CSM: On Earth Day, hope for the environment

[stilltrucking]

Cultural Anthropogy
401
1972
The mall in college park maryland, standing on the portico of the Anthropolgy building watching a group of black robed women marching on the admistration building they carry a huge paper mache phallus. Which they burn on the steps of the building.

Leslie White was very popular , he was one of he few cultural anthropogists talking about energy back then.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/information ... eslie.html


You are right, he is right, just a matter of time and money.

[Diana Moon Glampers]

let me try this again with a clean pair of socks

Cecil has said os elequetly what I have been struggling to say

http://www.studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6889

No better example of corporate mind than the automobile industry.

What is good for General Bull Moose is good for the USA and visa versa (al capp)

That guy is consultant to 18 heads of state, but is the head in the whitehouse one of them?

For what it is worth
http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/28855

I am scared and feeling helpless. What the hell does my vote count for?

[whimsicaldeb]

That guy is consultant to 18 heads of state, but is the head in the whitehouse one of them? (cutting) I am scared and feeling helpless. What the hell does my vote count for?

No ST, it's not.

Bush&Co has turned away from those who do not agree with them... and you know this; everyone knows this - even Bush&Co .

So why even look for him to do so at this point in time, and ask a question such as this: because it supports your fears - and because it supports your fears ... and because Bush & co rely on and use fear to keep for their support ... each time you do this, you are personally supporting Bush&Co.

Happy now?

Or as Lovins does/asks gently ...
I gently ask whether feeling that way makes him (them/YOU) more effective.

Tell me ST ... Now that you've posted all these fears and concerns of yours, under all your different (on the)alter- egos that you feed ~ are feeling more effective? Stronger? Happier? Safer?

Or even more helpless, more fearful.

Who'd ya feed, sweetie? What did you just support?

You'd put the blame on Bush, on this guy not being heard by Bush - me, anything at all? ... it's all in your own head, ST

"As the manager of your life, you are responsible for handling your unfinished emotional business.” - Phil McGraw, Ph.D.

Lovins may be gentle in his expressions ... but I'm not:
Cut the crap.

[Arcadia]

some iluminated minds talk here very proud about biodiesel made with soja....

[stilltrucking]

God all mighty. I just can't write. You put words in my mouth. You tell me what I meant. For example when I said I would never discourage a child, you take it personaly. I was speaking of the 12 year old on the PBS show Water Planet. The kid was going to save the Chesapeake bay which is about 90% dead. After that she will save the world.

I have high hopes for her. Cultural evolution is fast.

I would like to see a list of those heads of states. If China, India or the USA is on the list I would feel much encourged.

Dr Phil? You are quoting Dr Phil to me?
I hope you feel better now.

some iluminated minds talk here very proud about biodiesel made with soja....

Hydrogen from the atmosphere and carbon dioxide too, Methanol makes more sense to me.

http://www.technologyreview.com/read_ar ... ch=biztech


Biodiesel: Bane of the rain forest?
I used to take great satisfaction in the sound of the recycling truck motoring down my Berkeley, Calif., street. That's because, in 2003, Berkeley struck a blow for sustainable fuels by converting its entire city-owned fleet of trucks to 100 percent biodiesel -- fuel made from vegetable source matter.

Then, this spring, Berkeley switched its trucks to a blend that was only 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel, citing engine trouble caused by fungal buildup. There's been some push-back from local biodiesel activists (who swarm around Northern California like nowhere else) who claim that the real problem was that Berkeley wasn't maintaining its vehicles properly. Regardless, there was an easy lesson to draw from the experience: Even with the highest levels of progressive commitment, switching to so-called sustainable or renewable fuels is a hard slog.

Now comes word that some forms of biodiesel may actually be worse for the environment than the fossil fuels they are intended to replace. A column published in the U.K.'s Guardian by environmental activist George Monbiot argues that tropical nations are racing to cut down their remaining slivers of rain forest in order to plant vast palm tree plantations for the production of palm oil that will be converted into biodiesel.

In recent years, a combination of government subsidies, tax incentives and high oil prices have created a booming demand for both biodiesel, made from a variety of vegetable sources, and ethanol, made mostly from corn. The National Biodiesel Board reports that U.S. production of biodiesel is expected to triple in 2005 over last year, to a total of 75 million gallons.

