Chattanooga Interfaith Global Warming Task Force

Religious Coalition Calls for Strong Climate Action

2008-06-01T04:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Bill Reynolds for this link!

Quite a few influential religious groups have banded together to urge the US Senate to act on halting global warming (among other things). Just goes to show that people of faith do not belong in the pocket of any one party.

The Human Impact on Oceanic Ecosystem Decline

2008-06-01T04:43:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this article!

Much has been made of separate oceanic ecosystems suffering decline due to human activities, but never before has the totality of oceanic ecosystem change been made available in a single detailed map. Thanks to a team of scientists from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, that has changed. The map they have produced does not paint a pretty picture.

Green Economics

2008-06-01T04:40:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for submitting this article!

In an environmentally-conscious future, economic theories and practices will need to be adapted and changed to account for new attitudes towards our global ecosystem. This article says it all, and says it all quite well.

2,843 miles per gallon?!?!?

2008-04-30T23:13:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Tami Freedman for this information!

Students at the Mater Dei High School have hand-crafted a prototype auto capable of achieving a fuel economy of 2,843 miles per gallon. No word on how large, fast, or safe the car might be for actual transit applications, but chances are that it's little more than a tech demo for the Shell Eco-Marathon Americas contest. Still, it's an impressive feat for some highschool students.

Bizarre Food Shipping Patterns

2008-04-29T23:10:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this information!

Shipping food around in strange patterns that defy common sense is not only strange but dangerous for the environment. The EU may take steps soon to curtail such nonsensical shipping patterns, but that's just the EU. Fuel prices should put the brakes on strange shipping routes elsewhere.

Catalytic Converters not so Green?

2008-03-29T10:34:00.002-05:00

A study going back to 2000 has linked the widespread use of catalytic converters to the widespread contamination of the troposphere over North America with Platinum Group Metals (PGMs). These include Platinum, Palladium, and Rhodium. While it is not immediately obvious what this contamination means for animals and humans living here, it certainly seems like a terrible waste of rare and expensive metals.

Another Shelf Bites the Dust

2008-03-29T10:32:00.001-05:00

The Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica is apparently breaking up at an alarming rate. Score another one for global warming, or something or other. Are any of us really surprised?

The 2008 International Conference on Climate Change

2008-03-06T03:57:00.003-05:00

With little fanfare outside of conservative Republican media circles, the 2008 International Conference on Climate Change was held in New York from March the 2nd to March the 4th of this year. Sponsored by the Heartland Institue, the event was intended to allow global warming skeptics to present evidence disproving or otherwise casting doubt upon human influence on global climate change.

While there may be ample opportunity to discuss this viewpoint on global warming, this particular event does not look like it attracted many qualified climatologists. Did anyone in the scientific community take this event seriously?

Man-made Carbon Sequestration on a Small Scale

2008-02-15T02:35:00.002-05:00

Some folks at Georgia Tech are promoting the idea of capturing carbon emissions from small combustion engines (such as car engines) and recycling it back into fuel later. Odd but true, and somewhat in the same vein as the aluminum/gallium (and potassium hydroxide) hydrogen fuel cell systems.

Seems a bit ungainly, and no word on where they'd get the external energy to drive all the necessary synthesis of carbon emissions back into fuel. In the short term it looks like they just want to dump carbon emissions underground or underwater. Hooray!

Overall this seems like an energy-intensive excuse to continue using fossil fuels.

We Are Not Stupid, a Paper by Dr. Ross McCluney

2008-01-24T13:02:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for providing this information!

Dr. McCluney has written an essay on the current state of environmental affairs worldwide and the media's/power structure's influence on our reaction to said state of affairs. It's well worth the read.

Feeney: Humanity is the Greatest Challenge

2008-01-16T13:23:00.001-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this information!

John Feeney's take on the challenges facing humanity in the immediate future (and present) ran on the BBC website back in November. Still, it's an interesting read. Don't expect to see too much of this stuff from US mainstream media sources.

Mineral Absorbs Radioactive Isotopes from Water

2008-01-01T22:18:00.000-05:00

Though very little information is provided on how it works or what its limitations may be, it has been reported (quite some time ago, in fact), that a mineral has been found that can remove radioactive isotopes from water. Could be a boon to the nuclear industry, if only to help them clean up their mistakes.

Medical Isotopes vs. Environmental Concerns

2007-12-13T12:38:00.000-05:00

The Canadian government has restarted a nuclear reactor badly in need of repair under pressure to resume supplying the world with 2/3rds of its major medical radioactive isotopes. Assurances have been made that there will be no accidents related to this restart, but . . . hoo boy.

Methane-eating Bacteria

2007-11-28T04:13:00.000-05:00

Yet another fascinating microbe has been discovered in hostile climes. This particular bacterium, tentatively named Methylokorus infernorum, lives off methane gas. Using this bacterium could help eliminate methane emissions if they could ever figure out how to utilize it at sane temperatures.

Biofuel Subsidies Hazardous to Environment. Food Supplies

2007-11-28T03:53:00.000-05:00

Thanks again to Dr. Ross McCluney for this information!

Increased biofuel production comes at a heavy cost, and the toll isn't only in dollars. Hopefully cellulosic ethanol production will be safer for the environment.

Time to Get Off Oil

2007-11-28T03:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this information!

There are already potential signs that world oil production is peaking or may have already peaked. The impact of stalled or reduced oil production could lead to may lead to conflict and unrest worldwide. It's time to get off petroleum now before we're dragged into this mess any further than we already are.

Zero Energy Standby Monitors

2007-11-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

The German government estimates that 8 percent of all domestic energy is consumed by devices in standby. To partially address this problem, Fujitsu Siemens has a monitor that draws zero power on standby. Let us hope that similar technology can give us power consumption reductions in other devices as well.

Can We Form a Radio Station?

