What Would W. Do?

It's been almost a year now, and I hate to say it; but not much has changed.

President Obama may have accomplished more in the past year than most of the presidents before him have in the past 50 years. However, nothing has really changed.

We're at war on three fronts now (add Pakistan).

The bailout has reached treasury busting proportions ($14 Trillion at last count).

And our government is still dragging its feet on climate change issues.

It's starting to look like the only real difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is merely on distractions – such as abortion and gay rights. (Apparently, there will always be a few sell-out Democrats who will temporarily join the Republican party if the money is good enough.)

The health care bill has been watered down so bad that there is no public option left.

There still are no new regulations on the banks gambling with our money (which led to the financial meltdown in the first place). And what “laws” that may pass will be so watered down it won't likely make a difference.

Congress, especially Republicans, have embraced capitalism so much that they are willing to sell their votes – wholesale.

America is looking less and less like a democracy and more and more like a corporatocracy.

And our biggest disappointment? Barack Obama hasn't been the president we had hoped for. As Naomi Klein pointed out in her article No Opportunity Too Big To Blow; the stimulus package could have been a green “New Deal,” the auto bailouts could have been an opportunity to dramatically re-engineer the failing industry for a green economy, and the bank bailouts could have been an opportunity to mandate the banks make loans to green industries.

Barack Obama is at serious risk of losing the support of those who elected him. We're beginning to lose faith. This president came to power with a clear mandate. And the Democrats have a super-majority in Congress.

Allow me to quote Barack Obama, candidate; “ENOUGH!!!”

It's time to fix things.

It's time to fix our political process.

It's time to get big money out of politics.

Unfortunately, it may already be too late for America. Our political system has been gutted. Our economy has been gutted. Our future is in the process of being gutted. (Hey, that's all that's left.)

It is a sad day when someone like Venezuela's communist leader, Hugo Chavez, makes more sense than our own president. But Hugo Chavez was right when he said that “if the climate was a capitalist bank, the rich governments would have saved it.” (Of course, communism isn't likely the answer either. Communist China is as much at fault for the collapse of the Copenhagen talks as the US.)

We've been living in a dream world – ignoring the real world. The real world isn't about lobbyists and loopholes. The real world isn't on TV. If you want to see the real world, go outside. The real world is the air we breath, the food we eat, and the water we drink. We've been neglecting the real world.

If ever there were a system too big to fail, it would be our ecosystem.

...If, or at the rate we are going, when our ecosystem fails; our dream world will collapse – and it won't matter whether you're a king or a pawn. No lobbyist will save you. And your TV will go blank. Nobody... nobody wants this. It's time to wake up and smell the air pollution. That's not normal. And it should not be acceptable.

To save our ecosystem, we must first save our country.

Because without rule of law, we are left with the law of the jungle.

And the first law of this man-made jungle is to make more money now – at any cost – ANY cost.

An old communist phrase once said; a capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with. Let's not make that saying true.

the REAL world

Earth, too big to fail?

Climate skeptics issues addressed.

It's Up To Us Now

Our Governments Have Failed Us.

The Copenhagen Climate Change talks have essentially collapsed. I guess it wasn't a surprise. If our governmental systems had had the ability to deal with this crisis, we would have long ago.

Of course, some national leaders are claiming a (hollow) victory. It was a sad day to see President Obama sounding like Bush Jr. as he announced the Copenhagen results. This was the biggest failure of his life – and he had to stand there and pretend that it somehow was a success.

Hey; we all got together and agreed there is a real problem that we really need to do something about...

…We? ...Something?

I guess it all comes down to us. You and me. Our “leaders” have failed us. They couldn't even achieve too little, too late. It is up to us to save the world now.

The big question is; how long will we wait? Climate change has been happening at an accelerating rate for the past 40 years (that we, the public, have known there was a problem). We've allowed our systems to continue to get worse. And we've pretended that our actions don't really matter. But the truth is; our own actions are the most important. And our own inactions are just as important.

