Y2K Déjà vu All Over Again

Time will tell if we make it through another computer network event like the computer clock rollover to the year 2000. Despite the millions of dollars spent on avoiding the Y2K catatrophe, a lot of software vendors still are struggling to catch up to 'the changing times'. Déjà vu.

March 11, 2007 is the big switch to daylight savings time. The problem is that it is occurring three weeks earlier than the past. A lot of software and PC chip devices such as PDAs and some smartphones are hard coded for a different date for time switchover.

Think you are safe because you bought a computer after 2000? Think again. If you happen to be using Windows NT4 (lots of businesses are), Windows 2000, or XP Service Pack 1, Microsoft will not be issuing patches for the problem on those older operating systems. You are on your own to manually change clocks from here on. That, or buy a new operating system. {hint, hint}

At least now you'll have an excuse for being late to that meeting on March 11.

Vote In Tuesday’s Primary

It is primary election day in Carbondale.

Go exercise your suffrage for one of the four candidates for mayor and your picks of seven candidates for city council.

Voting is a right best exercised by people who have taken time to learn about the issues. ~ Tony Snow

Saving Lives and Communities

Kudos to SIU custodian Gary Lannom of Marion for his quick thinking in saving the life of SIU Student Pen Congyue’s toddler son two weeks ago. The story just appeared in the Daily Egyptian today. Would that we had more everyday heroes in the region.

While Lannom received his first aid training from Marion Memorial Hospital, many others receive theirs from local Red Cross instructors.

In addition to citizens like Lannom who receive first aid training on the job, there are many paid and volunteer Certified First Responders working within local police, fire and ambulance services. You don’t have to be a First Responder to save lives. There is a small army of Red Cross volunteers in Southern Illinois that respond to disasters locally and throughout the nation. Their community volunteerism is part of the Ultimate Answer to serving humanity’s needs.

Each year, the American Red Cross responds immediately to more than 70,000 disasters, including house or apartment fires (the majority of disaster responses), hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents, explosions, and other natural and man-made disasters.

The local Little Egypt Network Chapter of the Red Cross provides an ongoing series of classes on becoming a volunteer disaster aid workers. For more information, contact arclittleegypt@clearwave.com or call 618-988-1147.

A Hunger and Thirst for Alcohol

What would you rather have, fuel for your inefficient vehicle or food and water? That is the question that the ethanol fuel debate may be coming down to.

Most people acknowledge that mixing ethanol derived from corn with gasoline reduces our dependence on imported oil, but only by a small amount. Corn ethanol also raises prices for farm commodities that ultimately increase your grocery bill.

What especially concerns environmentalists is the disruption that corn-based ethanol production has on the ecology of the planet. Ethanol does nothing to reduce global warming. And the energy required to extract the ethanol from corn is almost a zero sum game. At best, scientists expect that improvements in refinery technology and genetics may make the energy out/in ratio to be 1.3 to 1. Gasoline from crude oil enjoys a ratio of about 10:1.

Alternatives to Corn
Efforts are underway to find alternatives to corn for alcohol production. Ethanol can be made from cellulosic feedstocks such as switchgrass (see picture), corn stover, sugar cane, bagasse, miscanthus, sugar beet, sorghum, grain sorghum, barley, hemp, kenaf, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, sunflower, fruit, molasses, whey or skim milk, grain, wheat, wood, paper, straw, cotton, and other biomass materials. Using them efficiently would provide large, new sources of raw materials for the production of renewable fuel.

Economically feasible cellulosic ethanol production would enable ethanol to displace much more imported crude oil than relying on corn-based ethanol alone. In addition, production of the biomass for cellulosic ethanol production would create economic opportunities for many farmers in diverse geographic regions across the United States. (USDA 2007 Farm Bill proposal)

Hello Ethanol, Goodbye Wildlife!
This opportunity for farmers comes at an enormous loss to everyone else because it will most likely mean the loss of millions of rural acres now set aside for wildlife conservation, erosion control, and flood mitigation. About 40 million farm acres are currently protected in the Agriculture Department's Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and related security programs. The CRP encourages farmers to convert highly erodible cropland or other environmentally sensitive acreage to resource-conserving vegetative cover, such as tame or native grasses, wildlife plantings, trees, filterstrips or riparian buffers.

Farmers receive payments based on the agriculture rental value of the land and funds participant investments in approved conservation practices. Hunters have worked hard to increase the development of CRP habitat for migratory waterfowl. Ducks Unlimited offers their position on CRP here. For the official line on CRP by the USDA, visit here.

Environmentalists favor CRP because it helps remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reduces soil erosion and nutrient runoff into waterways and aquifers. The fear is that farmers may be induced to eliminate woodlots and convert farmable CRP areas for production of switchgrass and other crops. This will lead to increased erosion, loss of habitat, and increased use of fertilizers and pesticides in sensitive areas.

A Final Toast to Thirst
Go ahead and lift your glass to the opportunities of ethanol. Just don’t ask for a clean water chaser. Ethanol production facilities consume enormous quantities of water. With the proliferation of ethanol plants in the Midwest (Map of US bioethanol refinery locations), communities are being threatened with the loss of surface and well water because of the enormous drawdown of water supplies that ethanol production requires. According to Cornell researcher, David Pimentel, producing one gallon of corn ethanol requires about 1,700 gallons of water to irrigate the corn and process the fuel. That is but one reason why communities are increasingly rejecting proposals to allow ethanol plants to be built in their communities.

Illinois requires extensive permitting to build an ethanol plant and offers incentives to do so. This is all explained in the State of Illinois' Guide to Permit Requirements, Funding Opportunities, and Other Consideration. Illinois does not regulate the rate of aquifer withdrawal. Communities facing droughts like those experienced in the Midwest in recent years have reason to fear the impacts of ethanol plants that might dry up their wells and nearby rivers. The Illinois legislature needs water withdrawal legislation to protect communities from water depletion from both ethanol and coal plants.

Ethanol plants are coming to a town near you!
One new ethanol plant (NABR – formerly known as Renewable Fuels) has already been permitted for construction in Carbondale. It is likely to produce 50 million gallons of product per year and will use, surprisingly, not local coal, but natural gas for fuel. Fifty-three other plants have been proposed in Illinois, including plants in nearby Waltonville (Rend Lake), Alton, and Salem. The dangerous ethanol rush is on!

Electric Rate Hike Reversal to be Debated

The Illinois legislature will enter into a special Committee of the Whole session on Tuesday, 2/27/2007 to consider legislation that would roll electricity prices back to 2006 levels. Under discussion will be House Bill 1750 cosponsored by Rep. John E. Bradley. Supporters include downstate Reps. Brandon Phelps, and Dan Reitz. The bill "extends the life of the electric rate freeze that expired last month by rolling prices back to their previous levels and requiring utility companies to refund with interest the difference between the old and new rates that they collect from consumers during the period the higher rates are in effect."

