Comments human power has made

Goodness me, I really enjoyed this article and, especially, its links. I am still chuckling about ASS-wholes. I'm going to have to seriously consider changing my pesonna since it would be embarrassing to have my being a traditional a**hole confused with being an ASS-whole.

Enviroperk asked about car-free in a smaller city. I live in Eugene, OR, a city of less than 200k, even if you add adjoining Springfield. We have very limited public transit and it is mostly filled with drug addicts and homeless people; sometimes because this is the only place they can get out of the rain. I walk and ride a bike everywhere I go, except for trips to CA (train). With a decent bike trailer and some baskets and/or panniers, I usually leave the grocery store/farmers market/hardware store with a much larger load than the folks in the steel wheelchairs. There is one major downside to riding: every week I am assaulted in some way by car-critters. I am not sure why they hate cyclists so much, but the animosity is very real. The only times the motorists were well-behaved towards cyclists was when the busses were on strike and when gas was over $4.00/gal. I think their improved behavior was due to them thinking that the cyclists were only riding because they could not afford to drive. I am anxiously awaiting a return to less cheap gasoline to see if this happens again.

Considering the fact that nearly all of our oil is imported, it is obvious from an econ 101 standpoint that using a car not only drains away the user's health and wealth, but also negatively impacts our national economy. Get patriotic and get car-free!

While going off the grid, don't forget to get off the pipeline too. Electrical generation may be our number one GHG problem, but transportation is number 2, and in Oregon, transprotation is number 1.

Also, when sizing your system, don't be alarmed at the prospect of cooler indoor winter temperatures. Lower room temperatures will lead to brown-fat led metabolic heat generation. All that green and a leaner body to boot.

I also see one little problem with your number of cyclists in NYC. If your number is generated the same way it is in my town, where the official estimate is 8% of the population rides, it is bogus. It does not reflect the number of riders, it reflects only 100% minus the number of people who NEVER ride. Thus, on a typical FAll, Winter, or early Spring day, the number of trips in my town done by bike are less than 1% of the official number of cyclists. During the wet 2/3 of the year I often encounter more city trucks driving on the "bike" paths than bikes. So, you may have 130,000 people who sometimes ride in NYC, but you have to multiply that by the fraction of their annual transportation needs they are meeting by bike, which may be as low as 1%.

Sorry to be such a downer, but people need to know what they are getting themselves into if they commit to environmentally friendly transportation. Bike really is the new black.

Okay, I'm admittedly a little testy on this subject at the moment since I was just attacked by a fossil-fool powered two-ton steel wheelchair yesterday, but European data on cycling mortality just does not apply in the U.S. In fact, I rode through the numbers while riding to work earlier in the week (old numbers, a few assumptions) and concluded that I was beginning to log enough miles that I will soon be looking at 40% death by car odds. (Economic recovery cannot happen soon enough for me since it will mean bumping into the oil supply limits again and, thus, fewer car-critters will be able to afford to go out terrorizing people.)

In the 1890s an article appeared in the New York Times wherein cyclists were advised to only go out in groups because they were likely to encounter people who would attempt to harm them. Some aspects of our culture just never change.

And yet

We have people who think of themselves as environmentalists who want to push for electric cars and plug-in hybrids BEFORE we green the grid. As with so many things in life, timing counts, especially if we are going to get off the coal bin.On Big Coal's new campaign: choose us, not jobs and health posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago 9 Responses

All Upside

Gee, how's a totalitarian going to make a living when his best customers stop using his death-causing product?On Moving away from oil could affect investment in oil, warns oil posted 9 months, 2 weeks ago 4 Responses

Up north too

Eugene, OR has had bike valet service at large public events provided by the Center for Appropriate Transportation for many years. Now if we (and CA and every other state) could just get more people to abandon their two-ton wheelchairs we'd really have something to get excited about.On A very cool 'only in California' development ... bike valets posted 9 months, 3 weeks ago 7 Responses

Here in Third World USA

Cap and trade might have been a workable idea prior to the Reagan-led transformation of the U.S. into a nation of haves and have-nots. Now, if we price carbon up to a level that would reduce emissions to the required 10% of current levels, we will have the vast majority of Americans unable to afford any energy at all. Face it, the wealthiest 20% of Americans are immune to price signals; their wealth totally insulates them.

Time to give the trickle-down folks a retirement. If we are going to get serious about climate change, we are going to have to put individual quotas on fuels and grid power. Sure, the wealthy will purchase enormous amounts of photovoltaics and still live more comfortably than others, but their efforts will just drive down the price of such devices. This would also get rid of some of the resistance to "unsightly" wind turbines near homes; the more carbon-neutral power we generate, the larger the quotas can be.On The new administration holds the incentives for a strong federal climate bill posted 10 months ago 10 Responses

Quotas are better

Congestion pricing is just a band-aid on a severed artery. We need to stop allowing everyone to spew as much pollution as they can financially afford. With recent studies showing that auto particulates are contributing to IQ damage at levels comparable to lead, now is the time to get behind liquid fuel quotas. Couple fuel quotas to grid energy quotas and we have a real plan to get ourselves sustainable before we're totally screwed.
Of course, this will mean that the poor will be living in the large suburban houses while the rich enjoy the urban amenities, but the poor are generally industrious enough to walk, bus, and bicycle longer distances than our obese elites.On Transportation policy and the working married woman posted 10 months ago 6 Responses

Imports

Several years ago I came across an article that claimed U.S. customs fumigates all organic cotton as it arrives in the U.S. If correct, then the only "organic" cotton available in the U.S. would have to be grown in the U.S.

