chemrat’s Recent Comments

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  Trains!

  Trains are great.  We don't use them enough in the US.  That is because roads get all the Federal subsidies.  This is not good for the environment, dependence on foreign oil, etc.

  Good to see something is being done to help Amtrack.

  Jim Bashkin aka chemrat aka nearlynothingbutnovels http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/

  On Could intercity public transit finally be getting some support from Congress? posted 2 years ago 7 Responses

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  Of Biofuels and the Bioburden we all must bear

  Bioburden is a term used to describe things like how much damaging fertilizer runoff is going into a stream or river.

  We now have to re-define the term to mean, also, how much tax money are we giving away for corn ethanol plants that should never have been built and corn ethanol fuel that should never have been produced. (You read it hear first! I am coining this new definition in real time.)

  See my latest discussion of the pros and cons of biofuels, and the latest from the UN, at greenchemistry.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/un-food-expert-says-stop-biofuels-for-now/

  Great coverage as always! Jim (chemrat)

  Jim Bashkin aka chemrat aka nearlynothingbutnovels http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/

  On Interview with filmmakers behind corn expose posted 2 years ago 1 Response

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  Nice news (not much these days)

  It is great to hear about the improvements to the Mississippi River, and not just because it is about 12 miles east of me.

  I now no recent facts about the cleanup efforts except what you reported, and but offer the following historical perspective:  about 16 years ago (give or take 2 or 3), Greenpeace came down the Mississippi protesting at company sites along the length of the river.  Part of their action was to sabotage an industrial water treatment facility that resulted significant pollution being released to the river (as opposed to being cleaned up, which is what water treatment facilities do).

  No mention was made of civil works like sewage treatment.  That wouldn't have been good for fund raising.  

  However, by that time, companies had long since cleaned up their acts, and the major polluters of the river were the towns that refused to install good waste treatment facilities (refused as in the citizens wouldn't vote for them).

  This highly cynical and false blame of industry left me, as an environmentally conscious scientist, with a very bad taste in my mouth.

  I don't know how this breaks down now, but it is nice to hear of success stories with towns deciding to protect the environment. So, well done Dubuque et al.  How many more towns do we need to see the light?  Does anybody know?  Are we there now?

  Jim
  http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com/

  Jim Bashkin aka chemrat aka nearlynothingbutnovels http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/

  On A meeting of the minds in the Masterpiece on the Mississippi posted 2 years ago 1 Response

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  How about some individual responsibility?

  Comment by chemrat:  well folks, if biodiesel is worse than coal (see other stories here, at gristmill, and on my main site, Chemistry for a sustainable environment), and coal is worse than everything, we have a bit of circular logic here. Maybe we need to own up to the fact that  WE are our own enemy, and we need to cut down on energy use!  Conservation of energy (not the law of physics but the environmental practice) would help a great deal.  How about we follow Japan's lead and abolish business suits in the summer so air conditioning can be less severe?  Do movie theaters need to be arctic in temperature?  And, how many supposedly environmentally friendly Californians are commuting by car to the Sierras to ski every weekend?  Yes, there are equivalent behaviors in most other places.  I like to ski, but then I also like to ride a bike without a helmet, I just don't do it.

  We can't have our cake and eat it too, and blaming all of our problems on the big bad companies just doesn't deal with many of the core issues (like unchecked resource wasting by large parts of the world, but mostly the USA).

  And if you reject coal and petroleum and biodiesel (and I too reject some forms of all of these, just not all forms), what is going to power your HDTV, satellite dish and quad-core Pentium computer?  Not solar, wind and hydroelectric, they are usually minor though important additions, or are local, or are unreliable, or require large capital investment (and kill birds), etc. You are going down a path where nuclear energy is all that is left, and that I am against in all forms.

  So, how about No More Over-simplistic Solutions?  Not as sexy as No More Nukes, but it might get us somewhere.  http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com/

  Jim Bashkin aka chemrat aka nearlynothingbutnovels http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/

  On The fight against coal makes for strange bedfellows out West posted 2 years ago 3 Responses

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  Well, yes, and maybe and no

  While I agree with the vast majority of what you say, I'm sorry but I don't see what direct role biodiversity has in the discussion.

  To me, this has to do with (a) economics, power and truth (b) the lack on any credible energy conservation plan in the US (c) the joy that lobbyists, farmers big and small and politicians must have felt when they figured out how to funnel tax breaks to ag business in the guise of helping the environment (d) this strange but persistent belief, held all over the world, that something "natural" or organic is automatically better than something man-made (as is petrochemicals don't come from organic and natural sources) (e) the willingness of developing nations to exploit themselves and their own environment as badly as industrialized nations did and do, and the the rest of the alphabet.

  I think it is very important, however, that we disagree in forums such as this and educate each other in the process.  I'm still learning about the bioenergy world (daily) and post related articles, original writing and news stories on my blog "Chemistry for a sustainable world" at wordpress.  Jim the chemrat

  Jim Bashkin aka chemrat aka nearlynothingbutnovels http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com http://nearlynothingbutnovels.blogspot.com/

  On Politicians are still pumping biodiesel posted 2 years ago 40 Responses