For the known ways to obtain and transport fossil fuels, we are on a downward slope to running out of them sometime in the next century (based upon current population growth and planned development of second and third world countries - and yes, including fracking for shale gas and oil). We also know that exhausting all that resource with the emissions generated by current technologies will create irrecoverable climate change. That scarcity has leant support to environmental efforts, but what happens if scarcity no longer has the same relevance?
What if we never run out of oil?
"But methane hydrate is being developed in much the same methodical way that shale gas was developed before it, except by a bigger, more international group of researchers. Shale gas, too, was subject to skepticism wide and loud. The egg on naysayers’ faces suggests that it would be foolish to ignore the prospects for methane hydrate—and more foolish still not to consider the potential consequences."
This issue has even more poignancy given the recent State of Air released by the American Lung Association. (Note to my fellow Chicagoans: our city is the 16th worst!)
The state of america's air, mapped
"So how risky is your area? The State of the Air website allows you to search for your city or county and see its assigned grade. But we've gone ahead and plotted the counties identified in the report as the best and worst for pollution."
Regardless of efforts to convince Americans that government is ineffective at solving problems and delivering on improvements to quality of life, we see that government can effectively incentivize industries to develop and succeed. Then there are governments that miss those opportunities because of ideology. Perhaps those that deride the ineffectiveness of government should stop creating their own self-fulfilling prophecy.
In Wisconsin, politics continue to hold back wind development
"In 2012, a year that saw a nationwide surge in wind farm installations as developers rushed to beat expiring tax credits, Wisconsin added only 18 megawatts of capacity.
By comparison, Michigan and Ohio, with much lower wind potential, had already installed 138 MW and 308 MW in just the first three quarters."
I do not believe that the owners of the West, Texas factory intended to kill people. I do not believe that the citizens of West, Texas intended to put their elderly and youth in a dangerous situation. I do not believe that state and local officials in Texas intended to neglect the safety of the population of West, Texas. I believe they all wanted a business that supported the local agriculture and economy and added to the quality of life of the people of West, Texas. Regulations are not necessary to provide inordinately onerous intrusion into the pursuit of business objectives, or to provide an opportunity to punish business. Regulations provide a clean basis for a market economy, and they protect lives because business will not, on its own, consider safety and quality of life for all...only the profitability of the business.
The Texas fertilizer plant explosion cannot be forgotten
"The explosion of the West Fertilizer Co. plant on April 17 in West, Tex., killed 14 people, injured more than 160 and destroyed dozens of buildings. Yet unlike the tragedy in Boston, the Texas plant explosion began to vanish from cable TV less than 36 hours after it occurred. Marquee correspondents like Anderson Cooper were pulled out of West and sent back to Boston, and little airtime was spared for updates from Texas, even as many town residents remained missing. The networks seemed to decide covering two big stories was covering one too many, as if we journalists can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. The media’s neglect has greatly increased the danger that the explosion will quickly be forgotten, to the detriment of U.S. workers."
Let us hope that common sense transparency and safeguards will provide consumers what they deserve...the freedom to choose what they purchase and put into their bodies. Everyone of every political belief can agree that a functioning free market requires each party to agree on what is being purchased.
GMO foods subject of bill in US Senate
"The legislation, which would require food manufacturers and stores to tag items made with genetically modified ingredients or grown from genetically engineered seeds, has support from both sides of the aisle, including more than 20 co-sponsors combined in the Senate and House of Representatives.
It has been hailed by food labeling advocates as a boon for consumers who have repeatedly tried to get such laws passed. California's Proposition 37, a referendum on requiring genetically engineered food labeling last year, failed to pass. Boxer tried to pass a similar bill, without success, in 2000. But activists say that Boxer and DeFazio's proposed legislation shows that demand for a genetically engineered labeling law has reached critical mass."
Happy Friday!
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