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Cook With the Sun: Solar Oven Recipes

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Sweltering summer temperatures can be a serious drag, but here at Earth911, we try to look at the glass half-full. An unseasonably warm summer may lead us to crank our air conditioners more than usual, but it can also hold the secret to energy-free cooking. We’ve put together five solar oven recipes to help you kick start your solar oven cooking.

You may be familiar with solar ovens from whipping up s’mores other camping treats, but you can actually use these sun-powered wonders to cook just about anything — without using a single kilowatt-hour of electricity. Check out these five tasty recipes for a solar oven, and take advantage of summer heat by cooking with the power of the sun.

Solar ovens consist of a system of reflectors and a cooking pot. The rest is up to your imagination! Once you have assembled or purchased your solar oven, you can use it to prepare hot meals in the backyard, at a campground or wherever your heart desires — even a sunny beach. Photo: Flickr/EBKauai

Choosing & Using Your Solar Oven

Basically, a solar oven consists of a system of reflectors and a cooking pot. The setup coverts the sun’s rays into heat energy to bake, boil, or steam your next meal. In a solar oven, you can cook anything that you can cook in a conventional electric or gas oven and many meals that you can cook on the stove.

As an added bonus, heading outside to use a solar oven makes cooking your meals a fun-filled event for the whole family. The young (and young-at-heart) will love watching lunch slowly cook under the sun’s rays, and your meals will be even tastier after you’ve had to work a little for them. Solar ovens are also easily portable, meaning you can cook a hot meal at the beach, park, campground, or wherever your heart desires.

If you’re the DIY type, you can easily make your own solar oven out of items like cardboard, a thermometer, foil, glass, and black spray paint. Use these step-by-step instructions from Instructables, or check out this how-to video from aysproject to build your oven.

You can also opt for a store-bought solar oven. As you may expect, purchased models will cost a bit more than DIY alternatives, but they tend to heat up faster and reach higher temperatures. If you’d rather purchase a ready-made oven, check out the GoSun Sport or the Sunflair Mini Portable Solar Oven.

No matter which model you choose, the cooking method for your solar oven remains about the same. Start by placing your oven in direct sunlight, and allow the internal temperature to reach at least 200 degrees Fahrenheit before placing your meal inside.

Think cooking with the sun takes all day? Think again. If you refocus the oven to follow the sun’s rays every 30 minutes, your cooking time will be similar to cooking with a conventional oven or stove. You can also use a solar oven for recipes you’d use in a slow cooker (like a Crock-Pot). If your cooking pot does not have a lid, you may want to create some sort of makeshift cover to keep heat from escaping the pot, which can greatly increase cooking time.

Keep in mind that browning is unlikely in a solar oven due to lower temperatures and lack of air circulation. On the bright side, this means that you don’t have to worry about your food getting dried out or burned. On the not-so-bright side, you probably won’t achieve the crispiness or caramelization you could expect from a conventional oven. So, choose your recipes accordingly to avoid surprises.

As for the best solar cooking vessel, a dark, thin-walled pot with a lid works best, according to Solar Cookers International. Dark pots change the sun’s rays into heat energy, while shiny aluminum pots cause light to be reflected outward, reducing the oven’s temperature. Glass casserole dishes with lids will also do the trick.

5 Solar Oven Recipes

Photo flickr/Megan

1. Mediterranean Flatbread Recipe

What you’ll need:

1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Six pieces of flatbread
3/4 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 cups arugula, roughly chopped

For hummus:

1 can chickpeas, ½ cup liquid set aside
1/4 cup tahini
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

How to make it:

1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, and thyme. Salt and pepper to taste. Set your vinaigrette in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

2. Meanwhile, start preparing your hummus spread. Add chickpeas, reserved chickpea liquid, tahini, salt, pepper, and garlic to a food processor or blender. Pulse lightly while drizzling in olive oil until smooth, about two minutes.

3. Arrange your flatbread pieces in the bottom of a large metal casserole dish with a lid. Spread about 2 tablespoons of hummus on each flatbread piece. Top with Kalamata olives, cherry tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

4. Cover the casserole dish with a lid, and place it in a pre-heated solar oven for about 20 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted.

