It's Time for Carbon Action... Action! ACTION!

Dear Reader:

Good news! This coming Sunday is 10/10/10, which has been officially designated as global Carbon Action Day. Which, as I understand it, involves scaring up some action by way of our old miracle friend carbon - a/k/a "Gaia's gift to the periodic tables."

Mister, now that's the kind of activism I can get behind! And if the reader-driven annual Iowahawk Earth Week Cruise is any indication, you can too. That's why I'm asking you - the selfless, globally concerned Iowahawk reader - to dedicate the upcoming weekend to increasing your carbon output by 10*10*10%. And the more action you create the better! Have some tires to smoke? Leaves to burn? Bratwurst to grill? Heavy breathing to do? Get to it, carbon slacker, and be creative! Send me the documentary evidence (video, photo, or links) and I'll see to it your fellow Iowahawk carbon activist are informed of your good works, right here on this thread.

Together we can stand proudly alongside other activists, like the fantasy-snuff-film makers of the 10:10 Project, and let the world know we are ready to do something about carbon. Plus generate some cheap site hits for me!

Send me your stuff by Friday Oct 15, via the email link on the left sidebar, with subject line "10/10 Carbon Action." Thread will be updated as entries roll in. To help generate community awareness and activism, comments are now open!

10/13/10 UPDATE

Many thanks to all for sharing your carbon exploits, both by email and in the comments section. One last one from me - after ditching Tammi Jo on Saturday to drink beer with my bum hot rod friends the Hunnert Car Pileup (see below) I thought it'd be best for common-law marriage relations to spend Sunday on a romantic his & hers carbon spew. Drove all 7 of our operational vehicles (5 cars, 2 sickles), capped by a drive to Navy Pier for a ride on a real life Chicago carbon pirate ship. Aaaaarrrrrgh matey! Never mind those sails, that sucker had a big diesel below deck.

10/11/10 UPDATE: BEHOLD THE CARBONATION

Thanks to the Sunday carbon activism of wise earth steward C. Thompson, the planet will soon have a sustainable supply of high fructose corn syrup:

This little beauty burns 35 gallons of diesel fuel a day, but its carbon emissions are dwarfed by those liberated by burning of trees. This land is being cleared of forest in order to plant corn. Will definitely be roudup-ready corn fertilized with urea synthetically derived from natural gas ripped from the tender womb of Gaia.

Anthony Bialy does his carbonating in the most efficient way possible - by paying the corporate experts at Micky D's:

I outsourced my carbon output increase to the professionals. What better option is there for increasing one's footprint than the world’s favorite fryer? Being part of the solution was greasily delicious. And you better fucking believe I ordered the biggest value meal they sell, because I CARE. Best of all, I won a "large beef sandwich" in the Monopoly game. I will think globally/gorge locally again soon for free!

Everythang's big in Texas - especially the carbon output! Quadruple-threat carbonator Mike B explains:

Here in Texas, once the Fall breezes blow an the temp drops below the mid 90s, there is such a flurry of activity that one has to pick and choose which event and vehicle that one has time to get going.

As we say here in Texas, "If you don't have an oil well, get one."

The first Saturday of the Month is Cars & Coffee. Plus got my Alfa to Italian Car Fest. A few highlights.

Last weekend was the GoodGuys show at the Texas Motor Speedway. It was also the Peanut Fest in my home town of Aubrey. Drove my tractor to town and joined the parade. Mine's at the tail end.

I usually participate, but the Texas Antique Airplane Association was also holding their Fly-In at the Gainsville Airport. I flew my Pacer. There were 120 aircraft registered.

Today was our Cadillac-LaSalle Club regional meet. Drug myself out and drove the '63 Coupe to the festivities. I would have brought the '41 as well, but couldn't find an extra driver.

Fellow Chicagolander Jeff Heileman paid back our unseasonable awesome weather with a delicious carbon contribution:

Here is my small contribution to your "carbon action" drive. The weather in Chicago was beautiful this weekend, so I fired up my smoker to cook up a load of spare ribs with a homemade Jim Beam BBQ sauce (half a cup for the sauce, one cup for the chef). I know this a meager offering, but bear in mind I had to chop down the apple tree in my backyard earlier this summer for the apple wood for the smoker. Its fruit producing days were long gone, and the only purpose the tree served was as a home for a bunch of freeloading squirrels and birds! By the way, the ribs were great, recipe at http://www.smoker-cooking.com/smokedbabybackribs.html and you can find a good Bourbon sauce recipe under the sauces link on that page.

