TOTAL LICENSING
temperatures evaporate panel spaces. we are afraid of accidents because we have old plants
more water from oceans • High yield farming needs nitrogen that fertilizer (none have been built in the last 30 years while safety
and lakes. The clouds will producers recapture from air. and technology advanced). And we are still addicted to
deposit this increased • Kyoto agreed to cut fossil fuel use by 5 percent - our dear old ways of the accustomed status quo.
moisture on polar caps this is inadequate. A cut of 60 percent would be Kyoto II beckons but we, under our government, refuse
increasing the thickness needed and only atomic energy could provide to believe that we need to join the scientific community
of the ice sheets at the cheap renewable energy leaving us with the and the rest of the world who are trying to drag us
centers while the edges nagging questions of how to dispose of those (and China with its developing coal plants) along to a
melt in the slowly rising questionable by-products and where, in addition to global plan.
sea. We can combat the safety concerns. Just now the newest report (May 4
th
, 07) from the IPCC
storm surges of powerful (P) California showed us the way: electricity consumption meeting in Bangkok concluded:
hurricanes and protect against present risks and did not grow (1976 – 2005) in contrast to 60% • Emissions of greenhouse gases have risen
dangers by building dams, storm water drainage, pass increase in the country overall. 70% since 1970.
ordinances fighting the race for beachfront property. • Build 1 million large wind turbines. • Emissions could rise an additional 90% by 2030
• Build nuclear power plants if nothing is done
THE “REALISTS” CITE EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE • Mandate increased fuel efficiency to 60 miles per • Binding limits, internationally agreed, are needed
CHANGE gallon • The less affluent neighbors on our globe must be
• Stop all tropical deforestation and plant new trees helped financially to be able to invest in the
(N) We know from evidence like ice cores cut into • America stands against most of the world by needed conversion
deep holes in Greenland and deep sea cores, pollen withholding support from Kyoto agreements. • It is estimated that bringing global carbon dioxide
and plankton fossil studies, that the variability in the emissions by 2030 to levels measured in
sun’s activity is proven and that there have been long THE AUTOMOBILE 2000 would require only a cost on released carbon
climate shifts in 1500 year cycles which produced slow No discussion of greenhouse gas is complete dioxide of $50 to $100 a ton, roughly on a par
warming periods that ended in sudden unstable short without review of that arch villain in the catalogue in terms of fossil fuel prices with an additional 50
“ice ages” of rapid cooling. They assert the last “little of environmental sins – the gas guzzling large cents to $1.00 for a gallon of gasoline. I feel even
ice age” was the most recent cold phase (16
th
– 18
th
comfortable American motor car. Our 100-year love if this should prove optimistic it is certainly not
century) so we are now in a natural warming cycle. affair with this symbol of utility and often, also, pride is economy shattering!
(P) Carbon Dioxide is the principal greenhouse gas well documented. I would like to quote William Moowaw, Professor of
and forces (speeds up) increase of temperature. In the We have a very large country: America needed Environmental Policy at Tufts University:
past 250 years industrial processes have burned fossil the automobile to tame suburbia and reach family “Here in the early years of the 21
st
century, we’re looking
fuels and these have released 1100 billion tons of CO2 shopping sites. We don’t have the dense European or for an energy revolution that’s as comprehensive as the
into the atmosphere collectively. Half of these 1100 Japanese network of railways and super speed trains. one that occurred at the beginning of the 20
th
century
billion have been generated since the mid 1970s. In The often two wage earner family of the later 20
th
when we went from gaslight and horse-drawn carriages
2005 alone emissions of CO2 were 26 million tons. century frequently required two cars. This demand to light bulbs and automobiles. In 1905, only 3 percent
The atmosphere has absorbed all this and that is lead to our oil dependency and the world supremacy of of homes had electricity. Right now, 3 percent is about
why temperatures have increased slowly. Ocean and the automobile Big Three: GM, Ford, Chrysler. It was the same range as the amount of renewable energy
vegetation can absorb a part (40%) but emissions are only natural for Big Oil and Detroit to be happy with we have today. None of us can predict the future any
rising not only in the USA but even more in China and their booming business. Oil exploration subsidies and more than we could in 1905, but that suggests to me it
the rest of the industrializing world so our cumulative politics kept our gasoline prices pleasantly low so that may not be impossible to make that kind of revolution
emissions are projected by the US Energy Information cars could become a necessity, not a luxury. again”.
