environment Politics: fossil fuels Peak Oil transportation
by Warren
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Year 3, Month 1, Day 5: You Can’t Get There From Here
The San Francisco Bay Area would seem to need an upgraded regional public transportation system (San Jose Mercury-News):
“We want to get a sense of whether the public wants this region to continue growing in a way it has for several decades, or whether the public is ready for a change,” said Lisa Klein, a senior transportation planner for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
The commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments are jointly developing the plan.
Denser development with more homes per acre near transit centers reduces people’s need to drive to work, school, stores and play, planners say.
But some critics are uncomfortable with the trend they see as heavy-handed pressure to push residents into “stack and pack” housing.
“They base their utopian model on high-density housing with shops underneath, no parking, but a lot of cycling and walking,” said Heather Gass, an Alamo real estate saleswoman, in a blog post critical of the growth plan. “What these people don’t seem to understand is that people move to the suburbs to get away from this type of urban lifestyle.”
Assholes. Sent January 1:
While people may indeed be moving to the suburbs to escape a bike-and-walk urban lifestyle, as a real estate spokeswoman suggests, there is another sort of escape happening in the dispute over increased public transportation in the Bay Area. Simply put, that is the desire to continue convenient amenities while ignoring inconvenient facts.
Like it or not, the next twenty years will see a transformation of American transportation that will outdo the introduction of the automobile in the previous century. As fossil fuels become more expensive in the short term (due to burgeoning extraction costs) we’ll become increasingly aware of how expensive they are in the long term (what with cleanup costs, health impacts, resource wars and the impact of global climate change). And it will become obvious that a car-based economy is no longer sustainable.
Cities and regions that prepare intelligently for this crisis will prosper in the ensuing decades.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: assholes climate science denialists idiots Republicans
by Warren
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Year 3, Month 1, Day 4: Nattering Nabobs? Pointy-Headed Professors? Experts? We Don’t Need No Steeeeeenkin’ Experts!
The NYT has a year’s-end editorial noting the GOP’s reality problem:
Is there a connection between last year’s extreme weather events and global warming? The answers might be a lot clearer if the Republicans in Congress were less hostile to climate change research.
A typical year in the United States features three or four weather disasters costing more than $1 billion. In 2009 there were nine. Last year brought a dozen, at a cost of $52 billion, making it the most extreme year for weather since accurate record keeping began in the 19th century. There was drought in the Southwest while Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee destroyed homes and rerouted rivers in the Northeast. The most severe tornado ever recorded, and the most tornadoes recorded in a single month, flailed the Southeast. Floods drowned the Midwest.
Climate researchers have been cautious about linking individual events to rising global temperatures. Yet the evidence tells us the earth is warming, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity. And many of last year’s extreme weather events were consistent with the effects of climate change. A warming atmosphere will hold more water, supplying the fuel for storms; steadily rising temperatures are likely to promote droughts. Climate is a complex subject, and definitive answers will require more study. But as Justin Gillis recently noted in The Times, the political climate for that is not favorable. House Republicans, many of whom reject the scientific consensus about the human causes of global warming, took aim at almost every program that had to do with global warming. Senate negotiators managed to protect most in the 2012 budget, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the hub of much of the government’s research into the effects of climate change on weather — took a big hit.
If we can’t disprove the evidence, let’s attack the experts! This letter is the first time I’ve specifically linked the China purges to climate denial, which I think is rather clever. Sent December 31:
Just as it’s impossible to link individual weather events to global climate change, we cannot establish direct connections between specific conservative denials of factual evidence and the GOP’s multi-decade crusade against science education. This reluctance to make promiscuous causal links is a feature of rational thought.
Irrational thought, by contrast, finds its political expression in Reaganesque government-by-anecdote, in pandering to religious zealotry, and in the dismissal of expertise as “elitist” (their desperate rejection of climate science has parallels throughout the GOP’s history, as witness the McCarthy-era purges of China experts from the State Department).
