Comments AE has made

  • Excellent series

    Thanks for linking to this excellent series of articles.  The southwest is my favorite part of the country, visually, yet I know it is poisoned by mining, much of the land is chewed to bits by ORVs, amongst other problems.  

    I just heard the Udall cousins discussing energy issues on CSPAN and Tom Udall, when asked about nuclear energy, said that our two areas of concern were what to do with the waste, and nuclear proliferation.  I think he forgot something.On It's depressing. posted 3 years ago 4 Responses

  • Humor

    Thank you -- much appreciated!On Funny posted 3 years, 4 months ago 1 Response

  • Coal article

    on the front page of the Business pages of The New York Times last week, 7/5.  It included a map of the coal reserves in the US and it was frightening how vast they are.  I have read that sequestration is not very secure; gas can escape and kill people, in fact has done so.On Coal gasification posted 3 years, 4 months ago 13 Responses

  • Question

    How does this relate to the Apollo Alliance?

    The Sierra Club seems to be doing a good job of building coalitions; I heard someone from a hunting group, I think, say on NPR that the Sierra Club has strongly reached out to hunters and anglers.  Too bad NRDC spends its time and wastes its good name reaching out to Big Oil (I had to get that in).On Sierra Club hooks up with steelworkers union posted 3 years, 5 months ago 3 Responses

  • Yes

    Farmers' markets are great.  Last year, when I was buying broccoli, I could ask the farmer about his pesticides and he gave me a thorough explanation.  I could see that he was hesitant to tell me at first, but he did.  Since I don't buy organic broccoli because of the larvae that hide in them, it worked out for us both.

    Milwaukee now has lots of farmers' markets, including a large one in the inner city.  Some of the farmers are Hmong immigrants and seem to be doing well.  We could use more organic farmers, however, in spite of the fact that Wisconsin has the second highest number; perhaps they all go to Madison, which has a huge market, famous I believe. On Farmers markets posted 3 years, 7 months ago 8 Responses

  • a new book

    Have you read Professor Eric Freyfogle's new book Why Conservation is Failing and How It Can Regain Ground?  I heard him talk about it on the radio.  He takes the big view -- the top 100 or so environmental groups should form a few think tanks so that they all know how to respond to challenges to their ideas (e.g. "property rights" issues) and so that the fighting and working at cross purposes is kept to a minimum.  It could also help with the energy changes we will have to face, and by extension, social changes.

    As to Revkin's choices, could they both be the right choice?  Of course values should change, but whether you say effects of climate change are irreversible in 10 years or 30 years, that's a short time in which to restructure energy sources for millions of people.On The global warming dilemma posted 3 years, 7 months ago 14 Responses

  • markets for conservation

    Could makers of appliances advertise their efficiency?  This should be popular, since it saves buyers money in energy bills, and saves energy.  Then the appliance maker can cut prices and sell even more.

    Better land use and ag use practices are happening, but mainly at the grassroots level, and  v e r y   s l o w l y.  Even Iowa has the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.On How big money skews the energy debate posted 3 years, 7 months ago 10 Responses

  • global warming deadline

    Above I forgot to mention that Dr. Flannery gives us 10 years to get a handle on greenhouse emissions.  Even if carbon sequestration worked, it won't be ready in time, not to mention the "dubious" economics -- I'm not going to quote him because I don't understand it at all.

    Yes, I think humans should drop all thoughts of coal and shift to renewables, conservation, smart growth, mass transit, and new and improved lifestyles.  

    For starters, reading the Omnivore article on grist.org, we could radically change our eating habits to buying mainly local foods, in season foods, and whole foods.  What huge savings in energy happen right away!On Coal gasification: "clean coal" or subsidy-hungry boondoggle? posted 3 years, 7 months ago 12 Responses

  • More on boondoggles

    I forgot to mention that more coal strip mining will destroy lots of Montana prairie, not to mention land in Illinois and Appalachia, polluting the water table, streams, air, shaking house foundations, disturbing wildlife, creating traffic and thousands of miles of roads.  

    Not to mention the fact that these companies care nothing for worker safety, have no respect for health and safety inspectors, harass neighbors, take most of their earnings out of state, do not pay appropriate taxes, and in fact, according to several articles at time.com, "synfuels" is a multi-billion dollar tax write-off, subsidized as usual by the American people.  Coal companies do little or no "reclamation," which sounds like another scam anyway.  In Kentucky, counties with active coal mining are the poorest.  Check out Erik Reece's books and articles.

    I find it very puzzling that environmental groups are supporting "clean coal."  Why?  They must be getting something in return.

    I am withdrawing most of my support of NRDC, and instead supporting Earthjustice, which favors renewables and is against coal.On Coal gasification: "clean coal" or subsidy-hungry boondoggle? posted 3 years, 7 months ago 12 Responses

  • I choose boondoggle

    "One of the problems with taking the carbon out of coal particularly and putting it back in to the earth is that the economics of doing that are really quite dubious...[and] it's many decades off and won't assist us in stabilizing the earth's climate system."

    Tim Flannery, author of The Weather Makers and
    Australia's best expert on global warming and what to do about it, on Wisconsin Public Radio.

    In The New York Review of Books Flannery wrote: "Plans for cleaner coal . . . by removing . . . fine particles, mercury, and sulphur dioxide . . . will hasten climate change. That is because pollution by particles and sulphur dioxide are key elements of 'global dimming,' which, by blocking sunlight, acts strongly to cool our planet. Removing them will have the effect of eliminating an important 'brake' on climate change." He recommends wind, solar, geothermal, and nuclear energies. Right now, he says we need a carbon tax.

    And let's not forget conservation.

    In a nice article about wind energy in Wisconsin Trails, Erik Ness quotes a farmer: "It's local firms, local contractors, the cement companies, the electricians that get the secondary economic benefits from the construction. The money stays here...."

    Sounds much better then doing business with ExxonMobil. Of all companies.
    On Coal gasification: "clean coal" or subsidy-hungry boondoggle? posted 3 years, 7 months ago 12 Responses

  • strip mining

    They want to continue destroying the Appalachians, (and Illinois too?) and start digging into eastern Montana with the help of Shell, BP, and Exxon to create a new synfuels industry.  Check out the montana state website - it's all there.  My guess is Friedman and the others at The New York Times support this idea.

    Renewables are getting lost in the rush to convert Big Oil to Big Coal.On New-age energy posted 3 years, 8 months ago 5 Responses

  • name change

    What about a name change?  Both global warming and climate change sound benign.  Eugene Linden is on Wisconsin Public Radio now and suggested climate chaos.  A caller suggested climate crisis.

    By the way, Wisconsin Public Radio, public talk radio produced in the state with only news bites from NPR, talks about global warming, green energy, regularly.  Why they won't talk about other environmental issues like threats to National Parks or the possible gutting of ESA, I don't know.  I have voiced my suggestions.  

    I've only recently started reading your good blog, so forgive me if you have written about this subject in the past, and I couldn't find an email address, so I'm going to go off topic for a minute and point to an interesting interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, the famous Buddhist leader, in the March issue of Shambhala Sun in which he says "Another door that we should open is the door of ecology, because in Buddhism there is a deep respect toward animals, vegetables, and even minerals...the Diamond Sutra is the oldest text on the protection of environment...man is made of non-man elements, mainly animals, vegetables, minerals, and so on.  That means that in order to protect man you have to protect the non-man elements.  It's very clear."  A spiritual take from a different point of view from the "earth is our home" or "we are stewards of god's creation."  On Kickstarting social change posted 3 years, 8 months ago 30 Responses