by gmoke
Sat Mar 28th, 2020 at 06:13:46 PM EST
My friends and former co-workers, Marc and Sally, love to travel the world and this year spent some of February and March in Taiwan.
This is their account of the response of Taiwan to COVID19, the letter they sent to friends after they arrived back home on March 19, 2020:
As the Deads so eloquently sang, "What a long, strange trip it's been!"
We are ensconced pond-side, bleary from poor sleep jet-lag wise, but home at last. Our wonderful friend Missy went shopping for us, so eggs and cheese and milk were waiting when we woke from not sleeping. So begins our at-least 14 day self-quarantine -- we've been through enough bad places in the past 2 days that it would be crazy to do anything else.
A sudden spike of CV in Taiwan ( something like 25 new cases) brought instant response -- the borders are largely closed to foreigners now, and the government is busy tracking down the vectors of the newly infected. In Taiwan surgical masks are universally available (but we still had our supply of N95s from Community Builders that we carried in our backpacks for 2 months.) Just before leaving Taipei, we bought a big box of disposable gloves and two large bottles of hand sanitizer, both easily available in shops within a block of our hotel. We wore our masks and gloves throughout the airport experiences and for the first 20 minutes on the planes (allowing the HEPA systems to cleanse the cabin air a few hundred times before removing them). We washed down all the surfaces around us with sanitizer, and washed our phones after handling them with gloves. Wore gloves to the bathroom and disposed of them after each visit.
Our Taiwan to SFO flight was more crowded than it had looked in the seat assignment window online, but we were still relatively isolated, plus everyone was coming from the clean island like us. Also almost everyone wore surgical masks throughout the trip- it's what they do in Taiwan all the time anyway, and so did all the flight attendants.
All it took was a day back in America to see how hopeless avoiding an outbreak is here, given the money making ethos of every business, the lax response by the government at every level (despite lots of talk) and the general idiocy of the people who live here.
At arrival at SFO we breezed through re-entry, though standing in a lineup of returnees with no distancing whatsoever. The Immigration officer greeted us outside of the glass booth they usually sit in, with his mask dangling under his chin -- a 2 foot distance from hundreds of people every hour. No disinfection, no baggage check, no dogs, no customs inspection: we might as well have been carrying 50 pounds of crack and a nuclear device.
Shuttle driver to the hotel handled our bags, and everyone else's, without gloves (which we wore until we were inside our room.) No sanitizer in the hotel lobby -- being California, there was was wine, whiskey and tequila for sale, so we opted for internal alcohol to go with our external dosing. We picked this nice hotel based on the advertised full breakfast included, but since California adopted "no gatherings", they shut it down and offered us grab-and-go - but figured they'd offset their losses by offering the absolutely smallest yogurt container I've ever seen, one granola bar and an apple the size of a fig.
Back at SFO we saw that restaurants were generally takeout only, but you could sit inside if you wanted to drink alcohol - which several people were doing at 11 AM. One guy took his grab-and-go and sat across a table from us and actually put his feet up on the table, dirty boots and all, staring at the weirdos with the masks. NOT ONE FUCKING RESTAURANT OR SHOP HAD A SANITIZING STATION. In Taiwan you could not walk 25 steps without seeing one available free. Every restaurant took your temperature before you entered, every museum and the subway required masks. Two hours waiting for our flight at SFO and we never saw a single person cleaning or wiping down anything. In the Taipei Metro, there was an army of cleaners endlessly wiping down the escalator and stair rails, the strap handles and seats in the cars, etc.
Happily our SFO to Boston flight was totally empty - maybe 15 passengers. Again we wiped everything, did the glove and mask thing and passed the time watching movies. Logan was also stuck on lazy mode -- we were un-approached the entire transit from plane to uber. Our uber driver was a young Indian guy from Waltham, who was clearly happy we were wearing masks, and he was armed with soap and water and hand sanitizer. Why are only immigrants sane here?
Now that the internet knows I'm back, my inbox is clogged with special herbal remedies that will prevent corona virus and organic pure sanitizer creams.
This country is fucked.
=marc
------------------
I asked him if I could share this and sent him this Foreign Policy article on Taiwan's "success" story with COVID19 (https:/foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/16/taiwan-china-fear-coronavirus-success). Here is his response:
--------------------
Thanks, George-- excellent article that conformed to our observations. I'd add:
Hand sanitizer pumps are at the entrance to every shop and public place and everyone uses them many times a day.
Public restrooms are absolutely everywhere, always free, and invariably clean.
Seats, grips and handrails on buses, trains and stations are being wiped down constantly. Taipei metro claims to disinfect each carriage every 4 hours. There is an army of cleaners.
Having one's temperature taken by forehead scan was the rite of entry to nearly every restaurant and many points of entry to businesses and apartment buildings, and grew ever more common over our two month stay.
A ubiquitous network of CCTV cameras everywhere assisted in tracking down the contacts of early victims and isolating vectors of infection.
Mask wearing was already a cultural norm and in crowded subways, malls, markets, busses, and workplaces it neared 100%, even though enforcement only became a factor by March. (Social distancing was virtually non-existent -- everything was open for business right through our March 17th departure.)
Handshakes are uncommon -- slight bowing and even wai'ing is a more common greeting. Hand holding, embracing and public affection is not unheard of, especially among teens, but is much rarer than in the west. Fist bumping, high-fiving. and cheek kissing greetings are practically unheard of.
Public fear and demonization of PRC Chinese is common - mainlanders are isolated and avoided - the virus was usually referred to in conversation with us westerners as Wuhan Flu or Wuhan Virus.
Westerners were also perceived as a threat in public, especially as the virus spread overseas -- people often moved away from us on the subway cars and platforms. There was no hostility in this, however--people were warmly welcoming and friendly. We are easily noticed, as the population is 95% Han Chinese.
A huge sector of the public travels solo on motor scooters, even when in groups, rather than side by side in closed cars.
Every train, bus and metro car is equipped with electronic message scrolls or video screens which carried CV safety advice between announcements of upcoming stops and stations. Cardboard figurines of popular anime characters spread the prevention message on subway platforms and in other lobbies.
People walking side by side or sitting together are more likely to be staring at their phones than facing one another when conversing.
Now back in Massachusetts and armed with hindsight, I can definitely say we should have stayed in Taiwan for another 3 or 4 months.
=marc
(immobile)
by gmoke
Fri Mar 27th, 2020 at 02:41:32 AM EST
MIT COVID19 Challenge - Beat the Pandemic
Friday, April 3 at 6:00pm - Sunday, April 5
Online
RSVP at https:/covid19challenge.mit.edu
We invite you to attend the MIT COVID-19 Challenge event, Beat the Pandemic, a series of virtual hackathons. The next event is April 3-5, 2020. In this 48-hour virtual event, we will help tackle the most critical unmet needs caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Participants will form teams on Friday, April 3rd to hone down on the problems, generate solutions, including proof of concepts, prototypes, and preliminary vision for execution. On Sunday, April 5th, teams will reconvene to present their work. After the weekend, the best ideas and teams will have the opportunity to co-develop and implement their solution with the support of our partners.