Just as climatologists have predicted for years that the world’s climate will be gravely affected by an escalating greenhouse effect, sociologists and political scientists have long suggested that increasing irrationality in American education, media and public discourse will ultimately destroy the Jeffersonian ideal of a “well-educated citizenry.” Unsurprisingly, those elitist experts have been proved correct. Again.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: China corporate irresponsibility idiots Industrialized nations media irresponsibility Republicans sustainability
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Year 3, Month 1, Day 3: TSTS
Florida Today’s Randall Parkinson has a good analysis of our industrial policy paralysis:
This year, China surpassed the United States as the world’s largest investor in green technology.
The country is rapidly emerging as the world’s leader in clean-energy innovation and manufacturing. It now produces more wind turbines and solar panels each year than any other country.
This was accomplished remarkably fast because China recognized its rising economic power can be sustained only by ensuring access to abundant energy, food and water resources. This requires development of noncarbon-based energy and a stable climate.
Many other countries, like Japan, South Korea and India, also are facilitating the commercial development of green technologies.
Unfortunately, efforts to create a similar technology boom in the United States have paled by comparison, thanks to a very small group of lobbyists.
These merchants of doubt have convinced some members of Congress climate change is not real and the country’s long-term energy policy should focus on more, not less, fossil fuel exploration and production. As a consequence, we have ceded growth in green technology, jobs and related income to overseas companies that now profitably export their goods and expertise to the U.S.
I consider myself a proud American. Watching this shit go on (and on and on and on) is an utter embarrassment. Sent December 30:
Those same political candidates fetishizing American exceptionalism enthusiastically advocate policies that would permanently cement our nation’s status as an also-ran. Nowhere is this disconnect between rhetoric and action more evident than in our laggardly response to the challenge of global climate change. Although scientific evidence demonstrates to all but the willfully deluded that the greenhouse effect is wreaking havoc on the planetary ecosystems that sustain our species, self-styled “deficit hawks” relentlessly advocate for failure.
We must fail to develop new energy sources, to mount a robust response to a genuine existential threat, to retool our infrastructure to cope with the extreme weather events triggered by atmospheric warning, to educate our citizens about the dangers ahead, to take responsibility for our century of massive greenhouse emissions.
Why must we fail? The “fiscally conservative” answer: we can’t afford it. Meet the new face of penny-wise, pound-foolish American exceptionalism: too stingy to succeed.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: British Petroleum Citizens United corporate irresponsibility corporate personhood Deepwater Horizon
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Year 3, Month 1, Day 2: And They DEFINITELY Shouldn’t Be Allowed To Get Married!
Looks like some underlings are gonna feel some heat:
U.S. prosecutors are preparing what would be the first criminal charges against BP PLC employees stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident, which killed 11 workers and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, said people familiar with the matter.
Prosecutors are focused on several Houston-based engineers and at least one of their supervisors at the British oil company, though the breadth of the investigation isn’t known. The prosecutors assert the employees may have provided false information to regulators about the risks associated with the Gulf of Mexico well while its drilling was in progress, these people said.
As the bumper sticker says, I’ll believe corporations are people when I see Texas execute one. Sent December 29:
Now that the Citizens United decision has helped establish corporate personhood as part of America’s legal fabric, we should all be asking questions about what happens when corporations break the law. Given the conservative/libertarian mantra of “individual responsibility,” one would expect “persons” like British Petroleum to be held fully responsible for their misdeeds.
An individual who, through gross incompetence, destroyed vast swaths of ocean habitat, killed thousands upon thousands of living things, and wiped out local economies would be rightly treated as a criminal. The available evidence suggests that BP’s malfeasance extends all the way up the corporate ladder, with safety and environmental concerns systemically neglected in an all-consuming rush for greater profits.