When it comes to his '69 F-100, Ed Stembridge obeys Truth-In-Labeling laws.

Atlanta's James Hammons is probably out of the running for a Nobel Peace Prize after this Sunday drive:

I fly a fabric-covered, radial-engined, 100-octane LEADED fuel burning, oil-smoke-spewing biplane, pimping rides in Atlanta. We separate the unsuspecting masses from their cash, in return for messing up their hair and upsetting their stomach for 30 minutes at a time.

We do the same thing at regional airshows, where people line up to hand us their money. We took these photos today, during the foolishness. The yellow biplane (N7020L) is mine, but I included some other hot rods, including a 12,000 HP jet dragster that crept along the runway at a mere 375 MPH. Twice. Each Day.

A couple of F-15s burning kerosene in the afterburners managed a fuel burn of about 1000 pounds of fuel per MINUTE, and the grand finale was the jet dragster racing an airplane, and the race ended with a pyro display worthy of a tree hugger's ire. As you'll see, the smoke blocked the sun.

Did I mention we did all of this two days in a row? Got bless Capitalism and leaded fuel.

One of my favorite Iowahawk readers, the mighty and mysterious "Pilot X," never disappoints in carbon-related reader participation posts. He send this pic of his hoopty, and from the comments adds:

Today I unselfishly contributed and then vaporized 2,052 gallons of ultra-premium JET-A to the cause of keeping the planet from turning into a giant ice ball. Thank me very much.

"Red Seewun" of the carbon crazy San Fernando Valley decided to do some cross-promotion at Gaia-worship site 350.org for his Sunday carbon fest. The party poopers deleted it, but not before Red grabbed a screen cap:

Atlanta's Ralph Lord had a solid reason for celebrating the human race yesterday:

We're having a party today for my wife who just finished radiation treatment for cancer. 3 large pieces of meat smoked and rotisseried. (is that a word?) Oh, the wasteful emission of carbon we'll be causing

1. The carbon emitted to raise the livestock
2. The methane (containing carbon you know) emitted by the livestock
3. The carbon put into the atmosphere to cook the meat
4. 30 kids running around expelling huge amounts of CO2. Maybe we should ask them to sit quietly and not breathe so hard?
5. The extra CO2 that escapes from the keg of barley pop

BTW, I wonder how much wonderful carbon was emitted for the construction and operation of the radiation machine? Egads, think how we could have helped mother earth by just letting my wife die and not using the 'lectricity to shoot the x-rays. Oh, the horror of our selfishness is becoming apparent to me now.

I think we'll just have to kill her at the party and burn her on a BBQ pyre. Wait a minute...

Former Iowan Jeff Matejcik spent Sunday carbonating Arizona and 3 or 4 other Southwest states in his righteous Caddy:

This is my 1966 Caddy, 429, Rochester 4-Jet. Original everything - inside and out (except for the seat covers). Bought her in 2000 with 140K on her - and and she's been my DAILY for 110,000 more. Blowing so much oil past the rings on #6 cylinder and the front and rear seals (gotta keep that oil level just below the shaft - ha) that she takes a a quart every couple of days and occasionally some Lucas honey. If you want hot rod action on a tranny and rear end geared this low (limo style) you have to hyper tune the carb and thump that pedal to drag off every line and leave the appropriate cloud of oil smoke. Sticker in the back window says "shut up hippy" and the other says "Joy Division". Pure Detroit muscle - and it makes me happy every day I throw it down the road. Here she is at Manzanita Speed Way (before they turned it into another housing development) in Phoenix - dirt race track - I got to take it around the track before we left (that includes both girls in this picture)... and had no business parking her along side of all the sweet piles of love-rust that we were around.

*Unfortunately I will have to disqualify Jeff from award consideration; hot chick and Caddy not withstanding, what kind of Iowan puts a damned MICHIGAN plate on it?

