Monday, August 31, 2015

How much faster has Earth warmed since the Arctic Ocean had less and less ice?

Albedo is the fraction of solar energy (shortwave radiation) reflected from the Earth back into space. It is a measure of the reflectivity of the earth's surface. Ice, especially with snow on top of it, has a high albedo: most sunlight hitting the surface bounces back towards space.

How much faster will Earth heat when the Arctic Ocean turns black with oil?

Dutch Royal Shell is not ready for what is coming and neither is the rest of humanity. Paper towels doesn't work on ice. There is no enforcement of 'clean up standards' that will matter. 

There is no cleaning up the Arctic Ocean. It is not the Gulf of Mexico. Dutch Royal Shell probably doesn't even realize it's operations in the Gulf can't be repeated in the Arctic.

The spills will occur during the summer months and then it will be abandoned to cold temperatures. The life within the Arctic Ocean doesn't go on vacation over the winter.

The oil spilled in the Arctic Ocean will ultimately make it's way to the North Atlantic between Greenland and Canada. The fisheries won't exist because of genetic deterioration when exposed to oil. 

There is no denying the tragic events of Alaska that Earth's climate has changed.

28 August 2015
By MarEx

U.S. President Barack Obama (click here) travels to Alaska on Monday for a three-day visit meant to spotlight warming temperatures, melting glaciers, rising seas and the need to support a strong climate deal during the global climate negotiations in Paris. 
Obama will attend the U.S. government hosted GLACIER meeting, and his visit comes at a time when, on both sides of the Bering Strait, summer sea ice has once more dropped to a level that is driving thousands of walruses onto coastal beaches. 
Environmental organizations are voicing their concerns.

5,000 Walruses


In Ryrkaypiy in Chukotka, Russia, an estimated 5,000 walruses are hauled out, while across in Alaska, thousands more are hauled out near the village of Point Lay. WWF highlighted the significance of Obama’s visit to the Arctic in a statement, raising concerns about the animals and their environment.
“This past July was the second warmest on record for Alaska,” says Pete Ewins, WWF Arctic Species specialist. “So it’s not surprising that we’re seeing these animals on the beaches quite early. While haul outs can be potentially dangerous to the animals gathered on shore, we’re concerned about what events such as these mean for the health of the entire Arctic marine system.”...

For native peoples, be they indigenous or settlers, the change is alarming and obvious. Their lives have been disrupted and the lower 48 continually ignored their plight.

The people 'of the north' live with the natural world because of it's harsh reality. They become attached to the quiet, the beauty and the variety of wildlife and the ORDER of nature. So, for the Earth to warm the so called civilized world may have as well closed on their mortgage. The life outside is as much part of home as the coziness of life inside a home.

President Obama has a responsibility to apologize to the people of Alaska in neglecting the state and it's important place on Earth. If the USA had listened to it's own people and the pain they carry in their hearts for the destruction of their homeland we would be farther along in avoiding this very dangerous trend of warming Earth. It is as though everyone turned their backs on this beautiful state, but, the thirst for oil was too great and money dominated reality rather than the people and their attachment to the land. 

To date, citizens and the EPA has been able to ward off more and more demands for land use that is extremely harmful to Alaska, it's waters and it's fisheries. The least we can do is find hope that President Obama will find a way to resolve an importance to the land and respect for it's people. 

The nightmare today is far more than the "North Slope." Allowing offshore drilling has the potential to destroy coastlines including that of Canada and other countries. The Arctic Ocean is far too unpredictable to drill for oil. The nightmare is that the entire habitat of the Walrus and the Polar Bear will be contaminated and destroyed forever. That includes the food chain that begins with underwater creatures. 

It is unfortunate the USA has been so irreverent of Alaska, but, to add insult to injury is rather unthinkable.

FOX News is conducting an intentional campaign to raise racial tensions between police and the African American community.

The deaths of police (click here) are down this year when occurring in line of duty.

There is absolutely no connection between "Black Lives Matter" (click here) and the 82 police deaths this year 

If police want a legitimate complaint then take the facts to the FBI, rather than creating more racial tensions on Fox News. There is no validity to support the complaints from the police in Texas.

FOX News is using the fears of police officers for political propaganda.

I'll tell you want is up though. The arrests and trials of police that kill unarmed Americans. I suppose that might be a real reason to defame a civil rights movement. The civil suits are mounting as well, huh?

These are the facts. There are more and more people around the world seriously worried about minority citizens in the USA. There is a problem when global conclusions lead to the reality that Americans are being killed and not arrested by police. There is a disproportionate numbers of African Americans in the death statistics as well. There is absolutely no basis for any of the inflammatory political propaganda coming out of FOX. 

In the autumn of 2006, (click here) Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah, were struggling to come to terms with the news that one of their children was seriously ill. 

