Climate Change / Global Warming Discussion

[Raffy.Roma]

What we need to do is add more solar panels to the normally really hot locations to help normallize and rebalance the world. Since black absorbs more heat from the sun and all. Science FTW!

Ok but main thing is to lower CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. Solar panels will help to fight the Climate Change/Global Warming issue but they will not work such an issue.

 

[mspohr]

B.H.P. Billiton, Acknowledging Climate Change, to Quit Coal Group

 

[SageBrush]

Interesting. I wonder what motivates their behavior.

 

[ggr]

B.H.P. Billiton, Acknowledging Climate Change, to Quit Coal Group

In other news:

Australia's government relaxes climate change rules. Coalition climate review 'a travesty' as Australia set to increase emissions

Giant coal mine planned for far north is abandoned. Adani scraps $2bn deal to outsource Carmichael coalmine operation

Coal plant goes offline, grid saved by Tesla battery 1000km away. http://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-bi...bering-coal-units-after-loy-yang-trips-70003/

 

[DragonWatch]

I really love Harry Chapin’s Music, especially “30 Thousand Pounds of Bananas.” I used to eat a banana a day to keep my muscles from cramping up. Today, well it is too much sugar.

Apparently we may not have to wait much longer. . . Impending demise of Cavendish banana offers case for biodiversity | Toronto Star

If you have no one to leave behind, or maybe you figure life is but a stage, and once you leave and the curtain is drawn; it is all gone. Kind of like if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound. If it doesn’t, then neither do whales unless you are listening

I am still holding onto the faint glimmer of hope that my small footprint might help Even if the science is against me

 

[mspohr]

A new report details climate change effects on the ocean (and, even if we stop emissions, it will take centuries to undo the damage)
US government climate report looks at how the oceans are buffering climate change

US government climate report looks at how the oceans are buffering climate change | John Abraham

 

[beeeerock]

So... I'm a little hesitant to post this link, because it looks like it's political. It's actually not. Well...maybe a little...but it really contends that none of the political and economic systems we've used in the past are really designed to work in the 21st century. Especially with climate threatening to take us all out if we don't do something...like... yesterday. The author probably leans more left than right, but I'm not posting this to start a war over politics...rather, to ponder how economics control politics.

Here in British Columbia, there's been a huge fuss over a hydroelectric dam. The right of center party in power for the last several terms blew the dust off a very old design and signed contracts to get it built. Without doing any cost analysis or oversight. They were determined to push it 'past the point of no return' (their words!) in an effort to attract big LNG projects. The aggressive climate action policies put into action by their predecessors were shelved and ignored.

That party lost the election in May and were replaced with a left of center party who had campaigned on promises of doing the analysis of the dam's economics and swiftly killing it should it be shown impractical. They were pushing the idea of wind and solar to augment our fully hydro-powered grid instead. Embracing future technologies, rather than clinging to old ones...yadda yadda yadda....

The analysis was done and it was extremely damning (no pun intended). The power isn't needed, will cost way more than renewables and the LNG contracts it was supposed to power aren't likely to materialize. The taxpayers of the province would be paying for the dam for the next 70 years. Eat the couple billion dollars spent to date, or go all in and spend 10 billion or more (because overruns are almost guaranteed) to finish a project that won't be competitive?

Simple answer, the obvious answer, even to a former CEO of BC Hydro, was to kill it. The party campaigned on killing it. So what did they do? Decided to complete it, of course! Google for stories on the Site C dam if you're interested in details and comparisons to Muskrat Falls on the other side of the country.

What this tells me is that both sides of the political aisle are bought and paid for by corporations and unions. We are not represented, no matter which side is in power. The left and the right do the same things, but with minor revisions to how they spin their reasoning.

The last line in the essay says, "the central task should be to develop an economic Apollo programme, a conscious attempt to design a new system, tailored to the demands of the 21st century." I think that's necessary. But it will take a helluva lot more than that to sort us out.

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems

 

[Merrill]

So... I'm a little hesitant to post this link, because it looks like it's political. It's actually not. Well...maybe a little...but it really contends that none of the political and economic systems we've used in the past are really designed to work in the 21st century. Especially with climate threatening to take us all out if we don't do something...like... yesterday. The author probably leans more left than right, but I'm not posting this to start a war over politics...rather, to ponder how economics control politics.

