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Too true,
In other news, I get confused about who has a right to stand common ground.
Ever watched the movie “Harold and Maude”? It has a surprise concern about pollution.
Extreme UV levels are expected all the way north through Colorado today.
There are contact lenses that give over 80% protection without vision correction at a reasonable price.
Better to keep your eyesight.
I believe it has a lot to do with the color of your skin Raul. Right along with that, I to get confused as to who gets to pollute common ground. That appears to be a factor of the “fatness” of your wallet. Then of course there is special deals for large tracts of mineral rights, no bid contracts, beat up by police, pay taxes, equal rights, free health care, equal pay, … Gosh, I think I will go in the garden and eat worms.
Come to mine and eat the deer and rabbits.
I am trying to teach myself to live lower on the food chain John. I suspicion it will be a valuable skill to pass to the grand kids before I check out. Might even be marketable in my life time if the GOP get their way.
I expect the news of Europe’s deficits has reached round the world so I support…
A CARBON TAX SOLUTION FOR EUROPE
Is it politically possible?
At the Progress Annual Conference, Phil Collins of The Times of London, Peter Kellner of YouGov and Mary Riddell of The Daily Telegraph thought that a carbon tax to create jobs could become mainstream politics.
Does it work?
Recently there have been two reports supporting this view. The first, in the latest Fraser Economic Commentary, The impact of the introduction of a carbon tax for Scotland. This says
The second is from Vivid Economics, Carbon taxation and fiscal consolidation: the potential of carbon pricing to reduce Europe’s fiscal deficits. This concludes that carbon taxes are the best way to tackle the problem of European deficits.
It says:
I think carbon taxes can create jobs, reduce Europe’s deficits and cut carbon emissions. This now seems politically possible so I have started an e-petition Tax carbon. Subsidise jobs.
I’m hoping some of the economists that keep telling me “Tax bads. Subsidise goods” will sign. Perhaps you can sign too.
Thanks for those links. You have two more signatures.
Another definition that depends on your wallet:
Domestic labor: noble, difficult, and important when done by rich married women; worth less than minimum wage when done for pay; an excuse to avoid work when done by poor women in their own homes.
(summarized from Katha Pollitt,
http://www.thenation.com/article/167456/ann-romney-working-woman)
Alberta Tar Sands 201 – 10 cr.hrs.
The “Good(?)”…
Deep In Canada, This Facility Is Unlocking Earth’s Biggest New Oil Supply
The Bad…
The Canadian Oil Sand Mines Refused Us Access, So We Rented This Plane To See What They Were Up To
and the, er, well, larger collection of photos.
Alberta Oil Sands
In case those did not give you warm and fuzzy feelings, perhaps the following 2, supremely connected stories will do the trick.
Joint Forces Staff College Class Suspended After Teaching America’s Enemy Is Islam
Teaching ‘total war against Islam’
Although I feel working through social issues is nice.
The contrarian in me says the controversy du jour until December will be anything other than serious moves on reducing carbon and a avoidance of employment economics. Because they are the two most pressing issues without easy solutions.
Where “easy” = populist marketability.
Tropical Storm Alberto just formed off the coast of South Carolina:
TROPICAL STORM ALBERTO DISCUSSION NUMBER 1
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012012
500 PM EDT SAT MAY 19 2012
SATELLITE…RADAR…AND SURFACE DATA INDICATE THAT THE SMALL SURFACE
LOW LOCATED OFF THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA HAS ACQUIRED THE
CHARACTERISTICS OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE. ORGANIZED DEEP CONVECTION
HAS BEEN PERSISTENT OVER THE CENTER FOR MORE THAN 18 HOURS…AND
THE CIRCULATION CENTER HAS BEEN MOVING SOUTH AWAY FROM AN AIRMASS
BOUNDARY THAT EXTENDS ROUGHLY ALONG 33N. BASED ON AN ASCAT PASS
FROM AROUND 1530 UTC…THE INITIAL INTENSITY IS SET AT 40 KT.