What BP did to the Gulf of Mexico, the fossil fuel industry as a whole is doing to Earth’s atmosphere. It is time for these corporate “persons” to be indicted and tried for their criminally negligent behavior.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: creativity innovation Solar solar power
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Year 3, Month 1, Day 1: Happy New Year, Everybody!
The Chicago Sun-Times runs an article on Prashant Kamat’s solar paint.
A team of University of Notre Dame scientists say they’ve developed a “solar paint” that can inexpensively harness the sun’s power.
The “Sun-Believable” paint moves the silicon-based solar power industry into new territory by using nanoparticles that act as semiconductors to turn sunlight into power.
The Notre Dame team — whose findings appear in the journal ACS Nano — created its paint from tiny particles of titanium dioxide coated with one of two cadmium-based substances. That’s mixed with a water-alcohol mixture to create a paste. When the paste is brushed onto a transparent conducting material and exposed to light, it creates electricity.
The paint’s best light-to-energy conversion efficiency is just 1 percent. But its developers are working to boost that.
I had originally sent a letter to the paper in South Bend, IN — but they told me if I wasn’t a local, they wouldn’t publish it. So I wound up rewriting that letter for the Sun-Times. Sent December 28:
There is no “silver bullet” to halt the slow-motion disaster of global climate change. To handle such a multi-dimensional problem, our country must harness the innovation and creativity of its citizens. The solar paint recently announced by researchers at Notre Dame is an excellent example of what our tax dollars could be funding.
For decades, our contributions have supported the fossil fuel industry with substantial subsidies and tax breaks. Oil and coal were never cheap. We are just beginning to appreciate the health and environmental costs of a century’s worth of burned carbon — not to mention the elaborate and costly machinery of war.
By contrast, government support for projects like Professor Kamat’s paint would be a natural in a sustainability-focused economy. If my tax dollars went to build a new energy infrastructure and address the threat of climate chaos, I’d feel a whole lot happier every April 15.
Warren Senders
environment: Big Coal coal economics
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Year 2, Month 12, Day 31: A Gloomy Old Soul…
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Business section runs an article on the status of Big Coal in the region:
The coal called “king” in this region, an acknowledgment of its presence and power, sometimes seems in danger of facing a coup.
Just in the past week, federal agencies announced stricter regulations on pollution for coal-fired plants, with even former Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome Bettis filming commercials to strong-arm legislators into passing the restrictions.
Add into the mix a natural gas boom that’s overwhelming the region and its lawmakers. Then there are the alternative options such as nuclear and wind energy that have won endorsements from the White House.
With the pressure coming from all sides, the monarchy appears threatened.
But a look at coal’s ever-overpowering numbers suggests a different narrative and proves the black rock remains as much a local institution as the football team for which Mr. Bettis once lined up in the backfield. The state still contains so much coal that it produces more power than its citizens and businesses need, with the extra used to light major metropolitan zones along the heavily populated East Coast.
Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette! Sent December 27:
When two realities collide, they can do a lot of damage. The slow-motion catastrophe of climate change is bringing us more extreme and unpredictable weather; naysayers find it increasingly difficult to reject the climatological evidence that humanity’s overconsumption of fossil fuels poses a deadly danger to the planet. That’s one reality.
On the other hand, America’s economy is understood to depend on plentiful cheap energy, which means, more than anything, coal. That’s another reality.
Representatives of the industry hold economic growth as a top priority, and call environmentalists “unrealistic” for decrying the link between burning black rock and burgeoning greenhouse effect. However, the reverse is equally true: by denying or covering up scientific evidence and analyses that could impact their profit margins, coal companies reject the reality of their product’s toxic consequences.
Ultimately, the laws of physics and chemistry will win; they always do. Will human beings be the losers?
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Christians denialists religion
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Year 2, Month 12, Day 30: May He Touch You With His Noodly Appendage
The Mankato Free Press (Mankato, MN) runs a piece about an evangelical Christian with some scientific background who is attempting to win over her flock:
Hallelujah to spreading the word about climate change.