Interestingly, in the early '90s Monsanto pretty much forced many large cotton farms to plant their Bt cotton. By design, the levels of toxin protein in Monsanto's crops was too low to kill cotton bolls, but was just right to create resistance. (B. thuringenesis is what organic cotton farmers use to treat for cotton bolls.) Result: two years ago researchers began to find Bt-resistant cotton bolls. It is entirely possible that domestic organic cotton will not be available at all in another twenty years.On Umbra on organic fabric posted 10 months ago 17 Responses

Just smell the coal

If we ever get a non-fossil fuel grid, then I will change my tune regarding electric cars. Until then, especially while we are using coal to provide half of our grid power, we are just kidding ourselves. These toys will certainly be cheaper to operate as oil returns to hundreds of dollars per barrel, but they will just hasten our arrival at a judgment day involving the positive feedback loops inherent in catastrophic climate change.
I know it isn't sexy to admit that "cool" technologies cannot be rolled out in time to save our hineys, but it is time to face the fact that we were too slow. Come on folks. Real environmentalists don't use cars.On Photos from Plug In America's inaugural parade posted 10 months, 1 week ago 18 Responses

Do we need to burn any coal?

The average household in the city that I currently reside in uses 2.5 times as much electricity as was used in the last city I lived in. While there are several reasons for the disparity (2-fold price differences, tiered vs flat rate marginal pricing, building codes and their enforcement) I am still using the same amount of grid power as I was in my previous city. The bottom line here is that we could easily (with a little discomfort) remove coal-derived power from the grid if we chose to do some meaningful conservation.
If the 53% who voted for Obama would commit to reducing their grid use to less than 10 KWhr/day, we would so mortally wound King Coal that he would cease to dominate our politics. We would also provide the political cover for Obama to do something meaningful about climate change. As long as we all wait for someone else to do something, we will continue to drive ourselves towards the brink.On What Obama's green team has to say about coal posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago 26 Responses

Why wait?

I personally rather like Obama. However, it would be irresponsible to wait for him to generate enough political support to significantly reduce our country's emissions on his own. If we lead, the leaders will follow. Most of America recognizes the reality of climate change, they just need some good examples to follow. If YOU think we should reduce our emissions, then start doing it. Go car-free, or car-reduced (once a month or less). Stop heating or cooling your house and do some insulation-heavy remodeling if that doesn't work. Where you can, reduce the heating/cooling of your workplace. It is okay to show disdain for ALL cars; none of them are sustainable. Now get to it!On IPCC chief challenges Obama to further cut U.S. emission targets posted 10 months, 2 weeks ago 4 Responses

How depressing

It is so sad to read so many comments that take for granted that most people are too frail to enjoy indoor temperatures below 10 C. If we require such extravagant use of interior climate control, no wonder our global climate is out of control.
How about this folks: set your  (central heating) thermostat as low as you can take it and use a portable heater to heat one room (and keep the door closed).

Of course, if more people would stop using fossil-fool powered wheelchairs for transportation then more folks would find comfort at temperatures ranging from 8-48 C. On Umbra on turning down the heat posted 11 months, 3 weeks ago 21 Responses

About that pavement

Not the worry, Pan. Here in Eugene we just overwhelmingly passed a property tax to replace some of the pavement that has been torn up by all those steel wheelchairs. How nice, I get to further subsidize our planet's demise.On Green stuff from the L.A. auto show posted 12 months ago 21 Responses

Forgotten ASSumptions

Okay my fat-assed fellow Americans. You have neglected two of the biggest losers in this scheme: Cyclists and the environment. You see, by assuming that everyone travels by motorized conveyance, you neglect the impact on human-powered folks (you know, those folks who aren't morbidly obese like the typical American). By pushing the traffic off of the congested arteries and onto less-traveled streets, you push the cyclists off of the public roads completely. Great move! In short order everyone will be so unfit that no one can ever get anywhere without a steel wheelchair.

Why will no Americans accept the logical solution of non-tradeable fuel quotas. They are fair to all and can be ratcheted down over time to get us out of our unsustainable ways. They worked during WWII and can work again.On Tolls reduce congestion, but they price people off the roadway posted 1 year ago 4 Responses

We have it backwards

When I lived in the Sacramento Valley, I always wanted to go on a reverse daylight savings time. That way, non sedentary people would be able to exercise outdoors in daylight before the photochemical smog caused by fossil-fool powered wheelchairs. Who wants an extra hour of daylight in the evening when the air is unfit to breathe?On Daylight saving wastes energy posted 1 year ago 5 Responses

Not the first time

I remember the Carter Administration promising to get the cars out of Yosemite Valley. The plan was to allow those with camping reservations to drive in once and out once and bring everyone else in by bus (and then train, once the tracks were relaid). Along came Reagan and then cheap oil and we now have local smog so bad in this once beautiful wonder that it brings tears to one's eyes, literally.