5. Top with a small handful of arugula and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette before serving.

Solar cooking tips:

This simple preparation is ideal for your sun-powered oven. As is usually the case with solar cooking, it’s best to eyeball it or use a thermometer rather than sticking to a designated cooking time. This recipe should take 20 to 30 minutes in your solar oven, but cooking time will vary based on outdoor temperatures and sun exposure.

For best results, allow your solar oven to heat up to at least 250 degrees Fahrenheit before putting your flatbread inside. Check on your meal regularly, and remove it once the cheese is fully melted.

Keep in mind that your flatbread pieces will be warm and tasty, but you’ll have a hard time making them crispy in a solar oven. If you crave a crispy texture, brush your flatbread pieces with olive oil, and sear them in a cast-iron skillet on your stove for about a minute on each side before putting them in your solar oven.

Photo Flickr/Alan Levine

2. Whole Bean Enchiladas Recipe

What you’ll need:

16-ounce can of whole black beans
16-ounce can of sweet corn (or two cups of fresh corn)
3/4 cup of red onion, diced
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 teaspoons olive oil
16-ounce can of enchilada prepared sauce
Six whole wheat or corn tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine black beans, corn, red onion, tomato, cilantro, and olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Allow your mixture to marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour before cooking.

2. When you’re ready to cook, retrieve your filling from the refrigerator, and add half of the enchilada sauce. Stir to combine.

3. Scoop your filling into a tortilla, about six tablespoons at a time. Roll up the tortilla and place it into a medium-sized glass casserole dish with a lid. Repeat until you’ve filled all six tortillas.

4. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce on top, and cover with cheese. Cover the casserole dish with a lid and place it in your solar oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the filling is warmed through.

Solar cooking tips:

The one-pot nature of this tasty vegetarian recipe makes it perfect for solar oven cooking. For best results, cover your enchiladas with a lid before putting them in the solar oven. Place your oven in direct sunlight, and refocus as needed to keep it out of the shadows.

Ideally, allow your solar oven to heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit before putting your enchiladas inside. If using a DIY model, allow your unit to get as hot as possible (probably between 250 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit) before you start cooking.

To make sure your meal comes out right, keep an eye on your enchiladas and take note when the cheese begins melting. When you suspect they may be finished, use a fork to gauge done-ness. Your tortillas should be soft, the cheese should be fully melted, and the filling should be heated through.

Although it may be tempting, avoid lifting the lid on your casserole dish too often; allowing heat to escape your cooking vessel will increase baking time.

Photo by weightwatchers.com via thedailymeal.com

3. Slow-Cooker Lentil Soup Recipe via The Daily Meal

What you’ll need:

2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups dry lentils
3 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
8 cups canned chicken broth (substitute vegetable broth for a vegan treat)
4 ounces Canadian-style bacon (optional)

How to make it: View full instructions and tips at The Daily Meal.

Solar cooking tips:

Slow-cooker recipes work wonderfully in solar ovens. To set-it-and-forget-it, simply position your oven in a clear area of the yard, place covered soup inside and allow it to cook all day. Your soup should be ready for dinnertime in about six hours using this method (the same as a standard Crock-Pot).

For a slightly speedier meal, refocus your solar oven throughout the day to follow the sun’s rays, which should shave at least an hour off your cooking time.

Photo Flickr/Ben Millett

4. Rockin’ Ratatouille Recipe

What you’ll need:

1 cup eggplant, chopped
1 cup zucchini or summer squash, chopped
1 cup red or green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup tomato, chopped
1/4 cup sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
8-ounce can of no-salt-added tomato puree
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

1. Combine eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cumin, and tomato puree in a large metal or glass pot. Salt and pepper to taste.

2. Cover and cook in your solar oven for 4 to 5 hours, or until vegetables are tender. For faster cooking, refocus your solar oven to follow the sun around your yard, which should shave at least an hour off your cooking time. Serve alone or with cooked brown rice, mashed potatoes, or quinoa.

Solar cooking tips:

Packed with vitamin-rich veggies like eggplant and zucchini, ratatouille carries troves of obvious health benefits. But it’s also a perfect energy-free entree that couldn’t be simpler to whip up in your solar oven.

For a fresh-from-the-farmer’s-market flavor, cook your ratatouille over medium-low heat (between 200 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit). Any hotter could cause vegetables to lose their crunch, and tomato sauce may begin to brown around the edges.