2007-11-11T23:10:00.000-05:00

Dr. Ross McCluney has provided some excellent material that may interest those who might be interested in forming a local, not-for-profit radio station. Details on the Local Community Radio Act (as sent to Dr. McCluney) are available here.

Foldable, Stackable Cars

2007-11-11T23:05:00.000-05:00

While it is all well and good that MIT researchers are working on a foldable car that can help ease parking headaches, the real story here is that someone is pushing a viable 2-seater vehicle for metropolitan use that weighs somewhere in the range of 1000-1500 pounds and may run off batteries charged by solar arrays (if available) rather than gasoline or some other fuel. I'm sure the issue of safety will rear its ugly head at some point, but let's hope it's not enough of a concern to keep this idea off the market. It doesn't get much more green than this.

Green Gas Generator Tested

2007-10-27T02:29:00.000-05:00

I have a basic model Green Gas Generator installed in my car, and I have had a chance to do some mileage testing. You can read about it here (sorry, the Enigma website is experiencing difficulties so I am unable to link directly to the article). Horsepower/torque/etc. testing will be completed soon (I hope). I am also lobbying hard to get George to install a full model Generator in my car to see how much better that will work than the basic model.

Also of interest is the fact that George Palmer is assisted by former R&D tech and current owner of Tesla manufacturing, Kalan Holmes. Some of you may be familiar with his work.

Gore and IPCC share 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

2007-10-12T23:48:00.000-05:00

It looks like Al Gore's work on global warming awareness have won him a shared Nobel Peace Prize along with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change headed by Indian scientist Rajendra Pachaurl. So sorry, Rush Limbaugh fans . . . he did not come out as a winner. So sad.

The Fuel of Tomorrow, Today

2007-10-06T02:22:00.000-05:00

Ever wanted to run your car on hydrogen? The car you own currently, that is? If it runs on unleaded fuel, it will benefit from George Palmer's Green Gas Generator which could turn the automotive industry on its head and do much, much more.

This invention needs promotion if it is to get attention and be deployed throughout the nation (and eventually the world). This is the real deal, people; if you want to reduce and eventually eliminate our need for fossil fuels, act now to hasten adoption of the Green Gas Generator.

Protesters beware

2007-09-21T00:45:00.000-05:00

The next time you show up at a peaceful demonstration of any sort, you may want to come prepared for the latest in crowd control. Anything that can absorb or deflect microwaves will probably offer some protection from this device. Lead jumpsuit anyone?

(yes, I know this isn't specific to global warming per se, but global warming activists have been known to show up at protests, so . . . )

Think you're making a difference?

2007-09-13T03:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this post!

This ad ran in the September 10th New Yorker magazine. It's worth a read.

New Hampshire Climate & Energy Conference

2007-09-13T03:26:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this post!

Want to influence the environmental debate in the 2008 Presidential campaign? Here's your chance.

Cool Cities

2007-09-04T04:03:00.000-05:00

Thanks to mbascom for this link!

Care to stop global warming one city at a time? Here's your chance.

Community drug test?

2007-08-28T04:02:00.001-05:00

As this unintentionally disturbing article outlines, human populations release detectable levels of numerous different drugs into sewage waste water. While this is not specifically related to global warming, it is a shocking and disturbing sign of how easily human communities can contaminate waterways with drugs, recreational or otherwise. Of course, this has been mentioned before. Even something as innocuous as birth control pills can wreak havoc if a large enough population of humans use them and release waste into the local sewage system.

Grim prospects for the future

2007-08-19T13:44:00.000-05:00

Six American scientists lead by James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, have issued a warning about the future of Earth's climate. This story dates back to June 19th and little, if anything has changed in the halls of political power since then, so I'm guessing this is just another warning that has been mostly ignored.

Gene Hyde wins E85 gas station grants

2007-08-08T04:00:00.000-05:00

Thanks to mbascom for this information!

Gene Hyde has won some grant money to implement E85 gas stations in Chattanooga. Congratulations to him!

Plug-in Prius

2007-07-28T03:32:00.000-05:00

Could it be the return of the electric car? Toyota is taking steps in that direction with its plug-in Prius. It's basically an electric car with a gasoline engine in it as backup.

Power from space

2007-07-28T03:29:00.000-05:00

One of the best available options for solar power may be solar collectors in space. Beaming all that power down in the form of microwaves could get a bit dicey, though.

Blackle: saving energy with the color black

2007-07-28T03:25:00.000-05:00

Google generates so much web traffic that switching their background color to black would save around 3 gigawatt hours per year just from reduced monitor load. In response, Google has introduced Blackle for those wishing to start saving power today.

Global Warming Myths

2007-07-19T22:13:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this piece.

Technology Review May/June 2007

Global-Warming Myths

It's time to move forward on regulating greenhouse gases and here's a regulatory plan that makes sense.

By Hoff Stauffer The debate on global warming is burdened with unfortunate misconceptions that inhibit progress in moving forward (see "Planning for a Climate-Changed World").

One misconception is that "draconian measures" would be required to mitigate global warming. This is simply not so, if we implement a prudent program right away. Such a program would include four major strategies: increased energy efficiency (in buildings, autos, and appliances), coal mitigation (which includes increased use of solar, wind, geothermal, and perhaps nuclear power, as well as carbon capture and sequestration for coal-fired power plants), the development of new biofuels (such as cellulosic ethanol), and reversal of deforestation. These strategies can stabilize atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases at acceptable levels and for acceptable economic costs.

Another misconception is that it would be better to wait to take action until technology provides new options. In fact, we need to start reducing emissions right away. If we delay, the world will face a dreadful dilemma: the choice between adopting draconian measures and passing the "tipping point beyond which it will be impossible to avoid climate change with far-ranging undesirable consequences," as the NASA climate scientist James Hansen puts it.