Legislative Bill Synopsis
Amends the Electric Service Customer Choice and Rate Relief Law of 1997 in the Public Utilities Act. Changes the definition of "mandatory transition period" to include the period from the effective date through the date on which the Illinois Commerce Commission has approved declarations of competitive service for all classes of service offered in the service areas of all electric utilities that, on December 31, 2005, served at least 100,000 customers in Illinois. Requires the Commission to order certain utilities to file and implement tariffs to reinstate all rates charged to the electric utilities' customers on December 31, 2006, within 10 days after the effective date. Requires the Commission to order the electric utilities to refund to the utilities' residential customers any amounts charged to such residential customers, from January 1, 2007 until 10 days after the effective date that exceed the rates charged to the electric utilities' residential customers on December 31, 2006. Provides that the refund must be issued within 30 days after the effective date and shall include interest on the full amount of the refund, at the same interest rate the Commission requires utilities to pay on customer deposits. Prohibits the Commission from taking certain actions prior to 2010 with respect to (i) initiating, authorizing, or ordering any change by way of increase or (ii) in approving an application for a merger, imposing a condition requiring any filing for an increase, decrease, or change in or other review of a utility's rates or enforcing such a condition. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

The full text of the bill is available online. The Committee hearing will be video streamed on the General Assembly Web site: www.ilga.gov/house/audvid.asp starting at 1 PM.

Moonshine Madness

Political expediency in Illinois says you support farmers by supporting corn-to-ethanol proposals wherever they crop-up. Advocates argue that growing corn for ethanol production creates jobs in Illinois, brings higher farm income, liquid fuel energy independence, and cleaner air. According to the President Bush, ethanol is the magical elixir that will potentially solve every economic, environmental and foreign policy problem we have.

Just north of my home is the southern border of the Great Corn Desert. Within it sits the chemical giant, Archer Daniel Midlands, one of the largest agricultural processors in the world. It has offices and facilities on six continents and in 60 countries and supplies a large proportion of the ethanol used as additives for America’sgasoline stocks.

The company’s ethanol competition is increasing. There are currently 109 ethanol refineries operating in the United States, with capacity to produce over 5.2 billion gallons per year. Seven other plants are expanding and 70 new refineries are being constructed to produce over 5.8 billion gallons a year – all with financial subsidies from government. New ethanol plants are being proposed all over the state and you can be sure legislators will line up to pledge their support, however misguided.

Like it or not, there are actually certain limits to growth. US farmers are now using about 8.6 million acres of farmland to grow corn for ethanol. The percentage devoted to ethanol has already grown from 3% five years ago to 20% today. President Bush, always the math wiz and strategic planner, has set a target of 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels by 2017. To achieve that with corn would require the entire U.S. corn harvest, unless yields miraculously increased and space aliens added more sustainable farm land to North America.

Say good bye to corn flakes, tortillas, and mama’s corn bread!
In the not too distant future, will you even be able to afford a corn dog at the DuQuoin State Fair? What will happen to food prices? In Mexico, the price of corn tortillas - the nutrition foundation of its poorest citizens - has recently risen about 30%, leading to consumer protests and government price controls. America’s cattle, poultry and hog farmers are already struggling to adjust to higher feed corn prices. What will happen when more corn is diverted to fuel production? At the grocery check-out counter, consumers can expect to be paying more for all corn and corn-fed meat products.

Some ethanol proponents say switching to ethanol should at least reduce our dependence on unstable foreign oil supplies, right? Hardly. If all the corn produced in America last year were dedicated to ethanol production, U.S. gasoline consumption would drop by only 12 percent.

Is it worth all this trauma to forego development of more efficient automobiles or curtailment of Saturday teen night cruising around the town square? An article in the January 2007 issue of Scientific American concludes that

"Relying on ethanol from corn is an unsustainable strategy: agriculture will never be able to supply nearly enough crop, converting it does not combat global warming, and socially it can be seen as taking food off people's plates.”

I can only conclude that finding a replacement liquid fuel for transportation use without implementing significant energy conservation measures in both the production and demand side of energy use is not possible. Are we waiting for a miracle or has moonshine madness overtaken our elected officials?

Elected officials that succumb to the political expediency of further subsidizing corn-to-ethanol ventures are delaying other smart investments in energy conservation and renewable energy production that can form the basis of a stable and sustainable future for Illinois citizens.

From Pies to Prison

Since the 1800’s the Fourth Estate has been identified with the public press. At first the fourth estate was just writers in the print media. Then came radio broadcasters, television, and most recently, the information managers of the Internet, in particular bloggers.

Bloggers bother politicians. Apparently words are even more dangerous than tossing pies in your face. When former Governor Ryan was smacked with a protest pie, at least he had the grace to say "Everyone gets to vent themselves a little bit; that's what it's all about, I guess." That opinion about protest methods is not shared across the world especially when it comes to some bloggers.

Bloggers are going to prison for the crime of simply talking about politics. Consider the fates of Hanif Mazroui in Iran, and Abel Kareem Nabil in Egypt. Nabil was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison for insulting Islam and Egypt's president. This is not exactly good news for free and open journalism.

Nabil’s conviction has garnered condemnations from human rights groups and others throughout the blogosphere. The international organization, Reporters without Borders, says “This sentence is a disgrace,” the press freedom organization said. “Almost three years ago to the day, President Mubarak promised to abolish prison sentences for press offences. Suleiman’s conviction and sentence is a message of intimidation to the rest of the Egyptian blogosphere, which had emerged in recent years as an effective bulwark against the regime’s authoritarian excesses.”

Read more about Nabil at FREEKAREEM!

In 2007 there are at least 140 journalists in jail, 60 cyberjournalists in prison. 14 media persons have been killed reporting the news.

Ameren Turns the Screw

See the cartoon.

Carbondale Mayoral Primary Primer

Of the four candidates running for mayor in Carbondale’s primary, only two truly have much of a real chance of making it to the general election: incumbent Mayor Brad Cole and challenger Sheila Simon, daughter of former US Senator Paul Simon. The other two candidates with underfunded campaigns are succeeding in bring to the forefront issues that the community needs to address, but their tactics and message have been weak and amateur.

To understand this campaign you need to, as always, follow the money! According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, with less than a week to go before the primary, the Cole campaign (Team Brad) has raised $23,450 in contributions and the Simon campaign (Sheila Simon for Mayor) has raised $10,048. Challenger Jessica Davis has raised zero dollars and challenger Pepper Holder has apparently not even filed the required financial disclosure reports. Clearly, there are only two serious candidates. Too bad. A campaign among fiscal and intellectual equals would have been invigorating.

