People regularly use the term “carbon footprint” to describe their individual impact on the environment, but the time has come to consider it in a wider context. A lot of damage is being done by industry. As the need to reduce energy consumption and waste becomes more urgent, think about the improvements you can introduce to considerably reduce your company’s carbon footprint.

An approach worth starting with is performing an audit to evaluate which areas your factory is performing best or worst in environmentally. Once you’ve assessed the situation, try to involve employees in reducing the carbon footprint. Set clear goals so people know what to aim for, and reward those who perform well. Financial incentives will generally push people to work their best. Regularly check back on the progress to make sure no one is slacking.

Not everyone works on the shop floor; don’t forget about those working in the admin, sales and other offices. They can get involved by actively recycling waste, using less paper and not leaving any appliances on standby overnight. Modernising refreshment facilities can also make a big difference. If you’re still providing disposable plastic or paper cups with your water cooler and coffee machine, switch to reusable equivalents. Make sure to provide clearly marked recycling boxes to motivate people to throw each item like milk bottles and drink cans in the correct receptacle.

When it comes to workshop areas, many production processes require the use of water, which is a scarce resource in some parts of the world. Is there a way you could reduce the amount of water used? A filter system can be fitted that cleans water to allow reuse.

Heating and lighting are important to employee safety among other factors. Environmentally, reducing the temperature by just one degree makes a big difference over the course of the year but doesn’t change much for an individual who will quickly adapt their body temperature and can grab an extra layer of clothing if necessary. Install a timer system that turns off heating at the end of the working day and switches it back on a few hours before employees arrive the next morning. Lighting can be improved by changing light bulbs to eco-friendly models and making sure all lights are turned off when people head home at the end of the day.

Emissions are a severe pollutant. Fit quality industrial air filters to protect dangerous substances flooding the air and harming the weakened atmosphere and ozone layer.

If your equipment and machinery is aged, it may no longer comply with modern environmental standards. Introduce a rolling replacement scheme to avoid having to spend a huge sum at one time. When replacing existing equipment, buying new or renting, make sure it’s designed in accordance with modern guidelines. Look out for labels certifying products as the most energy efficient and “green”. In Europe look out for the EU-wide Ecolabel, in Australia seek the starred Energy Rating label and in China the green HUAN label among others.

Consider the machinery you don’t often require too. In case of a power cut, for example, you may need to supply back up electricity. Always make sure the industrial generators you use are highly efficient and as green as possible.

Harvey McEwan writes to offer information and advice on a variety of areas, from technology to holiday destinations. Read through Harvey’s other articles here to find out more.

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It is almost too little, too late for Susan G. Komen For the Cure. When the organization chose to cut funding to Planned Parenthood that paid for breast cancer screenings, it planted itself clumsily and unnecessarily in the middle of America’s wars over abortion and mortally wounded its reputation. It doesn’t matter that they have now have apparently reversed that decision.

By even raising the possibility that they would pull the plug on the hundreds of thousands of dollars they give to Planned Parenthood to support breast cancer detection, they have lost the single-minded focus on finding a cure for a horrid disease that allowed them to become a charity giant envied by every other disease advocacy organization in the world.

In the highly competitive world of medical charities, Komen was the 800-pound gorilla. It could light up the night in pink, dress the monsters of the NFL in pink, stick a button on every lapel and convince women to walk 60 miles in three days for the cause.

Those battling Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, prostate cancer, melanoma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and all the rest could only sigh and hope that there might still be a spot on a coat to stick another button or one last footstep that might be taken in the service of their plague.  And behind the scenes they let that frustration be known. The unimaginable blunder of the Komen leadership opens the door for the rest of those trying to help the afflicted to rush through with hands out and fingers pointing.

There is one last step that can be taken to save the mighty Komen from running aground permanently. The entire executive leadership and board must resign. Now. Anything less means that the prominence that Komen achieved will become simply one more in a long list of worthy causes that Americans may or may not choose to support.

Komen reversal illustrates political battle over Planned Parenthood

Jobless rate drops to lowest level in almost three years.

The U.S. economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low, offering a hopeful sign for hiring in the year ahead.

Employers added a net 243,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday – that’s the most since April and far better than economists’ expectations for a gain of only 150,000.

