Time to change the graphic!

In the USA Big Oil has been taking Billions of Dollars (USD) in annual subsidies to cover "R&D Expenses"... all the while making profits in the tens of Billions of Dollars each year...renewables are the future of energy, yet government programs feed the Oil Giants while under - funding renewable R&D.

Its time to reverse the graphic!

 

Using renewables...or primarily using fossile fuels...A different view.

There are many differences between the two candidates for the Presidency this year, differences that will impact the world differently. Two that should be discussed are their differing approaches to energy policy (hope they set one) and to environmental management.

Romney seems to be more focused, as are many Republicans, on managing these two issues for the benefits they bring home today...while Obama is looking at them from more of a 'longer-term' position.

While the current administration put the brakes on drilling after the BP failure of 2010 and has been cautious about returning to open drilling, Mitt Romney has stated clearly that he will back oil's desire to drill on all federally held land...and at sea where ever they can...in order to increase production. He has also stated that he does not feel that renewables can meet our demands and that he will reduce the grant and subsidy funding for renewables once elected. The XL Pipeline will be rushed into production, and the concerns for the environment related to it will be monitored, but will not control how this project goes.

President Obama will approve the XL Pipeline, but there will be stronger controls on how it is developed...and he will increase subsidies for renewables while reducing the subsidies for oil...as these companies have been making record profits for more than the last decade.

Big industry, especially big petrochemical, opposes EPA clean air and water...and in conjunction with American Automotive they fight the need to reduce emissions and increase MPG. Though not as clear as you would hope...Romney and the republicans have again backed oil in their push forward and claim that all EPA rules are counter to the needs of Industry. And they have not included improved mileage in their platform for 2012... though it has been there for many years. Romney/Ryan is shaping up to be another pro-oil administration and one that fights to keep down the improvements that we have been pushing for in water and air quality since the formation of the EPA in the early 70s...under a Republican...Richard Nixon.

Obama has not been as supportive of the environment as anticipated, but he has been more supportive than most Republicans in the Congress would have liked. He has helped to reduce the use of coal...but has approved several coal programs that conduct "Topping" ...or the removal of mountain tops to then mine coal. New EPA air quality rules have gone into effect... not as strong as they could have been, but on track to return to our pre-Bush (W) path. Under Obama in a second term we will see less drilling on federal land than we would under Romney, however there will be increases ...and natural gas is growing which is helping to reduce the carbon footprint nationally.

Who wins? Who knows... but when talking about an all inclusive energy plan we must include renewables...and put our national research effort on this critical front. Obama is in clear support of renewables while Romney appears to be less so. As to the question of environmental management...well both have holes in their statements. But the EPA isn't against the American people, they are working for all of us to ensure that air, water, and even food is protected from toxic contamination no matter where it comes from, and in general current Democrats are more supportive of the EPA then are the Republicans. And let's face it... things like incandescent light bulbs should not be held onto just as a political point...its time for them to go.

Here are some sites to view:
http://www.mittromney.com/issues/energy
http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy
http://www.thepoliticalguide.com/Profiles/Governor/Massachusetts/Mitt_Romney/Views/Energy_and_the_Environment/
http://www.whitehouse.gov/energy/our-environment
http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/climate-policy-proposals-greenest-obama-romney-stein-johnson.html

Considering Things can make you Crazy!

I have been considering things lately…and you know...it can make you crazy.

For instance, why can’t the nation that is the leader in so many things not even get a strong foothold in the Global Warming arena. Arctic summer ice has been reduced to the smallest surviving sheet in all recorded history for this key feature of the world’s northern region, and yet we in the USA still challenge each other on whether or not we have Global Warming going on…

Then there is the issue of water pollution. Every one of us uses water every day…that’s 7.4-Billion of us using this key resource…yet we are willing to foul it with all sorts of things…trash, pesticides, oil and gas… what can we be thinking? Water has no substitute…yet we poison it on a regular basis, not to mention waste it… we leave our water run while we brush our teeth, we water grass for hours…every day, we wash our cloths with more detergent than needed…rinse for extended periods…ignore regulations for pumping from the shallow and even the ancient aquifers the world over…are we going to learn?

And when it comes to accepting responsibility for resource management…we step away from the game. We are the ones wasting resources…we learned it from our parents, but they were dealing with 3-Billion or 4-Billion…not 7-Billion going to 10-Billion inhabitants of Earth. Some promote environmental Stewardship over Sustainability…managing their programs with an environmental focus…for today’s world…today’s use of resources. Stewardship is not Sustainability. Sustainability is about effective management of the Environment, Economy, and Equity for generations now and into the future the world over. Why can’t we recognize that our planet is a long term engagement…4.5-Billion Years in the making…and billions of years to go before ‘Sol’ grows into a Gas Giant and ends our run.

