Yesterday I posted a video about the “ This Is Reality ” campaing trying to inform the public about the negetive effects of coal. Today Reality started airing our latest ad. It’s called “Air Freshener” and we’re very excited to say it’s directed by Academy Award winners Joel and Ethan Coen. The ad directly calls out the coal industry on their ridiculous claims that coal is clean, as only the Coen brothers can. Now we go behind the scene of in the making of “Clean Coal Clean”.
When it comes to being green on the roads, Canadians seems to be ahead of Americans. My friend Michael Graham Richard form treehugger wrote an article yesterday about this. In Canada 7 of the top 10 selling cars are small/compact cars the top 3 being the Honda Civic, the Toyota Corolla and the Mazda 3. Michael noted that according to data from DesRosiers Automotive Consultants: “In 2008, 51.5 per cent of all light vehicles sold in Canada were entry-level — i.e. small — cars.” But what are the reasons of such a difference between Canadians and our southern neighbors. Some may say it’s a financial issue. Americans maybe have more money then Canadians and for this reason they seem to buy bigger cars. Another financial factor could be the fact that gas is more taxed in Canada. Gas prices have shown to be a big factor in choosing a vehicle. We can take a look at Europe for a good example of this. This is why many treehuggers think that a revenue-neutral carbon tax is the best way to make things change, and as long as you reduce other taxes (f.ex. the income tax) by a similar amount, you are not adding to people’s tax burden, and you are not trying to pick winners (like those corn ethanol subsidies from a few years ago that will be almost impossible to repeal, or the preference for hydrogen fuel cells that made CARB axe battery electric car programs like the GM EV1). The Best-Selling Small Cars in Canada From the Globe and Mail, all dollar amounts in Canadian dollars: 1. Honda Civic 2008 sales: 72,463 Base price: $16,990 2. Toyota Corolla 2008 sales: 57,736 Base price: $14,835 3. Mazda3 2008 Sales: 50,317 Base price (sedan): $15,995 4. Toyota Yaris 2008 sales: 40,602 Base price (four-door sedan): $13,999 5. Chevrolet Cobalt 2008 sales: 33,754 Base price (sedan): $15,325 6. Hyundai Accent 2008 sales: 29,751 Base price (sedan): $14,295 7. Pontiac G5 2008 sales: 26,436 Base price (sedan): $15,745 8. Ford Focus 2008 sales: 23,654 Base price (sedan): $17,099 9. 2009 Toyota Matrix 2008 sales: 23,549 Base price: $15,975 10. Nissan Versa 2008 sales: 21,845 Base price (sedan): $12,498 Via Treehugger Photo: Flickr , CC
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Canada On The Green Road
Several better-read (but not better-written!) online green-news destinations (HuffPo Green, Planet Green) have lately discussed a new way — based on a decades-old way — to save water. It’s called the Navy Shower. Due to an obvious shortage of freshwater on Navy ships (at least in the past), dirty sailors would get in their tiny shower stalls, run enough water to get wet, then shut the water off and soap up all over. Then they would turn the water back on, rinse off, get dressed and it’s man your battle stations! This technique can also be used by us hardy souls looking to help out with the Earth’s short supply of fresh water. A regular shower can consume up to 60 gallons of water, while a navy shower can use as little as 3 gallons. That’s a lot of saved water — up to 15,000 gallons a year. Not enough to fill an average backyard pool, but nonetheless quite a bit. Still, there probably aren’t many people who are willing to give up their 10 minutes of hot spray in the morning. For some, it’s the difference between a good day and a bad one. I myself have not tried this yet. And we can’t forget the minute-or-so it takes to heat my water up in the morning. But I promise to try the old maritime shower routine and see how it goes. Perhaps I’ll ask the wife to join, to try and make it more fun. Maybe I’ll report back. Anyone else? (Huffington Post Green, Planet Green)
Originally posted here:
The Navy Shower
When it comes to TV commercials, big corporation will pay big money to make you believe that they can offer you a good product and. Recently the environment is one of the biggest tools for selling a product. Everything is GREEN. Green soap, green cars, green toys, green clothing and much more. The biggest innovation on the market right now are green off shore drilling and clean coal. So they say. Exxon mobile has been one off the worst when it comes to lobbying. Or should I say the best? Exxon mobile spent many million dollars to make people believe in their idea. The idea that oil is not bad for the environment. Now when you watch TV you can see Clean Coal commercials. The objective of these commercials is to tell the public that they have developed a CleanER Coal. Cleaner is the keyword. If you think about it. Coal is nowhere close to being clean. So how clean can coal be? No cleaner then it was before. There is still the processes of transforming the gross resources into the “clean coal”. So overall the effects are really close from being the same. I hope that president Obama will do his best to prevent the coal industry from growing and I hope he brings it down. The tar sands in Alberta Canada are among the issues concerning green house gas. Next time I’ll give an overview of the effects this oil monster has on the environment and the people that are victims of it.
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Clean Coal Air Freshener