Blog – Page 1272 – 2GreenEnergy.com

Sustainability, World Population and Food Supply

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

A few weeks ago I remarked in astonishment that, its very laudable efforts to reduce suffering in the third world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation places little or no emphasis on contraception and the other elements of family planning. In my post “Improving Conditions for the Poorest of the Poor,” I noted that the Foundation is in a class by itself when it comes to preventing and curing childhood disease, but it doesn’t seem to understand the only way to reduce the amount of misery in the world is to manufacture less of it in the first place. (more…)

Is There a Trend Toward Eco-Consciousness, Or Is It Just My Imagination?

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

We’ve all had the experience of learning a new word or becoming familiar with a new model of car, and then starting to hear the word or see the car everywhere. I’m having the same experience with the concept of environmentalism. In the last few weeks, I’ve run into people in many different venues—grocery stores, libraries, schools, hiking trails, and restaurants—who do or say something, without any prompt from me, that indicates that they feel the need to be stewards of the environment. (more…)

Tagged with: concept of environmentalism, eco-consciousness, shark fin soup, stewards of the environment

From Guest Blogger Dixie Somers: A Look at the Projects that “Keep America Beautiful"

craigshieldsPosted on February 19, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

Keep America Beautiful is an organization dedicated to promoting waste reduction, recycling, litter prevention and public space beautification. Founded in 1953, the nonprofit works with community-based affiliate groups, corporate sponsors and local governments to carry out programs that focus on public education, trash collection, recycling and community improvement. (more…)

Tagged with: clean environment, recycling

The Difference Between "Stupidity" and "Dangerous Stupidity"

craigshieldsPosted on February 19, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

In correspondence to a close personal friend who happens to be a supporter of Fox News host Bill O’Reilly, I wrote:

Btw, I know you don’t watch Fox News outside of Bill O’Reilly, and that’s a good thing. Just for grins, I watched a few minutes of Greta van Susteren late last night. Here’s her interview with the Reverend Franklin Graham, the point of which is that Obama is a Muslim, and that this explains why he’s doing nothing about ISIS, and, by extension, how his secretly held religious tenets put all Americans at risk. An excerpt: (more…)

Tagged with: Fox News, free speech, hate speech

Despite Wanton Corruption and Political Theater, Environmentalism's Star Is Rising

craigshieldsPosted on February 18, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

A reader sent me this regarding my apology for having referred to habitual viewers of Fox News as “idiots”: Congratulations on your apology. It was well written and sincere. However, I can’t see how you can say Bill O’Reilly (from Fox News) is neither “fairness nor truth” when he always has two guests representing an issue: one of liberal persuasion and the other conservative. Also RealClearPolitics.com has editorials and articles from both sides. Please tell me where you get your news, and I’ll check it out.

You’re right in that, on the surface, both of these sources feature both sides, though RealClearPolitics, focused as it is on conservative intellectuals, is clearly right of center. (more…)

Tagged with: Bill "O'Reilly, Bullish on Renewable Energy, climate denialism, creationism taught in schools as science, deregulation of Wall Street, Fox News, institutionalized religious bigotry, Naomi Klein, perpetual war, RealClearPolitics.com, rejection of Obamacare, Robert Reich, subsidies for big oil, trickle-down economics (a proven failure)

Energy and the Environment at 50,000 Feet – Pardon the Cliché

craigshieldsPosted on February 17, 2015 Posted in Climate Change

If we do anything well here, it’s providing a platform on which to discuss the “big ideas” in energy and the environment. Sure, I feel confident that I’ve identified a few solid ideas on a fairly narrow set of clean energy investment opportunities like the Brazilian hydrokinetics deal I mentioned here, but most of our content attempts to stimulate discussion on the world of energy and the environment “at 50,000 feet,” as they say.

To that end, let me offer this: a piece from Bloomberg that makes certain statements about where the world is going on what is arguably its most import topic of conversation, i.e., coming together and dealing with the global output of greenhouse gas emissions and the resultant disruption in our climate. Those of you who may have believed that the subject was hopeless may take some comfort there.

Tagged with: big ideas in energy and the environment, Brazilian hydrokinetics, clean energy investment opportunities, climate disruption, disruption in our climate, global output of greenhouse gas emissions

Sequestering Carbon Dioxide–Essential to Mitigating Climate Change

craigshieldsPosted on February 17, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

I just received an email that began: I have a hunch that carbon can be removed from the atmosphere by biology. But the devil is in the details and it is really hard work to figure out what a given piece of land is doing as far as carbon (inflow and outflow).

I respond:

I hope your hunch turns out to be correct, but I think the devil will ask you to nail down the broad strokes before he starts worrying about the details.

I can help you with a few basics, though. (more…)

Tagged with: carbon removed biology, development of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)in the ocean, large grazing animals are essential to soil fertility, ocean thermal energy conversion, promote healthy environment, reduced desertification, Sequestering Carbon Dioxide, subducted under a tectonic plate

Fox News Viewers: I’m Sorry

craigshieldsPosted on February 17, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

I regret referring to Fox News viewers as “idiots” in the post linked above. Obviously, I’m not a fan of the franchise and what is often called its “politics of hate and exclusion,” and I unapologetically do think its followers would do well to look elsewhere and seek out sources of information that are more based on fairness and truth. But what I wrote here was reckless, irresponsible, and insensitive. (more…)

Tagged with: DailyKOS, Fox News Viewers, politics of hate and exclusion, RealClearPolitics.com

Skeptical Re: Clean Energy Concept

craigshieldsPosted on February 16, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

From someone who found me online just now:

We propose our “Vapor Drive” Generator with these features: Patented Novel design of 25-50KW Generator- FEATURES: No Fossil fuel, No Emissions, Quiet -Operating expense $20/Month, Size of a 20Cu Ft Refrigerator designed for 20Yr life. Seek investment of $3-4 Million. Following mutual NDAs please request Executive Summary which further describes our Invention and request.

I respond:

Please send me some non-confidential info on it. (more…)

Tagged with: Clean Energy Concept, no fossil fuel, PPA from a utility or large power consumer, sell clean energy at a profit

How Will Big Oil Manage To Continue Its Profit Stream?

craigshieldsPosted on February 16, 2015 Posted in Fossil Fuels

It won’t.

Many people hypothesize that Big Oil will go down the same road that Big Tobacco has been travelling over the last 50 years, i.e., hunker down, ignore the contempt of civilization, and use its vast wealth and power to focus the most aggressive legal tactics imaginable on ensuring it can continue its profit-streams indefinitely. (more…)

Tagged with: Big Oil Profit Stream, Bullish on Renewable Energy, ignore the contempt of civilization, oil profits drying up quickly and completely