Another misconception is that a cap-and-trade system is the best approach to controlling the various greenhouse gases. Such a system sets a cap on total emissions and distributes emission allowances (or permits to emit) to market participants. These participants must buy allowances if they don't have enough, and they may sell them if they have an excess. Such a system has helped reduce sulfur and nitrogen emissions from power plants in the United States.

But there are major problems with relying too heavily on this approach. The biggest is that it is too hard to figure out the economic and environmental effects. Prudent people do not want to risk unacceptable economic consequences. Other prudent people do not want to risk accomplishing too little. A politically acceptable compromise might take a long time and would probably tilt too far toward economic prudence, failing to achieve the necessary reductions.

Performance standards are a simpler approach. They would directly regulate the pollutants from new sources of emissions, such as power plants and autos, and mandate greater efficiency for new appliances and buildings. Performance standards can be implemented right away, without fear of unforeseen adverse economic consequences. They alone would result in major emission reductions over time. Such reductions could then be complemented by whatever additional help a cap-and-trade system provides.

Hoff Stauffer is the managing director of the Wingaersheek Research Group, which focuses primarily on global climate change. He previously worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and various consulting firms.

Also of interest is this piece which highlights the impact of population on global warming.

Global warming predictions

2007-07-14T03:12:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Sandy Kurtz for this story!

A short and pithy piece about global warming predictions has been written by Tim Flannery. It's well worth the quick read.

Southern Baptists weigh in on global warming

2007-07-14T03:09:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Sandy Kurtz for this story!

It looks like the Southern Baptists weighed in on global warmings. It is interesting to note that the story highlights a split between some evangelicals on the subject of global warming, but the SBC resolution seems rather predictable and luke-warm. In fact, it seems very . . . cautious.

Speech by Daniel Quinn on sustainability

2007-07-10T02:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for this content!

Ever wondered about the sustainability of current human resource and biomass consumption in the foreseeable future? Daniel Quinn did, and here's what he had to say:

The New Renaissance (edited)

Address delivered by Daniel Quinn at the University of Texas

Health Science Center at Houston, March 7, 2002

Twenty five years ago, when I began working on a book that would someday become a novel called Ishmael, very few people thought humanity was in much trouble, provided the Cold War didn’t turn into a nuclear war. Everything looked fine, to most people. That’s changed around very drastically in the last ten years.

People often ask me if I have any hope for our survival. What they really want to know, of course, is whether I can provide them with some grounds for hope.

I am hopeful, because I feel sure that something extraordinary is going to happen in your lifetime – something much more extraordinary than has happened in my lifetime, which has included the birth of television, the splitting of the atom, space travel, and instant, global communication via the Internet. I mean something really extraordinary.

Living Sustainably

During your lifetime, the people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably on this planet – or they’re not. Either way, it’s certainly going to be extraordinary. If they figure out how to live sustainably here, then humanity will be able to see a future that extends into the indefinite future. If they don’t figure this out, then I’m afraid the human race is going to be among the species that we’re driving into extinction every day – as many as two hundred every day.

The people who make it their business to predict such things agree that the human population is going to increase to nine billion by the middle of the century. It isn’t just the doomsayers who say this. This is a very conservative estimate, recently endorsed by the UN. Unfortunately, most of the people who make this estimate seem to have the idea that this is workable and okay.

Here’s why it isn’t.

It’s obvious that it costs a lot of money and energy to produce all the food we need to maintain our population at six billion. But there is an additional, hidden cost that has to be counted in life-forms. Put plainly, in order to maintain the biomass that is tied up in the six billion of us, we have to gobble up two hundred species a day – in addition to all the food we produce in the ordinary way. We need the biomass of those two hundred species to maintain the biomass that is in us. And when we’ve gobbled up those species, they’re gone. Extinct. Vanished forever.

Maintaining a population of six billion humans costs the world two hundred species a day. If this were something that was going to stop next week or next month, that would be okay. But the unfortunate fact is that it’s not. It’s something that’s going to go on happening every day, day after day after day – and that’s what makes it unsustainable, by definition. That kind of cataclysmic destruction cannot be sustained.

The extraordinary thing that is going to happen in the next two or three decades is not that the human race is going to become extinct. The extraordinary thing that’s going to happen is that a great second renaissance is going to occur. A great and astounding renaissance.

Nothing less than that is going to save us.

The First Renaissance

The first Renaissance, the one you met in your history textbooks, was understood to be a rebirth of classical awareness and sensibility. Actually, it was the necessary preface to an entirely new historical era.

A few medieval ideas were jettisoned during the Renaissance, replaced by ideas that were entirely new – ideas that would not have made sense to classical thinkers. These were ideas that would make sense to us. In fact, these ideas still make sense to us.

During the Middle Ages reason and authority were the chief means of gaining certain knowledge. For example, it seemed perfectly reasonable to suppose that the earth was a stationary object around which the rest of the universe revolved. It was reasonable – and it was affirmed by a towering authority, the great second-century astronomer, Ptolemy. Similarly, it seemed perfectly reasonable to suppose that heavy objects fall to earth faster than light objects – and this was affirmed by another towering authority, the genius Aristotle.

But during the Renaissance, reason and authority were toppled as reliable guides to knowledge and replaced by … observation and experimentation. Without this change, science as we know it would not have come into being and the Industrial Revolution would not have occurred.

During the Middle Ages it was taken for granted that our relationship with God was a collective thing that only the Roman Catholic Church was empowered to negotiate. During the Renaissance this dispensation was challenged by a completely new one, in which our relationship with God was seen as an individual thing that each of us could negotiate independently with God. In this new dispensation was born the magnification and sanctification of the individual that we take for granted in modern times. We all see ourselves as individually valuable and quite fantastically empowered – literally bristling with rights – in a way that would have been astonishing to the people of the Middle Ages.

In the Middle Ages the universe was perceived as a thing that had come into being as a finished object just a few thousand years ago. It was fixed, finite, and as much known as it needed to be. In the Renaissance, however, the universe began to be perceived in a much different way: as dynamic, infinite, and largely unknown. It was this change in thinking that led not only to the great Age of Exploration but to the great age of scientific investigation that followed and that continues today.

