Archive for the Environment Category

TEDx: THEODORAx or DOROTHEAx or . . . DOROTHyx? (April 8, 2013)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Environment, Society on April 8, 2013 by e-ssay.org

. . .

1          “TED is a clever acronym.  Technology, Engineering and Design.  Three universes and infinite possibilities.  ‘Ideas worth spreading,’ they allege.”

2          “On first hearing, it sounds like a program named after your favorite smallmouth bass fishing buddy.”

1          “That is part of what reels them in.  Our friend TED covers the usual 3E programs – energy, economics, and the environment – and everything in between and on all sides.  Local programs are identified by the small letter ‘x’ and then the community such as ‘TEDx Gotham City’ or ‘TEDx Dodge.’”

2          “I thought the ‘x’ stands for the second ‘x’ chromosome.  By design, the speakers are from diverse backgrounds, yet they still tend toward more males than females.  However, the local organizers and more than 53 percent of the attendees are double ‘xx’ers.  But that is not why the local programs are not called ‘TEDy Shangri-La.’”

1          “That was my first thought.  Just because the ‘y’ chromosome so often correlates with goonery and buffoonery does not mean that all males are goons and buffoons.  Really.”

2          “Not all of them.  But the local programs may need to be called ‘THEODORAx’ or ‘DOROTHEAx.’”

1          “Or keep the males in the loop and call the local programs ‘DOROTHyx.’”

. . .

2          “Women undertake most of the jobs in non-profit entities.”

1          “Yet the White boys still hold most of the positions of power in for-profit entities.”

2          “But one can say with a high degree of confidence that it is not because of talent.  The White boys are there because of market distortions.”

. . .

1          “With women surpassing males in high school and college, the emerging civil rights issue is whether a less talented cohort of males can be admitted in the interest of maintaining roughly equal numbers of males and females in a class.”

2          “Instead of a young woman going to college to get an MRS. degree, today’s young man goes to college to get an MR. degree.”

1          “If he gets in.”           

. . .

[See the website http://www.ted.com/pages/about.]

Bumper stickers of the week

TED:  Ideas worth spreading

Ideas:  Good, especially good ones.

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Plastic Pirates (August 6, 2012)

Posted in Boycott Series, Environment, Global Climate Change, Water on August 6, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

WS         “We were promised yellow rubber ducks, plastic bottles, sneakers and other debris and detritus.  Gyres of the stuff haunt and ply the waters.  And we were not disappointed.  The engine stalling in clear blue water with no visible junk was the great mystery.  After looking at the intake, we scooped up and strained some of the water and discovered very small plastic particles that blocked the intake.  Plastic has saved many trees and other living things, yet plastic does not revert to its elements in an environmentally friendly way.  The plastic particles are getting into everything.  Plastic pirates plying the Pacific.” 

. . .

[WS = World Sailor]

[See the “e-ssay” titled Playa Plastica / Plastic Beach (September 13, 2010).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Boycott plastic

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From Sea (Of Japan) To Shining Sea (June 11, 2012)

Posted in Environment, Japan on June 11, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

C1          “The tides and winds and currents are generally predictable.  So everyone knew that the floating pile of flotsam and debris and detritus was sailing inexorably from Japan to the shores of the West Coast.”   

C2          “And the people and politicians demanded that something be done.”

C1          “Something was done?  Did I miss something?”

. . .

[See the “e-ssay” titled “Fukushima Daiichied (March 12, 2012)”]

[See the regular commentary at http://enenews.com/ and articles such as http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/destructive-hitchhikers-tsunami-debris-hauls-invasive-species-across-pacific-to-us-shores/2012/06/09/gJQAYb16PV_story.html.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“I don’t believe in colleges and universities.  I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money.  When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money.  I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”  Ray Bradbury (1920 – 2012).

“Isn’t making a smoking section in  a restaurant like making a peeing section in a pool.”  George Carlin

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Happy Birthday Earth Day (April 23, 2012)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Pensions on April 23, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

CC1        “I remain surprised that Nixon signed the ‘Environmental Protection Act’ shortly after the first Earth Day in 1969.”

CC2        “Time to give some thought to passing the ‘Carbon Rebate and Climate Protection Act’ or some similar legislation.”

CC1        “You need a sexier name.”

CC2        “Sex Save Sex The Sex Planet Sex Act Sex.”

. . .

