CO2 CO2 CO2 - Argggggg

Breaking news - The world's governments agree to spend trillions to control the climate. Trillions... Not on potable water, not on hunger, not on disease...

What really gets me going is the recent prediction that the current Paris agreement would only halt warming at 2 degrees Celsius but that other groups are protesting this arguing warming must be halted at 1.5 degrees.

I'm just scratching my head remembering the blog I did a while back documenting my efforts to determine the world consensus on the amount of warming since 1900. 

Spoiler alert there is no consensus.

If governments and the scientific community can't agree on what the average surface temperature increase has been since 1900 how can they accurately measure change? 

Scientist are acting as if there is a model that exist that can predict how many tons of CO2 must be eliminated to halt warming at 2 degrees.  This though invokes a level of SWAG beyond comprehension.  (SWAG = Scientific Wild Ass Guess)  Many articles published before, during and after the Paris United Nations Conference on Climate Change passionately support the 1.5 degree over the 2.0 degree limit which baffles me.  Why not 1.0 degree?

Instead of agreeing on an arbitrary increases my hope is that the worlds governments will HELP developing economies such as China, India, Pakistan and all those in Africa who actively "pollute" the air, water and land to a level that is unfathomable. 

Instead of spending trillions on CO2 mitigation why not spend trillions on helping the developing world stop polluting the air, water and land?  Why can't the developed world help the developing world create a healthy environment?  Compared to CO2 mitigation, cleaner air, water and land is the low hanging environmental fruit and I argue cleaning this up first is common sense.

If clean air, water and land are just too mundane you can always go after trace pharmaceuticals, mercury, soil loss, over fishing, deforestation, etc... The list I'm sad to say goes on and on.

PS  Looking at NASA's imaging it's clear that developing countries are burning everything they can to heat and cook.  The United States is clearly doing something right so lets us help the areas in RED become BLUE and clean up our ever so fragile atmosphere in a way that will directly impact our blue marble in space.

Why Amtrak Sucks

The concept is pretty simple.  Provide mass transportation that is as fast as or faster than driving.  If priced around what gas and tolls cost people will ride.

If you can provide a comfortable setting, clean bathrooms, good food and drink... It will become popular and I would venture actually make money.

Right now Amtrak only manages to meet one of those criteria in that the cars are comfortable.  So why does Amtrak consistently lose money?  For starters they can't even make money selling concessions to a captive audience.

The railroad's inspector general audited by the GAO concluded Amtrak loses about $80 million a year selling food. From 2002 to 2012 Amtrak's food service lost $834 million.  For example Amtrak charges about $2 for a soft drink while costing taxpayers about $3.40 and don't even think about a hamburger that costs taxpayers $16 and tastes like...

My suggestion is to have the federal government take full responsible for the tracks, crossings, bridges, etc... while fostering competition among more than one rail company.  Who knows, one day Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific or BSNF might offer something akin to the Uber ride service.  However, right now that’s just a pipe dream even as Amtrak’s losses decreased to only $227,000,000 in 2014. 

Amount of Warming Not Settled

Various government and institutional studies indicate the Earth has warmed since 1900 by:

1.40 1.53 0.95 1.30 1.35 1.50 1.26 1.30 

degrees Fahrenheit (my best calculation is 1.32 degrees) and sea levels have risen about 8.5 inches.

Isotopic study indicates man has increased global CO2 by 33% during this time period.  
But is the CO2 increase causing this warming?  Do umbrellas cause rain?

MIT Climate Scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen: "Demonization of CO2 is irrational at best and even modest warming is mostly beneficial." "When someone says this is the warmest temperature on record. What are they talking about? It’s just nonsense. This is a very tiny change period."

Princeton Physicist Dr. Will Happer:  "Policies to slow CO2 emissions are really based on nonsense. We are being led down a false path. To call carbon dioxide a pollutant is really Orwellian. You are calling something a pollutant that we all produce. Where does that lead us eventually?"

Greenpeace Co-Founder Dr. Patrick Moore:  "We are dealing with pure political propaganda that has nothing to do with science."

