Elizabeth Engstrom's Blog, page 9

Energy

Let me begin this post by saying that I am not a scientist. I am not schooled in engineering or any of the ways in which power is generated. I have a basic knowledge of many systems of the world, but I have no expertise. What I do have, however, is a modicum of common sense, and that is what this post is about.

It seems to me that drilling for more oil is futile. Whatever pools of it we find, it's still a finite resource and as our population continues to explode unabated, it won't stretch as far as we think it ought to or need it to. Ditto natural gas and all those fossil fuels. Finite. Any energy system that requires them is unsustainable. To me, it is sheer madness to be using up our fossil fuels in automobiles and airplanes at such a prodigious rate. But what's the alternative?

Alternatives are all around us. The tides go in and out, twice a day, every day. This seems to me to be an enormous resource of power. Even the temperature difference in the oceans between the surface and thirty feet under could be used to drive a turbine. Hydro-power we know how to use; we need to figure out how to use it without damming up all the rivers. Geothermal is in its infancy, and yet what more abundant power could could there possibly be? We just need to be a little more clever about it. Run certain strips of metal through seawater and they become magnetized. Magnetism is a source of power. And, by the way, isn't the whole world covered by a magnetic field?  Bringing the needs down to a small, local level, what if we put thick plates of steel at every intersection on thick springs that ran a turbine under the intersection? Cars driving over the plate would turn the turbine and make the electricity to run the streetlights. I bet each one of you reading this post can think of at least a dozen ways to power your house, your town, your corner of the world.

The problem with all the solutions we can think of is that the fossil fuels we are using up are still so cheap that it doesn't pay to invest entrepreneurial money on an alternative. So what if gas goes up to $5/gallon? Oh well, fewer lattes at Starbucks, but we'll still fill our gas-guzzlers. What if it goes up to $10/gallon?

What if there suddenly is no more gasoline? Surely somebody, somewhere will do something about that, right?

Well, the time is now, because all these fossil fuels are finite. We're running out of them. Drilling will not help. Coal-mining will not help. Fracking will not help, not in the long run. Those are short-sighted, non-sustainable solutions to a problem that needs vision for the next two hundred years or more. Now is the time to kick these alternatives into gear and get them going so that when that day comes that the gasoline pumps run dry — and believe me, that day is coming sooner than any politician will tell you — we'll have another way of doing things already in place. Already up and running. A smooth transition.

In this era of unfettered capitalism where greed rules the day, money is not likely to be invested into a new infrastructure of power until there is real money to be made, and that isn't happening yet, because gasoline is still less than $5 per gallon.  We need to stop looking down at the gas pedal and look up toward the horizon.  We're running out of fuel. Carpooling one day a week isn't going to help. We need real, sustainable solutions, put forth by the best minds in the world (not politicians) and we need them now.

Moxie and the African Queen

I've been experimenting with publishing some short fiction on Amazon.com for the Kindle.

The latest short story I posted was "Moxie and the African Queen", a sweet little read for kids of all ages. Inspired originally by Alexis America, whose beautiful watercolor painting still hangs on my wall, my daughter and I collaborated on the bones of the story for an anthology called Great Writers and Kids Write Mystery Stories, illustrated by the incomparable Gahan Wilson and edited by Jill Morgan, Martin Greenberg and  Robert Weinberg.

I buy stand-alone short stories from Amazon, and am interested to find out if anyone else does. This is the fourth short story to appear in this form. Apex published "Music Ascending," IFD published "Crosley" and I previously published "Charlie's Grave."

Check them out. They're $.99, and as always, if you like what you find, please post a review on Amazon.com.

And if you want, I have some far darker pieces I could post. Let me know.

2012 – The Year of Power

Settle down, relax yourself, and then play this video. Be patient, close your eyes or watch the images, and let the message wash over you and flow through you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJJ_AM5C4ns

 

I don't know who this guy is, but his message resonates deeply.

