Be Sus with Sustainability and a Pro with Prosperity

I’ve learned from the new generation who like to say “sus” when something is suspicious. When I see the word sus-tainable, I like to look more closely at the author’s viewpoint.

For close to ten years of blogging on this website Conserve-Prosper.com, I’ve been seeking and sharing ways to sustainably conserve precious resources that ultimately will lead to our individual and collective prosperity. However, I’ve also noticed many versions of the word sustainability. Here are two examples:

One group based in London, UK called Sustainable Times: “is a media platform and community that delivers essential resources and timely news…bridging the gap between visionary sustainable founders and impact-driven investors, it fosters a dynamic community committed to building a sustainable business future.” One article is titled Water Efficiency: Driving Profits and Sustainability in Today’s Business which states:

“The writing is on the wall: water costs are rising, shortages are looming, and climate change is escalating. But there’s hope — water efficiency offers a practical, cost-effective solution to each of these challenges. By understanding and reducing water consumption, businesses can cut costs and make significant strides in their environmental sustainability efforts.” Overall, I’m finding the articles to be interesting that meet the definition of business sustainability.

Another group called Sustainability-Times:“is your online destination for trusted news, insightful analysis, and lively debate on every aspect of sustainability. From clean tech and climate action to health, ecology, education, and innovation, we explore the key transformations shaping a better future.” Guess where it’s published and the content of most of their posts? They are based in Tel Aviv, Israel with many of the news reports relating to Chinese and American militaries! Here are three recent reports China Hits the Moon With a Laser, China Stunned by US Jet, China Unveils Its Military Mega-Project. So perhaps these articles are useful from the point-of-view for Israel to sustain their existence but I’m not finding news promoting environmental sustainability.

On another topic, in response to increasing stock market volatility around the world, personal finance expert Suze Orman says,

“I need you to be conservative right now.”

She’s not talking about being politically conservative. She says we need to ‘tighten our belts’ by reducing expenses and making sound decisions on saving and spending money as discussed in her YouTube video. I became a fan of her CNBC show over 20 years ago and read several of her New York Times bestselling books.

How many times have we eaten out at a restaurant, only to feel indigestion with the food and the bill? At a recent Red Robin lunch for two, the $20 burger was undercooked, the fries too salty and the salad bland - so much food and money wasted! Conservatively contrasting eating out, we always enjoy meals at home, knowing the higher quality and value of food provided when and how we want to eat.

We try to combine trips with one car to be as fuel and time efficient as possible. Road trips give us time to relax and talk.

We can all make better choices for buying sustainable products, such as these recommended by the UCLA housing office.

Would you agree that prosperity is our total wealth, not just financial security but also our mental and physical health and spiritual abundance?

“Live long and prosper,” said Mr. Spock from Star Trek, the futuristic TV show that continues to sustain audiences for over 60 years!

In Woodbury Pond

In Woodbury Pond

by Bill and A.J. Dam

In the Piedmont’s former pristine white pine forest transformed to become the newly constructed housing development of New Hill, North Carolina, an area of about five-square miles and 1,000 McMansions, only one old pond remains. Located in the Woodbury neighborhood across from where we live in Jordan Manors, the small pond is cramped and crowded behind the backyards of a dozen homes. Living in the Woodbury Pond are a few elusive large-mouth bass.

Attaching the seven foot fishing rod to the electric bike makes for quick transport to get the hook in the water. After dozens of trips and hundreds of attempts using different bait and fishing from different spots on the shore, no luck occurred in snagging the prized fish. Then on Friday the 13th of September, on his last attempt after trying for two hours and 30 minutes past sunset in the twilight, knowing the bass must be hiding beneath fallen branches and rigged with a swim bait artificial fish, a huge large-mouth bass jumped onto the lure as soon as it hit the water. The bass tried to swim away dragging the line that spun off the reel to get away but with great effort A.J. reeled in the fish feeling the rod bending close to the breaking point. The bass measured about two feet long and A.J. immediately made a video call to his parents to share the news.

Carefully removing the hook from the large mouth, hoping the bass can live longer, he carefully set the fish free into the old pond and slowly rode the e-bike home feeling elated to share his achievement of the one that didn’t get away.

