A Drop Of Blood

70 Organizations Notified

2007-11-28T22:04:00Z

After many weeks of effort, Google has finally returned www.adropofblood.org as the #1 hit for a drop of blood addicted to oil. Now that the site can be reached in a search, I have contacted 60 organizations announcing the campaign. This would be the official start date. Here is the email that was sent out:

This email is to notify you of an international call-to-action to help bring about a reduction to war and global warming.
It is called, "A Drop of Blood", as a symbol for the hidden price of our addiction to oil (wars for oil).
Please discuss this campaign, let your members know, and publish a link to this website.

To find out more, go to www.adropofblood.org/
The site can be googled using: a drop of blood addicted to oil
A blog for the site is at blog.adropofblood.org

TM Akashi, "A Drop Of Blood" Campaign Chairman

A Red Drop

2007-11-10T18:46:00Z

I was talking to someone who thought the campaign focused on the negative and should emphasize the positive. He thought the symbol of a drop of blood was unpleasant. I replied that the Red Cross uses a drop of blood sticker that says, "I Donated". Later, I realized that the "A Drop of Blood" campaign seems depressing with words about our oil addiction leading to lives lost. The Red Cross sticker seems positive because it represents lives saved with blood donations. The red drop symbol is the same in both cases.

If "A Drop of Blood" just symbolized lives saved and drivers saw them on gas pumps, would they want to conserve oil? I think not. The Red Cross really does save lives with blood donations, but only a small percentage of people donate blood. The first step in the AA 12-Step program is to admit their addiction. I think car and truck drivers need to be reminded that their oil addiction is resulting in wars for oil and Global Warming. As a result of our oil addiction, we will be leaving future generations a planet that is severely degraded (tens of thousands of species lost, catastrophic weather, desertification, food and water shortages and tens of millions forced to relocate). It is an addiction that causes decent people to do that sort of thing.

We need to reduce our oil usage immediately. That does not mean people have to give up driving, but they need to reduce their gas consumption (a gradual withdrawal). The short-term goal would be a 20% reduction (once a week carpooling or public transportation OR getting a high MPG vehicle). A later goal would be a 40% reduction. Reductions are "inconvenient", but they are absolutely necessary to slow, and eventually reverse, Global Warming.

I hope that people put up "A Drop of Blood" as a symbol of lives saved. I hope that people put up "A Drop of Blood" in memory of loved ones lost. I hope that people put up "A Drop of Blood" as a reminder to conserve. I hope that people put up "A Drop of Blood" for all of those reasons, and more.

Making Global Warming Visible

2007-11-10T15:06:00Z

"Education is learning to see the invisible." TM Akashi

Two movies that I can highly recommend are: "An Inconvenient Truth" and "11th Hour". Both are highly educational, in that they make visible the science and consequences of Global Warming.

Smog was a visible result of nitrogen oxide auto emissions, and 40 years ago we created legislation to reduce smog. Those very same auto emissions were also creating increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, but CO2 is invisible and it does not sting our eyes. Only a few scientist could "see" the dangers at that time, and they did report those dangers. The public and politicians didn't "see" that danger, so nothing was done about CO2 back then.

Now imagine 40 years of accumulated smog. The 1963 Clean Air Act was tremendously valuable, but carbon dioxide emissions were not included in it and have been increasing ever since. Every year, the average driver adds enough CO2 to fill 1/6th of a football stadium. We must act to reduce our addiction to oil, in order to reduce our carbon footprint (the 11th Hour poster has a giant footprint on the Earth). We must act immediately, as we have already waited 40 years and the list of negative results is growing daily. The "A Drop Of Blood" campaign is a way in which you can act, today.

The Campaign Begins, November 6, 2007

2007-11-06T19:47:00Z

This is my first weblog and I am feeling a bit overwhelmed already. The main website has its first page, a contact list of 60 organizations has been assembled, and this blog is being initiated with its first words. All of this began with a simple idea, "A Drop Of Blood" as a symbol for the hidden price of oil.

I consider myself an Artist Philosopher, so what you find here will not be typical of other blogs. That will be both the advantage and disadvantage of what you read. As you can already detect, I am not an entertaining person. The quick and clever gene is missing from my DNA. Perhaps, you will read thoughts that provide an alternative way of seeing and experiencing the world. Hopefully, my insights will aide you on your journey through life.

I have degrees in Biology and in Art, which helps me to understand science and to see beauty in our world. This somewhat unusual combination of interests is also the reason that Global Warming is such a concern to me, because it is severely damaging our planet. The first warning about rising global temperatures were in the 1960s. Over the past 40 years, humans have increased greenhouse gas concentrations to levels that the earth has not had for 650,000 years. We have added to the greenhouse around the planet, and the effects are more obvious every day. We must begin to dismantle that greenhouse by reducing greenhouse gases. We must act today, and everyday, until greenhouse gases return to pre-1960 levels.