Every Season is Cranberry Season

I should write a cranberry cookbook. I love cranberries, in all forms. I almost wrote that I like them even more than blackberries and raspberries, but that's not entirely true. They're so different, with different characteristics, moods, and creative potentials.

After Christmas, I buy cranberries on sale and stock up the freezer. I have lots of cranberry recipes.  In fact, cranberries are very versatile and can be chopped and added to lots of different things for a tangy surprise. I make juice, cookies, breads and scones, but most of all, I just like a good cranberry relish. There's nothing new or different, particularly, in these recipes. They're just designed to bring out the cranberry flavor.

Here are two recipes, one of which I just made. I love both of these, and we eat them year round.

Cranberry-Orange Relish

1 package cranberries (I chop them in the food processor while they're still frozen so they don't turn to mush)

1 whole navel orange, skin included

A good inch of fresh ginger

1 cup sugar

Chop the first three items together, add the sugar, mix and store, covered, in the fridge overnight to let the flavors blend.

Here's another. Similar, and yet oh, so different:

Cranberry-Jalapeno Relish

1 package cranberries (I chop them in the food processor while they're still frozen so they don't turn to mush)

1 whole lime, skin included

1 jalapeno, seeded

1 bunch of cilantro

1 cup sugar

Chop the first four items together, add the sugar, mix and store, covered, in the fridge overnight to let the flavors blend.

Yum!

The Sunday Morning Soak

I don't always take a long, hot bath on Sunday mornings. Mostly I do that in the winter, after a morning's work, before the afternoon's football game.  But whenever I, a shower taker, take a bath, it's kind of a special occasion.

I'm rarely warm enough in the winter, but I am when I'm in the bath. My tub is deep, my bathroom beautiful, and I use a nice smelling bath oil that helps soften my skin that often dries out during the winter.

The bath gives me enough aromatic comfort to spend time thinking about what I just wrote and what I'll write tomorrow. I can review my schedule or calendar in peace and in solitude, mulling without distraction. I can spend time giving thanks for my amazing life and find perspective in the silly things I worry over during the course of my busy life. The bath is a time to rest, to reflect, to pamper, to be nice to myself.

I know there are many religious, spiritual, communal and cultural rituals with regards to water, and immersion, and bathing and all of that. I'm sure there is a reason, as when I get out, and get dressed, I feel renewed in a way that only a long, hot soak can provide. I'm refreshed and ready for another stint at the computer or to pick up the knitting and turn on the game.

A Sunday Morning Soak: Worthwhile in every respect.

2012: The Year of Forgiveness

I've been naming my years for a while now. 2009 was The Year of Hesed (lovingkindness).2010 was The Year of the Tao. 2011 was The Year of Living Simply, and for 2012, I've chosen The Year of Forgiveness.

I've heard that to forgive someone means to merely allow them their path. Very simple, and my experience says that what is simple is best.

Many years ago, I hurt a lot of people who got caught up in my tsunami of self-destruction. I am soul-sorry about that, and everyone that I'm aware of has forgiven me for my actions during those dark times, for which I will be eternally grateful. I needed those times; they were a part of my path to today. Surely I can allow someone else their path.

I find that it's easier to forgive someone the big transgressions, but what about the guy who cuts me off in traffic? I am usually outwardly calm, but in my head, I'm screaming: "You idiot!" I really don't want to do that any more, so I'm going to stop it in 2012. I'm going to let the little things flow over me, making "allow them their path" my mantra for the year.

And I'm going to forgive myself, too, on a daily basis, for being imperfect and doing all the stupid things I do. I say the wrong thing all the time, I eat the wrong things, I still am tempted to slide into old behavior patterns. I no longer burn with resentment, but I can chew on a good one for a while before letting it go. I don't want to do that any more, either, and so I won't in 2012. Forgiveness is sustainable; resentment is not.