To maintain consistent internal temperature, refocus your solar oven to follow the sun’s rays, and avoid lifting the lid of your pot too often. It’s fine to stir your ratatouille occasionally, but removing the lid too frequently can increase cooking time.

If you plan to leave your solar oven unattended while slow cooking, you may want to place it on a table or weigh down the lid to dissuade curious critters.

Photo courtesy of Cooking Light via thedailymeal

5. Roasted Cauliflower, Chickpeas, & Olives Recipe via The Daily Meal

What you’ll need:

5 1/2 cups of cauliflower florets
10 green Spanish olives, halved and pitted
8 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley

How to make it: View full instructions and tips at The Daily Meal.

Solar cooking tips:

Rather than racking up your energy usage to prepare this tasty roasted cauliflower recipe from The Daily Meal, pop it in a solar oven to shrink your footprint (and your monthly electric bill).

This recipe takes about 20 minutes when prepared in a conventional oven heated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. So, expect it to take about an hour in your solar oven. Refocusing the oven every 30 minutes to follow the sun’s rays will help you cut cooking time for an even speedier snack.

Since you’d like a bit of a crunch to your cauliflower, opt for a dark-colored metal roasting pan with a lid. Dark colors draw in heat, and metal creates that sizzly effect that leaves your meal with a crisp-tender consistency.

What are your favorite recipes for cooking in your solar oven? Share them with the community in the Earthling Forum.

Feature image courtesy of Erik Burton

Editor’s note: Originally published on January 23, 2016, this article was updated in July 2019. Pictured foods are not actual prepared recipes but rather representations of main ingredients.

 

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Cook With the Sun: Solar Oven Recipes

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The Koch brothers are funding Facebook’s newest fact-checking partner

Is Facebook trying to solve its fake news problem by partnering with … climate deniers?

Last week, social media giant Facebook announced that it would be partnering with CheckYourFact.com, the fact-checking offshoot of the Koch-funded, right-leaning news outlet The Daily Caller. The fact-checking site will help provide third-party oversight of Facebook’s news content, including stories about global warming.

The Check Your Fact site says it is “non-partisan” and “loyal to neither people nor parties,” describing itself as an “editorially independent” subsidiary from The Daily Caller, though it receives funding from both The Daily Caller and the Daily Caller News Foundation. The Daily Caller was founded by Fox News political analyst Tucker Carlson, who is known for hosting climate deniers on his show.

Critics say the deal say the partnership is a case of a fox guarding the hen house (Or, at least, Fox News guarding the greenhouse). “It is truly disturbing to hear that Facebook, already known to be a dubious organization with an ethically challenged CEO, is partnering with ‘Daily Caller,’ which is essentially a climate change-denying Koch Brothers front group masquerading as a media outlet,” leading climatologist Michael Mann told E&E News. “If they fail to cease and desist in outsourcing their ‘fact-checking’ to this bad faith, agenda-driven outlet, they will face serious repercussions.”

Facebook did not respond to Grist’s request for comment.

But is Check Your Fact really as bad as all that? In February 2018 the site was found to be “compliant or partially compliant” with the Poynter’s International Fact Checking Network Board’s standards, though the site was placed under review in November for not clearly listing its funders. Recently, Check Your Fact looked at President Trump’s claims that wind turbines cause cancer, and found them to be false. However, their statement also included quotes from National Wind Watch, an anti-wind advocacy group.

Facebook has contracted with several organizations to identify factually disputed stories, but its relationship with fact checkers has long been rocky. In 2017, several journalists expressed concerns about the company’s lack of transparency, saying the Facebook’s fact-checking effort had not been effective. More recently, both the Associated Press and Snopes.com, cut ties with the company, with Snopes’ managing editor saying she felt Facebook essentially used them for “crisis PR.”

This isn’t the first time Facebook has entrusted its fact-checking with a website associated with climate denial: In the fall of 2017, Facebook named the right-wing, partisan Weekly Standard as a fact-checking partner. According to IFCN officials, the organization does not take partisanship of the news outlet into account when verifying an organization, only partisanship of the fact-checking itself.

“[U]ltimately, it’s important that people trust the fact-checkers making these calls,” wrote Facebook product manager Tessa Lyons as part of the company’s Hard questions series. “While we work with the International Fact-Checking Network to approve all our partners and make sure they have high standards of accuracy, fairness and transparency, we continue to face accusations of bias. Which has left people asking, in today’s world, is it possible to have a set of fact-checkers that are widely recognized as objective?”