July 11, 2015 
By James Kirkup

Fraser Brown, born four months previously, had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.
That was not all the couple — whose firstborn child died in infancy in 2002 — had to contend with. They were also dealing with the knowledge that The Sun knew of the boy’s condition, and planned to publish.
The woman who broke that news to Mr Brown, who was chancellor at the time, was Rebekah Brooks, who was the newspaper’s editor and is now the News International chief executive at the eye of a growing storm that threatens the media company....

Murdoch's media empire is a problem. It is a problem globally and not isolated in the USA. I remind the hacking of cell phones that came to reveal how FOX News was hacking into government officials. A former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, had information regarding his son exposed and it was private information about a child that any family should have control. News Corp is an issue.

1 July 2015
By Oliver Laughland, Jon Swaine and James Lartey

Police in the United States (click here) are killing people at a rate that would result in 1,100 fatalities by the end of this year, according to a Guardian investigation, which recorded an average of three people killed per day during the first half of 2015.
The Counted, a project working to report and crowdsource names and a series of other data on every death caused by law enforcement in the US this year, found that 547 people had been killed by the end of June.
In total, 478 of those people were shot and killed, while 31 died after being shocked by a Taser, 16 died after being struck by police vehicles, and 19 – including 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore – have died after altercations in police custody.
When adjusted to accurately reflect the US population, the totals indicate that black people are being killed by police at more than twice the rate of white and Hispanic or Latino people. Black people killed by police were also significantly more likely to have been unarmed....

The officers cooperating with FOX News to cause greater tensions between police and USA minorities should be fired from their jobs for promoting hate. That is also something the US Justice Department would be interested in knowing.

EPA is targeting the regulatory burden to small businesses.

August 31, 2015

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (click here) is proposing two new hazardous waste rules to strengthen environmental protection while reducing regulatory burden on businesses. One of the proposed rules will protect waterways, including drinking and surface water, by preventing the flushing of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals and simplify the requirements for healthcare workers. The other rule will provide greater flexibility to industry while requiring new safeguards to protect the public from mismanagement of hazardous waste.

“These rules provide businesses with certainty and the flexibility they need to successfully operate in today’s marketplace,” said Mathy Stanislaus, assistant administrator of EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. “The proposals will improve the safety and health of our communities by providing clear, flexible, and protective hazardous waste management standards.”...


August 31, 2015

The pace of technology and change (click here) in the modern world can be dizzying. As new medicines and treatments are developed, new types of waste emerge. However, our hazardous waste generator regulations were written in the 1980s and haven’t changed much over the years.

Well, today we’re taking steps toward changing that. I’m excited to announce that we are proposing two rules to provide businesses with the certainty and flexibility they need to successfully operate in today’s marketplace.


Over the last 35 years, we’ve heard from states and the regulated community that our hazardous waste generator regulations, which were designed for manufacturing, don’t fit all sectors and especially not the healthcare sector. We’ve listened and these two proposals make a number of updates and improvements to the existing regulations. We have proposed over 60 changes to the regulations to improve the effectiveness of and compliance with the hazardous waste generator program. This includes rearranging some of the generator regulations that had outgrown their original numbering system so it will be easier for facilities of all sizes that generate hazardous waste to find everything they need to know in one place....

"Hazardous Waste Generators" (click here)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (click here) is one of 11 federal agencies that participates in the SBIR Program established by the Small Business Innovation Development Act of 1982. The purpose of this Act was to strengthen the role of small businesses in federally funded R&D and help develop a stronger national base for technical innovation. An SBIR small business is defined as a for-profit organization with no more than 500 employees....

There are specific dangers known to occur to the climate crisis.

August 30, 2015
By KHOU Staff

HOUSTON - A 14-year-old Houston teen (click here) who has been battling a rare brain-eating disease for more than a week has passed away.
Michael Riley got sick after swimming in a lake at Sam Houston State Park. Doctors say the amoeba is typically found in warm freshwater and that it entered through Riley's nose and swam to his brain.
Only 35 Americans have suffered from the disease in the past ten years.

Cooling the body below normal temperatures creates a hostile environment for the parasite. Texas has standards for public lakes, were the inspections daily to these sources of infection. Are the Texas standards adequate to provide early detection of parasites in the public waters?

After 35 years (click here) without a Naegleria survivor in the United States, during the summer of 2013, 2 children with Naegleria fowleri infection survived. The first, a 12-year-old girl, was diagnosed with PAM approximately 30 hours after becoming ill and was started on the recommended treatment within 36 hours. She also received the investigational drug miltefosine 7-9 and her brain swelling was aggressively managed with treatments that included cooling the body below normal body temperature (therapeutic hypothermia). This patient made a full neurologic recovery and returned to school. Her recovery has been attributed to early diagnosis and treatment and novel therapeutics including miltefosine and hypothermia 5.

