Denier lies about Al Gore exposed

The denier smear campaign gets exposed again. Please check this out: 

http://climateprogress.org/2011/03/28/koch-richard-muller-gore-cicerone-polar-bears-friedman/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

Here's the latest climate change report from NASA

NASA's latest climate report below shows "a global increase in extremely hot summers. From 1951 - 1980 extremely hot summers increased from 2 - 3 % to as much as 30 - 40 % to 2010. It also show that while it was unusually cold this winter in the eastern United States and northern Eurasia, Hudson Bay and Baffin Bay (between Canada and Greenland) were essentially ice-free, the first recorded time that ice-free conditions lasted so long."

http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110327_Perceptions.pdf

The Misinformation Machine is alive and well.

My wife and I attended a conference in Harrisburg to learn more about the Affordable Care Act and it's effect on Medicare. I was surprised to see that the strategy for the attacks on this bill are no different than the strategy for the attacks on climate change, and in fact, some of the players are involved in both issues. Please read this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/opinion/28krugman.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Climate deniers lie about Al Gore's statement about polar bears

This report from Climate Progress goes into very fine details to expose a lie perpetuated by climate deniers about the accuracy of Al Gore's comments about polar bears in his documentary An Inconvenient Truth. As a Climate Presenter, this lie has been lobbed at me many times. I'm amazed at the longevity that lies and misinformation have when the truth is readily available.

Please check this out:  http://climateprogress.org/2011/03/28/koch-richard-muller-gore-cicerone-polar-bears-friedman/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29

Earth Day Event in Reading PA May 1, 2011

Earth Day event in Reading, PA on May 1, 2011.
See details:
http://earthdayreadingpaarea.weebly.com/index.html

Hopewell Furnace Stone Wall Masonry Training Event

Learn the Ancient Craft of Dry-Laid Stone Masonry!
Drystone Walling Workshop offered at
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site
April 30 – May 1, 2011
Individuals interested in learning more about Pennsylvania’s wonderful dry-laid stone walls and
the ancient craft of drystone stone masonry are invited to participate in a general public
workshop scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, April 30 – May 1, at Hopewell Furnace National
Historic Site. Hosted by the National Park Service, this two-day introductory workshop will be
taught by professional drystone masons from the nationally recognized Dry Stone Conservancy,
a Kentucky-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve historic drystone
structures and to revive and promote the ancient craft of dry-laid stone masonry.
Hopewell Furnace East Race (before) Dry Stone Workshop (after)
Dry Stone Workshop (during)
Drystone masonry is the method of building enduring stone structures with the use of any mortar.
The Conservancy’s workshops are hands-on training events where participants learn the craft
while restoring an important historic drystone structure, thus contributing to the public’s
understanding of our nation’s incredible drystone heritage. The Hopewell Furnace National
Historic Site project focuses on the repair of the Historic East Race, a structure that dates to the
18th century. The workshop is designed for enthusiasts and masons with little to no previous
drystone experience who would like to gain a basic understanding of this beautiful and practical
craft. The pace will be comfortable as participants, guided by the Conservancy’s professional
drystone mason instructors, learn the fundamental skills needed to repair a retaining wall that
supported the soil and hill above the East Race. The wall will be restored using native stone. The
work will demonstrate the techniques necessary to create a dry stone laid wall that will remain
structurally sound for years to come.
The workshop is limited to 18 participants and runs from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM both days. The
workshop includes a brief classroom introduction to the “four basic principles and five golden
rules” of drystone construction followed by hands-on instruction for the remaining two days. All
participants will receive a copy of the Conservancy’s training manual Building and Repairing Dry
Stone Fences & Retaining Walls. Advance registration is required by contacting the
Dry Stone Conservancy at 859-266-4807 for a registration form. The fee for the two day
workshop is $300; a deposit of $100 is required to guarantee your spot. To register and learn
more about the Dry Stone Conservancy go to www.drystone.org.
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site is located in Union and Warwick Townships with the
main entrance, five miles south of Birdsboro, PA, off PA Route 345. The park’s mailing address
is 2 Mark Bird Lane, Elverson, PA 19520. For directions and more information go to
www.nps.gov/hofu.