ALBERTO IS SITUATED IN A MARGINAL THERMODYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT FOR
STRENGTHENING…WITH A MARKEDLY DRY CONTINENTAL AIRMASS TO ITS NORTH
AND WEST OVER THE EASTERN CAROLINAS. GIVEN THIS…ONLY MODEST
INTENSIFICATION IS EXPECTED DESPITE THE CYCLONE BEING OVER
THE RELATIVELY WARM GULF STREAM. ALBERTO IS EXPECTED TO BECOME
EXTRATROPICAL BY 96 HOURS…AND SHOULD DISSIPATE BY DAY 5. THE NHC
INTENSITY FORECAST IS A BLEND OF THE MORE AGGRESSIVE STATISTICAL
GUIDANCE AND THE WEAKER DYNAMICAL MODELS. ( http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT1+shtml/192042.shtml? )
According to the NHC, Alberto is the earliest forming tropical storm in the Atlantic Basin since Ana in 2003. This is also the first time that a tropical storm has formed before the official start of the hurricane season in both the Atlantic and East Pacific basins. ( http://www.wcti12.com/news/31087278/detail.html )
CBS Evening News ran a commentary section on Climate Change tonight’s show. Interesting to see them (finally) taking a specific stand, even if it only aired on Saturday night. M. Sanjayan from the Nature Conservancy was the commentator. Kudos for CBS News.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7409078n&tag=mg;eveningnews
We need a Climate Defense Pledge, something we can learn at Boy Scouts but also repeat at board meetings and public events.
“I do solemnly declare my duty to protect Earth’s climate from disruption.”
Because many of us are liberal minded, I imagine there is a tendency to recoil from such an idea because it carries an air of indoctrination. But such mechanisms play an important role in human affairs.
There’s an excellent new documentary “The Island President” about ex-president Nasheed of the Maldives, and his efforts at Copenhagen. Powerful storytelling about the human side of climate change.
http://theislandpresident.com/
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/26/451454/triumph-tragedy-climate-change-the-island-president/
NREL finds coal has 100 times the GHG emissions of wind. Here are the median estimates given in grams of carbon dioxide emitted for kilowatt-hour of electricity:
* Photovoltaic panels – 45
* Concentrating solar parabolic mirror – 26
* Concentrating sola power tower – 38
* Thin-film solar – 20
* Wind – 11
* Coal 1,001
http://blogs.denverpost.com/thebalancesheet/2012/05/14/wind-power-ten-times-cleaner-coal-colorado-nrel-researchers/4786/
I don’t see natural gas listed.
In the news of a few coastal communities ive seen mention of acidification and climate change over the last year especially as related to hardships and declines in local sea harvests. Certainly considering the impact they are facing it needs to be covered more. Their entire lifestyle and livelihood is at stake:
Maine Voices: Limit CO2 emissions to save Maine oceans
It is now universally recognized throughout the oceanographic community that the absorption of all this CO2 by the ocean (550 billion tons and counting) has resulted in a decrease in pH and changes in seawater chemistry, a phenomenon that collectively is referred to as “ocean acidification.”
When CO2 dissolves in water, it produces carbonic acid. From the Pacific waters of Hawaii, to the Atlantic waters of Bermuda and the Canary Islands, to the Arctic waters of Antarctica, humans have lowered the pH of the ocean by 0.1 units in the last 100 years.
While such a decrease may seem small, the way pH is measured means that this change actually represents a 30 percent increase in acidity. Without targeted reduction in CO2 emissions soon, the acid content of the ocean will increase by more than 300 percent in the next 50 to 75 years. ( http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/limit-co2-emissions-to-save-maine-oceans_2012-05-20.html )
Incidentally the “30% increase” thing seems at times to cause a lot of controversy in local press – In this Oregon acidification story the responses a blogger (a denial meteorologist of course) insists it is incorrect. ( http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/04/oregon_state_research_traces_o/8001149/comments-4.html )
It references ion number and effects. Not 30 percent more acidic. That should be remembered.
Ref-
Anthropogenic ocean acidification over
the twenty-first century and its impact on
calcifying organisms ( http://www.ipsl.jussieu.fr/~jomce/acidification/paper/Orr_OnlineNature04095.pdf )
And more basics:
pH Scale( http://www.elmhurst.edu/~chm/vchembook/184ph.html )
adds to the water vapour in the atmosphere also, contributing to even more GW…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/20/world-aquifers-rising-sea-levels
We cannot have emissions reduction with a global market. It’s not possible with out oil. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/18/france-eu-carbon-tariff