GOBBI

This evening September 15th, 2011 around 6:30 pm we had a power outage here in Port Jefferson, NY. After seeing a local LIPA truck near Mather Hospital earlier, I assumed they were fixing the lines, so I ended up going outside to see what was up and bumped into two neighbors that came out for a walk to see what was happening as well. It is amazing when the power goes out, people actually talk to each other, go figure. We were talking about the power lines and the damage from hurricane Irene and how burying the power lines would potentially lessen the occurrences of power outages and in the process preserve nature’s views. We were talking about nature and local wildlife, deers and such, and my November 11th 2008 at 11:30 pm amazing sighting of an eastern cougar (mountain lion) on our property here in Port Jefferson. I will call him the Port Jeff Panther, or the Puma of Port Jefferson, or Casey the Cougar after yours truly. I did report this amazing sighting to New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation, but nothing came of it to my knowledge, I hoped he would have been be protected and re-released into the wild. I was mentioning to the guys about the recent mountain lion sightings in Greenwich Connecticut and the one cougar that was hit and killed by an SUV in June across the Long Island Sound in Milford Connecticut this summer; Google it.

As I was looking up at the power lines talking about what would appear to be strange unusual sittings of large cats, low and behold, as I was saying that, I witnessed what appeared to be a small Pterodactyl. You say what? A small dinosaur bird, I swear it kind of looked like it. It was not a hawk, as I have see plenty in Southern New Jersey, some very large that cast huge shadows when flying above, what a sight! But this wasn’t even close; this had a huge wing span of over 5 feet. It was darkish brown and looked like it could have been a pelican. A pelican right above the treetops that swooped and glided above and over me and the neighbors, of course the older guys were facing the opposite direction and were too slow to turn around and see it. I was like “did you guys see that” and I chased it, then it flew out of view over the trees. Holy cow! What was that? A huge bird that looked like a Pterodactyl or pelican? Unreal, and I told the guys they needed to pay attention to their surroundings even in suburbia, and always look up; you never know what you might see.

After we went back to our houses and once the power came back on, I hit the computer and did a little research to find out what type of bird it was. Turns out, it was most likely an Eastern Brown Pelican, cool! What they’re doing on the North Shore of Long Island, I don’t know, but maybe global warming and climate change is to blame, and maybe the hurricanes off the Atlantic coast has brought them this far north extending their range. Why am I seeing these unusual sighting you ask, well I am known for my keen eye and my situational awareness. Just keep your eyes pealed; you never know what you will see, but first you need to get off the computer and go outside.

Happy bike to work day :)

Happy Earth Day to all, but wait isn’t everyday earth day? Well it should be right? Please do your part and reuse or recycle something today, I did, did you? Get off your computer, go outside and get some fresh air.

“We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us.” -Jimmy Carter

I am gutted about the earthquake and tsunami natural disaster in Japan. This is not just a natural disaster, which I think people can recover from in time, but it now has become a man-made nuclear toxic catastrophe. It is very similar to the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill disaster that struck the gulf region of the United States this past summer and fall. The zero accountability by British Petroleum (BP) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DEO) was and is appalling. The health of our world’s oceans suffered greatly all in the name of oil, and if you consume seafood as I do, well that is not good. Hopefully this is a wake-up call for the island nation of Japan and the rest of the world to reconsider changing their ways to power their future. Maybe in light of this disaster Japan’s government and commercial fishing industry will curtail their over harvesting of our worlds ocean’s sea life and slaughtering of whales in the future. The way the environment goes, so do we.

The nuclear industry puts its spin and lobbying into play with its deep pockets. I hope this is the nail in the coffin for the nuclear industry, with its lack of stability and its potential for meltdown and far-reaching nuclear fallout. Of course we can’t forget all the toxic waste generated that will never ever decay that has to go somewhere, not it in my backyard. It is time for change to meet our ever-growing global energy needs, which affects us all. Clean Renewable Energy: Wind, Solar, Tidal, Hydro, and Bio-Fuels will never have the irreversible ill effects on the global human population and our environment, which we all share and need to look after, so that it is here for generations to come. I feel the internal combustion engine is on its way out, and it is time the U.S. Government and energy companies to start making the efforts at a more rapid pace to start converting over to better solutions and infrastructures that can handle the conversion in order to have more efficient and less polluting carbon emitting energy sources. We need to start demanding change from governments, politicians, companies, brands, and they need to start making the transition soon, because the last time I checked, their wasn’t an endless supply of petroleum and dirty coal. The need to diversify is now! C02 emissions are choking our pristine air supply here on our earth. We have only this world to call home and it is ours to protect, so what the hell are we waiting for?

In the words of Kermit The Frog “It is not easy being green.” but I feel now we really don’t have a choice, and it is a good safe choice.

If you live in the New York Tri-State area and need to contact an alternative energy company, I can highly recommend Eastern Energy Systems they are located on the North Fork of Long Island, and tell them Casey Gobbi sent you.

With all the unrest in the oil producing Middle East and North Africa lately, the earthquake devastation in New Zealand and now this morning on the island of Japan causing a tsunami, along with major flooding throughout the northeastern United States this past week from heavy rainfall, it is time to start reconsidering our antiquated buildings and infrastructures, and design and engineer them to withstand the severe weather we’ve been having. Our local Long Island roads have been neglected and are crumbling especial due to past year’s harsh winters. Why when it is time to resurface the roads are agencies not using recycled ground-up shredded tires in the asphalt mix so the roadways can expand and contract more so the road surface can last for up to 60 to 70 years at a time. More effective creative solutions, along with unique architecture, design and engineering is needed, and we as a people need to be open to it so we can adapt to climate shifts.

The Kansas town of Greensburg is a perfect example to follow, where after a devastating tornado demolished their town, decided to go with “green” building construction to rebuild their town. Here on Long Island, we have such severe winds at times with the occasional tornado, so why not place power lines underground instead of on unappealing cluttered telephone poles. If you want to build in tornado ally and resurrect and rebuild a town, why not build underground structures or semi-submerged ones or use aerodynamic creative building techniques that will withstand the strong winds, so it is not a total loss every time a tornado hits. It make no sense why year after year we rebuild in areas that are prone to severe flooding, only to have the new construction destroyed again and again.

New Orleans will probably flood again in our lifetime, because they are below sea level. Man cannot out smart Mother Nature, she is king. We as humans need to work with Mother Nature and not against her, we need to design our structures and buildings codes accordingly and get more aggressive and creative with the future regarding renewable energy.

We cannot rely on the unstable Middle East to fuel our future, nor should we. Nuclear it not as stable as the nuclear industry spins it to be, with its potential for meltdown and far-reaching fallout, and we can’t forget the spent toxic waste generated that will never ever decay. Clean renewable energy: Wind, Solar, Tidal, Hydro, and Bio-Fuels are the answer, so what are we waiting for?

My thoughts are with the people of Japan today, as it will take years and years to clean up, rebuild and recover.