The News Blimp

Face it: There is no such thing as clean coal.

Yet West Virginia senator Jay Rockefeller is pissed that President Obama’s budget ignores West Virginia’s coal industry in favor of cleaner energy alternatives.

This from a reader…

“The trend towards the mass mechanization of coal production…where one giant earth-moving machine replaces 100 men …will soon render the traditional underground miner useless. Thousands of Appalachian communities endure the blasting, coal dust, ruined water and environmental destruction caused by MTR…mountain top removal. They are living in what some call, the ‘Energy Sacrifice Zone’.  The coal industry remains the sole economic force of the state, reaping billions in profits every year, while residents of West Virginia remain among the poorest of the nation. In the coalfields, the imbalance is amplified: while Boone county produces the most coal in the state, 20% of its residents languish below the poverty line.”

The coal mining issue in America is not just about continuing the scorched earth policy of the industry…but more the need…finally…for the respect due an entire, under privileged economic region of our nation…it’s hard working laborers who’ve endured decades of corporate tyranny…and ultimately the sacrifices they’ve made and continue to make in their personal and community well being.

The Blimp Crew suggests you visit this link for more info on the current state of the coal industry in America…and mountain top removal.

Hey…Detroit!

Now that you’ve declared that bankruptcy is the only path to survival…The Blimp Crew is here to offer you two simple…yet challenging ways by which you might become profitable once again.

Step One: Sell the rental car companies one, high quality product representative of your overall production values.

How many times have you rented a car…any car…and you can’t believe how awful it is?

Way more often than not, we believe. The cars Detroit sells to Hertz, Avis, National…any of the chains…are the scrub, bottom of the line vehicle models in trim, fit, finish, performance…and unfortunately…quality.

All the chains care about, of course, is that they’re able to provide a vehicle that’ll get renters from point A to B and back…for X dollars. They don’t care about the quality of the vehicle. Why should they? They know the cars’ll get trashed over time…either winding up in scrap heaps at 30,000 miles…or dumped onto one of their resale lots.

It’s the auto manufacturers with lots to lose in the rental car business…and they don’t even realize it! 

Instead of the bottom of the model line cars winding up at the rental agencies…what if the GM’s, Chrysler’s and Ford’s sold the Hertz’s of the world…a truly representative product of their new production efforts?  What if they attempted to limit their fleet sales to one really good, high quality mid-sized model?

Provide no choices at the rental counter. Provide no varied selection of brands or models. Why bother? Under the old manufacturing structure…a Chevy-was-a-Buick-was-a-Pontiac…as a Chrysler-was-a-Dodge, anyway.

The manufacturers should each brand one really great mid-range priced car for high volume rental fleets…one which is terrific in every way. In trim, fit, finish, performance…and quality. Build a car for rental distribution that says…“here’s an example of the best we can do.” And do it. Rather than provide an example of the “cheapest way we can build and sell a bunch of cars” to the Avis’.

And remember…a high quality car does not mean it has to be an expensive car. For example, there’ve been plenty of lower cost, high quality Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas running around our highways for years now.

We believe people will pay attention…will notice the difference…and they will go to dealers to check them out.

Step Two: Follow the European marketing and sales models used to promote and encourage the purchase of Diesel vehicles.

We’ve got news for you…high fuel prices are right around the corner once more. If you’ve been seduced back into SUV’s and pickups the past few months because gas has been relatively cheap for a short period of time…be ready for a rude awakening.

Gasoline will be back to $4.00 and $5.00 a gallon within the next year. Bank on it.

For years…Detroit has said…“Americans won’t buy Diesels. Why build them?” And for years it’s been true. Americans haven’t wanted to buy them…because when they’ve thought “Diesel”…consumers pictured smelly, dirty, noisy, air polluting vehicles. And up until about 8 years ago…they’ve been right.

But those lousy Diesel days are long gone.

Fact: Where the cost of fuel is more than three times more expensive than in the States…almost 60 per cent of autos sold in Europe run on Diesel.

