In order to slow down climate change, we must solve four seemingly unsolvable problems. We must eliminate poverty. We must change the unsustainable lifestyles of so many of us. We must abolish corruption. And we must think about our growing human population. There are 7.7 billion of us today, and by 2050, the UN predicts there will be 9.7 billion. It is no wonder people have despaired. But I believe we have a window of time to have an impact. | |
— Jane Goodall | |
From her opinion / article: “The devastation of climate change is real. But there are reasons to be hopeful“ | |
The article appears in: “Time Magazine“, dtd: September 23, 2019 | |
The article is online at: https://time.com/5669043/jane-goodall-climate-change/ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2019 | No Escape |
2018 | Except When It Is From The Oval Office |
2017 | Bad Karma |
2016 | Poor Management Choices |
2015 | Is It Still Dark Out? |
2014 | Rule One |
2013 | Spelling God’s Name |
2012 | Love Your Life And Sing |
Feeling Under the Weather? | |
2011 | Cheers, Friend! |
Posts Tagged ‘Global Climate Change’
We Have A Window
Posted in Environment, Politics, Quotes, tagged Environment, Global Climate Change, Jane Goodall, Politics, Quotes, Time Magazine on March 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »
Where Does This Leave Us?
Posted in Environment, Politics, Quotes, tagged A New Climate For Climate, Global Climate Change, Justin Worland, Politics, Quotes, Time Magazine on June 14, 2019| Leave a Comment »
Where does this leave all of us and the planet we inhabit? Even thinking optimistically, enacting climate-change legislation that matches the scale of the challenge is hard to imagine: the science is damning and the clock is ticking. And while the conversation may be shifting, there’s still a climate-change-denying President in the White House and nothing like a broad consensus on a path forward among Democrats. | |
In the face of all that, it would be easy to dismiss the new breed of climate activists as noisy but dreamy, idealists distant from the powers who run the show. But that’s the thing about social movements, from civil rights to gay rights. At first the activists may look naive, and maybe they are. But in the rearview mirror, they come to look like instigators of massive and, in hindsight, obvious change. | |
— Justin Worland | |
In Mr. Worland’s article: “A New Climate For Climate“ | |
Appearing in Time Magazine, dtd: 3 April 2019 | |
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On This Day In: | |
2018 | Or A Small Blue Planet |
2017 | To Infinity And Beyond |
2016 | And Some Unawake, Too |
Winds And Reign | |
2015 | Natural Shapes |
2014 | Seeing The Light |
2013 | Requirements |
2012 | Tricked Again |
2011 | Liberty And Justice For Earth |
2010 | Home Again, Home Again, Jig-A-De, Jig… |
Raking – #PresidentIdiot Proposes Full Employment For California
Posted in Economics, Politics, tagged #PresidentIdiot, #PresidentTrumpIsALiar, Affordable Care Act, Afghanistan, California, Camp Fire, Catholic Church, Compost, Economics, Finland, Global Climate Change, Google, Politics, Russian Collusion With Trump, Scribbling on November 19, 2018| Leave a Comment »
Global climate change is one of the causes for the current drought in California and across much of the mid-west and southwestern United States. Despite what #IncompetentDonald says, that’s just the unfortunate truth. The thing about science AND reality is they don’t care whether you believe in them or not OR what political party you support. | |
On visiting the California Camp (Butte County) fire area and viewing the town of Paradise which was destroyed by the recent fire, #PresidentIdiot said we can deal with forest fires the way they do in Finland by raking the underbrush. If only we had better land management. Setting aside the fact this is a lie – the Finn’s don’t manage their forests by raking brush and that their President never told Trump they did, as #PresidentTrumpIsALiar claims, let’s take a look at what this “proposal” might cost (this is just a scribbling on the napkin guesstimate): | |
First I Google’d how many acres of forest land there are in California (Federal land only): 19,000,000 acres | |
Next I Google’d how long it takes to clear 1 acre of land of leaves – (in a level garden, using a blower and machine lawn-mowers / cutters): 3 men x 3 hours = 9 man-hours per acre. This includes bagging and taking the leaves to the dump. This was a private sector estimate at $40 per hour per person and with supervisory overhead (profit margin), a minimum of $500 bid for the job. Please, note the bids I found are for back yards and gardens. The quotes are not for brush, hills, mountains and dense forests which may either have no roads or be too steep / rugged to have road access. In other words, you’ll have to hike there just to use that rake of yours. | |
That’s a rough $9.5 BILLION dollars ($500 x 19,000,000 acres)!!! But, of course, we all KNOW that the private sector is MUCH more efficient than the government, so we can assume this is an accurate estimate and a lower cost than if the job were done by Federal workers. | |
So, how many workers is that? | |
19,000,000 acres * 9 man-hours per acre = 171,000,000 man-hours | |
171,000,000 man-hours / 2,000 man-hours per year of work = 85,500 man-years of raking. (The good news is you don’t need a high school diploma to use a rake.) Talk about full employment and a Civilian Conservation Corps!!!! | |
The most level management organization in the world is (wait for it…) the Catholic Church which has ONLY four levels between the parish priest and the Pope (Monsignor (parish), Bishop (diocese), Cardinal (region), Pope (Church) ). If we adopt the standard rule of seven for supervisor efficiency (except at the bottom of the table) we are left with also hiring 1 supervisor per 36 rakers (2,375 supervisors), 1 manager per 7 supervisors (340 mngrs), 1 senior manager per 7 managers (49 senior mngrs), 1 executive per 7 senior mngrs (7 execs), and 1 “Head of Raking for California”. Yes, I know that’s 5 levels not 4 (like the Church), but the numbers are the numbers and we don’t have God to routinely make miracles for us. | |
