Environmental Economic News

My Blog Has Moved

2010-04-24T16:10:00.001-07:00

I have moved the posting of my efforts to www.globalwarmingisreal.com.

My blog will continue as usual, just at a new location.

Thank you for your interest.

When will environmentalism cease to be a fight and begin to be just a part of our culture?

2010-03-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

CITIES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)has decided to NOT bring many marine species under its protection. The Japanese Embassy hosted a dinner before the day of the vote and served Blue Fin Tuna, one of the species being voted on.

The New Zealand Plant Conservation Network has put out a new book, Threatend Plants of New Zealand, and it claims that 184 plants in New Zealand are on the brink of extinction.

A new way to farm fish is developed to use less water, the CS Monitor reports.

Scientific American is all about water awareness this month. Check out their site and see how water intensive your lifestyle is.

A new process is developed to take more oil out of the Alberta Tar Sands for less of an environmental impact. This is very significant. This is either making what was already going to happen not so bad, or it will legitimize something that should be stopped.

At a convention in California a group of scientists called for climate intervention research. They are discussing the ethics of geoengineering the climate to reverse global warming.

The White House will host a Conservation Summit to bring together conflicting interests to discuss land management. A focus will be placed on participatory management, where localities have more responsibility in land management and the feds release their grip on all decision making. This has been building in the academic land management field for some time.

29 US Governors are pushing the White House to support renewable energy more. Governors are trying to meet ambitious pollution reduction targets, create jobs in their states, and upgrade and connect the energy grid. Governors want more cash subsidies and less tax breaks for renewable energy. Cash is more immediate and clear for the market to understand than tax breaks.

The UN announced that it will enlist the international consortium of national academies of science, the InterAcademy Council, to review the IPCC due to recent controversies. The basic conclusions of the IPCC are not in question, the UN just wants to address any legitimate skepticism of the IPCC, its practices and its findings.

Solar Power!

2010-02-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

Solar Power is gaining traction because it is becoming cheaper than traditional sources of energy. Senator Bernie Sanders announces a plan to subsidize "distributed" solar power (small, at-source energy production). Britain is beginning to subsidize solar power as well. Coal, nuclear, petroleum, they are all subsidized, so why not subsidize power generation that does not cause so many problems for humans and our environment?

MotherJones publishes an article asking, What do we not know about global climate change?

American Legislatures are turning to plans to scrap cap and trade and just please their financial constituents.

Frank Luntz has helped Republicans use the right words to win the political game, now he turns his skills over to environmentalists so that they can re-shape their rhetoric. My guess is that this will be helpful but not as useful as Republicans have made Luntz's skills because Conservatives are usually conformative and Liberals are usually individualists when it comes to their beliefs

The first great idea is selling reusable bags for shopping, the next great idea will be getting consumers to use them. The Guardian reports.

The ipad is built Green, but is it Green if it is just an addition to someone's gadget harem? Grist comments.

Confusion over how we are degrading our natural environment, but no confusion over how to degrade it

2010-02-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

I believe they are calling it the Watergate scandal. Some scientists ignored data that was contrary to their findings in a paper published about two decades ago. Climate Change skeptics are jumping all over it. The article under scrutiny was published in 1990 and is concerned with urban heat bubble heating compared to heating in the atmosphere outside of urban heat bubbles. The scandal does not disprove global warming. Furthermore, global warming is not the only environmental problem. Global warming is only one aspect of global environmental degradation.

The urban heat bubble is due to all of the pavement and black roofs. Painting your roof white is one option, "green roofs" are another option. Scientific American explains.

Obama is trying to create a Green Economy. Part of his plan is increased funding for Nuclear power through research and loans. Depending on your beliefs, this is a victory or a loss.

National Geographic lists resources for learning about freshwater environmental issues.

California attempts to create laws to decrease transportation emissions. The industries being regulated claim that the legislation would violate interstate commerce laws.

Obama wants to uphold his Copenhagen commitments of reducing pollution to 4% below 1990 emissions by 2020. This is pending American National legislation though.

Some centrist democrats are seeking to scrap cap and trade and go for a policy that would do little and give many concessions to polluting industries. Mother Jones reports.

Scientific American attempts to explain some of the many atmospheric characteristics that contribute to the global atmospheric temperature. There are forces both cooling and heating our atmosphere, the temperature we experience is a product of many forces.

And...say hello to genetically modified forests that do not reproduce.

We March Cautiously Forward

2010-01-24T18:13:00.000-08:00

San Jose Mercury News suggests 10 must read eco-books.

National Geographic covers "Energy Oases."

Fuel from Algae has been suggested as a possible future fuel source that is more environmental than other fuel sources. Scientific American sheds some doubt on this, the problem seems to be the food for the algae. More research is being done though as companies like Exxon have made large investments in Algae.

A major fertilizer is Nitrogen, made from petroleum. Nitrogen is used inefficiently in global, mechanized agriculture and the environmental consequences are large. This article from the Christian Science Monitor highlights Nitrogen in agriculture.

Friends of the Earth are campaigning against the US governments decision to help fund the building of nuclear power. Many people with financial motivations say that nuclear power is part of the low-carbon future, that is debatable.

Friends of the earth say that the nuclear industry is trying to get the American tax payer to help finance their private venture. This video helps explain their campaign.

California is in constant drought, with water running low the State government plans to drill dozens of new wells. This could be a terrible idea as tapping a declining reserve does not create more, its depletes more, at an increased rate. Agriculture is the main user of water in California.

In better news for California, garbage trucks are fueling themselves off of garbage.

China is developing, as so is their trash problem.

An Indian tribe in America turns to solar power as a way to make money rather than cash in on the Casino Craze.

Employment

2009-12-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

I started a new job 4 weeks ago and have not had the time to continue this blog.

I will however begin blogging again in mid-February.

For your own research, some of my favorite news sources are:

Christian Science Monitor (has an environmental section)
International Herald Tribunes
Foreign Affairs
The Guardian (has an environmental section)
Scientific American
Science, magazine
BBC News
Economist
Washington Post
World Resources International
The Week
Mother Jones (has an environmental section)
Earth Trends
San Jose Mercury News (has an environmental section)
Harpers
Reuters
Grist

Copenhagen

2009-12-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

This post will contain most of what you need to know about Copenhagen and the Climate Change negotiations.

First, Grist published a list of "myths and facts" about the negotiations.

This story from Mother Jones gives some general news, something to notice is Obama's chief negotiator rejects the idea that the countries that caused climate change owe money or aid to countries that are victims of climate change. This is surprising and saddening. The European Union's position is the opposite but the EU is still reluctant to give up too much money. At the same time Australia is dedicated to reducing emissions, but not by a radical amount, and demands that the creators of climate change put up the money to help the victim countries.

Poor countries, victims of climate change, demand quick action and help from the perpetrators. This is will be one of the greatest strains at the negotiations, since there is no international court poor countries have to beg for action instead of sue for it. If the climate negotiations were a domestic Tort case, the rich would pay and the poor would be reimbursed for damages.

Religious leaders are having their say about climate change and the negotiations, the Archbishop of Canterbury is speaking out and urging countries to reach an agreement that protects the citizens of the world from climate change. The church bells rang 350 times, 350ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere is the target to avoid climate catastrophe.

Protesters are angry, not just about the negotiations but about treatment from riot police. Many have been arrested and treated inhumanely. Some of the mass arrests did not occur when protesters acted out of line, there of course are the violent anarchists present. Peaceful protesters were arrested, not allowed bathroom services, heat, food or drink. An investigation into the Danish police force is being campaigned for.

Sarah Palin had her views about climate change published in the Washington Post, of course they were inaccurate and help to rally ignorant people to march to their own demise.

While the majority of Americans are worried about climate change and think that their actions affect it they are unwilling to change too much, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

Advances in technology will be one of our saviors. Scientists have been able to use paper and nanotubes to create a battery. The comments on the article ask "The result is a highly conductive sheet that can carry a charge" Sounds more like a capacitor than like a battery to me. Did I miss something?"

Obama is Back on for Copenhagen

2009-11-27T19:11:00.000-08:00

Obama has announced that he will attend the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen next weekend. This will be the first international climate change negotiations that a US President has ever attended.

Obama and Hu Jintao (China) have talked about climate change, now Obama and Dr. Manmohan Singh (India) talk about climate change and the possibilities for mitigation.

International climate change negotiations between the industrialized and unindustrialized world always come to money, how are poor countries to advance technology when they don't have the money to do so? Gordon Brown has announced that Great Britain will put over $1 billion into a fund that functions to fast track money to poorer countries so they can fund efforts to mitigate and deal with climate change. The fund will grow quickly in the next decade.

Reuters reports on "Det Norske Veritas, a leading international certifier, has drafted standards which businesses ranging from coffee making to diamond sourcing can use to flag sustainability of supply chains, DNV senior executives said."
This is very important for environmental-economics as the consumer needs as much information about their products as they can get. With the expansion of sustainability certifications consumers will see more transparency in the market and can signal the market more intentionally.

The California Energy Commission bans t.v.s that eat too much energy. It will save California a lot of money. This environmentally friendly move would have never been possible without a financial crisis in California.

