Photo credit: Brave New Films

The well-known Oscar and Emmy-winning director Michael Moore says goodbye to GM today as the failed auto company files for bankruptcy. Moore says the “big three” auto companies in the USA are responsible for their own demise and that they have created “some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming”.

“We are now in a different kind of war — a war that we have conducted against the ecosystem and has been conducted by our very own corporate leaders. This current war has two fronts. One is headquartered in Detroit. The products built in the factories of GM, Ford and Chrysler are some of the greatest weapons of mass destruction responsible for global warming and the melting of our polar icecaps. The things we call “cars” may have been fun to drive, but they are like a million daggers into the heart of Mother Nature. To continue to build them would only lead to the ruin of our species and much of the planet.”

But Moore says he feel “joy” about the fact that the American people now owns 60% of GM and that he is confident “we can do a better job”. He is also calling for a swift transformation of GM into a modern and environmentally-friendly company that produces cars for the future, and that the old GM factories start to produce windmills and solar panels. In short Moore is suggesting the following:

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The Swedish company Flygbussarna (shortly translated to The Flight Busses), who offers bus services to and from all the major airports in Sweden, has made this very cool advertisement installation next to a highway in Sweden.

The installation is made out of 50 cars stacked together and painted to look like one of Flygbussarna’s busses. It is designed to advertise Flygbussarna’s bus services and to highlight the fact that it’s much more environmentally friendly to travel by bus than in a car.

“50 cars or 1 coach? If everyone travelled with public transport instead of by car the environment would be much better off. So don’t just take the coach because it’s cheaper – take it to reduce your carbon emissions.”

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Photo credit: thienzieyung

During the past few months, and under high pressure put by the European Union, Greece has started to adopt a greener policy. Among other measures and actions, eco-friendly plastic bags were introduced into the market, bio-eco products were widely advertised and each municipality planted more flowers in their area, also encouraging citizens to ‘green’ their homes.

But one of the biggest issues, reducing the use of cars at the city centre, is still not given proper attention. On the contrary, steps are taken to produce more parking spaces. That measure is totally against all efforts to persuade citizens not to use their cars and prefer the public means of transport.

The worst action of all was the destruction of a park in Athens so as to produce a big parking space. The municipality in charge cut down forty trees of the wide-leaf family, which produce big amounts of oxygen. The park was transformed into a huge flat area for cars.

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In a speech at the Department of Energy yesterday Barack Obama said he and the American people is serious about energy independence. Obama also said his proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan “will begin to end the tyranny of oil in our time.”

In the speech Obama said the renewable energy industry “will create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years” and “millions more after that”. Obama said he will invest in a “better, smarter electricity grid” that can deliver clean renewable electricity from one end of the country to another. Obama also said he will “lead a revolution in energy efficiency” saying it will create jobs and save taxpayers $2 billion each year and “billions of dollars more on their utility bills”. He said his investments in the US mass transit system will be “a significant down payment on a cleaner and more independent energy future.”

Obama also criticized the Republicans who have spoken out against his American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan: (more…)

Just days after his inauguration it seems we will see the first letdown from President Barack Obama. In the stimulus package, proposed by Obama, which is designed to ease the financial crisis only 18% of the money will go to infrastructure, such as public transportation systems and a more modern and energy efficient electrical grid.

It seems that Obama in a foolish effort to please the Republicans have agreed to allow over 30% of the stimulus package to go towards pointless tax cuts. Democrat Peter DeFazio, of Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, interviewed by Rachel Maddow puts the blame on the Republicans and Lawrence Summers, Obama’s own adviser:

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Imagine for a second that oil prices in the USA today were at the same levels as those in Europe, and have been from the start. And yes. That means gasoline for $8 per gallon.

How would the world look like? Would we have a war in Iraq? Would we have a better climate? Would we have less terrorism? Would the US economy be in a better shape?

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At the car-fetishes altar of happiness, the NY International Auto Show at the Javits Center, this year experienced a rather special protest from the people behind StreetFilms.

Thousands of people flocked to the NY International Auto Show at the Javits Center on Saturday. In the midst of it all, Lady Liberty ended her 100 year “spectacularly combustible love affair” with the automobile. Lady Liberty said, “Frankly, this relationship has just gotten to be much more work than it’s worth. My health, liberty and freedom have suffered greatly, and now I hope that my new relationships will finally give me security and happiness.” Then Reverend Billy officiated her marriage to “Mr. Transit” and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir sang in celebration.

Video after the jump:

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