Despite the fundraising disparities of the top two fundraisers, the race is shaping up as a hedge bet by the state party war chests. The Republican Party, despite its lukewarm relationship with Cole, doesn’t want to lose a recognizable name and voting puppet for when it comes time to find a replacement for either State Representative Mike Bost or State Senator David Luechtefeld. You can bet that the IL Republicans will soon start filling Cole’s campaign coffers by hosting expensive plate dinners in Springfield to help further distance the downstate wunderkind from the opposition. I estimate that this election will set a new record for election spending for a small town mayoral election. And don't forget, its supposed to be a non-partisan election.

Currently contributing the most money ($2000) to Cole’s campaign is Pepsi MidAmerica. The next biggest contributor ($1500) is Jackson Hewitt Tax Service whose principals own the usually empty two buildings on Main Street (Clark Gas Station and former Jin’s Barbeque). More importantly, they also own the adjoining large property - CCHS athletic football and tennis court. This property is the last, large development parcel remaining in NW Carbondale. The third largest contributor ($1000) is another large commercial real estate developer, Sun Valley Estates LLC. Oh, and Volunteers for (US Senator) Shimkus has primed the media pump by giving Cole another thousand dollars.

Illinois Democrats aren’t stupid. They recognize the importance of the downstate mayoral race and are encouraging support for Simon from throughout the state. Where Simon lacks individual fat cat contributors because of a pledge to limit personal campaign contributions to $50, she has instead acquired the endorsement boost of Democratic Party luminaries such as presidential candidate, Barack Obama, US Senator Dick Durbin, and Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan. Expect more of the same and maybe some other ‘star power.’

The election is shaping up to be the all too familiar downstate spitting contest between the ‘Fat Cat’, conservative, right wing, Chamber of Commerce, landlord/developer against the left/moderate-wing Democrat, academic, neighborhood oriented, home owning soccer moms and dads. – only without the spit – unless you count the drool from one local blogger. At least so far. Let us hope it stays that way.

We could benefit from a nice, clean battle of ideas for the voters hearts and minds.

Having followed some of the money, in my next blog entry I will compare the campaign styles and platforms of the both Cole and Simon. And don't worry, "following the money" will continue as more information arrives.

Incumbency über Alles

Determining which candidate to vote for in an election can be a difficult process. Being a responsible voter typically requires devoting time to assessing both the tangible and intangible attributes of the candidate, as well as, the issues of the campaigns.

The incumbent usually has a distinct advantage in any election since the person may be more of a “known quantity.” Incumbents usually run on their record unless, of course, its really, really bad. However, they still need be seen as not resting on their laurels. The expression refers to “someone relying on their past success to cover up their current shoddy efforts.” Most elected local government positions are for short terms. This gives the electorate a chance to “throw the bum out” is they are dissatisfied. As such, the election is often "fundamentally a referendum on the incumbent." When the candidate is popular, voter turnout is often low. Over the last 40 years, voter turnout has been steadily declining. When the incumbent is bad, turnout increases.

There is a tendency of some voters to always vote for the incumbent because they believe it unfair for someone in office to be "fired". They say that unless the official is mentally unfit, guilty of a serious crime, or dead “ya oughta stand by your man.” Then again, criminals, the mentally unfit and the dead have all been reelected to office in this country. Thus, as the saying goes “the electorate gets what it deserves.”

The Carbondale primary will occur on February 27th and the general election is March 17th.

Cementing a Pollution-free Future

This week Illinois and eight other states filed suit against the Bush administration for its alleged failure to regulate mercury and other pollutants from cement plants. Mercury is a powerful neurotoxin that is particularly harmful to young children and pregnant mothers. Mercury pollution has poisoned every lake, river, and stream in Illinois to the point that there is a statewide advisory against eating fish.

State officials from Illinois, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania contend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule regarding Portland cement plants violates the federal Clean Air Act. The lawsuits are good news for southern Illinoisans since they can expect to live downwind from the Holcim cement plant being constructed just across the river in St. Genevieve, Missouri.

Unless the law changes, St. Louis and Illinois will experience increased mercury contamination, as well as, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and high particulate matter. These are all contributors to asthma. The American Lung Association has given St. Louis-area counties failing grades for high ground ozone levels, and the EPA has declared eight St. Louis area counties to be in non-attainment under more stringent 8-hour ozone standards. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America ranks St. Louis third worst in the nation for asthma.

The EPA estimates the nation's 118 cement plants already discharge a combined 12,000 pounds of mercury a year, although some state regulators say the actual amount is actually higher. The sources of cement plant mercury are the raw materials used to make cement -- limestone, clay, sand and iron ore -- and coal which burns in the kilns at very high temperatures. Cement manufacturing contributes about 5% of global man-made CO2 emissions.

The plant will be the second largest cement manufacturing plant in the US producing approximately 4,000,000 metric tons per year. It is nearly double the size of the largest cement plant in the United States. The plant’s construction began in March of 2006 and is due to be completed in 2009. Carbondale is only 60 miles east of this pollution source. St. Louis is only 45 miles north.

The Greening of Carbondale Candidates

The Daily Egyptian newspaper ran its second installment Monday about the Carbondale mayoral race and included comments from an interview I provided last month regarding Carbondale's energy future and past. Except for the glaring error stating that I am an “active member with the local Green Party chapter” (I have never had an affiliation with the Greens), I thought the story was fair and balanced in describing the four mayoral candidate’s attitudes about environmental issues.

1) Brad Cole said he is addressing environmental needs by having signed without the City Council's consent the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement and taping down light switches so they won’t get used. The Shawnee Green Party say he supports (in principle) the Urban Environmental Accords which prescribe 21 steps city governments can take to help the environment. For this election, he is emphasizing spending funds on cleanup of Piles Fork Creek.

2) Sheila Simon’s priorities are to “reduce the city's energy use by encouraging bike riding, investing in solar panels and better utilizing the city forester.” Her campaign platform describes several other specific actions the city government should undertake including energy audits of city operations.

3) Candidate Jessica Davis wants the city to take a more aggressive role in creating a more bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly town and either talk about or study to “moderate city usage should aggressively explore alternatives to moderate the utility rate increases for each of our residents.”

4) Candidate Pepper Holder wants to focus his environmental attention on the Koppers Wood Treatment Plant. He appears to have no position on other environmental issues or the global problems that a municipality can address locally. He has no website.

Later this week I will release a more detailed assessment of the candidate’s positions, or lack thereof, on environmental issues and discuss their potential to lead Carbondale into a sustainable future. I’ll examine their record and critique their approaches. You can then decide who has the vision, leadership ability, and wisdom to be the next mayor of Carbondale. You may be surprised.