Innovation in the wind turbine industry makes wind turbines more efficient in their use of land.

A new study says that Americans waste a large amount of their food. From manufacturing, to transporting and selling to the dinner table Americans throw away their food in large amounts. There is much more room for becoming more conscious about our consumption habits.

The Time to Act is Now. But, First Do Your Research

2009-11-13T11:00:00.000-08:00

The International Energy Agency released a report covering the cost of inaction for abating Climate Change via not reaching a global agreement in Copenhagen this December. A key to the Copenhagen meeting is the USA passing national Climate Change legislation, without the USA little will happen as we are a world leader and the largest polluter in the world. The oil, gas and coal industries are increasing their efforts to kill the US Climate Change bill and supporters of the bill, mainly non-profits, are being outspent in advertising. 14 Democratic Senators have decided to back the coal industry and GRIST highlights this in a report, the Senators back the coal industry by supporting a way to give pollution permits under the national cap and trade bill that would, in effect, give lots of money to large polluters just because they pollute a lot. Giving away so many permits gives polluters money instead of gets money for out government which is currently in a financial crisis.

Standard Oil was John D Rockefeller's Company and its goal was to control the oil market, they were mostly successful until 1911 when they were broken up by the US Congress. Since Standard Oil was broken up into 32 companies they have reformed into several companies that, individually, make more profit than any companies in history (BP, Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and smaller ones like Valero). Since Standard the price of oil has not reflected market fundamentals (supply and demand), speculation on oil pushes the price up, Reuters covers the current state of oil prices and predicts another bubble like last year when oil shot up to $148 a barrel and oil companies broke all records for profits during a global recession.

The International Energy Agency claims that oil reserves have been inflated to not alarm people that we are running out of oil. This map from the Guardian shows Global Oil Reserves, check it out.

The Environmental Defense Fund claims that polls show that the majority of Americans want renewable energy now, and a climate change bill from Congress. The PR against getting out of the coal, oil and natural gas business comes from the coal, oil and natural gas companies claiming that doing anything now would raise energy prices too much. The overall cost of not switching to renewables now is the larger cost that we should be trying to avoid.

A group of Engineering experts claim that it is impossible for Britain to meet its renewable energy targets. A fleet of electric scooters was just put on the market in Britain; progress in environmentalism is still being made.

The Boston Globe published a list of the top ten green technology jobs. They are almost all green collar (environmental blue collar) jobs.

The Journal of Science highlights new study that claims that bad decisions are contagious when a decision maker is influenced by someone they identify with or feel close to. Good thing to be aware of.

Shaky Ground Ahead, but There is No Where Else to GO

2009-11-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

Nanotechnology is the next frontier for technology and could potentially solve a lot of environmental problems. An article in Science highlights a study that analyzes the safety of one application of nanotechnology. This is very important because while nanotechnology could be the greatest wonder of the future we need to ensure it is safe for us as well. The conclusion is that nanotechnology is safe when carefully used.

The Guardian gives an overview of Green Investment in celebration of England's National Ethical Investment Week. The trick is to get a positive return on your investment. Reuters published an article about big wind companies in Europe, Germany especially, are in line to receive government funds to support their business. Wind power is growing and is a potential investment opportunity. A similar article from Reuters compares investment in Wind and Solar companies.

The US government is dithering, as conservative pundits would say, over Copenhagen. The US is refusing to give a definite number that it will reduce carbon emissions to. A failure in Copenhagen would draw the agreement out placing the needs of our environment behind the needs of industry. The argument from industry is that any environmental regulation will kill jobs, as if they care about jobs! Coal and oil are some of the most profitable industries in the world and can afford to bring us energy while not poising us and our environment.

Democrats in the US Senate show that they can play hardball too and pass a Climate Change plan in a key Senate Committee while Republicans were boycotting the effort and not showing up to meetings. At least someone in our government cares about environmentalism and the UN Copenhagen negotiations, hopefully this will spur more positive attention on reaching an agreement in Copenhagen.

A study about discussing climate change is published and covers why, psychologically, people have a hard time understanding and believing in the existence of climate change.

Finally! A universal cell phone charger will come onto the market. Mother Jones reports.

Another oil spill, this time in the Red Sea. The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a precedent setting case that paved the way for oil companies to continue spilling oil without much repercussion. The original settlement of the case required Exxon to pay $5 billion , one year's revenue at the time, but their lawyers got that number down to $.5 billion and oil spills are still cheaper to let happen than prevent. The Christian Science Monitor reports, and is a great source for news from a different perspective than large news sources with vested interests.

US and the EU continue to allow chemicals to be manufactured that are not safe for humans or our environment. The EU has decided to act, and this article highlighting the affect of some chemicals on the development of gender in children discusses the issue.

Oil, what should we do with you, Oil?

2009-10-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

The Iraq government is poised to sign oil extraction agreements with BP and China's CNPC. This would open up the largest oil field in Iraq to a foreign company.

While the peak oil theory is gaining traction, more oil is being discovered all the time. The most upheld aspect of the peak oil theory is that oil is becoming more expensive to extract and refine, but it is still being discovered. Check out recent discoveries from OilVoice.

Ecology.com published an article called, "The Secret World of Energy
The Evolution and Use of the World's Energy Systems."

Another oil spill, this time in San Francisco Bay!

Oil Change International has a campaign called "Separate Oil and State." They want our politicians to stop accepting money from oil companies and their employees, thus making our Congress one of the people instead of one of business. Business surely should have a voice in the legislation process but their dominance of it is unwanted.

The White House is trying to upgrade its building to LEED Standards, read about it. And, read about what is LEED from the US Green Building Council.

Climate Change- Coppenhagen and the US Congress

2009-10-27T20:13:00.000-07:00

The UN believes that the upcoming Climate Change talks in Copenhagen will not produce a Treaty. And Obama quietly takes himself off of the attendee list. Democrats in the Senate still push for a Climate Change bill. Without a UN agreement we are in for quite a surprise.

Politics unfold with the people in the background mobilizing themselves to show the politicians that representation means legislation. And support for Cap and Trade in America wanes as polluting industries weigh in to change Climate Change legislation into something close to business as usual.

If politicians are not going to do it for us, we must do it for ourselves. Science Journal shows some numbers that empower average citizens to change their lives to change the world.

The American Petroleum Institute weighs in on the Climate Change bill and how it will hurt Americans. What hurts Americans is the oligopoly (oiligopoly) of the oil market, controlled by 5 companies, that raises prices needlessly while reaping the highest profits in world history during a recession.

Solar power is starting to become economical to utilize.

Africa

2009-10-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon a list of environmental websites focused on Africa and thought I might share some of the stories from the sites with you.

AFROL news gives a thorough background to deforestation in Africa. Under 10% of primary forests are left and many stands are left unhealthy from selective logging. Poverty and foreign demand are large threats to the forests while local management through sustainable agriculture could be the savior.

Nigeria has been heavily impacted by the oil industry, in the Rivers State 80% of the area is classified as being heavily impacted by environmental pollution. Shell and Chevron are the main oil companies in Nigeria and find constant opposition to their destruction of livelihoods and environments. This link is an overview of Nigeria, its people and the history of oil. This is an overview of Chevron in Nigeria. And this is an overview of Shell's world wide operations, partially focusing on Ken Saro-Wiwa who was killed by the Nigerian government at the request of Shell due to his direct non-violent opposition to Shell.

Earthlife Africa gives a climate change report for 2009, much to learn.

Global Forest Watch has a great feature on its website that lets you generate maps on forest cover and deforestation around the world.

This is a review of UN climate change agreements and its use of the term 'sustainable forest management' that has been manipulated into allowing forest practices that degrade the environment. I am always surprised that companies that degrade the environment almost always have the ability to water down regulation that affects their business. It is called regulation and it is supposed to be crafted so that it does not ruin a business but too often business ruins us.

Stumbling Foreword

2009-10-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

An alternative annual report for Chevron was drafted. It highlights the human and environmental cost of Chevron's activities around the world and shines light on why we want a different system of procuring energy. Check out the site and the report.

With Obama in the whitehouse new coal fired power plants were supposed to not be built again, but the administration is rescinding and now in the Markey-Waxman bill new coal plants will be allowed to be built under certain conditions due to the coal industry's new lobbying effort that touts "clean coal" as the way of the future. The real gem behind "clean coal" is not an effort to protect the health of humans and our environment but is a desperate grasp at the remaining coal reserves that are large enough to power the US and China for the next 350 years. Clean Coal is a sham.

Check out this "off grid" home, it costs over $500,000 to make but it is more environmental than your home. It is shocking to me that people are so willing to spend money on luxury items, many people have homes worth over 1/2 million dollars so why not demand low emissions with your luxury goods? A note about the article: hydrogen power is a technology that is not developing quickly and it emits water vapor, many people do not know that water vapor is a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.

Check this funny thing out, the video is gross but helps your imagination become more active about the wide-reaching changes that Climate Change will bring. Apparently mucus blobs occur in the ocean and with recent changes these blobs are becoming more popular; they house dangerous bacteria and viruses and suffocate sea-life.