All this seems very obvious to us today. The Middle Ages obviously couldn’t last forever. Things obviously had to change. But this was not at all obvious to the people of the Middle Ages. As far as they were concerned, people would go on thinking and living the medieval way forever.

We think the very same thing. Just like the people of the Middle Ages, we’re absolutely sure that people will go on thinking the way we think forever, and people will go on living the way we live forever.

The people of the Middle Ages thought this way because it seemed impossible to them that people could think a different way. How else could people think except the way they thought? As far as they were concerned, the history of thought had come to an end with them. Of course we smile at that – but in fact we believe exactly the same thing. We, too, believe that the history of thought has come to an end with us.

Well we’d better hope we’re wrong about that, because if the history of thought has come to an end with us, we’re doomed. It there are still people here in two hundred years, they won’t be living the way we do. I can make that prediction with confidence, because if people go on living the way we do, there won’t be any people here in two hundred years.

I can make another prediction with confidence. If there are still people here in two hundred years, they won’t be thinking the way we do. I can make that prediction with equal confidence, because if people go on thinking the way we do, then they’ll go on living the way we do – and there won’t be any people here in two hundred years.

But what can we possibly change about the way we think? It seems so obvious that everything we think is just the way it must be thought.

It seemed exactly the same to the people of the Middle Ages.

Flawed Humans

Although several key ideas of the Middle Ages disappeared during the Renaissance, not every key idea of the Middle Ages disappeared. One of the key ideas that remained in place – and that remains in place today – is the idea that humans are fundamentally and irrevocably flawed. We look at the world around us and find that turtles are not flawed, crows are not flawed, daffodils are not flawed, mosquitoes are not flawed, salmon are not flawed – in fact not a single species in the world is flawed – except us. It makes no sense, but it does pass the medieval tests for knowledge. It’s reasonable – and it’s certainly supported by authority. It’s reasonable because it provides us with an excuse we badly need. We’re destroying the world – eating it alive – but it’s not our fault. It’s the fault of human nature. We’re just badly made, so what can you expect?

Another key idea that survived the Middle Ages is the idea that the way we live is the way humans are meant to live, and we’re living the way humans are meant to live from the beginning of time. The fact that we only began living this way very recently has nothing to do with it. So it took us three million years to find it. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s the way we were meant to live from the beginning of time. And the fact that the way we live is making the world uninhabitable to our own species also has nothing to do with it. Even if we destroy the world and ourselves with it, the way we live is still the way we were meant to live from the beginning of time. But these two medieval survivors are relatively benign. One other key idea survived, however, is the most dangerous idea in existence – more dangerous than all our nuclear armaments, more dangerous than biological warfare, more dangerous than all the pollutants we pump into the air, the water and the land.

All the same, it sounds pretty harmless. You can hear it and say “Uh-huh, yeah, so?” It’s pretty simple too. Here it is: Humans belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community. There’s us and then there’s Nature. There are humans and then there’s the human environment.

I’m sure it’s hard to believe that something as innocent sounding as this could be even a little bit dangerous, much less as dangerous as I’ve claimed.

Two Hundred Species A Day

As I’ve said, it’s conservatively estimated that as many as two hundred species are becoming extinct every day as a result of our impact on the world. People take in this piece of horrendous information very calmly. They don’t scream. They don’t faint. They don’t see any reason to get excited about it because they firmly believe that humans belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community. They believe it as firmly in the twenty-first century as they did in the tenth century.

So as many as two hundred species are becoming extinct every day. That’s no problem, because those species are out there somewhere. Those two hundred aren’t in here. They aren’t us. They don’t have anything to do with us, because humans belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community.

Those two hundred species are out there in the environment. Of course it’s bad for the environment if they become extinct, but it has nothing to do with us. The environment is out there, suffering, while we’re in here, safe and sound. Of course we should try to take care of the environment, and it’s a shame about those two hundred extinctions – but it has nothing to do with us.

Ladies and gentlemen, if people go on thinking this way, humanity is going to become extinct. That’s how dangerous this idea is. Here’s why.

Switching Biomass

Those two hundred species … why exactly are they becoming extinct? Are they just running out of air or water or space, or what? No, those two hundred species are becoming extinct because they have something we need. We need their biomass. We need the living stuff they’re made of. We need their biomass in order to maintain our biomass. Here’s how it works. Go down to Brazil, find yourself a hunk of rain forest, and cut it down or burn it down. Now bring in a herd of cows to pasture there. Or plant potatoes or pineapples or lima beans. All the biomass that was formerly tied up in the birds, insects and mammals living in that hunk of rain forest is now going into cows, potatoes, pineapples, or lima beans – which is to say into food for us.

We need to make two hundred species extinct every day in order to maintain the biomass of six billion people. It’s not an accident. It’s not an oversight. It’s not a bit of carelessness on our part. In order to maintain our population of six billion, we need the biomass of two hundred species a day. We are literally turning two hundred species a day into human tissue.

But all too many people – most people I’m afraid – tend to think “Well, so what? Humans belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community. Since we’re separate, it doesn’t matter how many species we destroy – and since we’re superior to them anyway, we’re actually improving the world by eliminating them!”

We’re like people living in the penthouse of a tall brick building. Every day we need two hundred bricks to maintain our walls, so we go downstairs, knock two hundred bricks out of the walls below, and bring them back upstairs for our own use. Every day … every day we go downstairs and knock two hundred bricks out of the walls that are holding up the building we live in. Seventy thousand bricks a year, year after year after year.

I hope it’s evident that this in not a sustainable way to maintain a brick building. One day, sooner or later, it’s going to collapse, and the penthouse is going to come down along with all the rest.

