6. 50% of our oil must be imported. I'm being completely serious on this. Oil is truly a magical substance. Liquid fucking carbon. For the last 100 years, the number one substance mentioned in US patents was a petroleum derivative. Plastics, biomedical, agricultural, material science, and chemical, to name a few. Oil is far too valuable to burn up. We need a domestic supply of it. Also the faster we burn up the rest of the world's oil supply the stronger we become. The problems in the middle east go away once you cut off their source of wealth.
I remember watching this documentary and it really opened my eyes. I used to be somewhat meh over the climate change issue. Perhaps, I had become a Trumpanzee. Dunno. At any rate, It's a real deal, real problems, and only we (humans) can do something about it. My sister/brother-in-law just returned from an Alaskan cruise. Record high temperatures up there. Glaciers melting away, etc. Just saw this. I've always loved Billy Joel's music/lyrics.... https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=CL-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C-GK2C&v=1070997123538563
Deadly Glacier Collapse in Italy 'Linked Directly to Climate Change' At least seven people were killed when a glacier slid down a mountainside near a popular climbing route in the Alps on Sunday. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...collapse-italy-linked-directly-climate-change
The pandemic lockdown did a great job of curbing global warming for a couple years....air actually got clear over places like China and Mexico City....plant trees folks...I've planted thousands in my life.....don't drive for entertainment....when possible use public electric transportation such as buses and high speed rail systems. Stop putting concrete everywhere if you own a home...and most importantly...STOP FARTING..I've always kept a low carbon footprint compared to most folks I know. Walk 6 blocks to the store instead of driving there...get a bicycle..or scooter....give up being a pyromaniac!
Stop farting? Well, now I think I’ll know how to identify riverman when I’m down in the Eugene area: look for the bloated guy looking like the Michelin Man floating over the cruiser bike he’s tethered to.
We need a carbon fee and dividend. That's the most effective way to address climate change. It would be popular, as most Americans would receive a dividend payment every month. Could Biden do it via executive order? Could he direct the fed to refuse to do business with banks who didn't require their customers verify they are paying the carbon fee? And then have the Fed send out a tax free progressive dividend to less than wealthy Americans? I'm not sure if the IRS could without congressional approval. Say, you get cut off at $250k per year. Would it even be possible to implement? If this were started now would the people punish any president or congress who took it away?
We're already going to see a population collapse worldwide. We don't want to exasperate the problem. And that wouldn't do anything to help the problem anyway.
Interesting Engineering: An all-in-one solar powered tower makes carbon-neutral jet fuel a reality. https://interestingengineering.com/solar-powered-tower-carbon-neutral-jet
Interesting work. Looks like it's a technically feasible approach, but scalability will be challenging.
A new Stanford University study says the cost of switching the whole planet to a fossil fuel free 100% renewables energy system would be $62 trillion, but as this would generate annual cost savings of $11 trillion, it would pay for itself in six years.