Climate Change Science needs to be as accurate as possible to help non-believers alter their beliefs. This article from Science reveals a recent study finding that CO2 emissions have been increasing for thousands of years due to natural processes, the earth is naturally heating up as it arises out of an ice age and we are speeding up that process making earth inhospitable to us.

To our knowledge Earth has been through 5 mass extinction periods, this is the 6th. The loss of habitat is the greatest threat, World Resources Institute provides some commentary, figures and facts.

Companies and scientists are trying to harvest hydrocarbons from algea, it would mean oil forever! This article follows a recent college graduate that tried to get a job with one of these projects and was unable. The promises from algae seem to be inflated and the government is throwing millions at it, and like hydrogen battery cells commercial viability is so far off we might be better off focusing on more promising technologies.

The developing world is spending its energy on growing their economy out of poverty, they have been demanding money from the industrialized countries to little avail. These countries will increase emissions greatly for the next several decades with or without our help. We can give them the tools to develop environmentally or we can leave them to act like poor people; poor people do what is necessary for survival today, not tomorrow. If I was in their position I would do no different.

River Delta's are sinking and Science reveals some new studies about it.

Change?

2009-09-25T19:19:00.001-07:00

A group of scientists visited the garbage patch in the Pacific that is the size of Texas, some say it is larger. The patch mainly consists of plastic products but many other products are there, entangling sea life in a floating garbage grave. This link has a video to watch and the highlight in the video is the phrase "benign by design" which is a call to manufacturers to create products that have the full life cycle of a product in mind. Products become trash, instead they should be an input into a natural system, like forks created from biodegradable material. Along with biodegradable products a residential food-waste pick-up system is needed.

The Economist holds debates on its website, this session the debated claim is: tackling climate change means leaving fossil fuels behind. On this link are links to articles relating to this debate. 60% of respondents say yes, fossil fuels should be left behind (The debate is sponsored by Dow Chemical). From my glance at this what is missing is the broader conversation that climate change is just one part of the equation when it comes to pollutants that relate to climate change; we have species die-off, contamination of water used for human consumption, toxic-chemical contamination of humans, top-soil degradation, and more to worry about. We should switch from a fossil-fuel economy for more then the reason of Climate Change.

A study claims that a greater return on investment for reducing carbon emission is experienced when money is spent on contraception in the unindustrialized world than on green technology. Most of the growth in population (3 billion more people) in the next 40 years will be in the unindustrialized world, but the industrialized world pollutes so much more than the rest of the world so a focus on reducing the wealthy peoples' consumption will actual do the most for combating environmental degradation.

In an article by MotherJones Obama is criticized for his lack of dedication to tackling Climate Change during the recent UN meetings. Is Obama not doing enough, or is there a lack of popular support for him doing a lot followed by a political climate focused on economic recovery of large corporations that will only make small changes in the next decade to mitigate climate change? Blame Obama, or blame the business and political system? Remember that ExxonMobile just finished a costly advertisement campaign against climate change science, and we just had 8 years of an executive administration that denied climate change is anthropogenic. Non-scientists are being required to make scientific judgments and thus far many of them are confused and unprepared for the task.

And some news about the melting of the ever-so-important Greenland ice-shelf.

Water, Oil & UN Climate Change Summit

2009-09-21T15:54:00.000-07:00

Scientific American asks the question: How much does fossil fuels get in subsidies from the American Government? The answer is $72 billion between 2002 and 2007.

The Economist has a go at explaining the challenges facing the global automobile industry. People no longer want gas-guzzlers that are over-sized and have a short life-time, and the industry will be reeling from this. USA and Europe propped up their automobile companies during this last year of recession, but these companies have not made very large changes yet. When they sell cars that we should have due to our environmental challenges they will probably return to making large sums of money. Smaller, more efficient, alternative fuels, alternative materials- this is want we need.

The Environmental Defense Fund makes a concise case for a Climate Bill in 2009. Obama wants one passed before the UN Climate meeting. A lot is expected from this UN meeting and while China and the US have not been dedicated to change before China is picking up the slack. China may eclipse the US in promises and effort, but ears and eyes are still on the US.

Water has been cheap in the USA and people are using this resource as the market predicts; liberally. Some Californians use their water with few conservation efforts. The times will change, will people's water use change proactively?

Globally, this summer was not as hot as other recent summers, this means ice in the Arctic has had its life extended, but it will melt away in the next couple of decades.

Environmental Justice for the Ivory Coast concludes; a company dumped 500 tons of sludge from refining oil in 2006 and automatically people died and became sick. The settlement arrives but the company still denies responsibility for the incident.

People can now off-set the carbon emissions from their plane flights, this article tells you how, another organization that supplies this service is www.carbonfund.org.

The State of Oil

2009-09-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

Oil prices have been in the $70s region, slowly rising with the recovery of the economy, they fell recently to $71.82 a barrel and this low price has multiple implications. The lower the price the less incentive there is to invest away from using oil, and the higher the price the more incentive there is to explore for more oil using more costly sources; this means that where ever the price of oil goes we will produce a lot of it. People living next to the tar sands in Alberta, Canada (containing 178 billion barrels of usable oil) are hoping for low future prices to make the extraction operation there unprofitable due to the cancerous effect it is having on the citizens. And in the Gulf of Mexico oil is found under deep water, putting 3 billion more barrels into the global oil reserve.

Electric Cars are the most likely proposed alternative to the combustion engine, The Economist assesses the situation and comments on what governments need to do to assist the creation of this new market.

Have a lesson on water use and availability on Planet Earth.

One study on climate trends supports the idea that our recent warming stands in the face of the cooling of the past couple thousand years, we could be delaying an ice age.

Renewable Energy and a New Economy- Here We Come

2009-08-27T14:48:00.001-07:00

I have just returned from a 2 month vacation and this blog will now be updated at least once a week. Thank you for reading.

PG and E is trying to start a project near San Francisco that would store energy from renewable sources in an underground facility so it can use energy during times when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, this would make sources like coal less vital and neccessary.

National Geographic comments on sustainable agriculture, and on the page is links to a lot of other great stories and information sources.

Rocky Mountain Institute provides a great interactive map showing where we have received all of our oil in the US for the past 4 decades. Currently, in the NW of the US 17% of all oil at the gas station comes from the TarSands in Alberta Canada, a source that is greatly inefficient compared to our historical returns from investments on petroleum production, we are certainly using up all of the cheap sources of quality, known oil.

Amory Lovins, one of the frontmen at Rocky Mountain Institute recently received another reward, this time for energy efficiency. He is well aware of all the obstacles to his plans and ideas, most of them being politics and lack of knowledge on the part of engineers and other planners of our economy and infrastructure. An issue with increasing energy efficiency has been that the cheaper and more accessible it is the more a single person will use thus wasting the gains of increasing efficiency.

Mass Media Environmentalism focuses on Global Warming but much else is going on, is this monofocus good? I would say that the monofocus is often productive, but of course more needs to be explained to the public about the many environmental threats that exist today.

Wind energy is on the rise, but remember we can only receive a small fraction of our energy demand from wind, and each turbine takes a colossal amount of steel which carries a heavy environmental price.

The solar cell is becoming more efficient everyday, this is vital to using the sun's energy as a power source. A new solar cell efficiency record was set, it is expensive now but hopefully not in the near future.

Japan continues on with its economy, strengthening itself through technologies of the future, solar cells and big in Japan and on the rise.

Hiatus

2009-06-18T21:06:00.001-07:00

I will not be posting on this blog until the beginning of September.

Check out the last post made before this one though.

There are many posts however and you can search through old posts to find good information and great articles.

Peruvian Jungle

2009-06-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

This was sent to me by a friend living in this jungle in Peru.

Dear Reader,

Espiritu de la Selva (in English, “Spirit of the
Jungle,”) is a group of healers who practice the healing traditions of
the Shipibo culture. The Shipibo are an indigenous group native to the
Peruvian jungle. Currently, Alan Garcia, president of the Peruvian
government, is selling the jungle.

Espiritu de la Selva is dedicated to the preservation of this sacred
land, its people, and natural medicinal plants. This ancient healing
tradition is a product of the interconnectedness between people and
their land. These cultures are currently at risk of destruction.

The Atalaya, Baguas, Loreto, and Ucayali regions of the Peruvian
jungle have always been home to these indigenous communities and have
never been owned or sold before. The land is being divided into 20
regions of 5,000 hectares, a total of 100,000 hectares of unbroken
jungle to be sold bit by bit. This land holds more than 1,850
communities and 3,800 natural medicinal plants.

An oficial version of the conflict states that 9 indigenous peoples
and 35 police officers have died in indigenous terrorist acts of
violence. Alberto Pisango, chief of all native Peruvian tribes, is
said to be the intellectual coordinator of all the attacks. Due to
orders to capture Pisango if he enters the country, he is under the
poitical protection of the Nicaraguan government. Protesting natives
throughout Peru state that they act in defense of themselves and their
land and are considered terrorists. However, a mass burial of 197
natives has been found, 40 natives remain missing, while the actual
toll of police dead is 12. On June 22nd, the government begins sale of
100,000 hectates of the jungle. This land, home to 1,853 indigenous
communities, would be sold to Plus Petrol to be bombed to enable the
extraction of petroleum and natural gas.

