GETTING A GRIP ON THE WEATHER

In April, we had two mega storms. There is a joke going around the neighborhood. "What's the weather report today? Answer: Partly cloudy and 50 degrees, but call back in ten minutes and it will be different."  Yeah!

This hailstorm came on so strong and so fast and unexpected it was like an attack. Moth ball sized hailstones sounded like explosions on the roof and deck.

You can see them bouncing in the air. They bounced up onto the bench. From eight feet under a covered part of the deck, they hit my screen door. The roadway a fairy tale, pure white in less than 10 minutes.

The aftermath, a blanket of green leaves pounded off the trees.

My front sidewalk, even with  the partial shelter of the house, covered. My driveway and the street the same.

When it dried out enough, I swept just in front of my doorway and to the steps. I couldn't believe the pile of leaves I had to compost. The previous week, we had a torrential downpour of rain that lasted two days and half of another.

Now I'm dealing with oversized grass. I've plowed through it to get to my empty chicken coop. I hoped to find the hose buried in the grass so I can put water out for the wild birds. Their receptacles are empty.

I had to stomp a new path to the coop.

Several grass plants are taller than me and my fence. I've lived here for 38 years and I've never seen anything like it. The high country has seen 91 inches of rain this year,  a new record. And there are people who don't believe the climate is changing from the misadventure of humans and our polluting devices? We all have to adjust. It is folly to ignore it.
We can all do our little part by supporting harmless power initiatives and reducing our own use of carbon fuels whenever possible. It takes global action, all world populations to cooperate to blunt this robbery of the norm.
More on that subject later. I've gotta go pull some giant weeds.

WE ARE PHYSICIANS TO A DYING PLANET.

During the 1970's, Wallace Broecker, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, began warning anyone who would listen about the dangerous buildup of Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere. Thirty years later we are witness to a dying planet as we know it. Losing great mammals like elephants, rhinos, leopards, lions, tigers, polar bears, monkeys, gorillas, whales, oceans, coral, sand. We lose millions of small populations of plants and insects. We've lost billions of birds, dangerous numbers of amphibians, lizards and frogs. The rates of loss in every country is accelerating.

In Broecker's day, developers began working on a scrubber, a unit 10 feet by 50 feet that can scrub carbon from the air. It would then have to be piped underground beneath the saline layers and stored.  "Better yet, a way must be found to turn carbon dioxide into a mineral without using a lot of energy to do it," Broecker said. Gas seeping out and escaping into the atmosphere is one of the factors holding the technology back.

Fast forward to 2007.  An international team of scientists has investigated how basaltic rocks in Iceland's geothermal fields can naturally store C02. Dubbed the CarbFix project.  The researchers have happened upon a method of stowing carbon away that can fast-track the mineralization of CO2.  Researchers have come up with a technique that promises to turn the gas into a solid within two years,  a drastically shorter time frame than the centuries or millennia the current scientific consensus suggests.

The team at Reykjavik Energy's Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, where the original study took place, says up to 5,000 tons (4,535 tonnes) of CO2 are now being stowed away each year.
What really surprised the researchers was not just how much of the CO2 was converted, but how quickly all of this happened. Through observations  researchers found that more than 95 percent of the CO2 had formed into solid carbonate minerals within just two years.
International Energy Agency describes this method of carbon capture as a "critical component" in combating climate change.

Five thousand tons sounds like a lot, but it is a mere drop in the ocean compared to the billions of metric tons emitted globally each year. The good news is that basalt rock is present beneath the Earth's surface more than any other rock. It's not so common on land, with only around 10 percent of the continents made up of basalt, but almost all the ocean floors contain the material. So while it won't be simple, replicating the process in other locations is a real possibility.

Of course, the best way to stop climate change from wreaking havoc on our planet, is to remove CO2 spewing cars, cows, factories, fossil fuels, gas and coal, that produce CO2 gas.
All necessary technological components are available and in use in various areas, but carbon sequestration is yet to be applied on a scale that would make any meaningful difference to global carbon emissions.