PD Batt offers this meaty entry:

Over pure carbon charcoal, 2 NY strip steaks (from corn fed, flatulence emitting bovine’s) cook “Pittsburgh Style” in cast iron to honor the ultimate Carbon Kings, the iron workers, whose smokestacks, rising hundreds of feet in the air, paid homage to Gaia by spreading the blessed carbon across several states and countries.

And we cruise to the butcher shop in this 2010 Iowahawk Earth Day Virtual Cruise-In entry;

 

Harry Bergeron writes:

I will spend 10/10 building this simple ramjet, copied from the V-1 buzz bomb by the godless heathens at Survival Research Labs.  Runs on kerosene squeezed from coal 

And in the evening, visit the drags to see the famous Late To School Rocket Drag Bus

 

10/10/10 10:10 AM UPDATE: videos and pics are beginning to trickle in, and I'll be updating this post as they do.

First contestant: me! I got a jumpstart on the carbonating yesterday by making a completely unnecessary 400 mile solo round trip in an empty 5.4 liter V-8 pickup to Decatur IL for the 9th Hunnert Car Pileup, an annual pagan rite that celebrates automotive inefficiency. Somewhere around 2000 hot rod and customs were on hand for the festivities, and afterwards I attended an elegant carbon spewing afterparty BBQ at the home of my colleague Aaron 'Plowboy' Grote (whom you may recall from our sojourn to the Playboy Mansion last year).

Some noteworthy carbon activism stickers spotted:

And a slideshow of some of the festivities:

 

 

 

Comments

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[cheap Jordans]

Every day may be a new day, let's have deep clean breath primary, and be in very good mood and thank you a lot to your weblog I seriously loved studying this posting.

[calicolorado]

Monday I bought a BMW X5 with the V8. Then I drove it 217 miles that evening, frequently activating the kickdown switch. 12.9 MPG average ought to cut it for a good, thirsty romp in the wilds of Southern California.

I wanted a 6.2 Escalade, but the X5 rips the curves like it has no business doing.

[Dick Robinson]

Ill fire up the smoker for some rippin good ribs.
Mine is a freightliner with a bad cough (could be from 3 million miles on the
clock) and head for Austin Texas, the county line is great.

[Dave in Houston]

My lovely wife and I drove aimlessly around Michigan's lovely southwest side of the state, hitting every winery we could find, and brother, Michigan has a lot of wineries.

Michigan entrepreneurs are now making some outstanding wines, delicious craft beers and branching out to make some excellent hard liquors. The gin from the New Holland Distillery made the best martini I have ever had.

All of these fine vintners, brewers and distillers deserve your supports. So if possible, take long, aimless car trips in that lovely state. The cider mills are good, too.

[Dave in Houston]

My lovely wife and I drove around in Michigan's lovely southwest side state aimlessly hitting every winery we could find, and brother, there are a bunch of them.

Michigan makes some fine wines, delicious beers and is branching into so taste hard liquors. The New Holland Gin makes the best martini I have ever had.

[Josh Reiter]

I celebrated by taking my Subaru Impreza out to a dirt pit not far from my house in Forney, TX. I kicked up rooster tails of dirt and gravel and needlessly drifted in glorious counter steering fashion. Now granted the little Subie only has a 2.5 liter boxer 4 cylinder but I've offset this fact by running a catless race pipe and headers through an obnoxious glasspack.

[Authorjack]

This Sunday - I'll fire up the V-8 Lexus, now getting 4 mpg - it's old, so what, and proudly uses premium fuel to a store at least 20 miles away to buy a big bag of charcoal and ribs. I'll start the fire by using selected pages from algores pulitzer prize winning book, feed the weber until it turns red, burn the ribs and throw them away. I'm here to do my part!

[alesum]

Keep up the good job.
Alesum:summarizing the world.

[skedaddle]

My hat's off to everyone who supplied the wonderful pics - they all make me smile. I did my best to burn carbon on Sunday but I feel Little League next to the pros.