Making two hundred species extinct every day is similarly not a sustainable way to maintain a living community. Even if we’re in some sense at the top of that community, one day, sooner or later, it’s going to collapse, and when it does, our being at the top won’t help us. We’ll come down along with all the rest.

It would be different, of course, if two hundred extinctions a day were just a temporary thing. It’s not. And the reason it’s not is that, clever as we are, we can’t increase the amount of biomass that exists on this planet. We can’t increase the amount of land and water that supports life, and we can’t increase the amount of sunlight that falls on that land and water. We can decrease the amount of biomass that exists on this planet – for example, by making the land sterile or by poisoning the water – but we can’t increase it.

All we can do is shift that biomass from one bunch of species to another bunch – and that’s what we’re doing. We’re systematically shifting the biomass of species we don’t care about into the biomass of species we do care about: into cows, chickens, corn, beans, tomatoes and so on. We’re systematically destroying the biodiversity of the living community to support ourselves, which is to say that we’re systematically destroying the infrastructure that is keeping us alive.

As I’ve said, it’s conservatively estimated that our population will increase to nine billion by the middle of the century – and people take in this hair-raising piece of information very calmly. No one screams. No one faints. People are as untroubled about our mushrooming population as they are about those two hundred daily extinctions. They see no reason to get excited, because they firmly believe that humans belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community. They don’t see that the extinction rate is going to increase as our population increases – and probably exponentially. This is because when we make species extinct, we don’t gain 100 percent of their biomass. A great deal of it is simply lost, contributing to the desertification of the planet. By the middle of the century, if our population has indeed increased to nine billion, then the number of extinctions will be a thousand a day or ten thousand a day (the number is incalculable at this point).

Something Extraordinary

If people are still living here in two hundred years, they’ll know that humanity doesn’t belong to an order of being that is separate from the rest of the living community. They’ll know this as surely as we know that the earth revolves around the sun. I can make this prediction with confidence, because if people go on thinking we belong to a separate order of being, then there will be no people living here in two hundred years.

What everyone wishes I could do (and what I myself wish I could do) is describe how people will be living here in two hundred years – if there still are people living here. All I can tell you is how they won’t be living. They won’t be living the way we do.

I can tell you with complete confidence that something extraordinary is going to happen in the next two or three decades. The people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably – or they’re not. And either way, it’s going to be extraordinary.

The fact that I’m unable to give you a prescription for the future doesn’t mean you’re just helpless bits of cork bobbing in the tide of history. Each of you is about where Galileo was when he was told in no uncertain terms to shut up about the earth moving around the sun. As far as the gentlemen of the Roman Inquisition were concerned, the earth’s movement around the sun was a wicked lie they had to suppress – and could suppress. But as he left his trial, Galileo was heard to mutter, “All the same, it moves!”

Surprisingly little hung on the matter. The future of humanity didn’t depend on destroying the medieval picture of the solar system. But the future of humanity does depend on our destroying the medieval picture of humanity’s relationship to the living community of this planet.

Galileo didn’t know that people would someday take space travel for granted, but he did know that they would someday recognize that the earth revolves around the sun. We don’t know how people will live here in two hundred years, but we do know that if people still are living here in two hundred years, they will recognize that we are as much a part of the living community – and as thoroughly dependent on it – as lizards or butterflies or sharks or earthworms or badgers or banana trees.

People don’t want more of the same. Yet, oddly enough, when they ask me what will save the world, they want to hear more of the same – something familiar, something recognizable. They want to hear about uprisings or anarchy or tougher laws. But none of those things is going to save us – I wish they could. What we must have – and nothing less – is a whole world full of people with changed minds. Scientists with changed minds, industrialists with changed minds, schoolteachers with changed minds, politicians with changed minds – though they’ll be the last, of course. Which is why we can’t wait for them or expect them to lead us into a new era. Their minds won’t change until the minds of their constituents change. Gorbachev didn’t create changed minds; changed minds created Gorbachev.

Changing people’s minds is something each of us can do, wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever kind of work we’re doing. Changing minds may not seem like a very dramatic or exciting challenge, but it’s the challenge that the human future depends on.

It’s the challenge your future depends on.

Excerpted from Daniel Quinn’s newest book “If They Give You Lined Paper, Write Sideways” from Steerforth Press, 2007.

Dr. McCluney has also noted the following:

I included this Daniel Quinn speech as one of the chapters of my book Getting to the Source: Readings on Sustainable Values, SunPine Press, 2004. You can read more about the book, plus the first chapter at

http://www.sunpinepress.com/CurrentBooks/index.htm

I was so impressed by the speech, I was glad when he agreed to let me put it into print.

Along these lines, you might like to watch the particularly good interview Bill Moyers did with E.O. Wilson on his show Friday. I saw a rebroadcast here in Chattanooga over the weekend. Here’s the link:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/index-flash.html

If that were not good enough, here’s the transcript:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07062007/transcript1.html

I’ve also saved it as a word document and attached it to this e-mail, for your convenience.

The only problem with it is that Wilson accepted the U.N. projection that world population will start leveling off at around 9 billion sometime this century, and the observation that he thought the world could handle the 49% extra people, but only if a lot of radical greening takes place. I’m not so optimistic, but perhaps for a national audience you have to be. His actual words were:

“Yeah, we'll peak. So that's 40-- 40 percent more than what we have now. I think we can handle that. That right now is a serious problem. It's not the big problem. The big problem is consumption. Rising per capita consumption around the world. So this is why-- the world has got to have a green revolution.”

Best,

Ross

Let's hear it for Kudzunol!

2007-07-01T01:24:00.000-05:00

Well I'll be, he got in the TFP. Congrats on the local coverage, Doug!

The Future of Food

2007-06-26T00:31:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Mike for this pdf

This flyer says it all. Do you want to know more about the future of food? Do you want to learn what big agriculture has planned? Then attend, by all means, attend.