Coder Dojo

I met the CoderDojo team at the Earth Day celebration in Apex, NC. According to their website:

“CoderDojoApex NC is a volunteer-led digital making and coding club with a mission to inspire children to learn, make and express with technology. We meet every Saturday from 10:30a-12:30pm ET(regular session). We welcome children from ages 7-17 years old and all levels of coding experience from beginner to advanced. Attending a session is free of charge, however signup is necessary. Register on the CoderDojo website to reserve your tickets and become a member of this community.”

Initially my wife and I got excited to learn about the CoderDojoApex group for our son to improve his computer programming skills as well as my sharing the opportunity with kids I meet as a substitute teacher at the public schools. When I heard they are currently creating projects on environmental sustainability I got even more thrilled and they asked me to judge the presentations held last Saturday! Our son is still on a baseball team so we hope he will get involved later this summer.

Group presentations of sustainability projects were judged based on factors created by the organizers for Coolness, Complexity, Presentation, Design and Usability.

Six groups of three or four children presented their projects that they had worked on for over a month. Some groups presented posters, PowerPoint slides, and many wrote Scratch programs. Topics included finding ways to improve growing food at home, sharing information to reduce fossil fuel consumption, protecting wildlife, conserving water, reducing plastic pollution, and preventing forest fires. The winning team programmed soil moisture sensors to water plants using Arduino and they came up with a great title and presentation: “SPLP Sustainable Planting for Lazy People!”

I also liked many of the Scratch games that the students created. The group from Kenya created a game to promote awareness for saving White Rhinos from illegal ivory poaching.

When I see the enthusiasm, concern, creativity, and willingness to sincerely address world problems and create positive outcomes gives me great hope for the future of humanity. For more on the #CoolestProjects Jam event and future events check them out on Facebook!

Sustainable Fishing

The Wake County (North Carolina) Public School System’s sixth grade science classes are reading World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky. Published in 2011, the author states that on the current trend most fish we know of could be gone in 50 years! Even worse, since all life is interconnected, including on land and in oceans, loss of fish populations will affect other wildlife like birds as well as threaten the food web and human existence.

Environmental stresses such as climate change and pollution and fishing fleets using drag nets to meet consumer demand are leading causes for species depletions and extinctions. Biodiversity is the key to success for all life which would be threatened if fish species decline. For example, overfishing bluefin tuna would harm dolphins and cause other species like jellyfish to expand. Seabirds that eat fish would also die out causing problems on land. Reptiles would not have food that is discarded by sea birds.

It’s interesting to read how many scientists in the late 1800’s thought fish populations could not diminish due to abundant egg production and fisherman would never intentionally impact fish populations. They misused Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” by not considering new inventions like the steam engine and monofilament plastic nets that allowed for deeper bottom fishing. People mistakenly thought fish in the deep oceans were as abundant as along coastal waters.

Humpback whales and herring eat krill - shrimp-like creatures which eat microscopic phytoplankton. White meat fish include cod, haddock, flounder, and halibut can swim near the bottom of the ocean and swim to the surface to eat smaller fish and shell fish. These fish are prized in commercial markets. Middle ocean depth fish include sardines, anchovies, herring, mackerel, and tuna have darker flesh and contain oily fluids.

Mr. Kurlansky aptly points out the sad story of the Orange Roughy that only 50 years ago became too popular and within a decade diminished by 90% in Australia due to a lack of scientific understanding. These red fish are found at depths of 5000 feet and turn orange when they die. They can live for 150 years but do not begin reproducing until age 20 so catching juvenile fish harmed the entire population.

Fish farms may not be the answer for sustainable fishing due to related problems. Ships the size of factories net and grind up fish for feeding farmed fish. The book shares that four pounds of fish meal are needed for one pound of farmed salmon. Farmed fish confined to small overcrowded areas develop weaker muscle tissue as well as increase water pollution.

The best solutions for sustainable fishing are for consumers to buy fish labeled as “certified sustainable seafood.” Higher prices to fisherman are going for line-caught fish like white albacore tuna and we can avoid buying other fish higher on the food chain such as bluefin tuna and shark. Lower food chain fish are more abundant and sustainable including sardines, anchovies, and herring. Other suggested actions include becoming active in environmental groups and promoting international relations to change consumer demand.

Sustainable Blogging

Today’s the last day of February 2022. I last posted a blog just after the New Year. Since starting the Conserve-Prosper website in May of 2015, I’ve consistently posted at least one blog every month for 80 months. So now I have just a few hours left today to add a blog for this month.