A second child, an 8-year-old male, is also considered a PAM survivor, although he has suffered what is likely to be permanent brain damage. He was also treated with miltefosine but was diagnosed and treated several days after his symptoms began. Cooling of the body below normal body temperature was not used....

August 30, 2013

Infections caused by free-living amebae (FLA) (click here) are severe and life-threatening. These infections include primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) caused by Naegleria fowleri* and granulomatous amebic encephalitis caused by Balamuthia mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba species.§ Although several drugs have in vitro activity against FLA, mortality from these infections remains >90% despite treatment with combinations of drugs.

Miltefosine is a drug used to treat leishmaniasis and also has shown in vitro activity against FLA (1), but as an investigational drug, it has not been readily available in the United States. With CDC assistance, however, miltefosine has been administered since 2009 for FLA infections as single-patient emergency use with permission from the Food and Drug Administration. Although the number of B. mandrillaris and Acanthamoeba species infections treated with a miltefosine-containing regimen is small, it appears that a miltefosine-containing treatment regimen does offer a survival advantage for patients with these often fatal infections (2). Miltefosine has not been used successfully to treat a Naegleria infection, but the length of time it has taken to import miltefosine from abroad has made timely treatment of fulminant Naegleria infections difficult...

Hot air leads to hot water which leads to the growth of pathogens. There should be regular testing of any public waters. States should consider the danger of the climate crisis in relation to public health and public waters. This problem will not go away. Not now it won't. 

An increase in pathogens has always been part of the expectations of the climate crisis. Pathogens are opportunistic. There is no other way of dealing with this than regularly testing waters known to have temperatures of that of bathwater or higher.

This pathogen and others needs to be clearly understood. Research of these pathogens is very dangerous to the people conducting the studies. These require all kinds of precautions including anti-rooms to don and doff personal protective equipment. The public exposure is important to prevent. 

These organisms need to be understood to the environmental conditions that spawn their growth to help decide some states when to begin testing and when to end. Other states will just consider this a routine no matter the environmental conditions.

The methodology of testing on a continual basis will add another layer of safety to the public in that mutant strains can occur. There is nothing more effective than placing drops of water under a microscope and looking for parasites and their numbers. 

For all fifty states that seek to conduct daily accounting of public waters, the CDC would have guidelines and recommendations. With this death of a very precious child the CDC might consider a bulletin to conducting testing to prevent exposure to the public.

...The states are required (click here) under the Clean Water Act to review their water quality standards at least once every three years and revise them, if appropriate. States review standards because new scientific and technical data may be available that have a bearing on the review. Further, environmental changes over time may also warrant the need for a review.... 

This single event can trigger an evaluation of Texas water quality standards. I strongly suggest Texas do exactly that.

I found this article helpful from the New York Times.

August 28, 2015

...The consequence (click here) is that some perfectly healthy high-B.M.I. people might be unnecessarily worried about their weight or penalized by higher insurance premiums. And some normal-B.M.I. people may be fatter than they realize and facing the same health risks as the obese. – ALBERT SUN

The BMI needs to be revisited. It is actually hurting some people with unnecessarily high insurance rates.

The good news is human beings are still unique in every way. It would be most disheartening if the BMI was perfect. When people are evaluated for insurance they should be talking to their doctors and that is possible now with Obamacare/ACA. People should have the right to grieve their results by insurance company doctors. The process is not equitable to the uniqueness of 25 percent of adults.  

If people are hardwired to the BMI they will become obsessed with the idea it might even effect their credit rating. It is important we remain human and confirm the fact life is about living and generalizations make for a very boring country.

Stop worrying, pursue a better world.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

A new image of Earth. It has more clouds. It is a different climate.

The image (click here) was taken July 6, 2015, showing North and Central America. The central turquoise areas are shallow seas around the Caribbean islands. This Earth image shows the effects of sunlight scattered by air molecules, giving the image a characteristic bluish tint. The EPIC team is working to remove this atmospheric effect from subsequent images. Once the instrument begins regular data acquisition, EPIC will provide a daily series of Earth images allowing for the first time study of daily variations over the entire globe. These images, available 12 to 36 hours after they are acquired, will be posted to a dedicated web page by September 2015.

The primary objective of DSCOVR, a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force, is to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts and forecasts from NOAA.

This is the original "Blue Marble" photo. It was taken on February 8, 2002. It is also a view of North America and Central America.

This spectacular “blue marble” (click here) image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date.

Sunday, August 30, 2015

"The High One"

This is how it looks from the top.

Captain Keelan McNulty/1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment (click here) 

August 30, 2015


WASHINGTON — The Obama administration (click here) will change the name of North America’s tallest mountain peak from Mount McKinley to Denali, the White House said Sunday, a major symbolic gesture to Alaska Natives on the eve of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Alaska.