Living consciously is a decision. Each of us is faced with a million tiny decisions every day as to how to react to a million tiny situations. So in 2012, I will react with love in my heart and the perspective that while we all might be on different paths, the goal is the same.

I have a good feeling about what 2012 has to bring.

Happy New Year!

Something Happened To Grandma

My new true-crime book, Something Happened to Grandma,  has just been released in e-book form from Amazon. Rosetta Books did a fine job, as did Marilyn and Elliott Bardsley from Crimescape.

"Something Happened to Grandma" Cover

Dear Mr. President:

Dear Mr. President:

As the leader of the greatest nation in the world, I implore you to set politics aside and do the right thing on a variety of issues. Forget Congress. Introduce legislation and let the angels and other celestial planetary advisers do the heavy lifting with regards to encouraging congressional members to do the right thing. Take your case to the American people. They will recognize sustainable changes when they see them.

No more war. Our Department of Defense is for the defense of the citizens. It is not a department of offense. Bring our soldiers home, close foreign bases and spend that money here. War is not sustainable. It is stupid, wasteful and against every spiritual principle there is. We can take a stand of non-engagement.
No more casual, haphazard and wasteful use of finite resources such as fossil fuels. This is irresponsible for our future. Put a harsh progressive tax on these resources and let that inspire and provide incentive for the great minds of American entrepreneurs to come up with inventive ways to create nonpolluting energy sources.
Pollution is ruining our planet and sickening our people. Be bold in legislative regulation of pollutants, regardless of what other countries are doing. We must lead in this regard.
Outlaw cigarettes. It's crazy that we spend so much money on health care for sick smokers while subsidizing the tobacco industry.
Introduce legislation that allows for term limits in congress. Your office has a term limit; so should each seat in the House and the Senate. The gridlock we are currently experiencing would never happen if there were term limits in congress.

I know that you know that this list could go on and on. We need common sense leadership with an eye not for this term or the next term or for our grandchildren, but we need a visionary who can look 500 years into the future and make plans for our planet that are sustainable. We can't just keep kicking these cans down the road because it is politically expedient.

Be bold, Mr. President. Be brave. Lead the world.

God Bless.

Occupy for A Constitutional Convention

I, like most aware Americans, are quite taken with the Occupy Wall Street movement. But it is not lost on the billionaires that the movement is unorganized. "Give us jobs!" is like saying, "Give me money." It means nothing, really. The movement needs to have one specific purpose.

I suggest calling for a Constitutional Convention.

I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I do know that the billionaires are not the problem, it's the people who make the laws who are the problem.  We need to revamp that system.

The system by which we elect our officials is corrupt. Those with the money have the power. This is wrong. But as long as there are no term limits, the system will continue to become more and more corrupt. Do you think the current congress is going to make changes to the system and put themselves out of a job? Of course not. It's up to us to do that.

We could get term limits if we hold a Constitutional Convention. It's time to put career politicians out of business. We could get a balanced budget amendment. We could radically change the antiquated taxation system. Universal health care? We already have that, because whoever goes to the emergency room at the hospital has their bill paid by the rest of us. But it's unorganized and inefficient. We could fix that with a Constitutional Convention. We could demand a decrease our dependency on imported oil. We could become energy-independent! (Other countries are.) We could mandate taxes on corporations who ship their jobs overseas. We could demand that we get something in return for all the foreign aid we send to other countries. If they can't behave, they don't get to cash our checks for billions of dollars.

So listen up, those of you who are demonstrating for all the right reasons: Demonstrate for something concrete. Demonstrate for one or two specific things that can be changed. We can all unite our voices and get many things changed if focus on one thing we can all agree on: the system must be changed.

It's time for a Constitutional Convention.

Pass the word.

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Gross National Happiness

This YouTube video will take sixteen minutes of your life but could have enormous repercussions, particularly if you repost it vigorously.

A better way is possible. It's being done right now.

We have much to learn.

Make a difference today.