Tag Archives: Climate Change

Unsustainable Energy and Climate Reality

“Climate models,” according to Daniel Baer and Noah Gordon, in the Washington Post, here, “are complicated things. They must consider a staggering number of mathematical and physical variables to predict, for instance, how emitting a given amount of carbon dioxide will change the flows of air, water and heat between the atmosphere and the oceans. More sophisticated projections go further, showing how temperature changes will affect rainfall in a certain region, which in turn will affect crop yields and, as a result, the carbon cycle.”

However, as illustrated above, from “Climate.gov,” here, atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentrations have increased close to 50% since 1750, when they were under 280 ppm, to around 420 ppm today.

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Annual Flooding in Miami

Miami during Hurricane Irma in 2017. Image by Kevin Hagan for the NY Times

“Climate Change,” according to Ban Ki Moon and Francis Suarez, writing in the New York Times, here, “is not a distant threat for Miami; it’s a daily presence in people’s lives. The city has been fighting to stay above water for decades. It knows that its future as a vibrant international hub for business, tourism, arts and culture depends on making the city more resilient to the impact of global warming.”

Eileen Mignoni, In “Flooding is the new normal in Miami In Miami,” here, in Yale Climate Connections, wrote, “sea-level rise is not a problem for future generations. It’s a present-day reality.

Moon, the former Secretary General of the U.N. and Suarez, Miami’s Mayor, wrote,

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Floods, Oil, Climate Change

Image of Louis Marquez carries his dog, Dallas, through floodwaters after rescuing the dog from his flooded apartment Tuesday in Houston. A FedEx van is in water up to middle of the headlights (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Louis Marquez carries his dog, Dallas, through floodwaters after rescuing the dog from his flooded apartment Tuesday in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

In the spring of this year, the news media reported floods in Texas, Oklahoma, Mexico, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Australia and elsewhere.

9 US soldiers were lost in floods around Fort Hood in Texas.
Other Americans have died in the flooding in Oklahoma.
The Louve and Orsay museums in Paris are closed and moving priceless art to higher ground to protect it from the floods.

What’s going on?

Elementary chemistry. Continue reading →

Chris Christie, “Gov. Iwazaru” – The Monkey Who Cannot Speak

Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil

Three Monkeys

Chris Christie

Chris Christie is like Iwazaru, the monkey who cannot speak.

As reported by Christopher Baxter, in the Star Ledger, in 2011, here, while he vetoed a bill, S2996, that would have required New Jersey to work with other states to limit the greenhouse gases that scientists say are changing the climate, Gov. Christie said, “climate change is real.” He also said “human activity plays a role in these changes” and that climate change is “impacting our state.”

In a rare moment of humility, he also said, “I can’t claim to fully understand all of this. Certainly not after just a few months of study. But when you have over 90 percent of the world’s scientists who have studied this stating that climate change is occurring and that humans play a contributing role it’s time to defer to the experts.”

He added that climate science is complex and “we know enough to know that we are at least part of the problem.” But that was in 2011. Before Hurricane Sandy.

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In RE Carbon Dioxide – The EPA is Listening

Hurricane Sandy, NOAA handout satellite image taken on October 27, 2012.

Hurricane Sandy, via satellite, 10/27/12, NOAA

The people at the Environmental Protection Agency understand the issue of increasing atmospheric Carbon Dioxide above 350 PPM. And EPA is listening. EPA has held two public comment periods in New York City on 10/23/13 and will hold nine additional public comment hearings across the country to “solicit ideas and input from the public and stakeholders about the best Clean Air Act approaches to reducing carbon pollution from existing power plants.”

Boston, MA	11/04/13	Philadelphia, PA	11/08/13
Chicago, IL	11/08/13	San Francisco, CA	11/05/13
Dallas, TX	11/07/13	Seattle, WA	11/07/13
Denver, CO	10/30/13	Washington, DC	11/07/13
Lenexa, KS	11/04/13

Click HERE to register.

