Posts Tagged by global climate change
PBS’s “Electric Nation”
| May 1, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
The PBS special “Electric Nation” is a reasonably fair-minded and certainly non-hysterical treatment of the various modes of how we in the U.S. generate electricity. Personally, had I written the show, I would have been quite a bit more hysterical, emphasizing the utter insanity of our business-as-usual approach to fossil fuels and our failure to form a workable energy policy, even in the face of:
• Global climate change
• Ocean acidification
• Peak oil
• Empowering terrorist and other anti-American regimes
• Escalating rates of lung disease
Yet they were good enough to quote Thomas Edison’s famous simile regarding our shortsightedness when it comes to energy:
“We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy–sun, wind and tide.”
Do Wind Turbines Contribute To Global Warming?
| April 30, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Wind Energy |
A reader sent me this article in Scientific American that suggests the possibility that wind turbines contribute to global warming and requested my response.
It seems to me that the first commenter nailed it: “the article also seems to forget warmist theory discounts the concept of local climate having any affect on the globe, only the average global temperature matters.” Moreover, let’s do a bit of math here. Could the waste heat produced by a wind-driven generator offset the benefit derived from not burning that amount of coal? Forget about the negative effects of mining and transporting the coal, and think of the thermodynamics in the coal plant itself, where you have waste heat from both the burning of the coal and the generation of electricity.
Also keep in mind that climate change is only one of half a dozen reasons to migrate away from fossil fuels.
Overall, this sounds silly. But apparently, Scientific American isn’t held in the esteem I thought it was; those comments really shredded them.
Humanity Faces Crisis: A Quick Analysis
| April 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Scientists tell us that the threat of climate change (not to mention the other issues associated with the depletion of natural resources in the face of population growth) is the most important event facing mankind in the entire history of humanity. That’s quite a thought, when you reflect on it. After 10,000 years of our living in organized society, we’ve come to the point at which our ability to limit the damage we’re doing to our environment over the next few decades will mean the difference between our success and failure as a species. Read More
Computer Models Predict the Effects of Greenhouse Gasses, But To What End?
| April 11, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
I’m reading Beyond the Limits by Donella Meadows et. al. and learning all about the computer models these folks have used to predict the consequences of things like exponential population growth on a planet with finite resources. This is brilliant work, and wonderfully thought provoking, but I wonder about its practical application. After all, the world doesn’t have a governing body that will take a certain set of actions according to the output of the model.
Our scientists tell us in no uncertain terms the consequences of what we’re doing with greenhouse gasses, but we come home from our climate change meetings with no agreements to lift a finger to do anything about this. China is building a new coal-fired power plant at the rate of one a week. The best computer model in the world is no match for a large powerful government with an army of 200 million soldiers that is determined to build 50 new electrical plants next year.
Growing Segment of American Voters Skeptical of Science
| April 6, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Here’s an article whose theme we’ve discussed a great deal here: the disdain that certain of our elected leaders have for science. Personally, I have a tough time with people who expect to be taken seriously who write off evolution as “just a theory – one that has some holes in it” or dismiss climate change as a hoax despite the testimony of 97+% of the scientific community.
It looks like my viewpoints are losing ground here, however, since, as the article shows with a great precision, there is a large and rapidly growing segment of American voters who harbor an active distrust for science. I share the conclusion the author provided: “Yikes. That’s certainly not a good sign for fans of reality-based decision making.”
Understanding Climate Change Means Knowing Nature’s Ways
| March 31, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainability |
In connection to climate change, I often warn that, where people can make compromises, physics doesn’t. From there, I sometimes find myself going off into long-winded explanations and examples. But I recently found that Voltaire, one of my favorite people in history, had said this 200+ years ago with his own inimitable brevity: “Men argue; nature acts.”
Talk On Global Climate Change
| March 20, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
Here’s a discussion on global climate change featuring California-based venture capitalist Dan Miller, who apparently has some connections local to me. Dan spoke last week at The Midland School, a wonderful private school at which both my kids, Jake and Valerie, attended a summer “Writers’ Camp” a few years ago. I had to bribe them both in the extreme, offering them both their first cell phones to attend, but I’m glad I made the compromise. The camp was wonderful. And Dan’s talk is fantastic.
James Hansen on Global Climate Change
| March 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Here’s top climate scientist Dr. James Hansen on global climate change. When people ask where I stand on this subject and why, I simply request that they watch this; I sure wish I had it in my power to get everyone to do so.
Not only are we doing nothing to stop this unfolding catastrophe, we’re actively making it worse, subsidizing the fossil fuel industries worldwide with hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Why? Big Energy wants it that way, and has spent a fortune to convince voters that putting a tax on carbon to curb our dependence on fossil fuels will hurt the economy. Read More
Energy Policy and the Skyrocketing Rates of Certain Childhood Diseases
| March 14, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Over the years, I’ve learned that the most productive way to deal with climate change deniers is to point out that global warming is only one of half-a-dozen reasons to knock off our dependence on coal and oil. “Just pick your favorite,” I smile.
How about the obvious and growing damage to human health? It would seem to me that this would be a fact that even the most fanatical of the anti-government types couldn’t argue. Don’t we need some empowered body to protect our health from those who are indifferent?
One of the very clearest – and saddest – indications that we’re on the wrong road with respect to environmental regulation is our skyrocketing rate of respiratory disease, e.g., asthma, in children. Read More