Watch Out For... Disappearing Jobs

Last week, before the Illinois Citizens Utility Board (CUB) released its new study, I forecast the negative economic impact of the Ameren electric rate hike will have upon Carbondale. Based on the new study, over 20,000 jobs are expected to be lost statewide from the hike. Based on the report's formula, Carbondale could expect to lose at least 34 jobs and all the positive multiplier effects those jobs have on the local economy. The region may lose more than a thousand jobs at a time when unemployment rates are already among the highest in the state and poverty rates are rising.

“These rate hikes are transferring money out of the hands of working families, who spend money at Illinois businesses, and putting it in the pockets of utility shareholders,” said CUB Executive Director David Kolata. “Everyone loses but the big utilities.”

Based on 2005 US Census Bureau data, I estimate Jackson County could lose 143 jobs and Williamson County could lose 150. Others: Franklin County - 85, Saline - 66, Randolph - 62, Perry - 50, Union - 42, and Gallatin - 16.

CUB has launched the Don’t Get Shocked Action Campaign to rally support for the rate freeze. The campaign is asking consumers to contact their state legislatures and oppose the rate hikes and to attend a new round of public hearings being held across the state by the Illinois Senate.

Local units of government can do much more. By implementing Cool Cities strategies, government can create jobs from wise energy investments that lead to long-term sustainability.

According to the companies’ own data, the combined rate hikes will drain $2.3 billion out of the Illinois economy.

The CUB study, conducted in conjunction with Synapse Energy Economics Inc., of Cambridge, MA, uses the results of a state-of-the-art economic model to calculate the effects of such a massive transfer of wealth on state employment

Watch Out For Falling... Prosperity

The 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty further contributes to the understanding of our regional poverty that I wrote about recently.

I’ll cite a few statistics from the report:

1) 12% of population lives in poverty.
2) One in four young Illinois adults lack health insurance.
3) Nearly 700,000 Illinoisans struggle in extreme poverty.
4) 85% of Illinois counties had increases in poverty in the last year.
5) 27 counties have no county-wide public transit service.
6) Illinois ranks as the worst state in the Midwest on:

• Earnings and job quality performance.


• Overall rate of uninsured people.


• Rate of poverty of uninsured residents.


• Most expensive rent for a 2-bedroom apartment.


• Wage needed to afford a 2-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent.


• Rate of children in households where the head did not finish high school.


• Reading and math achievement between poor and non-poor 4th & 8th graders.


• Per pupil spending gap between rich and poor districts. (The gap is the 2nd largest in the nation)

Gender Fact

• Illinois women make only 70% of what their male counterparts make.

Regional Facts

• 8 of the 10 poorest counties are in southern Illinois.


• 18 of the state’s 25 counties on the Poverty Watch List are in southern Illinois.

Jackson County Facts

• 10,723 people living in poverty.


• Unemployment rate equals state average.


• 10.8% teen birth rate vs. 9.9% statewide.


• Poverty rate of 20.2% (and rising) vs. 11.9% statewide.


• Average wage per job of $27,268 vs. $43,135 statewide.


• 47% of households rent vs. 33% statewide.


• 73.8% high school graduation rate vs. 76.5% statewide.


• 48.4% of children eligible for free or reduced-price lunches vs. 45.5% statewide.

Read the Report for Policy recommendations or comment here with your ultimate answer to the problems.

Ink By The Case

In the heyday of print journalism it was not uncommon to hear the phrase “You don’t want to argue with people that buy ink by the case!” -- especially if it was someone like William Randolph Hearst. While the admonition still applies, it needs an update to the modern world of electronic citizen journalism.

Almost anyone can operate a free blog or get a free website, although the latter often requires acceptance of sponsorship advertising. And even that is not much different than writing a Letter to the Editor of a newspaper that subsists on classified ads. However, an author also needs some education and conceptual skills for navigating the Internet and its assorted user interfaces. Experiments like Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Wikipedia, some social networking sites, and online collaboration workspaces are helping people experience the potential that the future Internet foretells.

In the blogging world, the author has access to unlimited supplies of electronic ink. The author can say darn near anything they want without serious repercussions. Anyone can be a pundit. Yet, Joe Citizen faces barriers and likely lacks experience, time and skills to build a dialogue with others. Until the technology improves, this is simply the way the world works. The technology will, of course, change.

The younger generation is always adopting and adapting to the new paradigm. Someday we may achieve media transparency when having a voice in the marketplace of ideas is universal and unencumbered by technology and external controls. Until and after the transparency is achieved our civilization needs to deal with the social aspects of communication: the digital divide, objectivity, as well as, ethics and standards.

How Big is Your Footprint?

You don't have to travel to the moon to leave your footprint to know that your lifestyle requires consuming Earth's resources. Have you ever wondered how much "nature" your lifestyle actually requires?

An 'Ecological Footprint' is an estimate of how much productive land and water you need to support what you use and what you discard. By answering 15 easy questions you can estimate your Ecological Footprint and compare it to those of others and to what resources are available on this planet for you.

What is your Ecological Footprint? Take the quiz.

A New Definition of Democratic Media

iFOCUS and pollster John Zogby have released a national survey of adults pertaining to American journalism. 72% said they were dissatisfied with the quality. 61% said they believed traditional journalism is out of touch with what Americans want from their news.

Most respondents (53%) said the rise of free Internet-based media pose the greatest opportunity to the future of professional journalism and 76% said the Internet has had a positive impact on the overall quality of journalism. But they added that trustworthiness will be important to the future of the industry. 90% said trust will be key.

Despite concerns about its quality, 72% of those in the national survey said journalism is important to their community. More respondents (81%) said Web sites are important as a source of news, although television ranked nearly as high (78%), followed by radio (73%). Newspapers and magazines trailed – 69% said newspapers and 38% said magazines were important. While blogs were rated as important sources of news by 30% of the online respondents, they were not considered as good a news source as the backyard fence – 39% said their friends and neighbors are an important source of information.

Nearly nine out of 10 media insiders (86%) said they believe bloggers will play an important part in journalism’s future. “We’ve arrived at a tipping point. A new definition of democratic media is emerging in our society.”

The survey of 5,384 adults nationwide was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points.

I'm wondering about the ethics ...

I'm wondering about the ethics of writing a blog.

Gordon Peterson of WUSA-TV tells the story about how writing has its risks. He described his first job application in the writing business. “In my long talk with the editor, he asked, "Why do you want to do this, kid?" "Because I want to show how decent the American people are," I said, "I want to show them both sides of the coin; I want to give the people a sense of the ultimate goodness of their community." He answered, "That’s all right, kid, but remember one thing: serenity’s not news."

