Breathing Easier

Thank goodness the U.S. decided to announce a great step to step up environmental policy initiative just as we finish up in Copenhagen. Released today, the U.S. acknowledges that greenhouse gases are harmful and can be deadly to humans. This means that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can now monitor and limit pollution into the atmosphere without Congressional approval, which in the past was what held up the U.S.'s environmental action.

The news came as global climate talks got under way in Copenhagen, Denmark aimed at forging a deal on major emissions cuts.

The best part is that it helps to legitimize the Copenhagen Talks. Some news pundits, who clearly know nothing and yet influence a HUGE portion of populous, were beginning to speculate that the talks were failing since President Obama (who wasn't even supposed to attend, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was) is only attending the closing sessions. President Obama attending shows how important he feels this conference is.

After working on climate change issues with small island nations for the past two years I could not be more happy that this announcement was made. I am equally pleased with the bilateral agreements made between nations leading up to Copenhagen, such as the one between France and Brazil promoting more responsible logging and preservation of the Amazon and the rain forest. (The linked article, entitled, "France and Brazil joined forces on Saturday to press the United States and China to make significant concessions at next month's climate change summit in Copenhagen" is really interesting for any Poly Sci/ Env Sci geek. Please take a look if you have time.)

Of course, the Green movement has been going on for some time in France. I recently was reminded of this great music video from 2006.

SO, now that the U.S. is leading by example and developing countries like Brazil are recognizing their responsibilities to environmental protection and emissions... Well, India and China, the ball is in your court.

Photography note: The rain forest that is pictured is actually in Costa Rica, where I spent a summer working to protect turtles from poachers and help the MINAE forestry department preserve the Arenal Volcano Park. It's not Brazil, but I haven't gotten there yet. ;)

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

Widget!

My fancy new widget shows me where people visit from. This is pretty cool since I already have EIGHT countries!

The U.S., Malaysia, India, Morocco, Sweden, Singapore, Canada, and Indonesia.

NOW, let's dissect this a little, shall we? I KNOW who the New Haven Connecticut hit came from: ME. I know where the Singapore came from (JP), I know the Morocco and Canada, the TX, MO, PA and NY hits are all people I know. One of the India hits is another blogger who I emailed after seeing his blog on books. The one in LA is my friend Shane and his blog on books and creative writing is here.

WHICH ONE OF YOU told all your friends in Malaysia to check out my site? How did seven Malaysian cities register? What's strange about the hit counter is that I wish I could see EVEN more detailed information. I wish I could see addresses within the towns when I get multiple hits from Madras, India. BTW, Tangerang, Indonesia is pretty much the coolest name for a city ever.

Don't you wish you could get like a big map and a bunch of virtual pins and pin the IP addresses on here? I know I do! This counter is both an excellent tool for marketing, but also a fun widget for me since my wanderlust controls me. It makes me still feel as though I have some connection to the outside world despite my being stuck in my parent's attic.

Before I go I wanted to make a special mention that the last leaves are falling off the trees. This autumn, the foliage was delayed a full two weeks. While this was a pleasure because it meant a prolonging of the season and warmth of fall, it is a sure sign of the global climate change we all fear. This prolonging in seasonal change prevents ice from freezing properly and therefore means the arctic ice sheet will break up even faster than usual this Spring. I want to wish the members of the United Nations and President Obama the best of luck at the Copenhagen Summit this week. It is my hope that they make decisions and come to agreements that are best for humanity, even if individual humans lose out.

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

UPDATE!!

Thanks to a friend of mine, I found a site that lets me show a MAP!!! However, this will only refresh every 24 hours so you'll have to come back this time tomorrow to see the international awesomeness!

Handshakes

While working at the UN I have shaken the hands of three U.S. presidents. Clinton, Bush and Obama. Now, it's not surprising that I liked Clinton's the most since he has the most experience. (It's like a hug for your hand).

Bush was a strained handshake accompanied by his telling me he was a "big fan," whatever that means.

Obama was more like "number 2148, number 2149, hello, hello, I love you too," and so on.

Which president do you think would have the best handshake?

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya

Forced Donating = Stealing/ Fancy Interactive Blog

My mother told me I had to donate clothes and shoes today. I am under the assumption that she is doing this to make her feel better about her spending money during the recession and also because she feels like she has too much stuff, but refuses to clean out her own closet. She has four closets filled with clothes she will never wear again, and yet I have to donate?

Does that make sense to anyone? Didn't think so.

It's not that I'm not happy to give away clothes that I won't be wearing, but I want to do it on my own terms. I dislike micromanagement overseen by hypocrites. Let me quickly move away from this issue before I pop a blood vessel, cause being unemployed means I don't have health insurance. (hint hint President Obama *_^)

In other news, I've been trading with TDAmeritrade, which can be a fickle broker and lags on my orders considerably, considering that it's all presumably AUTOMATED.

Yesterday I put in an order for a stock, Adventrx Pharmaceuticals (Ticker: ANX). For about two hours that day the stock was at my buy in price and the order didn't go through. I called customer service twice and they said the equivalent of, "your order is too small for us to care and you're at the back of the line." Well... They definitely said the second part, and it felt like the first part too. Needless to say, it was an adventure in navigating bureaucracy. I also found it amusing that everyone's name was particularly bland American. I spoke to "Matthew" and "Branden" and "Elizabeth." Would I feel less comfortable talking to an ethnic sounding name? Go ponder. They were in "Ft Worth." Yep... Ft Worth, India.

Today, after another THREE hours of the stock being at my buy in price my order went through: 1165 shares for 13 cents each. Yay! For those of you who don't have a calculator on you that's $151.45.

You can all have fun watching this stock too, and seeing if I made a good call or a bad call. (And now this blog is INTERACTIVE! ooooooo fancy)

Thanks for reading and best regards,
Alya