That’s what climatologist, and evangelical Christian, Katharine Hayhoe is doing.
She doesn’t think being a scientist and Christian cancel each other out. She has chosen to be vocal about her trust in scientific data while retaining her beliefs as a Christian. She is married to an evangelical pastor and is the daughter of missionaries.
And she has a lot of guts for putting herself out there to spread the word about how real global warming is. It can’t be easy to be a scientist in the South where in the past few years conservative Christians have been claiming climate change is a hoax.
Her own words give a clear impression of how levelheaded she is: “People ask me if I believe in global warming. I tell them, ‘No, I don’t,’ because belief is faith; faith is the evidence of things not seen. Science is evidence of things seen. To have an open mind, we have to use the brains that God gave us to look at the science.”
Well. Every little bit helps; if she can get this community to wake the hell up, more power to her. Only if our species survives can we gradually wean the majority of humans away from the delusions of religion. The Mankato Free Press has a 275-word limit, so I let myself expand a bit.
Sent December 26:
When fundamentalist Christians deny measurable reality in their rejection of global climate change, they undercut their own credibility. The commonly accepted picture of evangelicals is that they are almost pathologically vehement in their rejection of science and scientific thinking; while a few do believe planetary warming exists, these folks are readier to attribute it to an impending Armageddon rather than the greenhouse effect, an empirically verifiable phenomenon caused by too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Most “true believers” have no problem accepting the evidence of science when it does not pose immediate conflicts with their biblical ideology. They vaccinate their children against polio, ride in airplanes, use the telephone and the internet, share photographs, drink pasteurized milk and in most respects confirm the validity and efficacy of scientific methods. What makes climate change so different?
Simply: the fact that Republican politics relies on oil companies for money — but on fundamentalist Christians for votes. Preparing for the threat of runaway climate change will require a dramatic change in America’s energy economy which will mean reduced profits for Big Oil. These corporate malefactors have responded by heavily funding a great deal of disinformation in our media — and conservative Christians have swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.
Kudos to Katharine Hayhoe for her readiness to spread the word, and her readiness to express the urgency of the crisis from the perspective of her faith.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: innovation solar power sustainability
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Year 2, Month 12, Day 29: Government Should Be The Tool Of The People…
The South Bend Tribune (IN) runs a teaser on a group at Notre Dame who’ve done something awesome:
SOUTH BEND -A team of University of Notre Dame scientists say they’ve developed a “solar paint” that can inexpensively harness the sun’s power.
The team says its “Sun-Believable” paint moves the silicon-based solar power industry into new territory by using nanoparticles that act as semiconductors to turn sunlight into power. Their findings appear in the journal ACS Nano.
The Notre Dame team led by biochemistry professor Prashant Kamat created its paint from tiny particles of titanium dioxide coated with one of two cadmium-based substances. That’s mixed with a water-alcohol mixture to create a paste. When the paste is brushed onto a transparent conducting material and exposed to light, it creates electricity.
It’s nice to read good news. The interesting question was how to turn such a bare piece into a possibly publishable letter. Sent December 25:
The Notre Dame team’s newly announced solar paint is important not only as a fresh initiative in the ongoing struggle against the looming catastrophe of global climate change, but as a reminder of what a reality-based government could be doing with our tax dollars.
In an energy economy based on fossil fuels, our taxes fund substantial corporate subsidies for oil and coal, not to mention some very expensive wars. Furthermore, we’ve got to clean up the messes left by our century-long carbon binge, and address the health impacts of an awful lot of pollution. That’ll cost us.
In an energy economy based on renewable sources, by contrast, contributions to our government would fund projects like Professor Prashant Kamat’s paint — and we wouldn’t have to pay the price in blood and treasure to protect our sources of supply.
I know what I’d rather buy with my tax dollars. Do you?
Warren Senders
environment: economics timescale
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Year 2, Month 12, Day 28: I’m Writing Four Days Ahead Of Schedule. Is That Long-Term Enough For You?
