collapse, it is critical infrastructure that’s completely outdated for an economy that will increasingly run on clean electricity. Many lines and substations are old and operating at full capacity, unable to accept the energy from even a few dozen new wind turbines. Congestion bottlenecks limit the amount of energy that can flow across the landscape, like a multi-lane highway that narrows to a single lane.

Because wind and solar energy are variable in their output, having a strong interconnected grid system boosts the system’s ability to take on more and more renewables. For example, if it’s super-windy in Kansas, we could send the extra energy to Chicago where the wind is calm. Our current web of transmission lines is just not properly sized — or properly located — to allow vast amounts of energy to do that job.

Most Americans know little or nothing about how we manage electricity transmission, plan for it, and pay for it. Not only are these not popular topics for the public, they’re not an issue for most energy and environmental groups.

Here where I live in Minnesota, the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) manages and plans electric transmission in 13 states, from the Dakotas to Indiana. Its job, in part, is to run the electric system fairly and openly — like the interstate highway system — so anyone can get on and move from here to there, without discrimination against any power supplier. MISO is doing an increasingly aggressive and thorough analysis of the transmission upgrades — including beefier lines, new corridors, and new substations — for multiple wind deployment scenarios, including the vision that sees wind as providing at least 20 percent of the nation’s electricity.

But MISO and similar agencies can only do so much with our outdated grid, which requires an overhaul involving government and the energy sectors at all levels — local, state, and federal.
The first hurdle is to streamline the permitting process. Wind energy farms can be built in a few months, but securing permission to construct high-voltage transmission lines can take five years or longer. This is not so much a technical problem as a social and political one. Face it: Nobody likes new transmission lines in their community or near their property.

Just last month, the Transmission Agency of Northern California (TANC), including the iconic green Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the federal Western Area Power Administration, was forced to pull the plug on a 600-mile transmission project in northern California. I cannot speak to the merits of the line or its need, but there seems to be broad agreement that because the public process was poor, the affected communities essentially killed the project. Transmission proponents often act as if public support is an afterthought, presenting the lines as a fait accompli, and assume the public will simply go along with their assurances that the lines are well sited and critical to the electric system.

Too often the public does not get a real opportunity to clearly understand the purpose of the proposed transmission line, or a meaningful chance to help select the best route. If citizens along the proposed route feel that they are being taken for granted or treated unfairly, they will fight the project rather than shape it. Even a handful of dedicated opponents can delay a necessary transmission line upgrade for years.

The standard argument for opposing new transmission lines is the potential for conservation, rooftop solar, and other community energy solutions. Diversifying our energy sources in these ways is good. But remember that over the next two to three decades we must replace virtually all of America’s existing coal-fired power stations or retrofit them with carbon-sequestration technology (a dubious proposition) if we hope to avoid the most serious consequences of a changing climate. To make this switch without large-scale wind and solar power — and new power lines — will be impossible.

As difficult as siting is, we face an even more urgent problem — fair allocation of the costs of upgrading the grid. In my home state, Minnesota utility Otter Tail Power Company attests that MISO’s current rules for sharing the cost of new transmission to wind farms are unworkable.

Currently, if a wind developer wants to connect to the electric grid of a utility, the wind developer pays half the cost, and the utility pays half. That seems reasonable, but wind energy resources in Otter Tail’s western Minnesota and North and South Dakota service area are so vast that the utility currently has connection requests for wind farms equaling 10 times the utility’s total energy need. To burden Otter Tail Power with these excessive interconnection costs simply doesn’t make sense. Without a fix, Otter Tail threatens to leave the MISO system, opting out of a voluntary wholesale electricity market that is, by all accounts, essential for the economically efficient operation of the U.S. power grid.

Unfortunately, MISO has proposed a remedy that’s worse than the problem. The power generators and transmission owners who have the majority voice in MISO now say that Otter Tail should pay nothing, but the wind developer should pay the whole freight. That proposal is pending at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and a broad campaign is afoot to inform FERC that it’s a non-starter. In fact, it’s a solution guaranteed to stop wind energy development in its tracks.

What’s needed is what FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff has proposed to Congress: to give his agency the authority to broadly allocate the transmission costs throughout regional operating systems, like MISO. We should treat new transmission as a public infrastructure, like natural gas pipelines, bridges or transit, or high-speed rail. The solution is to spread the cost — which will reach many tens of billions of dollars — equitably across all electricity consumers. Not surprisingly, Wellinghoff’s proposal is generating opposition from some utilities and their political supporters. But the role of renewable energy transmission is too important to our energy future to let politics as usual stand in the way.

Over the past few months, parochial interests have hammered away at national grid reform in the House-approved energy legislation awaiting action in the U.S. Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has identified upgrading the grid for renewable electricity as a key priority.