US, EU to join forces against airplane CO2 emissions

2007-06-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

The FAA has been busy lately. By joining forces with officials in the EU, the FAA hopes to reduce aircraft fuel consumption in a few practical ways. Their plans seem to center on logistical planning that can reduce the fuel consumption of a jet by reducing idle time on the runway and shortening flight trajectories, with an eye towards fuel-efficiency technology in the future.

Scientific Consensus: friend or foe?

2007-06-16T23:52:00.000-05:00

The Financial Times ran a story recently featuring comments from Czech President Vaclav Klaus who says that he sees "the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now in ambitious environmentalism". Whew, that's a doozy. He might have a point, but I somehow doubt that all the global warming "fear mongering" is . . . fear mongering.

Global carbon levels spiraling says USA Today

2007-06-13T02:17:00.000-05:00

Big thanks to Dr. Ross McCluney for mentioning an article in USA Today detailing the threat from China's increasing consumption of fossil fuels. Dr. McCluney added the following:

I've warned of the China and India factor in many of my writings and presentations over the last few years.
Matthew Simmons has also been warning of this too. He's an international expert in energy financing and energy policy, and author of the recent book, Twilight in the Desert. Here's what Wikipedia says about him:

"Matthew R. Simmons, chairman and CEO of Simmons & Company International, is a prominent oil-industry insider and one of the world's leading experts on the topic of peak oil. Simmons was motivated by the 1973 energy crisis to create an investment banking firm catering to oil companies. In his previous capacity, he served as energy adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush.

"Simmons is an advisor to the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Simmons is the author of the book Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy."

Honda going diesel

2007-06-03T23:41:00.000-05:00

Honda wants to move their Accord line away from hybrid tech and towards clean diesel. An interesting choice, to say the least. Biodiesel advocates have got to be happy about this one. Tami, you reading this?

US says no to G8 climate proposals

2007-05-30T03:09:00.000-05:00

First it was Kyoto, and now this. Granted, it does not seem that many politicians, policy-wonks, international bankers, or diplomats really know the score, but it would be nice if we'd learn to play nice with others. If we can't make any commitments to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions (something that could actually be great for our economy in the long run), then how will we ever deal with China, India, and other polluters outside the G8 member nations?

Window Economics

2007-05-27T03:24:00.000-05:00

Herein lies a summary of Dr. Ross McCluney's paper on the economic justifications for efficient renewable energy systems. Follow the link to the summary, and you can find links to a slideshow and his entire paper as well. Highly recommended reading.

Hybridmania at UPS?

2007-05-24T19:27:00.000-05:00

Apparently New York cabbies aren't the only ones in on the hybrid action. It would be nice if Federal Express, DHL, and the US Post Office would follow suit.

Hybridmania in New York?

2007-05-24T03:47:00.000-05:00

It looks like all of New Yorks taxi cabs will change colors from yellow to green. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Evolution of the solar panel

2007-05-14T03:03:00.000-05:00

Soliant Energy has announced a new(ish) approach to utilizing traditional photovoltaic material. Their Heliotube concentrators substitute mirrors and lenses for PV material, along with motors that keep the concentrator positioned properly to optimize the collection of sunlight. Looks interesting, at least as a way to reduce the cost of implementing PV panels.

Internal combustion breakthrough

2007-05-12T00:05:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you can teach old dogs new tricks. This could be useful if any only if it sees wide deployment in a wide variety of vehicles. If gas-guzzlers don't benefit from independently-controlled valves, we'll still have a fairly big problem on our hands.

Global warming not so bad?

2007-05-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm just the messenger here, so don't blame me if you think these people are nuts. They might have a point, or they might not. Anything that causes a vast redistribution of rainfall is going to be trouble. Australia is already drought-ridden as it is.

2007 Sonnenschein Festival

2007-05-09T00:49:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Sandy for pointing this out to me. If you have the time to head on up to Hohenwald, you might want to attend. I've never been there myself, but don't let that stop you.

Floating nuke plants

2007-04-24T00:33:00.000-05:00

The Soviet Union did some pretty crazy things with nuclear reactions (including portable "dirty" nuclear reactors, ugh)), but even after the fall of the old USSR, it would see the Russians are still toying with new nuke plant ideas. And since Putin wants to do it, it's going to get done, no matter what anyone else in Russia has to say about it.

It is interesting to note that the reactor on the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine survived the vessel's tragic explosion, but will these new floating reactors be built to the same military quality standards?

Hidden power usage for large datacenters

2007-04-14T03:11:00.000-05:00

While this only applies to industrial-scale power consumers in the state of Oklahoma, it is still disturbing to note that some folks may not have to disclose their power usage to the public. One wonders what will come of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits filed by members of the public wishing to obtain power consumption numbers hidden by this bill.

As far as Google goes . . . well gee, doesn't this blog run on their servers, housed in their server famrs? Hmm. Maybe it's time to help them produce low-power datacenters so that they won't have to hide any numbers.

Arctic summer ice gone by 2020?

2007-04-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

This certainly isn't good news. It's bad enough that the vessel responsible for providing this data suffered an explosion, losing two crew members in the process. Now we learn that Arctic summer ice will vanish completely in slightly more than a decade? I certainly hope that Meier is correct that this prediction is overly pessimistic.

It does sort of support theories suggesting that the melting of polar ice is creating a feedback loop that create irreversible global warming. Ugly.

Thanks to Sandy Kurtz for finding this article.

The real price of ethanol

2007-04-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

Ethanol from corn has already begun to take its toll on the North American food market. Biofuels seem like good stopgaps to get us off petroleum in the short-term until we move on to more stable fuel supplies, but we must carefully consider the ramifications of what we use for biofuel production. Not that the corn lobby wants us to do that or anything . . .

"Drowning polar bears" debunkers debunked?