* Update - Turns out I keep forgetting to mention my main point. Humans continue to actually pollute on levels that are frightening for the planet an this must be addressed. Everyday pollution goes hand in hand with developing countries so why not focus on helping free a billion plus people from unbelievable poverty?

* "Isotopic study indicates man has increased global CO2 by 33% during this time period." Turns out this is wrong. Most scientists are now indicating a warming planet/oceans actually contribute more to the CO2 increases than mankind. A good guess is that fossil fuel burning is directly responsible for less than 1/3 of the CO2 increase. Who knew?

With Every Single Day

With Every Single Day (Romulus Vulpescu)

With every single day we disregard
The birds, the love and the forgiving sea
Not realizing that we do, in fact,
Replace them with a desert of dismay.

Just fooled into the comfort of a dream
Which we dismiss with just one hesitation
We linger in our circle without seam
Denying our eyes the contemplation

We roll up in our sheets without joy,
A loneliness in two, cowardice fixes,
Whispering to each other words of lie
Which turn to dross our worn and common kisses.

Eventually we find ourselves too hollow
With an impermissibly low and sad ideal,
Too skeptical, too lonely, too desert
To see that love is here and still real.

With every single day we disregard
The birds, the love and the forgiving sea
Not realizing that we do, in fact,
Replace them with a desert of dismay.

"MORE REVIEW FOR POWER LINE"

The EPA has forced the shutdown of two older coal fire power plants in Yorktown.  To meet peak demand Dominion has asked to build transmission lines across the James to connect the nuclear plant at Surry with Newport News.

It would seem the Pilot wants more study because the power lines are seven plus mile from historical Jamestown and may spoil the view.  I think it's safe to argue a vast majority of our countries historical infrastructure projects wouldn't be allowed under today’s regulations.  Think filling in Boston harbor and dredging for Miami.
                     
First of all, a coal power plant isn't "dirty" just because it's old or clean because it's new.  U.S. coal burning power plants are the cleanest in the world regardless of age thanks to companies like 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing) and work done by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  Steam technology is one of the oldest and a retrofitted steam power plant with scrubbing technology is an amazing way to produce clean power.

Over 90% of our nations electricity comes from coal, natural gas, nuclear or hydro all of which are "bad" because CO2, fracking, radiation and negative environmental impact.  Shutting down coal plants primarily because they produce CO2 doesn't make environmental/economic sense until a cleaner alternative is deployed.

Spoiler alert, California is thirsty because of the massive build up of cold ocean water offshore and their unwillingness to build new dams and reservoirs (or keep what they have) to offset the reality Southern California is a semi-arid desert, supporting one tenth of the U.S. population.  Don't let Virginia suffer a similar fate, that being rolling blackouts, for our failure to do what is needed.

When Dominion Virginia Power informs us that two coal plants - running 30% of the time - if shut down will require a power line from Surry to cross the James river, we should not scoff at them.  We should not complain that transmission lines would mar our historical skyline.  We should not demand the cables be buried under the James.  We should not editorialize Dominion's predictions of doom are just hype.  We should stop whining and accept that 40% of our nations power comes from coal and develop an alternative BEFORE we demand these plants be taken off line.

Only in America

Of course we look like idiots - we are!

#10 Only in America... could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 per plate campaign fund-raising event.

#9 Only in America... could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population.

#8 Only in America... could two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee) BOTH turn out to be tax cheats.

#7 Only in America... can a terrorists, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan shout out "Allahu Akbar", fire 214 rounds, kill 13 people and injure more than 30 all in the name of Allah, be labeled as "workplace violence".

#6 Only in America... would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally become American citizens. (probably should be number one)

#5 Only in America... could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the Constitution be called EXTREMISTS.

#4 Only in America... you need to present a driver's license to cash a check, buy alcohol or Claritin but not to vote. (I think it's perfectly fine to vote with your voter registration card or confirmation letter already in use but hey that's me.)

#3 Only in America... could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a typical U.S. Oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).

#2 Only in America... could you collect more tax dollars from the people than at any time in history, then spend a trillion dollars more than collected and complain that the government doesn't have enough.

#1 Only in America... could the "rich" - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their "fair share" by people who don't pay any income taxes at all.