Sadly, my generation of Americans cares more about being able to drive everywhere than keeping anyplace beautiful enough to warrant the trip; and our kids seem even lazier. On White House begins review of controversial EPA rule posted 1 year ago 5 Responses

Not much less

A mind-bogglingly small 3.1% annualized decrease in consumer spending in real terms is hardly cause for excitement. At this rate, the two to four coal-fired power plants being built in China will be built and spew pollutants unabated. It kind of gives a new spin to "shop 'til you drop".

Sorry to proselytize, but we could use a big dose of the Reverend Billy about now. Let's hear it for the Church of Stop Shopping Choir!On Consumer spending going down, down, down posted 1 year ago 2 Responses

OMG, I agree with David

A long, deep recession or depression in America would be one of the best things for the planet; it would be kind of a time-out from our destructive ways.

However, politicians need to get elected, so they will need to appear to be "doing something" about the crisis du jour. That being the case, I agree with David, we should push for infrastructure improvements that will allow us to stomp less heavily on our fragile planet.

It would be nice if we would have all sorts of direct-payment programs and fully refundable tax credits for all manner of solar, but I am not exactly holding my breath. We're much more likely to get some sort of incentives for plug-in hybrids.On Economists weigh in on the need for stimulus spending posted 1 year, 1 month ago 2 Responses

About those wigs...

Quite by accident, my partner and I found that the steel wheelchairs give us a lot more space when we carry large garden tools in our hands while we cycle. Admittedly, this is a little inconvenient, but they would give us more than two meters of space rather than the usual 10-40 cm.

We hypothesize that the reason they give us more space when we are carrying something that could be used as a weapon is that it causes us to break through their sensory filters. That is, they don't crowd us when we are without tools because of any malevolence, they crowd us because they aren't paying attention to things that don't pose any threat. If anyone has a less depressing explanation, I'd love to hear it.On From Goldilocks to the Three Bears posted 1 year, 1 month ago 3 Responses

Gotta love her quotes

She chose to quote Ronald Reagan in her closing statement. She quoted what he said as a paid spokesman for the American Medical Association when he/they was/were trying to prevent Medicare from being enacted! This is only the second most popular government program ever and she uses a quote from the campaign to prevent it from coming into existence.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering she had previously quoted a notorious neo-Nazi white supremacist. This woman will gladly pollute both the ecological environment and the social environment.
On Reflecting on (and fact-checking) the VP debate posted 1 year, 1 month ago 27 Responses

Meanwhile, back on planet earth...

Oh sure, if we ever generate our electricity from renewable sources, we could have cars and a living planet too. Unfortunately, here in the U.S. we generate our electricity from coal. As long as planet-killing coal is on our grid, electric cars are death to us all.
For the next twenty years at least, if you value life on Earth, you are anti-electric car. In fact, any real environmentalist would be anti-car.On Electric vehicles crowd out hydrogen brethren at sustainable driving conference posted 1 year, 2 months ago 27 Responses

Are Southerners all weaklings?

If the gasoline supplies are really down, shouldn't it be possible to walk/bike on these roads? After all, it is not the striping on the roadway that makes it safe, it is the number of motor vehicles and the behavior of the drivers. I have ridden on shoulderless two lane highways in PA that were much safer than many "bike routes" for the simple reason that the drivers were courteous. I haven't been to Western NC in two decades, but when I was last there I did travel exclusively by bike. It is possible to live without a car, but you can't do it if you are a wuss.

By the way, I notice that the Asheville Wal-Mart did not close do to the gasoline shortage. Somehow people could find a way to go buy their plastic crap from China but can't make it to their college classes. Enough said.On Gas shortages plague the Southeast posted 1 year, 2 months ago 6 Responses

About that Coal

With fully half of all electricity generation in the U.S. coming from coal, why would anyone consider a large electric wheelchair for personal transportation to be an environmentally sound idea? We have already reached several "tipping points" (methane hydrate release from the Arctic, loss of Arctic sea ice and diminished absorption of CO2 by the oceans,to name a few) and are thus on borrowed time. James Hansen has adamantly stated that coal burning must stop NOW if we expect to maintain a livable planet. With this backdrop, why is it that Americans would rather burn more coal than get off of their large hind-quarters?