2007-03-29T01:53:00.000-05:00

News of drowning polar bears has not gone over well with some of the more mule-headed global warming skeptics out there. For those not thoroughly convinced by reports that suggest polar bears are drowning due to increased distances between ice floes, here is a story detailing a 1999 study that showed melting ice in Hudson Bay, even back then, interfered with polar bear hunting ranges leading to reduced body weight and successful reproduction rates.

Obviously more research needs to be done to understand exactly what is happening to polar bears and how they are coping with melting pack ice, but studies such as these dating back to 1999 do not bode well for the animals.

Some thoughts about CFLs

2007-03-23T00:17:00.000-05:00

I don't know if such information comes in the packaging of compact fluorescent bulbs, but care must be taken when disposing of them. They contain mercury, and you do not want it getting into the environment or into your home. Don't break these things.

It should be noted that, overall, CFLs would introduce less mercury into the environment than standard incandescent bulbs (due to all the coal that is burned to power incandescents), but CFLs need not release any mercury into the environment at all if handled properly and recycled after expiration..

Incandescents on the way out?

2007-03-22T23:46:00.000-05:00

We may follow Australia's lead by effectively banning incandescent lightbulbs by 2012. Newer incarnations of the venerable incandescent lightbulb may make the cut, but the old clunkers currently in use will be on the way out. Can't say I'll miss em . . . the heat they generate has prompted me to leave all my lights out except the kitchen fluorescent light as often as possible.

A wrong turn

2007-03-13T00:06:00.000-05:00

Promoting awareness of global warming issues is a good thing, but attacking reasonable skeptics in public and private is not such a good thing. Death threats? Honestly. We're trying to help humanity here, not hurt it. Thuggery serves no one. It is good that members of the Global Warming Task Force show better sense than this.

School kids making a difference in Grundy Country

2007-03-10T04:42:00.000-05:00

Check this out! Can we get in touch with these kids? Pretty clever bunch if you asked me.

Another tropical glacier melting rapidly

2007-02-19T00:54:00.000-05:00

Peru's Qori Kalis glacier could vanish five years from now. What effect this will have on Peruvian ecology and fresh water supplies is unknown, but it probably won't be good. Similar problems exist with the glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro.

Angel's Nest and World's Nest

2007-02-02T00:16:00.000-05:00

Robert Plarr and company at Angel's Nest (and their commercial venture, WorldsNest) are pushing renewable energy and reusable water supplies rolled into completely sustainable housing solutions. Their power solutions include small wind turbines and photovoltaic cells with hydrogen-based backup systems.

Hydrogen, from what I've seen, will be a viable form of energy storage at some point. It's useful in that electric current and water can be used to produce it, though there will have to be better ways to produce it en masse for it to be economically viable (unless we find ourselves awash in excess electric current). One interesting way to generate hydrogen is by using "artificial chlorophyll", which is essentially a compound that, when mixed into water, will cause the water to separate into hydrogen and oxygen when sunlight is introduced. There are numerous possible applications of such a hydrogen-generation system . . . you could either use it to produce, store, and transport hydrogen for use elsewhere (fuel cell cars, etc), or you could burn the hydrogen in a combustion chamber to generate electricity and produce pure water as exhaust (potentially allowing you to extract pure water from brackish/polluted water supplies without filtration).

The hydrogen generation systems advocated by Angel's Nest and World's Nest are interesting, though I have to wonder how efficient they are. It seems to me they're producing current with 20-30% efficient solar cells and then using excess current to separate hydrogen from water via electrolysis. They're losing 70-80% of all the sun's energy to which the cells are exposed, and then maybe half of the energy that remains is lost in the process of producing hydrogen via electrolysis. The net result is you're getting maybe 10-15% efficiency producing hydrogen via solar cells, or so I would imagine. They may be using electrolysis apparatuses that provide better than 50% efficiency, who knows. I still think that artificial chlorophyll may be a better solution provided that we can ever get it working properly.

I can't say much about their water filtration systems, but the basic idea behind them seems good. Whether or not they provide water as good as or better than your run-of-the-mill water utility is a different matter.

"Leased/Free" Solar Systems for Homes

2007-02-01T08:10:00.000-05:00

This is available in 40 states (not TN or GA) however its an interesting idea. Our Big Frog Mtn Sandy (Thomas - Solar Guy) is doing research to find out more....

amy@greenlivingnow.com writes:
In the almost too good to be true category... Many of us believe that we will eventually run out of fossil fuels to feed an ever growing population and energy consuming lifestyles. So what are each of us doing to prepare? If you're like me, you've been thinking about installing some sort of renewable energy system at your home, but have been overwhelmed by the cost, the maintenance, the changing technology, reliability, etc.? I know it's the right thing to do, but I've been a bit bewildered. Guess what? A cool new company has stepped up to the plate, and they're installing free photovoltaic panels on to people's homes. As I understand it, anyone who lives in one of the 40 states that offer net metering can sign up.

I just signed up to have a site engineer come to our home and evaluate our site for a solar system. If all goes well, I'm planning on signing up for the 25 year contract because I get to lock in the electric rate I'm paying today to my electric company. Inevitably, electricity prices will rise, but mine won't, and I'll be generating a good portion (I hope) of our electricity from the sun.

The company pays for, installs, owns and operates the solar installation. You don't have to worry about maintaining the equipment or any of the other concerns that come with making an investment into solar power. All you are required to do is pay for the electricity generated from these panels, at a fixed rate that is at or below your current electricity price, for up to twenty-five years.

More information can be found on the Citizenrē site.

Energy Efficient Mortgages

2007-01-26T09:31:00.000-05:00

Info from Bob Lantz/Allan Gentry of Cleveland State:

We have a grant from the Dept. of Labor to work on “Energy Efficient Residential Construction”, and that runs in several directions. One direction is to get local builders interested in building at least “Energy Star” housing.