For more information and to apply as a participant, please check out our website: https:covid19challenge.mit.edu
The MIT COVID-19 Challenge is proud to be supported by organizations including the MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, MIT Hacking Medicine, MIT Innovation Initiative, MIT Sloan Healthcare Club, Digital Medicine Society, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Netherlands Innovation Network, MassBio, and many more.
We hope to see you (virtually) at the event!
--------------
Conserving Supply of Personal Protective Equipment--A Call for Ideas
https:jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763590
The editors of JAMA recognize the challenges, concerns, and frustration about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is affecting the care of patients and safety of health care workers in the US and around the world. We seek creative immediate solutions for how to maximize the use of PPE, to conserve the supply of PPE, and to identify new sources of PPE. We are interested in suggestions, recommendations, and potential actions from individuals who have relevant experience, especially from physicians, other health care professionals, and administrators in hospitals and other clinical settings. JAMA is inviting immediate suggestions, which can be added as online comments to this article.
Corresponding Author: Howard Bauchner, MD (howard.bauchner@jamanetwork.org).
----------------
I read through the more than 50 entries to the JAMA Call for Ideas on Saturday, March 21. As I write now on Thursday, March 26, there are over 250. You can read what I found at Crowd Sourcing Solutions to COVID19 (https:www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/22/1930022-Crowd-Sourcing-Solutions-to-COVID19)
----------------
Open Source COVID19 Medical Supplies
https:/www.facebook.com/groups/670932227050506
Mask Force: DIY mask production
https:/maskforce.org
------------------
There are many, many DIY mask and PPE initiatives now with many, many different designs. Probably one or more in your area and, if not, start one yourself.
------------------
Mutual Aid Networks are springing up all over the place (https:www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/15/1927820-Mutual-Aid-Networks)
Mutual Aid & Social Capital: The Power of Communities, Networks from Howard Rheingold, based upon the syllabus of a course he used to teach at Stanford on social media and including recent links to mutual aid networks forming to deal with Covid19 (which he will update)
https:/www.patreon.com/posts/34918526
Mutual Aid Networks article from NYTimes
https:www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/opinion/coronavirus-aid-group.html
Spreadsheet of mutual aid networks
https:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1HEdNpLB5p-sieHVK-CtS8_N7SIUhlMpY6q1e8Je0ToY/htmlview
Mutual Aid Initiatives to Combat the Coronavirus
https:
itsgoingdown.org/autonomous-groups-are-mobilizing-mutual-aid-initiatives-to-combat-the-coron
avirus
Intellihelp Facebook group - only ask and give posts
https:/www.facebook.com/groups/1061901284171597/about
------------------
"You could say that civil society is what unimpaired mutual aid creates; or that civil society is the condition and mutual aid the activity that produces it." - Rebecca Solnit, from A Paradise Built in Hell (http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/07/notes-on-rebecca-solnits-paradise-built.html)
The sooner we organize to help each other the better off we all will be.
Once we start exercising our freedom to build mutual aid networks that support and empower each of us individually and collectively we will have reclaimed some of our own liberty and power (swaraj - self-rule). Mutual aid networks are part of what Gandhi called swadeshi, local production, the heart of satyagraha, nonviolence, and a lifelong daily practice of community (sarvodaya) (http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/sarvodaya-swaraj-and-swadeshi.html), all who are for the benefit of all, as the ethicist Milt Raymond, author of Social Reason (https://www.amazon.com/Social-Reason-Milton-Raymond/dp/0557086043) would say.
"Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone." R Buckminster Fuller
by gmoke
Mon Mar 23rd, 2020 at 07:04:17 PM EST
https:/jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763590
The editors of JAMA recognize the challenges, concerns, and frustration about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is affecting the care of patients and safety of health care workers in the US and around the world. We seek creative immediate solutions for how to maximize the use of PPE, to conserve the supply of PPE, and to identify new sources of PPE. We are interested in suggestions, recommendations, and potential actions from individuals who have relevant experience, especially from physicians, other health care professionals, and administrators in hospitals and other clinical settings. JAMA is inviting immediate suggestions, which can be added as online comments to this article.
Corresponding Author: Howard Bauchner, MD (howard.bauchner@jamanetwork.org).
I read through the more than 50 submissions at the JAMA site on March 20, 2020 and will attempt to summarize them along with some other resources I've come across:
A Belgium nonprofit worked with their government to design a DIY face mask:
https:maakjemondmasker.be
Korean DIY mask
https:/m.blog.naver.com/hohuk212/221838542113
An emergency mask from a T shirt:
https:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3373043
Home-Made Face Masks
https:/www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/17/1928552-Home-Made-Face-Masks [three different versions of improvised face masks, including directions for 1918 Spanish flu design]
Use mask covers (surgical mask sleeves)
How to Make n95 Mask Covers
https:/www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/3/20/1929626-How-to-Make-n95-Mask-Cover
Mask Sewing Crowd Source on FB: https:/www.facebook.com/groups/1596375590537476
The Million Mask Challenge
https:/millionmaskschallenge.com
Swedish/St. Joseph's Providence is making homemade PPE [face shields]
https:/komonews.com/news/coronavirus/volunteers-making-homemade-equipment-to-combat-shortages-cause
d-by-covid-19
3-d printed face shield
https:boingboing.net/2020/03/20/prusa-research-develops-3d-pri.html
DIY substitute for N95 respirators, "create your own reusable respirator using only a face mask, an in-line ventilator filter, and two elastic straps. All for less than 3 dollars! Find instructions, details, and video at
https:www.childrenshospital.org/research/departments-divisions-programs/departments/surgery/surgic
al-innovation-fellowship"
We need quantities of Personal Protection Equipment [PPE] within the next week or two until the factories ramp up, Could a significant proportion of that need be supplied by a crowd-sourced production method? Can people in quarantine do whatever they can do from home in order to help the effort to "bend the curve" (make sure fewer people die) now and in the near future? Can they be paid in $$$, kind, or services to tide things over? (It would also be helpful to have utility and rent payment moratoriums as in France and, I've read, El Salvador. That would alleviate some worry, I suspect.)
It seems some form of short-term "universal basic income" [UBI] is going into legislation but what if it were combined with a possibility of universal service as well in this particular? What if we were thinking of this the way Churchill thought about Dunkirk and called out everyone who can help to help? What if we mobilized our own "little ship navy" to get all hands on deck to deal with this crisis?
Here are some more ideas from JAMA:
There is a 1975 study indicating that the material used in masks matters less than the fit. See Br J Surg. 1975 Dec;62(12):936-40. The efficiency of surgical masks of varying design and composition. Quesnel LB.
(And other studies suggest that any mask is better than none, down to a bandana across the nose and mouth.)
"On any surface, the virus dies off over time anyhow, so merely storing used masks for a week might adequately decontaminate them." I suspect exposing them to sunlight's UV radiation would be good too.
