Tuesday, September 29, 2009

The Real Cost of Going Green


The next extremely important step towards significantly reducing global warming and its effects will soon take place on the floor of the US Senate.  They will debate and then vote on the cap-and-trade climate bill, the Waxman-Markey act.  The House passed the bill late spring and now the senators, some of who still think that global warming is a hoax, will engage in a very contentious debate. 


Unfortunately we had to witness and listen to this summer’s health care embarrassing circus like “debate” performed on the Senate Floor, in town hall meetings and blasted on talk radio.  The President’s speech to both houses of Congress finally cooled off some of the nonfactual hate filled possibly racist rhetoric spewed continually in all possible venues.  For the debate on “greening of America” the confused will switch their fear laden protests of governmental takeover and death panels to horrific job loss and economic collapse.  

greenhomexpress.com

Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck will lead the hysteria despite having lost their war supporting the monopolistic medically ignorant grossly unfair health insurance companies. (Unfortunately I have first hand knowledge of this since my daughter is autistic; would be easier to get paid care if she had  self induced heart problems due to poor eating habits than her externally caused or genetically based neurological disorder.)  


The real facts:  We have a “energy efficiency gap”, the amount of our consumption of fossil fuels does not increase our standard of living.  Some of us see the earth as a giant smorgasbord,  leaving half our uneaten food, energy, on our plate and then throwing it in the landfill.  We need to conserve more which automatically saves us more money.  The Congressional Budget office said this bill will only cost the average family $160 per year in 2020, $.44 per day.  Limbaugh and Beck keep citing a study that put the cost at $1767 per year.  But no amount of searching on the internet can produce that study but it doesn’t exist.  There is not going to be any world and/or US economic collapse, the facts just don’t support that catastrophic kind of thinking. 


When the economic argument proves fruitless the talk will most likely regress to the loss of personal freedom fears heard during the health care debate. I read a comment where one person thought he would be forced to drive a Prius and live in a tiny New York Style apartment, live like the Europeans.  Aside from the fact that if everyone who owns a car did drive one that maintained at least 45 mpg the environmental crisis level would be much lower no one is going to loose their choices of how they want to live.  The environmental costs will just directly be translated into the appropriate and fair economic costs.  Massive fossil fuel producers won’t continue to avoid paying for the environmental damage and for related health care costs due to pollution and pass it on to the consumer.  We will actually obtain more personal freedom from spending our money to better our lives and not the lives of the Board of Directors of XYZ oil company.


If the Waxman-Markey Act does not pass or if the Senate dilutes the final law we will all lose.  No one can hide from air and water pollution or the effects of global warming no matter how high their fence is or how far from the city you live.  We will all suffer. 


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Subsidies for Oil & Other Fossil Fuels


President Obama and all of the G20 nations including Russia, India and China agreed to phase out subsidies for oil and other fossil fuel producers. By 2020 the world’s largest and most profitable companies will no longer receive tax payer dollars to help them stay in the black. 11 more years of almost $300 billion per year split among them will no longer be available. $3.3 trillion is all they will get and not a cent more. The American Petroleum Institute is not happy about this and frankly either am I. "The Obama administration and Congress now face many difficult choices if they choose to comply with the G20 commitment to phase-out fossil fuel subsidies," the API said. Yes, the US and the other G20 countries have very difficult choices to make. They will now have to figure out how to spent $300 billion per year in possibly more appropriate places instead of giving it to super profitable companies. Companies who now easily keep us addicted to their environmentally damaging products because of the low prices available due to the subsidies. This situation is analogous to the tobacco companies complaining about cancer warnings they must put on their products. These industries can’t just make money, they need to have their cake and force everyone else to make it for them. “Eliminating such subsidies by 2020 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming by 10 percent by 2050,” leaders said, citing data from the International Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. As I mentioned above I am also not happy about this, but obviously not for the same reasons. 10% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is not enough. Somehow these vultures need to be forced to pay all of us back and do it without further economic and environmental damage. During the summer of 2008 when gas prices approached $5 per gallon the CEO of one of the largest Oil and Gas Companies said, “No one is being forced to buy our product”. He forgot to add that when we do purchase his product that we are being forced to pay them double, once at the pump and again when we pay our taxes. After decades of past administrations and congress giving in to these thieves President Obama and the current G20 finally have the fortitude to say no more even though subsidies should have never begun. So I say to the American Petroleum Industry and it’s fellow band of immoral greedy inscrutable miscreants complaining about the phasing out of subsidies, “this is only the beginning of your end”.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Senate Allows EPA to Buy Polluted Town


We, the US taxpayers, have just bought Treece, KS in the southeast corner of Cherokee County.  It cost around 3 million dollars.  Around 100 people still live there so each of them will get around $30,000.  If each person in the US actually had to pay their fair share right now it would cost each of us about 1 cent.  Since there wouldn’t be enough room for all 300 million of us to live there and since the town is too polluted for anyone to live in we don’t actually have to move.  Lucky us.  


