The Fires of Fukushima
Back in the 1960’s Nuclear Power was pitched as “Too Cheap to Meter.” Today the state of the art can be summarized in 15 words:
Chernobyl, Fukushima, San Onofre, Fort Calhoun, Indian Point, Radioactive Waste, Evacuation Plans and Emergency Response. Continue reading
In December, 2012 I created two portfolios, a “Sustainable Energy” portfolio comprised of 8 stocks in the solar, LED lighting, wind and biofuel sectors, and a “Fossil Fuel” portfolio, comprised of 8 stocks in the coal, oil, and fracking sectors. The results, after seven months, as illustrated above:
The Sustainable Energy portfolio more than doubled: it is up 101.77%
The Reference Fossil Fuel portfolio is up 5.4%
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 18.75%
The S&P 500 is up 18.6%.
The Sustainable Energy portfolio has significantly outperformed the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 and the Fossil Fuel portfolio.
These data are summarized in table 1 and below. Continue reading
Frank Pallone, D. NJ
Sea Bright, New Jersey, July 11, 2013. I joined Cindy Zipf of Clean Ocean Action, (fact sheet) U.S, Rep Frank Pallone, campaign, and many citizens, including two children, one about 6, the other about 9. We spoke with eloquence, passion, and wisdom of the need to protect the shore, the biosphere, the bio-human-sphere.
“We need to build a clean and sustainable energy infrastructure,” I concluded, “one based on solar, wind, wave, geothermal and sustainable biofuels; an infrastructure for the future. These distributed systems can be designed to withstand natural disasters, human error and terrorist attack. Our future is at stake, and our children’s future.”
I spoke for about 3 minutes, cutting my prepared remarks about in half.
This is not a partisan issue. Rep Pallone and I are Democrats. Governor Christie is a Republican. The Governor wisely vetoed an identical project in 2011 has promised to veto new deepwater LNG transfer ports. Senator Buono and environmental / citizens groups should hold the governor to his promises. This is a disaster waiting to happen.
We need to look to the rooftops for solar, the oceans for wind and wave power, to geothermal differentials for heat and electricity, to build an infrastructure for the 21st Century.
China Air Pollution 中国空气污染
The Bitter Years Return 的苦涩年返回
Projection of air pollution deaths in China, based on reported deaths in 2006 and 2010.
During the “Bitter Years” from 1958 to 1962, an estimated 15 to 43 million people died of starvation in China (wikipedia). Mao, who ate well during that time, did not want help from the west. Fast forward to today. It has been reported that due to air pollution, an estimated 650,000 people died in China in 2006, and another estimated 1.2 million died in 2010. Knowing these 2 data points of this dynamic system, we can plot a curve. The blue line assumes a linear curve, the red line, the exponential uptick of a sigmoid curve. Assuming reinforcing feedback, the red curve is more likely.
The three most important questions are
The short answer to Question 1 is “Very.” If this is as serious as I think it is, the challenge for the government of the People’s Republic of China as for other governments, will be to stop polluting and clean up the pollution it has allowed to be dispersed into the bio-humano-sphere. However, this conflicts with the apparent goal of the Chinese government to be the world’s biggest producer of stuff without regard to pollution.
After Six Months,
These data are summarized in table 1 and discussed below the fold. Continue reading
Jon Soroko, Gretchen Kehde, circa 2001
Jon Soroko, co-founder of Popular Logistics, died in his sleep late Monday afternoon, May 13, 2013, at his home in Brooklyn, New York.
Ground Zero in Ruins. Courtesy CBS News
Adan Gonzalez, 69, died of throat cancer in April, 2015. Mr. Gonzalez had been a photographer and a volunteer at the World Trade Center site, working for two years as a photographer documenting the event and serving other volunteers.
Mr. Gonzalez is one of 1,712 First Responders who died due to the Sept. 11 attacks, 412 who died the day of the attacks (wikipedia) and 1,300 who died from medical complications arising from their search and rescue work. Over 40% of the 4,053 people who died in or resulting from the attack, not counting soldiers killed in Afghanistan or Iraq, or who died after returning home were first responders engaged in search and rescue or cleanup operations, a humanitarian mission.
