Fw: What just happened in the Senate. OIL BOUGHT GREED

We all see this and laugh about it. What does it really mean to be a Citizen? Or a Senator? OR A Person on this Planet.   That definition now has become critical.   Looking for people who can step up to lead: act.350.org/survey/kxl-senate-accountability-2013/ --- On Fri, 3/22/13, Bill McKibben - 350.org <organizers@350.org> wrote: From: Bill McKibben - 350.org <organizers@350.org> Subject: What just happened in the Senate. To: "Eric Weaver" <stars2man@yahoo.com> Date: Friday, March 22, 2013, 7:59 PM Friends, After a very chaotic week on Capitol Hill, I wanted to write you with an update on what just happened in the Senate today. First and foremost: the oil industry's Senators did not manage to pass legislation that would force President Obama to build Keystone XL. Because you -- and people like you, all across the country -- jumped into action this week, they backtracked and instead held a vote on a nonbinding resolution that says it would be nice to build the pipeline, but doesn't actually do much about it. For that vote, they got the stomach-churning number of 62 Senators to vote with them. As usual, the ones who had taken the most money from the fossil fuel industry lined up to cast their votes—the cosponsors of the bill, on average, had taken $807,000 in dirty energy money. Now, this amounts to symbolic chest thumping by the oil industry: showing just how many Senators they can get to jump when told to. It's not the worst thing that could have happened, but it reminds everyone why, in one recent poll, congress had approval ratings lower than head lice and colonoscopies -- even on the symbolic stuff, they can't get it together to stand up to the oil industry guys cutting them checks. In a certain way though, this vote couldn't come at a better time. Congress is going on break, and for the next two weeks, these 62 Senators will be back in their home states, doing things like meeting with constituents -- people like you. Home states are where some of the most heroic work took place the last week -- in Minneapolis, say, where 150 350MN.org activists showed up on very short notice at Sen. Klobuchar's office in a snowstorm to tell her to vote no on Keystone (and she did, it should be added). Here's how the Senators in Florida voted ('yes' in this case being a vote for the pipeline): Bill Nelson - Yes Marco Rubio - Yes If you're interested in following in the fine example of those leaders who held actions at their senators offices, you have a chance in the next two weeks. We're looking for people who can step up to lead, and then we'll put the 350 network into action to get people to join you. If you want to lead an action, just click here to tell us when you'd like to do so: act.350.org/survey/kxl-senate-accountability-2013/ Look, there are two ways to react to a democracy for sale. One is to walk away in disgust, which is what the Koch Brothers count on. The other is to stand up and say: no more. If you visit your Senator, take some pictures or some video so we can share them around. It's time to build this broader fossil fuel resistance. And remember, Capitol Hill is not the center of the world. Around the country this week our friends at Tar Sands Blockade have been actively targeting Keystone investors; faith groups have been hauled off to jail in front of the White House to protest the pipeline; and the divestment campaign has expanded off college campuses and into municipal and state governments. The movement is doing amazing stuff -- we just need more of it. We can't outspend the oil industry, but we can out-organize them. In fact, we have to. Forward, Bill McKibben 350.org is building a global movement to solve the climate crisis. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts. You can help power our work by getting involved locally, sharing your story, and donating here.

Pareto principle

Pareto principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The term "Pareto principle" can also refer to Pareto efficiency.

- Sent using Google Toolbar

The term  "Pareto principle" can also refer to Pareto efficiency.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80–20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.^[1][2]
Business-management consultant Joseph M. Juran suggested the principle and named it after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; he developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.^[2]
It is a common rule of thumb in business; e.g., "80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients". Mathematically, where something is shared among a sufficiently large set of participants, there must be a number k between 50 and 100 such that "k% is taken by (100 − k)% of the participants". The number k may vary from 50 (in the case of equal distribution, i.e. 100% of the population have equal shares) to nearly 100 (when a tiny number of participants account for almost all of the resource). There is nothing special about the number 80% mathematically, but many real systems have k somewhere around this region of intermediate imbalance in distribution.^[3]

Urban Farm Units for City-Dwellers: Urban Farm Units for City-Dwellers

- Sent using Google Toolbar  also see: http://damienchivialle.blogspot.com/p/20-foot-urban-farm.html

Urban Farm Units for City-Dwellers

French designer Damien Chivialle has created a self-regulating city farm called an Urban Farm Unit (UFU) that makes use of an old shipping container and requires no more space than a parking spot to install.

The world’s population will reach eight billion in 2030, five billion of which will be city-dwellers. To alleviate the increasing demand for food by our growing population and to minimise the distances traveled to obtain it, Chivialle sought to provide fresh organic food to the surrounding local community.

A UFU can be set up anywhere space provides. Inside the transportable containers, fish, vegetables and fruit are produced at street level to be enjoyed by the community. Each unit can produce food for around 50 people. If the fish are fed organic feed, the whole unit produces completely organic food.

Each unit is designed using an industrial greenhouse, open-top container and a hydroponic system, and is easily adaptable to various situations and space allocations.

The shared garden uses hydroponics and micro-methanation growth technology to achieve high yields from a small area.

The above-ground unit employs aquaponics and traditional cultivation methods. A pool of fresh-water fish in two cubic metres of water sits in the middle of the unit. Flowing through a closed circuit, their excrement is collected and broken down by bacteria into minerals.

The mineral water is then pumped through the pipes which the plant roots are submerged in, resulting in no need for additional fertiliser.

A highly environmentally-friendly system, there is no water waste whatsoever. The water gets filtered by the plants and then flows back to the fish tank.

Water is heated through methane combustion and produces energy to operate the water pump. The greenhouse receives the CO2 produced in the combustion to encourage plant growth.

If several units are installed, the urban farm could also implement a biogas plant to recycle the neighbourhood’s organic waste.

Chivialle suggests using the methane from the purification tank to run an alternate generator.

Despite the fact that cities do not have large areas of land on which food can be produced, Chivialle envisions urban farm units solving the typical urban issues of limited space and pollution, allowing city-dwellers to engage in food cultivation. There is a growing desire for locally grown food, and urban farms dispersed throughout a city can provide a solution. Three urban farms are currently in operation in Zurich, Berlin and Brussels.