[plus size prom dresses]

I saw a screening for this movie today and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It has action, comedy, suspense and even a little romance. The film had me enthralled; several times during the film I actually jumped in my seat due to a sudden surprise. Other times I laughed out loud and clapped. The cast had a lot of chemistry; John Malkovich stole the show as a crazy, paranoid retired CIA operative. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren were completely believable as RED (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) former CIA. Another thing to appreciate about this film: No plot holes. Everything was plausible; nothing was too far fetched. I didn't roll my eyes even once during the entire film.

[Coach Springer]

If I had known, I would have done something special. But I did drive my 5.3 litre SUV from IL to VA to attend a music festival on 10/10. The festival had sustainability workshops in the afternoon. That seemed to be offset by 2,500 people releasing CO2 from beers all day long, wood fires, grills, the bands' huge buses, and even those flamey things they swirl around with the music after dark. I then drove back to IL on 10/11. None of the sustainability fest and none of the fun was possible without plenty of carbon offerings - mostly involuntary offerings forced from unsuspecting gaia worshippers. A truly diabolical event.

[FeFe]

All fine efforts but the individual winner -- who takes it to the frozen heart of Gaia and daily braves blood thirsty polar bears -- your hero and mine, doing it all For The Children; Santa Claus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfHWs0SAJaI&feature=related
(King Julien: Santa Claus is Coming to Madagascar)
He's fat.
Checks his paper list twice.
Wood toys, wood toys, wood toys...
Unionized Elf army.
How much gas does a reindeer pass?

[Jeff]

TARD! "...while smoking in front of children." YESSSSSSSS! It's already October and it took this long to find my new favorite phrase! THANK YOU MAN!

[Shahbaz]

I am interested in knowing about parts of car. I hope your site will be great helpful for me to know about different pats of the vehicle. I shall be very thankful to you.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Well, it ended up raining here, which forced cancellation of the used-tire bonfire to Gaea. I did have two full 30 pounders of old R-12 Freon, so I vented the central AC to the atmosphere and then recharged it a half-dozen time. Just to keep in practice.

[Nathan from Down-Under]

My 10/10/10 gift to Gaia was a 700km (450 mile) solo round trip to pick up a fishing rod. Next weekend I'll be making an 800km (500 mile) round trip to use it.

[Pilot X]

Today I unselfishly contributed and then vaporized 2,052 gallons of ultra-premium JET-A to the cause of keeping the planet from turning into a giant ice ball. Thank me very much.

[Mick]

I have just rebuilt the little 539cc 2-stroke engine in my 1975 Suzuki LJ50. I think I'll run a tank of duece juice through it mixed at 10:1 instead of 25:1 just to smoke up the neighborhood a bit and get those big ends lubricated. I'll also drink all the little CO2 bubbles in a case of beer and promise that none will escape, for a while anyway.

[John]

Yeah, Sarah! Let them FIGHT IT OUT!!!

[Joan Oliver]

I'm feeling a little gassy today. Glad to do my part.

[Harry_Bergeron]

After my offical entry, I came upon something that might might provide further inspiration, or maybe nightmares.

This midnight perfomance by Survival Research Lab, features a gigantic, shreiking, flame-throwing, smoke-spewing ramjet engine, a lightning-hurling 20-foot Van De Graaf generator and electricity-transcending Tesla coil. And huge robots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuON82gN0mg [3 min.]

[kim]

The old Dart wagon with the 318 got its weekly qt. of petrol today. The rings have become invisible and the right head gasket is heading for the last roundup. We've cleared the neighborhood of mosquitoes.
======================

[Marie]

I'm getting pregnant. Sorry, no pics. I am not that type of girl.

[Al Gore]

To the last, I shout that the debate is over at thee; from hell's heart I stab with cap and trade at thee; for hate's sake I press my red button at thee

[Sarah]

The six of us here at home will throw some dead meat on the wood-burning smoker; pour used motor oil into the burning pit and set it on fire; add a tire or two to the flames for more-impressive smoke; and send lots and lots of lead downrange.

And that's just the morning schedule. Later, we'll fly to California, fire up the chainsaws, and start cutting down some old redwoods for our spotted-owl feast. On disposable plates, of course, which we'll attempt to wash anyway just so that we can waste water.