During the month of June 2019, I challenged myself to post a blog every day of the month. Typically writing a blog and finding the relevant photograph could take up to four hours to complete.

It’s been a great privilege to express my First Amendment freedom of speech, particularly in the last few years after retiring from the federal government. We see dictatorships that prevent free speech but does your employer (teacher, spouse, parent or child) block you’re expressing diverse points of view? Perhaps it’s ironic that I am borrowing the “Blogging” photo from a .gov website!

With the crisis in Ukraine, I feel shock, dismay, helplessness and confusion. It brings back memories from 43 years ago as a college student spending a semester in Germany when we visited East and West Berlin before the fall of the Soviet Union. After a week in West Berlin, we passed through the Wall at CheckPoint Charlie and spent three days in the communist country. There were many Russian tourists that we could not meet but our tour guide shared his misery living in East Germany and he desperately wanted to escape to America. The dictatorship government claimed they wanted to prevent western ideas from contaminating the minds of their people. I heard during this time Putin was stationed with KGB nearby in Dresden.

The most amazing memory was on a Saturday evening at 9 pm we walked out near the Wall and could see West Berlin from the Eastern side. The nightclubs blasted disco music and neon lights lit up the sky. In stark contrast, the East Berlin side was dark and quiet with a curfew at 10 pm. It seemed to me that East and West Berlin were at two extreme ends of the spectrum before the Wall came crashing down ten years later.

The fight in Ukraine between a democratic system and crazy Putin’s dictatorship is all about freedom of individual rights such as free speech!

So pray there is a peaceful resolution to this and many other crises. Everyone needs to find a way to express themselves and force free speech around the world. I consider each blog like a message in a bottle hoping some will be read and make a difference in the world. Writing these blogs has made a difference in my life so thanks to everyone who takes the time to check it out and feel free to post a comment.

Garden of Gratitude

For the past several days I have been working as a substitute teacher at Caprock Academy teaching fifth grade science and high school geometry. I am very grateful to many people — especially Mrs. Ellen Robinson who teaches biology classes including Botany. I shared with her this website so she turned me on to a wonderful book called Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer who published the first edition in 2013. I had some time between classes, study hall, and on the weekend so I immersed myself in the book discovering a treasure chest of profound wisdom.

According to her bio, the author is a “mother, scientist, decorated professor and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology and founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.”

I loved reading the opening origin story about Skywoman Falling and rereading it several times including to my family. The author wrote an article last year where she said:

“The mythic story of Skywoman Falling is the heartbeat of Braiding Sweetgrass, both an opening and a closing, enfolding the stories between. The version shared in the first edition is the most widely told account of the epic, but it is not the only one. There is always the deep diving Muskrat and the earth on Turtle’s back. The rescue by the Geese and the gifts of the animals are a constant, as are the seeds Skywoman brings, initiating the covenant of reciprocity between newcomer humans and our ancient relatives. The detail that varies from one telling to another is just how Skywoman finds herself falling from one world to the next. The common version is that she slips, the earth giving way at the edge of the hole in the sky where the great Tree of Life had fallen. It is an accident, with mythic consequences—and so it begins.”

Later in the article she describes other versions of how Skywoman descended to Earth, that this was no accident; her duty to safeguard life.

“In this time of transformation, when creation and destruction wrestle like Skywoman’s mythic grandsons, gambling with the future of the earth, what would it take for us to follow Skywoman? To jump to the new world, to co-create it? Do we jump because we look over our shoulders at the implacable suffering marching toward us and jump from fear and portent? Or perhaps we look down, drawn toward the glittering green, hear the birdsong, smell the Sweetgrass and yearn to be part of a different story. The story we long for, the story that we are beginning to remember, the story that remembers us.”

I am grateful for the wisdom the author shares which is rarely documented in oral traditions of indigenous culture especially by a person with incredible diverse credentials. The book is so rich with examples of our dependency on the natural world and that there is so much more to learn.

How pecan trees communicate across large regions yielding bumper crops one year then go several years without producing nuts and how wildlife responds to the cycle.

The importance and “genius of indigenous agriculture” for sustaining the land and healthy diets known as the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash.

The best way to connect with the land and nature showing our gratitude and giving gifts is to grow a garden.