Here in British Columbia, there's been a huge fuss over a hydroelectric dam. The right of center party in power for the last several terms blew the dust off a very old design and signed contracts to get it built. Without doing any cost analysis or oversight. They were determined to push it 'past the point of no return' (their words!) in an effort to attract big LNG projects. The aggressive climate action policies put into action by their predecessors were shelved and ignored.

That party lost the election in May and were replaced with a left of center party who had campaigned on promises of doing the analysis of the dam's economics and swiftly killing it should it be shown impractical. They were pushing the idea of wind and solar to augment our fully hydro-powered grid instead. Embracing future technologies, rather than clinging to old ones...yadda yadda yadda....

The analysis was done and it was extremely damning (no pun intended). The power isn't needed, will cost way more than renewables and the LNG contracts it was supposed to power aren't likely to materialize. The taxpayers of the province would be paying for the dam for the next 70 years. Eat the couple billion dollars spent to date, or go all in and spend 10 billion or more (because overruns are almost guaranteed) to finish a project that won't be competitive?

Simple answer, the obvious answer, even to a former CEO of BC Hydro, was to kill it. The party campaigned on killing it. So what did they do? Decided to complete it, of course! Google for stories on the Site C dam if you're interested in details and comparisons to Muskrat Falls on the other side of the country.

What this tells me is that both sides of the political aisle are bought and paid for by corporations and unions. We are not represented, no matter which side is in power. The left and the right do the same things, but with minor revisions to how they spin their reasoning.

The last line in the essay says, "the central task should be to develop an economic Apollo programme, a conscious attempt to design a new system, tailored to the demands of the 21st century." I think that's necessary. But it will take a helluva lot more than that to sort us out.

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems

In the end no matter where you are it is all about the money, unfortunately the people in power could care less about anyone except themselves.

 

[S'toon]

So... I'm a little hesitant to post this link, because it looks like it's political. It's actually not. Well...maybe a little...but it really contends that none of the political and economic systems we've used in the past are really designed to work in the 21st century. Especially with climate threatening to take us all out if we don't do something...like... yesterday. The author probably leans more left than right, but I'm not posting this to start a war over politics...rather, to ponder how economics control politics.

Here in British Columbia, there's been a huge fuss over a hydroelectric dam. The right of center party in power for the last several terms blew the dust off a very old design and signed contracts to get it built. Without doing any cost analysis or oversight. They were determined to push it 'past the point of no return' (their words!) in an effort to attract big LNG projects. The aggressive climate action policies put into action by their predecessors were shelved and ignored.

That party lost the election in May and were replaced with a left of center party who had campaigned on promises of doing the analysis of the dam's economics and swiftly killing it should it be shown impractical. They were pushing the idea of wind and solar to augment our fully hydro-powered grid instead. Embracing future technologies, rather than clinging to old ones...yadda yadda yadda....

The analysis was done and it was extremely damning (no pun intended). The power isn't needed, will cost way more than renewables and the LNG contracts it was supposed to power aren't likely to materialize. The taxpayers of the province would be paying for the dam for the next 70 years. Eat the couple billion dollars spent to date, or go all in and spend 10 billion or more (because overruns are almost guaranteed) to finish a project that won't be competitive?

Simple answer, the obvious answer, even to a former CEO of BC Hydro, was to kill it. The party campaigned on killing it. So what did they do? Decided to complete it, of course! Google for stories on the Site C dam if you're interested in details and comparisons to Muskrat Falls on the other side of the country.

What this tells me is that both sides of the political aisle are bought and paid for by corporations and unions. We are not represented, no matter which side is in power. The left and the right do the same things, but with minor revisions to how they spin their reasoning.

The last line in the essay says, "the central task should be to develop an economic Apollo programme, a conscious attempt to design a new system, tailored to the demands of the 21st century." I think that's necessary. But it will take a helluva lot more than that to sort us out.

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems

This is why I'm not a supporter of that party. Every time they campaign from the left (except the last federal election which they campaigned from the right), and govern from the right. The last time they were in power in this province they were the second-most right wing government in the province's history.

We had a byelection this year, and the candidate from that party came to my door. I said to her "The last time you were in power you announced a five year freeze to the education budget within a week of an announcement of a royalty cut to oil companies." Her only response was "I was still in high school then."

 

[SageBrush]

Neoliberalism – the ideology at the root of all our problems

Very good article. In the US it is called libertarianism

 

[JRP3]

Very good article. In the US it is called libertarianism

Not correctly.