Foreign production of biodiesel is set to ascend the same upward production curve. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are all banking on biodiesel and bringing new plants online. And so down go the rain forests.

In the U.S., most commercially available biodiesel is made from soybeans. But palm oil is considerably cheaper than soybean oil, so domestic producers are already coming under price pressure. In a classic example of the challenges of globalization, farmers in Minnesota, where biodiesel and ethanol have been embraced with more alacrity than in any other state in the union, are now worried that their new livelihood is being undercut by low-cost foreign competition.

Biodiesel activists have responded to the latest depressing news by calling for biodiesel labeling. For those of us in Berkeley, already carefully distinguishing between farm-raised and wild salmon, and searching for our free-range chickens certified to have passed away happily in their sleep, it will be one more thing to pay attention to. Biodiesel from used French fry oil: good. Biodiesel from Thailand: bad.

A more common response from many environmentalists is to note, once again, that this proves there is no magic bullet to solve what many see as an inevitable energy crisis of Armageddon-like proportions. The only answer, they say, is to cut back consumption. The idea that there will be some kind of technological breakthrough that clears up the energy bottleneck, writes Monbiot, "is the stuff of science fiction."

But that's where I'm ready to quibble. As I sit here typing away at my WiFi- enabled computer, living in a world where I can read Singaporean newspapers online as easily as my local rag, just a cubicle away from a hybrid-car-driving colleague, it is obvious to me that I am already living in a world that is the stuff of science fiction. To deny the possibility of further breakthroughs that will dramatically change the equations we currently live under is a form of anti-science pessimism that seems unbecoming to the environmental movement. By all means, let's conserve, let's label, let's be as rigorous as we can in striving to free ourselves from our current energy dilemmas. But let's never give up hope that there really is a better way.

-- Andrew Leonard

http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2005/12/ ... index.html

Thanks Deb I appreciate the kind sentiments. And I am no got dam baby boom sister. I was born before the war.

[whimsicaldeb]

God all mighty. I just can't write. You put words in my mouth. You tell me what I meant. For example when I said I would never discourage a child, you take it personaly. I was speaking of the 12 year old on the PBS show Water Planet. The kid was going to save the Chesapeake bay which is about 90% dead. After that she will save the world.

...Ummmmmmm....
(uh huh)

And I was supposed to know that you weren't referring to me, and that instead you were referring to this other person and all of that from what you wrote and how you wrote it ...

I am interested deb honest I am. I would never discourage a child. As I said this generation is not going to change with out a catastophe. Except for a few enlightened beings who I hope will stick around to teach the young. But I believe in despair. For some twisted men like me it is our only hope. sinners that we are

You're correct, you can't write ... or more specifically, it's not helpful to write "poetically" in reply to someone who is not being "poetic" at that moment. It’s not helpful to write a reply addressed to me and what I’m talking about, while thinking of something and someone else – without mentioning that this is what your are doing. Furthermore, it’s unfair to get your knickers in a twist at me for not understanding or appreciating you, when you do this because I’m not a mind reader – nor should you be requiring or expecting me to be so. (And vise versa.)

...But I believe in despair. For some twisted men like me it is our only hope.

What bull shit … Pity-pot bull shit. Again, I suggest to you cut the crap! -- You’d feel better if you did.

However, if you want to continue believing in that kind of crap, and live that way (twisted!) that’s your prerogative, but it’s not mine. Just as long as you understand, that while your misery may love company …personally, I don’t choose to keep it (you) company, and furthermore I have no intention of changing my mind about my choice.

Best of everything to you ST.

[diesel dyke]

to the second power

...But I believe in despair. For some twisted men like me it is our only hope.

Wisdom is a woman, I understand. Please take this in the spirit of Friendship with which it is intended.

Just as long as you understand, that while your misery may love company …personally, I don’t choose to keep it (you) company, and furthermore I have no intention of changing my mind about my choice.

Best of everything to you ST.

That is the best news I have had today.

[stilltrucking]

We go for the alternative fuels so we can haul our dirty asses around in automobiles. ANd when every got dam tree is cut down in the rain forest so we can grow crops to turn into fuel for the internal cumbustion engine then what? Oh yes the new fuels will cut green house gases a lot. But when we add a couple more billion cars for the prospering Chinese and Indians then what is the net gain? This is all short term solutions.

