Saturday, April 18, 2015

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

Here it is the United Nations water report for 2015:
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/digital_learning/research_report/leadership/united_nations_world_water_development_report_2015?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=schtweets&utm_campaign=social

As California suffer through water shortage, imagine what the rest of the world looks like. Now, imagine what the rest of the world will look like in the year 2050?
By that time we should have moved to a population of 9 to 11 billion!
The first chapter is on non-sustainable uses of water. The trends, including use of water, that are not sustainable, have a way of ending on gracefully!
Case in point, California.

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Climate-change deniers are in retreat - The Washington Post

Climate-change deniers are in retreat - The Washington Post:

It will be nice to move past the non-debate about is there global warming, and move off into the real debate.

We are all living unsustainable lives with non-sustainable business models. What is our plan to move toward sustainability. Singly and collectively?

The argument that it doesn't do any good for us to do something if China and India continue consuming is sad and ironic.

For a century, we in the US with only 4.5% of the worlds population, have consumed about 1/4 of all the worlds resources consumed/used... Coal, Iron, Gas, etc.

We have produced about 1/4 of the worlds byproducts for a century (pollution and CO2).

We at this blog like to focus on those things that can be done within weeks, not decades. Energy Efficiency (EE) initiatives can pay for themselves in weeks, with a perpetuity of savings forever after. Telecommuting can result in a perpetuity of savings for ever (until you start a new job that requires a commuting).

We argue that nobody anywhere can reasonably believe that the price we pay at the pump of oil and at the meter for coal power is accurate and represents the true cost. Gas taxes continue to pay less and less of the US road maintenance, for example.

Economist generally settle on a carbon tax as a better solution than either subsidizing green energy/cars or a cap-and-trade mechanism. There will never be a better time to initiate a carbon tax then 2014 when oil prices are half and should be reasonably low for a year or more.

Or, we can continue to consume oil and gas like as if there is no tomorrow.



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