In response to my post We All Wield Tremendous Power to Restore Environmental Justice, frequent commenter Robert Stang, an extremely senior player in sustainable real estate development, adds:
I assume that you recognize the benefit of celebrating and having networks of those individuals who are effecting change every day, like the Bioneers.
Oh, absolutely. (more…)
Longtime 2GreenEnergy commenter Brian McGowan offers this note about the merits of a biodiesel business that is local to him in the suburbs of Philadelphia:
Based on Craig’s description (of the term “sustainability), i.e., “We can all agree that sustainable processes are those that, a) can be continued indefinitely through time, b) result in a minimum of toxic byproducts, c) don’t abuse or exploit members of the human race, d) don’t pose a constant drain on finite natural resources without a way to replenish them and, e) don’t cause unacceptable amounts of damage elsewhere in the ecosystem.” (more…)
As suggested here, the rabid anti-nuke people are meticulous in reporting every accident/mistake that happens around the globe.
While it’s hard to object to any report that is based on the truth, I believe that these concerned and goodhearted people have inadvertently created a world in which most environmentalists lack a scientifically accurate and balanced understanding of the subject. In particular, there is a lack of comprehension of a) the overall science and math that should inform our energy future, and b) the advancements in nuclear that have been made over the last half-century—and that continue to unfold every day.
Getting rid of coal before it gets rid of us is an absolute imperative, and it’s hard to see how this can happen without nuclear.
As I wrote the other day, the concept of environmentalism in Western culture (or at least any real popularizing of the idea) is almost brand new. It dates to the mid-20th Century, and can be said to have begun with the publication of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1963. Until that time, there was essentially no recognition among those of European heritage of the fact that humankind is capable of inflicting permanent damage to its home planet, and therefore carries a vast set of responsibilities to restrain itself accordingly. (more…)
As more and more car makers seem willing to embrace hydrogen as the fuel of the future and start to increase investment in fuel cell technology, the issue of scarce refueling infrastructure becomes ever more pressing. Although automakers like Toyota – which has been at the forefront of hydrogen fuel cell technology for a while now and will continue to try to push fuel-cell cars to market – certainly have to contribute to building a supporting infrastructure, it’s clear that they can’t solve the classic chicken-and-egg dilemma by themselves, and will need help from government agencies, as well as from energy companies. (more…)
I wrote a post recently in which I mentioned the Black Swan effect, i.e., the tendency of human beings to underestimate the importance and frequency of unforeseeable events in the future. This concept, popularized by Nassim Taleb in his 2007 masterpiece, has implications in many different arenas of human activity, principally economics/investments, where we tend to make long-term bets with little appreciation of the huge potential impact of the unanticipated and unknowable.
Part and parcel of all this is the effect that one person can have on human civilization as a whole. Needless to say, there have been many such examples throughout history. (more…)
Pessimistic articles on climate change like this one from yesterday’s New York Times always get me thinking: what can we be doing to cut back on fossil fuel emissions? Obviously this is a tough problem in a number of ways, principally politically, but those challenges vary markedly from country to country. To take the most obvious examples, consider the U.S. and China, the two largest polluters. (more…)
Living here in the U.S., it’s easy to think that the rest of the world shares our state of delusion with respect to climate disruption, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and the many other environmental catastrophes that are unfolding all around us. Fortunately, nothing could be further from the truth.
Here’s a story that illustrates the bringing together of two great needs vis-a-vis renewable energy: an enormous amount of wind power (a variable resource) and energy storage. Check out what Norway is doing to facilitate the integration of tons more clean energy into the European grid-mix.
The whole thing is so propitious that there’s even a symbol of good fortune over one of the Fjords (pictured above).
The other day, I wrote a comment on an article that dealt with the sustainability of dog ownership, in response to which someone pointed out:
I guess it depends on how you define “sustainability.”
True, it may be hard, or even impossible, to work out a precise definition of “sustainable” that applies in all cases. In fact, a number of people have suggested that we stop using the term altogether simply because it means so many different things in various contexts.
I totally disagree with this latter idea. (more…)
Here’s an article on waste oil recycling that a friend sent me earlier. Every time I see something like this I wonder about the overall sustainability of the enterprise. Obviously, waste grease doesn’t collect, purify, and distribute itself. Is all this activity really worthwhile? (more…)