“It’s a strong number, a very strong number, I would say,” said Vassili Serebriakov, a currency strategist at Wells Fargo Bank. “It’s consistent with the broad improvement in the U.S. economic data, but I think the extent of strength in today’s report is somewhat of a surprise, and this is a good sign for the U.S. employment market and the U.S. economy.”

The nation’s unemployment rate fell to 8.3 percent in January from 8.5 percent in the prior month. The rate has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August and is now at its lowest level in nearly three years, having fallen for five consecutive months — the first time that has happened since late 1994.

The decline in the jobless rate reflected large gains in employment in the separate household survey from which the jobless rate is derived. Job gains were widespread, with even the transportation and warehousing sector increasing payrolls.

The jobless rate is calculated based on a government survey. A separate survey calculates how many payroll jobs are added. Neither survey takes into consideration how many people are collecting unemployment benefits.

January saw the most jobs added since and April and May 2010, when 277,000 and 458,000 jobs were created. But those months were skewed by massive hiring for the census. Before that, the last month with more job creation was March 2006.

The upbeat tenor of the January jobs report was further strengthened by revisions to November and December payrolls data, which showed 60,000 more jobs created than previously reported. In addition, hiring was widespread across many high-paying industries. And average hourly earnings rose four cents, which should help to support spending.

The report also suggested that expectations of a slowdown in U.S. economic growth in the first quarter were not yet having an impact on companies’ hiring decisions.

Vote: Do you think the economy has turned the corner?

The continued labor market improvement could be a relief for President Barack Obama who faces a tough re-election campaign this year.

Speaking at an event in Arlington, Va., Friday, Obama welcomed the strong January jobs report. But, he added, there are “still far too many Americans who need a job.”

“The economy is growing stronger. The recovery is speeding up. And we have to do everything in our power to keep it going,” Obama said.

Obama also called on Congress to pass a payroll tax extension and avoid sabotaging the recovery.

“Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our economy,” he said, describing his message to Congress as: “Do not slow down the recovery that we’re on. Don’t muck it up.”

Economic data this week have certainly pointed to an improving economy.

Manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in seven months in January, and fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, showing companies are cutting fewer jobs. Also, retail sales increases last month, carmakers started the year with strong January sales and the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.8 percent annual pace in the final four months of last year. That was one percentage point higher than in the previous quarter.

Still, economists expect slower growth this year, as much of the growth at the end of last year was due to companies ordering more goods to restock their shelves. Also, an expected slowdown in Europe could mean slower demand for U.S. goods this year. And the U.S. Federal Reserve said last week that it will probably hold interest rates near zero at least through 2014, citing still-high unemployment.

Even with the January jobs gain, the employment market still faces a long road back to full health. The nation has about 5.6 million fewer jobs than it did when the recession began in late 2007. And there are still 12.8 million people out of work, though that is the fewest since the recession ended. An additional 11 million are either working part-time but would prefer full-time work, or have stopped searching for jobs.

When all those groups are combined, nearly 24 million are considered “underemployed.” The so-called “underemployment” rate ticked down in January to 15.1 percent, from 15.2 percent.

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Oil continues to climb even in it’s so called “shoulder season.” A number of years ago we started writing about “Peak Oil” and the work of Marion King Hubbert. Back then when we first wrote about “Peak Oil,” oil was priced at under $35.

M. King Hubbert was a Shell Oil geologist in the 1950′s who noted that oil discoveries graphed over time tended to follow a bell shape curve. He supposed that the rate of oil production would follow a similar curve, now known as the Hubbert Curve. In 1956 Hubbert predicted that production from the US lower 48 states would peak between 1965 and 1970. Despite efforts from his employer to pressure him into not making his projections public, Hubbert did so anyway. However, at the time most people in the industry dismissed Hubberts’s predictions. As it happens, the US lower 48 oil production did peak in 1970/1.

Looking at the global situation today, namely a global credit crunch, a recession in the world’s most oil dependent country, in addition to a housing crisis that is likely to see over 1 million foreclosures this year alone, here we are looking at oil prices that are sitting at the $120 level. The current oil prices are almost double what they were a year ago and up over $35 this year.

