Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Big Coal, Plan B, and Geoengineering

"The future of electricity?" Marc Gunther in his blog (title link) reports it will be more of the same, based on a recent meeting of CEO's from major electricity producing companies.

"Natural gas is the cheap fossil fuel of choice. Coal will be burned for as long as there is coal. The federal government will never–never–have a comprehensive energy policy.......Climate crisis? What climate crisis?"

In comparison, Lester R. Brown, in his book Plan B 4.0, presents a strategy for "a massive wartime-like mobilization" with the following four goals: "stabilizing climate, stabilizing population, eradicating poverty and restoring the economy's natural supports systems - all essential to restoring food security." (p.242).

Now clearly the CEO's and Lester brown have differing viewpoints. And perhaps this is how geoengineering, currently a back-up plan of last resort, will come to the forefront.......at a time when climate change is causing so many hardships that we must do something, and it is too late to reduce CO2 emissions and have any immediate beneficial effects......a time when huge numbers of people are starving due to drought, crop failures, climate shifts, fertile land becoming desert.......and lets not forget overpopulation!

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GREENLAND - Will probably be the focus of near term sea level rise

Greenland is almost all covered by a very thick glacial ice cap. If all of Greenland's ice either melted or slid into the oceans, sea le...