Somewhere somehow we got to get away from dumping exhaust fumes into the atmosphere.

Edited One Time

[stilltrucking]

I am trying to let go
of my vanity

I had it coming. It was sloppy writing on my part. I edited my post above

While we are hanging on to fossil fuels I am hoping new technology will bring an end to the reign of hydro carbon man. I read somewhere that Cold Fusion was not just a hoax. There maybe something to it after all. Somewhere a kid is working on the solution. If only we don't blow ourselves up before she or he has time to save the world. I love watching those kids shows on PBS. Water Planet is one of my favorites. As always a child shall lead us.

[abcrystcats]

OK, so I know I am very naive about a lot of things going on in the world, but --- skipping through all the back and forths -- I did read the discover.com article about the guy up in Snowmass, and I thank you, Deb. It does give me hope. If I read correctly, the answers are all right there in front of us. It's only our fear and dependence on the economy generated through many industries that is holding us back from implementing the correct technologies.

I can believe that we won't carry this so far that we ruin the planet, now. The human race is anything but suicidal. Perhaps we'll carry this to the -nth degree, and wipe out other species as we go, but we won't destroy ourselves.

I am not being sarcastic about this. I mean it. That means to me that there is some hope.

Let's just fill the ark while waiting for these changes to happen.

This is good news.

[whimsicaldeb]

There is hope, and it's not false hope either ...

Here's another, current, article that show both - that what we've done so far is working, and that there is still much work left to be done:

Earth's ozone shield is poised for recovery
Two new studies credit a 1987 international agreement, which phased out harmful gases, for the improvement.

By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Sci/Tech - Environment
June 01, 2006 edition

Earth's sunscreen appears poised for recovery after decades of assault from man-made chemicals.

After years of decline, global concentrations of ozone in a key region of the stratosphere have held steady for the past eight to nine years, according to two new, independent studies.

Scientists noted initial signs of this trend three years ago. But these latest efforts benefit from an additional three years of measurements. And they appear to be the first to specifically attribute the changes to the Montreal Protocol, a 1987 international treaty that phased out key chemicals known to destroy ozone.

Although a range of man-made gases can deplete ozone, the main targets so far have been chlorine-carrying compounds used as coolants in refrigerators and for fighting fires.

"It's clear that the Montreal Protocol has reduced the total amount of chlorine entering the atmosphere," notes Derek Cunnold, an atmospheric scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and a member of one of the two research teams. Those reductions, he continues, should first arrest the decline, then allow the ozone layer to rebuild.

"We are now seeing that kind of a response," he says, referring to the stabilization of ozone levels.

Ozone concentrations are still quite low and are allowing historically high levels of damaging ultraviolet light to reach Earth's surface, researchers caution. Moreover, once the upswing begins, a recovery is likely to come only in fits and starts over 50 to 60 years. And scientists say it's highly uncertain whether the effort will overshoot or undershoot the protocol's target of returning stratospheric ozone concentrations to pre-1980 levels.

Global warming is expected to present ozone with a far different environment than the one that existed before 1980. Several factors - changing circulation patterns, temperatures, and the rise or fall of methane, nitrous oxides, and water vapor reaching the stratosphere - will affect the outcome.

Still, "we're on the cusp" of recovery, says Elizabeth Weatherhead, a researcher at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the lead author of the second study. She and colleague Signe Andersen published their review of the data in the May 4 edition of the journal Nature. Dr. Cunnold and his colleagues are publishing their results in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Ozone is an atmospheric Janus. Made up of three oxygen atoms, ozone at ground level can trigger bad air days in urban areas across the planet. But in the stratosphere, ozone intercepts ultraviolet light from the sun, reducing the amount that reaches Earth's surface.

Both studies rely on ground-based and satellite measurements of ozone for trends, and to varying degrees on computer models for attributing trends to what the data reveal. The strongest evidence for the protocol's effect comes at altitudes ranging from 11 to 16 miles. There, chlorine has leveled off, and so has ozone decline, Cunnold's team reports.