No so lucky for them. Most of them have lead poisoning.  Lots of people in that part of Kansas probably also have lead poisoning.  The vast majority of the lead and zinc mines closed over 30 years ago but the mess they left is still there. In 1983 the area was declared a superfund site.  


115 square miles containing enormous piles of what looks like gravel, except its not.  Its called Chat, mountainous piles of dirt filled with lead, zinc and cadmium particles.  These heavy metals become air born and land in school yards and backyards where kids play.  Kids get the toxic metals on their clothing and hands and it works it way into their bodies: lead poisoning.  


To date about $90 million has been spent to clean up the mess left by the mining companies.  The mining companies that haven’t disappeared and/or closed down and/or are hiding were forced to pay for about 10% of the cost.  It will take another 15 years and $70 million to finish the clean up.  So in total it will take almost 40 years and approximately $160 million dollars to make Cherokee County “safe’ to live in again.  Who would actually want to live there?  No me and I am guessing, but probably not you. 


Please join me in raising our glasses of NON-plastic bottled water in a hopeful toast that our current plan for reducing the causes of and the effects of global warming does not mimic the previous plan used to clean up superfund sites. Because if it does we can kiss our planet goodbye.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Murder Charges for Toxic Dumping


In 2006 Trafigura, an oil-trading company, dumped tons of toxic waste in one of the world's poorest countries, Ivory Coast. (The toxicity of the waste is under dispute not the dumping.)  This month Greenpeace claimed that the dumping caused thousands to became ill and also caused miscarriages, birth defects and death.  One of the world’s most well known environmental organizations wants Dutch courts to bring charges of murder, manslaughter, negligence and conspiracy against Trafigura. 

Trafigura, which last year had sales of $73 Billion, approximated twice the GDP of the Ivory Coast, has already agreed to pay millions to settle a lawsuit brought by 30,000 Abidjan residents who suffered short term illnesses.  But they deny that anyone suffered severe long term illnesses or death due to the dumping.  

The sludge which was dumped at 18 sites around Abidjan, including drains and lagoons, was the by-product of processing “dirty oil” bought at a Mexican refinery.  The processing took place on board an oil tanker off the coast of Abidjan not in the EU because the EU has outlawed this environmentally unsafe practice.  

In 2006, the year that Trafigura used the City of Abidjan in the Ivory Coast as their toilet, its poverty rate was 50%.  The nation ranks 164 out of 177 countries ranked on the United Nations’ Human Development Index.  The UNHDI rates the overall economic health of a country.  Only 13 other countries received a worse rating than the Ivory Coast. 

To admit that I find that it is unbelievable that this horrific crime can occur at the beginning of  21st century would probably put me in the “very naive” category.  Sometimes deviant behavior seems plausible when an individual’s or a group’s life is threatened or when they desperately need food, or medical attention.  But to commit a heinous act simply to add a relatively miniscule amount of profit to your bottom line is truly evil. 

I don’t believe in nor has history shown that an “eye for an eye” prevents any further malevolent acts.  Usually is actually escalates a conflict.  So if the Board of Directors of Trafigura were forced to live out the rest of their lives in one of the lagoons in Abidjan filled with their toxic sludge most likely future atrocities would still occur.  But the rest of us might feel just a bit better. 

Thursday, September 17, 2009

We are Frozen in Hatred


"Injecting race into the debate over critical issues facing American families doesn't create jobs, reform our health care system or reduce the growing deficit. It only divides Americans rather than uniting us to find solutions to challenges facing our nation," President Jimmy Carter said yesterday.  Repair and protect our environment should be added to the list of critical issues that won’t be addressed if Americans can’t remove prejudices from their hearts. Absolutely nothing will be accomplished or what is accomplished will be so anemic it will not help anyone.


This statement by President Carter relates to the blog I posted a couple of days ago concerning comments by Stanford Professor Paul Ehrlich.  Professor Ehrlich declared in no uncertain terms that its our behavior not science that is holding us back from restoring our planet.  We all know what is wrong and have the science to prove it but we just can’t seem to change our behavior from self-destructive and selfish to self sustainable and altruistic.  Our egos and self righteousness destroy our ability to provide the common sense solutions to solve the urgently critical problems that face us. 