Long Island’s “Newsday” runs a thoughtful piece from Kavita Rajagopalan, titled “Climate-change waiting game.” It’s worth a read:
It’s the end of another year, a time to look back and take stock, maybe even make a resolution or two for the future. And there’s no bigger future to contend with than that of the planet. Unfortunately, after two weeks of intense negotiations at the 17th United Nations conference on climate change earlier this month, leaders from nearly 200 countries resolved to . . . wait.
Holding off on serious and coordinated global action to reduce emissions not only drives us closer to irreversible climate change, it gives us the false sense that we really aren’t in the grave danger that we are.
Although delegates agreed to draft a new treaty holding all nations to the same emissions standards and rules, they also agreed they it wouldn’t come into force until 2020. In the meantime, the contentious and flawed Kyoto Protocol emissions standards — which the United States never ratified — have been extended by another decade.
We don’t have another decade to put off a global resolution on climate change. The Global Carbon Project, an international collaboration of scientists tracking climate change data, recently reported that global carbon dioxide emissions increased by 5.9 percent in 2010, the largest ever recorded annual jump. This amounts to an additional half billion tons of carbon in our air.
In the last decade, global carbon emissions rose by an average of 3 percent each year, up from the 1 percent annual growth rate of the 1990s. Despite increasingly urgent warnings from leading scientists all over the world, the move toward a concerted global effort to bring down emissions and work together to mitigate climate change has been slow.
Why?
It’s interesting, trying to learn what our tribal ancestors did without thinking: incorporating long-term impacts into our collective decision-making. Sent December 24:
If the industrialized nations are to respond successfully to the challenges posed by the climate crisis, we must change more than our patterns of energy usage. Those ways of living are symptoms of some very deeply rooted misconceptions which must be transformed if the struggle against a changing climate is to end well for us all.
Because Earth’s resources are finite, we can no longer idealize an economy based on the notion of continuous expansion (as Edward Abbey put it, “growth for growth’s sake is the ideology of the cancer cell”). Because the atmospheric changes wrought by our past century’s extravagant consumption of carbon fuels will take thousands of years to go away, we can no longer afford to focus only on the satisfactions and frustrations of the present moment. To accomplish a sustainable society, we — all of us — must learn to think in the long term.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: corporate irresponsibility timescale
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Year 2, Month 12, Day 27: A Long, Long, Time Ago In A Galaxy Right Here
The North Island Gazette (BC) runs a vaguely philosophical column on Canada’s withdrawal from Kyoto and all that it implies:
Canada is the first country to formally pull out of the Kyoto Accord. Of course with this comes all the politics of lies sitting under the tongue like salted honey from all political corners.
Elizabeth May of the Green Party says it’s going to be a disaster.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien used good old fear factoring when he said: “Next may be a woman’s right to choose, or gay marriage,” implying the Conservatives will shut them down.
The drama of Earth’s climate has unfolded over such a long period of time it is almost impossible to comprehend as humans, as a species we barely register in the annals of Earth’s history.
If climate history was condensed into one year, the entire evolution of our species would have occurred just over four hours.
It’s nice to see someone writing about timescale issues. Sent December 23:
Most human endeavors operate on short timescales: months, years, decades. Consequently, it’s extremely difficult for us to grasp the implications of the changes industrialized civilization has made to the atmosphere — implications unfolding over centuries and millennia. A thousand years ago Europe was in the middle of the Dark Ages. A thousand years from now, the CO2 we’ve emitted over the past century will start to dissipate. If our species is lucky, by 4011 our descendants will learn about the Hot Ages in history class.
As a citizen of the country with the world’s highest per capita greenhouse emissions, I am sorry to see Canada joining the United States in rejecting meaningful policies for addressing the coming climate catastrophe. The corporate forces of climate-change denial have a strong hold on the news and opinion media of both countries, and are equally enmeshed in their politics — a recipe for disaster.
Warren Senders