Espiritu de la Selva is organizing to buy as many 5000 hectare plots
as it can to create a reserve in which these plants and communities
will be protected. In addition to maintaining the ecological stability
of the regions we seek to protect, we wish to create a shamanic
healing center. Preserving this land and creating this center is the
retiring wish of a respected Shipibo healer who was been practicing
for over 70 years. To make this happen we need your help. Please share
this with those close to you. All donations you can share, small or
great, go directly to buying the land.

Sincerely,
Espiritu de la Selva

Further Reading:

Peru moves to ease Amazon crisis, BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_8100000/newsid_8104700/8104787.stm

Simon presenta propuesta para derogatoria de DL 1064 y 1090, La Republica
http://www.larepublica.pe/politica/17/06/2009/simon-presenta-propuesta-derogatoria-de-decretos-1064-y-1090

Protesters Gird for Long Fight Over Opening Peru’s Amazon - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/12/world/americas/12peru.html?_r=1

A world looks ahead to a world that will look behind to try to mitigate the decisions that we make today

2009-06-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Peak oil is a public discussion that lacks clarity, the economist gives a short explanation of the economics of oil reserves.

To advance our "sustainable" economy we need hardworking, educated, intelligent people and in the USA we have the institutionally and educationally laziest kids in the developed world.

The "Green Economy" is looking better than other types of job sectors in this recession. I could not find a deffinition for "green jobs" in this article, maybe you can find it.

Water, another resource that we abuse. The positive feedback loops for our resource use is picking up speed and people are beginning to feel the effects of the overuse of water.

Indigenous tribes are usually the recipients of the negative effects of resource exploration and Peru is receiving the current round of indigenous-energy-exploration drama.

Bjorn Lomborg is a climate change skeptic that still cares about humans and the environment, and while sometimes I disagree with him sometimes this article is a great piece on the climate change exaggeration that prevents intelligent public debate.

The US is drafting its first climate change bill and it is not even close to ideal, but it is at least doing something.

Oil Prices, Oil Prices, Oil Prices Increasing

2009-06-01T13:20:00.000-07:00

Oil prices are on the rise and this is great for alternative energy. If owners of companies can rely on a stable and permanent increase in real oil prices then they can justify investing in alternative energy. The Economist comments on the price increase and the effect on macroeconomics, it gives good context to our economy and oil prices and shows how integrated all of our modern issues are.

Governments can fund alternative energy projects and can subsidize alternative energy companies but it will be the market that makes the large scale changes that environmentalism seeks. The government does not fix the economy, rather it creates context and the market responds- Increase the real price of oil and people will use substitutes.

Climate Change

2009-05-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

It is 2009 and we are still not taking the neccessary actions to mitigate the very real effects of Climate Change that are occuring now and will clearly occur in the future. For a full economic analysis of the effects of Climate Change in the US, read this. Another informative document, can be found by clicking here, and is a report that was completed for the European Commission.

The files are long but were made so that skimming is easy to do.

Both are pdf files, some computers do not have the neccessary software.

Change for the better, Politicizing for the worse

2009-05-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

With the US government taking climate change as a serious threat politicians and lobbyists now step in to ruin a good intention. The deffinition of "renewable" is now being lobbied. Lobbyists for energy companies that ruin our environment are trying to get federal money for doing what they have always been doing like burning spent coal or capturing methane and re-using it or for burning food waste. The point of subsidizing renewable energy is to help wind and solar and wave to gain a footing in the energy market. Certainly we want companies to do things like capture their waste and re-use it but a federal subsidy is not needed to encourage this. We will see how watered down this vital effort gets.

The world business summit on climate change will occur next weekend and companies like shell are using the rhetoric of change while changing little. Shell's big plan is to just wait for carbon capture technology to develop in the next 10-20years and then use it when it is cheap enough for them to want to use it. Climate Change has a time line and waiting that long to reduce emissions is ineffective in mitigating Climate Change. This summit should be amusing as businesses come together to explain why we should do something about Climate Change while they do very little.

Steven Chu is the US Energy Secretary and he is making some contentious decisions. First, Chu is favoring the building of new coal fired power plants. This is unacceptable because every coal plant built today will burn coal until at least 2050. The understanding of environmentalists was that Chu would not allow another to be built under his watch, Chu is not gung-ho about coal plants, but is giving the nod to build more. Chu is also trying to get some reactors going that turn spent nuclear waste into a form that has a drastically smaller radioactive half-life. By doing this Chu would be making the spent nuclear fuel storage facility planned for mountains in Nevada unneeded. Finally, Chu is reducing the government funding of the hydrogen car, many are mad about this but hydrogen is a nowhere technology that was loved by GM and Bush because they could talk about it all day without the risk of having to make a single hydrogen car because there are too many obstacles for this technology. Also, to get fuel for these cars is so energy intensive it makes the car not the environmental thing that people want it to be.

Restructuring our infrastructure to be more "environmental" creates a lot of jobs!

Pollution damages our bodies we all know, but a study that is highlighted by National Geographic explains some of the newest research on the subject.

Canada is pulling oil out of a thing called the Alberta Tar Sands. It is drastically more energy intensive to get oil from sand fields then from tar deposits. The Alberta Tar Sands have 350 years of extraction left but it is expensive to extract and very costly to the environment as these sands lay below a forest and multiple meters of soil. In the Pacific NW of the US 10% of all oil comes from these sands, this topic is very important and you should research it more.

The US Climate Change Bill

2009-05-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Many are calling this Climate Change Bill a monumental piece of legislation that will change America for ever. Surely it puts the US on a path of regulating CO2 emissions from large industries in America, but there is one very large flaw. As it is negotiated currently, 85% of the permits, which is a certificate saying you can pollute x amount, are being given to companies for free. The argument is that if companies had to all-of-a-sudden start paying for the damage they are doing to our environment and society they could not make as much profit as they currently do. That argument has some validacy, but the problem is that by giving away 85% of the permits for free we are giving companies money for being large pollutors. The money generated from selling permits was going to help makeup for the large US deficit that so many people are worried about.

Arguing that giving permtis for free will allow companies to keep their prices low and this will benefit the consumer is false because the consumer is also the taxpayer that is giving these permits for free. It is all just pushing around money and if Americans weren't so fear ridden when they heard the word tax we could just use a simple tax scheme to tax large emitters of CO2, instead of the complex cap and trade system that takes a permit trading bank, regulators for the market and bank, and regulators that make sure that claims of permanent reductions in emissions are honest.

The Gaurdian covers this story

As well as the Christian Science Monitor

And the economist seems to be the only one that understands what is going on, but maybe that is because they know more about economics

For all of the possible environmental catastrophies that we forsee due to our resource use, if technology advances fast enough many of our problems will dissapear into the past. Australian researchers figured out how to put 10 terabytes onto a single cd, that is 2,000 times the space that a DVD currently holds

The Russians are not doing so bad during this downturn because of their natural gas and oil stock that they sell to Europe. Where will Russia be in 50 years when they have sold off most of their oil and gas reserves and have made no grand effort to adapt to a post fossil fuel dependent world?, if we get there.

The world tries to change

2009-05-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Obama is raising the fuel efficiency standards (called CAFE) and as usual the car industry and many others say that it will cost the consumer too much, much of the car industry is not fighting the plan though. A suprising fact is that economists don't talk with industry much. So we get big business making business claims that sound like economics, really they are just saying that they do not want to be forced to change, but constant change is what keeps an economy healthy. Business is not Economics.

This piece from Greenpeace explains the ideal path to dealing with climat change, according to them. They are deffinitely one end of the political spectrum, but their rhetoric is more favorable to our environment than many of our politicians in the US Congress.

Poverty in Africa increased greatly in the last several years, this press release from UNEP address the agricultural needs of Africa.

The United Nations just held a chemical conference that functions to get world governments to produce less toxic and harmful products.

Apparently Bush II held private talks with China about reducing green house gas emissions. Does this change your view of Bush II?

Climate Science Correction and US Climate Bill Changes

2009-05-14T18:30:00.000-07:00

Apparently scientists are not perfect. These two articles explain how sea levels will not rise as much as expected from melting ice, one is from the Canada Broadcasting Corporation and the other from the Christian Science Monitor.

Harvesting methane from cows is a double win for environmentalism and the economy, Resources for the Future explains.

Obama's climate change bill is watered down by industry. They always complain about environmental legislation reducing their profits, but their profits are found on degrading the environment, yet it is further complicated because human welfare has been made temporarily dependent on degrading the environment.

The CATO insitute has a short article on "Buy Local," it is an incomplete analysis for sure but opposing beliefs are worth our time.

Moving Forward

2009-05-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

China burns the most coal out of any country and is taking steps to reduce their CO2 emissions while continuing to be crutched on coal energy. Their performance is not ideal, but it will be impactful.

One of Obama's budget cuts will be the hydrogen energy project. Bush II supported a hydrogen economy without acknowledging the obstacles, Obama is now stepping away from it to focus on more likely alternative fuels.

Solar energy harvesting technology is advancing, making it cheaper; cheaper than oil. This the point at which alternative fuels can overtake fossil fuels, when the market signals via price people respond, and in this case they stop using oil.