We need to engage sustainable processes that will extend the world’s quality of life for centuries to come…not for just a few more generations. Of course, we could continue as we have been doing and then just learn to use more sun block, less water, and some type of filtration each time we inhale.

Who leads in the renewable race?

Ladies and Gentlemen...its a hands down victory for ....The Germans!

Who would have thought that the USA, with all of its initiation of patented ideas for Solar and Wind technologies, would be dragging its feet in the race for energy independence? The goal in Germany as stated in their energy plan is to be 100% powered by renewables and it looks like they will make it by 2030...off of fossil fuels by 2030. Some of their cities are at the 100% mark already. German roof tops are filling up with solar power for hot water, heating, and electricity and they are moving forward with more wind farms than they need so that the rest of Europe can benefit from low carbon energy.

Just around the corner Denmark has entire districts fueled by renewables...they call it their Free-Energy Island...even super heated water systems providing heat for entire towns in a region north of Maine in the US. 4300 residents and their entire community generating energy and selling some of it back to the mainland grid.

The US Congress, in all of their wisdom, first ignored and then voted down renewable energy legislation...making it a political issue instead of realizing that energy and pollution are part of our national security and offer millions...that's right...millions of jobs if we just get on board. One example, the third largest wind producing company in the world is Florida Power and Light, even exceeding Iberdola of Spain,...who knew. Their wholly owned subsidiary Nextera has nearly 90 wind farms in 17 states and Canada generating almost 8,570 net megawatts of energy along with solar farms, natural gas and emerging bioenergy production.

But industry funded US production in renewables is falling off in 2012 due to lack of US national commitment, and if the Republicans win the Presidency all bets are off...considering that Romney/Ryan intends to cut the $2Billion in subsidies that the renewable developers are now getting while stating a continued commitment to maintain Big Oil's 40Billion in subsidies... When they say that they have an energy policy that will use all sources they failed to mention that they took the line item about energy efficiency out of the Republican platform for 2012 and are not sponsoring any new growth or development in renewables.

What America and the world needs is to generate new jobs through the development of a renewables centered energy policy and R&D commitment that will allow us to harness our industrial power to lead the world in this industry...rather than follow it because our Congress is in a short-cycle rather than viewing America over the long term. We should be reducing CO2 emissions, and eliminating toxic emissions like mercury and NOx by focusing on efficiency and renewables...not by moving back to support Big Oil at their expense.

So let's hear it for the Germans and the Chinese too. They are leading the race with countries like the UK, Spain and Denmark moving up while the USA is holding back...apparently to give all these other industrial powers that chance to dominate in what really is the next big thing...renewable industries in a less polluted world.

800 men and women work to ensure safety...and sustainability at P&G

Proctor and Gamble is one of the world's gigantic companies with 180 facilities all over the world, and more than 4Billion customers...delivering consumer products that help us live a more comfortable, satisfying lifestyle. To ensure that they 'do not harm' ...so to speak...they have about 800 scientists, quality specialists, and environmentalists working to evaluate and ensure product safety and resource conservation.

Led by Dr Len Sauers, this team has orchestrated some real magic in their programs for sustainability and waste management...

Sauers says that in the late 90s P&G defined sustainability as "improving the quality of life for everyone…now and for generations to come…" but that today the view it as a business process, one that reduces their expenses and increases their profits...imagine that, money is the driver and it works for P&G and all of their billions of stakeholders.

P&G took a hard look at their markets and considered the question of "who will buy green products". They came to a conclusion that about 15% of customers would pay more for environmentally friendly products even with a performance drop. A central segment of 75% of consumers (mainstream) would purchase "green" if it did not cost more and worked as well. And a small group of consumers at about 10% have no concern for "green" and would not go for these products even if available.

Alternative energy is a P&G commitment...

As a result of this study P&G targets the mainstream...that 75% who want the product if it meets their 'specs'...and they do it with a product life cycle approach from Materials to manufacturing, packaging and distribution...and extending it to usage and disposal... they address all parts of the sustainable products' life cycle that helps to define the impact of the product on the community...and the environment. The most volatile of sustainable issues is consumer based usage and disposal components, as these are not controlled by the Proctor and Gamble team... though they do push the consumer edge by providing media support, advertising, and education about sustainable programs and products...like Cold Water Tide...so that the consumers know that these products work effectively and are reducing water and energy usage.