Schuylkill Highlands event Sustainable Tourism and Commercial Corridors

Announcing an exciting workshop happening soon in the Schuylkill Highlands...

Creating Community Character
Sustainable Tourism and Commercial Corridors

in the Schuylkill Highlands

May 5 & 6, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.  both days.

                                                         

Registration, networking and coffee from 8:30-9:00 a.m.

Location: Franklin Commons
400 Franklin Avenue, Phoenixville, PA 19460

COST:

Workshop $20

Bus Tour $20

Workshop and Bus Tour (2-day registration) $40

Lunch included both days. Space at this workshop is limited, so REGISTER TODAY.

Join two national experts for a one-day workshop followed by a choice of two optional full day bus tours in the Schuylkill Highlands region.

This program describes and illustrates various re-development design strategies to create and sustain vibrant communities, with a focus on community gateways and commercial corridors. Speakers will include Ed McMahon, Senior Resident Fellow for Sustainable Development, at the Urban Land Institute and Randall Arendt, Senior Conservation Advisor at the Natural Lands Trust. Learn how communities can use their unique historic and natural assets to attract sustainable tourism and economic opportunities. Hear how communities are creating mixed-use centers from existing highway strips, to help communities implement smarter, more sustainable development patterns, and learn new ways to improve downtown economic viability and attractiveness.

As a follow-up to the morning presentations, an afternoon participatory workshop offers attendees with an opportunity to learn first-hand how to retrofit an existing section of degraded commercial highway strip, rural crossroads or community gateway. Using actual Schuylkill Highlands places, participants will be guided through a hands-on design exercise illustrating how the kinds of improvements described and illustrated in the preceding presentation could be implemented in the typical example provided.

On May 6^th, the second day of the conference, choose from two bus tours. Join us for one day or two! Bus tours: You can choose between two bus tour topics: Sustainable Landscapes Tour OR Conservation Subdivision Tour.

We encourage landscape architects, engineers, planners, developers, municipal leaders, non-profits representatives, interested community members, and commercial property or business owners to attend.

To Climate Deniers

Since America has experienced severe snowstorms this winter, the climate skeptics are out in droves poking fun at how “Al Gore’s liberals” use every weather event to prove global warming.  I’m not sure how climate change, or global warming, got politicized because its ramifications will impact conservatives and liberals; Republicans and Democrats alike.

It’s easy to tell when a climate denier is really on an ideologically hate rant. They almost always bring up Al Gore’s name or use the word politics a lot in their diatribe. That’s the give-a-way.

Climatologists have known for decades that climate change is happening. Al Gore didn’t invent or make up climate change information. He just compiled it into an effective documentary from many scientific sources.

As the science progresses and gets more sophisticated more is discovered. Weather patterns are regional and the snow storms are just that, weather. The operable word for climate related storms is: extreme. Many parts of America had very extreme weather events. A recent snowstorm was 2,000 miles across. You can see a satellite photo of it at NASA’s website. Ask Australia about extreme weather.  They had the most extreme flooding ever seen in that region. If I had the space here, I could go add a very long list of extreme storms.

The bottom line is, CO2 concentrations have increased by 110 parts per million (PPM) in the last 150 years from burning fossil fuels. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the more moisture rises and the more comes down in extreme storms.  When Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth came out CO2 was 385 PPM, it is now 390 PPM and rising by 3 PPM per year. That’s a fact!

Rather than listening to ideological hate rants and following hearsay by people that have no clue what they are talking about, find out the real facts by following reliable scientific websites, get the science from the scientists not misinformed ideologues:

NASA http://www.giss.nasa.gov/
National Snow and Ice Data Center  http://nsidc.org/
NOAA’s National Climate Data Center  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/ncdc.html