Sanitization for re-use:
Data from WHO suggests heat at 56°C kills the SARS coronavirus at around 10000 units per 15 min (quick reduction)
https:www.who.int/csr/sars/survival_2003_05_04/en
disinfect with alcohol and then dry at 60ºC of higher
gamma or e-beam radiation decontamination
SARS-coronavirus can be effectively eliminated at 56-65 deg C for 30-90 minutes. Heat PPE at 65 deg C in an oven for 90 minutes before reusing
(According to the CDC, flu viruses are killed by heat above 167º F
https:/www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/03/9581543/how-to-wash-outside-clothes-coronavirus)
ultraviolet decontamination for reuse although this needs testing as UV may degrade mask quality
ethylene oxide (EtO) sterilization for n95 and all PPE
rationing
Reusable gowns for patients in contact isolation have already been deployed at large medical centers (https:practicegreenhealth.org/tools-and-resources/ronald-reagan-ucla-medical-center-reusable-isola
tion-gowns), with the primary motivation being an overall reduction in waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the manufacture, transportation, and disposal of one time use gowns. [Margin note: there's going to be a lot of waste with all these one use items. Already there are reports of littering with used face masks in areas where many are used.]
categorize patients and have batch examinations so caregiver can use one set of PPE
schedule batch medication administration times so nurses can use just one set of PPE instead of multiples for patient care
wash gloves while still wearing them with alcohol hand sanitizer
use of telemedicine services such as https:doxy.me
robots
World's smallest cheapest ventilator
https:www.electronicsforu.com/india-corner/innovations-innovators/world-cheapest-smallest-ventilat
or-made-india
Mass-bio list of materials & supplies currently needed in MA
https:www.massbio.org/news/blog/calling-on-all-life-sciences-and-healthcare-organizations-to-donat
e-supplies-to-fight-covid-19-151858
Novel Coronavirus Fighting Products
https:
www.americanchemistry.com/Novel-Coronavirus-Fighting-Products-List.pdf
So that is JAMA's crowd sourcing ideas (and crowd sourcing home production) for dealing with this health emergency with some addition I found along the way. It looks like a good start.
Oh, and washing your face as well as your hands is a good idea.
Here is another example of crowd sourcing:
"There is a call for scientist volunteers by Dr. Michael Wells at the Broad [Institute]. pls see this Google form below and sign up if you are interested and are able to.
https:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScXC56q2tPgz0WbPrhP7WareiclfxfaKQFI0ZbXg4FkKan5iQ/viewform"
Broad Institute is part of the testing effort in MA as well as a leading biomedical research institution based in Kendall Square, near MIT.
I'm sure there is an overwhelming amount of research work that needs to be done in order to find possible treatments and possibly a vaccine for Covid19. Again, if people who can help with this work can apply their enforced leisure to these efforts, would we be able to use that help?
For instance, could students be brought up to useful speed through such events as this study group?
Learning Circle: COVID-19, Tackling the Novel Coronavirus (Week 1)
Tuesday, March 31
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Every week on Tuesday until April 14, 2020
Online Meeting
https:
meet.jit.si/covid19-learning-circle
THIS MEETING WILL HAPPEN ONLINE AT https:
meet.jit.si/covid19-learning-circle
Learning circles are free, facilitated study groups for learners who want to take online courses. More information about learning circles can be found on the P2PU website: https:
www.p2pu.org/en.
Starting on March 31st and for 3 weeks, BosLab will host a learning circle to help participants study the FutureLearn course "COVID-19: Tackling the Novel Coronavirus" from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (https:/www.futurelearn.com/courses/covid19-novel-coronavirus).
More of this will and should be happening. A lot of people stuck at home have plenty of time to study this virus and crowd-source solutions to our current health crisis.
If as many of us as possible spend the next two weeks or so of quarantine or shelter in place or social distancing devoting as much time as we normally devote to our favorite sports team(s) or the Presidential campaign, could we maybe crowd source the sh!t out of this m*therf^cker? Already?
by gmoke
Mon Mar 16th, 2020 at 02:51:03 AM EST
Mutual aid networks are being formed in the neighborhoods in Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, Arlington, and other communities.
My Nextdoor account (https:/nextdoor.com) is filling up with people offering help to others as MA goes into shut down. Pause..... and reset.
My notes on Rebecca Solnit's A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, which shows how people often respond to emergency and disaster through mutual aid and community support but that "elite panic" is a term of art in disaster studies, are available at http://hubeventsnotes.blogspot.com/2016/07/notes-on-rebecca-solnits-paradise-built.html
Cambridge Mutual Aid Network
https:docs.google.com/document/d/1x_gLUobYEodWYI4VBAC1hhjv0imZvQiM-uEEDxyZ3oE/edit#
Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville (MAMAS) network
https:docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1RtYZ1wc8jxcSKDl555WszWhQWlOlSkNnfjIOYV0wXRA/mobilebasic
Food for Free (for Cambridge and Somerville) volunteers
https:docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSed0cSIoOc7-Fvoms3VHR1Lc44fjql-vTNknz_a-7T_sKDnrw/viewform
from State Rep Denise Provost
"Help Feed Others: These three Somerville organizations need volunteers to help distribute food during this emergency. All three food service organizations are practicing COVID-19 safety, which requires more volunteers than usual:
SOMERVILLE FOOD SECURITY CONNECTION
http://somervillefoodsecurity.org/get-involved/
Contact: Lisa Brukilacchio at lbrukilacchio@challiance.org
FOOD FOR FREE
Food For Free ( https:foodforfree.org ) is mobilizing a volunteer team via the google form below. They will be in touch with interested folks regarding opportunities as they arise:
https:/docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSed0cSIoOc7-Fvoms3VHR1Lc44fjql-vTNknz_a-7T_sKDnrw/viewform
PROJECT SOUP
Project Soup ( https:www.somervillehomelesscoalition.org/food-security ) is looking for volunteers to help at its community food center, and its food bank. It could also use assistance with toiletry drives, including diapers. Please contact: Ben at bwyner@shcinc.org or djacobs@shcinc.org or phone 617-776-7687."
These mutual aid networks are probably happening around your neighborhood too.
by gmoke
Sun Dec 22nd, 2019 at 11:15:55 PM EST
The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act (these comments come from the draft https:/ocasio-cortez.house.gov/sites/ocasio-cortez.house.gov/files/OCASNY_053_xml.pdf but the actual bill has now been filed at https:/www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5185/text) (thanks to DocGonzo for the clarification) is the first binding legislation drafted. It will reconstruct "the entire public housing stock of the United States, as swiftly and seamlessly as possible," into zero-carbon homes, "a highly energy-efficient home that produces on-site, or procures, enough carbon-free renewable energy to meet the total annual energy consumption of the home" within a decade.
Public housing stock will be eligible for deep energy retrofits, including
energy-efficient windows;
super insulation of roofs and exterior walls, including the addition of new cladding to buildings and the rerouting of plumbing and electricity;
electrification of water heating and building heating systems using electric heat pumps;
and electric heat pumps to provide air conditioning, where feasible;
materials and technology to increase airtightness of the building envelope, including air sealant paints; the acquisition and installation of heat-recovery ventilation systems;
and energy monitoring devices including smart meters and smart thermostats.
There will be grants "to build and expand community energy generation in public housing, including
the construction of and ongoing costs associated with renewable energy rooftops;
renewable energy generation;
photovoltaic glass windows;
the bulk purchase of clean energy supply from energy utilities;
and community-scale energy storage."
