Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1204
March 10, 2017
Richard Heinberg: How Fast Can We Transition to Renewable Energy?
Our Renewable Future
Richard Heinberg (2016)
In this 2016 presentation, Richard Heinberg talks about his new book (with David Fridley) Our Renewable Future. Both the book and talk focus mainly on the ease with which renewable energy can replace fossil fuels in our current industrial economy. He argues the transition is essential, not only to reduce the impact of catastrophic climate change and ocean acidification, but to address growing global economic and political instability (ie resource wars in the Middle East over dwindling oil and natural gas reserves).
Electric power generation – coal and gas-fired power plants are fairly easy to replace with wind and/or solar generation. However Heinberg also argues that homes need to be made more efficient (in terms of heating and cooling) to reduce peak load demand. Renewable technologies are not good at ramping up at short notice. We have had the technical know-how for decades to produce buildings requiring 1/20th of the energy we presently use to heat them. Up until now, we have lacked the political will to change local building codes accordingly.
Personal transportation – Heinberg argues that electric cars aren’t a panacea. Because they are so energy intensive to produce, only fairly wealthy people will be able to afford them. He feels there needs to be more focus on increasing public transport and adapting our communities to facilitate active transport, such as walking and cycling.
Mass transit – he strongly advocates increased use of rail, by far the most efficient form of transit for both people and freight. For transcontinental travel, high speed trains are much more energy efficient than air travel and are easily electrified.
Shipping – ocean freighters are already quite energy efficient compared to air transport. Using kite sails to propel them can reduce their energy consumption by 60%
Food production – at present we expend 12 fossil fuel calories for every calorie of food produce. In additions to our chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides (all derived from fossil fuels), we also use fossil fuels in food processing and packaging, to run farm machinery and to transport food halfway around the world. The transition in food production has already begun, with strong organic and buy local movements worldwide. Heinberg also supports the growing movement to use sustainable agriculture to sequester carbon ((carbon farming, aka the 4 per 1,000 initiative – see The Soil Solution to Climate Change).
Construction – most of our commercial buildings are made of concrete and steel, which both require intensive fossil fuel input in production. Here he recommends a transition to recycled and more natural building materials and a conscious effort to design buildings to human scale. The splurge in high rise construction of the 20th century was only possible due to a glut of cheap fossil fuel.
Manufacturing – most manufacturing has already been electrified.
Consumer electronics – Heinberg argues we need to make Smartphones more easily upgradable – enabling each of us to purchase one per lifetime. The pressure to replace Smartphones every year is deliberate “planned obsolescence” to increase profits.
Plastics, paint, synthetics – natural ingredients (hemp can be used for all three) tends to be cheaper, more durable and less harmful to the environment.
Richard Heinberg: How Fast Can We Transition to Renewable Energy
Our Renewable Future
Richard Heinberg (2016)
In this 2016 presentation, Richard Heinberg talks about his new book (with David Fridley) Our Renewable Future. Both the book and talk focus mainly on the ease with which renewable energy can replace fossil fuels in our current industrial economy. He argues the transition is essential, not only to reduce the impact of catastrophic climate change and ocean acidification, but to address growing global economic and political instability (ie resource wars in the Middle East over dwindling oil and natural gas reserves).
Electric power generation – coal and gas-fired power plants are fairly easy to replace with wind and/or solar generation. However Heinberg also argues that homes need to be made more efficient (in terms of heating and cooling) to reduce peak load demand. Renewable technologies are not good at ramping up at short notice. We have had the technical know-how for decades to produce buildings requiring 1/20th of the energy we presently use to heat them. Up until now, we have lacked the political will to change local building codes accordingly.
Personal transportation – Heinberg argues that electric cars aren’t a panacea. Because they are so energy intensive to produce, only fairly wealthy people will be able to afford them. He feels there needs to be more focus on increasing public transport and adapting our communities to facilitate active transport, such as walking and cycling.
Mass transit – he strongly advocates increased use of rail, by far the most efficient form of transit for both people and freight. For transcontinental travel, high speed trains are much more energy efficient than air travel and are easily electrified.