Have we already reached a fitness "tipping point" where the vast majority of us have never been physically fit enough to live independent of our steel wheelchairs? No wonder we have epidemics of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and dementia.On Chrysler to offer electric car by 2010, full lineup of EVs sometime after posted 1 year, 2 months ago 4 Responses

Meanwhile, in North Carolina

A community college in Asheville, NC has canceled its classes this week because of a small gasoline delivery shortfall to the region. In other words, Americans are so addicted to destroying the planet that they will not go to college classes if they can't drive there. Sadly, the fate of the world is in the hands of these wusses. I'm having trouble maintaining any hope.On Methane releases from under the Arctic seabed could jeopardize GHG stabilization posted 1 year, 2 months ago 31 Responses

If Portland is our model...

then we are all doomed. A handful of people riding their bikes half of the year will just not cut it when considering our excessive energy use. When you factor in the entire Portland metro area, the few hundred bikes in Southeast Portland really becomes insignificant. Add in the open hostility on the part of the operators of the fossil-fool powered wheelchairs and you can understand how even life-long cyclists who have moved to Portland have given up using bikes as their primary means of transportation.

On the topic of urban gardening, ducks make much more sense than chickens (assuming codes can be changed out of the dark ages). Chickens dig up everything in sight so one needs to either cage the plants or cage the birds, which is cruel. Ducks, on the other hand, don't dig and they much prefer slugs and snails to most other foods. Ducks will walk down rows of produce and just suck the pests right off the stalks. Also, except when mating, ducks are extraordinarily quiet birds so you will get fewer complaints from neighbors. If you can acclimate yourself to the stronger flavored eggs, most ducks are also more prolific layers than all but the heaviest-laying buffs.On Oregon's capital far behind its bigger sister posted 1 year, 2 months ago 4 Responses

Extinction, here we come

I know that it is not possible to win an election in America by telling the truth about the end of the fossil-fool free ride, but this is ridiculous. We need to cut our emissions by 90% in the next 15-20 years and these baby steps are what we get from our leaders?
I need to find a yoga class so I can get flexible enough to kiss my ass good-bye.On House Democrats unveil their energy package posted 1 year, 2 months ago 5 Responses

Not so fast

People will not voluntarily walk in noticeably polluted and noisy places. If we want to get folks out of their steel wheelchairs, we need to provide substantial green-corridors for them to walk in. Hell, in my small city (150,000) people drive three miles to walk five miles along a green belt.  Of course, the city planners now want to put high density multi-story buildings and parking lots in this greenbelt in the name of "walkability".
If we just put a nontradable quota on liquid fuels we could get a lot more people out of their cars than all of the planning tricks combined.On Let's hear it for floor area ratio posted 1 year, 2 months ago 5 Responses

Predictable

The Repugs have spent thirty years undermining education (more if you live in CA). Palin is the logical outcome.On Sarah Palin's record on climate change posted 1 year, 2 months ago 9 Responses

Heating and A/C in Oakland?

Why would anyone need either heat or air conditioning in Oakland? I lived for two decades just south of there and another two decades in the heart of the central valley (when it used to get foggy for months at a time in the winter and 113 was a normal summer temperature). In those four decades, I never used a heater and only turned on the a/c once to see if it worked when I moved (it didn't, but the repair was simple). None of my friends ever used heat or a/c either, so it is not exactly an heroic deed to do without.
This renter should go on a car-free diet. This will allow him/her to acclimate to the outdoor temperature so that interior climate control (one of the biggest contributors to climate change) is unnecessary. Humans have the ability to function at a wide range (>60F) of temperatures, but Americans seem to think that any temperature not in the 70s is unbearable.On Umbra on being an energy-efficient renter posted 1 year, 2 months ago 15 Responses

I've just got to ask...

You're not traveling there by plane are you? I recall seeing several of David's posts where he mentions spending a great deal of time in airports. Hopefully the lambasting he took has reformed him.

It would be hard to call yourself an environmentalist if your behaviors, when replicated by everyone, would lead to planetary extinction.On Grist heads to the Democratic and Republican national conventions posted 1 year, 3 months ago 6 Responses

Great! More coal burning

Why are so-called environmentalists advocating more coal burning? With over half of all electricity in the U.S. coming from coal (the most CO2 intensive fuel), why would anyone want to increase grid demand with electric cars? We are going to need to get used to the notion that there is no free lunch and travel will increasingly mean a little sweat if we want a live planet for our grandchildren.On Mercedes to offer a petroleum-free lineup by 2015 posted 1 year, 5 months ago 8 Responses

Big woes for big ag

"Now it is primarily one sector of the economy, transportation, that is an oil monoculture..."

I sure do wish this were the case, since transportation is a very easy nut to crack; the number one reason people don't ride bikes is safety, which is a problem which is solved when people abandon their fossil-fool powered wheelchairs. However, we grow our food in fossil-fuel derived fertilizers. Further, our soils aren't going to return to healthy for quite some time. A few years ago I looked up close and personal at the soils of the Sacramento Valley. The farms I looked at once had thirty feet of healthy, living soil. They are now covered in dead moondust. The only way to grow anything is with timely and extensive chemical additions.
Unfortunately, it may take us much longer to relearn how to feed our people than it will take us to relearn how to move them around in a world of expensive oil.On Ten million cars off the road, 1970s style GDP growth posted 1 year, 5 months ago 4 Responses

Something is missing here

Since when is it so difficult to anticipate ordering take-out? A set of flatware can be easily stored in a purse, a briefcase or even a jacket pocket (I saw something about chopsticks in a bra in Japan a few months ago). Why the great need for disposables?
On Corn utensils not helpful without widespread public composting posted 1 year, 5 months ago 12 Responses