Certainly factors such as the dramatic decline of the US dollar, geo-political risks throughout the Middle East and speculation are major contributors to the high price of oil, but we cannot believe that the Peak Oil theory is not playing a major role here. Peak Oil theory is focused on the rate of decline in the producing conventional oilfields. In looking at some recent future predictions for oil production in the major oil producing regions, we see that these projections have been way off the mark.

Russia has been hailed as the new Saudi, with its massive oil reserves. But just a few weeks ago, we read that the International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that Russian oil production in the first quarter of the year fell 1% compared to the first quarter of last year – the first reported decline in 10 years. This change of pattern from what has been expected is quite challenging for the oil market, given that the anticipation was an increase in production of 3% per year.

From the Financial Times: “Russian oil production has peaked and may never return to current levels, one of the country’s top energy executives has warned, fueling concerns that the world’s biggest oil producers cannot keep up with rampant Asian demand Leonid Fedun, the vice-president of Lukoil, Russia’s largest independent oil company, believed last year’s Russian oil production of about 10m barrels a day was the highest he would see “in his lifetime.”

It needs to be understood that over 80% of the world’s current oil production comes from fields that were discovered prior to 1970. One of the keys that we predicted many years ago is that what most investors do not grasp is the reality that these oil producing countries will ultimately hoard these oil supplies for their own use. In fact, in a recent speech Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, suggested that he wants to preserve the nation’s oil wealth for future generations, saying “Let them (oil reserves) remain in the ground for our children and grandchildren who need them.”

Given the US example, where after the oil peak in 1970, the production in the US has dropped off 40% to today’s levels, the world capacity estimates for the next 7 years of 100 million barrels, per day, could be more like 65 – 70 million barrels per day. A potential dramatic decline in oil production and an ever growing demand for energy – is not a good combination.

So what’s the solution? Many feel that unconventional production of oil will step in to fill the gap. But if the Canadian Oil Sands projects are any indication, there are many problems there as well. Not only are the costs going through the roof, resulting in a more expensive product, but the environmental costs are also high, due to the massive amounts of methane being produced. In addition, the Canadian Oil Sands projects consume huge amounts of natural gas.

While the supply side is looking quite precarious, the demand side continues to grow. Last year, we saw for the first time, the emerging markets of China, India, Russia and the Middle East exceed consumption by the US. These countries are seeing massive economic growth and with that growth and prosperity comes the demand for new and better things – things that consume energy. Last year in China alone, the demand for automobiles grew by 21%. The facts are that energy demand is young and growing, while energy supply is old and shrinking.

We continue to believe that nuclear power is going to big a huge contributor to the solution of Peak Oil. It is amazing to us that in the US, the country with the highest per capita consumption of energy; there is no appetite for nuclear energy. But if not nuclear – what is America’s solution? There isn’t one. It is as if everyone believes that this problem will just somehow go away. Three years ago we talked about seeing $10 a gallon gasoline prices. Back then people thought we were crazy, today that doesn’t seem so far off.

Other than nuclear, the only other possible solution that we see as being viable is tidal energy. Our oceans are a source of powerful energy. Our experience with the ocean’s energy has up to now only been of the destructive kind – such as tidal waves or tsunamis – but in the future the oceans could provide us with the energy that we need. The world is 70% covered by water. Ocean currents, waves and tides could be valuable sources of energy. While the US spends billions on outer space, why are we not spending this money on ocean research in the quest to find new sources of much needed energy?

There are problems with all energy options. With nuclear the problem is what to do with the spent fuel. With ocean energy there needs to be much research into the impact of fish and plant life. But this research needs to be done – otherwise it will be lights out.

In the meantime, oil sits around $120, although we should see a decline below $100 in the next month or so. Uranium stocks look very cheap here, but may not move much until this current commodities correction turns back up.

Martin Straith – http://www.thetrendletter.com

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“Freddie’s Dream of Flying” is fully illustrated and animated. It tells the story of the frog Freddie who has only one dream: to fly. The interactive kids book can be read in different languages or be listened to in German or English. So it not only serves as a reading book but as an audio book as well.

“We are very excited about this important step and are looking forward to the feedback we’ll get from the market”, says co-founder Sebastian Resl.

