Jeff Foster has written to me about a new project his company, Symmetric Technologies, has started.The project is a social change/environmental awareness project:

OneBillionBulbs.com.

The group’s goal is to get large numbers of people to try a few compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs by highlighting the cost savings, energy savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions that these small changes can bring about.

They are trying to make the process fun by showing a big color-coded map and allowing people to join various affinity groups. It’s our hope that this will show how people making small changes together can make a significant difference.

It is a great idea to switch to Compact Florescent Lamps. The bulbs fit in the standard sockets as those of incandescent lights but use significantly less energy.

Another emerging technology for the replacement of energy inefficient incandescent lamps are bulbs that utilize Light Emitting Diodes (some are calling these LEDisons since they replace the original Edison incandescent bulbs). This emerging technology is called Solid State Lighting (SSL).

Lighting technologies are improving but higer efficiency CFL and LED bulbs are available now.  When you switch over, be sure to register at OneBillionBulbs.com.

I received this invitation from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

You are invited to a special phone and web briefing on the findings of the Northeast Climate Impact Assessment, “Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast.” Join UCS and authors of the report for a 40 minute presentation, followed by a question and answer period.

Save the date!
When: January 18, 2007, 4:00 – 5:00 PM Eastern
Register at: Northeast Climate Impacts Seminar

Registration link:
http://ucsaction.org/ct/17LWfjn1Szkr/

This new report by independent scientists and researchers in the Northeast, in collaboration with the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), outlines the findings of new state-of-the-art research on recent and projected changes in the Northeast’s regional climate—from rising temperatures to reduced snow cover, increased sea level, and more extreme weather events.

The report outlines detailed projections of what the Northeast’s climate might look like during the twenty-first century following two different emissions scenarios: one where the climate is driven by continued high emissions—where we remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels, causing heat-trapping emissions to rise rapidly over the course of the century; the other a climate driven by lower levels of emissions—in which we shift away from fossil fuels in favor of clean energy technologies, resulting in declining emissions by mid-century. These starkly different scenarios show clearly that reducing heat-trapping emissions today and in the near future will leave a better world for our children and grandchildren.

Accompanying the 35-page report is a UCS-developed, publicly accessible summary of the findings and a brief fact sheet describing mitigation options suitable for the Northeast. The full report, climate summary and fact sheet are available for download at ClimateChoices.

About the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment. NECIA’s aim is to develop and communicate a new assessment of climate change and associated impacts on key climate-sensitive sectors in the northeastern United States. The goal of the assessment is to combine state-of-the-art analyses with effective outreach to provide opinion leaders, policy makers, and the public with the best available science upon which to base informed choices about climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Analyses are currently underway to assess impacts of the climate changes described here on forests and agriculture, coastal and marine resources, human health, recreation and urban centers across the Northeast, as well as options for mitigation and adaptation. A major Synthesis Report of these findings is expected in early 2007. For more about the NECIA and the technical papers behind the report, visit NortheastClimateImpacts.

The findings have also been published in the peer-reviewed literature:

“Past and future changes in climate and hydrological indicators in the U.S. Northeast” a report by K. Hayhoe, C. Wake, and the NECIA climate team. In press at Climate Dynamics (2006)

“Quantifying the Regional Impacts of Global Climate Change: Evaluating AOGCM Simulations of Past and Future Trends in Temperature, Precipitation, and Atmospheric Circulation in the Northeast U.S.” a report by K. Hayhoe, C. Wake, and the NECIA climate team. In review at the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Comments or questions: If you have general questions, comments or concerns about this or any SSI email, contact Jean Sideris, GEP Outreach Assistant, via email at ssi@ucsusa.org, by phone at 617.547.5552, or by postal mail to Union of Concerned Scientists, Two Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA 02238.

Presented at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, New Hampshire
Christmas Eve Service: December 24, 2006

When Steve Edington, our minister, asked me if I would speak at tonight’s service about the meaning of the holiday season to me, I realized how much my perception of the season has changed over the years.

Growing up in a Jewish family, in a primarily Jewish neighborhood, and in the south, my feelings and perceptions of the season were quite different when I was very young. Back then in early December my brothers and I strung the paper plates and cardboard ribbons proclaiming Happy Hannukah. There were a few Hannukah parties at the synagogue and at my grandparents apartment with the spinning of dreidels and delicious potato latkes. But besides from a few Menorahs in some windows, my mostly-Jewish neighborhood was pretty dark at night as Christmas approached. But don’t think that we didn’t enjoy the Christmas season and sprit. Come Christmas eve, while most Christians were at Church, my family and likely most of the other Jewish families in Atlanta hopped into our cars to drove through the brightly holiday decorated neighborhoods of our Christian friends. Yes it was primarily the cadre of cars filled with Jewish folks that created those traffic jams late on December 24^th.

Another major factor in the change in my perception of the Christmas season was my move from living in the south to living in the northeast. You see in Atlanta, which is closer to the equator, there is not as much a change in the numbers of hours of daylight between summer and winter as there is here in the northeast. There also is not as great a change in seasons – an inch of snow was a major event in Atlanta that would be talked about for years. In fact the most important clue in Atlanta that the shortest day of the year was approaching was not an obvious change in day length but rather the appearance of spray-on artificial frost and icicles in the windows of shops and of people’s homes.

I really first began to appreciate what those Christmas lights meant and their relevance to the winter solstice after moving to upstate New York for graduate school. Looking out of a window one late fall day, I couldn’t believe that the sun was beginning to set low on the horizon and it was barely a quarter to four in the afternoon. You see in Atlanta the sunset on the shortest day of the year occurs at 5:32 pm. In Ithaca, twilight is apparent long before four o’clock in the afternoon.

In addition the weather in upstate New York is very grey. I suspect the conditions are very similar to those in northern Europe where the traditions of Yule, Christmas, and other solstice celebrations arose. There were very few evergreen trees in Ithaca. So after the autumnal leaves had fallen, the forest surroundings were as grey as the sullen skies. My friends and I prayed for snow every year in late December just to lighten things up a bit.

Humans are very resourceful and I believe deep down an optimistic lot. It is now no wonder to me why our northern European ancestors would have invented such wonderful traditions for the Christmas season. Why accept the grayness of this time of year when families and friends can create their own light both physically and through celebration? Why be devoid of the brightness of living plants when we can bring evergreens into our homes in the form of wreaths and brightly ornamented Christmas trees?

While my new understanding of the meaning of the Christmas season has been evolving over many years, it certainly was reinforced through my participation in this Church. Listening to Steve’s wonderful sermons during the last 5 years as well the participation of our family in the Church’s Religious Education programs has reinforced and expanded upon my perception of the wonderful meanings of this season. You see, it is not so much what is outside that can bring brightness to our lives. Rather it is what we do on the inside, in our homes and in our churches, synagogues, and mosques or wherever we celebrate together. By bringing together family and friends in wonderful settings such as this, we have the power to create the light in our lives through friendship and celebration.

From my wonderful wife Sabette, my terrific daughters Madelaine and Leah, and from me: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.