Administration to rise more than 50% between 2000 Now, there suddenly appeared the Japanese and
Another hopeful item from yesterday’s news!
and 2030 and we are already destined for a 1 degree Germans (from geographically small countries) with
Bravo! Mayor Bloomberg of New York.
Celsius warming. James Hansen of NASA states “we smaller cars that could function well and get you
He proposed overhauling the city’s aged and Byzantine,
are on the precipice of climate system tipping points from point A to point B for a lot less money. Tastes
over-confusing building code – the first revision since
beyond which there is no redemption”. and habits changed. Ever more voluminous, if not
1968!! A lesson, by the way, from the collapse of the
(N) All these predictions come from unverified obese, Americans learned to squeeze themselves into
Twin Towers.
computer models. We ignore the effects of urban heat smaller cars. The Big Three had lost their export market
• Automatic sprinkler systems for high rise
concentrations because our measurements come from already, notwithstanding their gigantic cash reserves
apartments
labs and observation points in big city areas. These we and the economy of the mass production techniques
• Smoke detectors interconnected throughout
know are running some 2 deg. Fahrenheit hotter than they had originally invented and taught the world. They
a building so all would ring at the same time.
country districts. Increased CO2 levels also provide now started to shrink and bleed financially. Detroit
• More efficient heating and cooling systems, all
increased food for plants and thereby increase “green and the American government had been asleep at the
roofs to be painted white or a reflective
lung” areas and crop growth which in turn is beneficial wheel and paid dearly for not having developed new
color; windows to be made tight to avoid heat
to mankind and the green cover reduces reflection of ways for a new age. The recognition of the gasoline
or air-conditioning escaping. All this to save energy.
heat and energy into the atmosphere. Our specialized engine’s contribution of CO2 into the atmosphere
As a New Yorker I say, Bravo again! It is this sort of
areas are not determinant, globally seen. became a widely recognized issue and no alternative
individual beneficial action we all can take.
power source for cars had really been engineered for
We need a nation-wide commitment to government
KYOTO Americans. Again the Japanese appeared with the first
research and technology akin to our Apollo space
The watershed in the environmental global debate of the hybrid cars (electricity and gas combination that
initiative. I think the comparisons of tobacco war issues
without a doubt was the Kyoto protocol. These were works well in city traffic and the typically only 30 mile
with those in the war for a sustainable world are easy
the points raised: daily commute). Still we were faithful to our old love.
to draw.
(N) It will cost 150 billion a year Today, as a solution, President Bush pushes for Ethanol
I have studied these issues intensely for a few months
• UNICEF estimates 70-80 billion could give all third which can be made from our big cornfields. To some
and tried to see all the sides of the controversies and
world inhabitants basics like water, sanitation, degree this might be good for our farmers but, say its
even if not all predictions are correct – I would not want
health and education. And would be better spent in detractors, it does nothing for the environment. Ethanol
to risk joining the nay sayers.
this way. requires as much power to produce it as the oil it is
I have decided to support ACTION. It’s cheap
• Wind and solar power are not reliable. They supposed to save.
insurance! We may not ignore, we must
obviously depend on available sun so you need What should our policies and research be directed to?
support! The old adage says “a stitch in time
backup conventional power. Europe has invested largely in atomic power that at
saves nine”.
• It requires lots of space for windmill farms, solar least is environmentally a stop gap solution – even if
I AM CONVERTED!! JOIN!!
150
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