By renaming the peak Denali, an Athabascan word meaning “the high one,” Obama waded into a sensitive and decades-old conflict between residents of Alaska and Ohio. Alaskans have informally called the mountain Denali for years, but the federal government recognizes its name invoking the 25th president, William McKinley, who was born in Ohio and assassinated early in his second term.

“With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell....

It seems as though President Obama is determined to end long lasting disputes and this is his latest.

Perhaps angry Ohio Republicans can name a new law in his name demanding the end to hydraulic fracking in Ohio and the rest of the country. It would actually honor him. 
206. A change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power. This is what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products. They prove successful in changing the way businesses operate, forcing them to consider their environmental footprint and their patterns of production. When social pressure affects their earnings, businesses clearly have to find ways to produce differently. This shows us the great need for a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers. “Purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act”.[146] Today, in a word, “the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle”.[147]

Americans have power within their pocketbooks to invoke change with Wall Street. Products might be produced abroad at the cost of American jobs, but, we don't have to purchase the goods if it does not meet our CONSUMER STANDARDS.


207. The Earth Charter (click here) asked us to leave behind a period of self-destruction and make a new start, but we have not as yet developed a universal awareness needed to achieve this. Here, I would echo that courageous challenge: “As never before in history, common destiny beckons us to seek a new beginning… Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life”.[148]

Peace of mind is realized through the venue of the truth. Without the truth resolve to prove reality to the best path forward is a dead end.
 

208. We are always capable of going out of ourselves towards the other. Unless we do this, other creatures will not be recognized for their true worth; we are unconcerned about caring for things for the sake of others; we fail to set limits on ourselves in order to avoid the suffering of others or the deterioration of our surroundings. Disinterested concern for others, and the rejection of every form of self-centeredness and self-absorption, are essential if we truly wish to care for our brothers and sisters and for the natural environment. These attitudes also attune us to the moral imperative of assessing the impact of our every action and personal decision on the world around us. If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop a different lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society.

Why is masculinity, be it American or other, have to be defined with animal skins?

Illegal online trade in furs (click here) and specimens of endangered animal and plant species has been rampant, prompting police and related authorities to bolster surveillance.

Police have acted on a total of 23 cases since last year, but the number is believed to be only the tip of iceberg.

A specimen of a tiger auctioned on a major Internet auction site earlier in August carried such phrases as “rare” and “difficult to obtain.” But the item had no official certificate, which is required under law.
According to the Environment Ministry, trade in endangered species designated by the Washington Convention is basically banned in Japan unless sellers obtain official certificates. This exception was allowed under a legal revision in June last year.

According to Life Investigation Agency, (click here) a Nagano-based nongovernmental watchdog on illegal trade of endangered species, there are more than 50 cases of shady trade every year....

Conservationists find it better to celebrate their work in silence.

August 28, 2015
By Henry Gass

Allonautilus scrobiculatus off the coast of Ndrova Island in Papua New Guinea.

The rediscovery (click here) of the crusty nautilus in Papua New Guinea is one of several recent sighting's of animals thought to have disappeared forever.

From molluscs and monkeys to wolves and whales, a number of rare species thought to have gone extinct have been rediscovered, including a handful this year.

Researchers around the world have labored for months and years to find these “living fossils,” which they say can help scientists determine how species have evolved over milleniums, but with each new rediscovery and sigh of relief, they stress that none of these animals are out of the woods yet – at least not so long as humans keep destroying the woods or overfishing the waters they live in.

The most recent rediscovery came from Peter Ward, a University of Washington biologist, earlier this month. Professor Ward was part of the team that first found Allonautilus scrobiculatus – sometimes called the crusty nautilus – 31 years ago, and it hadn’t been spotted in nearly three decades until he found it again off the coast of Papua New Guinea....

CHAPTER SIX



ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION AND SPIRITUALITY

202. Many things have to change course, but it is we human beings above all who need to change. We lack an awareness of our common origin, of our mutual belonging, and of a future to be shared with everyone. This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions, attitudes and forms of life. A great cultural, spiritual and educational challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out on the long path of renewal. 


I. TOWARDS A NEW LIFESTYLE

203. Since the market tends to promote extreme consumerism in an effort to sell its products, people can easily get caught up in a whirlwind of needless buying and spending. Compulsive consumerism is one example of how the techno-economic paradigm affects individuals. Romano Guardini had already foreseen this: “The gadgets and technics forced upon him by the patterns of machine production and of abstract planning mass man accepts quite simply; they are the forms of life itself. To either a greater or lesser degree mass man is convinced that his conformity is both reasonable and just”.[144] This paradigm leads people to believe that they are free as long as they have the supposed freedom to consume. But those really free are the minority who wield economic and financial power. Amid this confusion, postmodern humanity has not yet achieved a new self-awareness capable of offering guidance and direction, and this lack of identity is a source of anxiety. We have too many means and only a few insubstantial ends. 