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The Koch brothers are funding Facebook’s newest fact-checking partner

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Just as John Oliver predicted, a coal tycoon is suing him.

The nation’s largest privately owned coal company, Murray Energy, just filed a lawsuit against the Last Week Tonight host over the show’s recent segment. Oliver had criticized the company’s CEO, Robert Murray, for acting carelessly toward miners’ safety.

Murray Energy’s complaint stated that the segment was a “meticulously planned attempt to assassinate the character and reputation” of Murray by broadcasting “false, injurious, and defamatory comments.”

Oliver shouldn’t be too concerned, according to Ken White, a First Amendment litigator at Los Angeles firm, who told the Daily Beast that the complaint was “frivolous and vexatious.”

The lawsuit is hardly a shocking development. Before the show aired, Oliver received a cease-and-desist letter from the company. He noted that Murray has a history of filing defamation suits against news outlets (most recently, the New York Times).

Oliver said in the episode, “I know that you are probably going to sue me, but you know what, I stand by everything I said.”

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Just as John Oliver predicted, a coal tycoon is suing him.

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Progressive Groups Are Basically Printing Money After the Health Care Vote

Mother Jones

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Progressives got a hard lesson in math on Thursday when the Obamacare repeal bill narrowly passed the House with 217 votes despite uniform Democratic opposition. But while the bill’s effect will be far-reaching if it eventually becomes law, in the short term it has become an almost unprecedented fundraising magnet for left-leaning grassroots groups.

In the 24 hours since the House vote, Daily Kos, the 15-year-old Netroots stalwart that has experienced a renaissance in the Trump era, raised $800,000 from 17,200 readers. That money will be split evenly among 24 Democratic candidates. (Daily Kos is specifically targeting the 24 Republican congressmen who voted for the bill but represent districts where President Donald Trump received less than 50 percent of the vote.) The group’s political director, David Nir, says the group previously raised $400,000 in one day for Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate in the special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, and the same amount for Elizabeth Warren over the course of a year. But he couldn’t recall a $1 million haul.

Swing Left, which grew out of the postelection “resistance,” has only been around for a few months and has a much shorter track record of big fundraising hauls. But it has raised $850,000 from more than 20,000 donations since the vote, for the purposes of boosting candidates challenging its target list of 35 Republicans who voted for the bill (there is some overlap between the two lists). Swing Left got a signal boost from Crooked Media, the podcast empire launched by a group of Obama White House veterans, which partnered with the group to raise money.

Notably, the money raised going to candidates Thursday and Friday won’t end up in the hands of a candidate for a long time. It’ll be held in escrow for the winners of Democratic contests in those House districts next spring and summer. Think of it as a small pot of gold at the end of the primary.

Update: Per a Swing Left spokesperson, the organization had raised $200,000 for those 35 districts since they launched the fundraising page April 13—so to put the haul in perspective, in one day the group raised more than four times what it had raised in the previous 20.

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Progressive Groups Are Basically Printing Money After the Health Care Vote

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The Daily News Slams Sean Spicer’s Holocaust Remarks with Scathing Cover

Mother Jones

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White House press secretary Sean Spicer ignited a firestorm of controversy Tuesday, when he compared Adolf Hitler to Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad, and incorrectly claimed Hitler “didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.” The false assertion, which was used to defend President Donald Trump’s military strike on a Syrian air base last week, quickly drew the ire of Democrats and prominent Jewish groups, including the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect.

On Wednesday, the Daily News dedicated its front page to condemning Spicer for the remarks. The New York paper also featured a scathing editorial demanding he resign from his post over the latest gaffe:

Spicer apologized for the remarks, and said that he did not wish to become a “distraction” to Trump’s agenda.

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The Daily News Slams Sean Spicer’s Holocaust Remarks with Scathing Cover

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Quote of the Day: Trump Is Blowing Off Intel Briefings Because "I’m, Like, a Smart Person"

Mother Jones

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Donald Trump doesn’t believe all this nonsense about Russia interfering with the election to help him out. I guess we all expected that. But then there’s this:

He also indicated that as president, he would not take the daily intelligence briefing that President Obama and his predecessors have received. Mr. Trump, who has received the briefing sparingly as president-elect, said that it was often repetitive and that he would take it “when I need it.” He said his vice president, Mike Pence, would receive the daily briefing.