Gregorian Rants, a year-old blog coming out of Carbondale, Illinois, has succumbed like so may in-your-face talk shows and attack blogs to the allure of rhetoric over substance, derision over analysis, and insult over discourse. This is a sad development for Carbondale - a university community that has a history of fairly civil political discourse supported by candidates for office that avoid dirty campaigns, and civic organizations such as the League of Women Voters that foster public debates rather than let ad hominem attacks rule the civic conversation. As much as I like citizen journalism that blogging supports, I disdain the decline of civil discourse that some bloggers encourage by their name calling and vitriol – often with the seeming purpose of recruiting voyeuristic readers with similar attack mentality. I’m certainly no journalist, but I know muckraking when I see it.

Recent posts of Gregorian Rants help substantiate the fact that “traditional journalists view citizen journalism with some skepticism, believing that only trained journalists can understand the exactitude and ethics involved in reporting news.”

You may be asking ‘Hey, what’s the problem? Who needs serenity? ’ Well, it all comes down to the blog's constant use of questionable logic, hyperbole, insults, innuendo and exaggeration that results in turning away his audience. For example, Peter arrogantly writes about Carbondale politics saying:

• The Greens (the political party) like being poor as church mice, it make them more righteous or something.


• The (mayoral candidate Sheila Simon) is a Senator's daughter after all, bigger and more expensive government is the family business.


• If Sheila had been mayor or if Maggie (a former councilwoman) had won the last election, the drug addicts would still be shooting up in the American Tap.

I surmise that Peter relies upon hyperbole for so many arguments because it is titillating to read… oooooh, ahhh...ahhh, snicker, snicker.
Integrity and accusing candidates of illegal or unethical acts.
The blog favors using a variety of attack mechanisms including the classic ‘straw man argument’. To use the technique, one first sets-up an easily refutable distortion of an opposing viewpoint or action, and then attacks distortion rather than the person. Here are two examples.

(The Distortion): Since Sheila isn't clearly calling for a pro-business city hall, I assume she doesn't want one.
(The Attack): At the end of his term, Brad is going to have the best business development record of any Carbondale mayor in my lifetime. Sheila is going to stink in comparison if she is elected.

(The Distortion) Sheila thinks that employers are going to get their employees to live in Carbondale? (The Attack): What a stupid idea.

He also just loves to complain about the very behavior he uses in his own blog:

I notice that in addition to the $50 shell game that the platform and campaign tactics are going to be based on accusing of illegal or unethical acts. This is a pretty standard political tactic when you have no accomplishments and your opponent does. You use attack, innuendo and deception to get ahead. If your primary campaign tactics are the standard Illinois rough house BS, does that give you the high ground on having integrity?
Another. (The Distortion): Guess it would be impossible for her to win on merit.(The Attack): Daddy's name and mud are her game.

So and So's economic development plan is really, really stupid.
When Peter isn’t using phrases like the above to insult the opponent of his favored candidate, he expounds on “least government” salvation for the masses and derides civil servants:

One of my frustrations with professors, state employees and other people in the public sector in Carbondale is you guys have been on the reservation too long. The USA is a incredibly efficient capitalist machine. Capitalism isn't perfect, but it is better then all of the options. So many people in Carbondale and Illinois don't honestly look at results of this huge government machine we have made (and their trailing costs). I guess, if you are part of the system it is hard to admit there is a system wide problem. More government isn't the answer, we have plenty already.

And from that philosophical wellspring comes the Peter’s musings about state and municipal code enforcement:

If Carbondale really needed another army of inspectors there would be warning signs, for example we might see lots of fires? Lawsuits from students who have fallen through their floors or the like? Does anyone see that?

As a matter of fact, most people have seen the warning signs and worked to create laws, organizations and programs to address the health and safety problems in the region. You can drive by the local fire station every day and see the fire call board increase in numbers nearly every day. City of Carbondale fire fighters respond to about 900 emergency calls a year. In the first 50 days of this year, they have been on at least 142 calls. In addition, the small volunteer Carbondale Township Fire Department goes on about 80 emergency calls a year, a quarter of which are structure fire calls.

In the end, Peter has become just another “Kool-Aid drinking” pundit. Such pundits are so committed to a political cause, candidate, or philosophy that they senselessly ignore facts in conflict with both their political viewpoint and their reader’s notion of entertainment. Being a pundit didn’t use to have this derogatory connotation. A pundit once meant being an expert or opinion-leader who analyzes events in their area of expertise. Peter has valuable expertise in running a software business, but not in government, university management, or downtown revitalization - all topics on which he covers with passion.

Until late I’ve been regularly reading all that Peter publishes. We even agree on quite a few things the blog covers, but I will probably stop reading his rants because doing so just makes me sad. I recently came across the Biology of Mind blog that triggered my decision and summarized my melancholy about Gregorian Rants:

The real shame, though, is that the kneejerk "everyone else is an idiot" tenor is poisoning the potential the Internet once had. People used to dream of a global village, where maybe we can work out our differences, where direct communication might make us realize that we have a lot in common after all, no matter where we live or what our beliefs.“… instead of finding common ground, we're finding new ways to spit on the other guy, to push them away. The Internet is making it easier to attack, not to embrace. Maybe as the Internet becomes as predominant as air, somebody will realize that online behavior isn't just an afterthought. Maybe, along with HTML and how to gauge a Web site's credibility, schools and colleges will one day realize that there's something else to teach about the Internet: Civility 101.”

State and Municipalities Reaping Windfall from Rate Hike

Everyone is screaming mad about the energy bill increases they are receiving as a result of our Illinois senators' failure to act on Ameren/CIPS outrageous rate hike. Ameren rates have soared 40 to 55 percent. The hike will cost the average Ameren customer $270 to $340 more a year.

Municipalities may not be complaining about the hike as loud as they could because, of course, they get a tasty slice of the hike pie -- all without having to lift a finger. Many municipalities levy a “municipal charge” or franchise tax on gas and electric customers' utility bills. When your utility bill rises, so does the amount of tax revenue received by the taxing authority. The state also imposes its own Gas Revenue Tax and Electricity Excise Tax. Could this revenue windfall help explain why the IL Senate failed to stop the rate increase?

Do the math with me. Examine Carbondale as an example of city benefiting from the rate increase. (Yes, I know the city is also paying the increase for their own power usage.)

Carbondale has 10, 968 housing units. If each household was hit with a $50/month gas and electric bill increase, Carbondale would pocket an extra $150,000 a year from taxes. Then add in the energy bills of all the businesses in Carbondale and I suspect the fugure will soar above $200,000. What is perhaps most disturbing about the tax increase is losing over $4,000,000 from circulating in the local economy of Carbondale. Replicate these calculations for every county in the state and total up the impacts. Then try to tell me that energy management isn't an economic development opportunity!

Imagine what could be done with those funds. 1) Find cheaper suppliers of energy, 2) Build a power infrastructure that replaces old polluting coal fired plants, 3) Implement a wide variety of programs to reduce demand through job-creating conservation programs, or 4) Rebate the funds to consumers.