So, that’s an extra 2,772 folks who will be on staff but not raking. Now, obviously, these folks are going to make a lot more than the $40 the private sector was going to charge for a “raker”, but let’s assume it’s ONLY $50 / hour. The cost of this management will be: $277,200,000. | |
So, President Trump’s “idea / proposal” to rake the underbrush to prevent future fires will need to hire / use about 88 THOUSAND people and cost somewhere around $9.8 BILLION per year. And that’s ONLY for Federal land in California. And, let’s not get into who’s going to drive the trucks moving the undergrowth to the dump and / or where we’re going to find landfills large enough to hold all of the compost. Oh, don’t forget the cost of the rakes and the plastic bags to hold the undergrowth during transport. It boggles the mind… | |
This is the kind of ridiculous suggestion you get from a man who is so stupid he believes he is smarter than “his” generals (we are still in the Middle East and Afghanistan), “his” economists (we still have no tax relief for the middle class), “his” political advisors (Republicans just lost the House in the mid-terms), and “his” intelligence services (Russian had nothing to do with #DumbDonald getting elected), let alone “who knew healthcare was so complicated” (we still have no Republican proposal to replace the Affordable Care Act). Basically, this is what happens when you elect an incompetent con-man / grifter to be President. | |
And, no, I don’t seriously believe any company in the private sector is going to pay someone $40 / hour to rake / blow leaves. I do believe that is what they will charge you, though. Okay, enough scribbling… | |
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On This Day In: | |
2017 | Federal Deficit, National Debt And Tax Cuts For The 1% |
2016 | Picky, Picky, Picky |
2015 | Another Limitation On Religion |
2014 | Enduring |
2013 | Tell Me More… |
2012 | Passing… |
2011 | Fake It ‘Til You Make It |
So We Agree, #45 Is Dumb – Too
Posted in Economics, Environment, Leadership, Politics, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged American Leadership, Economics, Environment, Global Climate Change, Nick Stockton, Paris Agreement, Politics, Quotes, Renewable Technology, Science, The Billionaire on a Mission to Save the Planet From Trump, Tom Steyer, Wired Magazine on April 12, 2018| Leave a Comment »
I was in business for 30 years, and my experience is that the best way to operate is to work fairly and closely with partners over a long period of time. The most expensive way to do business is to do it deal by deal, each of which is highly contentious. If deal by deal is the model, where instead of partners or allies we have counterparts and competitors, that is very expensive, difficult, and dangerous. OK, so look at the Paris agreement: It’s going to force the developed world to change its energy sources. That means the US could be the leader in developing renewable technology for more than a billion people — a huge incoming market — who don’t have electricity at all. | |
The Paris agreement was a great achievement of American leadership. So the idea that we’re going to walk away and give up leadership of 194 countries, and walk away from our position as a leader in the world for the past 100 years, will be an incredibly expensive and dumb thing to do. | |
— Tom Steyer | |
From the article: “The Billionaire on a Mission to Save the Planet From Trump“ | |
Article written by: Nick Stockton | |
Article appearing in: Wired Magazine, dtd: April 2017 |
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Link to article: http://www.wired.com/2017/03/tom-steyer-interview/ | |
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On This Day In: | |
2017 | The Morality Of Spying |
2016 | He Doesn’t Remind Me Of Me |
The First Rule | |
2015 | Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow |
The Man Without Fear | |
2014 | I Blame Robocop |
2013 | Future Trustees |
2012 | Praise Not The Day… |
2011 | Educated Living |
Survival Instinct
Posted in Environment, Politics, Quotes, Science and Learning, tagged Global Climate Change, On Survival, Politics, Quotes, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Science on April 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »
First, be a good animal. | |
— Ralph Waldo Emerson | |
[Are you still denying global climate change? If I am incorrect and there is no such thing, the economy dips for a few years. Okay. But what if you’re wrong? Then what? — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2015 | Tears |
2014 | Bourne Again (4) |
2013 | God’s Protection |
2012 | Happy Easter!! |
Edge, Class, Clash, And Flight | |
The Value Of Bureaucracies | |
2011 | Logic Cuts |
It Is What It Is
Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged Global Climate Change, Lev Grossman, On The Lessons Of Life, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes on October 3, 2015| Leave a Comment »
If there’s a single lesson that life teaches us, it’s that wishing doesn’t make it so. | |
— Lev Grossman | |
[… To all the Global Climate Change deniers. — KMAB] | |
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On This Day In: | |
2014 | What Have You Learned (Gently) Lately? |
Orange October (I) | |
2013 | Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain |
For A Time | |
2012 | What Are Your True Measurements |
2011 | What It Is All About |
2010 | The Magnificent Seven |
Giants Fever!! | |
Global Climate Change May Test This Statement
Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged C.S. Lewis, Global Climate Change, On Truth, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes on September 30, 2015| 6 Comments »
You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. | |
― C.S. Lewis | |
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On This Day In: | |
2014 | Adaptability Won |
2013 | Disappeared |
2012 | Fuller |
Life On The Range | |
More Classics | |
2011 | Stoned Again? |
2010 | Insubordination… And That’s Why I Love Her! |
Losing – Week One | |