What the bill is calling a zero carbon home is also known as zero net energy housing or, more commonly, net zero energy buildings, structures which produce as much energy as they consume and such buildings have been built in just about every Earthly climate, from the Arctic Circle to the South Pole; at single family and skyscraper scales; at low, moderate, and luxury prices. I've been collecting examples of Zero Net Energy buildings and technologies for years at http://solarray.blogspot.com if you want to see what is operating now, is being built, and some of the design visions for the future. CA is already transitioning to a net zero energy building standard for all low-rise residential buildings now (2020) and the EU is moving to a "near net zero" standard now too. Both will have a net or near net zero building standard for all buildings, including rehab, by 2030.
There are positive net energy buildings as well (see http://solarray.blogspot.com).
In 1979 Jimmy Carter's energy plan called for insulating 90% of American homes and all new buildings and use solar energy in more than 2.5 million homes by 1985. There were 1.3 million solar installations in the USA in 2017 by one count and may be 1.9 million in 2019 by another. The DOE is predicting there will be 3.8 million solar homes by 2020.
Carter also wanted "20% of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000." Renewables, wind, solar and hydro, are at just about that level now, 20 years behind his schedule.
Carter was thinking in terms of his next four years in office. Extinction Rebellion is demanding that "Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025." The Green New Deal has a 10 year timeframe.
Jimmy Carter in 1979 was more ambitious than we are now.
by gmoke
Tue Nov 26th, 2019 at 07:50:14 PM EST
The first time I realized that the Republicans were going to impeach Bill Clinton was about 46 minutes into his first address to a Joint Session of Congress, also referred to as the 1993 State of the Union, on February 17, 1993. When the Republicans in the audience laughed at him for saying that the Congressional Budget Office had reported that his proposed budget would provide a "real spending cut, a real revenue increase, a real deficit reduction" according to the CBO numbers, I was shocked. It was the first time I'd ever heard the President laughed at in Congress and it shook me.
Video: https:/youtu.be/840MahAgJh0
Text: https:en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton%27s_First_State_of_the_Union_Address
Consequently, I was not surprised when Clinton was impeached in his second term. (And what an overweening fool Bill Clinton was to give them that opportunity.)
These examples are part of the reason why I believe that a significant proportion of today's Republican Party does not, by and large, consider Democratic legislators to be legitimately elected or that Democratic voters actually have a right to vote. Only Republicans are full citizens. At least, that's how they tend to act and what those actions indicate they believe. Only Republicans should vote. Only Republicans should hold office. Only Republicans are "real Americans" as opposed to those "cultured, cosmopolitan, goat's milk latte-drinking, avocado toast-eating insider's elite" that Phi Beta Kappa key owning, Oxford University educated, Order of the Coif inductee, $12 million or so millionaire Senator John Neely Kennedy recently decried.
Given that background, it appears to me that if Hillary Clinton had won the Electoral College as she won the popular vote and was sworn in as President, she would have faced impeachment just as her husband did. But don't take my word for it. Here are some of the statements prominent Republicans made before the 2016 election that make it explicit
from https:www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/11/republicans-are-already-talking-about-impeaching-clinton
"'There's been nothing like this where you can have potential criminal charges,' New York Rep. Peter King said in a radio interview Tuesday. 'You really could have a constitutional crisis here,' he added, echoing a similar charge by Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert and Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.
"Other Republicans are already using the `I' word. 'Assuming she wins, and the investigation goes forward, and it looks like an indictment is pending, at that point in time, under the Constitution, the House of Representatives would engage in an impeachment trial,' Texas Rep. Michael McCaul said on Fox News. 'They would go to the Senate and impeachment proceedings and removal would take place.' Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson declared that Clinton could be impeached for 'high crimes or misdemeanor.'
...."'Even before we get to Day One, we've got two years' worth of material already lined up,' Utah Rep Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said last week. 'She has four years of history at the State Department, and it ain't good.'"
President Obama also saw the writing on the wall.
from https:www.politico.com/story/2016/11/obama-republicans-impeachment-burr-23065011/02/2016 05:07 PM EDT
"President Barack Obama accused Republicans of fostering a 'new normal' within their party in a blistering speech on Wednesday, blaming North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and his colleagues for gridlock in Washington and for even suggesting that they might try to impeach Hillary Clinton.
"'You've got some Republicans in Congress who are already suggesting they will impeach Hillary,' Obama added, his voice rising. 'She hasn't even been elected yet. And it doesn't matter what evidence they just -- they'll find something. That's what they're saying already.'"
Why Democrats don't play back these quotes to the Republicans who say, over and over again, that the Democrats have been trying to impeach Trmp since the 2016 election is beyond me. Yes, the Democrats have wanted to impeach Trmp since the moment it became clear he would be President but the Republicans were already planning to impeach Hillary Clinton, and said so, before the vote was counted. Gander meet goose.
Impeachment was inevitable no matter who won in 2016 and I fear impeachment will always be inevitable as long as we have a Party of True Belief (https:www.dailykos.com/stories/2005/10/21/158586-), which the Republican Party has become, as one of the only two viable national parties these United (?) States allow ourselves.
by gmoke
Fri Nov 8th, 2019 at 03:28:25 AM EST
Net Zero plant-filled Singapore pavilion for Dubai's 2020 World Expo
https:/www.dezeen.com/2019/08/29/woha-singapore-pavilion-dubai-expo-2020-architecture
https:/inhabitat.com/woha-unveils-a-lush-net-zero-singapore-pavilion-for-the-2020-world-expo
https:/www.woha.net
Forest planted in an Austrian stadium as an art piece: For Forest - the Unending Attraction of Nature
https:
forforest.net/en
Curator getting death threats from far right because of it
https:/news.artnet.com/art-world/klaus-littmann-for-forest-controversy-1651549
Self-charging solar electric vehicle with air purifying moss interior
https:sonomotors.com
https:inhabitat.com/sono-motors-self-charging-solar-electric-car-will-feature-an-air-purifying-mos
s-interior
UK's WWII Dig for Victory campaign, by 1943, most households had their own garden plot, with businesses and public parks also giving land to food growing
https:/www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-49715638
Editorial Comment: The USA Victory Garden campaign produced up to 40% of the fruits and vegetables consumed on the Home Front by the end of just three growing seasons.