P&G packaging and bottles are being made
from plant based plastics.

The effort at P&G includes commitments to renewable energy... wind turbines on site, dedicated solar panels ... they are working to make business decisions that focus on sustainable processes and will improve the top-line and the bottom-line to help make business and the planet succeed. And their packaging is using less boxing and more plant based plastics...as well as computer modeled containers that vary in thickness to reduce material use.

Dr. Sauers' team is leading in the sustainable effort as a global corporation. He has achieved the Integrated Strategy found in  Bob Willard’s “Building the Next Sustainable Wave” in which stage 4 companies make cleaner products, apply eco-effectiveness and life-cycle stewardship, and enjoy competitive advantages from their sustainability initiatives. And with their concern for the environment I expect that they will achieve stage 5... that of Passion and Purpose driven by their values-based commitment to improve the well-being of the company, society, and the environment.

Global Warming + Climate Change = Global Climate Change

We have politicized the term Global Warming so much that it is either pegged far left or far right with how it is defined. The corner stone of this argument is the issue of human intervention in the warming process. Are we the cause, or as a minimum are we accelerating the warming trend through our excessive use (compared to natural release) of fossil fuels and the subsequent release of CO2?


Perhaps the conflict is because Al Gore championed the term Global Warming a few years ago and the world either aligned with him or pulled way back. It didn't help that a well funded group of 'Non-Believers' attempted to trash the idea by using short them cyclical data to argue against warming...some of them have now come over to the side of "change"...others remain among the opposition. Their side, however, was right to point out that scientists on the "warming" side falsified their results in reports...making things look worse than the facts supported... science is about disproving a hypothesis, not stacking the books to prove your point.

So... both sides are wrong...both sides are right...???  Coldest winters, hottest summers...ice storms in new regions...drought everywhere...   Which is it, or is there common ground? What both sides should recognize is that changes in temperature will change the flow of both water (currents are impacted by temperature) and air...jet streams being currents...so there will be changes in our weather due to warming trends.

To understand the issue we need to look to the big picture. The earth has warmed and cooled several times in the past 400 million years...with cycles that range from a millions of years apart to 6 or 7 hundred thousand years apart. And when we look at our current cycle we find that we are in a warming trend...a natural warming trend...that will result in rising seas and changing weather. The question isn't if we are in the warming trend... or for that matter if it will cool down in the future...we are and it will. The more important question is whether or not man is causing a much more rapid change to the cycle and after that...how will we survive the global change we will experience?

Perhaps we should be looking at what our rapid growth...a population of 7.4 billion humans on earth in just 15000 years (or less) ...considering that modern man (homo sapient) first evolved about 200,000 years ago and was numbered in the tens of thousands about 15000 years ago... what a rush! Are we polluting the planet? Yes...more and more every day. Are we changing the atmospheric content of CO2...you bet we are. And our commercial processes and demand for red meat are adding other pollutants like Arsenic and Methane to the atmosphere as well. So let's put that argument to rest... we are polluting and no other biological creature has ever polluted that way we do...nor has any changed the ecological balance of the earth the way we do. Man makes change, and he makes no excuses for it...for the most part we perceive change as good and inevitable. And that is one of the traps... change is neither inevitable...nor necessarily good. We need to manage change in a way that will allow mankind...that's all of us, not just those in developed nations...to survive, advance, and prosper.

We are suffering an onslaught of Global Climate Change... natural in its direction but accelerated by what man has been doing to the planet over the past 100 or so years...after all, internal combustion engines are about 100 years old and mass energy production using coal is about that same age...and the warming facts...not biased by manipulation...shows that the demands of population have forced the reality of pollution onto all of us.

What can we do about this? Simple, let's stop using all fossil fuels... right now...no exceptions! Ok, so that won't work... but what if we focus on reduced use of carbon based fuels and improved our production processes to create a sustainable future? Yes...that's doable...and it is something we can all do...and do now.

Where can we find examples of actions we can take? Start with The Earth is Blue... Sylvia Earls, or Silent Spring...Rachel Carson, or be more progressive and read Reinventing Fire... The Rockie Mountain Institute... Go to the US EPA website www.epa.gov on sustainability... look at their recommendations...or go to the European Environment Agency  http://www.eea.europa.eu for their ideas...

Step one...decide to make a difference... step two...turn off the lights...