New Energy Security Council

Politco reports today that President-elect Obama is giving serious consideration to an Energy Security Council within the White House... thereby backing up the campaign speculation that he would appoint an "energy czar" position.

The devil, of course, is in the details. As always. There is some speculation that such a council may create conflict with the EPA - but as far as I'm concerned the EPA is over due for an overhaul, and in the process, you might as well address any of those conflict/chain of command concerns. The EPA and energy security aren't the same thing. At all.

If President Obama (oh, how I love the sound of that) were to come up with some sort of "National Food Supply Security Council" I might just fall completely in love. Bring back the victory gardens and the small, local family farm! With secure food & energy, we'd be a whole lot better off. And no, a secure food supply should NOT fall under the FDA or the USDA, as they are apparently in over their heads already anyway.

Change is hard, and the new administration is going to have to drag a lot of the country kicking and screaming through the process. But as I see it, half the country is always going to be pissed off at any given time - at least with Obama as President, it'll be going MY way for once (or closer to my way, anyway). A lot of intelligent people have been really angry for 8 years, and I'm hoping that all this "change" (we'll have to wait & see) will be a breath of fresh air. It'll be temporary, because in another 4 or 8 years, the other half of our country will once again vote out common sense. So I'm going to enjoy it while I can.

UPS going hybrid...

...very slowly. Next year, UPS is planning on deploying seven, yes, a whole 7 hybrid diesel delivery trucks. UPS has about 90,000 vehicles in it's fleet. I understand that the hybrid delivery trucks cost about $7,000 more, but still..geez...only seven? Is this blatant green-washing?

UPS currently employs 2,129 low-carbon vehicles in it's delivery fleet. If you add in those 7 hybrid trucks next year, that should bring the total to 2,136 "eco-friendly" delivery trucks (electric, hybrid electric, CNG, LNG & propane-powered vehicles), or 2.3% of its fleet. I suppose it's a start.

This hybrid technology is estimated to improve the the fuel economy of these delivery trucks by 45% to 50% and decreased carbon emissions by 30% when compared with traditional diesel vehicles. I'm just waiting for this technology to spread to a wider audience before getting too hopeful. There are a whole lot of diesel delivery & work trucks out there that start and stop constantly. Buses, garbage trucks - just think - whatever you get stuck behind the next time you are late - could all potentially be a significantly healthier. And less stinky.

Here's an article I found from February 2007 with regards to prototype hybrid diesel trucks. Several corporations that use large diesel work trucks were running trials of hybrid diesel trucks - but the cost was prohibitive, which keeps production down, which keeps demand low. Ah, the double edged sword that is mass production. Apparently, this technology isn't that new - it was around at least as early as Feb. 2007. UPS just finally decided to buy a whopping SEVEN of these trucks.

Did you know that a garbage truck, on average, gets 4 miles/gallon? Lets see... my giant SUV (seats 8), which I am about to take to the dump (fully loaded- I go about once a month), gets 20 miles/gallon. From that transfer station, I'm sure the waste & recycling gets loaded on a large truck and transported...somewhere...far away... but at least that truck isn't starting and stopping every 100 feet and idling while it gets filled up.

Disappearing plants

A slide show in the online edition of the Boston Globe caught my eye last night. Studies have been done that indicate a substantial decline in the plant diversity at Walden Pond since the mid-1800s when Thoreau decided to "live simply" at the pond (I believe on land owned by Emerson, in fact). After poking around a bit more, this is what I've discovered:

• Over the past 100 years, the average temperature in Massachusetts has increased by 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
• 27 % of the plant species that Thoreau documented are extinct, at least locally
  
• An additional 36% of plant species at Walden are classified as having a imminent disappearance
• The plant species that remain are the plants that have been able to adjust their flowering time, on average, 7 days earlier than 100 years ago; the plants that were unable to shift have died off, at least locally.

Are the alarm bells ringing yet?

This study was published in the journal of Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Science. Which of course, I'd like to read, but I am not made of money, and therefore have to rely on other people's summaries of the study (I'd go broke trying to get my hands on all the studies I want to read). Which brings up a whole different topic - what good is scientific research if access to such publications is restricted to the few individuals who can afford to subscribe to every scientific publication known to man? It's elitist, and it's archaic.

From what I can tell, a similar study was originally published in the journal Science in July of this year by Elizabeth Pennisi. Not entirely sure, as I don't have access to that journal either (although I have asked a friend with access to track it down - so I may update this later).

So what plants are going, going, or gone? Wood Anemones, buttercups, asters, campanulas, bluets (we still have bluets in my yard - they change color based on the mineral composition of the exact spot where they grow - vary in a matter of feet), bladderworts, dogwoods (7 were observed by Thoreau, 5 are now locally extinct or rare), lilies (the Canada Lily is now a goner at Walden), mints, orchids (I wonder if the Globe author was referring in particular to lady slippers which I seem to have a harder time finding now - used to be in my parents yard some 8 miles or so from Walden - no more), roses, saxifrages & violets (particularly the sweet white violet).

Here's what the local television station had to say about this study by Charles C. Davis of Harvard University. Its basically the same information that the globe had, with the added benefit of a quote from Mike Frederick, Executive Director of the Thoreau Society in which he describes how Walden hasn't frozen solid the past two winters (it "usually" does - or perhaps "used to" is more accurate). When I was a kid, there used to be ice fishing on Walden. I don't think thats very popular (or even possible) there anymore.