Brisbane, Australia growing the largest urban farm network in the world
https:www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-29/growing-a-vision-of-australias-largest-urban-farm-network/115
53622
Living Pavilion in Annecy, France
http://www.behinha.com/projects#/living-pavilion-v2
ReGen Village - a real estate developer planning to build food and energy self-reliant communities
https:www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/business/james-ehrlich-environment-neighborhood.html
Editorial Comment: Davis, CA Village Homes completed in 1982 is an earlier example of a similar idea
https:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes
Mobile Food Lab in a refurbished bus
https:www.core77.com/posts/90221/Mobile-Food-Lab-Is-a-Refurbished-Bus-Designed-to-Educate-Students
-on-Healthy-and-Sustainable-Eating-Habits
Cities and Circular Economy for Food
https:www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/publications/cities-and-circular-economy-for-food
Algae wall for water purification
https:www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/indian-architect-has-created-an-algae-wall-to-purify-poll
uted-water-without-harmful-chemicals-377848.html
MIT Media Lab Open Agricultural Initiative closed
https:www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/business/mit-media-lab-epstein.html
Editorial Comment: MIT should be ashamed of itself for this fraud which may sully the reputation of genuine advanced agricultural research
Saving one of Manila's last urban fields through collective farming
https:globalvoices.org/2019/11/03/will-collective-farming-by-artists-save-one-of-manilas-remaining
-urban-fields
by gmoke
Thu Sep 26th, 2019 at 04:45:01 PM EST
Fridays for the Future (https:/www.fridaysforfuture.org) - the Friday Climate Strikes continue
October 2 there will be a Global Solar Yatra (https:www.ggsy.in) with 1 million students in over 70 countries building their own solar lights for studying
October 7 Extinction Rebellion (https:xrmass.org/action/nyc-kickoff-global-rebellion) will be doing actions around the world
Sunrise Movement (https:/www.sunrisemovement.org) is planning actions in support of the Green New Deal up to and after the Inauguration of the next President in January 2020
September 20 was a great show of strength but what are we going to do tomorrow and the day after that? Is there a daily climate practice that can do what we need to get done in the time available? I know someone who used to write a letter to the editor to some publication around the world on climate issues every day. Now he does stand outs most mornings during rush hour traffic with his climate signs. Another is standing up in the train to talk about climate on the commute home. ("How did Solidarity start?" someone once asked Lech Walesa who answered, "By speaking loud at the bus stops.") I have a solar swadeshi myself: http://solarray.blogspot.com/2005/05/solar-swadeshi-hand-made-electricity.html
and have been practicing Solar IS Civil Defense for 20 years:
https:www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/9/8/1697177-Is-It-Time-to-Talk-About-Solar-Civil-Defense
https:/www.dailykos.com/stories/2007/3/30/317777-
If the children can devote one day a week to climate issues, the adults should too. Climate strikes can evolve into climate teach-ins, brainstorms, hackathons, and barnraisings, especially if we have a daily climate action plan on international, national, regional, state, county, municipal, neighborhood, family, and individual scales with benchmarks and targets.
Greta Thunberg at the UN mentioned that we are on track to burn through our carbon budget, the amount of greenouse gases we can put into the sky and still stay within that "magic" 1.5º F heating range, within 8 years. That's one benchmark. The idea that "we have a little more than a decade" to turn around climate comes from a 2017 paper from Christiana Figueres, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, Gail Whiteman, Johan Rockström, Anthony Hobley & Stefan Rahmstorf. What gets mentioned less is their six-point plan with specific targets for turning the tide of the world's carbon dioxide by 2020: https:/www.nature.com/news/three-years-to-safeguard-our-climate-1.22201
However, China may reach its greenhouse gas emissions peak in 2022, far ahead of its 2030 schedule announced at the 2015 Paris climate meeting:
https:www.reuters.com/article/us-china-carbon/china-co2-emissions-to-peak-in-2022-ahead-of-schedul
e-government-researcher-idUSKCN1VQ1K0
and Norway, Iceland, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Uruguay, Paraguay are all countries which get almost all their electricity from renewable energy now: https:www.climatecouncil.org.au/11-countries-leading-the-charge-on-renewable-energy
Costa Rica plans to be a carbon neutral nation by 2021:
https:/www.nytimes.com/2018/09/21/climate/costa-rica-zero-carbon-neutral.html
Job One for Humanity (https:/www.joboneforhumanity.org/plan) has a four point plan for climate action starting from emergency preparation and working on up to mass political and social change. Many of their ideas are not only adaptation to the weather emergencies they believe are now inevitable but also best practices which will also mitigate any more climate damage and improve individual, family, and local resilience.
Lots to do and lots we can do.
If anyone is interested, My Approach to Climate Change is available at http://solarray.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-approach-to-climate-change.html
by gmoke
Tue Sep 17th, 2019 at 08:13:46 PM EST
Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has been doing "agrophotovoltaics" studies for the last few years, the concept of producing both crops and solar power on the same land. Their 2018 study results are available here: https:/www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/press-releases/2019/agrophotovoltaics-hight-harvesting-
yield-in-hot-summer-of-2018.html
"The results from 2017 showed a land use efficiency of 160 percent, as confirmed by the project consortium under the direction of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. The performance of the agrophotovoltaic system in the very hot summer of 2018 greatly exceeded this value."
Fraunhofer is also doing tests of solar panels over shrimp ponds in Vietnam:
https:www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/news/2019/aqua-pv-project-shrimps-combines-aquaculture-
and-photovoltaics.html
They show similar results there, too, possibly even better as the solar shading is more conducive to shrimp growth. If there are any applicable aquaculture facilities in your state, there might be some solar opportunities available there too.
What Fraunhofer calls agrophotovoltaics the Japanese call "solar sharing" and have been doing since at least 2004:
https:www.renewableenergyworld.com/2013/10/10/japan-next-generation-farmers-cultivate-agriculture-
and-solar-energy
"The concept was originally developed by Akira Nagashima in 2004, who was a retired agricultural machinery engineer who later studied biology and learned the "light saturation point." The rate of photosynthesis increases as the irradiance level is increased; however at one point, any further increase in the amount of light that strikes the plant does not cause any increase to the rate of photosynthesis....
"Based on the tests conducted at his solar testing sites in Chiba Prefecture, he recommends about 32% shading rate for a farmland space to reach adequate growth of crops. In other words, there is twice as much empty space for each PV module installed."
UMass Amherst is working on this concept as well with outreach to farmers through a state program:
https:/ag.umass.edu/clean-energy/fact-sheets/dual-use-agriculture-solar-photovoltaics
Mother Jones article on this idea:
https:www.motherjones.com/food/2019/09/the-best-place-for-harvesting-solar-energy-is-not-where-i-e
xpected-it-to-be
Paper from Nature Sustainability the article references
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-019-0364-5.epdf
There should be no competition between active farmland and solar development. When done correctly, solar can become a lucrative second "crop" for farmers while maintaining and, in some cases, increasing agricultural productivity.
by gmoke
Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 11:54:00 PM EST
On October 2, 2019 the Global Solar Yatra plans on organizing 1 million students to build 1 million solar study lights to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Gandhi's birth in 70 countries around the world. More information at http://www.ggsy.in
Gandhi believed swadeshi, local production, was the heart of satyagraha, truth force, the power behind political nonviolence, the daily practice at non-exploitative economy. Using these small-scale solar devices, I believe, is a solar swadeshi because solar energy is eminently local. I also see it as a kind of positive protest and an example of the change we have to become.
This event would be a practical follow-up to the global climate actions of September 20 - 27 and I've been doing my best to let groups like Fight for the Future, Extinction Rebellion, Sunrise Movement, and others know about it. If this appeals to you, please pass it on.
Personally, I have been using such devices in my own daily activities for the past 15 years with solar lights over my bed in my rental apartment and a solar light and charger on my backpack which I use as a bike light.