Shipping – ocean freighters are already quite energy efficient compared to air transport. Using kite sails to propel them can reduce their energy consumption by 60%
Food production – at present we expend 12 fossil fuel calories for every calorie of food produce. In additions to our chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides (all derived from fossil fuels), we also use fossil fuels in food processing and packaging, to run farm machinery and to transport food halfway around the world. The transition in food production has already begun, with strong organic and buy local movements worldwide. Heinberg also supports the growing movement to use sustainable agriculture to sequester carbon ((carbon farming, aka the 4 per 1,000 initiative – see The Soil Solution to Climate Change).
Construction – most of our commercial buildings are made of concrete and steel, which both require intensive fossil fuel input in production. Here he recommends a transition to recycled and more natural building materials and a conscious effort to design buildings to human scale. The splurge in high rise construction of the 20th century was only possible due to a glut of cheap fossil fuel.
Manufacturing – most manufacturing has already been electrified.
Consumer electronics – Heinberg argues we need to make Smartphones more easily upgradable – enabling each of us to purchase one per lifetime. The pressure to replace Smartphones every year is deliberate “planned obsolescence” to increase profits.
Plastics, paint, synthetics – natural ingredients (hemp can be used for all three) tends to be cheaper, more durable and less harmful to the environment.
March 9, 2017
Homeless Live in Massive Tent City Right Next to Disneyland
A video posted by a bicyclist in Southern California has shown just how bad homelessness is getting California. The video captured the extent of a rapidly growing tent city along the Santa Ana Trail in Anaheim.
A different video posted in January actually suggests that the sprawling encampment stretches for miles along Route 57.
According to an Infowars article, homeless activists estimate that the tent city could have as many as 1,000 people. The locals are growing increasingly worried about the situation as trash and human waste accumulate, and assaults and robberies grow more common along the trail. And all of this is occurring in the same city that houses Disneyland.
Clearly the economy is in great shape and California is perfectly stable, right?
Source: You Won’t Believe The Size of this Massive Tent City in California
Bank Stocks Tumble Into Red After Spicer Confirms Trump’s “Commitment To Restoring Glass-Steagal”
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Trump renews his commitment to restoring requirement that banks separate their commercial and investment activities (ie banning them from speculating with depositors money).
That’s not what the bankers want to hear…
*TRUMP STILL COMMITTED TO RESTORING GLASS-STEAGALL: SPICER
Interestingly this comment comes after President Trump met with a group of community bankers…
And that is weghing on The Dow…
So, deregulation… after the big banks have been broken up by Glass-Steagal-lite?
via Read More Here..
Missouri to Ban Mercury and Foreign DNA in Vaccines*
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In January 2017, State Representative Lynn Morris introduced HB 331 in the Missouri House of Representatives prohibiting vaccines containing mercury or other metals used for preservation or any other purpose from being administered to a child or adult in a public health clinic in Missouri.
Missouri to Ban Mercury and Foreign DNA in Vaccines*
In January 2017, State Representative Lynn Morris introduced HB 331 in the Missouri House of Representatives prohibiting vaccines containing mercury or other metals used for preservation or any other purpose from being administered to a child or adult in a public health clinic in Missouri. If passed, the legislation would take effect on Aug. 28, 2018.
A second bill, HB 332, introduced by Rep. Morris, seeks to restrict the use of certain vaccines containing foreign human DNA. It requires that chicken pox and shingles vaccines administered to patients in public health clinics must not contain foreign human DNA contaminates. The two bills are in response to public concerns regarding vaccine safety.
Vaccine mandates and policies at the state level are generally based on the vaccine schedule and guidelines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention’s (CDC). HB 331 and…
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How Pharma Companies Use ‘Citizen Petitions’ to Keep Drug Prices High
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According to the New England Journal of Medicine, many citizens petitions against generic drugs originate from pharmaceutical companies.
[SEE THE FOLLOWING:
More Proof That Social Media Is A Govt Behavioral Control Experiment
Did Drugmakers Bribe FDA Advisory Panels To Influence Prescribing Standards On Powerful Opiates?
Is the internet now just one big human experiment?
Mad Scientists Lust Over Promise of Real Mind Control Drugs
Drugs An Instrument of Global Policy]
How Pharma Companies Use ‘Citizen Petitions’ to Keep Drug Prices High
Ninety-two percent of citizen petitions filed against generics come from brand-name drug companies.
EpiPens brought by Mylan CEO Heather Bresch at a congressional hearing about EpiPen pricesPablo Martinez Monsivai / AP
Sarah Zhang
In theory, citizen petitions about drug safety are supposed to be exactly what they sound like: a way for anyone to bring concerns straight to the Food and Drug Administration.