To grow diverse plants, such as many varieties of corn, to fit the land rather than fitting the land to monoculture crops as is common practice with modern agriculture.

Her efforts to make a spring-fed, algae-rich pond swimmable by seeking a balance of what to put in and what to take out.

To harvest no more that half of the potential yield of natural resources to prevent overconsumption and ensure sustainability. The unharvested fruit, vegetables, fish, water (etc.) will benefit other wildlife and provide seeds or species for future growth.

Please share your comments and ideas in the comment section or send an email to info@conserve-prosper.com!

The Sustainable Investing Paradox

How can we find investments that are going to last, make money and do good things for the planet? When I started learning about investing in mutual funds holding a diversified collection of stocks it became apparent that many funds held companies I did not like including makers of tobacco or guns. These mutual funds made good returns. However, when I looked for mutual funds that advertised being socially conscious many performed below market expectations.

I make no claims of providing advice beyond sharing my personal experience. One of the first sustainability mutual funds that I heard about was Pax World. Their website states:

“Established in 1971, Pax World is a recognized leader in sustainable investing. The Pax World sustainable investing approach fully integrates analysis of macroeconomic and market trends, fundamental security-specific financial data, environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, and disciplined portfolio strategies.”

There is a trend for many corporations to consider sustainability but there is a paradox. Cambridge Dictionary defines a paradox as, “a situation or statement that seems impossible or is difficult to understand because it contains two opposite facts or characteristics.” Will investing in ESG funds make good returns and be an incentive for the non-ESG companies to go out of business? In 2018, I wrote a blog on ESG investing when BlackRock endorsed the trend to be more competitive.

As consumers and investors we can vote with our money to choose companies that do more good than harm. Most importantly, we need transparency and experience to be informed in what we are buying. I like to checkout each stock’s fundamentals held in the mutual fund or ETF with information available on the internet such as in Yahoo Finance.

Checking out the top 10 holdings for several mutual funds listed as being “sustainable” they include many of the same S&P 500 tech companies, home builders, and banks. So sustainability is focused on the company’s behavior more than saying it is immune to bubbles and crashes.

Embedded in my DNA is a fear of another stock market crash like my parents lived through in 1929. I wonder how many people have this phobia as well? Fear, consumer confidence, and Fed intervention have a big influence on stock and bond markets.

What caused the crash? According to Economics.help:

“The 1929 stock market crash was a result of an unsustainable boom in share prices in the preceding years. The boom in share prices was caused by the irrational exuberance of investors, buying shares on the margin, and over-confidence in the sustainability of economic growth. Some economists argue the boom was also facilitated by ‘loose money’ with US interest rates kept low in the mid-1920s.”

The current U.S. stock market boom over the past decade is being compared to the 1920’s and 1960’s by many experts. Will ESG green investments survive a market meltdown? Probably not. According to a former Blackrock executive in charge of sustainable investments as interviewed in The Guardian, corporations are focused on maximizing shareholder value. Unless there are economic incentives such as a carbon tax imposed by the government, it is unlikely ESG funds will be successful. So consider carefully the “green-washing” of ESG and sustainable investing to realize there is a lot of slick marketing, maybe even smoke and mirrors, with the mutual fund industry. Please comment below to share your opinion.

Climate Commitments by BlackRock

Yesterday’s announcement by the Vatican on carbon pricing as a control on climate impacts included BlackRock, Inc., the largest asset management company in the world. They hold over 6.5 trillion dollars in assets for institutions and individual investors. They created iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which holds stocks like an index mutual fund that are traded as stocks with low management fees. They also manage U.S. federal employee retirement pensions in the Thrift Saving Plan.

First for full disclosure, I own stock in BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) but it has not performed well in the past 52 weeks, down 15%. The yield of over 3% is attractive and has a low price to earnings ratio (P/E). They have 70 offices in 30 countries but recently needed layoffs to control costs.

According to the BlackRock history webpage, eight people created BlackRock in 1988 (including the current CEO Larry Fink) “to put clients’ needs and interests first.” They became a public company in 1999 and have tremendous influence on other companies and investors.

In September 2016, BlackRock issued a statement on climate change: “Investors can no longer ignore climate change. Some may question the science, but all are faced with a swelling tide of climate-related regulations and technological disruption. We show how to mitigate climate risks, exploit opportunities or have a positive impact.”