My solar light and charger was $10 rather than $15 and it came direct from China rather than Amazon when I bought it but is now available at
https:/www.amazon.com/LETOUR-Rechargeable-Lighting-Headlight-Waterproof/dp/B07RDQF49L/ref=asc_df_B0
7RDQF49L
This hand cranked model was about $10 when I bought it from China two years ago and is now $5 from Walmart:
https:/www.walmart.com/ip/Camping-Portable-LED-Light-Foldable-Collapsible-Lantern-Flashlight-Outdoo
r-Lamp-Hiking-Lantern/240002611
A friend has been using this inflatable solar light for about the last year:
https:www.campingworld.com/luci-light-inflatable-led-solar-light-205469.html
https:/www.skrten.com/products/skrten-outdoor-inflatable-collapsible-water-resistant-led-solar-lant
ern-5
At one time, I suggested that Cambridge, MA USA could do a bulk buy of solar lights and chargers, enough for a light and to charge a cell phone or batteries for a radio, and offer it to the citizens as part of an emergency preparedness or civil defense program, possibly with a buy one give one program in conjunction with our sister cities like San José Las Flores, El Salvador, Yerevan, Armenia, Les Cayes, Haiti, and others. Could still be done.
I've been saying Solar IS Civil Defense for about 20 years now. People haven't really been much interested in the concept. However, the necessity for personal and collective climate emergency preparation is becoming more and more obvious. Whatever you believe about climate change, we know some kind of weather emergency is going to happen here, probably within a year or two and possibly more frequently than that. Strange weather seems to be cropping up more often these days.
And it's good to be prepared, especially at these prices.
by gmoke
Fri Aug 2nd, 2019 at 06:02:05 PM EST
"The Portuguese energy secretariat has secured 1.15 GW of solar development at an average cost of €20.33 ($22.53 per megawatt-hour), representing an investment of about €800 million or $887 million."
That's solar electricity at 2.253¢ per kWh
"One of the bids was made at €14.76/MWh ($16.44/MWh), which was declared a new world record for low solar bidding, according to Portugal's Journal Económico. The secretariat had placed a €45/kWh ceiling on bidding."
That's 1.644¢ per kWh for solar
https:/cleantechnica.com/2019/08/01/portugal-bags-lowest-cost-solar-bid
But, please, correct me if my math is wrong.
by gmoke
Thu Jul 4th, 2019 at 08:31:36 PM EST
I did some back of the envelope estimates of the cost of the fossil fuels we use in a year.
The source of these figures is the USA DOE Energy Information Agency https:/www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php
But any mistakes in arithmetic are my own.
-----------------
7.5 billion barrels of petroleum products consumed in USA in 2018
average price $69.78 per barrel
Cost of petroleum products: $523,350,000,000
In 2017, the United States consumed about 27.11 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas
average of $4.08 per thousand cubic feet
Cost of natural gas: $110,608,800,000
EIA expects total U.S. coal consumption in 2018 to fall to 691 million short tons (MMst)
$39.09 per short ton (2017 price)
Cost of coal: $27,011,190,000
Total: $660,969,990,000
We spend nearly $661 billion per year or something like that on fuel alone every year.
And these are only ballpark numbers, probably on the low side.
With the 2018 USA GDP at $20.50 trillion, the cost of fuel is approximately 3.22% of annual GDP
---------------------------
Another "cost" of fuel is covered in the International Monetary Fund's recent report on fossil fuel subsidies, covering 191 countries:
https:www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/05/02/Global-Fossil-Fuel-Subsidies-Remain-Large-A
n-Update-Based-on-Country-Level-Estimates-46509
They look at the difference between the market price and "how much consumers would pay if prices fully reflected supply costs plus the taxes needed to reflect environmental costs and revenue requirements."
Global fuel subsidies were $4.7 trillion (6.3% of global GDP) in 2015 and were projected to be $5.2 trillion (6.5% of GDP) in 2017
China subsidizes the most with $1.4 trillion per year
$649 billion in 2015 for the USA, 3.6% of GDP
Russia at $551 billion
EU at $289 billion
India at $209 billion
"Efficient fossil fuel pricing in 2015 would have lowered global carbon emissions by 28% and fossil fuel air pollution deaths by 46%, and increased government revenue by 3.8 % of GDP."
Subsidies consist of underpricing for local air pollution, the largest source (48% in 2015),
global warming at 24%
broader environmental costs of road fuels at 15%
undercharging for general consumption taxes 7%
supply costs 7%
Coal and petroleum get 85% of the global subsidies monies.
Coal receives 44% of subsidy monies
petroleum 41%
natural gas 10%
electricity 4%
"If fuel prices had been set at fully efficient levels in 2015, estimated global CO2 emissions would have been 28% lower, fossil fuel air pollution deaths 46% lower, tax revenues higher by 3.8% of global GDP, and net economic benefits (environmental benefits less economic costs) would have amounted to 1.7% of global GDP."
---------------------------
The USA spends about $661 billion per year on the cost of fuel
and another $649 billion on subsidies for that fuel
That's about $1.2 trillion per year for the full cost accounting of fossil fuels and such fossil foolishness.
That's about 7% of USA GDP
The energy transition, Energiewende, of Germany is estimated to cost 0.5 - 1.2% of GDP per year
Source: https:/www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/how-much-does-germanys-energy-transition-cost
How do you pay for the Green New Deal? You do away with the cost of fuel (and all the subsidies that go along with it).
by gmoke
Tue Jun 18th, 2019 at 07:09:09 PM EST
Remember when Elon Musk offered to build a grid-scale battery for Southern Australia in "100 days or it's free"? He made good on his bet, installing it on time for the cost of $66 million in December of 2017.
According to a report on its first year of operation, the Hornsdale Power Reserve (HPR), owned and operated by Neon, the world's largest lithium-ion battery energy storage system, with a discharge capacity of 100 MW and energy storage capacity of 129 MWh, located near Jamestown, South Australia, sharing the same 275 kV network connection point as the 300 MW Hornsdale wind farm, saved $40 million in its first year.
HPR is three times larger than any other lithium ion battery. It provides high-quality, rapid and precise Regulation of Frequency Control Ancillary Services [FCAS] with Fast Frequency Response [FFR], faster than existing large steam turbines which take minutes to ramp up.
"It can rapidly discharge and charge over fractions of a second to support the safe and stable operation of the grid when it's under threat, or when something unexpected happens elsewhere, not just in the State but in the National Electricity Market."
"HPR's FFR capability was proven in a major system security event on 25 August 2018 (detailed in case study) where HPR operated as required, accurately dispatching energy to support the network through both high and low frequency periods."
The HBR project began after a state-wide blackout in 2016 when the South Australian government solicited bids. Tesla was chosen out of 90 other competing companies.
Tesla explained the system's capabilities, saying, "It will help solve power outages, reduce intermittencies and manage summertime peak load to support the reliability of South Australia's electrical infrastructure, providing enough power for more than 30,000 homes--approximately equal to the amount of homes that lost power during the blackout period last year."
Tesla also says it will recycle the batteries after their 15 year lifetime, planning to recover up to 60% of the materials.