The Pika (a cute little mammal) might be listed as endangered due to global warming.

Technology leads the way

2009-05-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

Later this year a very important UN Kyoto Meeting of the Parties will occur and many feel that this is our last chance to negotiate a global Climate Change agreement before it is too late and positive feed back mechanisms take over the global ecosystem, changing the earth's climate more than humans would like. Sweden is taking the lead as president of the European Union and will be the lead in the Climate Change negotiations.

The CATO institute is a libertarian organization and is void of a lot of Democrat Republican rhetoric so I enjoy their analyses, their commentary is sometimes disagreeable but their numbers are often spot-on. This article is about the economics of Obama's spending on increasing rail in the US. One note about this article, it states that electrical trains are a poor idea because we have coal fired power plants in America, but we are currently working on phasing out coal fired power plants and equipping them with carbon capture technologies, so i find their argument shallow.

This link is to a pdf so if you do not have the right software the link may not work. This report is made by the Oil Solutions Initiative and is titled "A Framework for Breaking US Oil Dependence."

Increasing energy efficiency for our appliances is being pushed right now and many do not like increased efficiency because it means more overall resource use. I would say that this is no condemnation of increasing energy efficiency because plenty of humans are still poor and want to use more energy, but already rich people using increases in energy efficiencies to use more is a problem.

The Economist provides a good commentary on energy grids in American and how they are changing.

Economic Localization?

2009-05-03T15:56:00.001-07:00

I found this great website that helps you obtain a better understanding of where our food comes from. With the effort to localize agriculutre in the USA there has been some unsubstantiated rhetoric about "food miles," just because your food travelled more miles does not mean the environmental impact was worse. The inputs into the equation for the environmental impact of food transporation are: miles travlled by the food, efficiency and scale of transportation, the vehicle used for transportation and how many miles you traveled to purchase your food. In large scale agriculture food is shipped in large amounts and the fuel cost of shipping most products is 1% of the price of that product. There are other issues though that are not intrinsic to food miles, such as packaging, political context, the storage of food and the types of products that can be found on the global market.

This article titled "Avoiding the Local Trap" explains scale as a means not an end, and explores the validity of the food localization rhetoric. I support increased performance in our food system, and sometimes localization accomplishes that.

This article from Micheal Shuman highlights localization and is a primer for his book "Going Local."

I wish there was ample research on the "buy local" concept that was not a promotion or an attack and was simply an assessment of when localization increases some type of performance (environmental, social, etc) and in what situations localization has no effect or a negative effect.

This website is a local food advocacy organization and provides "buy local" information and resources, as well as the neccessary rhetoric to decorate their position.

Buying local is not an assurance of doing more for you community or environment, but it is often better then buying a highly packaged product made using toxic chemicals (check out the book "Body Toxic"). Since our economy is so globalized most efforts to localize will be better for society and the environment, but only because of the minimal scale of the effort and the fact that many large companies sell you products that do not have the full cost (negative externalities) of the product included in the price.

The New American Farmer

2009-04-27T18:57:00.001-07:00

This link will bring you to a page that has another link to a pdf document of the book The New American Farmer. At the end of the first paragraph click on "view."

The New American Farmer is a collection of case studies of American farmers who are farming in a new way that could be labeled sustainable. It is easier to evaluate agriculture under the criteria of sustainability because farmers are dealing with the resources on their land (i.e. soil), and if they are depleting soil quality they will notice quickly.

The way forward

2009-04-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

There are two noble goals that many people are striving for: environmentalism and sustainable development in the industrializing world. Accomplishing these goals at the same time will be difficult but not impossible.

The World Resources Institute asks: "Are Business and Industry Taking Sustainability Seriously?"

Transportation is such a large issue in environmentalism. Some people are optimistic about electrical cars and plug-in hybrids, others are skeptical. The Rocky Mountain Institute has some comments to make

The Rocky Mountain Institute also weighs in on "How to Design a Light, Big and Safe Car."

The Environmental Defense Fund makes a case for investing in Transit.

The world steps up to the Climate Change Challenge

2009-04-25T15:46:00.001-07:00

The US is fast tracking climate change legislation in the federal Congress, US industry supports it, now only republicans that are repeating old arguments are the opposition and many republicans are giving up the old rhetoric so they can become involved in the shaping of the legislation.

China is investing more in renewable energy than the US and is figuring out how to become more environmental within Chinese Politics. But, the path will not be smooth as China steps away from their project of building the world's first"green city".

The British government has mandated that every coal fired power plant built from now on has to have a carbon sequestration device attached to it. This will raise the price of coal energy and clear the path for renewable energy to be cheaper for consumers. Also, the US is looking towards never building another coal fired power plant or nuclear power plant ever again.

The downturn is slowing and the world's leaders are looking to establish some permanent changes to create a more stable world economy. The recovery of the global market will decide the inertia for environmentalism and social justice. The world economy stabalizing is good for consumption and can be good for the environment, we will see the results in the next several decades.

Wave technology is developing; with large projects being started now they may be a cornerstone of our energy production in the next decade.

Our grand Economy

2009-04-21T23:23:00.000-07:00

The outcome of this recession will decide the fate of the environment and our ability to sustain our levels of resource use. The Economist explains well the state of the global economy and also gives a good article on the condition of banks.

The Economist also had an article this week about Brazil and their forests.

The future begins with today

2009-04-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the future; a US company is shooting for harvesting solar energy in space, the technology exists but the cost is high.

Britain is not looking so good though in regards to solar energy, Gordon Brown (UK Prime Minister) promised government investment in alternative energy but is lagging on the part where he gives alternative energy companies money.

Wind Power is doing well in this recession. Wind power has a promising future but we have to find a better way to build these things, it takes a lot of steel to build a single turbine.

MotherJones gives an informative rant on our economy and the waste we create, we throw away enough aluminum every three months to replace the world's plane fleet. Finding our way to a new economy is difficult, it takes us being informed and driving the market with our consumption, or lack thereof.

A recent "green" hype for governments is to offer cash for old cars, seems like a good idea, right? This article is critical of the idea, and so am I. I think that we should be putting new non-combustion engines in old cars, it is the most efficient way to change over our vehicle infrastructure. The only reason governments are so happy about this program is that it can temporarily push up the purchase of new vehicles from failing car manufacturers. We spend too much energy keeping dying industries afloat, we should be focusing on retraining our workforce to work in the economy of the future.

Oil prices are low and staying low due to increased demand from the current recession. I will always say this about oil prices: as long as oil prices are low private investment in alternative energy will be slow.

Stoves in poorer regions of the world: a new focus for abating climate change. Sometimes environmental degradation is due to poverty, solution: either buy them new stoves or develop their country out of poverty.

Obesity is killing us, in many ways. Check this out: many environmental problems would be less severe if people in the industrialized world ate less food and less meat. The damage we cause by eating so much meat is unneeded. Vegetarianism is not the answer, just eating less meat. Why do we as a society take so long make such needed changes?

Telsa is creating more affordable electric cars.

A Climate Change Bill: it is late, but it has arrived

2009-04-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Obama is drafting a climate change bill, finally! The climate bill establishes a cap-and-trade system for CO2, an ambiguous issue thus far is how many of the permits for emissions trading will be auctioned off and how many will be given away. This piece from MotherJones explores the subject.

A short article on how when industrial agriculture has to pay for externalities it is not cheaper than organic agriculture.

As money dwindles for investors people that use money to promote causes (ex: environmental, justice, poverty reduction) are less active. The economist gives an interesting article on the subject.

Climate Change will effect everything, even national parks in the US. The CSMonitor reports.

3/31/09: Obama and the rest of the world

2009-03-31T21:38:00.000-07:00

This article from the economist is a good outline of Obama and the current state of his administration. Obama is not perfect, but he is better than Bush II and that is what we asked for.

In 2005 Germany attempted to prosecute Donald Rumsfeld for War Crimes. The charge did not go through due to the argument that the USA should see the case instead. Now Spain is prosecuting Sr. officials in the Bush II admin. that were crucial to the torturing of many prisoners of war. By Spain law they have to follow through with the charge.

These articles are all from the economist.

A good analysis of USA's private banks during this crisis.

A good analysis of Obama and Afghanistan.

A good analysis of the current state of NATO.

A good analysis of the G20 Summit.

3/5/09: The world is getting better.....

2009-03-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

Organic and Local have been Buzz words in the last several years, but they may not deliver all that we want them to deliver. By making standards too strict many farmers are left out of the game of making their farm more environmental. This article from MotherJones gives a good analysis of current food trends and where a more favorable path may be found.

While the world is attempting to figure out how to emit less carbon into the atmosphere Exxon is investing US$150 billion during the next five years in oil and natural gas extraction. They should invest in alternative energy, but no, they are counting on increased carbon fuel use which will be a self-fulfilling prophesy.

The US Dept. of Energy is looking to restart a project, that Bush killed, that captures carbon emissions from coal powered plants so that they do not enter the atmosphere. This research is greatly needed as coal will be a fuel that we will use greatly in the next 50 years. The question is, will we do it, and will it be the cheapest way to deal with emissions from burning coal.

