NASA monitors the 'new normal' of sea ice

[Boiler 45,728]

I didn't want to get that personal, but yes we need to consider fewer kids.

Maturing the economies in the developing world will bend but not fix the population curve.

This underscores the urgency of regional, federal and international regulations. Not to kill inovation and business, but to bring the right solutions to the market.

edit:

I dont think these changes are marginal...they are structural changes that will get us to a market driven tipping point where we are economically and ecologically self sufficient.

We have failed States, we have failed continents. Simply not going to happen.

[Rob L 3,811]

We have failed States, we have failed continents. Simply not going to happen.

well look at it this way then. With smart grid technology you will be energy independent and can run electrified wire and flood lights to protect the entrance to your bunker. Its a win-win.

[Boiler 45,728]

I have friends who are off grid, now their system requires maintenance, repairs etc so not divorced from the world.

And they use propane for heating.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Boiler

[yuna628 9,687]

Not sure what you mean about the example of Al Gore, exactly. Unless you think he's a hero because he has been proven wrong on so many of his predictions from "An Inconvenient Truth" 10 years ago?

http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/20/10-years-later-al-gore-says-his-film-underestimated-global-warming/

Arctic ice masses are decreasing, while Antarctic ice masses are increasing in size. Things are changing. But is it the end of the world as we know it? I guess we won't know (for certain) for another hundred years or so. It sure seemed like "The end of the world as we know it" back in the 1930s, when record heat and drought hit the world: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-heat-waves-of-the-1930s/

And before anyone wants to go on record talking about how we all need to pay attention to the "experts" who tell us about the global warming phenomenon, bear in mind that there is no clear consensus among such "scientific experts". Also, consider how much your local meteorologist gets paid, and how often he/she is wrong about the weather tomorrow, let alone 20 years from now.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/18888-embarrassing-predictions-haunt-the-global-warming-industry

I have a few friends that are meteorologists. They have their own personal opinions about climate change, but that doesn't mean that just because of their current job titles, they are climatologists or scientists. But an industry secret I've come to understand, is that most of those persons spouting off the daily weather report on tv, are not certified meteorologists or scientists (yes even many of the ones on TWC for instance), they are MINOs. I watched one friend who has been a beat reporter for years suddenly being asked to do all sorts of jobs around the studio. My friend often says, meteorology is more like a guessing art of unpredictability, rather than a scientist that comes to solid theories based on years of well studied experiments and trials. Often they will have differing analysis of what models tell them based on what they have available or the skills they have. It may interest you to know that a lot of the info they get are from a wide variety of computer models and algorithms which vary to extremes. Some of them are way out of date and some have the reputation of being completely wrong.. but that's the best they can do. A weatherman will often bear the blame for an incorrect forecast - sometimes it is their miscalculation, and other times it is factors out of their control. I would say a meteorologist (an experienced certified one with a strong scientific background) is free to have input and have ideas about climate change, but the average joe on tv these days is not.

There are many experts out there, and I should ask why is there such hostility directed to experts? If you are critically ill with something rare you go to an expert in the field. If you need neurosurgery you go to a neurosurgeon rather than a cardiologist or OBGYN. Experts are those with sound knowledge in their respective fields. They are human, and they may have differing opinions. We armchair scientists can't complain and say ''bah what do those experts know'' if we have not studied for ourselves. We should understand that each person can point out discrepancies and take each point and counterpoint into consideration. That's how scientific method works. Theories need to be tested, doesn't mean it should be immediately dismissed. It's hard from our tiny little lives to imagine how much personal impact we have on our world, but we do.

This is the best question of the week;

policy and regulations

I think that our personal actions are important , but our views on policy, regulations, taxes and treaties should drive our discussions with the folks we vote for and drive our national debate (to me CEHEST is part of the National debate.)

'the us needs to lead and not follow on international treaties

'the BC carbon tax (revenue neutral) is proving successful. One of the best places for business in the world. Oregon and Washington are looking at this model.

*Smart energy requires a smart grid. The US is heavily vested in the Utility Monopoly model where the Utility decides what you will pay and where it will be available. Germany is

way ahead with a smart grid that allows the consumer to decide when and where to buy and sell our power. In 10 years you will have a power plant in your garage (solar, wind, excess from your Tesla

) if you are efficient, you should be able to sell your surplus just when everyone is coming home to make dinner. the current FERC model discourages this approach, we need congess to change the polcies and regs

-Get off coal (lets retool and retrain those workers) coal is dead

-clean and wean off oil

-move to natural gas...1/2 the carbon footprint

-eventaually kill fossil fuels and maybe biofuels...the technology is a ways off but coming

free market solutions

Tesla is paving the way with Transporation and now wants to put a personal power plant with solar panels on the roof...no longer a pipedream even in rainy seattle..competition and scale this new tech

*eliminate waste at work...I cannot belive how poorly commercial plants and offices are run from and energy standpoint. They are wasting shareholders money. There should be a standard energy use plan statement in every Shareholders statement.