South Australia has gone from less than 1% renewables in the early 2000s to 48.9% in 2016/17 and is expected to rise to 73% by 2020/21, perhaps the fastest renewable growth rate in the world. Australia's electricity sector alone is on track to deliver the country's entire Paris emissions reduction targets by 2025 instead of 2030, five years early.
"Remarkably, the net cost is zero because expensive fossil fuels are being replaced by cheaper renewables."
Sources: https:/www.sciencealert.com/remember-the-giant-tesla-battery-in-australia-it-just-marked-its-first-
year
https:www.aurecongroup.com/thinking/thinking-papers/batteries-future-energy-storage
https:www.aurecongroup.com/markets/energy/hornsdale-power-reserve-impact-study
https:www.scribd.com/document/395050069/Aurecon-Hornsdale-Power-Reserve-Impact-Study-2018
https:/www.ign.com/articles/2019/01/01/a-giant-tesla-battery-in-australia-has-saved-40-million-in-i
ts-first-year-2
http://re100.eng.anu.edu.au/publications/assets/100renewables.pdf
by gmoke
Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 at 02:18:15 AM EST
Scientists tell us that
we have about a decade to do something
to reduce climate calamity.
Let's schedule out the next 10 years
3,650 days
for climate action
month by month
week by week
day by day
to do what is
ecologically necessary
to restore the atmosphere to
270 ppm CO2
ASAP.
This is a reworking of the end of My Approach to Climate Change (http://solarray.blogspot.com/2018/12/my-approach-to-climate-change.html) which I was reminded of by reading a paper on "German Energiewende: Power System" I received at the NE - Germany Energy Transition Forum (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/new-england-germany-energy-transition-forum-tickets-59674085797), at Harvard Law school on May 16, 2019. In it I saw goal figures for greenhouse gas reductions (ghgs) and renewable power increases for both Germany and the EU.
My daily reminder climate catastrophe calendar would have these kinds of things on each page:
Climate goals for the EU:
80-95% reduction greenhouse gases (ghg) by 2050
(compared to 1990 levels, the agreed upon standard it seems)
32% renewables by 2030
32.5% increase in efficiency by 2030
Climate goals for Germany:
55% reduction in ghgs by 2030
80-95% by 2050
30.8% reductions from 1990 levels of ghgs now
65% renewable electricity by 2030
80% by 2050
37.8% renewable electricity now, already above the 2020 goal of 35%
(Renewables are the dominant source of electricity in Germany for the second year in a row and renewables have tripled since 2000)
40-45% renewables by 2025
nuclear phase out by 2022
coal phase out by 2038
I know another date to add to the calendar could be Costa Rica's goal of being carbon neutral by 2021.
I wonder whether people would actually buy a Climate Change Daily Reminder Calendar. I'm guessing the German Network Development Plan 2019-2030 which outlines the planned grid development to accomodate 65% renewables by 2030 has something like it though.
May somebody somewhere be working on a 100% by 2030 calendar for their country and the world -- just as a thought experiment. Perhaps those who are interested can work on it every Friday while the schoolchildren are striking for climate.
by gmoke
Fri May 17th, 2019 at 07:25:01 PM EST
Singapore Airlines reinventing airplane food with produce from a vertical farm
https:/www.newsweek.com/singapore-airlines-aerofarm-1376378
Agritech innovations
https:cleantechnica.com/2019/04/03/future-farms-agritech-innovations-to-feed-a-changing-planet
Fraunhofer Reports Combining Farming With Solar 186% More Efficient In Summer Of 2018
https:/www.ise.fraunhofer.de/en/press-media/press-releases/2019/agrophotovoltaics-hight-harvesting-
yield-in-hot-summer-of-2018.html
https:cleantechnica.com/2019/04/12/fraunhofer-reports-combining-farming-with-solar-186-more-effici
ent-in-summer-of-2018
Editorial Comment: The Japanese have been combining agriculture with solar electricity for a decade or two now.
The Circular Garden - a temporary pavilion made from mushrooms for Milan Design Week
https:/carloratti.com/project/the-circular-garden
https:/inhabitat.com/cra-grows-a-sustainable-pavilion-out-of-mushrooms-in-just-6-weeks
University of Toronto Scarborough & Centennial College developing Canada's first net zero vertical farm
https:/utsc.utoronto.ca/news-events/our-community/u-t-scarborough-centennial-college-partnering-dev
elop-canadas-first-net-zero-vertical
https:www.treehugger.com/resilience/university-toronto-planning-net-zero-vertical-farm.html
Editorial Comment: Good to see more people thinking about net zero in relation to vertical farming but Treehugger is correct to criticize the idea for using arable land instead of, say, brownfields
Online urban agriculture class from UMass begins May 20, 2019
https:www.morningagclips.com/urban-agriculture-is-the-focus-of-new-online-class
https:/onlinesustfoodfarm.com
5000 square foot garden and apiary as Staten Island apartment house amenities
https:www.urbystatenisland.com
https:inhabitat.com/this-apartment-building-in-staten-island-has-a-5000-square-foot-urban-farm
"Following in the footsteps of Toronto, San Francisco, Denver, and Portland, Oregon, all new residential and commercial buildings in the city [NYC] must top roofs with either plants, solar panels, mini wind turbines--or a combination of all three."
https:/www.dwell.com/article/new-york-city-requires-green-roofs-on-new-buildings-ede4deb8
Editorial Comment: The same act's "Dirty Building Bill" aims to slash the carbon emissions of all buildings over 25,000 square feet by 80% by 2050 through energy-saving solutions and retrofits such as installing better insulation.
NYC's eco-park PIer 35
https:www.shoparc.com/projects/pier-35
https:/inhabitat.com/nycs-new-eco-park-and-urban-beach-is-designed-to-help-clean-the-waterfront
Algae "biocurtains" from Photo.Synth.Etica absorb carbon from urban air
https:/www.photosynthetica.co.uk/urban-algae-clad
https:www.core77.com/posts/88205/Could-Algae-Based-Biocurtains-Make-Our-Cities-Healthier
Engineers create plants that glow: Illumination from nanobionic plants might one day replace some electrical lighting
http://news.mit.edu/2017/engineers-create-nanobionic-plants-that-glow-1213
Growing food in the Arctic - polar permaculture
https:www.bbc.com/news/av/science-environment-48257139/meet-the-arctic-farmer-hoping-to-make-his-t
own-more-sustainable
https:/www.polarpermaculture.com/tours
A few years worth of City Agriculture links are archived at http://cityag.blogspot.com
by gmoke
Wed Apr 3rd, 2019 at 05:33:00 PM EST
Friday School Strike for Climate to Friday Teach-ins on Climate to Friday Global Hackathons on Climate that is the progression I'd like to see and so I am passing on the idea.
It came to me when I found that Harvard Divest was going to "Flood Harvard" Yard on Friday, April 26 (https:/www.facebook.com/events/347126895944173). I suggested to them on their Facebook event page that perhaps part of their activities could include a kindergarten to graduate school teach-in on climate to coincide with the Friday school strikes for climate which are happening around the world every Friday.