However, both teams note unexpectedly large improvements in ozone concentrations in the part of the stratosphere below 11 miles. These improvements, though still relatively small, appear over mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere, where the fastest recovery rates are expected. This surprise has less to do with the protocol, however, than with changes in atmospheric circulation patterns, both teams hold.

At the poles, by contrast, recovery is expected to take the longest, particularly over Antarctica, with its infamous ozone hole. There, total-column ozone - the amount over any one location - also appears to have halted its decline.

But Dr. Weatherhead offers that the decline has halted largely because the region has little stratospheric ozone left to lose. Recovery at both poles is expected to take far longer than at lower latitudes.

Even as they continue to monitor the protocol's impact on ozone levels, researchers are now struggling to factor the impact of climate change and natural variations of stratospheric ozone into estimates of how long recovery will take and how close to the mark it will reach.

For David Doniger, the climate-policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, these results indicate that when it comes to the environment, "global treaties work." But he holds that the battle to curb ozone-depleting chemicals isn't over.

Production of another potent ozone-eater - methyl bromide - initially was to have ended in 2000. Farmers use the compound as a fumigant and the Environmental Protection Agency continues to grant waivers for its production and use in the US.



Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0601/p02s01-sten.html

In addition there are these older articles:

Power Plant Waste Eyed for Green Building
April 25, 2006 — By Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Coal-burning power plants spend millions disposing of fly ash, a fine powder loaded with mercury, lead and other toxic chemicals. An estimated 70 million tons of the byproduct is produced in the U.S. each year, and most of it is buried in specially designed ponds and landfills.

Henry Liu, a retired civil engineering professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has a solution to the quandary of fly ash disposal. He wants to bring it into your homes and offices -- literally.

Liu, 69, recently received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, his second such award, to further study ways to make weather-resistant bricks out of fly ash. He hopes to bring the product to market within two years. -- end excerpt
Source:
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=10328

Energy Efficiency Highlight Of Rebuilding Together Low-Income Home Renovations; Oil & Natural Gas Industry Helps Make Homes More Efficient

4/29/2006 8:16:00 AM
To: City Desk

Contact: Wanda Ramirez of Rebuilding Together * Metro Chicago, 312-201-1188 or Reid Porter, 202-360-2371

CHICAGO, April 29/U.S. Newswire/ -- America's oil and natural gas industry and Rebuilding Together * Metro Chicago, the local affiliate of the nation's largest volunteer home rehabilitation organization, today helped a family with a limited income reduce their energy use by as much as 30 percent by installing energy-saving techniques throughout their home.

The Energy Efficient Homes Initiative, a new national partnership between America's oil and natural gas industry and Rebuilding Together, incorporates energy efficiency into home renovations provided to low-income homeowners, many of whom are elderly, disabled or have young children. The initiative is an additional component to the 18-year-old national Rebuilding Together program that will revitalize nearly 10,000 homes this year. -- end excerpt
Source:
http://www.usnewswire.com/

And here's a list of updates from UCS about actions that have been taken just this year alone.
http://www.ucsusa.org/