[The proposed ‘Carbon Rebate and Climate Protection Act’ or ‘Save Our Climate Act’ is discussed at http://www.citizensclimatelobby.org/ and some optimistic future scenarios are discussed at http://io9.com/5903810/optimistic-visions-of-the-world-after-the-oil-runs-out.]

[The Northern Mariana Islands Retirement Fund filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 17.  Stay tuned.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

A good planet is hard to find

“To declare national policy which will encourage productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment; to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the environment and biosphere and stimulate the health and welfare of man; to enrich the understanding of the ecological systems and natural resources important to the Nation . . . .”

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We Ain’t Ants; We Are Grasshoppers (April 9, 2012)

Posted in Depression, Entitlements, Environment, Food, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Pogo Plight, Society, Water on April 9, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

C1          “Eating out will make you eat in.  Or lose your appetite.  Americans devour too much food and waste too much food.  A friend said that he could not go a week in any activity catering to the American appetite because he could not stomach the gross waste of food.”

C2          “Americans put too much on their waists and then waste the rest.  They waist food and then waste food.”    

C1          “If Bill Shakespeare didn’t document it, Aesop did.  The timeless human experience.”

C2          “Bill on burgers, Aesop on arugula?”

C1          “I thought they relayed the ‘Ant and the Grasshopper fable’ to us to teach us to play well with others even if the others played too much.  I thought we would be directed to be a good ant and let the grasshopper come in out of the cold.  Then she read the ending and said that the ants rebuked and rebuffed the grasshopper when he sought to come in out of the cold.”

C2          “You can’t blame them.  The ants saved and gathered all summer while the grasshopper played and partied.”

C1          “But we are all playing and partying.  There are not enough ants.” 

C2          “Everyone must be an enlightened ant.  The grasshoppers are preparing by collecting guns.  The few ants must continue to save and gather and . . . collect guns.”  

. . .

[See the article "Clean your plate, save the world?: Scientific American."]

[See the “e-ssays” titled "Beans and Bullets (April 6, 2009)," "On Entitlements (July 19, 2010)" and "Girding For The Going Grid (October 11, 2010)."]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Personal responsibility; fiscal responsibility; legal responsibility

Providence prefers providence

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Fukushima Daiichied (March 12, 2012)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Environment, Food, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Japan, Peak Oil, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty on March 12, 2012 by e-ssay.org

. . .

Cs          “They aren’t telling us anything.”

Sr          “They aren’t tellin’ us nothin’.”

Cs          “The great flotilla of death is floating east to the West Coast from the Far East.  The Pacific is now a polluted pond.”

Sr          “It’s in the air.  An air raid.  That’s the overriding problem.  Death from above.”

Cs          “The only thing the authorities can do is the only thing the authorities do.”

Sr          “Lie.  The official language of government and industry.  The problem is so overwhelming that there may be nothin’ that can be done.”

Cs          “What do you tell a populace that is already angry, broken, confused, desperate, enervated, and frustrated.”

Sr          “And bitter, cynical and distrustful.”

Cs          “The energy source designed to transition us from fossil fuels to renewable energy blew up on us in a day.”

Sr          “We are so Fukushima Daiichied.”

. . .

[http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/nuclear/2012/Fukushima/Lessons-from-Fukushima.pdf]

Bumper stickers of the week:

3/11

Fukushima Daiichied Again

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From e-con-omics to eco-nomics? (August 1, 2011)

Posted in Bankruptcy, China, Economics, Economics Nobel, Education, Energy, Environment, Pensions, Schooling on August 1, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

(           “The Keynesians are using a screwdriver to hammer a nail.  The monetarists are using a hammer to drive a screw.  The wrong tool is selected because the challenge is not understood.”

)           “So we are screwed and hammered?”

(           “E-con-omists do not even recall the central tenet of economics.  Resources are scarce.  Not enough resources are available today to provide the growth needed to provide everyone with a first-world life style.”

)           “You know that observation is politically unacceptable.”

(           “The department of e-con-omics today should be merged with the department of religion.  The e-con-omists are marketing voodoo.”

)           “What about the department of psychology?  Or the department of environmental sciences.”

(           “What about creating a department of 3Es – energy, economics, and the environment?  What about adding a class in Mega-eco-nomics to the traditional classes in Microeconomics and Macroeconomics?”

. . .

(           “Economics is laden with rich irony.  The use of the word ‘gross’ in ‘gross domestic product.’  The products and services often are gross.”

)           “Look at the felicitous term ‘trickle down’ in ‘trickle down economic policies.’  The theory posits that all the money should be given to the wealthy and very little will trickle down to the populace.  Should anyone be surprised that very little trickles down to the populace.”