Compulsive consumerism. I think the best example in the USA is the day after Thanksgiving. How apropose. Enter Black Friday, now begun on the evening of Thanksgiving itself, with fist fulls of cash and credit cards and exit with few assets remaining.


204. The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness”.[145] When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. In this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears. As these attitudes become more widespread, social norms are respected only to the extent that they do not clash with personal needs. So our concern cannot be limited merely to the threat of extreme weather events, but must also extend to the catastrophic consequences of social unrest. Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.

Pope Francis call is repeated over and over to recognize one's responsibility to the world's poor. He states with authority validated in fact that while the USA watches it's own forests burn it still doesn't see the peril of it's own actions. Pope Francis sees immorality in that view of life.


205. Yet all is not lost. Human beings, while capable of the worst, are also capable of rising above themselves, choosing again what is good, and making a new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. We are able to take an honest look at ourselves, to acknowledge our deep dissatisfaction, and to embark on new paths to authentic freedom. No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to his grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours. No one has the right to take it from us.

China needs to improve on human rights. Water quality is a good place to start.

August 31, 2015

...China published a water pollution prevention action plan in April, (click here) promising to improve water supplies in the world's most populous country and second largest economy after years of heavy pollution caused by industrial development.

One-third of major Chinese river basins and 60 per cent of its underground water is contaminated....

...The new action plan aims to ban water-polluting paper mills, oil refineries, pesticide producers and other industrial plants by the end of 2016 in a bid to better protect China's scarce water supplies.
China has already blocked the approval of 163 state-level projects during the 12th five-year plan period (2011-2015), said Chen Jining, Minister for Environmental Protection.

But many companies ignore environmental impact assessments or find ways around environmental requirements, he said. Around 30,000 companies illegally constructed projects during the first half of the year, according to a nationwide MEP survey.

Enforcement of environmental rules has long been a problem in China, where state-owned enterprises routinely pay negligible fines instead of meeting regulations.

Local governments are often more focussed on growth and generating tax income than environmental protection, said Chen.
V. RELIGIONS IN DIALOGUE WITH SCIENCE



 199. It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality. This would be to breach the limits imposed by its own methodology. If we reason only within the confines of the latter, little room would be left for aesthetic sensibility, poetry, or even reason’s ability to grasp the ultimate meaning and purpose of things.[141] I would add that “religious classics can prove meaningful in every age; they have an enduring power to open new horizons… Is it reasonable and enlightened to dismiss certain writings simply because they arose in the context of religious belief?”[142] It would be quite simplistic to think that ethical principles present themselves purely in the abstract, detached from any context. Nor does the fact that they may be couched in religious language detract from their value in public debate. The ethical principles capable of being apprehended by reason can always reappear in different guise and find expression in a variety of languages, including religious language.

Gregor Mendel is considered the father of genetics. To say the art of science and religion do not go hand in hand would be to abandon meditation, thought and inquiry. 

God is at the basis of science. God provided the ability to reason to guide the moral venture of life. Morality and ethics matters today to many people because of religion's place in society. 

Those that don't believe in God, can still respect the quality called 'belief.' Even atheists believe in morality and ethics that frequently coincide with religious standards.


200. Any technical solution which science claims to offer will be powerless to solve the serious problems of our world if humanity loses its compass, if we lose sight of the great motivations which make it possible for us to live in harmony, to make sacrifices and to treat others well. Believers themselves must constantly feel challenged to live in a way consonant with their faith and not to contradict it by their actions. They need to be encouraged to be ever open to God’s grace and to draw constantly from their deepest convictions about love, justice and peace. If a mistaken understanding of our own principles has at times led us to justify mistreating nature, to exercise tyranny over creation, to engage in war, injustice and acts of violence, we believers should acknowledge that by so doing we were not faithful to the treasures of wisdom which we have been called to protect and preserve. Cultural limitations in different eras often affected the perception of these ethical and spiritual treasures, yet by constantly returning to their sources, religions will be better equipped to respond to today’s needs.

Can medicine exist without biology? Can Obama's "Green Chemistry" exist without moral and ethical pursuit? Was the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act not based in the moral issue of protecting life and longevity?


201. The majority of people living on our planet profess to be believers. This should spur religions to dialogue among themselves for the sake of protecting nature, defending the poor, and building networks of respect and fraternity. Dialogue among the various sciences is likewise needed, since each can tend to become enclosed in its own language, while specialization leads to a certain isolation and the absolutization of its own field of knowledge. This prevents us from confronting environmental problems effectively. An open and respectful dialogue is also needed between the various ecological movements, among which ideological conflicts are not infrequently encountered. The gravity of the ecological crisis demands that we all look to the common good, embarking on a path of dialogue which demands patience, self-discipline and generosity, always keeping in mind that “realities are greater than ideas”.[143]

The trend of the USA government from the first day the past administration is more than troubling. It  started  with a higher allowance of arsenic in municipal water supplies. That undermining strategy is still at work today and Americans have to fight the battle without the benefit of strong federal laws to insure the best outcomes.