Reputable scientists (ones that actually win Nobel prizes) have warned us that the Arctic Ocean has a 75% chance of being completely melted during the Summer within five to seven years! That's not only unprecedented, it was unbelievable just a few years ago. A BILLION people are at risk of losing their fresh water from streams and rivers from mountain glaciers - that are melting. The unthinkable is happening! …on our watch.

We can blame Obama. We can blame China. There's plenty of blame to go around.

President Obama threw a monkey wrench in the talks, but the talks weren't going anywhere anyway. I guess we'll all have to wonder whether America's offer was real or grandstanding. I guess we'll all have to wonder whether Obama's advisors set him up or whether there was no genuine intent by America to build a relevant treaty.

Either way, the people of the world have been left with a task that our governments have failed at. Our future is at stake. The lives of our children are at stake. The fate of all life on our planet is at stake. And quite likely, the fate of humanity is at stake.

Extinction should be the common enemy to unite us. But our governments have shown the ugly side of humanity. They would rather fight over the scraps than create a world of abundance.

The people of the world don't have to be like that. And if we are not, maybe we can force our governments to do the right things.

It was rather surprising to me that Hugo Chavez, from Venezuela, was pressing so hard for real teeth in the treaty. He is from an oil producing country. Getting away from fossil fuels wouldn't be all that great for his nation's economy (at least in the short term). But there he was, trying harder than the oil consuming countries to stop climate change.

Ironically, climate scientist James Hansen is pleased the Copenhagen Summit has failed. We can now start off negotiating on a clean slate.

It makes me wonder; just how screwed up is our system, when our addiction to oil is more important than life itself? We've been lied to. We've been manipulated. We've been handed options that we don't like. Its time to take matters into our own hands.

I will be installing solar power on our family's home by Spring.

I will be expanding our garden (so that we will not have to buy as many vegetables from a thousand miles away).

I will will become an environmentalist – because that is what I have become convinced the ultimate survivalist needs to be.

I will become more of an activist – because voting isn't enough in a true democracy (and hardly matters at all in a corporatocracy).

I will continue to write this blog – in hopes of sharing what I have learned.

...And if I can find help; I would like to start an open-source design project for a human-powered hybrid car. The design goal will be to build an ultra-light, ultra-capable, ultra-efficient, and ultra-fun vehicle that would be a cross between a tandem mountain bike, a quad off road vehicle, a electric car, and a boat. Others may wish to design versions that could function as a snowmobile or even a blimp.

I call it the FAVcar – or Flying Aqua Velo car.

Since the design is open-source, people would be able to build it anywhere in the world to satisfy their own particular needs. In third world countries, these human powered hybrids could fill the need to upgrade to a car without nearly the environmental consequences. In cities, the FAVcar could be used for commuting. And here where I live, the FAVcar could replace gas guzzling ATVs.

But I need help to do this. If you are interested in working on the FAVcar design, developing an open-source website, promoting the idea, or making parts for - or assembling these vehicles for sale; please email me at rickspils@excite.com.

What Would A Republicrat Do?

Maybe I don't remember correctly. But it seems like most of us who elected President Obama did so because we were tired of foolish wars without clear objectives that weren't accomplishing anything of value. We wanted out of Iraq, and we weren't thrilled about Afghanistan either.

There is a reason Senator Harry Reid's statement about Iraq that “this war is lost” resonated so profoundly. He was right, and far too many people were too committed supporting war criminals to want to hear it.

You would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind to think the Iraqi people are better off because the U.S. has invaded and occupied their country. Our nation is going broke because of the deficit spending on the “war.” And the only ones to benefit from the “war” are the military industrial contractors and the multi-national oil companies – and they aren't doing us any favors (for all we've done for them).

So now President Obama has hinted that he intends to escalate the “war” in Afghanistan. But he has given us a few days to organize and protest. I don't think he wants to do it. And if we raise enough of a ruckus, he just might not. Maybe, if millions of Americans say NO!!!, we can't afford this; maybe President Obama won't get us into another Viet Nam (or Iraq – name your quagmire).

Here is a link to a petition to tell President Obama not to make matters worse.

Click Here

Make sure to email the White House.

Click Here

And also email your Senators and Representatives.

You only have until Monday.