NASA launched a new satellite that would have provided us with better tracking of where carbon emissions are coming from and going in our atmosphere. But, it crashed and over US$200 million has been wasted.

2/22/09: The world might turn out all right after all

2009-02-22T21:18:00.000-08:00

Manufacturing is on the decline all around this globe. While it is advantageous for the environment to have humans manufacturing less stuff, it is wealth that brings environmental protection to urban areas. If a person is poor no coaxing will get them to put the environment before themselves. First comes wealth, then health, and manufacturing will need to be restored to create wealth and health.

During Hillary Clinton's first voyage out of the US as secretary general she visited China and started a movement with the Chinese to protect our environment. The USA and China are the largest polluters in the world, just our two countries making small changes is more powerful than any action from the rest of the world.

Governments of the world are waking up to environmental degradation and are now moving to regulate mercury on a global level. Mercury is one of the worst pollutants we emit in large amounts and is one of the main pollutants emitted by coal fired power plants. A move to regulate mercury on a global level is a move to regulate coal fired power plants, most of which are in China and the USA. With this movement in regulating mercury and the USA's EPA move to regulate CO2 via coal fired power plants they will hopefully only be a memory in 70 years.

Democrats in Congress are planning to present a climate change bill to Obama by the end of the summer.

In imagining the new economy of "green power" many forget the infrastructure that will need to accompany "green projects." To be sustainable and cost effective we need to act very carefully, the doctrine of "any action is good action" is dangerous at this point.

One of the greatest humanitarian efforts and economic efforts is underway in India. A company has created the 2,500 USdollar car. This will bring wealth and opportunity to millions and will bring millions of tons of pollutants to the environment. At 50mpg this little car does little damage for the amount of benefit it will bring the people of India. Wealth before health i say, let them build themselves up then let them sustainably develop. If the industrialized world wanted to address the issues of environmental degradation and poverty at the same time they would help industrialized countries develop sustainably. We talk about it in UN conferences but we do little of it.

The internet is cool, google is cool, but there is much more to come:
This is an article about the future of the internet.
And this is a video about the future of the internet.

2/15/09: The bailout bill is covered in green. Is it enough? No, but it is something, $60 billion of something.

2009-02-15T20:54:00.000-08:00

The stimulus package being passed currently carries $60 billion for the development of a green economy. This large pulse of money was made possible by a financial crisis and an environmental crisis. Disturbance yields progression.

Bio-fuels have been a large controversy because they either divert farm land from food production to fuel production or they convert land from wilderness. Cellulosic ethanol is the new thing. It is amazing because it uses the inedible parts of plants to create fuel. This article discusses the rise of this fuel, but it views it as a process that does replace food crops instead of portraying cellulosic ethanol as a way to make fuel out of plant waste. This article however does discuss this aspect of cellulosic ethanol.

This article from The Guardian is a letter from Jim Hansen, a climatologist at NASA, explaining that coal fired power plants need to be shut down and no more should be built. He also defends the theory of Global Climate Change, but this article is important because it gets to one of the biggest roots of our problems: the existence of coal fired power plants.

Two satellites have been put into Earth's orbit to record green house gas concentrations in our atmosphere. To know the solution we need to know the problem. These two satellites will greatly aid us in intelligently deciding what to do about global warming.

As sarcastic as the Economist can be, this article shows what happens when an environmental movement is fractured and has activists that are unwise. Why are extremist environmentalists unwise? Because they demand perfect outcomes for the environment and by not negotiating they lose out on doing any good at all. Environmentalism should never forget the needs of humans, we are our environment.

Populist American support for prosecuting Bush II is on the rise.

Also, Halliburton is being prosecuted for their illegal actions. Read about it.

2/8/09: Few seem to really know what "being green" means but atleast it gets people interested in Change.

2009-02-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

This is a great article from the Wall Street Journal on changes you make to your home for cheap that both save energy and give you real monetary savings in a couple of months to a couple of years.

"Buy American" has been a popular war cry in America in the past couple of decades as a response to Globalization. Globalization has been occurring since humans had enough free time to create excess goods. With modern economics we have brought great wealth to a growing part of the population. During hard economic times increased protectionism (i.e. "buy american")is called "beggar thy neighbor" and it is directly connected to a spiraling economic situation. We are so interconnected in this modern age that global economic stability is local economic stability. This article is "the economist" begging for the USA not repeat the same mistake she made during the Great Depression.

This is a breakdown, department by department of the federal government, of the mess that Obama has inherited. We must understand the depth of our problems. Our problems are so deep because no one has wanted to look at the ugly truth for many decades, both Dem. and Rep. Bush was a blessing because he disturbed our slumber and now we want CHANGE. But, we must know the problem before we can make intelligent change. Obama may want to help but he still needs skeptical eyes, and we still need to keep up with the problems as Bush inspired us to do.

On the subject of change, this article is a great comment on opulence in American and how we don't resent the rich enough to bring them down, but we resent them nonetheless. I include this article because of its comment on our reluctance as a general public to become activists, we are really just voters in a Democrat-Republic. Also, if you want to talk about true environmentalism it starts with living more efficient lives of less conspicuous consumption creating excessive excess.

Iraq voted in its first election without the military support of the USA. Only 50% of the population voted, but there was no violence and %50 is better than the USA has mustered in the past several decades. This is two short articles about the election: Article 1......Article 2.

One if the proposed technological cures for the excessive amounts of CO2 currently being pumped into our atmosphere is called carbon sequestration. The idea is to take CO2 from the atmosphere and somehow get it to stay underground. Some ideas involve just pumping it underground in gas form and hope that it wont leak out, other ideas though involve transforming CO2 from gas to rock form. This article highlights one effort Iceland that is being undertaken. As a side note: As the USA has elected its first non-white president, Iceland has elected the worlds first publicly lesbian Prime Minister. I am glad that our leaders are starting to look like the public that they represent.

Wind power is one of the technologies that is supposed to usher us into a future of sustainability. It will be hard to do, especially with low oil and coal prices and a global recession, but: the USA is throwing up wind turbines....as well as Europe.

2/1/09: CATO critique

2009-02-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

The CATO institute is a Libertarian Economic thinktank and they are brilliant and misled people. i wrote a critique of one of their papers on Climate Change. You can read the article and read my critique. The article from CATO is a very good analysis, but misleading at times.

Here is the article

And here is my critique:

Liberty is defined by freedom from constraint. Libertarians then want non-constraint and a free market with minimal government intervention. For this to function for the benefit of most people price needs to reflect cost. But, there have always been actors in markets creating negative externalities, and it takes constraint to internalize those externalities. I want liberty from bad actors skewing markets, and that takes government intervention. I write this critique to show how Libertarianism can be unrealistic in its quest for liberty.
In the article by CATO titled “What to do about Global Warming” the author, Indur Goklany, delivers an articulate argument for not immediately and rapidly decreasing carbon emissions. The author points out that if we compute the costs, according to his calculations and assumptions, it would be less costly to just continue on our course of carbon emissions and to just pay for the damage (considering the timeline of now until 2085). While I agree with considering the costs and benefits of a policy, some parts of the author’s analysis are shallow and incomplete.

First, there is no discussion of existence value. While existence value is difficult to quantify, the idea behind it is sound: people derive utility from knowing that the environment is of a certain quality. In the scenario of letting Global Warming (GW) continue as it has there is no valuing of the human anguish from letting the natural environment suffer just because “we can pay for it.” Furthermore, the author assumes that natural and physical capitals are interchangeable and misses this distinction by not accounting for non-extractive direct use or passive use value (existence value, option value and quasi-option value).

Second, the author does not include in his analysis the cost of unlikely, yet possible catastrophic events. The scary part about GW is not the chance of catastrophic occurrences but the number of potential catastrophic occurrences. If the mid-Atlantic current slowed, if large amounts of methane were suddenly released from the ocean floor or if a sudden collapse in the web of life occurred then the damage would be larger then we could fathom.

Third, the author admits that his conclusions should only be applied to the timeline of 2085. So, if we let concentrations build up and pay for the damages then we have only addressed problems that will occur by 2085. The author’s proposal could be the most cost effective as applied to the timeline of 2085, but if the cost of dealing with GW soar after 2085 then the entire plan will not have cost-effectively dealt with GW.

Fourth, the author assumes that a world of more wealth is a world where we will put more money towards Research & Development (R&D) of sustainable technologies (assuming that immediately eliminating carbon emissions would reduce greatly the wealth of the world). Markets work off doing what is profitable, and as long as price does not reflect cost markets will not provide for sustainable technologies. For R&D in sustainable technologies to occur in a significant amount it would take internalizing negative externalities which usually requires government intervention. To continue with business as usual without accurate pricing will not supply us with the technologies that are needed to reduce our negative impact on our environment. Technological development will proceed, but not for technologies that make possible substitutions for underpriced coal, wood, natural gas and oil.

Fifth, the author seems to be using the Pareto Criterion to justify the allowance for damage to occur from uncontrolled GW because those with “just claim” will be fully reimbursed for damages incurred. Attempting to get polluters to pay for these damages would be a very complex undertaking; perfect information would be needed on who is emitting carbon, how much they are emitting, and what damages were caused by what and by whom. This information collection system would be overwhelming, and convincing people to pay up for damages done would be a difficult struggle. The author’s policy recommendations hinge on this one, unrealistic plan.