The government of indulgence of an economy at any cost always comes back to haunt them.

...Stream sedimentation (click here) from new construction roads and for well pads could be very detrimental to rivers and streams, especially if operators cut corners and fracking well operations are not well-monitored. Further, the Ohio EPA has failed to develop a stormwater permit that could help control pollution runoff during storm events.

Under current Ohio law, municipalities may give approval for brine (fluids produced from drilling operations) to be spread on roads for ice and dust control. The Ohio Environmental Council has serious concerns with this method.

We believe this practice should be prohibited for the use of horizontal fracking wastes, due to potential for radiologicals and heavy metals in the brine. At the least, any waste fluids should be tested before being spread onto roads to protect streams and wildlife....

Fracking fluids are caustic. The fracking fluids melt rock. What does anyone think spreading the lousy stuff on roads is going to do?

It will degrade the pavement and run off into ditches and into water supplies. What is everyone thinking?
196. What happens with politics? Let us keep in mind the principle of subsidiarity (seven principles of Catholic social teaching), which grants freedom to develop the capabilities present at every level of society, while also demanding a greater sense of responsibility for the common good from those who wield greater power. Today, it is the case that some economic sectors exercise more power than states themselves. But economics without politics cannot be justified, since this would make it impossible to favour other ways of handling the various aspects of the present crisis. The mindset which leaves no room for sincere concern for the environment is the same mindset which lacks concern for the inclusion of the most vulnerable members of society. For “the current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favour an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life”.[139]

 V. Observe the Principle of Subsidiarity
Some Christian thinkers conceive of the state or government as being established simply to repress evil desires and evil people. In Catholic thought, the government also has a more positive role, namely to help secure common good. Pope John Paul II put the point as follows:
It is the task of the state to provide for the defense and preservation of common goods such as the natural and human environments, which cannot be safeguarded simply by market forces. Just as in the time of primitive capitalism the state had the duty of defending the basic rights of workers, so now, with the new capitalism, the state and all of society have the duty of defending those collective goods which, among others, constitute the essential framework for the legitimate pursuit of personal goals on the part of each individual. (Centesimus Annus 40)
The government has many necessary and indispensable functions to play, roles that cannot be accomplished by individuals acting alone or even by smaller groups in society....


197. What is needed is a politics which is far-sighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis. Often, politics itself is responsible for the disrepute in which it is held, on account of corruption and the failure to enact sound public policies. If in a given region the state does not carry out its responsibilities, some business groups can come forward in the guise of benefactors, wield real power, and consider themselves exempt from certain rules, to the point of tolerating different forms of organized crime, human trafficking, the drug trade and violence, all of which become very difficult to eradicate. If politics shows itself incapable of breaking such a perverse logic, and remains caught up in inconsequential discussions, we will continue to avoid facing the major problems of humanity. A strategy for real change calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, for it is not enough to include a few superficial ecological considerations while failing to question the logic which underlies present-day culture. A healthy politics needs to be able to take up this challenge.


198. Politics and the economy tend to blame each other when it comes to poverty and environmental degradation. It is to be hoped that they can acknowledge their own mistakes and find forms of interaction directed to the common good. While some are concerned only with financial gain, and others with holding on to or increasing their power, what we are left with are conflicts or spurious agreements where the last thing either party is concerned about is caring for the environment and protecting those who are most vulnerable. Here too, we see how true it is that “unity is greater than conflict”.[140]

We can't continue to postpone the change the USA needs.

August 30, 2015

That is today. The fires are still burning.  The drought persists. This is the result of our indulgence of oil and gas as our energy sources.

A significant (click here) upper-level trough over the central part of the contiguous U.S., accompanied by a slowly moving cold front, brought up to several inches of rain across the eastern and southern states during the past week. The cold front reached the Eastern Seaboard and continued out over the western Atlantic, while the southern portion of this front stalled across the deep South. Later in the week, another upper-level trough moved out of central Canada across the northern High Plains of the United States, before heading east and bringing additional rainfall to the eastern contiguous U.S. In the Southwest, light to moderate precipitation (generally less than 1.5 inches) was observed in association with the summer monsoon. In the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest, the USDA Forest Service reported approximately 40 large wildfires in progress as of August 26th, as warm and very dry weather persisted.

The only war the USA can afford is the one within our own borders to end the fires and improve the conditions of the people on the west coast.
  
The Rough Fire is now 25 percent (click here for videos) contained and has burned more than 66,000 acres in the Sierra National Forest.