Kids belong in front

I am uncomfortable with people putting kids on the back of bikes or in trailers (I have seen some nasty outcomes), particularly in this age of cell phone distracted operators of two-ton motorized wheelchairs. If one does not mind a bit of extra weight, Peter Wagner of Whymcycle fame makes rear-steer tandems and triples with children's cranks from reclaimed Schwinns. I think he charges less than $300 plus shipping (they are completely recycled, so don't expect glossy finishes and new components). As the child gets older, it is fun to watch people react to a tandem rolling down the road with the five-year-old "captain" crossing his arms across his chest.On Umbra on biking with kids posted 1 year, 5 months ago 6 Responses

May have the cart before the horse

A person would have to already be crazy to commute by fossil-fool powered wheelchair (unless one has a legitimate disability, or course). We have all seen evidence of the homicidal behavior of the nut cases in these steel wombs. Also, considering that we now have abundant evidence that we are literally driving ourselves to extinction, perhaps the time has come to rid our country of these vermin before it is too late.On Commuting can drive you crazy -- no, literally posted 1 year, 5 months ago 9 Responses

I wish

The damn roads will be paved, we'll just do without libraries, air quality measurements, sewer systems that work and other public amenities. It's a shame that, so far, there is little evidence that a typical American will be willing to forgo any aspect of the car "culture" until all is lost.On USA Today: oil prices drive up asphalt costs, derail road maintenance posted 1 year, 5 months ago 25 Responses

Just another brown whitey

Sorry, but driving a car is far from green behavior. Electric cars will, for the time being, draw their energy from the national electric grid, which is mostly powered by coal. Coal just happens to be the dirtiest fossil-fool going. Maybe you could get infatuated with someone who does actually love the earth, or at least loves the notion of keeping Earth a living planet.On Oceans of love for the Tesla-driving Matt Damon posted 1 year, 5 months ago 11 Responses

Just a drop in the bucket

Would you really notice if only 24 fossil-fool powered wheelchairs passed you per block rather than the usual 25? No way.

If those plug-in hybrids do come online soon, we can kiss what is left of our living planet good-bye. Half of our electricity is generated by coal, which just happens to be the only source likely to be expanded to meet the rising demand created by new gimmick wheelchairs.

Considering that the U.S. must reduce its emissions by 80-90% in the next 15-20 years to avoid the most severe tipping points, we have some serious choices to make. Which will we choose, a living planet without cars, or a dead one?On U.S. driving down 11 billion miles in March, the sharpest drop in history posted 1 year, 6 months ago 7 Responses

Do sane people still eat meat?

I remember reading a piece of research in the mid-'90s wherein a pathologist, in the course of looking into Americans who had died of Alzheimer's while younger than 65, concluded that most of them had died of vCJD (human mad-cow). That was it for beef for me. Also, who can forget 60 minutes exposes on chicken and pork? And if that isn't enough, just consider the climate change consequences of a scavenger-based diet; I think any reasonable person must to conclude that eating meat is irrational except in extreme cases. (I know people who suffer from celiac's disease (can't eat gluten) with casein intolerance to boot. They need some meat to stay alive.)On The USDA's new ban won't keep sick cows out of the food supply posted 1 year, 6 months ago 43 Responses

Mostly self-serving, but...

Of course they are not to blame for the price of oil in dollars. If we had not allowed our economy to be run into the ground by Bush, Delay et al, we would not have seen the value of the dollar fall. Remember the 87 cent Euro (circa 2002)? Now it is worth $1.56. Europe is paying the equivalent of $75 per barrel versus our $134. The oil companies did not bring us tax cuts, war and irresistible urges to buy cheap plastic crap from China at Sprawl-Wart.

The Republicans sold greed, we bought it on credit, and now we must pay the bill, with interest. Had we avoided war and senseless tax cuts and instead enacted a 25 cent per gallon tax on gasoline ten years ago (when climate change was clearly the defining issue of this century) and added an additional 25 cents per gallon per year, we would now have cheaper gasoline and heating oil, better conservation, real mass transit and a strong dollar. Instead, the U.S.has a worthless currency and I have great dividends.
If you don't like the price of gasoline, do like I do; don't buy it. If this fifty-year-old can do without a car in the suburbs, why can't you? Even a ten percent reduction in demand for gasoline would cause a price collapse.On Big Oil tries to evade blame for high energy prices posted 1 year, 6 months ago 6 Responses

Sometimes small is big and bad

I live next to a community garden run by my small city. Unfortunately, when I calculated the carbon footprint of these one hundred small plots (10 ft X 20 ft), I was forced to admit that these gardeners would generate 300-fold less CO2 if they just picked up their trucked in produce at the grocery store.

Now, if they would stop driving to the garden, that would be a different story. On The NYT on urban farming posted 1 year, 6 months ago 5 Responses

Slow death faster

How pathetic. L-W wasn't even a respectable first step towards keeping us from the worst of the climate change we are causing, and our Congress finds it too extreme to deal with. I guess extinction is better than lower profits for the fascists.

