In the news recently, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic revealed plans to invest $3 billion in renewable energy initiatives over the next ten years.  Once again, Branson proves his commitment to finding a better way by offering a pragmatic, achievable approach towards sustainable aviation. 
The program involves changing the process by which airplanes are utilized during takeoff and landing.  Instead of taxiing down the runway, airplanes would be towed to a "starting grid" where they would then start their engines.  The "starting grid" system would reduce fuel consumption and on-the-ground carbon emissions by over 50% ahead of take-off at London’s Heathrow airport and by nearly 90% for Virgin Atlantic flights at JFK in New York!

Other initiatives include flying aircraft at lighter loads, and a method of descent called "Continuous Descent Approach".  Branson has called for these methods to be employed by other airlines including British Airways, American Airlines and Easyet; engine and aircraft manufacturers such as Rolls Royce and Boeing and airport operators including BAA in the UK.

In a recent post here on the Dervaes Family’s urban homestead Root talked about doing the most with what you have, right here, right now.  The two polarities of a multinational, billionaire with resources and vision, and a small family walking their talk inspire us to think and act in kind.

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Over on Emerge, they are talking about fine artist and commercial designer, Jon Santos teaming up with The Canary Project,
a photographic project devoted to documenting climate change via
powerful landscapes from environmental hotspots around the globe. Santos has created Dimensions Of Change a series of collaborative images utilizing motifs based on the utopian ideals of folks like Buckminster Fuller, a site specific sculpture and a video piece devoted to the theme of global warming and the issues it causes with water. The exhibition runs through the end of this week at Crane Arts Building
in Philadelphia, where it has been up since September 4. A billboard of
the collaboration between Santos and the Canary Project will run in
Philadelphia later this Fall to carry the message on once the
exhibition is closed. Creative and compelling, “Dimensions
of Change” makes truly moving art out of one of the greatest dilemmas
facing humanity in the 21st Century

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The Los Angeles Times reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders agreed Wednesday on a plan to cut by 25% the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from California electric power plants, refineries and other sources by the year 2020. It would make California the first state in the nation to fight global warming by slapping caps on carbon dioxide and other emissions.

As curbing emissions is an essential step in this immense global problem, and as legislation of corporate action is necessary in solving it, Root applauds these steps. In doing so, we encourage further action on the part of the global community and the rest of our 49 states to act now to restrain and repair the damage done to our fragile ecosystem.

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Furthering our suggestions on how to curb our carbon addiction, Root arrived at an interesting carbon conscious idea with a few clicks of our mouse. The Carbon Emission Offset Directory provides a number of options to offset our driving impact.

The site offers the opportunity to calculate one’s carbon footprint, in addition they provide links to sites for purchase of carbon emission offsets, a solution offering an immediate and lasting effect on our cumulative impact.

According to the site, a mid-sized 30 mpg car driving 12,000 miles/year will create about 3.55 tons of CO2/year. Using Carbonfund.org’s calculator they figured this would cost only about $19.50 or $1.63/month to be offset. This means that for a very small amount of money you can drive the equivalent of a zero-CO2-emission car. Impressive, indeed.

Athough we may not be eliminating driving for walking or biking (not an option for all), we can lessen our impact with very little cost and increased awareness of our actions.

Click on.

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Over the weekend, we saw An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s uber-budget slide show that he has presented globally for a number of years. Although seeing it felt a bit like preaching to the choir - afterall, we do live in west Sonoma County, CA - the subject is especially timely, given the last year’s worth of weather extremes, and the reality that we are all carbon addicted. So what can we, as individuals do? Their website provides 10 things to do to help stop global warming:

Change a light
Replacing one regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb will save 150 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Drive less
Walk, bike, carpool or take mass transit more often. You’ll save one pound of carbon dioxide for every mile you don’t drive!

Recycle more
You can save 2400 pounds of carbon dioxide per year by recycling just half of your household waste.

Check your tires
Keeping your tire inflated properly can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere

Use less hot water
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. Use less hot water by installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of CO2 saved per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds saved per year).

Avoid products with a lot of packaging
You can save 1200 pounds of of carbon dioxide if you cut down your garbage by 10%.

Adjust your thermostat
Moving your thermostat just 2 degrees in winter and up 2 degrees in summer can save about 2000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple adjustment.

Plant a tree
A singel tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.

Turn off electronic devices
Simply turning off your television, DVD player, stereo, and computer when you are not using them will save thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Root would like to add a few more things to the list -

Pay attention to the products you buy - Buy locally, act globally - the less products have to travel to market, the less carbon load.

Pay attention to the people we elect - and fight for your vote! Don’t allow corporate interests to override the interest of the planet.

And most importantly,
don’t become jaded. Teach our children how to live with awareness of these truths, and live them ourselves.

See An Inconvenient Truth - and pass it on.

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