Reid, his colleagues, and federal regulators must make it clear that transmission for clean energy is a pressing national priority — for our security, our economy, and our climate goals — that should be an important component of any climate and energy legislation.

Congress should mandate that the regional independent system operators plan the transmission systems we desperately need. We must have laws that require meaningful public participation in routing of new transmission lines; but environmental opposition must not stop transmission that’s crucial to protect the environment and slow global warming. Finally, our policies must spell out a method of sharing the costs of building a 21st century grid.

If the President, Congress, and FERC act together to create a new transmission system, America will inevitably realize its potential for renewable electricity. Otherwise we will stymie development of the clean energy that could be a cornerstone of America’s economic and environmental future.

This piece originally appeared on Yale Environment 360CC photo credit

"The Age of Stupid" Trailer

2009-09-07T20:58:00.001-04:00

This is a trailer to a new movie

The Age of Stupid

The Age of Stupid Global Premiere Trailer from Age of Stupid on Vimeo.

Could a Solar-Hydrogen Economy Supply All Our Energy Needs?

2009-09-07T12:07:00.004-04:00

Lloyd Alter, Toronto

09. 6.09
Science & Technology (solar)

TreeHugger has never been a fan of the hydrogen economy; the gas is more of a battery than a fuel as it takes a lot of energy to make the stuff. We have called it nothing more than a front for the nuclear industry.

But Derek Abbott, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Adelaide in Australia, makes a persuasive case that it is perhaps the most effective medium for using and storing solar energy, and explains in Physorg..

He looks at all of the technologies for making hydrogen and settles on solar thermal, driving Stirling engines.

"The fact that there simply is 5,000 times more sun power than our consumption needs makes me very optimistic," Abbott said. "It's a fantastic resource. We have the ingenuity to send man to the moon, so we definitively have the ingenuity to tap the sun's resources."

Despite the improvements in silicon solar cells, Abbott argues that they suffer from low efficiencies and high environmental impact compared with solar thermal collectors. Solar cells require large amounts of water and arsenic; Abbott calculates that manufacturing enough solar cells to power the world would require 6 million tonnes of arsenic, while the world's supply is estimated at about 1 million tonnes. Even the overall solar cell design is fundamentally flawed, he says. Solar cell semiconductor reliability drops as temperature increases, yet large temperature differences are required to increase thermodynamic efficiency. For this reason, semiconductor technology is much better suited to lower powers and temperatures, such as pocket calculators.

On the other hand, solar thermal collectors are specifically designed to operate under hot temperatures. The idea is to use a curved mirror to focus sunlight to boil water and create steam, which is then used to power, for example, a Stirling heat engine to produce electricity. The system has already been demonstrated in California's Mojave Desert, which has been using a solar thermal system to heat oil in a closed-cycle instead of water for the past 20 years.

He then suggests hooking these up to generators and using the power to electrolyze water and make hydrogen.

"Governments should begin by setting up sizable solar farms that supplement existing grid electricity and provide enough hydrogen to power buses," Abbott said. "Enthusiasts will then buy hydrogen cars, retrofit existing cars, and refuel at bus depots. Then things will grow from there. You gotta start somewhere."

Then he goes off what I would have called the deep end by suggesting that liquid hydrogen is the most efficient way to transport the stuff, even though this requires a huge amount of energy.

(See What Is The Carbon Footprint of The Space Program? for how much). No problem;

Since the sun supplies a virtually unlimited amount of energy, the solution is to factor in the non-recurring cost of extra solar collectors to provide the energy for liquefaction. His calculations show that the cost of a solar collector farm used to produce hydrogen is still lower than a nuclear station of equivalent power.

In some ways, Abbott sounds like those early nuclear proponents who said that they would provide electricity that was "too cheap to meter. " But you can't help but be intrigued by his conclusion in the Physorg article:

"There is so much solar that all you have to do is invest in the non-recurring cost of more dishes to drive a solar-hydrogen economy at whatever efficiency it happens to sit at. I show in my paper that if you do this you come out cheaper than nuclear and you take up less than 8% of the world's desert area. ... So let's begin now, what are we waiting for?"

Future of the Screen: Terminator-Style Augmented-Reality Glasses

2009-09-03T06:53:00.003-04:00

from

www.wired.com

The most efficient possible display technology would be something that bypasses the eyes altogether and sends information straight to the brain. Sadly, cranial USB ports are still pretty hard to install. T he second most efficient possible display technology anyone's devised projects images directly into the eye. The dream of a wearable virtual retinal display, or VRD, has been around for nearly two decades; it's on the horizon, but it's still going to be a while until it gets here.