Modern, high tech Diesels sold in Europe now get as many as 87 highway miles per gallon…and between 44 and 65 mpg in city driving. Take into account the Europeans gauge true mile per gallon consumption on a much more strict basis than American testing standards…and there are real consumption and cost value differences between gasoline and Diesel engines.

European buyers have a wide range of clean, quiet, powerful, fuel efficient, high quality Diesel autos to select from…by well known European and Asian manufacturers like Audi, VW, Peugeot, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Kia and Volvo. In fact Volvo’s S40 DRIVe European Diesel, owned by Ford…was recently named “Greenest Car of the Year” in Europe.

Guess who else is selling Diesel big time overseas?

GM.

And Ford.

In fact, Ford’s ECOnetic Fiesta Diesel gets over 63 miles per gallon!

Hey! Give us the opportunity to buy the kinds of cars you sell in Europe!

Detroit needs to develop an effective Diesel marketing campaign which will convince American motorists that Diesel is a high quality, efficient means of fuel consumption (which will greatly reduce by millions the number of barrels of oil we import) and build the type of cars in America which are so successful overseas.

It’ll take GM, Chrysler and Ford a long time to convince consumers once more that they build desirable vehicles…ones with inherent quality and efficiency built into every car that rolls off the assembly lines.

And we believe they need to think outside the box to do it.

News broke yesterday that General Motors could soon cease to operate as a going concern.

Duh.

Why does that “revelation” come as a surprise? How come that GM headline takes a bunch of the blame for the stock market dropping another bundle Thursday?

What, this information wasn’t expected by “savvy” Wall Street traders?

Here’s a clue, folks. When the stock price of a corporate Dow component falls 92% in 12 months…posts losses of $31 billion during the same period…then loses another $13 billion in government bailout funds in less than 60 days…and now wants another $30 billion while it attempts to restructure it’s organization by March 31st…the wheels have fallen off for good, people.

Add to that ledger sheet red ink the fact they make crappy vehicles. Nobody wants them. Why? Because behind the blustery “Buy American” campaign blows the truth that Americans demand reliable cars. Buying one from GM doesn’t fit that profile.

Consumer Reports magazine’s recent auto reliability survey shows that Japanese vehicles continue to dominate reliability studies. In fact CR is recommending 90-100 percent of some of those vehicles…while the consumer group can advise buyers to purchase a mere 17% of GM products…and none of Chrysler’s.

And we should toss more dough at these guys?

We don’t think so.

But here’s a terrific alternative for auto investors to ponder…innovative cars that, unlike GM’s, might actually roll.

French inventor Guy Negre has created…no joke…The Air Car. It’s a vehicle that runs exclusively on compressed air. Free, abundant, nonflammable, nonpolluting air.

Discover how this Formula 1 engine designer figured it out…and when it’ll be rolling down a highway in a lane near you soon. It’s got all the other alternatives…hybrids, ethanol, fuel cells, diesel, natural gas…beat by a mile.

Now that’s news.

The Blimp Crew’s mission today?

We gotta find some good news out in the wild blue yonder, because all the bad news out there is driving us absolutely nuts.

Hey, look! Out on the horizon…there’s some really good news approaching The Blimp.

It’s a flight carrying consumers away from bottled water.

What a sight…Yes!

Finally…folks are beginning to discover that there are better ways to quench one’s thirst other than chugging H2O from plastic bottles.

Washington University in St. Louis has decided to end bottled water sales on campus. Beginning January, campus vending machines will no longer sell the stuff, nor will campus restaurants.

“It used to be chic to be seen at the gym with expensive bottled water. Now, the plastic throwaways are a no-no.” “The Tide Is Changing on Bottled Water”…writes Wendy Williams. “At my gym, almost no one wants to be seen swigging from throw-away plastic anymore.”

NBC’s Today Show contributor Marisa Belger’s recent online piece,  “Tap Local Resources, Not Bottled Water”…makes a good case against senseless plastic bottle waste, as well as shooting down the “safer than tap” fallacy.