... this is from the group emailing that I subscribe to:
~~~~~

As the warmer weather arrives, we wanted to take a look back at how you’ve helped us keep the heat on legislators and corporations alike in the past few months. As you've seen, global warming has hit the mainstream--newspaper headlines, magazine covers, television public service announcements and documentaries in your local Cineplex are all taking about how human activity is warming our atmosphere with devastating consequences. UCS and our activists have been there, pressuring corporations to address the issue and advancing federal climate legislation. We’ve also brought widespread attention to political interference in science, achieved clean energy victories in states throughout the country, and pressured Congress to substantively address America’s oil addiction. As 2006 continues, we will work together to increase vehicle fuel efficiency standards, advance climate legislation, and fight policies that threaten to undo decades of progress on arms control and international security. Thank you for continuing to take action for a healthy environment and a safer world.

Clean Energy
With the support of activists throughout the country, UCS was able to help pass new and improved renewable energy standards in several states and ensure that established standards are fully implemented in others. With your help, UCS is also helping to save jobs at the National Renewable Energy Lab, fighting to save the country’s first offshore wind farm, and restoring federal funding for renewable research and on-farm development.

Clean Vehicles
With your help, we’ve continued to work toward expanding California’s clean car regulations across the country and to pressure automakers to provide consumers with better vehicle choices. Though the president acknowledged our national addiction to oil in his State of the Union address, the administration provided very weak revisions to fuel economy standards for light trucks and UCS activists sent nearly 33,000 letters to Congress in protest. The administration also plans to cut vital state clean air program grants, which would make it difficult to realize the clean air improvements from diesel cleanup.

Global Warming
You've helped UCS make progress on several important climate initiatives during the start of 2006. Together, we played key roles in corporate campaigns targeting ExxonMobil and the three largest U.S. mutual fund companies, all of which need to take action to address global warming. We are also helping to advance federal climate legislation.

Scientific Integrity
In just a few short months, 2006 has already seen dramatic new cases of the manipulation, censorship, and distortion of science. Government global warming scientists have been muzzled, the Environmental Protection Agency misrepresented scientist recommendations on air pollution standards, and Congress may severely weaken science in the Endangered Species Act. But ongoing pressure from UCS and activists like you has brought widespread attention to political interference in science and prompted both Republicans and Democrats to call for investigations into the problem.

Global Security
In January, the Bush administration announced plans to "reprocess" the used fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors. Alarmed that reprocessing could make it easier for terrorists to acquire the material for making a nuclear bomb, UCS activists sent more than 45,000 letters to Congress opposing the plans.


Food and Environment
Spring planting is well underway on farms across the country, and UCS staff are working hard to educate consumers about nutritious, tasty food choices that are produced in a way that reflects our shared values—a fair livelihood for farmers, vibrant rural economies, protecting the environment and wildlife, maintaining a safe food supply, ensuring sound animal welfare practices, and avoiding negative consequences for human health. The highlight of these efforts was the release of a landmark report by UCS analyst, Dr. Kate Clancy, that explores the many benefits of grass-fed beef and dairy.

Invasive Species
Invasive species are considered to be one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. They can push native species toward extinction, inflict terrible damage on habitats and ecosystems, and harm a wide variety of industries, including fisheries. UCS activists like you continue to pressure the Senate to pass the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act, the most complete bill being considered that addresses this issue.

California
By sending nearly 7,000 letters of support, UCS activists helped promote a groundbreaking new state report outlining a blueprint for aggressively reducing California’s global warming emissions. The report contains disturbing new information on the projected effects of global warming on California and highlights the importance of precedent-setting new state legislation created by UCS and our allies. The new findings are summed up in a series of mini-documentary videos and fact sheets now available online.

Work in progress ... with some very promising results having been achieved so far. So yes, I have hope.

[stilltrucking]

I have hope too deb. Maybe it is just all those years I spent busting my knuckles as an auto mechanic but I would like to see the end of the infernal combustion engine. Basic research is not as popular as it once was. You know science for the sake of science. It is mostly R and D these days with the emphasis on the D. They say the Japanese think long term, fifty a hundred years into the future. I would like to see more of that kind of thinking

No doubt it is getting better. And some solutions are creating new problems. MTBE for example. Nasty stuff and it is in the drinking water now. But congress is working on it. They just passed a bill exempting the oil companies from any cost in the clean up. Ok so it will be another tax payer bailout for billionaires, what the hell, I will gladly pay it to spare future generations.

http://www.llnl.gov/str/Happel.html

You gotta accent-thu-ate the positive,
E-lim-inate the negative,
An latch on
To the affirmative
Dont mess with mister in-between!

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
An have faith ( amen! )
Or pandemoniums
Liable to walk upon the scene!

[whimsicaldeb]

You gotta accent-thu-ate the positive,
E-lim-inate the negative,
An latch on
To the affirmative
Dont mess with mister in-between!

You gotta spread joy up to the maximum,
Bring gloom down to the minimum,
An have faith ( amen! )
Or pandemoniums
Liable to walk upon the scene!

ST ... what are doing? What's up with this?

[stilltrucking]

Go tell it to a Marine. Edited post./////////////

It is a song I like a lot. You know a positive attitude helps solve problems. I was just humming it when I posted. I like the way LR puts a little lyric thingy at the end of his poet eyes. Lighten up.

[whimsicaldeb]

An Inconvient Truth
http://www.climatecrisis.net/

well worth seeing

reviews
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inconve ... itic=fresh