This year The Nearby Future staff has written a collective 48,747 words! Here are your favorite articles from staff members with the most page views (not counting Jala, because she writes pages, not posts).

• Rika’s best articles: “Corn“, “Stress: Side Effects Include…”, and “The World is Not Coming to an End“
• Calister F. Well’s best articles: “When In Rome, Think Like the Greeks”, and “Humming the Song of the World’s Destruction“
• PLOTG’s best articles: “Personal Rights Conflict With Hollywood’s Big Bucks”, “Teens and Their Sleep“, and “The Pledge“,
• Hope’s best articles: “HPV Vaccine“, “Izze: A Healthy Alternative“, and “Clocky: Crushing the Dreams of Snooze Button People Everywhere“.

And even though she doesn’t write for us anymore, big thanks to contributor ‘Ashley Lampost’ for her wonderful article about cars!
Looking forward to a great new year,

-Rika

Note: Each article that has won this prestigious award will bear the following picture upon it’s page:

Don Blakenship of Massey Energy is pushing for coal. (Because he manufactures it) When trying to convince us that people who say coal is not the way to go, he calls all of the non-coal believers out there communists, atheists, and enemies.

Oh, here’s the quote!

“Turn down your thermostats? Buy a smaller car? Conserve? I have spent quite a bit of time in Russia and China, and that’s the first stage. You go from having your own car to carpooling to riding the bus to mass transit. You eventually get to where you’re walking. You go from your own apartment and bathroom to sharing kitchens with four families. That’s what socialism and the elimination of capitalism and free enterprise is all about.”

Last time I checked, Mr. Blakenship, walking to work was not a federal crime, or a pit stop on the way to a communist country. Wasting finite resources of the Earth is not patriotic!

Treehugger.com has some of his words on tape, and more quotes can be found on their other article about him.

Just like the companies that make high fructose corn syrup, Mr. Blakenship has found a way to deny the real dangers of using coal. In short, never trust anyone who talks about their own company.

-Rika

Don’t lie to yourself- you were one of those people silently chuckling at the Hummer owners at the gas station when gas prices were up. You were one of those people who knew that eventually SUV and Hummer owners would have to own up for the price for their ridiculously tank-like cars.

Not today, my friends, not today.

Gas prices are down. And while this is a cause to celebrate, it’s also a cause for alarm. Why? Because we’re still dependent on foreign countries and OPEC. And the Hummers are, much to my annoyance, still chugging their way through oil and tankering down highways.

So for the sake of my fragile sanity, I ask all you SUV owners to consider these practical points:

• Gas won’t last forever. Having a fuel efficient vehicle will not only save you money but will help the environment, too.
• You don’t know when the recession will end. It could be a full blown depression for all you know! Sell that SUV and save some cash!
• Have you not been reading The Nearby Future’s articles about this topic?!?

Completely against the thoughtless waste of our world’s natural resources,

-Rika

Vampires have not only been invading the box office, but they’re also in our homes.

And no, I’m not talking about the sparkling kind.

I’m talking about vampire power. The cell phone chargers and other electronics plugged into the wall- even if they’re not being used- waste energy. To enable devices to start immediately they need energy almost constantly. That’s the reason why things like your computer are warm to the touch.

So to continue looking up the Twilight cast’s latest interviews while still saving power, here are some simple solutions;

• Use a power strip. Plug all of your devices into the power strip and then just turn off the whole power strip when you’re done!
• Invest in energy-friendly electronics (like this cell phone charger featured on treehugger.com)
• Unplug your electronics. Sure, this is harder if you have a lot of things to unplug daily, but the cheapest way.

 Roll with the good vamps, save electricity!

-Rika

In this day and age, any incentive to ‘go green’ is necessary.

So what better idea then presenting an “Evergreen Award” to companies that have put environmentally conscious business practices into place?

Sharp Electronics, thanks to its use of solar technology and eco-friendly packaging, is one company that won this award.

The award itself is a good idea, and I think that other incentives should be put into place, and the publicity is good for both companies and spreading the word about taking steps to preserve our world.

Our staff of writers has varying opinions on this idea.

Hope believes that green awards are a great idea, and “The more “going green” things that are publicized, the more people will get involved and participate.” She goes on to say that we’re not taking this issue seriously enough, and how we need to be proactive and understand what we can do to help. “We don’t have to do anything major,” she states, “minor things like turning off the lights when you’re not in the room, or just recycling helps. We need to take charge of the world now before it’s too late.”