Sometimes the answers are right in front of you.

Passwords For Dummies

For over a decade I’ve been advising friends, customers and peers to only use strong pass-phrases to protect their computers and networks. Sadly, people just don’t get it no matter how many times they are told. Users, when able, simply tend to use no password, a simple number scheme like “12345”, or an easily remembered fact like their marriage anniversary date. (Well, maybe not the last one…) New computer users seem the most prone to use null or weak passwords. It is just too easy to break into computers using simple “dictionary attacks.” A recent study has borne this out quite clearly.

“This study provides solid statistical evidence that supports widely held beliefs about username/password vulnerability and post-compromise attacking behavior. Computer users should avoid all of the usernames and passwords identified in the research and choose longer, more difficult and less obvious passwords with combinations of upper and lowercase letters and numbers that are not open to brute-force dictionary attacks.”

In the study’s test using four target computers on the Internet, they were attacked on average, 2,244 times a day. That equates to about once every 39 seconds.

What’s the ultimate answer to the need to protect interconnected computers. Turn them off. Of course, that defeats the whole purpose of modern. Security experts advocate “defense in depth” techniques. I’ll write more about in the future. Until computer users adopt better protection for their home and business computers – and increasingly their hand-held devices including phones – perhaps we ought to just label each device “Computer for Dummies.”

Watch Out for Falling… Wal-Marts

Recently, a supporter of Friends of Fair Growth announced that prospects for the ‘development’ of a new Wal-Mart Supercenter west of Murphysboro, IL may be going down the Big Muddy sewer due to the Federal Aviation Administration nixing a proposed water tower that would serve the business location.

Friends of Fair Growth is a grassroots organization that opposes construction of the Wal-Mart because of its alleged negative impacts upon small businesses, the economy and environment. Wal-Mart denies such harm. The company is trying to send a message that the retail giant a good thing for its more than 1.2 million workers and the region. “Giant” is an understatement. It is the ultimate ‘Big Box’ store. If Wal-Mart were a country, its economic output would be the 20th largest in the world. Wal-Mart already has nine stores within a one-hour drive of Carbondale, IL.

Not everyone buys the company position. Even the Jackson County Board, not known for its economic development prowess, has voted its opposition to the Murphysboro development. Nationally, pressure is mounting against many projects of the retailer from a range of social justice organizations like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) to numerous municipalities where the company seeks to build. Even the financial community is starting to feel threatened by the economic giant.

Studies by groups like Civic Economics and the Institute for Local Self Reliance have constantly shown that locally-owned retail stores provide more of an economic multiplier effect to an area than comparable chain stores. Blogs and websites such as WakeUpWalMart.com and walmartwatch.com aggressively skewer the company for its employment practices.

A 2006 survey by the Hingham, Massachusetts-based Saint Consulting Group, indicates that we have a “love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart. Even as the global company revs up a campaign to protect its reputation, and despite Wal-Mart's undeniable popularity among consumers, almost two-thirds of those surveyed (63%) said that they would oppose a Wal-Mart store if one were proposed in their community.”

As if community organizations weren’t keeping the Wal-Mart’s legal and publicity departments busy enough, last month the company earned SIX of CNN’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business awards in 2006.

So, if Wal-Mart is not the ultimate answer to local economic prosperity in southern Illinois, what is?

Can We Still Do it?

Everyone acknowledges that the job market of Southern Illinois is depressed. It is quantifiable. Employment want-ads are sparse in the print version of the regional newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan, but greater in number (189) in the online version. Large internet job boards such as Monster.com list only about 400 for the entire region, but no where near the variety and diversity found in metropolitan regions.

What is perplexing to understand is how long it seems to take to fill some of the advertised jobs. 25% of the available job listing on Monster.com are more than 5 weeks old. Some jobs on the Southern Illinoisan site are even older. For example, the Southern Illinoisan has been advertising for the same seven internal staff positions since early November 2006 – about 100 days! What gives? Don't tell me they can't find a qualified candidates? Or is it that no one wants to live and prosper in the region? Could it be that the wages offered locally are too low to attract qualified talent? Could it be that the thousands of graduates SIU turns out every year don't meet Lee Enterprises high standards? Or, maybe, its just a way to fill space in the newspaper...

The region suffers from periodic waves of significant job layoffs. First to go were coal mine jobs. Then went the manufacturing jobs. Look at the recent Whirlpool/Maytag and TUMS plant closures. Jobs are moving out of state and out of the country. Man-Tra-Con's response is to offer dislocated worker skill retraining. Is that enough?

In 1990 the Office of Economic and Regional Development at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale issued a report profiling the job market of the southernmost 20 Illinois counties. Read their conclusions and try to discern what has changed in the intervening 26 years of politicians trying to fix the problems.

• Skilled labor is the biggest problem for local industry.
• Sluggish population growth, which limits both the size of the work force and local markets, is reducing regional opportunities.
• Job development is mostly government-sponsored: prisons and work camps, community colleges and SIU.
• Educational attainment in the region is below state and national averages.
• Per capita income is not providing jobs and wages on a par with the U.S. average. “None of the counties had average incomes equal to the U.S. average; over half had average per capita incomes less than 80 percent of the U.S. average; and five counties were at or below 60 percent. Because income expectations are an important factor in choosing a location to live and work it is probable that southern Illinois has lost wage earners and new entrants to the labor force based on low income expectations."

If you were an elected official what would be your ultimate answer to insufficient jobs, low wages, sub-par education levels: technology, cheaper education, better infrastructure, lower taxes, or what?

Presidential Candidates: Who Will Protect the Planet?

The League of Conservation Voters has compiled candidate statements from 19 Presidential candidates and posted them at this site. Visit it and return with your comments. Who would you vote for and why?

This blog is soliciting similar answers from the spring election candidates in Carbondale, IL and will post them here when available.

We Can Recycle Better

Jackson County adopted a solid waste management plan nearly ten years ago. The Health Department manages a county-wide recycling program that has achieved a 23% recycling rate. This is a significant improvement since that days of everything going into open dumps. However, the average national recycling rate for municipal discards has reached 30%.

Is 25% a reasonable goal or can we do better? The answer is clearly yes. Eighteen communities, ranging from large to small, have achieved recycling rates of 50% or better – some exceeding 60% rate! Falls Church, VA has achieved a whopping 65% rate.

A few communities have even endorsed zero waste goals. The first U.S. city to adopt a zero waste management plan is Del Norte, California. Seattle is not only one of the growing number of Cool Cities, but it has set a goal of zero waste as a guiding principle. San Francisco plans to achieve a 75% rate by the year 2010 and a long-term goal of zero waste.

Rural counties in southern Illinois have special problems in achieving high recycling rates, but to not establish any goal is inexcusable. Making no further efforts to improve on recycling rates already above 25% is also not acceptable.