Sixth, once again we are presented with another false choice between two options. We can do both what the author recommends and we can take action to immediately begin to reduce carbon emissions. It would be foolish for reasons that the author points out to just focus on abating GW through immediate carbon emission reductions, but it would also be foolish to not take any action to lower carbon emissions in the near future. We can and should do both.

1/25/09: Obama the Environmentalist and some more realistic rhetoric on energy and the economic crisis

2009-01-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Obama, he might not fix all of our problems, but he is trying. He is finally doing something that i forgot could happen politically; Obama is raising the the fuel-efficiency standard of vehicles for the nation and not only allowing but encouraging states to follow the more strict standards that California is allowed to set but has been prevented from doing so by the former president Bush II.

So, yes, we all know that according to Global Warming things are heating up including Antarctica, but this article from the BBC discusses the heating of that giant ice cube. If Antactica really does break into pieces it will greatly speed up the rising of the oceans and will augment oceanic patterns. The changes will reverberate. When reading the article notice the language used by the BBC regarding global warming, they seem to still be in the stage of appeasing and addressing global climate change deniers.

Energy Independence is a mine in the battle field of environmentalism dressed up as an end to be sought after. As with the "buy local" movement, it is a good idea so long as you do not do it completely. MotherJones gives a good commentary on the myths of energy independence, be critical of MotherJones' criticalism, but this article is part of the corrections that need to be made to environmental theory and policy.

The CATO Institute is a great place to learn about what is really going on with the economy and what are the purely economic fixes. There has been a lot of political rhetoric and explanation for our current situation. Read this from CATO and make some adjustments to your beliefs and facts.

For political news, Obama is altering the executive order that allows former presidents to control the public releasing of sensitive documents. Obama is making it so that Bush II has to sue Obama just to attempt to keep documents unreleased.

1/18/09: The Environment is the focus once again

2009-01-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

The importance of the financial bailout will show its self in the near future. The point of the financial bail out is to ensure cheap credit to everyone, cheap credit is the driving force of our economy. This article from the NY-Times talks about the future of many businesses that are looking at a future that demands payment on loans of which companies do not have money for. This issue is going to rear the rest of its head in the next year as many companies fall out of the market.

Environmentalism used to be so simple: find the bad guys and make them stop. Well, we are finding that environmentalism is effective when it is practical not just reactive. The EU is very progressive and loves all out bans like its ban on GMO. The EU is trying to decrease production and use of synthetic pesticides but it will be at a price. It will mean increased pests, increased instances of infection from things like malaria, and a higher cost of producing some agricultural products. Everything comes at a price, and when it comes to "banning bad things" a comprehensive approach is needed.

Bush has made some last minute envrionmental decisions, some good, some not so good. This is a really good coverage of the changes and some commentaries on their effects and circumstances. It is from National Geographic.

The Detroit Auto Show revealed plenty new cars mild changes to the combusion engine model. The chevy Volt is the star thus far, it is an electric car with a regular engine, it goes 40miles on the electric then if uncharged starts running the oil burning engine. The electric car seems to be the favorite and it makes sense when you consider that electric cars depend on electric energy generation that at this point depends on hydroelectric dams and coal fired power plants. The great thing about electric cars is that the more energy we generate from renewable sources the more the electric car is environmentally friendly.

While buying one of these new cars from Detroit seems like the environmental thing to do, it may be more environmental to just use an old well preserved car that gets fairly good mileage. Or, vehicular conversions to biodiesel or other renewable systems could be more environmental. This article from the ChristianScienceMonitor gives some commentary.

Democrats from the House of Representatives in the American Congress are pushing for more than $80 billion to be spent on "the environment." If you want really good details on this current issue the Scientific American provides a great news article that lays it all out.

1/11/09: The human world is still confused and endangered, but atleast the times are interesting.

2009-01-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

According to facts, and measurable results globalization has done the most to reduce poverty out of any effort ever made in the modern world. Emerging economies are tied to developed economies and right now that is not the best thing, and as modern history as shown increased economic protectionism in times of crises just makes the situation worst for everyone. So a slump in our wealth means a slump in poverty reduction.

Criticisms of the International Energy Agency (IEA) are emerging regarding their view of the future of renewable energy. The agency gives advice to many large governments in the world regarding energy policy. What the IEA's position on renewables has created is a reinforcement for government leaders that oil and coal will continue to be our energy sources in the next couple of decades.

This is an article from Canadian news. There is a perception that Canada is more "liberal" than America, but this article will show that this is not so true when it comes to the CBC. This article gives a critique of hydrogen and electric cars and while it is vastly misleading and pathetic there is some good information on the subject. Where the author goes wrong in the article is in two ways: one, although there are many technological obstacles to electric and hydrogen cars that is no reason to abandon the entire project, technology limitations has never stopped us especially when there is no alternative, two, the main critique of alternative cars is that they will be less powerful, more inconvenient and more costly- of course it will be at first and as it becomes more researched and manufactured cost and inconvenience will decline. But, the most ridiculous thing about the article is that because of a slightly higher cost and some inconvenience the author seems to suggest that we should just continue as we have been and accept the consequences of environmental degradation. I think that this is called Nihilism and laziness.

This article is an example of what the future will hold as the consequences for our toxic economy begin to reveal themselves as the bio-feedback mechanism rears its ugly, environmentally corrective head. Disoriented Pelicans are falling out of the sky in large numbers, test are being done, but so far it looks like our fault.

George Bush II has an environmental legacy? This is news to me, but apparently Bush is setting aside some non-controversial isolated bits of marine environment as a sanctuary. This totals 3 sanctuaries created by Bush, at least he did something good.

1/6/09: The new elctric car movement

2009-01-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

Shai Agassi is one of my new heroes. He is a young man who has made it his mission to materialize a vibrant market for electric cars so to end the world dependence on oil. He is making deals in Israel and Denmark and is trying in America. Agassi is so far unsuccessful with the American government, not a surprise.

This is a long article about Agassi, his efforts and his company.

It is technology that improves our lives. Everyone outside of creating and implementing new technologies is just dancing around trying to get recognition, money, power, etc.

1/3/09: Sustainable consumerism, Financial Bailout is unsuccesful, Canadian forest's disturbed, An auspicious movement in the Muslim world

2009-01-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

China's economy is doing worse than expected and will have to deal with a downturn. Since the Chinese government is very controlling over its people it can implement economic plans more effectively, like spending more and saving less.

This article from MotherJones shows a list of ways to be more sustainable in your home. One column shows what to buy according to American advertising and the other column shows what to buy or not buy to actually be more sustainable. The point of sustainability is not to throw out your appliances and buy ones that use slightly less energy, the point is to change behaviors and lifestyles, which sometimes means using a cloths line more, or showering less while using less water during each shower.

Canadian forests, mainly the Boreal, are on the aggregate emitting carbon instead of "sinking" it, they are considered a carbon "source." Just when we need the earth to compensate for our carbon emissions the mechanisms for naturally dealing with our carbon emissions are being hindered by rising global temperatures. Furthermore, beetles are infesting forests because of the lack of cold winters and burning forests seems to be the only human solution in use.

Pakistan, a supposed ally of the USA, has a record of not dedicating themselves to ending terrorism in their country: whatever that means. The recent attacks on India by a group based out of Pakistan has increased mutual opposition between India and Pakistan. What will the future of this conflict be, i do not know.

A non-religiously educated man from the Middle East becomes a celebrity and helps start a new movement in the Muslim world of modern and moderate faith practice. The efforts of this man is what is greatly needed. Religious conflicts have been dealt with in the past by moderate religious leaders gaining popularity by preaching peace. This man is my new hero. His name is Ahmad al-Shugairi, checkout his facebook account, it is the only thing in english i could find.

12/26/08: Oil prices, Oil prices, Oil prices

2008-12-26T21:19:00.000-08:00

I have been writing a lot about the price of oil, but only because not enough is being done to protect the health and wealth of humans and the environment. Since not enough is being proactively done we have to wait for the markets to signal investment in alternative energies. What economists are really trying to say in this scenario is that as long as oil is cheaper than wind or solar power there will always be large numbers of humans that will accept the cost to themselves and their environment for prices to be lower in the current moment.

This is an article from the "christian science monitor" commenting on how great it is that oil prices are low and expected to be low in the next year.

These two articles from "business week" are about decreased investment in a sustainable economy because of low oil prices, and this one is about Obama trying to do something governmentally about a market that is not signaling the long term costs and supplies of energy sources.

12/24/08: Environmental Economic stuff

2008-12-24T23:35:00.000-08:00

The economist gives a good article on alternative engines and focuses on steam. It is a bit satirical but the solution to environmental degradation (in the popular media it is a.k.a. "Climate Change") needs to be as broad as possible.

The price of oil needs to be high to create large investments in alternative energies and a "sustainable" economy. But, the price of oil is low. This article shows what happens to investment in a sustainable economy when the USA goes into a depression and the price of oil is low.