Later, listening to the MSNBC town hall with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Friday night, I thought that perhaps this idea could be extended from a teach-in to a hackathon using the Internet to connect globally. Seems like it would be a natural for an organization like MIT's Climate Collaborative (https://www.climatecolab.org). Already there are tools like the C-ROADS climate simulation (https:www.climateinteractive.org/tools/c-roads) and the Energy Policy simulator (https:/energypolicy.solutions) available for free online. Precursors like Buckminster Fuller's World Game (https:www.bfi.org/about-fuller/big-ideas/world-game) ["Make the world work, for 100% of humanity, in the shortest possible time, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone"] and John Hunter's World Peace Game (https:worldpeacegame.org) [World Peace and Other 4th-Grade Achievements] could be part of the foundation.
Just a thought.
PS: Another ongoing climate action could use the next farmers' market season as an opportunity to make practical environmental change from the grassroots on up: https:www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/5/24/1766926-Mister-Franklin-s-Folks-How-to-Change-USA-Energy
-Policy-in-One-Growing-Season
by gmoke
Tue Mar 19th, 2019 at 03:29:24 AM EST
John Todd, author of Healing Earth: An Ecologist's Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship (Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2019 ISBN 9781623172985) (https:/www.northatlanticbooks.com/shop/healing-earth), has spent his professional life building living technologies, eco-machines and eco-restorers, biological systems which "contain representative species from all the kingdoms of life ranging from bacteria and viruses at the lower end of the size scale to fungi, animals, and woody plants at the macro scale. Working together as a biological team, these assemblages of organisms help us transform polluted water into clean water. In return, we provide them with extra air and water circulation as well as appropriate substrates to live on or in." He works on the basis of "that which has been damaged can be healed" and "do good things in bad places," showing that the field of applied ecology is practical and can solve problems, exploring the myriad ways that informed stewardship can help heal and transform the Earth.
He started with a greenhouse full of transparent water tanks for the treatment of septage in Harwich, MA in the 1980s and, "more by accident than design," included representative species of all the kingdoms of life in the system. Over years of experimentation, he learned "that a diversity of organisms from a variety of parent ecosystems could produce systems with a meta-intelligence that had a highly specific ability to self-organize, self-design, and self-replicate. They were capable, in fact, of surviving through long periods of times, possibly centuries, with minimal human support."
His installations are ecologically engineered, "they are designed with the attributes of natural ecosystems like marshes, ponds, and streams," borrowing their designs, life forms, and progressions from natural ecosystems. For John Todd "natural history is not an old-fashioned form of knowing; it comprises the narratives of living entities that provide the alphabet of the design vocabulary."
In this book, he provides a pattern language, the human grammar for that design vocabulary, a baker's dozen of design principles for constructing living technologies and eco-machines based upon his decades of experience with projects that treat sewage, septage, petroleum wastes and other toxics, producing improved water quality at both household and community scales.
Todd considers such individual projects as First Order Ecological Design, techniques and technologies applied to the landscape. Second Order Design is the linking together of processes and practices into new associations and entities, industrial ecologies and agricultural eco-parks for example. Third Order Ecological Design addresses larger economic and social structures and their evolution over time. He writes, "It is my belief that durable and sustainable economies, in an age of resource limits and information richness, can replace the extractive and environmentally destructive technologies and infrastructures of today." For an example of a Third Order Ecological Design see John Todd's ecological plan for Appalachia, the winner of the first Buckminster Fuller Challenge Award at https:/www.bfi.org/ideaindex/projects/2008/challenge-appalachia
In Healing Earth, John Todd has given us practical, working examples of how to think like nature itself, in ever expanding systems which repair the damage we homo sap sap (the sap) have already done. We must learn to live in our ecological niche or risk extinction. John Todd's report of his lifetime of observation and experimentation teaches us not only how to live within that niche but expand it.
Projects from Todd Ecological
http://www.toddecological.com/index.php?id=projects
Providence, RI living machine treating sewage and septage with ecological systems design and without chemicals (1990)
https:youtu.be/wC-uqy2qJH0
Canal Restorer to River Restorer (2013)
https:/solarray.blogspot.com/2013/09/canal-restorer-to-river-restorer.html
Gaian Design of Ecological Alchemy: notes from A Safe, Sustainable World (2005)
http://solarray.blogspot.com/2005/05/gaian-design-of-ecological-alchemy.html
by gmoke
Wed Nov 28th, 2018 at 03:15:34 AM EST
Here are Representative Ocasio-Cortez' proposed goals for a Select Committee on a Green New Deal (https:/ocasio2018.com/green-new-deal) as part of the resuscitated House Committee on Climate Change:
"The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall be developed in order to achieve the following goals, in each case in no longer than 10 years from the start of execution of the Plan:
100% of national power generation from renewable sources;
building a national, energy-efficient, "smart" grid;
upgrading every residential and industrial building for state-of-the-art energy efficiency, comfort and safety;
decarbonizing the manufacturing, agricultural and other industries;
decarbonizing, repairing and improving transportation and other infrastructure;
funding massive investment in the drawdown and capture of greenhouse gases;
making `green' technology, industry, expertise, products and services a major export of the United States, with the aim of becoming the undisputed international leader in helping other countries transition to completely carbon neutral economies and bringing about a global Green New Deal."
Here are UK's Extinction Rebellion's demands (https:rebellion.earth/demands):
"That the Government must tell the truth about how deadly our situation is, it must reverse all policies not in alignment with that position and must work alongside the media to communicate the urgency for change including what individuals, communities and businesses need to do.
"Good intentions and guidelines won't save the ice caps. The Government must enact legally-binding policies to reduce carbon emissions in the UK to net zero by 2025 and take further action to remove the excess of atmospheric greenhouse gases. It must cooperate internationally so that the global economy runs on no more than half a planet's worth of resources per year.
"By necessity these demands require initiatives and mobilisation of similar size and scope to those enacted in times of war. We do not however, trust our Government to make the bold, swift and long-term changes necessary to achieve this and we do not intend to hand further power to our politicians. Instead we demand a Citizens' Assembly to oversee the changes, as we rise from the wreckage, creating a democracy fit for purpose."
My approach to climate change is
100% renewables ASAP
zero emissions economy ASAP
carbon drawdown ASAP
geotherapy (not geoengineering) ASAP
Resources: http://drawdown.org
s:/www.crcpress.com/Geotherapy-Innovative-Methods-of-Soil-Fertility-Restoration-Carbon-Sequestratio
n/Goreau-Larson-Campe/p/book/9781466595392
http://bio4climate.org
http://soil4climate.org
http://solarray.blogspot.com
At least as a thought experiment.
I also believe a solar civil defense is necessary NOW and could be a way to do a solar walk away or electrical utility boycott as an example of solar swadeshi, local production, and a Gandhian, non-violent economic system.
PS: The Sunrise Movement (https:www.sunrisemovement.org) will be lobbying in Washington, DC on December 10 to demand Congress make a real plan to address climate change.
You can join this action by filling out the form at
http://bit.ly/dcregform or
https:docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdUxzRB4ZN92BCKispDUzB5bEizMXJ99PaRV5A0_m4BMGmWLQ/viewform
They will also be having a Facebook event on December 9 to Tell Democrats: We Need a Green New Deal
https:www.facebook.com/events/204445147134230