The wildfire has now moved away from homes and is nearing some iconic trees. The cost to fight the Rough Fire is now at $32 million and growing. Just one drop of water or fire retardant from a very large air tanker is about $40,000.

Finance Chief Dennis Stevens said, "We're at probably one of the most expensive parts of the fire. I think as we go on and get more containment, there will be less need for the big expensive days."

Firefighters say they're making progress but the nights are not offering the relief they need to put the fire out anytime soon.

Pope Francis is allowed to challenge the status quo without retribution.

192. For example, a path of productive development, which is more creative and better directed, could correct the present disparity between excessive technological investment in consumption and insufficient investment in resolving urgent problems facing the human family. It could generate intelligent and profitable ways of reusing, revamping and recycling, and it could also improve the energy efficiency of cities. Productive diversification offers the fullest possibilities to human ingenuity to create and innovate, while at the same time protecting the environment and creating more sources of employment. Such creativity would be a worthy expression of our most noble human qualities, for we would be striving intelligently, boldly and responsibly to promote a sustainable and equitable development within the context of a broader concept of quality of life. On the other hand, to find ever new ways of despoiling nature, purely for the sake of new consumer items and quick profit, would be, in human terms, less worthy and creative, and more superficial.

Pope Francis vision is not based in pie in the sky ideas, it is already taking shape and successful.

IRENA (International renewable energy agency) (click here) estimates 800,000 new green jobs were created in 2013, boosting the overall number of workers employed in the clean energy economy from 5.7 million in 2012 to 6.5 million at the end of 2013.

In order, (click here) the largest concentrations of green jobs were in China, Brazil, America, India, and Germany, with other noteworthy employment numbers in Spain and Bangladesh. IRENA cites these rankings as evidence of a regional clean energy economic shift away from the traditional leaders in developed nations toward emerging markets where energy poverty and growing demand must be addressed by policymakers.

As with most things energy-related, China is the world’s clear leader in green jobs, spurred largely by a boom in solar manufacturing and installation. The country currently has over 2.6 million green jobs, and 13 gigawatts (GW) of new solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in 2013 combined with 64% of global PV module manufacturing capacity helped employ 1.6 million workers last year – roughly a five-fold increase compared to 2011.

Germany has out grown their work force as it takes on the challenge of tomorrow.

193. In any event, if in some cases sustainable development were to involve new forms of growth, then in other cases, given the insatiable and irresponsible growth produced over many decades, we need also to think of containing growth by setting some reasonable limits and even retracing our steps before it is too late. We know how unsustainable is the behaviour of those who constantly consume and destroy, while others are not yet able to live in a way worthy of their human dignity. That is why the time has come to accept decreased growth in some parts of the world, in order to provide resources for other places to experience healthy growth. Benedict XVI has said that “technologically advanced societies must be prepared to encourage more sober lifestyles, while reducing their energy consumption and improving its efficiency”.[135]

The Rocky Mountains divides the electric grid of the USA.

... 7. America’s electric grid (click here) is actually comprised of three smaller grids, called interconnections, that move electricity around the country. The Eastern Interconnection operates in states east of the Rocky Mountains, The Western Interconnection covers the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountain states, and the smallest -- the Texas Interconnected system -- covers most of Texas, as displayed in the map below:...

The next time Republicans refuse to spend money on the USA infrastructure simply think about the expense to your energy bill caused by outdated and inefficient transmission lines and energy production plants. Better outcomes for USA energy is about local interest in solving the problems of today, that also insures tomorrow and our kids.

194. For new models of progress to arise, there is a need to change “models of global development”;[136] this will entail a responsible reflection on “the meaning of the economy and its goals with an eye to correcting its malfunctions and misapplications”.[137] It is not enough to balance, in the medium term, the protection of nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with progress. Halfway measures simply delay the inevitable disaster. Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress. Frequently, in fact, people’s quality of life actually diminishes – by the deterioration of the environment, the low quality of food or the depletion of resources – in the midst of economic growth. In this context, talk of sustainable growth usually becomes a way of distracting attention and offering excuses. It absorbs the language and values of ecology into the categories of finance and technocracy, and the social and environmental responsibility of businesses often gets reduced to a series of marketing and image-enhancing measures.

What happens when a product a company produces doesn't match the best interests of a country? Do the interest of the company come first or does the country move forward unafraid.