The company which was founded about a year ago and gained some attention with their trivia app-game Quisr is now heading to the book market with the fresh approach of interactive books for touchscreen devices.

Vienom therefore follows an important advice for entrepreneurs: to do things different and to go for niches. “We think we can change the way parents use their touchscreen devices to interact with their children”, Mr. Resl is convinced, “and bring them even closer together”.

Vienom is a start-up company located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded a year ago and provides gaming applications for touchscreen devices like Smartphones and Tablets. They are always looking for new ways to use these devices for gaming, as the founders have a board game-development background.

Read the full press release at MobilePRwire.com

Direct as many of them as you can to the exitin the fastest time and to the right exits for high scores. Watch out for some deadly traps too!

Nice and clean graphics, atmospheric music and intuitive control system make this game enjoyable and accessible for everyone. Gravity Maze has 45 unique levels divided into 3 worlds which indicate progression in the game by adding more types of fluffs and more interesting and challenging mazes.

Features:
- 45 unique levels (more still to come)
- Beautiful HD graphics (iPhone4 and iPad)
- Great physics
- LITE version (try before you buy)
- 5 languages (English, Polish, Italian, Spanish and German)

Price: $0.99
Lite version: Yes

Geemzo is a dynamic and highly creative company specializing in Mobile game and app development. We provide complex development service including consultancy, design and development.

Read the full press release at MobilePRwire.com

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Pink ribbon backlash

Women are protesting the decision of the nation’s biggest breast cancer charity to stop new grants to Planned Parenthood. NBC’s Lisa Myers reports.

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46244603

A study finding Alabama’s crackdown on illegal immigrants will cost the state up to $11 billion is under fire from the law’s supporters.

The cost-benefit analysis by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs were vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing after Alabama’s tough law passed in June 2011, costing Alabama’s economy up to $10.8 billion.

The lost jobs also cost Alabama up to $264.5 million in lost state sales and income taxes, and as much as $93.1 million in lost city and county sales taxes, it said.

The study found potential economic benefits include saving money used to provide public benefits to illegal immigrants, increased safety for citizens and legal residents, more business, employment, and education opportunities, and ensuring the integrity of various governmental programs and services.

The study asks: “Are the benefits of the new immigration law worth the costs?”

“Economies are demand-driven and so any policy, regulation, law, or action that reduces demand will shrink the economy no matter how well-intentioned,” Addy asserts in the study.

“That’s baloney,” state Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, immigration bill cosponsor, told the Huntsville Times. ”It’s clear the study overestimates the negative and underestimates the positive to skew the result toward an agenda,” Hammon said. “If 40,000 illegal workers leave the state, they free up jobs that homegrown Alabamians are happy to have.”

Addy said the university research staff has looked at key issues facing Alabama, including the economic impact of last year’s tornadoes, the BP oil spill and Gov. Bob Riley’s Amendment 1 proposal to overhaul state taxes, the Times reported.

Addy’s study said, “Anecdotal evidence to date seems to point to less than 9 of every 100 vacated jobs being filled by unemployed legal residents and citizens.”

Hammon told the newspaper that the state unemployment rate fell since the bill was signed, especially in Marshall County, “once a known hotbed for illegal immigration.”

A spokeswoman for Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who signed the bill into law, told the Times that Bentley also questioned the study’s conclusions. Alabama has the lowest unemployment rate among seven southeastern states, the spokeswoman said.

In its latest unemployment rate report, which was for December 2011, the state’s Department of Industrial Relations said the state unemployment rate was 8.1 percent, down a full percentage point from December 2010. the governor’s office said the rate had been falling since August, when the rate was 9.9 percent. April 27 tornadoes that tore through Alabama had caused a spike in the rate, officials said.

In Marshall County, the December jobless rate was 6.9 percent, down from 8.0 percent a year earlier.

A U.S. appeals court has blocked Alabama from enforcing parts of the law, including a provision that permits Alabama to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court left most of the law untouched.

There are an estimated 11.2 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah have passed “omnibus” immigration crackdowns since Arizona blazed the trail in 2010 with a law requiring police to check the status of all those they arrested and suspected of being in the country illegally. That measure has since been blocked by a court.