*optimize travel...my company paid a man to come from Florida to Seattle last week to provide a class...for knowledge I had and could have given for just my time.

*Forest management: we cannot afford to loose any acreage to trees. We are running our businesses on models that are shrinking the forests.

Personal household:

The easy stuff :light bulbs...if you are still running incadescent bulbs, do your pocket book a favor and get some LED bulbs today. Best investment return ever.

Combine trips

Recycle

Smart Thermostats

Reduce the

amount of lawn and replace with nativenative shurbs and trees

The tougher stuff..

Reduce meat consumption...i love my steak but too much is killing me

Invest in new energy technology...this is still a work in progress for solar and cars..but more demand will help drive the market

Less air travel...this is hard for me, I love my travel.

It is hard to see why anyone would make a case for arguing against doing any of the things suggested, regardless of if one believes in climate change or not. They are sound practices in our role to be caretakers of the earth (from a religious perspective if you will). Ultimately doing these things makes our lives and our ecosystem healthier overall. Who wouldn't want a better place to live and a better way of living?

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Good stuff, Rob. I too have nearly made a complete switch to LEDs; though the initial cost is high, it remains to be seen if the long term makes it money well spent. In the meantime, I know I am using less energy.

Alaska wants to run a natural gas pipeline down from the north slope, saving millions of dollars and many many metric tonnes of pollution in Alaska alone. But... Politicians.

Tesla... I love the concept, but it's still far too expensive. And while it seems great up front, what of the resources necessary to produce batteries to run electric appliances and vehicles? And what of the waste residue left behind when said batteries go dead?

I tried to do better by buying a VW TDI. Saved lots on MPG. And look where THAT got me!

Amazon Prime. Sounds silly at first, but I do a large portion of my shopping over the Internet. Even if I can run downtown and buy it, unless I need it NOW, I tend to order and have it shipped. Not sure if it actually reduces pollution, but I know I am spending less on fuel and saving miles on the car!

Reducing air travel... Probably nearly impossible to do, unless fuel prices skyrocket again. Supply and demand.

Why reduce meat? Other than personal health, I mean?

Keep up the good work. Every little bit DOES help. If only we could get more to do a little, soon we would have a lot.

This is the best question of the week;

policy and regulations

I think that our personal actions are important , but our views on policy, regulations, taxes and treaties should drive our discussions with the folks we vote for and drive our national debate (to me CEHEST is part of the National debate.)

'the us needs to lead and not follow on international treaties

'the BC carbon tax (revenue neutral) is proving successful. One of the best places for business in the world. Oregon and Washington are looking at this model.

*Smart energy requires a smart grid. The US is heavily vested in the Utility Monopoly model where the Utility decides what you will pay and where it will be available. Germany is

way ahead with a smart grid that allows the consumer to decide when and where to buy and sell our power. In 10 years you will have a power plant in your garage (solar, wind, excess from your Tesla

) if you are efficient, you should be able to sell your surplus just when everyone is coming home to make dinner. the current FERC model discourages this approach, we need congess to change the polcies and regs

-Get off coal (lets retool and retrain those workers) coal is dead

-clean and wean off oil

-move to natural gas...1/2 the carbon footprint

-eventaually kill fossil fuels and maybe biofuels...the technology is a ways off but coming

free market solutions

Tesla is paving the way with Transporation and now wants to put a personal power plant with solar panels on the roof...no longer a pipedream even in rainy seattle..competition and scale this new tech

*eliminate waste at work...I cannot belive how poorly commercial plants and offices are run from and energy standpoint. They are wasting shareholders money. There should be a standard energy use plan statement in every Shareholders statement.

*optimize travel...my company paid a man to come from Florida to Seattle last week to provide a class...for knowledge I had and could have given for just my time.

*Forest management: we cannot afford to loose any acreage to trees. We are running our businesses on models that are shrinking the forests.

Personal household:

The easy stuff :light bulbs...if you are still running incadescent bulbs, do your pocket book a favor and get some LED bulbs today. Best investment return ever.

Combine trips

Recycle

Smart Thermostats

Reduce the

amount of lawn and replace with nativenative shurbs and trees

The tougher stuff..