“I think people are realizing they are wasting money buying water that’s the same as what comes from their tap,” says, Erik Yaverbaum, founder of Tappening, which encourages people to drink tap water.

Not to mention the seventeen million barrels of oil we can save each year. That’s the amount which was used to produce bottle plastic for water consumed by Americans alone in 2007.

See…we did find some good news!

In a flash…your trash could become a sought-after commodity for fuel production.

The disastrous effects which the world’s food economies experienced this year as a result of the frenzied rush to produce corn based ethanol trampled much of the excitement surrounding it’s use as an alternative fuel.

In spite of the recent ethanol backlash…new, cost effective, non-corn ethanol technologies are surfacing quickly. Broadly labeled cellulosic ethanol…several innovative conversion processes offer hope that low cost non-corn ethanol could replace 20-30 million gallons of petro-fuels within a few short years.

Perhaps the most intriguing new system of the bunch is proposed by Fulcrum BioEnergy…a California startup which “would turn garbage from homes and businesses into transportation fuel.”

Garbage haulers would dump loads of trash at the Fulcrum BioEnergy plant east of Reno, Nevada…where a catalytic process would turn the garbage into ethanol.

And that’d be a gas, gas, gas.

Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens announces his energy plan for America.

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ‘n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ‘n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ‘n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ‘n how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?
Yes, ‘n how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ‘n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Blowin’ In The Wind-Bob Dylan

The sheer numbers of stuff we waste is so staggering…even if we cut back a little bit on our habits and consumption…it would make a tremendous difference in environmental impact.

-The average United Kingdom resident travels 30 miles each day…a sixfold increase since 1950.

-Seventeen million barrels of oil are used to make the plastic for the bottled water consumed by Americans each year.

-Flushing toilets account for an estimated 32 percent of the residential water use in the United States.

-The average plastic bag is used for 20 minutes…and won’t degrade naturally for at least 100 years.

-Of the 62 billion pieces of junk mail produced annually in the United States 44 percent is thrown away unopened.

-One-third of the world’s urban population lives in what the United Nations defines as slum conditions.

Source: Arup Engineering “Drivers of Change” research

This Letter to the Editor in today’s San Francisco Chronicle pretty much sums up the Iraq war in a few more than 50 succinct words:

“President Bush has finally done it. He has restored access to the oil fields of Iraq to the four oil companies that Saddam Hussein threw out when he nationalized the Iraq industry…Exxon-Mobil, Shell, BP and Total. The occupation can end now, except for the permanent forces needed to protect those oil fields.“

-Shirley Allen/Walnut Creek, CA

For the past ten years, consumers swallowed the manufactured hype that drinking bottled water was better for them than the water available from the faucets in their own homes.

Spurred by rapid inflation growth now taking it’s toll on household expenses, it’s dawning on many shoppers that the expense of buying drinking water in plastic bottles is a cost they can easily avoid…by simply turning on their taps at home.

Of course, the corporate giants that realized soaring profits for much of the past ten years have developed strategies to pump up shrinking sales.

In spite of these new marketing campaigns, consumers finally grasp the incredible waste of resources and money spent on bottled water…water which is sometimes actually worse than that which flows from public water sources…

…And at price points that have them believing they’ve been pouring their hard earned money…down the drain.

                                 February 28, 2008

For years, rock legend Neil Young has found time during his career to support causes he’s felt deserve attention…such as the Bridge School and Farm Aid benefits. 

Now Neil is actively throwing his support behind a real chrome dream…replacing America’s dependence on fossil fuels with electricity to drive the nation’s automobiles.

In a quest to develop a 100 mile per gallon vehicle, Neil is working with little known Midwest inventor Jonathan Goodwin and a small group of investors in an effort to win the X PRIZE Foundation competition…an organized mission to bring about radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. 

“We want to re-power the American Dream”…and the Young-Goodwin team is using Neil’s 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible to prove it can be done…by morphing the 19 foot long, 2 and a half ton, 10 mpg, 0-60mph in 8 seconds beast…into a fuel sipping 0-60mph in 6 seconds, 100 mpg thoroughbred they’ve named the LincVolt.    