What Went Wrong With Rural Electrification

It appears quite obvious that our local power co-op is now firmly against renewables. For more information about that, you can read my letter to the editor of the Ely Times.

To understand why Mt. Wheeler Power and Deseret Power are the way they are today, we need to remember their history.

Deseret Power was founded in 1978 by six rural cooperatives, one of which was Mt. Wheeler Power. Within 7 years, the co-op of these co-ops had built the Bonanza coal-fired power plant. But they didn't do this all on their own. This power plant was heavily subsidized by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA).

The REA was initiated back during the Great Depression to bring electric power to Rural areas of America. And the program worked. Nonetheless, as late as the 1970s, various places in the Central Great Basin still didn't have power. The construction of the Bonanza power plant and related rural power infrastructure changed all that.

Looking back, they did accomplish their mission, but they could have done a better job. By the 1970s, the technology to generate distributed power locally was beginning to be marketed. Windmills and solar power were expensive, but so was bringing in a power line from hundreds of miles away.

During the 70s, President Carter was trying very hard to promote and develop alternative energy. At the time, rural homes had the most competitive conditions for the installation and development of home power generation. But the inertia of the established fossil fuel power generation system was too much for even the most powerful man on the planet to shift.

The coal industry knew our environmental situation back then. They didn't care. Scientists and engineers knew about greenhouse gases back in the 70s. They also knew about the substantial number of other very dangerous effluents from coal-fired power plants. But scientists and engineers weren't making the decisions.

By the 1970s, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) had become a conduit for money for established industries that had figured out how to milk the system for millions (if not billions) of dollars. The REA could have been an impetus for the development of new cleaner power technology, but it had become just the opposite. By subsidizing old technology, the REA ended up holding back new cleaner and safer technologies.

In 1980, President Carter's re-election was unsuccessful – in part due to generous contributions from the fossil fuel industry to his opponent. In the end, our engineer President was gone – and so were his pro-renewable power policies. Everything we had learned during the 60s and 70s about the environment, our unsustainable economy, the limited supply of fossil fuels, and the potential for end-game wars over resources seemed not to matter anymore. The press stopped paying attention, and so did the people. It was amazing.

That was when Deseret Power built a coal-fired power plant.

More recently; Deseret Power has attempted to build another coal-fired power plant facility. They could have built solar or wind generation facilities. They could have financed the construction of home power generation. But they stuck with their game plan since their formation – coal power.

Two years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitted Deseret Power to build another coal-fired unit. This created quite a national outrage, because the US Supreme Court had earlier ordered the EPA to regulate Carbon Dioxide – and by giving this permit without any CO2 restrictions, the EPA essentially ignored the US Supreme Court.

One year ago, the EPA Environmental Appeals Board essentially shut the expansion down (without best available control technology).

Now we are facing the creation of legislation to Cap and Trade Carbon Dioxide emissions – and Deseret Power is up in arms.

Since the Appeals Board stopped the construction of the new coal-fired unit (without CO2 sequestration), Deseret Power, to my knowledge, has not made any effort to build any renewable power facilities. It appears that they are still sticking with their game plan; coal-fired power.

It looks to me like Deseret Power wants to turn the clock back. They want back their REA subsidies. And they want to get away with emitting as much Carbon Dioxide as they please with no financial consequences. It looks like they essentially want the “freedom” to pollute – and get subsidies for doing it. Moreover, they don't want any other form of power generation to share in the advantages coal has benefited from. It sure looks like they don't give a damn about anyone else, anything else, or the future. And they're willing to “influence” our political system (with our money), to get their way.

…..........................................

Now of course, there are going to be a number of people who know this story far better than I do. I'm only generalizing... I only wish to make an important point – from the perspective of an outsider.

...And my point is this:

Deseret Power was formed to build a coal-fired power plant. Deseret Power's primary purpose, from its beginning, is to supply coal-fired power. Its founders did what they did because coal seemed safer than nuclear (after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident) and less complex than renewables. But the main reason Deseret Power chose a coal-fired power plant was because there was substantial government funding (taxpayer money) available in the form of subsidies. Even today, there are still a number of huge subsidies for the coal industry.