Piratical Lord of the Guitars has a similar opinion. “I think it’s great that Sharp Electronics has taken an initiative to help the environment,” she says. “…Sharp Electronics have stepped up to the plate. It’s rather inspiring, and hopefully it will set an example for other companies will follow.”

Use every opportunity you get to ‘go green’, because you might just be recognized for it.

~A Nearby Future Collab Article

Kudzu, a vine that can grow 6.5 feet a week, may finally be used for something other than annoying the heck out of people and covering acres of land.

I read over in treehugger.com that Kudzu could produce up to 270 gallons of ethanol per acre- do I hear a substitute for corn coming on? Although compared to other plant that 270 gallons isn’t that much, but it is easily as much as corn.

The downside of using the invasive Kudzu for fuel is that this unpredictable plant is almost impossible to harvest- and no one really wants to plant more of this. Domesticating it may be possible, but who knows- anything could go wrong.

To give you a perspective of this pesky plant, know that it can climb up to 98 feet high, and to killing the plant is relatively difficult given the speed of it’s growth.

Trees killed by Kudzu

To be fair, Kudzu has uses including erosion control and a few types of medicine. If we could control and harvest it, Kudzu may be more useful to us.

-Rika

Sources:

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/06/kudzu-biofuel-feedstock.php

Picture source: http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/kudzu_child.shtml

What is wrong with our planet?

Being America, it’s easy to do what we do best: (no, not eating fast food, although we do that too) import stuff from other countries. We import everything from food to dinky little party favors to food. A good question to ask is what happens when there is a worldwide famine, and we can’t import food anymore? What happens if our agriculture industry goes down the drain? Then what?

This is something we may be facing soon, as global warming is drying up major rivers around the globe that help water crops. What then? What if climate change happens and rainfall doesn’t fall on farmland? What if instead it floods deserts? In the future, I don’t exactly want to see cacti floating by in a lake.

“Melting Glaciers Will Trigger Flood Shortage”, an article from newscientist.com states that the main problems we have to worry about is irrigation patterns being offset. When you think about it, farms have a very precarious system. One degree of change, or a slight shift in rivers will hike up prices and make the problems of our world worse.

So, in short, we have a lot of work to do on our unstable planet. We better get started!

Now what?

The world is changing, countries finally acting on the problems that global warming is creating. But what can you do, as a person, to stop this impeding disaster?

This is the basic, simple list on what you can do:

• Turn off the lights and save electricity wherever you can. (Helps your bills and the world!)
• Drive a more fuel-efficient car (Get rid of your Hummer!)
• Read the newspaper online, and print out only the articles you want to read, in lieu of receiving the newspaper every day.
• Stop smoking
• Get a fuel efficient car
• Don’t use the plastic bags in the grocery store, bring your own reusable grocery bags. (Can be bought at some stores, like Sprouts, or online.) Not only is this good for the environment, but these bags (most of them) stand upright in the trunk of your car instead of slumping over like plastic bags.
• Need a pool heater? Get a solar powered one
• Did I already mention getting a fuel efficient car?

Just by doing this, you are already helping the world. Some of the items on the basic list are common sense, such as not smoking, and getting a fuel efficient car. Remember, every little step helps!

-Rika

What fun is it to predict the world’s impending demise? I can’t see the joy of telling people that the world will collapse in ten years when oil becomes too expensive. A professor from the University of Arizona recently published an article in The Arizona Republic about how civilization will unravel because of the current oil crisis, and I have some questions for him.

If civilization is going to self destruct in ten years, why aren’t we seeing any signs of it now? Yes, oil is a problem. No, corn ethanol is not the answer. What exactly will happen when we run out of oil? Will we have to ride our bicycles everywhere? That doesn’t sound so bad to me.

Actually, Guy R. McPherson says that it’s the jump we’ll have to make when oil shoots up in price; he says that when oil reaches $400 a barrel we won’t be able to afford it and “In a decade, unemployment will be approaching 100% percent, inflation will be running at 1,000 percent and central heating will be a pipe dream”. So, if this is true, what do we do?

One solution I’ve heard so far is pretty good. Here it is:

• Taxing Oil: by gradually putting and increasing a tax on our oil, people will not only get used to the higher priced oil and the leap we’ll have to make won’t be as large, but the tax money can be used to fund research programs concerning renewable fuel, and ‘greener’ cars.