The idea of VRD was first tossed around at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab back around 1991. Thomas Furness, who'd been working on helmet-based displays for the Air Force in the '80s, and research engineer Joel Kollin were part of the team that put together the initial (and enormous) prototype. The concept was that tiny, ultra-low-power lasers could paint an image onto the human retina by scanning across it at high speed, essentially treating it as a tiny TV screen. If you could assemble a set of microscopic red, blue and green lasers, stick them where they could project onto your eyes, and hook them up to a computer, you could still see whatever you'd normally see, but with three-dimensional, full-color displays of additional information or imagery overlaid on the visible world—an effect called "augmented reality." Think of Arnold Schwarzenegger's sunglasses in Terminator, and you're on the right track.

Prof. Steven Feiner, of Columbia University's computer science department, notes that the potential advantages of retinal displays are energy-efficiency and unobtrusiveness: "What many of us want is something you're always wearing so that you can experience overlaid stuff, as opposed to having to put something on." There is clearly some money to be made with augmented reality, and a Seattle-area company called Microvision has been working on commercial applications of the HITLab's VRD concepts since the early '90s. (More recently, the Japanese printer company Brother Industries has been developing a similar technology, which it calls "retinal imaging display.") The military has paid Microvision to research VRD eyewear for soldiers and pilots, who need to have a lot of information instantly accessible in addition to what's in front of their eyes.

But there are plenty of day-to-day civilian uses for an unobtrusive, full-color "heads-up" display—one that wouldn't require looking away from its users' physical, nonvirtual surroundings. A mobile phone could have a "screen" as large as its user's visual field. Driving directions could appear in front of your eyes while you're looking at the road, even in bright daylight. Cooking wouldn't require shuttling your attention between the stove and a cookbook.

Hearing-impaired people could see voice-recognition transcriptions of what people around them were saying. Surgeons could keep watch on their patients' vital signs and medical reference texts without looking away from an operation.

So where are your Terminator shades? In 1992, Furness and Kollin claimed that it would be at least five years until full-on VRD was a reality, and it's been considerably more than that. One problem is that people's eyes don't stand still—in practice, projecting an image onto a retina is like trying to project a movie onto a moving screen. Another is that, while the wearable part of the system may be small, the gear that needs to be hooked up to it is still gigantic; if it's not portable, it's not very useful.

Still, Dr. Bruce H. Thomas, the director of the Wearable Computer Lab at the University of South Australia, believes that "in the near future we might actually see head-mounted displays become consumer products because of iPods—a legitimate video delivery unit that lots of people carry around with them." In the meantime, primitive VRD has begun to appear in the real world. Microvision released the Nomad Expert Technician System in 2004. (It cost $4,000 a unit and only projected images in red; Honda ordered some for their training centers, but the NETS never caught on, and was discontinued by 2006.) And Brother announced last year that it was hoping to make their retinal imaging display device commercially available sometime in 2010. Maybe by then it'll be small enough for a non-Schwarzenegger-sized person to carry around

The Rights of Future Generations

2009-09-02T15:31:00.001-04:00

Some people seem to have a hard time even understanding the concept of the rights of future generations. The idea that people who do not yet exist have the right to assert their needs in our lives is one that seems to be hard to fully grasp.

Think of this example: If someone set a bomb to go off in a public square 100 years from now, is he committing a crime? Should he be stopped? Almost everyone would say yes. Should he be tried before a court of law and prevented from doing further harm? Most of us would agree that he should.

Now, here's the tricky part: climate change is the bomb, and our great-grandkids are the victims. By transgressing planetary boundaries, we are seriously and effectively permanently undermining the ability of the planet to provide the kind of climate stability, ecosystem services and renewable resources that future generations will need to maintain their own societies. In the worst case scenarios, we are in fact dooming many of them to extreme suffering and early death. Life on a planet 10 degrees hotter is not something we would wish to have inflicted on ourselves.

And we don't really have the ethical or legal right to inflict it on our descendants. There is no legitimate basis for thinking that we have the right to use the planet up, that the property rights of our generation trump the human rights of all generations to come.

Put it another way: ethically, our riches are not our own. We hold the planet in trust, and as long as we don't use more of the planet's bounty than can be sustainably provided in perpetuity, we have the ethical right to enjoy the best lives we can create. But the minute we stray into unsustainable levels of consumption, we're not in fact spending our own riches, but those of future people, by setting in motion slow-fuse disasters that will greatly diminish their possibilities.

Unfortunately, nearly everyone in the developed world now enriches their lives at the cost of future generations. As Paul Hawken says, “We have an economy where we steal the future, sell it in the present, and call it G.D.P."

Now, obviously, most of us did not intend to find ourselves in this situation, and so we have a legitimate argument that we need a reasonable amount of time to change and eliminate our ecological impact. What a reasonable amount of time is, though, is becoming the subject of fierce debate, especially since it's clear that many people's definition of a reasonable time for change is sometime after they're dead.

The really interesting question: if future generations have legal rights -- and it's pretty clear they do -- in what courts might those rights be defended, and how?