“You know, I’m, like, a smart person,” he said. “I don’t have to be told the same thing in the same words every single day for the next eight years.”

Hoo boy. A few years ago we learned that President Obama only attended 44 percent of his daily briefings. (He read the material on his own the rest of the time.) Conservatives were up in arms. Marc Thiessen complained that Obama was “consciously placing other priorities ahead of national security.” John Sununu called the daily brief “the most important half-hour of the day for a president who has to protect the security of the United States.” The Daily Caller snarked that Obama “has spent more time golfing than he has spent listening to daily intelligence briefings.” Breitbart called the news “alarming.” Dick Cheney was insulted: “If President Obama were participating in his intelligence briefings on a regular basis then perhaps he would understand why people are so offended at his efforts to take sole credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden.”

Now Trump is saying he’s never going to take the briefing because “I’m, like, a smart person.” I await the conservative response with bated breath.

POSTSCRIPT: This is hardly the most important part of this story, but I’m curious. If Trump has only received two or three intelligence briefs so far, how does he know that they’re “often repetitive”?

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Quote of the Day: Trump Is Blowing Off Intel Briefings Because "I’m, Like, a Smart Person"

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The North Pole Is In Big Trouble. So Is the South Pole.

Mother Jones

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For years, climate deniers have been producing charts that use the El Niño year of 1998 as a starting point. Why? Because it was an unusually hot year, and if you start there it looks like global warming has “paused” for a good long time. Here’s a colorful example of the genre from the Daily Mail a few years ago:

These charts are no longer useful to the deniers thanks to the very high temperatures of the past couple of years, so they’ve gone away. But what will take their place? I was amused to discover the answer a few days ago: 2016 doesn’t mean anything because it was an El Niño year.

Hah! Nobody ever said they didn’t have chutzpah. But it got me curious: what does a global temperature chart look like if you pull out just the El Niño and La Niña years? That seemed like a lot of work to get right, so I put it aside. Today, however, I found out that someone else had already done it for me. Here it is:

This comes from a Weather Channel piece titled “Note to Breitbart: Earth Is Not Cooling, Climate Change Is Real and Please Stop Using Our Video to Mislead Americans.” The chart itself apparently comes from skepticalscience.com, but I can’t figure out exactly where to link to it. UPDATE: Here it is. It’s an animated GIF! However, it shows the historical data clearly: El Niño years (in red) are always hot, but have been getting steadily hotter. La Niña years (in blue) are always cool, but have also been getting steadily hotter. And the years in-between (in black) have been getting steadily hotter too. Long story short, every kind of year has been getting steadily hotter for a long time.

And this year is a real champ. Here’s the latest from the National Snow and Ice Data Center:

Both poles are showing massive ice loss compared to trend. We’ve never seen anything like it. You can draw all the misleading charts you want, but it doesn’t change the facts. Climate change is real, and it’s getting worse.

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The North Pole Is In Big Trouble. So Is the South Pole.

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John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

Mother Jones

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On Last Week Tonight’s final episode before Election Day, John Oliver reserved the opening monologue of his show to urge voters to cast their ballot and deny Donald Trump the American presidency.

“We are at a point where this man has a genuine shot at the presidency,” Oliver said. “Despite having blown up a political party, undermined confidence in our electorate system, declared open season on journalists, and unleashed a river of racism and misogyny. Also I feel like we’ve lost sight of this—he has really stupid hair.”

The HBO host recalled a more innocent time when the possibility of a Trump candidacy was a laughing mater, before flash-backing to an eerie clip from his Daily Show days where he jokingly urged Trump to run for president. (“Do it. Look at me. Do it. I will personally write you a campaign check now on behalf of this country, which does not want you to be president, but badly wants you to run.”)

Oliver wants to believe Americans will eventually reject Trump on Tuesday. But the aforementioned clip, along with his previous claim that the Chicago Cubs could never win the World Series, proves that “no outcome is certain.” So get out the vote.

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John Oliver Makes an Impassioned Final Plea for Americans to Reject Donald Trump

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What If We Never Passed the Clean Air Act?

Fortyyears ago, the United States government passed theClean Air Acta federal law that regulates atmospheric emissions in order to protect the air we breathe from pollution. Without it, our world would look a whole lot different.