The United States is now lead by an African American President.  The election was fair and just.  The votes were counted and no one disputes the election. (Some fringe elements pursue the insane notion that he is not a US citizen but to address that is akin to continue to look for WMDs in Iraq).  We cannot allow the citizens of this country who are controlled by “Hate” deny the rest of us our right to a fair chance for excellent health care, a prosperous economy, good green jobs and a healthy environment.  American cannot regress:  A enormous step away from our shameful past of forcing some people to the back of the bus has been accomplished, we can never let it happen again. 

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Do the Right Thing for Those Who Follow


"Basically, absolutely nothing is happening," Stanford University ecologist Paul Ehrlich said. "We don't need more scientific evidence that we're screwing ourselves. We need to get beyond the cultural discussions we're having now."

The problem, Ehrlich said, is clearly not a need for more natural science. Rather, it is the need for a better understanding of "human behaviors and how they can be altered to direct humanity toward a sustainable society before it is too late."

“We’re screwing ourselves”, “absolutely nothing is happening”, “direct humanity toward a sustainable society before it is too late." said the 77 year old distinguished professor at one of the most eminent universities in the world.  He has received dozens of ecological and environmental awards. His bibliography spans 30 years and includes sophisticated analysis using all the ecosciences to examine the current state of the world relative to population and ecology. 

Doesn’t really want to make you jump for joy, does it? 

Right to the point. No more debate is needed, we have all the proof we could ever want. The problem is our behavior. We, certainly including me, act like the dogs in Pavlov’s experiment. 

The phrase "Pavlov's dog" is often used to describe someone who merely reacts to a situation rather than using critical thinking.”  Our use of “critical thinking” has been beaten out of us.  Anyone and everyone who either wants our money, our vote and/or our soul has been after us since the day we were born.  Relentless advertising; first from newspapers, TV, radio and now the net has been used to manipulate us regarding every decision we make. Unfortunately most of the “ends” of our manipulated “means” aren’t beneficial for the environment and thus eventually harmful to us.  

Do we understand why it was so easy to manipulate our behavior toward the “dark side”?  According to Erhlich we don’t have the time to figure out why we went the wrong way.  We need to immediately make a quick u-turn and help “direct humanity toward a sustainable society”.  

Here at the beginning of the second century of the industrial revolution we are now literally facing the cumulative poisons that have been injected into our land, water and air.  Time to push all the self-destructive behaviors out of our souls and   act in favor of those who will inherit this planet.  The benefits our actions will not be felt by us, whether we ever understand why we acted as we did is no longer applicable. As procreative beings we owe to the ones who follow us to do the right thing.

Friday, September 11, 2009

“Roadway” Created in Arctic due to Global Warming


The Northeast passage along Russia’s Arctic coast from North Korea to Siberia is now open.  Calling all pollution spewing, tranquil disrupting, overwhelmingly enormous freighters, your ocean freeway through the previously quiet home of the endangered polar bear is now yours to destroy. Civilization has reached a new level, we all should be so very proud. 


To all the naysayers who believe Global Warming is just a hoax, absolute proof is now just an ocean freighter’s ride away.  "We are seeing an expression of climate change here," said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. "The Arctic is warming; we're losing the sea ice cover. The more frequent opening of that Northeast Passage is part of the process we're seeing."  Ex-Vice President Cheney now that you are retired, hopefully forever, you might want to take a cruise along the Northeast passage.  Maybe if you see first hand what your environmentally destructive policies have created you might change your mind about the existence of global warming. Though we won’t hold our breath. 


The passage opening up this summer due to global warming could of easily been predicted if the United States took time during the last three years to pay more attention. I guess the past Administration was too busy fighting an “oil war” instead of doing what it could to reduce our use of oil. “For the last few years, including this year, navigator Roald Amundsen's famous Northwest Passage has been navigable. Then in 2007, the more crucial deep water channel called McClure Strait opened up and now the Northeast Passage”, Serreze said. 


Now that President Obama is running the show maybe his legislation will, at the very least, slow down the horrific effects of global warming. We need to do what we can to help speed up the process and keep the naysayers and foot draggers at bay.  The selfish are a tenacious bunch so we have to be even more diligent than them unless we want the entire Arctic to become a “roadway’.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Hunting Polar Bears


This story was found in the folder marked: No Hope for Humanity. 