It is up to us and our government to set things in  motion. We must get the word out by reporting to all the agencies fighting climate change, including our Senators and Representatives at all local and national levels. Change always takes place from the people up. We can't wait for government to do it all. We must push them to do it by complaining loudly
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The Reykjavik team's research was published in the journal Science.

Groups you may want to know about:  Earth Justice, Natural Resources Defense Council,  Air and Water Watch, Center for Biological Diversity, Environmental Defense Fund, Wilderness Society, FSEEE, National Park Trust, Friends of the River.  There are hundreds of groups that are active on environmental issues.

AMERICA FOR THE PEOPLE.

About 35 people showed up at a nationwide rally for Bernie Sanders for President. We gathered in a parking lot in Sonora, and flashed signs at the passing traffic. I've sat on the fence between Hillary, Trump and Bernie.  Hillary has worked hard in public service most of her life and has done wonderful things for others. But, she has wrapped herself in the arm of an unpopular, disappointing  president. Then, after promising she would not take super-pac money against her own party, she has. Not only wall street money but Monsanto, the GMO giant who spends billions to prevent states from labeling where our food comes from and whether it is genetically modified or not. That did it for me. Establishment politics, the failed machine that is inducing companies to go off shore, avoid taxes and take away good jobs from Americans?  Trump and Sanders are the only two candidates mandating change away from the establishment.


Trump says nothing and Sanders very little about climate change while massive extinctions and weather change are playing havoc with our planet. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we on the ground, must shed the ingrained deniers, people who refuse to acknowledge science. We must shed a do nothing congress, promoting government shutdowns and working lock-step for their party instead of people. If a working person refuses to do his job, he gets fired. How dare Mitch McConnell state he will not even have a hearing on an appointee suggested by a sitting President, whether he is liked or not?
Trump and Sanders represent desperately needed change. Can they get us out of gridlock? I don't know.


Environmental issues are foremost in the minds of others I met. Keep coal, fossil fuels in the ground. Support wind and solar. I talked with a bee keeper who lives in a pristine area where his bees are turning his garden and orchard into super  production, in a time when Monstanto and Bayer Chemicals are causing colony collapse across the nation. I'm hoping for a candidate that will make sure the laws we already have on the books are obeyed, like those from the EPA and the FDA and the Forest Service. All are sidestepping regulations when we are literally in danger of earthshaking consequences of fracking, contaminated water, shortages of clean water, decimating natural habitats for profit over nature. We and our institutions are under attack and they are ignoring our laws. How dare they get away with that stuff? They do it by under funding the organizations we depend on.



The group marched along the highway, and into a shopping center. One man was so angry, I thought he was going to attack us. He called us Communists and Socialists. Bernie is an unapologetic Socialist. The angry man wouldn't talk rationally with us, like is he on Social Security? Does he use Medicare. Has he ridden on a train or does he drive on our socialistic roads? Has he used water from behind a dam? Come on. We all benefit from shared expenditures. Socialist countries like Sweden and Denmark, and Canada and France and many programs in Great Britain have provided a good quality of life even though big Pharma will tell you socialized medicine is about waiting in lines for poor quality medical care.  Biased they are. They don't mention the wonderful government sponsored childcare and education. Roosevelt made sweeping changes that saved people with his socialistic programs that corporate America has tried to dismantle ever since. Are we better off? Not hardly when it takes two or three income sources for middle class people to keep the wolf from the door. When people with college educations are slinging hash.