Get Outdoors

At the core of some environmental groups is the belief that in order to protect natural resources, people need to experience them first hand. Only through direct experience can one learn to fully appreciate the quote from Henry David Thoreau: “In wilderness is preservation of the world.”

That is the reason that organizations such as the Sierra Club sponsor over 20,000 “outings” every year to local, regional and international destinations of importance and beauty. In Illinois, outings leaders guide trips every week. The public is invited to hike, bike, ski, canoe and kayak, watch birds, and many other activities. Leaders also conduct service projects to repair damage to nature and support the conservation efforts of local, state and federal governments saving these organizations lots of money.

I am honored to serve as the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club’s Outings Chair. In that volunteer role I oversee the outings programs across the state of Illinois. To find an outing adventure anywhere in Illinois visit here.

The Sierra Club is especially well known for the quality of its 350 “national outings” held every year since 1901 at locations from Tennessee to Tibet. These trips introduce people, some of which have never experienced wilderness, to the miracles of nature. I also chair the Midwest section of the Sierra Club's national outings program and have the opportunity to lead 2-3 week-long trips a year. There will be one national trip in the Shawnee National Forest of southern Illinois this year. I will be leading three others elsewhere:

• Service on the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway; Wisconsin and Minnesota
• Ozarks Trail Building on the Buffalo National River, Arkansas
• Giants of Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Get off the couch. Explore the planet, enjoy and protect it. Get outdoors!

It Takes the Whole Village to Sustain Itself

All levels of government in Illinois have a responsibility to save its taxpayers money through wise energy use and production. The federal government cannot be looked to for local leadership in community sustainability. Everyone has a role.

Practical solutions to high energy costs exist for libraries, park districts, K-12 schools and universities, and child care facilities. Since these entities are typically exempt from state and federal taxes they cannot take advantage of tax incentive programs that exist for for-profit business and home owners. They can, however, apply for targeted grants and loans that further improve the financial merit of energy-related investments.

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation offers innovation grants to organization. For example, K-12 schools, child care centers, public libraries and park districts are eligible for grants to pay for energy-saving upgrades to the lamps, ballasts, fixtures and/or controls in existing indoor lighting systems. This is the last year for some of these programs and organizations need to apply before April 30, 2007.

Municipalities can benefit from the foundations efforts now, but must apply for funds immediately. The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation provides grants to support the replacement of incandescent traffic signal bulbs with energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs). They use solid state electronics to produce colored light. Manufacturers package clusters of individual LEDs into traffic signal units, which produce highly visible light and can be easily installed into existing traffic signal heads.

LED traffic signal upgrades offer many benefits:

• LEDs use up to 85% less energy, leading to less pollution
• LEDs last longer, reducing operating and maintenance expenses
• LEDs enhance safety through better light quality and visibility
• LEDs improve reliability, including the ability to run on batteries during utility power outages

Organizations without assigned staff to both monitor energy use and identify grant opportunities lose out on money saving opportunities. Smart leaders will assign energy issues a high priority in their organization if the planet is going to successfully address climate change.

Learn to Take Control of Your Electric Bill

Presented by the
ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL ENERGY CONSULTANTS
Southern Illinois Chapter

When: Wednesday, February 7th, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Where: Carbondale Civic Center, 200 S. Illinois Ave.
Cost: Free

Understanding Your AmerenCIPS Electric Bill
• How we got here – a brief history of electric deregulation in Illinois
• Where we are now – an overview of the current electric rate structure
• How to read your bill – understanding the line item charges
Ameren’s Customer Assistance Programs
• Customer Elect Plan
• Dollar More
• Warm Neighbors
• Budget Billing
Low-Income Assistance from Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council
• Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
• Illinois Home Weatherization Assistance Program (IHWAP)
• Home Inspection and Home Energy Audits
Illinois DCEO Programs
• Keep Warm Illinois
• Small Business $mart Energy (SB$E)
• Illinois Energy Conservation Code for Commercial Buildings
• Federal Tax Incentives for Energy Efficiency – Residential & Commercial
• Energy Efficiency Tips – Learn ways to cut your bills down to size.

The first 35 people to sign in will receive a FREE Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL) from BLI Lighting and Murdale True Value. Limit one CFL per household.

They Can’t Do That…

It was a cold and beautiful day in Minnesota in the winter of ‘73 when I clipped on my cross-country skis to explore the northern woods with some friends.

We set out upon an abandoned logging trail that few creatures regularly saw, except for the plentiful deer and other woodland critters. The leader sliced a clean set of tracks in the freshly fallen powder as we glided behind with little effort. After our initial chatting back and forth about the joy of just being outdoors, we settled into silence disturbed only by the rhythmic swoosh of skis on snow.

After a while, we started to hear a low buzzing sound. Assured that it wasn’t the Minnesota state bird, culex pipiens, we grew disturbed as the sound gradually grew louder and louder until it was an incessant, ear splitting, and grinding roar thousands of times (How loud is loud?) louder than the long absent mosquitoes.

As we approached a fork in the path, coming down one of the trails sped a roaring and hissing machine that glided to a stop before us. The jovial young man got up off his snowmobile, cut the engine and struck up a conversation. “Say, what are you doing out here so far from civilization?” he said. “Trying to find some tranquility away from civilization,” we replied. The conversation went downhill from there.

He was a local boy, of course, but so were many of us. We chatted about some things in common and then the conversation shifted to talking about his snowmobile, its decibel level, and gasoline and, of course, the 1973 Energy Crisis that was affecting us all.

“Aren’t you a little concerned about riding that “gas hog” right now given the fuel shortage and lines at the gas pump? Don’t you think that someday we’ll run out of gas or it will be so expensive that you won’t be able to ride these machines simply for recreation?” Without a moment’s hesitation, the man declared with certitude “Nope. They can’t do that…there’s just too much demand!”

Each of us, not wanting to become entrapped in a long and futile economics debate, quickly ended the conversation and we parted our ways. He went down one path. We took the one less traveled. “I doubt if I should ever come back.”

20 Simple Steps to Reduce Global Warming

It is easy for the average person to say that they can’t do much about global climate change. Everybody can have an small impact and when multiplied by millions of individual actions, big change occurs. Whenever you save energy – or use it more efficiently – you reduce the demand for gasoline, oil, coal, and natural gas. Less burning of these fossil fuels means lower emissions of carbon dioxide, the major contributor to global warming. Every U.S. citizens releases on average about 40,000 pounds of CO2 per person each year. If we can reduce energy use enough to lower greenhouse gas emissions by about 2% a year, in ten years we will "lose" about 7,000 pounds of CO2 emissions per person.

Here are 20 simple steps that can help cut an individual’s annual emissions of CO2 by thousands of pounds. The CO2 reduction shown for each action is an average saving.