And as President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Speak softly …”

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Jersey Shore 350.org:Tues. 9/3/13, Stay Gold Cafe, Belmar, NJ, 6:00 PM

Jersey Shore Damage from Hurricane Sandy. U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Mark C. Olsen

Approximately 97% of climate scientists agree that climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities, which have increased atmospheric CO2 from roughly 265 parts per million, PPM, in 1800 to 400 PPM today. Many of these scientists and climate experts agree we must reduce the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere from current levels to below 350 PPM.

Along with climate-warming comes extreme weather, and events like Hurricane Irene, 2011, Hurricane Sandy, 2012. 350 Jersey Shore aims to inform New Jersey residents of our climate challenges, and provide solutions to help reduce carbon emissions locally and beyond.

Organized by Stephen Fowler of Echo Movement, 350 Jersey Shore, an arm of 350.0rg is meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013 at 6:00 PM at the Stay Gold Cafe, Belmar, NJ. ( Event Link )

Buono for New Jersey

Popular Logistics is a Policy Blog, not a Politics Blog. However, as Deborah Stone wrote in “The Policy Paradox,” ISBN 0393-976-254, In order to make policy you need to win at politics.

NJ State Senator Barbara Buono, a progressive Democrat, has a diametrically opposed political philosophy – and a very different leadership style, compared to Gov. Chris Christie. She has been fighting for the middle class since starting her career, and promises to continue to fight for the middle class if elected Governor.

When I called the election for Senator Buono (here) and criticized Gov. Christie (here) it was less an endorsement of Buono than a statement that we need to change direction. Based on the policy statements in her press releases, her statement at the Campaign kick-off, Saturday, Feb. 2, and very brief conversations I had with Senator Buono, as Governor, Barbara Buono would lead New Jersey in the right direction.

The most important questions are:

What would a Governor Buono do to develop a sustainable energy infrastructure and a healthy, sustainable economy?

How can she wield the power of the Governor’s office to strengthen the middle class and help the poor – to create good jobs, to lower the unemployment rate, lay a strong foundation for the future?

These are really the same question. Stay Tuned. I think we will find out over the next four to eight years.

Politics, Policy, & Jersey

Popular Logistics is a Policy Blog, not a Politics Blog. However, as Deborah Stone wrote in “The Policy Paradox,” ISBN 0393-976-254,

In order to make policy you need to win at politics.

Chris Christie, left, who is good at politics, seems to have made several serious policy blunders during his first term as Governor of New Jersey. I have questions about his capabilities in areas including Law & Order Fiscal Responsibility, Leadership, Mass Transit and Infrastructure and the Environment, and the intersection of these domains – the ‘Bio-Humano-Sphere’.

Law & Order: I am concerned about the concept of privatizing prisons and law enforcement agencies. Gov. Christie’s ties to his former boss and former partner Bill Palatucci, left, formerly of Community Education Centers, the company that operates most of the half-way houses in New Jersey’s privatized prison system, from which, as Mitt Romney might say, convicted felons “Self-Pardon”.
Fiscal Responsibility: there are Gov. Christie’s management of the “Race to the Top”, his supports of tax cuts for millionaires, and tax hikes on the middle class. He refuses to raise the minimum wage. He claims to not have raised taxes, yet he cut $7.4 million from woman’s health care, he is misusing Clean Energy funds to meet other obligations, and deferring funding on pensions.
Infrastructure & Mass Transit: we need more investment in infrastructure and mass transit. Gov. Christie killed the proposed new tunnel between NY and NJ.
The Biosphere / Environment / Bio-Humano-Sphere: while Gov. Christie may understand that global warming is a real problem, and while he vetoed the “Purgen” coal with sequestration plant; he pulled NJ out of the Regional Greenhouse Gases Initiative, RGGI and has not articulated a plan to modernize our electricity and energy infrastructure, or develop a renewable sustainable energy infrastructure.
Leadership: Rather than taking responsibility for the Race to the Top debacle, Gov. Christie blamed one-time rival Bret Schundler, who he appointed to head the team. He is, simply put, a bully. This is leadership at its worst.

