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So I’m blogging again…

The Battle Over Climate Science | Popular Science

“In the late 1990s, Mann developed a graph that demonstrated a recent and dramatic uptick in global mean surface temperatures. The hockey-stick-shaped curve has become emblematic to both sides of the climate debate. To the vast majority of climate scientists, it represents evidence, corroborated by decades of peer-reviewed research, of global warming. To climate-change skeptics, the hockey stick is the most grievous of many illusions fabricated by thousands of conspiring scientists to support an iniquitous political agenda.”

If you “believe” in global warming, this article will just be mind-boggling to you. It is funny to even have to say “believe”. We can’t even talk about solutions in this country – we’re still debating whether we “believe” the overwhelming evidence of climate change.

Had a good discussion with Doug the other day about climate change and factors contributing to it. I was discussing my goal to cut back on driving and he pointed out (correctly) that personal transportation is not the majority of the problem. (Though it is about 30% of it)

Luckily, it seems, that presented will silly hot temperatures and brain-eating amoebas, wild fires, droughts, public opinion is shifting on the issue.

So why has it not been made an issue in the presidential campaign? (Rhetorical question) Obama should seize on this and let Romney and Ryan writhe around in denial, trying to speak to their base. As governor, Romney was pretty moderate, but as a republican presidential candidate you have to worry about things, like appeasing the oil and gas industry.

Mitt Romney’s shifting views on climate change

The longer he runs for president, the more doubts Republican front-runner Mitt Romney seems to have about the science behind global climate change.

Hmm…

guilty for loving burgers. I wish the costs were upfront at the register. I’m telling you, a carbon tax is a good idea. Free markets rely on good information, and when you don’t have the full story when you make your decisions at the store – we make “sub-optimal” decisions.

One of the things about our globalized world is that the realities of economic activities are not close to the places of consumption. It’s clear to me that if we simply had more information about the costs of our actions, more people would be concerned about nature.

This series of photographs from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada is pretty amazing. The scale of the operations is absolutely staggering.

Canadian Oil Sands Flyover

The size of the truck in the picture is 50 feet long. The lake on the left is waste water being skimmed for chemicals.

In one sense, Patagonia’s current success stems from classic business-school principles. The brand has maximized what B-school types refer to as WTP, or willingness to pay. Patagonia’s perceived quality and do-gooder aura convince customers that its goods are worth a higher price.

Guilty as charged…

Read more: Patagonia’s Founder is America’s Most Unlikely Business Guru – wsj

Also, I’ve been involved in many discussions about this concept over the past couple years, which I don’t completely understand how to integrate into my current environment. (emphasis mine)

It’s not just the marketplace Chouinard is affecting—it’s the workplace. His flex-time policies allow workers to come and go whenever they want—say, when waves are high at the nearby surf point—as long as deadlines are met. There’s a yoga room available any time of day (I walked in on the head menswear designer meditating there at around 11 a.m. on a Tuesday.) At the prodding of Chouinard’s wife, Malinda, Patagonia was one of the first companies in California to provide on-site, subsidized day care. Even the chief bean counter, COO and CFO Rose Marcario, seems spiritually fulfilled. In previous jobs at other companies, she says, “I might have looked for ways to defer taxes in the Cayman Islands. Here, we are proud to pay our fair share of taxes. It’s a different philosophy. My life is more integrated with my work because I’m trying to stay true to the same values in both.”

(via kottke.org)

Congress Actually Ends Taxpayer Funding Of Ethanol Subsidies

Yay!

I would support subsidies for actual “green” energy sources, however, ethanol is not one of those sources. Not only is it a net-energy loss (takes more energy to produce than what you get out) but…

“Using corn is the least productive way to make ethanol, at roughly 300 gallons per acre of feedstock. The Brazilian ethanol industry gets twice as many gallons per acre using sugar cane, and other feedstocks like switchgrass have been projected to produce up to 1,200 gallons per acre.”

So now, where is the investment in switchgrass ethanol?

Or perhaps we put a 50 cents / gallon tax on petroleum based road fuels?

(Via Green Car Reports.)

This bugs me:

Volvo is laying claim to the first production diesel plug-in hybrid title with the company’s new V60. The vehicle makes use of a five-cylinder 2.4-liter turbo diesel engine with 215 horsepower and 325 pound-feet of torque coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission as well as an electric motor good for up to 70 horsepower and 147 pound-feet of torque. The forced-induction internal combustion engine puts power to the front wheels while the electric motor feeds its grunt to the rear. An 11.2-kWh lithium-ion battery pack fields power storage duties, and Volvo says the V60 plug-in diesel hybrid can travel up to 32 miles on all-electric power with a single charge.

Why can’t we buy this car in America!

As with most plug-ins, charge times vary depending on the available current, but Volvo claims the V60 can top off its cells in as little as 3.5 hours on a 16-amp line. Interestingly enough, the vehicle allows the driver to chose between three drive modes. Pure mode relies on the electric motor as much as possible while Hybrid mode splits the difference between the diesel mill and the electric motor. Finally, Power mode calls on the full 285 horsepower and 362 pound-feet of torque for the most driving enjoyment. Volvo says the V60 diesel plug-in hybrid can kick up to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds in Power mode.

What? It goes 0-60 in 6.2 seconds? It’s a plug-in hybrid AWD diesel that can go 30 miles on electric only?