If I'm feeling particularly outraged at the 10.10 crowd, I just might procreate - think of it! An entirely new human to suck down resources and increase my family's carbon footprint.

[tattoo designs]

I don't think that this movie is going to offend that many women, especially not Pajiba women.

It seems much worse when the objectification and sexism are more subtle and portrayed as an inherent set of values being reinforced by the film. With something like this you draw obvious attention to it, making it easier for anyone with half a brain to think critically about it. Also, it's more offensive when the exploitation is done without any compensating empowerment, which is not the case here. At least the female characters are presented as makers of their own world, twisted male fantasy it may be.

There's certainly a lot to unpack if you want to go that route, but it seems like a fine guilty pleasure to indulge in, especially if you are Mr. Becks.

[SJBill]

Getting as close as I can to something on full afterburner watching the Navy Blue Angels and a parade of warships in San Francisco. No better use of gas than Fleet Week in Sodom by the Bay.

[Shahbaz]

I am interested in knowing about parts of car. I need your help in this matter. I shall be thankful to you.

[Shahbaz]

I am interested in knowing about parts of car. I need your help in this matter. I shall be thankful to you.

[Blue Hen]

I figure that I'll repeat last weekend. Start a fire in my backyard burn can to dispose of brush and sticks, and start a charcoal fire for the BBQ rack of ribs (wifes' special sauce recipe)while smoking my pipe (tobacco only). The only difference is I won't be yelling at the kids to turn off lights or close the door when they go in and out several dozen times, as is their wont.

[Jerome]

Oh, Sarah! That one left me cackling out loud.

I hope to burn some brush, lit with gasoline, cut some small trees down and trim the bushes, grill some dead animals, and take a long drive into Michigan and back in my not-nearly-as-efficient-as-advertised-when-you-hit-85mph Fusion V-6.

Sure, I suppose burning a tank of fuel on a Sunday sight-seeing drive isn't art, but we all do what we can.

[Tard]

I think Sarah wins this one: simple, elegant, effective.

[Joe Redfield]

Forget your silly contest. I WANT ONE OF THOSE BUTTONS!!!

[hatless in hattiesburg]

Oh nothing fancy, I'm just driving halfway across Texas for the weekend - in an Econoline that gets less than half the mileage of my regular car.

[kdaunt]

Here's a link to the EPA's Personal Greenhouse Gas Calculator. It might help you choose activities with the most impact:

http://esa21.kennesaw.edu/activities/carbon-calc/EPA-GHG-calc.htm

[enginemike]

Well, I will be running the pump for my swimming pool all day.

That should help.

[Free Pioneer]

I'm going to drive my 73' Crysler Newport to Alaska and club me some baby seals.

[Chuck Kuecker]

All the lights on - all day and all night. Huge bonfire out back, with the big old 1964 Massey-Ferguson Super 90 Diesel tractor idling, in case it gets out of control. Dirt bike and golf cart rides for the grandkids - all thanks to 2-stroke internal combustion goodness. A picnic in the local park, reached via old air-cooled VWs, pre-smog.

Actually, I'll probably turn off the lights in our room at bedtime...

[Danny]

I am driving my 2002 Town Car to get the oil changed and get it washed and then driving BACK home to get my 1992 Explorer and do the same thing....then I will hook my boat up and tow it to the lake (It is too cold to go boating) fire up the Honda 4 stroke and then have lunch and drive home....

[Gerard Leun]

Pikers! Alla youse is pikers!

I'm buying a dozen of these puppies,

CO2 Generator 36 CU.FT./HR.

http://lmimg.com/OrderPage.asp?ad=GBase&PN=LMI90-GACD36NG

converting them to running on fully leaded gasoline and cranking them up in the schoolyard across the street all weekend!

[JenniferH]

Our 17 year old washer/dryer & dishwasher all bit the dust recently. They were loud, used tons of water and electricity but they WORKED! Now we have this new, expensive "High Efficiency" garbage. I never knew that "High Efficiency" really meant "Slower than Crap." (just wait until I fill out my next self-evaluation for work! "I plan to become more highly efficient in the next year...")