So whatever path we chose to take, we need to act. And, no, I don’t mean act as in the ‘whenever you get around to it’ kind of action. I mean the now ‘dinner’s burning’ type of immediate action. Just stop wasting oil, get a hybrid car until the better electric cars and biofuel cars come out.

-Calister F. Wells

Hummers: driven by people who want the world to be destroyed.

That has to be an exaggeration.

It’s the truth! Unless the Hummer and large SUV owners have been living under a rock, the following facts are known by them:

• Hummers and large, heavy, SUV’s are expensive
• A 2004 Hummer H2 SUV has 9.6 mpg compared to a Honda, who’s miles per gallon ranges from 20-50 mpg. So for sure all of the SUV and Hummer owners know that they’re paying more for the gas prices then other car owners.
• The emissions from cars contributes to global warming, and by simply switching from a fifteen mpg car to a 30mpg, you are cutting your car’s CO2 emissions in half.

What’s up with all the melodramatic titles?

Rika has stated that my titles are over-dramatic. Well they’re not. Our current environmental goal is to stop global warming, and almost everywhere on the road you see these heavy SUVs roaring down the road.

All of these car owners understand that buying fuel efficient cars would not only be less expensive, but better for the environment. So why do they keep buying these heavy duty vehicles?

Why?

“Because I feel safer knowing that in a car crash I wouldn’t be the one hurt” is one that I’ve heard. I guess that some people feel powerful behind a wheel of these tanks, but they’re endangering other people on the road. If no one drove heavy SUVs, then everyone would be safer on the road.

What should we do?

So when choosing a new car, you have several choices. Hybrid cars go for approximately thirty grand, depending on the model you buy. Hummers, on the other hand, often cost much more than that.

-Calister F. Wells

This article has been chosen as one of the best articles of 2008.

See more of The Nearby Future’s Best Articles of 2008

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The Purpose of Why I’m Writing This

A lot of times on this site we have stressed the danger of Global Warming and how it with biofuels can destroy our environment. This is an important problem, people! We need to act before it gets out of hand. This article ‘splains what we- the average people of America- can do to stop this oncoming demise of our planet, just to catch those people up who don’t have a clue and are a little lost reading our articles.

What is Global Warming?

If you don’t know what global warming is, then you have either been living under a rock or cannot read. Global. Warming. Our Earth getting hotter. Ice melting. Lots of ice. The world floods, or dries up because of lack of rain, and then we can say good-bye to many farms and food supplies out there.

Why is it our world’s ‘impending demise’ as you say?

Okay, okay, ‘impending demise’ is a little over the top. A little melodramatic. But, as I stated in the PREVIOUS answer, lots of agricultural problems can happen, most of them dealing with water- our very important resource. Think of this as a big, huge variable equation. A lot of things could happen, but when- and if- they do happen a lot of other elements could play in to the equation either amplifying the effects of disastrous ‘variables’ or decreasing their threat. Scientists don’t know exactly what will happen when all the pieces fit together, so to speak.

Do you have a grudge against biofuels or something?

Rika and I rarely share the same viewpoints. (When I say rarely, I mean NEVER) But on biofuels, we both have decided that using them in their current state actually is worse for the environment. Why?

1. Biofuels use food that should be eaten (I don’t want my chocolate fueling cars, thank you very much)
2. More energy is used to make the biofuels than the biofuels actually produce.
3. When the food substance used for that fuel becomes overused, the products associated with that food rise in price, causing some economic problems.

So biofuels- until we can get them to run on something that doesn’t damage our economy or the environment (example: banana peels or orange rinds) then they are just bad news for our planet, possibly being responsible for our ‘demise’. (I’m not being melodramatic! I swear!)

Why do I need to know this?

The next time you go to buy a new car, you have a decision to make: destroy the world, buy a Hummer. Destroy the environment AND economy: buy a car that runs on corn fuel. Possibly help the world: buy a hybrid. When we say ‘save the world’ we really mean it.

If the oceans flood over and rainfall patterns change drastically enough, then deserts may even be underwater. I, for one, don’t like the idea of scuba diving and then running into a cactus.

What’s up with the serious writing?

Serious issues deserve semi-serious writing. No, our idea of ‘serious’ doesn’t mean throwing in complicated words into sentences that make almost no sense. “The aberration in rainfall patterns…” isn’t our type of writing. But when there’s something you need to know, we joke about running into cacti while scuba diving. Not too serious, but still serious enough.

-Calister F. Wells