In January 2019 they announced the BlackRock Investment Stewardship’s approach to engagement on climate risk, “As part of its investment process on behalf of its clients, BlackRock assesses a range of factors that might affect the long-term financial sustainability of the companies in which we invest. We have determined that climate change presents significant investment risks and opportunities that have the potential to impact the long-term value of many companies.”

Therefore, BlackRock is taking a leadership role in the climate change debate by showing business sustainability must consider short and long-term risk factors. Climate change poses the greatest risk to humanity so businesses cannot afford to ignore science realities despite the noise and confusion coming from some sectors of government and industry.

Extreme Floods

Extreme flooding is occurring across the U.S. due to record rainfall affecting the midwest, central states and east coast. In addition, in Colorado and other mountain states we are seeing rapid snowmelt causing flooding along major waterways. The U.S. Geological Survey provides Water Watch information on streamflow and flood locations.

Mitigating Nuclear Hazards - Part 1 Overview

To discuss my experience with mitigating nuclear hazards, I like to say that I am the only person I know of who has worked on almost every aspect of the nuclear fuel cycle. Please let me know if you know anyone else making such a bold claim so perhaps we can gain their perspective? Groups that gave me this experience include the University of Wyoming, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory as well as several consulting assignments.

Ironically, in the U.S. we do not have a complete nuclear fuel cycle so a person would need to work with the French on reprocessing spent fuel to go full circle. The examination of the nuclear fuel cycle for mitigating hazards is relevant to nations and taxpayers under the construct of Conserve & Pro$per on many levels that will be discussed.

As shown on the figure, the nuclear fuel cycle is the process necessary to generate electric power (as well as medical isotopes) in a reactor. The cycle begins with mining, involves several steps to produce and burn fuel rods, store spent fuel, then ultimately burial in a engineered-geological repository. As discussed on my blog post about the Green New Deal, we all use nuclear energy, which accounts for about 20% or one-fifth of our electricity generated in the U.S. So even for the anti-nuclear activists, we all must be aware of the risks and costs involving the nuclear fuel cycle including the fact that we must properly deal with existing nuclear waste.

I will need many blog postings to explain my experience with the nuclear fuel cycle and provide examples of mitigating nuclear hazards. Here is my proposed outline to be provided in upcoming blog posts:

1. Overview

2. Uranium Mining

3. Uranium Mills and Clean Up

4. Yellowcake Conversion, Enrichment, and Fuel

5. Nuclear Reactors - Operations, Relicensing, and Decommissioning

6. Spent Fuel Storage

7. High-level Waste Disposal

8. Accidents

Thanks for your support and interest!

What Get's Your Attention?

What’s popular that gets your attention? How do children develop their interests? Would you agree it largely depends upon home and school as well as what medium, such as books, TV or the internet, gets our interest and attention? When interviewing people for jobs, I’ve often asked what would they be doing if making money was NOT a priority? This helps reveal their true passion in life! My childhood developed my passion for becoming an environmental scientist and luckily my liberal arts education as well as science degrees gave me well-rounded interests.

So what gets your attention the most now and when you were a child? For me, I’ve been spending a lot of time recently looking at news feeds from my LinkedIn groups where I currently have 1,272 professional connections around the world. I’m also connected to LinkedIn news from very large user groups including the Project Management Network with over 860,000 members, Sustainability Professionals with close to 190,000 members, and Water Pros with over 47,000 members. So in total currently I’m able to reach over a million people through LinkedIn. Social media is having an incredible reach, which I’ll discuss more in a moment.

Looking back, what influenced you the most that got your attention to shape your education and professional interests? Growing up, I was lucky that my Mom’s brother Uncle Allan lived with us and subscribed to the National Geographic magazine — living in the Washington D.C. area I got to meet one of their photographers who attended our church who shared exciting stories about his world travels. The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau was by far my favorite TV show as an adolescent which influenced me to become a natural scientist. His show ran from 1966 to 1975. What a thrill I had in 1984 seeing John Denver perform in D.C. on board the Calypso while docked on the Potomac River with Mr. Cousteau and his family!

The final episode last month of the 12-year Big Bang Theory series, as of May 21st, 2019, attracted 23.4 million TV viewers and the final season was the most watch show of the season (excluding sporting events).