“I was born to do this”, Young has said. “By creating this new power technology we hope to reduce the demand for petro-fuels enough to eliminate the need for war over energy policies, thereby enhancing the security of the USA and other nations throughout the world.”

Corporations are hijacking control of our drinking water.

We’ve been lead to believe that bottled water is safer than the tap water from our own faucets…when in fact scientific studies show that bottled water is no safer than tap water…and sometimes contains elevated levels of arsenic, bacteria and other contaminants.  

If that’s not bad enough…making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water required more than 17 million barrels of oil last year… enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for one year…generating more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. 

Here are a few terrific, sane, eco-friendly water bottle alternatives:

Kleen Kanteen: Eco-friendly, durable, BPA-free reusable stainless steel containers.

Sigg Water Bottles: Non-toxic, eco-friendly water bottles.

Camelbak: All kinds of reusable hydration systems and bottles.

Want more choices? Stay hydrated with this gallery of BPA-free water bottles.

There is no oil supply shortage, but today many Americans are paying $4.00 a gallon for gasoline…and very soon will pay more.

Since the first oil embargo in 1973, America had years of opportunity to save itself from the current petro-crisis…but instead chose to let big oil, the auto industry and powerful utilities dictate policy.

Here are 10  More Pretty Simple Reasons why America now finds itself hurtling through this current crisis:

1. Unstable governments supply 60 percent of the oil America needs and at any time they may choose to either reduce or stop altogether the flow of oil.

2. Huge future demands on petro-resources by China and India are just beginning…as world oil reserves begin to fall.

3. Continuing war and the threat of more war in the Middle East.

4. Commodity speculation results because of items 1, 2  and 3 above.

5. Waging war while cutting taxes.

6. Three Republican administrations in the latter 20th century chose to do nothing to promote alternative energy related sources.

7. President Ronald Reagan began supply-side economic policies which were also followed by the next Republican administrations…

8. …which helped create unprecedented national debt…

9. …which weakened the dollar.

10. The weak dollar means America pays more for imported oil, than do nations with stronger currencies.

There are no shortcuts to take out of this American crisis. This mess was created over 30 lazy, comfortable, corrupt years of Republican administrations…which did nothing to create and then manage a responsible American energy policy.

Fresh, insightful, creative leadership is needed to finally forge measures which will enable America greater independence from foreign resources and to provide real, effective incentives for alternative energy development. Otherwise, the next 30 years will be truly miserable.

If you believe that fresh, insightful, creative leadership will come from John McCain, we have a 2005 Ford Excursion we’d like to sell you.

We humans have consumed and polluted to our heart’s content. We’ve warmed the planet to the point where many of the world’s coastal cities could be 10 feet under water within 50 years. Animal and plant life are instinctively attempting to evolve rapidly enough to survive the climate change advance. However, some not quickly enough.  

Now we’re in danger of losing the polar bears. What can we do to help prevent total environmental catastrophe? The following simple suggestions can be a start.  

Recycle. Be responsible. There is no excuse for any of us not to recycle newspapers, bottles, cans and plastics…as most waste services provide for recycling. But many people still toss recyclables into the regular garbage, which then winds up in landfills. And unfortunately, most waste companies do not recycle many of the worst products we toss away…like batteries, plastic bags, cell phones, light bulbs, paints and oils. You can discover where and how to dispose of those items by using the Earth 911 service. 

Stop using plastic bags. Plastic bags need to be outlawed. Do you really need 10 of them to carry your groceries home? The millions of them now floating as waste in our oceans have entered the food chain with disastrous results. Take reusable bags with you whenever you shop.  

Stop buying bottled water. The bottling and merchandising of tap water has become the biggest income bonanza for the Coca-Cola’s of the world…but we don’t need bottled water! Need liquids with you today? Fill a bottle or thermos from home. Plastic bottles create the same environmental problems as plastic bags. If that’s not bad enough…the bottle plastic has latent poisons in them. 