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Global Warming, New York, The Jersey Shore, and Canada

Image 1: People enjoying the beach in Montreal, Canada, courtesy Jazz Hostels

While climate change and global warming will mean longer and hotter summers and shorter and warmer winters farther north in the northern hemisphere than previously, and even though we make like longer hotter summers and shorter, warmer winters …

Warmer and shorter winters mean thinner ice on frozen lakes – and people crashing through the thin ice and drowning in places like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Alaska, and Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Longer hotter summers also mean warmer oceans and an atmosphere that can hold more heat.

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What If … Gore had been President?

In the XB Cold Fingers song, “Sunbathing In Siberia,” (Listen / Try or Buy / Lyrics ) I wrote,

“If Gore had been awarded the White House
he’d chain us to Kyoto, don’t ya see.
There’d be solar panels on the rooftops,
wind power, clean power, almost free.”

While the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at energy, climate change, and the election of 2000; what if Gore had been the 43rd President?

In this series of posts, I’ll explore this scenario in terms of what it would have meant for the Supreme Court, foreign policy and defense.

Who would Gore have appointed to the Supreme Court?
How would they have decided Citizens United and Florence v Burlington?
What about September 11 – would the 19 terrorists have been able to hijack 4 planes and crash two into the World Trade Center and one into the Pentagon?
If so, would we have gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan?
If not, would we have gone to war in Iraq anyway?
And what about Iran? Israel? The Arab Spring?
And the economy here in the United States?

This next post in the series looks at the Supreme Court. Stay tuned.

Beyond Fuel – for the 21st Century – Cocoa Beach, Sept. 17

Tweet I will be presenting Beyond Fuel: From Consuming Natural Resources to Harnessing Natural Processes at the Space Coast Green Living Festival, Cocoa Beach, Florida, Sept 17, 2011. The festival is sponsored by the Cocoa Beach Surfrider Foundation and the Sierra Club Turtle Coast Group. It will be at the Cocoa Beach Courtyard by Marriott. Haley Sales, (Website / Facebook / Youtube),a local singer / songwriter, will perform.

Hayley Sales

Our current energy paradigm today is to fuel based. We burn oceans of oil and methane mountains of coal. And there are consequences. We suffer oil spills, polluted water, mercury, coal mine disasters, nuclear power plant melt-downs, we fight wars …

According to the DoE, in 2010 we burned 1,085,281 thousand short tons of coal and 15,022 thousand short tons of coke (here).

Wind and solar don’t burn fuel. The winds blow, the sun shines, you put a widget in the path of those moving particles in the air or those photons of light and you get electricity – without greenhouse gases, radioactive wastes, toxic wastes, and it costs less. So the question is not ‘Can we meet our energy needs with clean, sustainable renewable energy technologies?” The real question are How? How Much? And How quickly?

100% Clean Energy
100 Gigawatts Wind	$300 Billion
100 GW Marine Hydro	$300 B
50 GW Solar	$200 B
50 GW Geothermal	$200 B
200 GW Equiv Efficiency	$200 B
A Smart Grid	$100 B
500 GW or GW Equiv.	$1.3 Trillion

And we could do it within 25 Years if we wanted to.

Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute, coined the term “Negawatt” to mean energy you don’t need to buy, as in “The cheapest unit of energy is the one you don’t have to buy.” The next cheapest, the “nega-fuel-watt” is the unit of energy that doesn’t require fuel.

Flooding at Nebraska Nuclear Power Plants

Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant, June 16, 2011, flooded. No longer on the banks, but now flooded and within the Missouri River.

Courtesy of AP, NY Times, Fellowship of the Minds

Tweet Omaha, Nebraska. Flooding on the Missouri River at The Cooper and Fort Calhoun nuclear power stations. I suppose the good news is that given the flooding, one or both of these two Nebraska plants will be decommissioned after the floodwates recede, so there will soon be one or two fewer nuclear plants operating in the United States. And terrorists will have a difficult time attacking these plants now that they are surrounded by a moat. The real good news, if you can call it that, is that these floods are the result of heavy rains, not a tsunami triggered by an earthquake. The pressures are different. It is a steady buildup and which will be followed by steady decrease. It is not the surge / vacuum of a tsunami. And there was no earthquake and series of aftershocks.