You can probably guess the most watched TV shows. The Super Bowl generates the largest TV audience with the 2015 match between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks attaching the most viewers in TV history with 114 million people! However, viewership has been dropping in recent years with the 2019 game being the lowest in a decade with “only” 98 million according to CNBC.

Incredible are the number of people watching YouTube videos. Several music videos are seeing billions of viewers like Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You with over 4 billion views!

So these days to attract the youth and get their attention maybe we will need to learn to sing and dance?

A 30-day Blogging Challenge to Prepare the First Monthly Newsletter

I am challenging myself to provide meaningful content on the Conserve & Prosper blog EVERY DAY this month of June 2019! In return, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts, likes (or dislikes), comments, and topics of interest to make this relevant to all the readers! If you’re interested in looking at my resume, please see my LinkedIn page.

I officially retired from my U.S. Government job as an environmental scientist just one month ago! I’m feeling a tremendous relief from the high-stress office politics that came from the top on down and look forward to sharing insights on my many experiences in future blogs. The federal government is increasingly a very challenging, chaotic and restrictive place to work, especially for dedicated scientists who are focused on truth, justice, and making meaningful actions.

I worked in several administrations starting with Ronald Reagan and civil servants were told to stay non-political and could not engage in political activism per the Hatch Act. With the sharp political, anti-government divisions of nationalism occurring in the U.S. and globally, civil servants and especially the scientific community are needing to become activists as demonstrated by the first March for Science as described in my blog on Earth Day 2017. A great book I highly recommend on the transition between the Obama to Trump administrations affecting the Department of Energy and other federal agencies is The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis!

However, disruptions also occurred when President Obama took office in 2008 and he made a campaign promise to Harry Reid, defying the law, to shut down the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. This resulted in my DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management closing, reductions-in-force (i.e. layoffs), and total chaos for finding new jobs - especially for scientists as described by the Government Accountability Office. This severely affected the political environment of other agencies including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I will go into much more detail in an upcoming blog on nuclear waste disposal.

Blogging (my First Amendment right) for the past four years during weekends and holidays gave me a healthy outlet but resulted in my making just a few posts per month. The blogging opened me up more than ever to what is going on in our precious environment and how people around the world are being affected yet becoming more aware of our perilous situation. Obviously, I had to be non-political (as a federal civil servant) to provide unbiased educational news. Now, I can REALLY share my opinion and views on what is happening on many topics!

Over the past two years, I have also been occasionally working as a substitute teacher at local elementary, middle, and high schools. What an awesome, exhilarating, and sometimes intense experience to spend time with youthfully exuberant kids as well as dedicated teachers and administrators. These full-time professionals definitely deserve more appreciation as shown through better pay and newer schools.

So far I have not been commercial advertising on the website and hope you’ve enjoyed the non-commercial content! In the near future, I plan to provide products including a monthly newsletter, educational posters. and much more. This feature is not active yet so please stand by for a few more weeks.

Thanks for all the support and please share with your family and friends!

Green New Deal: Inserting Realities into Radical Proposals

The Green New Deal proposed this month in Congress calls for radical changes to how we get our electricity. The non-binding resolution introduced by two progressive Democrats as reported by NPR suggests the energy sector can be converted to 100% zero-carbon power within 10 years while at the same time eliminating future nuclear power plants.

Can the U.S. realistically eliminate generating electricity from natural gas, coal and possibly nuclear sources in the next decade? According to the Energy Information Agency, here are the present sources of power generated in the U.S.: Natural Gas 33%, Coal 29%, Nuclear 20%, Hydroelectric 7%, Wind 7%, Solar 2%, and Biomass 2%

As you can see, 64% of current power generated releases carbon. Nuclear power does not directly emit carbon into the atmosphere and receives mixed to negative support by environmentalists. Currently, renewable wind and solar only accounts for 9% of power generation.

So it is not realistic to propose converting the entire power fleet in a decade to renewables only. Senator Diane Feinstein from California, which leads the nation in renewable power generation, said the Green New Deal must be modified to be more realistic, provide funding such as a carbon tax, and not have such an ambitious timeline. Most of the news coverage showed her defensively debating with children.

I believe that the Green New Deal is timely for creating the debates needed to move the United States from being the second largest emitter of carbon (China is the largest) to leading the future of green power generation and that rational realism, such as including new nuclear technologies as reported in Forbes, needs to be adopted in future legislation and energy planning.