How will we ever get REAL reductions in the U.S. GHG emissions? Cap and trade would be fine if we only needed 10% reductions, but we need 80-90% reductions in less than two decades. I guess we could always put the poorest 60% in carbon-neutral prisons, although it might be a bit more effective and faired to put the largest emitters in said prisons.On Lieberman-Warner moved from critical condition to the morgue posted 1 year, 6 months ago 5 Responses

Fighting climate change, one revolution at a time

I've been taking a gas tax holiday all year. If you don't like the tax (or the pollution or the extinction or the wars) , don't buy the product.

I live in a small city (130,000) with no mass transit and a very hostile attitude towards cyclists/pedestrians. If my family can give up our fossil-fool powered wheelchair, I would imagine most able-bodied folks could reduce their driving by at least the percentage that gasoline costs have risen. Let's stop whining and start living the future. On Friends of the Earth Action endorses Obama; candidates spar over "gas tax holiday" posted 1 year, 6 months ago 10 Responses

Thank you Wolverine

For the longest time I thought I was the only one who was willing to call those who support corporate-controlled government fascists. It is nice to see I'm not alone.

Until this week, I wasn't sure which dem I would hold my nose and vote for when my state finally holds its primary. I will now vote for Obama.On A gas tax holiday would be cynical and indefensible posted 1 year, 6 months ago 19 Responses

Great idea

If enough people get high enough lead exposures then  we can hasten our return to the dark ages.On U.S. EPA to tighten standard for airborne lead posted 1 year, 6 months ago 8 Responses

Alison nailed it

Considering the need to reduce America's emissions by 80-90% by 2020 to avoid catastrophic climactic "tipping points", the car culture must enter an era of nostalgia. There is just no way to achieve the emission reductions with cars as part of the mix no matter how we green-wash these fossil-fool powered wheelchairs.

By the way, these current "high" gasoline prices are  the same, in real dollars, as the prices of 1981, and look where that led. On Small cars gaining popularity in U.S. amid high fuel costs posted 1 year, 6 months ago 8 Responses

Speed still kills

In the '70s we reduced the speed limit to 55 mph nationally. Not only did we save some fuel and produce a wee bit less pollution but we immediately slashed roadway deaths to one-half of their previous level.
Of course, the only way to make sustainable use of our highway infrastructure is to return the paved surfaces to their original purpose: bicycle use. These Johnny-come-latelys in their CARcinogen-spewing fossil-fool powered wheelchairs are rather rapidly destroying the biosphere and I, for one, question their right to pollute the environment for their own nefarious motives.On Easing off the gas eases gas use posted 1 year, 7 months ago 29 Responses

Cars or life?

Sadly, my fellow Americans would rather drive now and condemn ourselves, our children and our grandchildren to the ravages of catastrophic climate change. While we're at it, let's heat our poorly insulated houses to 75 F and run the air conditioner all summer long. There is no magic fuel; we can get out of our two-ton wheelchairs or watch the end of history. On Industrial agrofuels: enemy of the entire planet posted 1 year, 7 months ago 9 Responses

3 blind fascists

"The key point for me is that unlike Gore -- and unlike Clinton and Obama -- McCain doesn't support the policies needed to successfully address catastrophic climate change without devastating the economy".

I must have missed Obama and Clinton calling for the 80-90% reductions in GHG emissions by 2020 that will be required of Americans if our planet is to avoid catastrophic "tipping points" of positive feedback. Last year's Arctic ice melt-off may indicate that we are either already reaching the first of these tipping points or are very close.

Let's at least be honest enough to admit that in the broken American electoral system all of the candidates must pander to the wealthiest 10% in order to finance their political ambitions and to secure positive corporate media coverage. That is why none of them will publicly admit the extent of the emissions cuts required in order to keep human history going through the twenty-second century.

Even most math-challenged Americans should realize that they will not be able to afford energy if our approach to cutting emissions is cap-and-trade. Face it, if we try to get 80% reductions under cap-and-trade, the wealthiest 15% will continue to generate GHG at the same rate as today while everyone else has to make do on next to nothing.

We held back the violent fascists of the twentieth century with personal quotas for gasoline and other goods. We can hold back climate change with personal quotas on gasoline, diesel and grid power, if we are serious. So far, we are not.On At least, according to South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham posted 1 year, 7 months ago 6 Responses

Missing column

Unless Toyota has devised a method of producing cars and delivering them to dealerships, I think you are missing a column. In order to calculate the CO2 saved over the lifetime of a Prius, you must subtract the CO2 generated by its creation. If people saw how little CO2 they save over the first five years of ownership, they might opt to not purchase a new fossil-fool powered wheelchair and look for some truly environmentally friendly transportation solutions.On The deceptively simple concept at the heart of carbon markets posted 1 year, 8 months ago 22 Responses