The economist supplies another great article on computers and how green this whole technology thing is . The article gives some good information on how sustainable the carbon emissions of the computer world are. Currently, Computing and Telecommunications produce 2% of global emissions which is comparable to the amount that aviation emits (plane travel). The article did not specify what was being emitted by technology use, but apparently it is 2% of global emissions of all things. Pollution is not a single thing, some pollution is preferable to other pollution. So, 2% of global emissions does not mean much. But, the article is worth reading, and so is most of the economist.

12/21/08: The envionment, Obama and his appointees & our financial crisis

2008-12-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

Obama has identified most of his environmental appointees already. If these guys can not turn as around in the environmental sector then we are hopeless. I have confidence in them because the ideas and infrastructure already exist to create a sustainable economy, we just need to do it. Mainly, we need support & money behind science. It is technology that improves our lives, not men in suits talking politics. Politicians just bicker over who gets what when and how, scientists and engineers are the ones that bring us increased productivity and comfort.

The secretary of the interior is going to be Ken Salazar. The secretary of the Interior in the Executive branch holds a lot of power over land even if the name does not quite imply it. They manage "public lands, national parks, oil and gas resources, and even the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey." This is an article by motherjones that shows what some major environmental groups thinks of the appointee. And this is an article by the NYTimes that gives some good background to who Salazar is

It will be interesting to see how many environmental issues Obama focuses on. Of course there is Climate Change. But, a deeper issue is industrial chemicals in our life. The testing for chemicals before they are allowed to be manufactured is inadequate for a couple of reasons. One of the main reasons is that chemicals are tested in isolated circumstances instead of in mixture with other chemicals that it may interact with in the world. This article explains this and focuses on men's reproductive health.

Shall we forget the crimes of Bush and Cheney. Many groups have been trying to bring Cheney to court for international and national crimes.

Our financial situation is in a strange situation. Banks borrowed a lot of money from the US government so they could still function and survive as a bank. The problem is that when they got lots of money they hoarded it instead of lending it. The other problem is that Henry Paulson, the Treasury Secretary, is not spending the $4 trillion relief money as Barny Frank intended him to as dictated in the recent bail out billC. Part of the relief money was supposed to go to the US government buying risky home-loans from banks and refinancing the loan to suit the borrower. This is not happening though, instead Paulson is charged with just protecting investors. It is important to protect the economy by creating an environment that is conducive to investment, but the economy represents the wealth of people and if the economy is not providing for the people this is when the government steps in.

12/10/08: Obama and his stimulus package

2008-12-10T11:34:00.002-08:00

The stimulus package for the banks was based on the idea that banks needed more money so that they could lend more. This is not what happened, what happened was that banks hoarded the money to balance their sheets. This is the time when people need low interest rate loans the most and they are not getting it because the US government gave a bunch of money to bankers instead of defaulting borrowers. MotherJones gives their comment and their prescription for the economic and societal ailment we have been inflicted with.

Also, Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia and one of the great outspoken economists of our time comments on the damage in the last 8 years and what needs to be done. This is very much worth reading.

12/10/08: China and the crisis

2008-12-10T11:34:00.001-08:00

China's economy is doing worse than anyone predicted. China was going to be the worlds anchor as it floated through this crisis, but we can not rely on China as much as we thought.

An interesting situation is emerging in China. During the last couple of decades of great economic growth China has been paying off its educated population with good paying jobs. In exchange for prosperity these college educated individuals have strayed from talking politics, but with the money disappearing can China continue to buy the tranquility of its educated?

12/9/08: Obama and Climate Change

2008-12-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

As Obama is poised to enter office Bush is not as lame of a duck as he seems. Detainees and Guantanamo are being hurried into trial before Obama enters office.

Obama will have to deal with the financial crisis, the $4trill bailout money mostly spent, Afghanistan in poor shape and Iran is already directly telling Obama that they will continue to enrich uranium for energy and they will not stop even if he says "please."

Then, Obama will have to deal with climate change. The UN is meeting in Poland from Dec. 1-15 to negotiate the specifics of a Kyoto update that includes some very important topics of money and further cuts in CO2 emissions. And, apparently the Chairman of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change during a meeting in Poland this week said that he does not support deep cuts in carbon emissions, and says that we should not jump to conclusions so fast. He is a lone voice, but heard none-the-less.

Also, according to FoxNews Iraq plans to pool resources with it's neighbors to create security in the Middle East. Fox provided a very short article with hidden suspicion.

12/8/09: Car Industry Bailout

2008-12-08T11:00:00.000-08:00

The US Government has decided to bailout the car industry and now Congress just needs to approve (which it probably will).

We are loaning $15bill at least, creating a six member government oversight committee for the car industry, demanding fuel-efficient vehicles and emptying our government fund for fuel-efficient technologies.

12/7/08: Savings in this crisis

2008-12-07T15:58:00.001-08:00

What is going on with savings, stocks and bonds?

This article explains a lot about banks, savings, world finance, etc. It helps to know something about the specifics of our financial crisis so we respond to the situation as intelligently as possible. The article also has links to some good articles in it about housing prices around the world and about savings and investment: what is happening and what is needed.

At this point in history if you don't talk the economic talk you are being led blindly into the future.

12/7/08: US Soldiers in Afghanistan

2008-12-07T15:19:00.000-08:00

With the closing of the chapter of the US occupation of Iraq, focus shifts to Afghanistan. Obama wants a troop surge to fight the "good war" in Afghanistan. The war against the Taliban will be hard fought as the Taliban will continue to fight until the USA repeals its arm of control from the Middle East.

Obama does not have a total Afghanistan plan, he has advisers with conflicting beliefs and we will just have to wait and see which plans and ideas win in this issue. This would seem scary for a lot of people, they may want to see definite plans for them to agree or disagree with. But, Obama is practicing an old type of American politics. Obama is inviting debate, consideration, dissent, and as acting as the President he will choose which plan is most suitable. The question then, is: do you trust his judgment?

The UN wants to ensure that foreign troops in Afghanistan will treat the Afghan citizens with more respect and care. In the past, foreign soldiers have failed to do so, causing many civilian causalities. The UN is also calling for the Afghan people to take charge in visioning their own future.

12/4/08: Could solar be cheaper than coal soon?

2008-12-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

For environmental economics the focus is on the cots of generating energy from coal, oil, solar, wind, and other alternative energies. Currently, coal and oil are still cheaper. Oil is currently artificially low because the price is reflecting decreased output due to decreased demand. In economics this low price is supposed to encourage people to buy more so more production can occur so more can be charged for the product. The only problem with this traditional equation is that the Long-term costs of oil production and the environmental costs are not calculated into the equation. But, remember in the end it is many governments that control the selling of oil, so just raising prices to drastically reduce demand would bankrupt many countries (Venezuala, Saudia Arabia), and low oil prices will bankrupt them too.

Solar energy in particular needs to rise to the challange. Solar energy needs to become cheaper than coal. Once solar is cheaper than coal then we can power our power stations with solar and then can use electric cars. Electric cars powered by a power system that feeds off of solar would rid us of a dependence on coal and oil.

But, we must remember the pain that comes with creative destructionism. It kills jobs, profits, industries and companies. But, our system is based off of innovation and adaption.

11/30/08: Climate protests on the rise

2008-11-30T19:44:00.000-08:00

People are increasingly showing opposition to coal fired power plants around the world. The US decided a court case in April 2008 that forces the US's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider CO2 a pollutant. This makes climate impacts a factor is deciding whether or not to build a coal fired power plant and has put a freeze on the construction of 100 plants.

click here for the article

We can talk all we want but unless we stop the construction of coal fired power plants the effort to reduce CO2 emissions will be fruitless. Coal is so cheap and in such abundance in the USA that if a coal fire power plant is built it will burn coal for several decades.

China is the one with the heaviest dilemma when it comes to coal.

Carbon Sequestration is the only "silver bullet" for coal fired power plants that i have ever heard of. But since this article in 1999 that describes carbon sequestration not much has been done to implement it.

11/30/08: From Urine to Drinking Water

2008-11-30T18:54:00.001-08:00

Could we provide millions of thirsty people with clean drinking water by using devices that turn urine into water.

Click here for the article

I am personally not in support of our human waste infrastructure. I think that us mixing black water and gray water in our water treatment facilities is a health and an economic mistake. We are turning a renewable resource into waste with our current sewer system and we are wasting a lot of water by doing so (for an article about wetlands as waste treatment facilities and composting toilets click here).

Click here for the article

11/30/08: Oil prices and OPEC. OPEC affects your life more than your government does.

2008-11-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

This article is about OPEC and oil prices. OPEC (Organization for the Oil Exporting Countries) is a cartel that attempts to control the petroleum market. This article is very thick but also very informative and concise.

http://iht.com/articles/2008/11/30/business/oil.php

11/30/08: America agrees to pull out of Iraq

2008-11-30T18:19:00.001-08:00

This article is about the new agreement between the Iraqi and American government that pulls back American troops into the barracks in 6 months and then out of the country permanently with no residual American bases by 2011.

No American politician got there way or fulfilled their plans.

Did America win, or did they lose?

Here is the link