HOME APPLIANCES

• Run your dishwasher only with a full load. Use the energy-saving setting to dry the dishes. Don't use heat when drying. CO2 reduction: 200 pounds a year.


• Wash clothes in warm or cold water, not hot. CO2 reduction: (for two loads a week): up to 500 pounds a year.


• Turn down your water heater thermostat; 120 degrees is usually hot enough. CO2 reduction: (for each 10- degree adjustment): 500 pounds a year.

HOME HEATING AND COOLING

• Don't overheat or overcool rooms. Adjust your thermostat (lower in winter, higher in summer). CO2 reduction: (for each 2-degree adjustment): about 500 pounds a year.


• Clean or replace air filters as recommended. Cleaning a dirty air conditioner filter can save 5% of the energy used. CO2 reduction: About 175 pounds a year.

SMALL INVESTMENTS THAT PAY OFF

• Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs for your most-used lights. CO2 reduction (by replacing one frequently used bulb): about 500 pounds a year.


• Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket (but only if the water heater is over 5 years old and has no internal insulation). CO2 reduction: Up to 1000 pounds a year.
  
• Install low-flow shower heads to use less hot water. CO2 reduction: Up to 300 pounds a year.


• Caulk and weatherstrip around doors and windows to plug air leaks. CO2 reduction: Up to 1,000 pounds a year.


• Ask your utility company for a home energy audit to find out where your home is poorly insulated or energy-inefficient. CO2 reduction: Potentially, thousands of pounds a year.

GETTING AROUND

• Whenever possible, walk, bike, carpool or use mass transit. CO2 reduction (for every gallon of gasoline you save): 20 pounds.


• When you buy a car, choose one that gets good gas mileage. CO2 reduction (if your new car gets 10 mpg more than your old one): about 2,500 pounds a year.

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

• Reduce waste: Buy minimally packaged goods; choose reusable products over disposable ones; recycle. CO2 reduction (if you cut down your garbage by 25%): 1,000 pounds a year.


• If your car has an air conditioner, make sure its coolant is recycled whenever you have it serviced. Equivalent CO2 reduction: Thousands of pounds.

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

• Insulate your walls and ceilings; this can save about 25% of home heating bills. CO2 reduction: Up to 2000 pounds a year.


• If you need to replace your windows, install the best energy-saving models. CO2 reduction: Up to 10,000 pounds a year.


• Plant trees next to your home and paint your home a light color if you live in a warm climate, or a dark color in a cold climate. CO2 reduction: About 5000 pounds a year.


• As you replace home appliances, select the most energy-efficient models. CO2 reduction (if you replace your old refrigerator with an efficient model): 3000 pounds a year.

SCHOOLS, BUSINESS, AND COMMUNITIES

• Reduce waste and promote energy-efficient measures at your school or workplace. Work in your community to set up recycling programs. CO2 reduction (for every pound of office paper recycled): 4 pounds.


• Be informed about environmental issues. Keep track of candidates' voting records and write or call to express concerns. CO2 reduction (if we vote to raise U.S. auto fuel efficiency): Billions of pounds!

Adapted from the Global and Regional Air and Energy Program, Environmental Defense Source

Carbondale Signs US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement

Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole has joined other mayors across the US that have signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (MCPA). As of February 1, 2007, 393 communities that have signed the agreement have pledged to:

• Strive to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol targets in their own communities, through actions ranging from anti-sprawl land-use policies to urban forest restoration projects to public information campaigns;


• Urge their state governments, and the federal government, to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the greenhouse gas emission reduction target suggested for the United States in the Kyoto Protocol -- 7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2012; and


• Urge the U.S. Congress to pass the bipartisan greenhouse gas reduction legislation, which would establish a national emission trading system

The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) is the professional membership organization representing the interests of thousands of US cities. On June 13, 2005, the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement was passed unanimously by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The following are some of the downstate members of the USCM: Carbondale, Marion, Cahokia, Centralia, DuQuoin, Edwardsville, Herrin, Mt. Vernon, and Swansea.

The USCM has established their own Mayors Climate Protection Web Site with information for government officials that compliments the primary site sponsored by the City of Seattle. The USCM has also passed the following resolutions calling upon their members to take decisive action to protect the environment.

• Adopting the "2030 Challenge" For All Buildings
• Encourages the Use of Landfill Gas-to-Recovery Technologies
• Encouraging the Use of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles
• Endorses the increased use of Renewable Fuels
• Promotion of Clean, Renewable Energy Sources
• Establishing a New Municipal Energy Agenda to help Address the Nation's Energy and Environmental Challenges and Improve Local Communities

None of the downstate communities listed above, excepting Carbondale, have signed onto the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement. Carbondale has not joined the Cool Cities Campaign, a complementary program to implement action plans to achieve the goals of the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement.

The night the lights went out in ...

...the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome and the Greek parliament in Athens.

No, it's not a bad remake of the 1973 song sung by Vicki Lawrence. It was local governments of these European communities voluntarily turned the lights out to express their concern for climate change across the European continent. The events were scheduled to coincide with the release of a major climate change report that says humans are "very likely" responsible for global warming.

Other European cities took similar publicity oriented actions. Meanwhile, in the USA they didn't go out in Georgia, Carbondale, or anywhere else on the North American continent. More likely, we turned-up our thermostats to counter the increasingly cold winter weather.

Sometimes leaders lead by example. Admitedly the lights-out acts were just token gestures, but they serve as a reminder of what the future could portend and how dependent society has become on centralized power distribution services such as electricity.

The City of Carbondale once taught energy conservation by example. It funded a demonstration house on the SIU campus that showed how either passive or active solar energy systems andcost-effective energy conservation measures could significantly reduce energy consumption and high utility bills. The house was part of a larger municipal program called "The Other Utility" -- a pointed reminder of the difference between supply-side energy solutions like building more polluting coal and nuclear power plants and demand side energy solutions that reduce climate degrading greenhouse gas emissions, rising sea levels, killer heat waves, worsening droughts and stronger hurricanes. The city did a lot of other things about energy back in the 1980s. They don't do it any more since apparently "the energy crisis went away."

Could southern Illinois communities do more by example to affect the environment. Of course, the answer is yes! Two solutions have been proposed downstate. Simply buying into some new brokered power purchase plan, as is being explored by state Senator John Bradley, is setting the wrong example. Sure, its a quick political fix to counter citizen complaints about rising utility bills due to the failure of the state legislature to do anything creative or effective about rising Ameren electric and gas rates. Neither does Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole's proposal to use eminent domain to acquire Ameren's utility assets within the city. Both non-solutions do nothing to reduce our region's dependence upon imported energy or the far larger problem of global climate disruption.

Once again, it all comes down to leadership or the lack of it.