The anonymity of neoliberalism is fiercely guarded. Those who are influenced by Hayek, Mises and Friedman tend to reject the term, maintaining – with some justice – that it is used today only pejoratively. But they offer us no substitute. Some describe themselves as classical liberals or libertarians, but these descriptions are both misleading and curiously self-effacing, as they suggest that there is nothing novel about The Road to Serfdom, Bureaucracy or Friedman’s classic work, Capitalism and Freedom.

 

[mspohr]

On its hundredth birthday in 1959, Edward Teller warned the oil industry about global warming

On its hundredth birthday in 1959, Edward Teller warned the oil industry about global warming | Benjamin Franta

Denial started early.

 

[mspohr]

Vehicles are now America's biggest CO2 source but EPA is tearing up regulations

Vehicles are now America's biggest CO2 source but EPA is tearing up regulations

Also looks like EPA is getting ready to eliminate California waiver which allows it to set more stringent standards.

 

[mspohr]

And in a hopeful sign from Bill McKibben

Big money is backing out of fossil fuel industry, moving into greener alternatives

 

[JRP3]

We're in a race between the idiots in Washington and the economics of renewables.

 

[Merrill]

I have said for quite sometime that if you are a smart business person and can dervsify this should be a no brainer. Of course that is why the idiot in charge is doing what he is doing because he has no brain.

 

[DragonWatch]

And in a hopeful sign from Bill McKibben

Big money is backing out of fossil fuel industry, moving into greener alternatives

Good article ~ preaching to the choir

Politically, as a nation, we are devoid of leadership, kind of like deficit spending. I would draw a parallel to GM during the sixties and seventies and their war on labor unions. GM owned the field of cars ~ period. But they chose to attack the labor force with articles targeting an employee that left a coke bottle in the door of a car going through the assembly line. All that did was convince me never to buy an American car ~ period!

Okay, I looked the other way when I bought my MX.

Having been in leadership positions throughout my life, including teaching four years on leadership (army ROTC) at Cal State Long Beach, my greatest accomplishments were when I led from the rear. I do not thrive on rank or money, I just do my damnedest to succeed at whatever I am doing.

Leadership from the rear looks like this. . . Years ago while stationed in Babenhause, GE my wife and I during the semiannual family quarters cleanup in spring, we bought and installed cylinders of concrete (log exterior pattern) that had an indentation (concave) so that multiple simulated logs could be placed at any meandering path around a flower bed. A few years later I was eschorting a general and of course one of our stops was Babenhausen. To my total surprise, the post commander at some point liked our stairwell flower bed design so much that he had installed almost everywhere. That is leadership from the rear. I got no money for the idea, no medal, and no recognition ~ but it was replicated.

I also returned my Eagle Scout medal and that of my deceased son's in protest to the Scouting ban on gays. Since returning the medals the Scouting policy has changed to include not only gay boys, but gay adult leaders. The Scout headquarters had never returned my medal or that of my son, but the policy changed.

If you or your son as an Eagle Scout have participated in activities as a part of the National Eagle Scout Association, well you can thank my father and I. My father's name is on the record as moving the Knights of Dunamis from unsanctioned to NESA. I was one of the last Knight Eagles; my rank was bestowed once I returned to the US following my enlistment in the army back in the late sixties and early seventies. The rank was bestowed on senior Eagles for extensive volunteer service.

I would suggest you keep HATE out of your picture. Hate will bring you back to square one. I have tons of experience fighting it so, be prepared. If you hate your enemy, you will lose. If you think you will win them over in a discussion, you are misinformed.

Other nations will lead the way; we have lost our way and since I only have roughly thirty years left, I do not see a clear path in the cards for the US.

 

[mspohr]

We're in a race between the idiots in Washington and the economics of renewables.

I think economics will win. (Can't beat the price of "free" for wind and solar fuel.)
The idiots in charge can slow down progress but eventually they will get run over.

 

[ggr]

People worry about not eating meat...
Chocolate is on track to go extinct in 40 years

edit: that comment of mine is a joke, get it? Don't reply here, there's another thread for that.

 

[beeeerock]

All that did was convince me never to buy an American car ~ period!

Okay, I looked the other way when I bought my MX.

I got around this moral dilemma myself by noting that a Tesla isn't really an American car... it's a Silicon Valley car!