(           “And the Laffer Curve was worth a laugh but not much more.”

)           “We need more eco-nomists who recognize and accommodate limits to growth even though the realization is anathema in today’s political climate.”

(           “Very few are going to go quietly.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

You are stronger than the tool; the tool is smarter than you are.

Central Falls falls

The Senate confirmed Gary Locke as Ambassador to China by unanimous consent on July 27, 2011

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On Trading Off (May 9, 2011)

Posted in Economics, Energy, Environment, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Housing, On [Traits/Characteristics] on May 9, 2011 by e-ssay.org

. . .

X          “I gave a neighbor a few dollars a few years ago not to cut a tree on his property that provided ample shade for my house and a sylvan view for me.”

Y          “You paid for what they call ‘borrowed landscape.’  You receive a pleasing view that someone else funds and maintains.”

X          “He pays the taxes and I rake the leaves within the drip zone.”

Y          “Anything in writing?”

X          “Just a handshake deal that has worked so far.  The tree shades the house from the sun and lowers the electric bill.  Now I need the energy from the sun to hit the house and lower the electric bill.  The solar panels are wired in series and when even small areas of a few panels are shaded they produce less electrical output.  I plan to approach him and see if he will let me cut the tree.  He installed a back up wood stove last year and may now allow me to cut it if I give him the wood in sixteen inch lengths.  That would work for me.”

. . .

Z          “We debated the proposed microhydro project last week.  It is hard to be in favor of microhydro at the public forum on alternatives and then against microhydro at the fly fishing club meeting.”

Y          “Hard to have hydro without hydro.”

. . .

Z          “It looks like I am saving the planet until you look at all the costs.  ‘Emergy’ is all the embedded energy in an item.  The measure incorporates all the energy to produce and consume it not just my cost of acquisition and consumption.  Weighing everything, the decision is not as clear.”

. . .

X          “The community council seeks to impose height restrictions on buildings and also require more substantial setbacks from the street.  A building must go up or go out.”

Y          “They may be against buildings.  A building can’t go up if it can’t go up or go out.”

. . .

Z          “Do you support a local farmer who occasionally indulges some pesticides or a distant organic farmer?”

. . .

Y          “Providing fewer parking spaces won’t reduce the number of cars.  Providing more sidewalks may increase the number of pedestrians.  However, aren’t you simply substituting concrete for tarmac?”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Medium Is Beautiful

Eat Mangoes Naked

Sawgrass Is Popeye’s Spinach On Crack

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America Recycles Day, November 15 (November 15, 2010)

Posted in Energy, Environment, Gas/Fossil Fuel, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Society on November 15, 2010 by e-ssay.org

. . .

C         “The day is not yet as famous as Groundhog Day.”

E         “And it is not a national or a state holiday.  America Recycles Day.  Celebrated in many communities.  For over a dozen years now, they say.”

C         “November 15 is nationally recognized but is not nationally known.  The day may become the equivalent of Earth Day observed in the Fall when the bounty has been harvested.  One day to encourage us to reduce, reuse and recycle.  America Reduces, Reuses and Recycles Day is a bit much.”

E         “And there were no America Recycles Day sales inserts in the paper to recycle.  One day to inform and involve and not spend.”

C         “Once again, however, we may be chanting to the choir.”

E         “The day and effort should be targeted to kids.  They can carry the message home and convey it to the adults.  Yet it is the kids who were told at home to deposit their gum wrappers in the trash who don’t toss their butts out the window.  Reaching those who toss their butts out the window is the challenge.”

C         “What types of vehicles are those butts flying out of?  I suspect that they are the two-gallons-per-mile rigs.  Gasoline is a resource, a resource is finite, gasoline is finite.  We need to get real.  And really reduce not just reuse and recycle.”

E          “Yet, I understand those who don’t worry about global warming because they are worrying about paying their heating bill.”

C          “The warm inner glow you feel when doing right does not warm the house.”

. . .

www.americarecyclesday.org

www.lamprecycle.org

www.lnt.org/programs/peak:  The PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) program

Bumper stickers of the week:

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Don’t light up and turn out the lights

Take the Lead:  Install LED lights and turn them off

Be enlightened:  Lights out or there will be lights out

Build it tight, ventilate it right

Insulation is your friend

The cheapest energy is the energy you don’t use

Get your food from and close to the farm and field; don’t consume gas to feed your consumption

Take only pictures; Leave only footprints

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