Which leads to the almost schizophrenicly mixed signals our government is sending to the power industry. For all these decades, we have been giving billions of dollars of subsidy money to the coal industry. Now, while we're still giving them billions more in subsidies; we're essentially saying we don't want them anymore.

How can we not to expect the coal industry to feel a little frustrated over the issue?

However, those who truly love America should feel a lot more frustrated.

The fossil fuel industry has spent decades manipulating, subverting, and redesigning our American governmental system. And they have profited immensely from these actions – at the expense of the American taxpayer and consequent instability of America and the planet's environment. Moreover, they do everything they can legally get away with to see that we don't fix these problems.

Regulations, taxation, and subsidies for the fossil fuel industry are totally unmanageable and unsustainable within our government – because that's what the fossil fuel industry has been striving to achieve for well over 50 years.

But I don't want to blame this all on Deseret Power. Deseret Power didn't create the conditions from which it was formed. Deseret Power is simply the organizational creature that has adapted to the economic environment that we, as a society, have allowed to form. The beast (though it has the best of intentions) is gnawing on the hand that feeds it. Can we reign in the beast – or are we going to wait until it gnaws further up our collective arm?

Already scientists from Oxford are predicting that “a rise of at least two meters in the world's sea levels is now almost unstoppable.” Stefan Rahmstorf, from Germany's Potsdam Institute, has said; “There is no way I can see to stop this rise, even if we have gone to zero emissions”

(say goodbye to the Everglades)

The world, and especially the established American energy companies and co-ops, have ignored this truth for decades now. And apparently, in the name of short term profits, want to keep us ignoring the truth.

All I want is for them to do the right thing.

And the right thing to do is to either help or stay out of the way.

A Darwin Award for the Fossil Fuel Industry

A recent survey by Kelton Research shows that 94% of Democrats, 93% of Independents, and 89% of Republicans think that it's important for the U.S. to develop and use solar power.

So where's the controversy? Surprise! It's contrived.

If you go to the Mt. Wheeler Power website (our local power cooperative), you will find a link to “keep our power rates from going through the roof.” When you follow that link, you will find yourself on the Deseret Power website. Sure, the top of the page says Mt. Wheeler Power, but the actual address is www.deseretpower.com/mwpower

The very first line in their letter to you is; “We are continuing our grassroots effort...” (italics mine). Excuse me, but just because they show a picture of a cowboy, this is not a grassroots effort. This is a letter from a company that operates one of the 200 dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the world. The Delta plant emits 16 MILLION TONS of carbon per year!

No wonder they don't want a cap and trade of carbon emissions.

To what lengths will they go to maximize their profits? Well, they just might be willing to lie to us. This poster is on the front door of the Mt. Wheeler Power facility.

Sorry about the grainy picture. My phone camera doesn't have a flash. But the poster essentially says that the Waxman/Markey Carbon Cap and Trade Bill is just about the worst thing that could ever happen. In my letter to the Editor of the Ely Times, I pointed out that the EPA estimates of the cost to American families was about 5% of what this poster states. To see the letter, click here. To see the EPA Preliminary Analysis, click here and see page 5.

...Do I support the Waxman/Markey Clean Energy Security Act? Well, sort of. It's better than nothing. But it is far from the best idea. Unfortunately, with the weakened political power that America now has (due to the partial corporate takeover of our government), this may be the best we can get for now.

Personally, I would prefer a straight carbon tax. The tax could be balanced out with a reduction in income taxes. A simple carbon emission tax would provide the incentive to convert to cleaner power generation technologies. And a simple carbon tax could not be played, manipulated, or cheated like the Cap and Trade program has been in Europe.

Here is a video from a couple of rouge EPA attorneys that explains a better plan than Cap and Trade.

This isn't just about how much money we will have to spend. The stakes here are likely to be unimaginably high. Our environment is going out of balance. Think about it like riding a bike. The consequences of going out of balance on a bicycle are far greater than the act of losing balance might indicate.