Bernie is against the consolidation of big banks, and the notion that Wall Street's obligation is to make obscene amounts of money while working people are struggling to feed their kids. The system is out of whack. Trump feels the business model is the best way to run a country. Trump makes statements about laws he is going to pass that aren't practical like building a bigger wall. A bigger wall isn't going to stop the drug cartels who have already moved across the border. Nor stop people from entering the country unless you fence the entire country and put a net over the airspace. He also bothers me because he makes statements and then denies he made them. Even so, Rubio in five yeas has produced ZERO bills and his absenteeism is compared to Finestein who is 82 and Kirk who has had a stroke.  Cruz is more concerned with moral issues than the planet, or government working for working people. I'd run with Trump over them and figure he'd be smart enough to figure it out.


Suffice it to say, there is no perfect candidate. If there is, I haven't heard about him or her. So, for the time being, I'm hanging in with Bernie. 

I believe this is true. He really does care for all.

THINK CLIMATE CHANGE BEFORE YOU VOTE.

A crucial alarm was brought to our attention yesterday.
United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said:   “Climate change caused by burning fossil fuels has accelerated to the point that the only chance of keeping the world’s temperature below a dangerous level may be to end all greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this century The report issued in Copenhagen said climate change already is affecting life on every continent and in rising oceans.

“Science has spoken. There is no ambiguity in their message. Leaders must act. Time is not on our side,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.

“The scientific community across the world is sounding the alarm. Climate change is real and it will have devastating consequences around the globe unless we act boldly and decisively,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a member of the Senate environment and energy committees.

Sanders has proposed a fee on carbon and methane emissions. The measure is cosponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Their bill would help create millions of jobs transforming the U.S. energy system away from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. Another Sanders bill would end tax breaks and subsidies for oil and coal companies. A companion measure in the House is sponsored by Rep. Keith Ellison.

Both ideas are backed by scientists and leading economists but blocked by Republicans in Congress. “Many Republicans now respond to the crisis of climate change by saying they are not scientists and therefore have no opinion,” Sanders said. “Well, most of them are not doctors but they respect doctors’ opinions on cancer and heart disease. Most of them are not generals but they respect the opinions of our military leaders. It’s time for them to respect the views of the scientific community on climate change.”

It is time to bug your representatives to DO SOMETHING ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE, no matter what party you belong to.  Let us try to save what we have before we see devastation as it is portrayed in science fiction movies like blade runner.

SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN, WAR AND CLIMATE

Leaving Ashland, we stopped at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center. They were celebrating the grand opening of a new exhibit about Aldo Leopold and the docent teasingly said this fall basket of mums matched my clothes and I should have my picture taken with it. The building is quite impressive but I found the displays rather plastic. A voices about Native Americans film was poorly done. The see-through lighted-from-behind screen was shadowed by the exit sign lights and other invasive light made it difficult to see.  The exhibits are designed to play with and press buttons and the story and pictures, except for a 75 foot tall mural, just didn’t give me a satisfied feel, or peak my curiosity, except for this sign:

Just the sign, then very little about people settling here and struggling to make it. Duluth is in Minnesota, maybe that is why. But, Highway 2 is on a direct line to Duluth. I guess I’m jaded. I’ve seen so many wonderful visitors centers that give you a strong feel for where you are.

The Leopold exhibit was sparse. Aldo Leopold was one of America’s foremost conservationists.  He is renowned for starting the national wilderness system, founding the field of wildlife management and ecology, and writing the conservation classic A Sand County Almanac. He devoted his life to the question, “How do we live on the land without spoiling it?”  A question we are still asking today.  But, no counterpart of what Wisconsin has done to fulfill that goal. I asked the docent where I could see some big sugar maples, some huge hemlocks and pines and birches. She said there are a few stands here and there, on an island, or a park. Except for a nice garden in front of the center, it is surrounded by grass. A beautiful viewing tower to look at twigs for trees and grass. It makes me wonder, is this state way behind in recognizing the very lessons that Leopold brought to American consciousness? I was truly disappointed.


