popular logistics

On a recent trip to San Francisco, along with tours of the Muir Woods, the Legion of Honor and the de Young Museums, I took a side trip off the beaten path into a redwood forest in Oakland. The redwoods and Sequoias are truly majestic, even the ones in Golden Gate Park, yet most of the hillsides are deforested, most of the trees are gone.

And U. C. Berkeley wants to chop down more trees to build an athletic field. I understand the sentiments of the “treehuggers” who are opposed to the idea, who question the relative importance of athletic fields and old growth forest. But like Treehugger.Com, I think a compromise is in order. About 10 years ago, my wife and I planted a willow and a white pine in our backyard. They grew from whips five or six feet in height and less than an inch in diameter to about 30 feet in height and 12 to 18 inches in diameter. I have a two suggestions. First, we all plant one or two trees each year. Second, for each of the trees they cut down, U. C. Berkeley plants ten trees this year and two trees per year in perpetuity. These should be Redwoods, Sequoia, Oaks and other native species, and they should be planted all over the Bay Area and northern California until the deforested areas are reforested. John Chapman - aka “Johnny Appleseed” - would be proud.

The positive environmental impact, in terms of sequestered carbon, restored animal habitat, and what in Bhutan they call Gross Domestic Happiness - GDH - would be terrific.

“Adapt or Die” says Gary Yohe, economist at Wesleyan and co-author of the UN study on climate change, on Marketplace this morning. Growing seasons will lengthen, rainfall patterns will change.

Some people are in denial. George Bush, Dick Cheney, and their cheerleaders. Others are adapting. You can see solar panels on homes in California and New Jersey. Their visionary owners have no electric bill; their solar powered roof top power plants will pay for themselves 8 or 10 times during their 40 year life-span.

We see wind farms in operation from Jersey to Texas to California. More are on the horizon. Power without pollution. Wind Power. Solar Power. No greenhouse gases, no radioactive wastes, no mercury. Clean Energy.

If Vestas, harnessing the wind to produce 30% of Denmark’s electric power, may be the Apple Computer of wind power, GE is the IBM, legitimizing the industry with Arklow Bank as IBM did when they introduced their PC in 1981.

Evergreen, First Solar, and Sunpower may be leap-frogging each other for “best” solar panels. Meanwhile BP, the energy company that sees itself moving “Beyond Petroleum,” manufactures solar panels in factories in Maryland, Spain, Germany, and India, for sale in Home Depot.

The best example of adapt or die can be seen in the auto industry. Honda and Toyota offer hybrids with low emissions, good mileage, and great performance. Ford and GM are still pushing gas guzzlers. Big SUV’s are only profitable when they are sold, not while rusting on dealer lots. Wall Street is voting with its “Market Capitalization” and Main Street is voting with its wallet.