December 26th, 1980, the day after Christmas, and only a few days before the New Year. Quite a few service-people are still on guard at RAF Woodbridge, near Suffolk in the UK. However, their minds are concerned with coming parties or missing their families.

What they didn’t expect, was for unidentified lights to appear West of their position, and descend into the forest. But this is what happened, at least 3 nights in a row, in Rendlesham Forest.

The Rendlesham Forest incident, as its known, is probably the most publicized UFO event to happen in Britain, and is compared with Roswell in terms of importance. On December 26th, 27th, and 28th strange lights were spotted outside of RAF Woodbridge by USAF Personnel, and were investigated. Local Police joined service people, though many came to the conclusion that the lights were from the nearby Oxford Ness Lighthouse.

The following two nights, similar sightings were made, and even confirmed by one Lt. Colonel Halt; the deputy base commander. Colonel Halt even went so far as to use a micro-cassette recorder to create audio of the investigation. Some have speculated that during the investigation, that video was made of the supposed objects, and is kept by the Air Force.

Over the course of the next few days, quite a bit of evidence emerged. Triangular impressions thought to be dents made by landing gear, were found. However, local police came to the conclusion that these same impressions could have been made by farm animals.

Overall, it is harder to tell what happened, and harder still to prove that Extraterrestrial Contact was made. However, the presence of multiple eye-witnesses, all of them being US Military Personnel, and one being an Active Duty Lt Colonel, is definitely cause to take the matter seriously.

Chris Patrick is an aspiring author, with an interest in unexplainable phenomenon. Tired of seeing only the same old UFO accounts on various websites, he started this site, so that anonymous people could post their accounts without fear of any reprisal or ridicule. If you would like to submit your own alien encounter account (or critique), you can do so here. If you do decide to post, he asks that you format and spell check, and you probably want to submit anonymously.

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Senators voted 28-21 to approve a bill to legalize gay marriage in the state. Four Republicans crossed party lines and voted with majority Democrats for the measure. Three Democrats voted against it.

The measure now moves to the House, where there is enough support for the bill to pass. Gov. Chris Gregoire says she will sign the bill if it makes it to her desk, Seattle TV station King 5 reported.

Legislators debated the measure for two hours Wednesday night at the capitol in Olympia before voting.

The Senate adopted a series of amendments intended to clarify religious exemptions in the legislation, the Seattle Times reported.

Opponents promise a referendum in November if the bill is signed into law.

Any challenge to the bill can’t be filed until after it is passed by the full Legislature and signed into law by Gregoire. Opponents then must turn in 120,577 signatures by June 6.

If opponents aren’t able to collect enough signatures, gay and lesbian couples would be able to be wed starting in June. Otherwise, they would have to wait until the results of a November election.

Before last week, it wasn’t certain the Senate would have the support to pass the measure, as a handful of Democrats remained undecided.

But after the first public hearing on the issue Jan. 23, a previously undecided Democratic senator, Mary Margaret Haugen of Camano Island, said she would be the 25th and deciding vote in support of the bill, all but ensuring its passage.

PhotoBlog: Washington State clears gay marriage bill hurdle

Same-sex marriage is legal in New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Lawmakers in New Jersey and Maryland are expected to debate gay marriage this year, and Maine could see a gay marriage proposal on the November ballot.

The debate over same-sex marriage in Washington state has changed significantly since lawmakers passed Washington’s Defense of Marriage Act in 1998, which banned gay marriage. The constitutionality of DOMA was ultimately upheld by the state Supreme Court in 2006, but earlier that year, a gay civil rights measure passed after nearly 30 years of failure.

The quick progression of domestic partnership laws in the state came soon after, with a domestic partnership law in 2007, and two years of expansion that culminated in 2009 with the so-called “everything but marriage law” that was upheld by voters after opponents filed a referendum to challenge it.

Under the measure that passed Wednesday, the more than 9,300 couples currently registered in domestic partnerships would have two years to either dissolve their relationship or get married. Domestic partnerships that aren’t ended prior to June 30, 2014, would automatically become marriages.

Domestic partnerships would remain for senior couples where at least one partner is 62 years old or older. That provision was included to help seniors who don’t remarry out of fear they could lose certain pension or Social Security benefits.