Friday Five: September 5, 2014

In another post this week, I made a reference to Pompeii. There are definitely days when I feel like the guy who saw the eruption coming but spent more time worrying about trying to convince people it was going to happen then getting the heck out of town.
5 terrifying facts from leaked UN climate report

" It’s a long list of problems: sea level rise resulting in coastal flooding, crippling heat waves and multidecade droughts, torrential downpours, widespread food shortages, species extinction, pest outbreaks, economic damage, and exacerbated civil conflicts and poverty.
But in general, the 127-page leaked report provides starker language than the previous three, framing the crisis as a series of 'irreversible' ecological and economic catastrophes that will occur if swift action is not taken."

The rising middle class in China is forcing the government into actions that will reduce pollution and simultaneously reduce the carbon in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, the waning middle class in this country cannot accomplish the same thing.
China brings forward start date of carbon trading scheme

"The rapid growth of a Chinese middle class has gone hand in hand with increasing unrest in the country over the damage caused to the air, water and soil by the nation's rapid industrialization.
According to Reuters, the Chinese government has pledged to reduce the amount of carbon emitted per unit of GDP by 40-45 per cent of its 2005 levels by 2020."

I wanted to just write "Nicaragua?" as a "clever" way of highlighting that other countries in the Americas are stepping up where we cannot. Then I thought, who am I...in the country in which I live...to be anywhere near that snarky. We could learn much from Nicaragua on this issue.
Nicaragua on the rise as next leader in renewable energy
"Last year, 51 percent of the country’s energy came from renewable sources, and the goal is to reach 74 percent by 2017, and 90 percent by 2020.
What’s important to note, though, is the country still has massive renewable energy potential and is ripe for investors to make the stated goals a reality."

America uses twice as much energy per capita than most of our leading, developed economic competitors (and four times as much as China). Either you believe that we do not know any better than to be wasteful or that we do not care. Whichever you choose, it's not a good thing.
"Zombie" servers and inefficiency drive waste at data centers

"These 'zombie,' or comatose, servers are among the examples of energy waste documented in a report about U.S. data centers released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). If those facilities were to cut electricity consumption by 40 percent—half of what is possible using the tools now available to improve efficiency—the electricity savings would amount to $3.8 billion and 39 billion kilowatt-hours, according to the report.
That's enough to power 3.5 million American homes."

Read the ruling by the judge...all the way through. It's worth hearing at least some idea of what happened over the month leading up to the start of the spill and during the spill. We talk about the value of the pressure to produce, and how the push for profit should be considered a positive trait. If you look at the actions of the technicians and engineers through the lens of the drive for profit, the actions taken appear to be logical, albeit completely unethical...and as it turns out, illegal.
BP may be fined up to $18 billion for spill in Gulf

"By finding that BP was, in legal parlance, grossly negligent in the disaster, and not merely negligent, United States District Court Judge Carl J. Barbier opened the possibility of $18 billion in new civil penalties for BP, nearly quadruple the maximum Clean Water Act penalty for simple negligence and far more than the $3.5 billion the company has set aside."

Happy Friday!