Save a few trees…cancel your paper statements and pay your bills online. Plus, before long postage will be 50 cents an ounce. 

Quit using insecticides around the house. There are many natural ways to reduce pesky critters around your place. The main thing you can do to eliminate them is to keep your place clean…especially the kitchen. Bugs love the crap that falls on floors or stays in the cupboards.  

Standby power sucks bucks from your wallet and wastes energy. Standby power is the electricity consumed by your appliances, even when they are turned off. So when you’re not using them…unplug ‘em.   

Drive responsibly. Plan ahead before you head out to run errands. Combine as many errands as possible into one trip. Lighten up on the gas pedal. Turn your idling car off while you’re sitting in line at the drive-thru bank teller, fast food joint, dry cleaner or pharmacy. 

Try to buy foods and goods provided by local growers and manufacturers. This will cut down on fuel required to ship products long distances. 

We need to create new habits by following through on these easy changes to our lifestyles. If we can’t, we’ll soon be joining the polar bears on the endangered species list.

I’m leavin on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
-John Denver 

When the airline industry lost billions of dollars in 2001, the sea of red ink on the books was attributed to 9-11. After months of psychological turmoil in 2002 , an industry found it’s wings once more as a fearful nation recovered it’s confidence.

But the billions of dollars lost by airlines this year may never be recovered. As fuel prices soar, carriers are imploding one after another into bankruptcy. Fares increase. Routes are eliminated. Convenience is lost. Passenger safety is compromised. 

In the wake of this growing crisis is the stark realization that for almost 100 years, our nation has been dependent on only two major forms of transportation…motor vehicles and airlines. As all associated costs soar…what are our options? 

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
I don’t know how to tell you all just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind
Running on - running into the sun
But Im running behind
-Jackson Browne

Earth Day 2008.  

Definition: A 24 hour interlude celebrating Mother Earth…when the environmental hypocrisy of mankind is postponed by it’s eagerness to promote all that is ”green” to help save the planet. 

Hey, we’re all for attempting to crack civilization’s reckless 21^st century spending habits on environmentally unsafe, earth destroying products…even if most of the latest eco-friendly goods and services merely serve as excuses for trendy new corporate marketing campaigns. Save the planet! Well, at least once a year…by buying solar garden lights at Home Depot…organic cotton clothing at Wal-Mart…or CFC free Gillette shaving gel.

Ha! Gotta start somewhere, right? 

But while consumers are busy spending loot on new stuff good for the battle to save Mother Earth…the harsh reality is that the macro-environmental war is being lost at an alarmingly rapid rate.   

Sobering examples: 

The new farm bill before congress will provide subsidies expected to result in the deaths of millions of crop pollinating honeybees…with little funding in the package for research to determine how to save the vitally important insects. Bees are dying by the millions because new pesticides create insect memory loss and destroy fragile navigation systems, preventing them from feeding. Plant life requires pollination. Short take: no bees, no food.   

Chinook salmon formerly found in abundance in waters off the California and Oregon coasts are disappearing because they’ve been overexploited for generations. It’s a fish whose population is fading so quickly, that without a complete and immediate fishing ban could soon be placed on the endangered species list. We face not only the loss of this incredible creature as a nature and food asset, but the economic impact from the collapse of an entire industry as well. 

Growing grain to harvest for fuel use, rather than for human consumption is beginning to starve us. People are dying because we are choosing to put grain in our vehicles instead of in our stomachs. Many of the world’s largest agricultural producers are growing crops for biofuels rather than for food. Global food prices are skyrocketing. Subsidies to encourage crop growth for alternative fuels use is now killing people in developing nations.  

Do what you can to help celebrate Earth Day 2008. Every bit will help. But know the battle will not be won by simply buying green shaving gel or hip garden lamps. The battle will only be won if we can discard our inherent greed, selfishness and shortcuts to profit. 

That’ll be the real Mother.