Same old Sierra Club

I left the Sierra Club two decades ago when they put an add for an SUV on the back cover of the members' magazine. I see they are still in bed with the big polluters. It has been sad to see this organization stray so far from its founding principles, but I guess when you lay down with dogs you will wake up with fleas. Any organization that advocates consuming our way out of our environmental problems should not be seriously considered to speak for environmentalists.On Sierra Club removes leadership of its Florida chapter posted 1 year, 8 months ago 42 Responses

Deniers/delayers not the problem

The people who will ultimately be responsible for the U.S. failing to respond adequately to AGW are the so-called environmentalists. I am referring to those believe that by driving a Prius, using carpet pads made of recycled materials and pushing cap and trade schemes for some industrial emissions we will somehow not be responsible for ending history. Considering that we have maybe fifteen years to reduce our emissions by 80-90% (including the emissions in China and the third world that are generated for us), these baby steps are just a distraction.

You can tell who really understands the science and the risk-benefit issues involved here. They are the people who don't get around the county in fossil-fool powered wheelchairs, don't fly anywhere (even to "environmental" conferences), heat only to 50 F and don't electrically cool at all. They tend to do without newly manufactured items, and don't need meat or foreign-grown food to eat well.

The funny thing is, by doing right by Mother Earth, we are also able to live better for less money. Would every adult in your household really need to work for some corporation if you ditched the steel wheelchair costs, stopped buying toys and grew a bit of food? Try it, you might even find out that being physically fit and being comfortable walking about at temperatures that range from 5F to 105F feels good. Rain and snow take quite a while to do any harm (With reasonable clothing choices), sweating is not the end of the world, and it is kind of nice to know the phase of the moon without looking it up.

But really, isn't it so much easier to just buy a few compact fluorescents and a Prius and blame the whole problem on greedy corporatists and stupid people?On Does refuting deniers only strengthen and empower them? posted 1 year, 8 months ago 13 Responses

Cap and Extinction?

Considering:
1.)The need to reduce our emissions by 80-90% over the next fifteen years to avoid catastrophic climate "tipping points", or positive feedback points of no return,
2.)America accounts for 25% of those emissions directly and another 10-20% indirectly (our factories, China and Mexico's emissions),
3.)Electrical power is the single largest component of U.S. GHG emissions,
are we seriously going to cap emissions at a level that will allow a twenty-second century? If we cap domestic emissions at a level that will prevent the worst, we will find that the price of grid power will be a luxery available to only the people who benefitted from the Bush tax cuts. Meanwhile, even more of our industrial capacity will move offshore to the coal-intensive Chinese grid. All pain, no gain. What a truly simple-minded and pathetic idea.

How about we really get serious. Give each legal resident a personal grid energy quota as well as a gasoline/diesel quota and a natural gas quota. Everyone is put in the same boat and we can begin to work on stemming the tide of global warming together, instead of just continuing to hammer the poor. This would provide an added benefit by encouraging people to make do with fewer cubic feet of house/office (no one would be able to heat/cool 8000 square foot cathedral ceiling McMansions), thus allowing for less sprawl and more local food production.

If our grandparents could manage to survive,and even thrive, under quotas for gasoline, sugar and flour, surely we are clever enough to rebuild livable communities while limiting our individual harm to the planet.On If 100 percent auctioning is done right, the trade component will be trivial posted 1 year, 8 months ago 27 Responses

Opportunity delayed, not lost

Back when the cost of this unnecessary invasion/occupation was measured in the hundreds  of billions, I used to do a "back of the napkin" calculation of how many households could meet all of their energy needs if we would have chosen to subsidize solar roofs instead of Blackwater et al. Several years ago we passed the point where we could have shuttered all coal plants and ceased all imports of oil (assuming a willingness to do local driving in electric wheelchairs instead of fossil-fool powered wheelchairs).

We could still do it. We were willing as a country to blow up the National debt by 50% for a war, what's another 50% to hand over a livable planet to our children?On The money we've spent on the five-year Iraq War could have shifted the world to renewables posted 1 year, 8 months ago 13 Responses

Unreported/undiagnosed mad cow?

Thanks Tom for a great article. So far, the responses have been wonderful too.

Some fifteen years ago I was looking up a research article in a Pathology library when I stumbled upon a paper by an American pathologist who performed autopsies on scores of people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. To his surprise, a great many of them did not have Alzheimer's, they had Creutzfesdt-Jacob disease, the human version of mad cow disease.

While the presence of C-J in many of our younger victims of dementia does not necessarily mean that they contracted it from our meat supply, I am at a loss to come up with any reasonable alternative explanation.

I'll eat any food that 1.) Is obtained in a reasonably humane fashion. 2.) Does not greatly harm our environment in its growth and harvest. 3.) Does not scare me. Meat fails on all three counts, which makes me a reluctant vegetarian.On 'Downergate' reveals gaps in mad-cow testing and trouble in school-lunch sourcing posted 1 year, 8 months ago 12 Responses

No FDR here

How does Obama spokesman Jason Grumet reconcile his call for pulling together and feeling a shared burden in regards to tackling climate change with support for acap and trade system? He correctly mentions that the last time America had a unified approach and shared pain was WWII, but seems to ignore the fact that in order to conserve resources essential to the war effort, FDR did not put in place a cap and trade system. He allotted each individual quotas for such items as gasoline, flour and sugar.