We are getting a bit of press right now because we were able to move our local Home Builders Association (Ocoee Region Builders Association) to make their own donated Habitat for Humanity house an Energy Star house. They took a little training and did it. And in our outreach to the builders, obviously any economic incentives (there is some sort of Federal $2K return for Energy Star status) and energy mortgages become topics of attention and interest.

For builders or others, we have a 90-minute introduction to ZEH (Zero Energy Homes) that we are rolling out to try to get into the field.

Right now we are targeting the Utilities who we think can bring the building groups together (which sometimes include realtors, bankers, and others) for this information. We think we have such a training opportunity up in Cumberland County coming up through the Utility (Volunteer Energy Coop) there. I think that EarthCraft (sustainability) rated houses out of SouthFace in Atlanta is tied to someone’s favorable mortgage rates. As you probably know, LEED ratings are important to commercial projects and it can be traced to economic benefits, as much as anything. But LEED for homes is not out of the box yet, and I don’t really know who might be leading the way with the needed financial incentives.

Brett Dillon, an energy rater, works with us. He qualifies houses for Energy Star rating. I talked with him on the phone today and he said that CountryWide mortgage bankers have an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM) program for Energy Star rated houses. I think they mainly stretch out the qualifications because the house utilities will be costing less.

Thanks.
Bob Lantz (former CSCC Professor) rlantz@smallbus.com

Also contact current professor:
Allan Gentry, Associate Professor, Cleveland State Community College 423-473-2447
agentry@clevelandstatecc.edu

Tami's Comment: Paul Hall with American Acceptance Mortgage does the Energy Efficient Mortgages (EEMs) in the Chattanooga area: paulahall2000@hotmail.com 423-320-2442

EXCELLENT WEBSITE:
Make your home makeover more affordable by financing a complete home energy renovation with an Energy-Efficient Mortgage (EEM). Your monthly savings will likely be greater than your extra payment.

Energy Efficiency Tax Credit Info:

2007-01-26T09:24:00.000-05:00

From Rachel of TN IPL. Go to this link for a more complete version.

Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency Home Improvements

Tax credits are available for many types of home improvements including adding insulation, replacement windows, and certain high efficiency heating and cooling equipment. The maximum amount of homeowner credit for all improvements combined is $500 during the two year period of the tax credit. This tax credit applies to improvements made to your primary residence from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2007.

Efficient Cars Tax credits are available to buyers of hybrid gasoline-electric, diesel, battery-electric, alternative fuel, and fuel cell vehicles. These credits are available for vehicles placed in service starting January 1, 2006.

Solar Energy Systems Tax credits are available for qualified solar water heating and photovoltaic systems. The credits are available for systems "placed in service" in 2006 and 2007. The tax credit is for 30 % of the cost of the system, up to $2,000. This credit is not limited to the $500 home improvement cap.

Fuel Cells. There is a consumer tax credit of up to 30 % of the cost (up to $500 per 0.5kW of capacity maximum) for installing a "qualified" fuel cell and microturbine systems. The credits are available for systems placed inservice in 2006 and 2007. This credit is not limited to the $500 home improvement cap.

For more information:
On home improvements
More on home improvements
On hybrid vehicles
Source

WHO WE ARE

2007-01-26T09:09:00.000-05:00

Our group, Chattanooga Interfaith Power and Light, Global Warming Task Force is a chapter of the national Interfaith Power &Light (IPL) and IPL's The Regeneration Project (TRP)

The IPL & TRP campaign is an interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith. Our goal is to help people of faith recognize and fulfill their responsibility for the stewardship of creation. Specifically, the IPL campaign is mobilizing a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. People of faith have an opportunity to put their faith into action and help reduce the devastating effects of global warming.

Rev. Sally Bingham, founder of InterFaith Power & Light, and The Regeneration Project writes: "We are an interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith. Our goal is to help people of faith recognize and fulfill their responsibility for the stewardship of creation. Specifically, the IPL campaign is mobilizing a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation. People of faith have an opportunity to put their faith into action and help reduce the devastating effects of global warming." She also adds, "Every mainstream religion has a mandate to care for creation. We were given natural resources to sustain us, but we were also given the responsibility to act as good stewards and preserve life for future generations."

Great IPL links include State IPL Groups, Faith, Government, Energy & Green Building, and Environmental.

Off-Peak Electricity Could Fuel 84% of Nation's Vehicles

2007-01-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

Mileage from megawatts: Study finds enough electric capacity to "fill up" plug-in vehicles across much of the nation. If all the cars and light trucks in the nation switched from oil to electrons, idle capacity in the existing electric power system could generate most of the electricity consumed by plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. A new study for the Department of Energy finds that "off-peak" electricity production and transmission capacity could fuel 84 percent of the country's 220 million vehicles if they were plug-in hybrid electrics. Also look for algae converted into Bio-fuel as number 1 alternative fuel source in future.

Greenfuels: Pollution to Profits

2007-01-26T03:57:00.000-05:00

Want to make money off your power plant emissions? Do it the Greenfuel way. Bioreactors could make you a pretty penny and save the environment at the same time. Whitepapers are now available.

Solar PV Is Cheaper Than Gasoline

2007-01-18T01:15:00.000-05:00

Gasoline prices got you down? Here is a possible answer.

I see this as being an excellent solution for commuter vehicles, especially once higher-efficiency solar panels become more prevalent in the marketplace. Integrating a system of this nature into a solar-powered (or solar + wind powered) household would also be a good strategy.

Pond Scum or Planet Savers?

2007-01-18T00:55:00.000-05:00

Algae bioreactors could be used to make old coal plants run clean. Fascinating. Plants equipped with these bioreactors wouldn't necessarily release less CO2 into the atmosphere than before, but by producing biodiesel and ethanol as by-products of the bioreactors that could be used to replace petroleum-derived fuels, the bioreactors could reduce our energy economy's overall CO2 footprint. Seems like a good idea to me. Plant managers will like the extra profits.