In a rush for renewables Ted Turner calls for fast work in making the switch from fossil fuels
By BRETT CLANTON and TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
There's not much middle ground for Ted Turner when it comes to the future of energy in the United States.
"What we need is a moratorium on all new coal plants, on all new carbon-producing energy power technologies, and work on replacing them with renewable alternatives," the billionaire founder of CNN said Wednesday.
Turner also called for urgent action to address global climate change, which he referred to as the "single greatest challenge that humanity has ever faced."
"The biggest danger is we won't do enough soon enough," he said.
Turner was in Houston to speak before the Houston World Affairs Council, along with Timothy Wirth, a former U.S. senator from Colorado who now heads the United Nations Foundation, a charity to help support U.N. efforts formed by Turner in 1998.
He spoke with the Chronicle before the speech about his views on energy policy, his personal investment in DT Solar, a New Jersey company involved in large-scale solar power projects, and on a range of other topics.
And though he was in a city where the economy is powered by oil and natural gas, Turner pulled no punches.
"The days of fossil fuels as a fuel are over," he told a packed ballroom over lunch at the Hotel Intercontinental. "It's just a matter of how soon everybody recognizes it." ......
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...z/4535625.html
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.... Meanwhile, back at the ranch (so to speak):
Emergency relief for Sweden's starving reindeer
STOCKHOLM, Feb 7 (AFP) Feb 07, 2007
Sweden said Wednesday it would give its reindeer herders millions of euros (dollars) in emergency aid to help them feed their animals, which are starving ***because of THICK ICE*** that is preventing them from reaching the lichen they eat.
"You can't just stand by and watch animals starve," Agriculture Minister Eskil Erlandsson said in a statement as his ministry earmarked 37 million kronor (4.06 million euros, 5.3 million dollars) in aid.
Sweden has some 230,000 reindeer, raised by Sami, the indigenous people of the Arctic region. The reindeer are used primarily for meat production, a delicacy consumed mostly in the Nordic countries, while the skins and horns are used for clothing and handicrafts. ........
http://www.terradaily.com/2006/07020....474eyhua.html
So, if Sweden is having a "thick ice" problem, how warm can we be gettin'??