Moreover; the genie we have let out of the bottle may be far more dangerous than we ever expected. Scientists are now starting to suspect that the most devastating mass extinction on Earth was caused by prehistoric burning of coal deposits. Explosive encounters between magma and coal 250 million years ago likely led to a combination of climate change and ocean acidification that led to the extinction of 70% of the Earth's species on land and 95% in the oceans.

My greatest fear is that Carbon Cap and Trade legislation is only one more ineffective act in 30 years of typical governmental bureaucracy foot dragging – too little, too late.

But nature has a way of dealing with arrogance and stupidity.

Even if Carbon Cap and Trade fails to reduce CO2 emissions, we are running out of oil. Worldwide oil “production” has been flat for 5 years now. And though the “officials” don't want us to panic, we may already be on the downside of peak oil. It is now very likely that fossil fuel prices are on the verge of skyrocketing – whether we tax them or not.

Ironically, with rising fossil fuel prices may come rising industry profits. The fossil fuel industry just might welcome these shortages. They have been profiting from the suffering of future generations, and may soon profit from the suffering of ours. That's how out of touch they really are.

Finally, Someone Who Isn't Intimidated by Las Vegas

Press Release from Great Basin Water Network:

“Pioche, Nev. -- Last week, the Seventh Judicial District Court in Pioche, Nevada issued a strong, critical reversal of the State Engineer’s ruling on the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s water rights applications in Cave, Dry Lake, and Delamar Valleys in rural eastern Nevada.

In July 2008, the State Engineer issued his decision on SNWA’s applications, filed 19 years earlier in 1989. Because the ruling grossly overestimated the amount of available groundwater in the valleys, and granted the Southern Nevada Water Authority an amount of water that would have resulted in inevitable disastrous consequences for rural Nevada ranchers and the environment, the Ruling was appealed in the summer of 2008 by a group of protestants to SNWA’s applications represented by Simeon Herskovits of Advocates for Community and Environment. Oral argument was heard in a courtroom packed with Lincoln and White Pine County residents in September 2009.

In the Oct. 19, 2009 decision, the Court strongly rebuked the State Engineer, finding that the ruling “results in an oppressive consequence for the basins affected, with the State Engineer simply hoping for the best while committing to undo his decision if the worst occurs despite the exceedlingly long time required to reach equilibrium and the effects which will eventually spread out from the basin of origin and affect the down-gradient basins. Capriciousness by the State Engineer is the reasonable conclusion.”

Simeon Herskovits, attorney for the petitioners in the case said of the ruling, “We applaud the District Court’s reversal of an obviously unsound decision by the State Engineer. There can be no doubt that the long term interest of all Nevadans will be best served by the Judge’s decision to use common sense and reason in applying Nevada’s water law.”

The ruling represents yet another obstacle in the mounting resistance to the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s massive, unprecedented effort to acquire and pump hundreds of thousands of acre feet of water each year from rural Nevada through a 300 mile pipeline to feed its growing population. It also falls on the heels of heated controversy surrounding the negotiation of a potential agreement between Utah and Nevada to divide the waters of neighboring Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah Nevada border. That agreement is a prerequisite to the Southern Nevada Water Authority’s planned pumping of even more water from the Snake Valley, and has met with strong resistance on both sides of the border. The ruling also comes at a time when financing of the pipeline has been put into question given the rising costs associated with such a project and the downturn in Las Vegas’s economy.

The Southern Nevada Water Authority was quick to attack the ruling and the well respected senior judge who issued it. Says Steve Erickson of the Great Basin Water Network, “SNWA is staying true to its proven track record of trying to bully its way to the results it wants, and of concealing and distorting the scientific evidence concerning the basic underlying hydrology of the region and the damning environmental impacts its pipeline project would cause.”

Susan Lynn, of the Great Basin Water Network responded to SNWA’s attack on the Judge by saying, “Such a response is consistent with SNWA management’s inability to engage in self-critical reflection about this astronomically expensive, utterly misguided, and environmentally catastrophic project.”

Although the Southern Nevada Water Authority has stated that it plans to appeal the ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court, the petitioners are confident that the ruling will stand.”

This press release is GREAT news. The SNWA watergrab is no longer a sure thing.


To be continued...