Anyway... rant aside, all these green appliances are going make it hard to meet your challenge - but I'm sure going to try! Perhaps we'll take the old appliances out to Deer Camp and give them a 21 gun sendoff followed by a used motor oil cremation...

[Jim]

I've got 2,500 rounds of 50s-vintage 7.62x25 cal. Polish and Romanian pistol ammo that I've been saving for a special occasion. Nice and corrosive, very smoky -- sounds like a good weekend to put the old Commie crap to good use, and annoy my Obama voting neighbors at the same time! And then top it off by breaking out the old .69 Springfield musket and blasting a couple pounds of black powder. While smoking a couple of Macanudos, and maybe while riding my John Deere.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Slackers! I have a small pit in my backyard. Perfect for about 40 gallons of a kerosene/used motor oil mix and 3 old tires. A lovely bonfire while dancing naked to a Joni Mitchell CD in honor of Gaia is in the works.

[richfisher]

Three words:
Tree
Cut
Ting

(Without municipal approval)
/Ha doesn't count cause it's in brackets/

[Tard]

I've got 5 cars, four of them with V8 motors.

Gonna drive them in a long chain until I run out of gas, then have them all towed home by a huge diesel tow truck, while smoking in front of children.

[DanMan]

This calls for firing up the El Co Conquista! I love the smell of unburned fuel in the air.

[Andrea Harris]

I'll be doing lots of driving, I think. Gotta burn some of Gaia's blood off.

[aelfheld]

A gallon of coffee, bacon, eggs, toast, followed by a leisurely smoke. Then I'll set the yard on fire 'cause anything beats having to rake leaves.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1438386516]

My carbon action will involve meat on a grill. :)

[Killer Kane]

I'll do the worst thing of all: lead my life exactly as it is now.

[Kgarrett]

I'm adding extra oil to my two-stroke edger and weed whacker. Then set the mixture extra rich.

[Ike]

I think I'll burn a few copies of "Earth in the Balance" and anything by Paul Ehrlich.

But no Koran, because that might offend people.

[Tracy Hammac]

I'll crank up the 47 Packard 7 passenger sedan, all 5,000 pounds of American made steel back when cars were cars. That 356 cid 9 main bearing 165 HP straight eight gets me there in luxury, no matter how long it takes and at 7 MPG, has got to make Al Gore go batshit. Nothing better than driving a car that needs a calender to calculate drive time instead of a clock.

[Hutch1200]

I'll shoot ya a video of me doing a burn out on my 95", 121 hp (121=strip tune, 106 street tune) Harley Lowrider. I'll include the dyno sheet, if needed, for you schmucks that will call bullshit on the 121 hp #'s!
I'll use my 26' Powerquest "drug boat" with its' injected 502/502hp as the background.

[Socpupit]

I'm sure #tcot will find this amusing, but we in #p2 see through it. This entire concept is absurd. It's almost as if you want to make a joke out of saving the planet.

I wish I could add more, but the batteries are low on my solar-powered iPad, so I have to hop in the Denali HYBRID (23 MPG of union-built Detroit engineering thank you very much!) to get to Starbucks for a soy latte while the iPad communes with Sol.

[Aquatone282]

I'm gonna feed my dog bratwurst.

[Wanderlust]

Hey Dave, you forgot the "Gaia: the ultimate MILF" tagline...

[twitter.com/pikkumatti]

We'll be at our local zero-carbon-footprint shrine (see http://tinyurl.com/2atc2wq ). We heard they'll have the roof and end walls open -- hope they'll be running the air conditioners with the windows open for 10/10/10!!!

We'll be driving the V8 Yukon out there too, to mark the day.

[iowahawk]

(quick note -- I changed comments settings so newest comments are first)

[Vivian Louise]

I'll use my gas powered leaf blower instead of my rake.
I'll leave the AC on and open my windows.
I'll drive my car to the end of my driveway to pick up the paper and then drive it the 10 feet back to the top.

[Charliefreak]

I promise only open-mouth breathing this Sunday to maximize my output. I would invite all of your fans to do the same, but I suspect, being Iowahawk fans, they already do.

[Sarah Wells]

I think I'll probably run the furnace and the AC AT THE SAME TIME!