At the conclusion of the terrific conference I attended on Friday produced by “Climate One” at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, the host asked the panel, “Where are you personally trying to make a difference in your carbon footprint?”
I thought the best answer was this:
There are three basic areas that any eco-conscious person should explore: housing, transportation, and food. Try to make your home energy efficient, and do what you can to conserve energy and water. Minimize your driving, and maximize the fuel efficiency of the driving you can’t avoid. Cut down on meat. Of course, there are hundreds of other areas I could discuss, but if you’re doing those three things, you’re addressing the vast majority of your impact on the planet.
I attended a terrific conference on Friday produced by “Climate One” at The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. For those who may not be aware of this incredible organization, formed 88 years ago, “The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation’s oldest and largest public affairs forum.”
What does that mean? Think: “TED Talks” – “ideas worth sharing” – talks LONG before there was an Internet by which they could be shared so easily. And think: no political spin, as hard to believe as that may be to comprehend. There are democrats and republicans, liberals and conservatives, scientists and politicians; there is UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Vice President Dan Quayle. Just important ideas, good reasoning, and great communication skills (OK, I know what you’re thinking about Dan Quayle, but you didn’t hear me say it, did you?) (more…)
Holy cow! Just when I thought I may have crossed the line in my calling out the oil companies for their rapacious greed as they rake in record profits by destroying our planet, a friend sends me this, proving that I’m a rank amateur.
I remember with a proud smile how exuberant my little daughter was about the 2008 presidential election. It did my heart good to see the 13-year-old I loved so engaged in our democratic process; she had “Yes We Can” posters all over the house, and I encouraged her all the way. How delighted she and I were in his victory!
Then reality sank in. We quickly saw that there was nothing really “enlightened” about this guy at all. He had been elected with Wall Street and Big Pharma money; just like anyone who succeeds in American politics, he was owned by special interests (though I guess we were fortunate that it wasn’t Big Oil yet again). And his decision-making reflected this at every turn — especially when it came to protecting Wall Street from the shambles it had made of the world’s only remaining super-power.
In any case, those looking for some material difference in Barack Obama’s decision-making in his second term are understandably losing hope, given his nomination of Jack Lew as Treasury Secretary. Lew is a virtual clone of Timothy Geithner, architect of the tax-payer bailout of Wall Street, supporter of reckless profiteering in a deregulated financial environment. Our nation’s people live on the precipice of a further and far deeper financial collapse so that our multibillionaires can get richer.
Most Americans think they wake up each morning in a democratic republic, because that is what Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and their fellows bequeathed us. They think there’s meaning to the vote they cast every four years, in which they’re asked to choose between two politicians with nearly identical ideas, and, more to the point, each of whose candidacy exists solely with the backing of certain gargantuan industries. They’re mistaken.
Btw, my daughter has found a new interest: boys! I suppose I should have seen that one coming.
This proposal involves a simple synergy of government incentives and distributed energy storage applications. But first, I’d like to briefly discuss some of the issues that this solution addresses.
The Issues
Climate Change
Humans are releasing too much CO2 and other gases into the atmosphere. (more…)
I marvel at the insanities of our 21st Century existence in so many ways – perhaps the greatest of which is how we’ve used the media to drive the common person to question the judgment of the scientific community. Just when you might think we’d be grateful to the people who had materially helped us double our life expectancies over the last 120 years (the blink of an eye for a species that’s been around for at least 100,000 years) we find reasonably well-educated people reclassifying an entire community of our most learned people and proven problem-solvers as frauds, because of their near unanimity in their concern over anthropogenic global warming (AGW). (more…)
Here’s a wonderful article that deals with a subject that is of significant concern: the intermittence of solar and wind energy. It provides an interesting case study of how demand response can figure into the equation, a phenomenon that will play a huge role in a future in which we try to integrate a growing percentage of renewables.
I just got off the phone with Fred Walti, the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, a terrific non-profit whose purpose is to foster the development of cleantech start-ups by offering flexible office space, CEO coaching and mentoring, and access to a growing network of experts and investment capital. I had come across a few of the participating companies through my connection with the Maverick Angels, and also through the Clean Business Investment Summit, where I function as a member of the board of advisors.
This is really a can’t-miss organization, as it has so much going for it: (more…)
I attended a terrific conference on Friday produced by “