Reduce meat consumption...i love my steak but too much is killing me

Invest in new energy technology...this is still a work in progress for solar and cars..but more demand will help drive the market

Less air travel...this is hard for me, I love my travel.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Population increase will more than wipe out those marginal savings.

My Grandfather was a coal miner, and he had a coal allocation as part of his wages, but there energy use was minimal otherwise.

Now, a very different world, the one thing I have noticed in my lifetime is the foods you eat, mainly local in the past, now from all over.

And driving a Prius eating Quinola?

Noboy wants to make the hard choices.

I know you did not diss a Prius Those things are paying 750 flat commission checks right now. Reported ?

[Neonred 3,577]

I know you did not diss a Prius Those things are paying 750 flat commission checks right now. Reported ?

Great for you, but I HATE when I get stuck behind a Prius on a two lane road....

[OriZ 3,157]

FYI, Tesla is heavily subsidized by the government...Elon Musk could have never done anything without the government, and he uses one company that he owns to prop up another all the time, loaning each other money, buying each other's product, etc.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

I love me some Amazon Prime though. With the exception of groceries we do most of our shopping online.

Edited August 28, 2016 by OriZ

[Boiler 45,728]

Apparently a new Prius Batter from Toyota is about $4,000, a lot of money when the car may be worth not a lot more.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Yeah, I did too, until I moved to a state where they charge taxes on every order. There went my 6% discount!

I love me some Amazon Prime though. With the exception of groceries we do most of our shopping online.

[Dashinka 24,634]

Not sure what you mean about the example of Al Gore, exactly. Unless you think he's a hero because he has been proven wrong on so many of his predictions from "An Inconvenient Truth" 10 years ago?

http://dailycaller.com/2016/05/20/10-years-later-al-gore-says-his-film-underestimated-global-warming/

Arctic ice masses are decreasing, while Antarctic ice masses are increasing in size. Things are changing. But is it the end of the world as we know it? I guess we won't know (for certain) for another hundred years or so. It sure seemed like "The end of the world as we know it" back in the 1930s, when record heat and drought hit the world: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2014/05/10/the-heat-waves-of-the-1930s/

And before anyone wants to go on record talking about how we all need to pay attention to the "experts" who tell us about the global warming phenomenon, bear in mind that there is no clear consensus among such "scientific experts". Also, consider how much your local meteorologist gets paid, and how often he/she is wrong about the weather tomorrow, let alone 20 years from now.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/tech/environment/item/18888-embarrassing-predictions-haunt-the-global-warming-industry

I was trying to point out the hipocracy of these leading figures who lecture us about the evils of man-made global warming, or climate change and how we need to reduce the CO2 levels or a lot waterfront landowners will be unhappy. Then they get I their private jets, and spew as much CO2 as a dozen or more people do in a week or so. About the only celebrity I have any respect for relative to this issue is Ed Begley Jr. Who at least appears to be walking the walk, but this could just be a facade as well.

On another note, there was a UN IPCC (I think) person that made a statement a year or so ago that essentially called for the elimination of ALL CO2 emissions. I emphasized the word "all" since from what I can remember this person said this without qualification. Well I wonder if this person actually thinks before they speak since eliminating ALL CO2 emissions requires the elimination of all life on the planet. Can anyone remember who this person was?

[OriZ 3,157]

Yeah, I did too, until I moved to a state where they charge taxes on every order. There went my 6% discount!

Even with tax it should still be cheaper, not to mention more convenient, than going to a store.

[TBoneTX 45,580]

Reduce the amount of lawn

Any aliens in flying saucers who've been observing us probably conclude, "Dumb Earthlings! They grow grass just so they can cut it! !"

Edited August 28, 2016 by TBoneTX

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Not for the majority of stuff I buy. From Lowe's, for example. (Most) prices are the same, tax is the same. I guess this will force me to go back to looking on EBay for savings.

Even with tax it should still be cheaper, not to mention more convenient, than going to a store.

TBone, I am pretty sure the aliens have been laughing at us for so long now that they no longer find us funny.

Any aliens in flying saucers who've been observing us probably conclude, "Dumb Earthlings! They grow grass just so they can cut it! !"

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Apparently a new Prius Batter from Toyota is about $4,000, a lot of money when the car may be worth not a lot more.

They are more like 1800 bucks now. Also they rarely rarely fail, only a few percent on cars up to 400,000 miles They are fast becoming the primary Taxi cab in many large cities because of their low cost of ownership. Over 95% of Prius sold in the last 10 years are still on the road. One of the most reliable cars sold in america, Also the 2017 has the new li-ion battery. The Two Eco gets up to 58MPG