The Children's Fight for Sustainability: Jesus said The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

In the United States, two groups, Our Children’s Trust and Earth Guardians, filed a lawsuit against the federal government in 2015 to give youth legal rights to a stable climate and healthy atmosphere. Their lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon states that government actions (filed during the Obama Administration) that are causing climate change violates the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as protecting public trust resources.

In Europe this week, children in several cities are cutting classes to march and protest for a sustainable future. The BBC reports of 35,000 children marched against climate change in Brussels!

So what did Jesus, over two thousand years ago, mean in the Bible verse Mathew 5:5 by saying “The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth?” My reading of various interpretations is that Jesus encouraged his followers to be strong and humble - recall his actions against the thieves in the temple?

The environmental movement rise in the 1960’s focusing on local issues is transforming into a global fight for not just sustainability, to preserve resources, but for survivability! What would Jesus be saying right now given how destructive forces (eco-thieves) are robbing our children’s futures? This is a call to action for us all to become more informed about what we can do to reduce our impacts on the Earth. Perhaps we need an eco-inheritance tax rather than tax breaks for the ultra rich?

To Conserve & Pro$per: Let Us Count The Ways!

I heard a Chinese Proverb many decades ago that says, “The more possessions you own, the more possessions own you.” At the time I loved to collect books and possessed an extensive library. As I moved around with many boxes of books I eventually donated the books and relied on public libraries. This took a great weight off of my back!

For over six years we’ve demonstrated that even living in an area of no public transit we are happy with one vehicle for our family. We are paying less for car insurance, maintenance, fuel, car washes, and we have more quality family time together. Personal vehicles like personal computers might be the trend but the costs to our pocketbook and the environment will only increase.

So will a carbon fuel tax be one solution to combat global climate change? This would promote green energy sources and decrease demand on hydrocarbons and burning coal for electricity.

The essence of learning to conserve fits many themes to shrink our footprint, have less impact, consume less, 3R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle), and promote more green space. We must plant more trees and preserve the forests and wildlife that remain!

For a New Year’s resolution, let’s all go on a diet and exercise more! Eat less, get thinner, breath fresher air, feel our connection with animals and the environment and find ways to recognize and solve our local, national, and global challenges.

May we all promote a peaceful and prosperous lifestyle!

Momentous Climatic Events Last Week

The day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday for shopping deals, heavy rain along coastal California finally ended the tragic fires that spread north and south. The Camp Fire near Chico killed about 88 people, injured dozens, displacing 1000’s of people out of their homes, and impacted millions of people from significant air pollution. That same day the U.S. Government released the fourth national climate assessment that shows burning carbon is causing climate change and impacting our health, environment, and economy. See how these factors are interrelated in chapter 17.

On Monday, November 26, 2018 NASA successfully landed a probe on Mars!  Scientists and engineers beat the odds learning from previous missions for InSight to drill down to see what lies beneath the surface of Mars.

Exploring Mars captures international attention while NASA scientists continue to make important contributions to understanding our Earth. So how does NASA know climate change is occurring due to carbon pollution? See the overwhelming factual evidence for climate change!

On Friday, November 30, President George H.W. Bush passed away at age 94. His dedicated career of public service included environmental accomplishments with the passage of the Clean Air Amendments Act in 1990.  I worked with a colleague in Washington who helped as a Senate staffer and said the original Clean Air Act legislation had many challenges to get through Congress and they needed to show photographs of air pollution affecting national parks like the Smoky Mountains. The amendments had bipartisan support to improve air quality, reduce acid rain, save the protective ozone layer with more bans on CFC’s, and prevent an estimated 230,00 premature deaths and for “Better air quality, better health protection, better economy.”

More Bicycles than Cars or People in Amsterdam!

I’ve posted 15 photographs of our visit to Amsterdam this past week showing the popularity of bicycling and multiple parking locations near train stations, canals, schools, office parks, ferry boats, beach areas, and trains (check out the bike folded in half)! There are more bikes than people and about four times more bikes than cars according to AwesomeAmsterdam.com! Many people do not own a car and depend on biking around town. Obviously the air is clearer and people are healthier getting daily exercise. One day I wondered why all the 100’s of bike seats turned red, was it from a tour group - compare gallery bike photos 4 and 9 at the Sloterdijk Train Station? No, a clever advertiser overnight added seat covers. Luckily bicycle parking is free to all.