GreenerPolitics

By Helen Briggs, BBC News

An important step has been taken in the quest to create a synthetic lifeform.

A US team reports in Science magazine how it built the entire DNA code of a common bacterium in the laboratory using blocks of genetic material.

The group hopes eventually to use engineered genomes to make organisms that can produce clean fuels and take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Publication of the research gives others the chance to scrutinise it. Some have ethical concerns.

It sets the stage for what we hope is going to be a new approach to engineering organisms.

Read the rest of the article

It was interesting how receptive people were to the idea that environmental problems are best solved with political solutions and how an environmental message, while similar in content, could be modified to be attractive to people of varying ideologies.

We talked about the need for tax shift, full cost accounting, the encouragement of energy efficient solutions. These are ‘old school’ green ideas.

We talked about the new agreement between MDI and Tata motors to produce compressed air vehicles for the people of India.

I had a good chat with Connie C. about the need for business to integrate themselves with their communities.

 I’ve started a Forum to keep discussion going during the interrim between meets

The next Green Drinks is February 19. See you there!

Plenty, the World in Green By Eric Mack

If someone tried to sell you a zero-emissions car that costs around $10,000, you might think he was full of hot air. Turns out it’s the car that’s full of it: The vehicle runs on and emits nothing but air. Now, after more than fifteen years of languishing in automotive obscurity, it’s heading for mass production.

The Air Car is the brainchild of Guy Negre, a French inventor and former Formula One engineer. In February, Negre’s company, Motor Development International (MDI), announced a deal to manufacture the technology with Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial automaker and a major player worldwide. “It’s an innovative technology, it’s an environment-friendly technology, and a scalable technology,” says Tata spokesperson Debasis Ray. “It can be used in cars, in commercial vehicles, and in power generation.”

Though Negre first unveiled the technology in the early 1990s, interest has only recently grown. In addition to the Tata deal, which could put thousands of the cars on the road in India by the end of the decade, Negre has signed deals to bring the design to twelve other countries, including South Africa, Israel, and Germany. But experts say the car may never make it to US streets.

Read the rest of the article.

Here is a relatively dated video about MDI’s air car that will give you an idea of the technology involved in the air car:

from CBC News

The CRTC has brought in new regulations to restrict cross-media ownership as a way of ensuring a diversity of editorial voices in the same market.

The broadcast regulator said on Tuesday that, in future, a person or entity will be permitted to control only two of the three types of media outlets — radio, TV, or newspapers — in a single market.

In other words, a media group that already owned a local radio station and a local television station would likely have to sell one of those broadcast outlets if it wanted to buy a local newspaper in the same market.

To see the state of Canadian media ownership in Canada, click here!

Read the rest of the article

by Mark MacGillivray

 In a move that mirrors the exclusion of the Green Party from Leadership Debates in Canada, MSNBC in the United States made a last-minute change in its Las Vegas Democrat Debate format to exclude candidate Dennis Kucinich, noted for his opposition to nuclear power and the War in Iraq.

 Initially, MSNBC had planned on holding the debate with the top four Democratic candidates, but when candidate Bill Richardson dropped out of the race, they changed their format to include only 3 top candidates.

The Kucinich campaign took MSNBC to court, arguing, “The exclusion of Kucinich undermines the purposes of the Federal Communications Act and is a blatant violation of the Act because of the media’s obligation to operate in the public interest… NBC revised its criteria to specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters.” The lawsuit went on to say, “The debate is not a true presidential primary debate without including all credible candidates, but instead is effectively an endorsement of the candidates selected by NBC.”

NBC, who incidentally is owned by General Electric, claimed: “Mr. Kucinich’s claim is nothing more than an illegitimate private cause of action designed to impose an equal access requirement that entirely undermines the wide journalistic freedoms enjoyed by news organizations under the First Amendment.” Attorneys for NBC also argued, “A television station does not have to grant unlimited access to a candidate debate. If anyone’s First Amendment rights are being infringed, they are MSNBC’s.”

But, thanks to the internet and the efforts of Democracy Now!, we can get a measure of the man who was excluded.

Listen here!

The most serious allegation Kucinich makes is …

(more…)