The frustrating thing about coming across references to scientific publications when I can't get my hands on the article itself is that I have NO idea whether Pennisi or Davis looked into the local deer population explosion, increased carbon dioxide levels at ground level, changes in the forest habitat around Walden Pond due to management techniques or natural forest succession, or increases in foot traffic due to tourists. It seems like there could be many other factors that may affect the proliferation (or lack thereof) of these wildflowers. I'm hoping they've somehow ruled out other factors scientifically & proven that. The skeptic in me is strong, however...

Hiatus

So... The last post was on my birthday. Since then I have had a few big accomplishments. Rode a bicycle UP a mountain. Rode 112 miles on a bicycle in a day. Both while...pregnant (unbeknownst to me). Then the morning sickness kicked in with the shock, and I kind of lost track of my self for, well, the entire first trimester. Just became completely self absorbed. A little overwhelmed. Feeling better now, and have checked back into reality. I also have more energy now, which makes a huge difference.

But, I'm now back on track. It's now full-on fall. The low tonight is 23 degrees - the garden is pretty done (I'm leaving the cold weather root crops in the ground a little longer, though).

I've installed the freewatt-ready boiler. I'm pretty happy with it - although it recently developed an annoying whistling, which didn't used to be there, so I'll be calling Climate Energy about it as soon as I remember during business hours. The oil tank will be removed next week.

Ran across an article today that made me remember my long-lost blog here. The Massachusetts Oyster Project is dropping 100,000 seed oysters into the Charles River this Saturday to help filter out the nutrients that are dumped into the river from sewer outflow pipes. The best part is that this is a citizen-based initiative; neighborhood folks came up with this idea - not some politician. Each oyster will filter up to 30 gallons of water per day. I'm assuming that since these are "seed" oysters, they are small, but will grow and multiply over time. Oysters are native to the Charles River Basin, so no conflict there - they've only died out because of all the damn dams and previous overfishing (I believe). This should vastly increase the food web and biological diversity of the Charles River Basin (and the Boston Harbor) over time, which will overall create a healthier river, a healthier city, and a healthier Massachusetts Bay.

On Saturday at 2 p.m. we're all invited to attend the oyster placing off the Constitution Marina near the mouth of the Chuck. This could be the beginning of something big.

Funny, how now that I've got an invested interest in the future (my child's future), I keep looking for hope. Everywhere. I've found a wee bit of it in this plan, so I thought I'd share.

We ARE driving less

Hallelujah - we're driving less. 9.6 BILLION miles less.  How quickly we were actually able to change after all the pissing and moaning about how we can't possibly change. Imagine that - when push comes to shove, it IS possible to get out the car. 

Of course, we'll have to see what shakes in December or January, when its 5 degrees out.

Traffic Deaths Decline as Gas Prices Rise

Well, I guess it's a fact now. People actually ARE slowing down to save gas; and in the process, they're killing each other less frequently. Hooray!

Roma children are still children

I'm not sure how much you've heard about the Roma/gypsy issue in Italy, but this recent story caught my eye.  Photos taken of the bodies of two girls, drowning victims, lying on the beach under towels with just their feet sticking out - and in the background, people are sunbathing. Just hanging out on the beach like nothing had happened (the girls were laid out for an hour).  The accompanying story depicts how beach goers continued with their sunbathing, swimming, and picnicking as the coroner lifted the two girls' bodies into coffins and carried them off the beach.  

Could you each lunch as you watch a medical examiner put the bodies of children into coffins?  I don't care what race they are, whether they are legal or illegal immigrants - they are human children.  Human children who had hopes & dreams; children who had parents, siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews and grandparents.

I'd like to think that if I was on a beach where any child died, I'd have the decency to at least lose my appetite.  Leave, cry, whatever - but not sit there and eat my lunch as I watched. How could someone do that?  How could someone HUMAN do that and not be physically ill?

They only way anyone could do that is if they didn't value human life. Racists would do that.  Was World War II so long ago that we still cannot see the dehumanizing of life when it happens right before our eyes?  The Roma people were sent to Dachau (if not shot on sight); their women have been sterilized by governments against their will as recently as 1977; they have been enslaved and subject to ethnic cleansing throughout history.  Just this past May, Roma camps were attacked and set on fire by residents of Naples, Italy.  

The dehumanization of a group of people is the first step in extermination. We've seen this play out over and over again - it's one of the oldest tricks in the book.  Sadly, I fear that because it is happening in Italy, which is not located in the middle east, or in Africa, we'll just sit and watch it ramp up until genocide once again rears its ugly head. 

In America, we have our own issues with illegal immigration. It's a big issue, and we can't agree on how to solve it. But I do at least hope that if immigrant children drowned in front of some of our citizens, we don't just shrug and go on eating our lunch. Maybe that's misguided... our nation was formed on the back of slavery, and we continue to have major race relation issues. Not long ago, we put our own Japanese Americans in concentration camps - well within the lifetimes of those still living.   But I'll continue to hope that we can keep a clear line between political issues and the value of human life. 

Once we start classifying groups of people as "them", "they" or "those people" giant red signal flares should go off in our heads.  Step one: dehumanize them.  Step two: extermination.   

I'm sure there were at least a few people on that beach that were horrified - I'm guessing they left before the photographer took his photograph. For all I know, those who were enjoying the sun amidst that horror could have been American tourists, hell bent on getting that perfect vacation they paid good money for. Regardless, I hope the people who were crass enough to enjoy their beach time will someday learn a little bit about compassion and human dignity.  I'd like to think they'd be shamed into it after seeing their photograph plastered in newspapers throughout the world. But I doubt it.