Two new shirts.
Both of the shirts pictured above are “Reaction” brand shirts from “Kenneth Cole.”
Continue reading
Craig Fugate
After bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013, the FBI and the Boston Police tracked down the alleged terrorists, who in the course of their flight killed a cop at MIT, hijacked a Mercedes, fired and threw bombs at police, and tried to ram the police with the stolen car. Continue reading
The trend is clear – if 4 1/2 months is enough to establish a trend – the Sustainable Energy portfolio is up 58.78% from 12/21/12 while the Fossil Fuel portfolio is only up 6.71%. The Dow is up 15.49% and the S&P 500 is up 14.24% in that same period.
Is it because Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide has reached 400 PPM? (NPR / NY Times) Is Wall Street reacting because Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and other investment banks and hedge funds are hiring analysts from Greenpeace or people like me with MBAs in Sustainability from Marlboro, the Presidio, and the Bainbridge Institute? Continue reading
Atmospheric CO2, Measured at Mauna Loa, 1960 – Present
Atmospheric CO2 hit 400 PPM on Thursday, May 9, 2013, as measured at the Koana Loa observatory. This is an increase of 85 ppm, 26.98%, from 1960. This is why Bill McKibben, of 350.org, calls our planet Eaarth. It’s weather, climate, and ecology are different than the one those of us who are over 30 – or over 12 – were born on. National Geographic, summed it up well, here:
“Greenhouse gas highest since the Pliocene, when sea levels were higher and the Earth was warmer.”
The scientists are taking the data – increased atmospheric carbon dioxide – and asking two questions:
The journalists and bloggers, like Geoffrey Lean, at the Telegraph, asks, here, “Did the contentious global warming ‘hockey stick’ graph get it right?” He could have asked “Did the scientists – and the environmentalists – get it right? And if so, shouldn’t we stop burning fossil fuels?”
FAA plan to terminate airport weather observers raises travel safety concerns – FAA plan to terminate airport weather observers raises travel safety concerns (WaPo)
Garry’s email
In the spirit of making Guv’mint less of a burden on its o’er taxed
citizens, the FAA has opined that traffic controllers can look out the
window as well as weather observers, so you only have to pay one of the
bunch.
But on a nice, hot, July afternoon along the Atlantic shore, with the
cumulonimbus topping off at 20K and warm air advection shooting up to
the tropopause, you think JFK/LGA/EWR air traffic controllers will
have the time to plot developing wind shear? When fish-tailing planes
are keeping them – oh – somewhat preoccupied?
Sometimes, a little redundancy is OK.
FAA plan to terminate airport weather observers raises travel safety concerns
(Washington Post – Jason Samenow)
GRO
PS – On the other hand, if the air traffic controllers can’t cope,
they’ll just have to close airports more often, so airlines have to
pick up the tab on diverted equipment and crews, and passengers on the
cost of being at the wrong airport, so all of the money that FAA saves
gets spent in spades in the private sector. Plus some. I’m sure
everyone will be pleased…
Jon’s comment:
Frontline, the WGBH/PBS investigative news show, will air “Top Secret America” After the Boston Bombings tonight on PBS stations. Local station listings can be found here.
Have the hundreds of billions of dollars spent since Sept. 11 on counterterrorism efforts in America made us safer?
In response to the recent terrorist bombings in Boston, FRONTLINE will take a definitive look at that timely, urgent question next Tuesday, April 30, in Top Secret America – 9/11 to the Boston Bombings, an updated version of our film which originally aired in September 2011. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Dana Priest traces the journey from 9/11 to the marathon bombings, examines efforts to improve information sharing among federal agencies tasked with keeping us safe and investigates the secret history of the 12-year battle against terrorism.
Everything You Need To Know About Ricin, The Poison Mailed To President ObamaRicin is one of the most poisonous substances on Earth, its scarily easy to make, and somebody is mailing it to the President and at least one U.S. senator. What it is, how it works, and more, inside.By Dan Nosowitz
via Everything You Need To Know About Ricin, The Poison Mailed To President Obama | Popular Science.