Cap and trade would allow the wealthy class to continue living like Al Gore, with no sacrifices necessary. Individual quotas, especially nontradable ones, affect everyone equally. If we want to succeed in preventing the worst of climate change, we do need to dramatically reduce our carbon footprints and that is unlikely to happen if we don't work together.

These fascist-inspired cap and trade schemes divide us by wealth; individual quotas would put us all in this together. We could start with gasoline/diesel (which would make improved CAFE standards moot), move on to grid power (okay, the wealthy can get a break by buying P.V.panels) and then tackle the beast of consumables (which has the added benefit of reducing imports from coal-intensive China).

Has Thirty-five years of nearly nonstop fascist leaders caused us to completely forget what a human-based, as opposed to corporate-based, society would even look like? For the sake of a future for life on this planet, I sure hope not.On Campaign energy wonks clarify candidates' differences on climate change posted 1 year, 8 months ago 11 Responses

Taxes on Carbon won't work and aren't fair

Yes, we need to reduce the demand side for CO2-equivalents. But, if we follow the fascist route of a carbon tax, we will have the very wealthy creating the same astronomical amounts of GHGs, the affluent will make small improvements and the poor will find themselves priced out of access to necessities (like food, water, shelter).

The only equitable way to deal with our extreme generation of GHGs is to respond the same way we did to the fascists of the twentieth century. In the 1940s we put INDIVIDUAL quotas on flour, sugar, gasoline and other goods required for the war effort. If we are to create a sense of "everyone is in this together", we need to have individual, nontradable quotas for GHG generation.

Yes, we would need to have every good/service tracked for GHG generation in its manufacturing and transportation processes, but that is quite doable. The wealthy could still enjoy the fruits of their wealth, they would just have to do it by investing in carbon-free energy generation capacity; its going to take quite a few photovoltaic panels to heat the 8000 square foot McMansions, but I'm sure they can manage.

Stop thinking like a Reagan fascist and start looking for solutions that don't exacerbate the class war in America.On No sensible warming response can exclude carbon pricing posted 1 year, 8 months ago 50 Responses

Cart and horse problem

Actually, it is the loss of value of the dollar that is pushing investors to oil (and gold), not the other way around. The dollar has been losing value against other currencies for six years, the process is just picking up a little speed now. The Euro was at something like $.85 in 2002 and $1.32 last year. The rise to %1.54 this year is only a slight increase in the rate of dollar devaluation and can be largely explained by the popping of the real estate bubble.

So how did the dollar lose its value? Obviously a country cannot give away all of its manufacturing base and go on a consumer spending spree and expect its currency to stand up. I think we can thank the Wal Mart mentality that has taken hold here over the past quarter century for our currency and fuel cost woes.

At least there is a BIG environmental up side here. If gasoline prices continue to climb and can maintain higher than historic levels (at $3.20 we have just reached the inflation-adjusted high of 1980), we might burn a bit less of it. And with the current recession/depression we will certainly purchase less plastic crap from China. All of this will somewhat reduce the American and Chinese carbon footprints. Additionally, Americans may just learn to live happily without the next new toy.On Rising cost of oil pushes value of the dollar down posted 1 year, 8 months ago 27 Responses

WCI is too little, too late. Quotas NOW!

The entire basis for corporate-based cap and trade is that, when faced with an increased cost of polluting, the corporations that have created the problem will clean up their act and their enablers (end users) will pay increased costs for the product. The only problem with this approach in a capitalist/fascist system is that wealthy end users will continue to use unsustainable amouonts of fossil fuel while nonwealthy people will be priced out of the basics of life.

If climate change is truly a menace to our very existence, why are we not willing to put forth a program to fight it that shares the burdens equitably? As far as I can see, the only way to share this burden fairly across the population is to do as our grandparents did while fighting the Nazis: we need to put individual quotas on carbon dioxide equivalents generated. Yes, this means calculating the CO2 released during the production and transportation of every good on the market, but that is quite doable. Of course, there will be high resistance from that portion of the public that wants to live unsustainably no matter the consequences (that would be most of the public), but since current estimates hold that we need to cut our carbon footprints by 80-90% in the next fifteen years to avoid various tipping points, it is time we stopped playing feel-good with this issue and started being honest about the level of change required.

The future will not have cars or air conditioning. The only question is whether it will have people or not.On The Western Climate Initiative's first proposal ducks biggest climate problem posted 1 year, 8 months ago 1 Response

Still Brown

Oh boy, we've advanced the technology all the way back to the early 20th century when Porsche built early diesel/electric hybrids. Big deal.

When will we get serious about the need to reduce our emissions by 80-90% in the next fifteen years? In order to do that, pretty much all cars will need to become planter boxes. Or does the joy of driving offset the climate change-induced genocids in Africa, South America and Asia as well as water wars and deprivation in North America? On Volkswagen's new entry to the clean diesel fleet posted 1 year, 8 months ago 11 Responses