Polar bears are classified as endangered species.  


Polar bears are being killed due to man-made global warming. Polar bears are being killed due to man-made pesticides.  Polar bears are being killed due to man-made high powered rifles so their heads can be cut off and put over someone’s fireplace.


According to the UN over the last 10 years nearly 9,000 polar bear specimens were exported for commercial purposes. These specimens included 2,849 skins, 108 skulls, and 1,249 claws.  Under Canadian law the hunting of polar bears by tourists and the commercial trading of polar bear parts is legal. 


Endangered species have different classifications and that is why Canada’s polar bear hunting laws and commercial trading of polar bear parts is not illegal.


There are three different classifications: Appendix I, II and III.  Polar bears are classified under appendix II but should be put at appendix I so the senseless and horrific hunting will stop. (Hunting for sustainable subsistence by native peoples of polar bears is not controlled and should not be controlled under these classifications).


Please contact the US Fish and Wildlife Department and tell them to change the classification.  Please tell them that hunting and trading body parts of any animal, let alone an endangered animal, is a bad idea.  For some reason I think they probably already know this but apparently unless they are verbally assaulted with this information they won’t do anything about it.


Only about 25,000 polar bears left: May they procreate to their heart’s content and then die of old age.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Orangutans, 3000 die every year


With only 50, 000 left it’s just 17 year until extinction. They have been around for about 10,000 years and up until about 20 years ago there was approximately 500,000 orangutans living in an area from Southeast Asia to Southern China. “We” directly or indirectly killed off 90% of the population due to, you guessed it, deforestation and other human activities.  Now the remaining population lives in Borneo. 


Orangutans share 96.7% of our genes and are smart enough to use tools and teach learned behaviors to their offspring and other Orangutans.  They are so human like It feels like loosing a member of our immediate family.  Just to give you some specific examples the following are some homo sapiens characteristics that the Orangutans exhibit.  They can make rain hats and leakproof roofs out of a leaf found in their natural habitat.  Two different Orangutans learned 30-40 sign language signs both in captivity and in the open wilderness.  Zoo Atlanta has a touch screen computer monitor where the orangutans play computer games.  And finally a 2008 study showed that orangutans are the first non-human species documented to use 'calculated reciprocity' which involves weighing the costs and benefits of gift exchanges and keeping track of these over time.


But are their lives worth more than deforestation?  We apparently decided they are not.  Logging, mining, settlements and road construction take precedent over these extraordinary animals, second to none to humans in intelligence. Some might argue that in the case of intelligence relative to environmental issues Orangutans might even surpass humans.


Indonesia, which includes Borneo, loses 4.5 million acres of forest every year due to deforestation. The Nature Conservancy is currently working with our Federal Government and local governments in Indonesia to stop illegal logging and protecting Orangutan habitats but the situation is dire. A previously unknown Orangutan nest was discovered that could could possibly add some needed numbers to the dwindling population but they still are a very endangered species.


Carolyn Enquist, a scientist with the Nature Conservancy the excellent conservation organization mentioned above, studies the concept of adaptation for plant and animal populations who are effected by effects of global warming and processes that cause global warming. Unfortunately for some plants and animals global warming has already caused permanent damage, partial and/or complete extinction. Lets hope its not too late to save the remaining Orangutans and possibly help them increase their population.

Friday, September 4, 2009

President Obama Can't Wait for Congress


Too many lobbyists representing hundreds of special interests groups fill the halls of our capital persuading our legislators to act in ways good for them but not for us. The Congress will never really legislate in favor of policies that are 100% environmentally beneficial unless there is something in it that helps with their next reelection.  Global warming is too far advanced for President Obama to diplomatically persuade Congress to act quickly.  He needs to light a bonfire underneath their seats or rush ahead and let them catch up.


Proposing limits for greenhouse gas emissions and ambient air quality standard regulations are two specific examples where the EPA is moving like molasses in wintertime and should be moving like lighting. The problem, as previously stated, lies both with Congress’s special interest saturated legislative behavior and President Obama’s overly diplomatic relationship with Congress.  We deserve action now not after environmental disasters become irreversible.


Regulations limiting, not just proposing, greenhouse gas emissions need to be put into law now. Its not good enough for the EPA to simply declare that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare.  Industries that provide energy using “dirty sources” need limitations on the amount of greenhouse gasses they produce.  They need regulations since they will not do this on their own.