This map is suggesting that climate change is a reality and this is what could happen. While we travel around the country we hear people everywhere, say:  “This is unusual weather. It isn’t usually like this.” At Ashland, a storm blew up like a veritable tornado. Campers commented at how unusual it is to get so many violent storms. In Michigan, the humidity and weeks on end of higher than normal temps? people were shaking their heads, “don’t know, this weather. My barley heads are bigger this year, but my corn is destroyed,” etc. etc.

The center had an artists rendering  of the extinct American Carrier Pigeons that were so important during WW1. I was amazed at how beautiful they were and wonder how our society let them die out. It bothers me still that these things happened. In fact, one poster of a former Wisconsin governor claimed, “We have enough great forests to last our population forever.”  If only they knew what greed could do.

When we reached Superior, we spent the night at the Richard Bong Veterans Historical Center. Richard Ira Bong above was a WWII fighter pilot who surpassed Eddie Rickenbacker’s record for downing 27 enemy planes. Just a young kid of 18, his  first battle netted 6 kills. They stopped him at 22 kills thinking their new, young hero would make a better emissary for selling war bonds.  He got bored with that and asked to go back to battle. Then they stopped him at 40, for fear they’d lose their hero as the war just about over. This center is unusual in that it is mostly devoted to this one man’s exploits with a lot of war statistics and memorabilia to fill a huge three-story building. It is located here because Richard Bong was born and raised in Poplar, WI, just  a few miles away from this center. His control of the Japanese air attacks made a huge difference in the outcome of the war. Many battle plans rested on his ability to perform and he is fittingly a great American Hero. Well worth a visit. This visit came as a positive, in one way because I’d just finished reading In Harms Way, by Doug Stanton, about the horrible shafting the Navy dealt Major McVay, the commanding officer of the Indianapolis when it was sunk by a Japanese sub. It took until 2001, 56 years after the sinking, to exonerate McVay.

And, a negative because I am so anti-war. Not that WWII wasn’t necessary, it was. But most wars are over American expansionism, our corporate interests in foreign countries, intervention in foreign countries leadership, ideology, religion, lack of tolerance for other nations culture, oil, business.  Look at these statistics of World War II:
Of a global population at the time of 2.3 billion people, 85 million served as soldiers. Sixty million died, 38 million of them civilians.
2/3 rds of the Jewish Population was annihilated.  The Soviet Union lost 27.5 % of their population. 17% of Poles died. 19.4% of Germans died. 3.67 % of Japanese lost their lives.  All countries lost some.
I read here General MacArthur’s  statement after the war:


We do have a better world. But we don’t have freedom, tolerance or justice. We give our freedoms away, piece by piece. We are at war on our city streets. Tolerance and justice are still unmet goals as a nation.

Protesters then were women and had I been old enough, I’d have been there with them.  I do appreciate that I had the right to protest, a freedom much diminished, narrowing and threatened as I write.
Amen!

FROTHING AT THE MOUTH.

A reader put me onto this site:

http://sidschwab.blogspot.com/

Sid Schwab is very funny. He normally writes about surgery but the “crap” as he puts it has him frothing at the mouth. I know how he feels.  These quotes are from the opening of his blog.

We have now sunk to a depth at which re-statement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men.” George Orwell….
… “The trust of the innocent is the liar’s most useful tool.” Stephen King…. …. “A man who lies today about what he said yesterday will lie tomorrow about what he said today.

My conservative friend Jerry McClellan offered some interesting solutions on my other blog:

Like you I fear for the country – no matter who we get, things will keep getting worse for the bottom 95%  – the first thing I would change is president 1 term – 4 years only , same with all elected officials !! Or if additional terms are allowed them they have to win by 10% higher ie 60% , third term by 70% , forth time by 80% – this makes it easier to replace them )
There are a few simple changes to make a great country. Same pension system for all people – same health care & school for all …. Cut the lifers off welfare, as you make millions taxes rates go higher …. Why do oil companies, insurance & Apple all need to make 50 billion per year – it should go to shareholders in dividends.
People who saved $500k should be easily be able to live on their interest or dividends ? – now you don’t get S__T
Judge Judy on tv makes $123,000 per day X 365 days – average worker makes $123 – that’s insane !! 1000 times the average Wage – should be about 50 x max in my opinion … So there is my rant. 