In practice, many citizen petitions are filed by none other than pharmaceutical companies themselves—as a way of fighting off a competitor’s cheaper generic drug…
View original post 1,103 more words
March 8, 2017
Monsanto Has Lost $11 Million As Indian Cotton Farmers Begin To Use Indigenous Seed*
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The Indian government has now begun actively promoting the use of indigenous seed, whilst also publicizing Monsanto profiteering illegally on Bt cotton seed. This year has already seen Monsanto lose nearly $75 million in royalties (5 billion rupees) due to farmers changing their seed choice.
Monsanto Has Lost $11 Million As Indian Cotton Farmers Begin To Use Indigenous Seed*
By Jessica Murray
After illegally pushing a form of Bt cotton into India and Africa over 10 years ago, agrochemical company Monsanto is now losing millions of dollars due to farmers now planting their own indigenous seed. In the past, Monsanto has been accused of writing laws and breaking them in order to enter the Indian market. However, the company has now begun paying heavily for their misdeeds, following more than 300,000 farmer deaths between 1995 and 2013, many of which were attributed to Monsanto. Farmer suicides throughout Maharashtra, which is considered to be the ‘Cotton Belt’ in India, have also been linked to the greed of the corporation, according to reports.
The Indian government has now begun actively promoting the use of indigenous seed, whilst also publicizing Monsanto profiteering illegally on Bt cotton seed. This year has…
View original post 469 more words
Abolish the CIA Petition – Roots Action
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I don’t sign that many petitions – but this one I’m signing for sure.
Former President Harry Truman said he’d wanted to create the Central Intelligence Agency for the same reason that George W. Bush said he’d wanted to create the director of national intelligence, in order to have a single agency reconcile conflicting information from various other agencies.
“I never had any thought that when I set up the CIA that it would be injected into peacetime cloak and dagger operations,” wrote Truman, who wanted the CIA restricted to “intelligence.” Background:
> Harry Truman: Limit CIA Role To Intelligence
> McClatchy: WikiLeaks shows CIA cracked smart phones, hid flaws from Apple
> David Talbot: The Devil’s Chessboard
> Douglas Valentine: The Phoenix Program
> CNN: Karzai: CIA Promises to Continue Cash Payments
> The Atlantic: Drone War Has More Victims Than Bush-Era CIA Scandals
> Washington Post: An Alternative Explanation for Benghazi
We’ve now had 70 years of government overthrows, election interference, arming…
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Capitalism, Colonialism and the Failure of Industrial Agriculture
This presentation by anti-GMO and anti-globalization activist Vendana Shiva focuses on colonialism and its fundamental role in capitalism. She quotes from 17th century philosophers Bacon and Locke, who laid the groundwork for a capitalist philosophy that is clearly at odds with most human needs.
Their determination to “dominate” (in some cases they use the world “rape”) the natural world went hand in hand with early capitalists’ determination to dominate and enslave third world peoples and steal their lands.
Industrial farming is an excellent example of this attempt to “dominate” nature. Although it’s promoted as a method of reducing world hunger, it actually feeds fewer people because it destroys soil, kills pollinators and reduces access to fresh water. Its true purpose is to produce immense profits for a handful of rich capitalists.
At present industrial agriculture, which only produces 20% of the food people eat, is responsible for 70% of global disease and malnutrition and 75% of the damage capitalism causes to the global ecology.
March 7, 2017
Women’s History Month–Rosa Luxemburg
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“The most revolutionary act is a clear view of the world as it really is.” Rosa Luxemburg.
We enter into a new month and new period of celebrating our history….history should be celebrated everyday not just once a year….
When I was younger my grandfather gave me a few books and among them was one by Rosa Luxemburg, Reform Or Revolution….she was a fascinating woman of her time……regardless her politics she did much to further the cause of women……
Born on March 5th, 1871, Rosa Luxemburg, a Polish Jew and participant in the Russian Revolution of 1905, was a co-founder of the Social Democratic Party in the joint Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania.
Next to Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg was the most important representative of the left-wing socialist, anti-militarist, and internationalist positions in the Social Democratic Party (SPD) of Germany before 1918. She was a passionate and convincing critic of capitalism as well as anti-democratic and dictatorial tendencies within the Bolsheviki. She confronted the compelling logic of…
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