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Would Ayn Rand be Concerned about Climate Change? You Betcha!

Tweet On Ayn Rand, Objectivism, and Climate Change

Ayn Rand would not “believe” in climate change. She would try to objectively determine whether the theory correctly modeled the data. While it is legitimate to question both the conclusions of scientists and the methodologies by which data are gathered, denying objective validity of the data, which people who call themselves “Objectivists” are doing with respect to climate science, is well, in a word, anti-Objectivist, at least as described by Ayn Rand in 1962.

“The essence of my philosophy” she said, is:

Metaphysics Objective Reality
Epistemology Reason
Ethics Self-interest
Politics Capitalism

“Translated into simple language, ” she continued, “it would read:

“Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed” or “Wishing won’t make it so.”
“You can’t eat your cake and have it, too.”
“Man is an end in himself.”
“Give me liberty or give me death.” Continue reading →

Keynes, Reluctance to hire, & 21ST Century Energy

in black and white, because some ideas are.

Tweet During the Great Depression the Classical Economists said “Unemployment is voluntary. Business owners will not voluntarily keep the means of production idle.” While he had been a student of classical economics, John Maynard Keynes observed that the data didn’t fit the theory. And, he reasoned, if the observable data don’t fit the theory, the theory must be flawed. “Business owners are risk averse,” he saw. “A employee needs to be productive, needs to make widgets. But if no one is buying widgets, then contrary to classical theory, factory owners will fire workers and keep capital idle rather than hire workers to create excess inventory. That’s just common sense.”

We see this today.

When unemployment was low, for example in the United States during the tech boom of the 1990’s, people acted on the premise that “There is so much work that we could hire and good people and train them.” Today hiring managers seem to be acting on the premise that “There are so many people looking for work that they can wait for the perfect candidate.” Perfection being unattainable, jobs go unfilled. This is ok, in this context, because

“Budgets are tight.”
“The future is uncertain.”
“Money not spent on a new hire can be saved or used to pay down debt.”

Keynes also observed that the government is an employer that does not need to worry about going out of business. Building infrastructure is government employment that is investment for the future. These observations are as valid today as they were 80 years ago.

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Election Day, 2010

John F. Kennedy

President Kennedy once said “Politics is the only game that matters.” It’s winner take all, and the winner decides how your money is spent. President Clinton used to say “It’s the economy, stupid.” This still applies. Neither the President nor the Congress was focused on putting Americans back to work. They need to re-read Keynes, and also study Ecological Economics. (And Mr. President it’s not the economy according to the economists, it’s the economy according to voters who are up to their eyeballs in debt, unemployed, or facing foreclosure, and their kids, with health care, courtesy of your law, but fresh out of college, with huge college loans, and no jobs.)

Gov. Elect Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo’s win of the NY Governor’s race was not a surprise. Altho the margin – 1,135,214 votes (2,565,869 votes, 61%, to 1,430,655, 34%, Washington Post) is staggering . Some of my conservative Republican friends voted for Cuomo. Others abstained. How could they vote for Carl Paladino, with such an obvious inability to govern, a guy who is uncomfortable with gay people but who owns 2 gay bars?

Congratulations to Governor-Elect Cuomo, and the State of New York. Popular Logistics would like to see Gov. Cuomo run for President in 2016.

Lucy Liu, Actor

Jennifer Lopez, aka Jennie from The Hood

Jennifer Lopez, Singer & Actor

Senator Harry Reid won reelection, thanks to Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans, by a margin of 5%. Hispanic citizens were 10% of the vote, with 66.7% voting for Reid. According to the AP, on NPR, “Reid won two-thirds of the Hispanic vote” 80% of African-Americans and 75% of Asians.

(Note to Sharron Angle – like Asians and Hispanics generally, both Lucy Liu, on the left in blue, and Jennifer Lopez on the right in beige, have black hair and brown eyes. Even if I didn’t know who they were, I’d know the woman in blue is Asian and the woman in beige is Hispanic, or white-with-a-tan.) Continue reading →