And, another Republican veteran asked people to spread this around:

http://www.barackobama.com/video/id/6gICj9yO3SQ?utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_content=Take+a+look+at+

I’ve let others write my blog today as I slog through more medical paperwork. I have close friends in Virginia, Karen and Glen Littlefield, who are socked in with Hurricane Sandy, yesterday, expecting to lose power. I hope all is well with them and the many others who take the brunt of this monster storm.
And, I hope climate change will get some notice by our leaders.

CASTING OUR FATE TO THE SUN AND WIND.

This year, the Obama administration moved to streamline the development of large-scale solar projects on public lands by approving vast tracts across the West  identified as the highest generating potential with the fewest environmental impacts. These sites were identified after the results of an environmental impact report.  An area of 285,000 acres, with sites in Nevada, Colorado, Utah, California, Arizona and New Mexico are in the works.  Jim and I saw one of those massive solar plants  being built in New Mexico earlier in the year.  We wondered why it was out in the middle of no-where. We didn’t know about the way the sites were chosen. Anyway, net result is clean power and jobs, jobs, jobs.
When I had my solar installed, there was a handful of people installing under rigid inspections and rules to make sure there was no space for failure during the process. Now I could choose from 600 different solar producers and as many installers. The rigid inspection process is still that way. I’m investigating solar for a rental because costs have come down so far.
And, we get enough electricity from wind power for 13 million homes. The energy department predicts  that by 2030, we could get 20 percent of our energy from the wind, about as much as we now get from nuclear power plants.
But progress on wind power is in jeopardy because Congress  has yet to renew an important incentive set to expire at the end of this year. It is called the production tax credit, or PTC,  Without it orders for wind turbines are likely to stall, impeding our transition away from coal. The wind industry employs over 37,000 Americans, and we need to keep those jobs, jobs, jobs.
The PTC was instituted by the George H.W. Bush administration, a sensible policy where anyone who operates a wind turbine or solar biomass, or other type of renewable power plant that produces a significant level of electricity to the commercial grid, receives a federal tax credit of 2.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour of power it produces for the first ten years of its life. It got renewed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus package of 2009.
Two Republicans, Representative David Reichert, and Senator Chuck Grassley have sponsored versions to renew it through 2016 in the house, and 2014 in the senate. Neither measure  has come up for a vote but it is already being heavily lobbied against by the fossil fuel industries.
As a political pessimist, I fear the worst, and hope I’m wrong.  Wind generation is actually competitive in price with the energy produced by NEW coal plants and in my opinion no NEW coal plants should  be issued permits until they can reduce industrial pollution to an acceptable level. Coal plants actually cause deaths from their mercury, soot and carbon emissions, not to mention death to fish in streams.  Wind and solar save our planet from tons and tons of carbon emissions, a clean air benefit for everybody.
THIS HEADLINE WAS IN THE WASHINGTON POST YESTERDAY MORNING:
Security lapses at nuclear site found before break-in
Security problems at Y-12 nuclear complex were identified in classified reports nearly two years before three activists broke into the facility where weapons-grade uranium is stored.
( by Dana Priest , The Washington Post)
After the Japanese disaster, and the huge up front government subsidies to build nuclear power plants (way over the small PTC tax credits), and proven vulnerability of nuclear power plants,  why would we as a responsible nation even consider building more nuclear power plants? The cost to run them  per watt exceeds that of wind and solar. The volatile nature of Uranium, its storage and no ability to render it harmless, are an ever-present danger. In a nuclear plant disaster, the cost to bring it back on-line, if it could be repaired at all, is billions.
If you add into the equation the affects of climate change on hydro power,  wind and solar seem like an even better bet. Check the link below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/climate-change-challenges-power-plant-operations/2012/09/09/42b26b8e-f6a5-11e1-8b93-c4f4ab1c8d13_story.html
And, don’t get me started on fracking. What a dismal proposal that is. I hope you are listening Obama and Canada.