But what exactly does that mean?

Let me take you into an alternate reality, with the help of a report from our friends at Save on Energy: a reality in which air pollution levels have reached a new height, where impurities rule and air visibility is just about non-existent. You can find that full report here!

What would our cities look like? How would our lives be different?

The following graphics demonstrate how American citieswould look in a world without the Clean Air Act. The pollution levels were determined by calculatingconcentration of particles in the air (similar to China’s post polluted city, Xingtai), to visibility in miles.

Here’s the actual formula, for all your science aficionadosout there:

Adj. Max. Daily PM2.5 for Population = (US Pop. / Xingtai Pop.) * Max Daily PM2.5 for Xingtai

VL= (A * 10^3)/G

VL= Equivalent visual range.

A = 0.75 Adjusted for miles

G = Micrograms per cubic meter.

Here’s how Chicagowould look without the Clean Air Act:

What about Dallas? Houston?San Jose? Take a look!

What isAir Pollution?

According to the Save on Energy report, which gives a great definition, “Air pollution occurs when particulate matter, biological agents, or other harmful pollutants are introduced into the atmosphere, posing both an environmental and human health risk.” The World Health Organization (WHO) considers this to be just about any contaminant that “modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere.”

Pollutants like this can come through anything like industrial facilities, the burning of fossil fuels, vehicle exhaust, household fires and more. These pollutants can cause allergies and seriously detrimental diseases like lung cancer, chronic and acute respiratory disease, asthma, reduced fertility, neurological disorders and stroke.They also make their way into our foods, contaminating the fish and plants we eatthrough bioaccumulation,and cause acid rain. The Guardian suggests that air pollution kills approximately 3.3 million people every single yeara number that will double by 2050 if we don’t make some more serious changes to our pollution policies. That’s more than malaria and HIV/AIDScombined.

Did the Clean Air Act really make a difference?

Absolutely! Since 1973, when the Act was passed, the Clean Air Act has helped decrease surface ozone levels by 25 percent since 1980, reduced mercury emissions by 45 percent since 1990 and taken out more than half of the nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide responsible for acid rain since 1980. We can also thank the Clean Air Act for preventing the premature deaths of some 40,000 people, and millions more from contracting diseases like those listed above.

Thank goodness for proactivity!

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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What If We Never Passed the Clean Air Act?

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Your Day in Trump: Friday, 26 August 2016, 74 Days Until the Election

Mother Jones

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Well, OK, I guess I’d better do a quick Trump update. No, he still hasn’t made up his mind about his immigration policy, but he did respond to the shooting of Dwyane Wade’s cousin:

Keep it classy, Donald. Next up, remember that letter from Donald Trump’s doctor claiming that Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”? Yesterday NBC News finally got an interview with Dr. Harold Bornstein, who justified this opinion by explaining that “all the rest of them are either sick or dead.” Roger that. This picture of Bornstein nearly brought down Twitter’s servers yesterday:

Yep, that’s billionaire Donald Trump’s doctor. You can—and should!—watch the entire interview with Dr. Bornstein over at NBC News. Fun fact: he wrote the letter in five minutes while Trump’s limo was waiting downstairs.

What else? Well, it turns out to no one’s surprise that Breitbart chief and now Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon may be even more bigoted than we thought. The Daily News picked up this little nugget from his divorce proceedings:

Mary Louise Piccard said in a 2007 court declaration that Bannon didn’t want their twin daughters attending the Archer School for Girls in Los Angeles because many Jewish students were enrolled at the elite institution.

“The biggest problem he had with Archer is the number of Jews that attend,” Piccard said in her statement signed on June 27, 2007. “He said that he doesn’t like the way they raise their kids to be ‘whiny brats’ and that he didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews,” Piccard wrote.

Bannon’s spox told the Daily News that “at the time” he never said anything like that. They did not specify at which time he did say it.

Am I done yet? Oh my no. Next up is Trump supporter Paul LePage, the unhinged governor of Maine. LePage apparently thought that a Democratic legislator had called him a racist (he hadn’t) and left him a noxious phone message. Then he met with reporters to explain himself:

There were a few other items. There always are. But that’s enough. For those of you who didn’t pay any attention to the news yesterday, this has been your day in Trump.

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Your Day in Trump: Friday, 26 August 2016, 74 Days Until the Election

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