In 1997 the EPA created ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter, soot. Soot causes illnesses costing billions in health care expenditures and approximately 20,000 annual deaths. Its very simple, the less soot, the less illness. Most soot comes from coal fired power plants.  Ambient air quality standards are not good enough, we need regulations to protect us. The EPA is literally giving these plants a license to  murder.  Another frustrating and seemingly malicious facet of this dilemma is allowing more new coal fired plants to be approved under these worthless standards as opposed to having them be approved under strict regulations. It appears as if the EPA is giving these “dirty” plants an unfair advantage over new green clean technology by allowing them to slide in without health protective regulations. 


President Obama shouldn’t let the Congress empowered EPA to work directly against our health and directly for the seemingly impervious lobbyist protected “dirty” energy producers. Clean green technology doesn’t stand a chance if our country continues to be controlled by special interest groups that let the obscenely rich get richer and the rest of us get stuck with higher health care costs and irreversible lung cancer.  We need to make the death of the Bush administration create a environmentally healthy “birth” for us.  

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Rainforest Still Disappearing


The rainforest is still disappearing at a an alarming rate despite the massive efforts of many to reduce the rate of deforestation.  In February, 2008, the Brazilian government announced that the rate of deforestation has increased not slowed down. During the last five months of 2007, more than 1,250 sq. miles,(an area equivalent to the size of the state of Rhode Island), was deforested.  

Unfortunately no one involved in the defense of the Amazon can even imagine deforestation being stopped; the only goal is reduce the slaughter of an area with 10% of the world’s carbon stores in our ecosystem.  By continuing to remove the natural fauna one is continuing to release excess carbon into the atmosphere which accelerates global warming. Deforestation of the Amazon is also permanently damaging an area where the the largest collection of living plants and animal species in the world live. To date, at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 fish, 1,294 birds, 427 mammals, 428 amphibians, and 378 reptiles have been scientifically classified in the region.  The numbers are astounding and they just represent what scientists have named but not what actually exists. 

The main source of deforestation of the Amazon are human settlement and development of the land. 91% of the deforested land is used for cattle grazing and the rest is mostly used for farming.  This occurs despite what environmentalist C.M. Peters stated in 1989, “One hectare in the Peruvian Amazon has been calculated to have a value of $6820 if intact forest is sustainably harvested for fruits, latex, and timber; $1000 if clear-cut for commercial timber (not sustainably harvested); or $148 if used as cattle pasture.” This valuation is in terms of what the worth is for the Peruvian Citizens, not for the corporations like Asia Pulp and Paper who have brutally deforested the land for years. 

Reading through the history of Asia Pulp and Paper is analogous  to reading the criminal history of a brutal and maliciously ambitious drug cartel.  No outside force has been able to stop their continuous onslaught of the world’s most valuable and essential forests.  The company has been involved in illegal logging in Cambodia and Indonesia and hasbroken agreements with 3 major environmental organizations.  

According to the Asia Times Online, “Asia Pulp and Paper's business model is a tactically aggressive one: it turns huge profits by quickly stripping forests bare, exploiting age-old forests and indigenous peoples, and leaving town before the environmental consequences are felt. By the time communities and governments lodge complaints and lawsuits, APP has divested itself of local interests and assets.”

They had agreements with Forest Steward Ship Council, the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Rainforest Alliance.  All agreements were cancelled by the environmental organizations when APP, Asia Pulp and Paper, did not follow through with the original environmental policies stated in the agreements. It appears that APP was just using these organizations to hide behind. They agreed to change it behaviors but its deforestation of restricted lands was discovered and the agreements were dissolved.  Boycotts of APP’s products were called for by various hotel associations.  APP threatened with lawsuits but wasn’t aware of the public support for the boycotts. They were caught red-handed with their entire body in the cookie jar and still tried to weasel out of it.  Even now on the homepage of their website it reads “Care for Tomorrow, we support actions for economic, social and environmental sustainability”.  This situation being similar to members of the last US Administration telling the world that the Iraq war was started to protect our freedom when they originally told us it was to protect us from weapons of mass destruction and terrorism. A bold faced lie. 

Unfortunately in today’s amoral political and economic climate many do not care for the truth even if it causes horrific environmental or other types of damage: If it hurts their pocketbook and popularity they will say anything to protect themselves.  Even though such maliciously powerful and desperate entities are loose in our world trying to deprive us of our environmental freedom we still have a mighty weapon in our possession that can stop them dead in their tracks: our wallets.  If we don’t buy their poison they can’t sell it and if they can’t sell it they will not brutally strip our lands to get it.