ALL PETS GO TO HEAVEN.

Our newspaper says it is the hottest July on record for our area. Exacerbated by a low snow pack, meaning an extension of the drought.  It gets ugly out there.  Climate change deniers are holding up progress for the rest of us and thus we all suffer. I’m glad I can provide water for wild animals. I’m not so glad that I have to drive into the even hotter valley, a long day away from home “out in it”.

People may destroy the earth as we know it, but All Pets Go To Heaven.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

We traveled from Birch Bay to Everett, Washington. It rained. We woke to more of the same this morning.  Climate change is seeking revenge everywhere. Never a better time to enjoy a good book and cook soup. And, make plans for next year. New Mexico is beginning to sound like a good bet.
The book I just finished, where William Least Heat Moon  followed  highways on the map that are blue lines, was filled with observations about place names.  He frequently asked locals why a particular town was named what it was;  he sought them through rickety taverns,  cafes with four calendars,  hotels; he asked gas jockeys,children, waitresses, fishermen, and roadies to understand why people congregated in one place rather than another, and why they stayed.  He swallowed and tasted the local food, wisdom, jargon, opinions,  and names with pleasure and shared them with his readers, often helping pronounce the unpronounceable. And, signs also piled high in his vision.
I had the same fascination with place names as I traveled 14,000 miles last year in the motor home and another thousand or more in the “toad”.  (Toad is the vehicle towed behind the motorhome). My penchant for making lists of rivers, sloughs, bridges, and unusual town names, plus taking pictures of signs,  left me feeling validated by Heat Moon’s story.  My sign for yesterday in Birch Bay was this one: “A meeting is an event  where minutes are taken and hours are lost.” (Couldn’t get the picture.)
One from Heat Moon at Ida, Kentucky: Welcome All God’s Children:  Thieves, Liars, Gossips, Bigots, Adulterers, Children. He said he felt right at home.
And, some towns Heat Moon passed through:
Bearwallow, Belcher, Subtle, Neon, Decoy,  and Bug, Kentucky; Defeated, Difficult, Shakerag, Chuckey,  Wheel, Turtletown, Peeled Chestnut, Only, Cooketown,  and Nameless,  Tennessee;  Snowcamp, Silkhope , Swanquarter, North Carolina;  Thicketty, South Carolina.  Strange sounding names…I think there is a song  with that line…It does make you wonder.

WORK WEATHER

I had the privilege of designing my house, which was then built by my son, Doug, above. Everybody warned me don't build that balcony. It will leak. It did. Now comes the chore of redoing the flooring with a new acrylic product that is guaranteed for 15 years. Hmmm! I'll let you know in 15 years if it works. The weather cooperated and should be good for the next few days.

Jim finished small chores around the Motor Home including maintenance on the coach batteries which are charged by solar panels.
 For me, wading through magazines and paperwork is a continuous job. Election materials are a grand part. When I look at the billions, I mean billions of dollars spent on the parties trying to win this election, it makes me sick. I'm reminded of my blog from yesterday and thinking that fanatical candidates are all around us. Uncivil, divisive, name calling, dishonest, lies. Its ugly. Do any of them remember that divided we fail?

They argue about climate change and clean energy bills while China steps into the gap and becomes the world leader in clean energy with wind and solar panels.
They argue about the expense of rail and infrastructure and China rolls out major rail projects that give them a cost savings edge in getting product to market and people to jobs.
The new world leader is steam rolling while U.S. parties bicker and play to an audience. Its contentious, not civil debate. Its gridlock instead of progress. Its about power and control, not what is best for we the people.