195. The principle of the maximization of profits, frequently isolated from other considerations, reflects a misunderstanding of the very concept of the economy. As long as production is increased, little concern is given to whether it is at the cost of future resources or the health of the environment; as long as the clearing of a forest increases production, no one calculates the losses entailed in the desertification of the land, the harm done to biodiversity or the increased pollution. In a word, businesses profit by calculating and paying only a fraction of the costs involved. Yet only when “the economic and social costs of using up shared environmental resources are recognized with transparency and fully borne by those who incur them, not by other peoples or future generations”,[138] can those actions be considered ethical. An instrumental way of reasoning, which provides a purely static analysis of realities in the service of present needs, is at work whether resources are allocated by the market or by state central planning.
How can a country separate it's politics from economy? That is such a strange statement. Surely it means the Pope expects the USA to destroy it's economy in an unrealistic way, right?

This is a history of the GDP growth of Germany.

November 22, 2013
By Ben Walsh

On Tuesday, (click here) the ZEW survey of showed the confidence of German institutional investors was at a four-year high. Martin writes the ZEW survey “suggested the economy could expand by 0.5% in the fourth quarter”.

Germany has more vacant work positions than they have qualified people to fill them. What? With 0.5 percent growth how does that happen?

June 30, 2015
 
The number of unemployed people (click here) in Germany fell for the ninth consecutive month in June, dropping to a level unseen since the country reunited about 25 years ago. Also, the number of job vacancies rose to new heights.... 


Germany has a stable economy. It's growth easily balances the need of new people entering the labor market. Germany's retirement age is the same as the USA, age 65.

...Having been “export world champion” (click here) six times in a row between 2003 and 2008, in 2009, with exports worth US$ 1,121 billion, around one third of the gross national income, Germany was the second biggest exporter of goods worldwide after China (US$ 1,202 billion). Germany’s share of total world trade is around nine percent....

What does it mean to have a stable economy? The graph at the top of the page showed where Germany's economy suffered with the global economic collapse. It lost it's export business and it lost gross capital investment. The investors rolled up their storefronts and waited to see where the growth in the global economy would go.

The following year there was an adjustment within the economy and Germany's GDP leveled off to stabilize it one more time. The following year inventories fell as foreign export increased. See, just because it's exports fell against a global collapse, Germany never stopped producing products. The inventories were there to satisfy customers and return the German GDP. The same products for generation after generation. 

Germany wasn't interested in austerity.

The subsequent years have varying degrees of inventory fluctuations, but, the GDP growth remains mostly consistent.

So, how come the USA doesn't have a stable economy? Because most USA economies of the past are built on wealth and Wall Street. Bubble and Bust. The economy the people of the USA have built since the global economic collapse will be the most stable the USA has had since the industrial age of the country. 

The USA has built an economy based in regional understanding and local development. Local economies can be very boring and very stable, until they are sold out to Wall Street in an international treaty.

Why do you think there is a measure of "consumer confidence?" It is a Wall Street value that measures the willingness of Americans to spend their hard earn money. Does a local economy need to understand consumer confidence in a measure study? I would hope not. Local economies are built by real people who value their customers in the real world. They should know their balance sheet on a regular basis, the products their customers buy and want to buy and make changes within their products and/or services to maintain a consistent growth because demand increased with a new generation of Americans entering the work force.

President Obama stated he wanted to rid the USA of the 'bubble and bust' economy. Let's hope he sincerely meant it. 

How much does a country have to grow? It has to grow to match the new generation of Americans into the labor force with elimination of those leaving the labor force by retirement. What is the demand of growth for the USA? 
How much is satisfied by a stable demand? Where does the country need to grow and how? This isn't all that difficult. Does the USA actually need 4 percent growth in it's GDP? Who benefits from it?
IV. POLITICS AND ECONOMY IN DIALOGUE FOR HUMAN FULFILMENT


189. Politics must not be subject to the economy, nor should the economy be subject to the dictates of an efficiency-driven paradigm of technocracy. Today, in view of the common good, there is urgent need for politics and economics to enter into a frank dialogue in the service of life, especially human life. Saving banks at any cost, making the public pay the price, foregoing a firm commitment to reviewing and reforming the entire system, only reaffirms the absolute power of a financial system, a power which has no future and will only give rise to new crises after a slow, costly and only apparent recovery. The financial crisis of 2007-08 provided an opportunity to develop a new economy, more attentive to ethical principles, and new ways of regulating speculative financial practices and virtual wealth. (I love those two words together - virtual wealth) But the response to the crisis did not include rethinking the outdated criteria which continue to rule the world. Production is not always rational, and is usually tied to economic variables which assign to products a value that does not necessarily correspond to their real worth. This frequently leads to an overproduction of some commodities, with unnecessary impact on the environment and with negative results on regional economies.[133] The financial bubble also tends to be a productive bubble. The problem of the real economy is not confronted with vigour, yet it is the real economy which makes diversification and improvement in production possible, helps companies to function well, and enables small and medium businesses to develop and create employment. 

What is this idea of disconnecting a country's economy from politics? Like what? I'll put it together in the next entry. 

190. Here too, it should always be kept in mind that “environmental protection cannot be assured solely on the basis of financial calculations of costs and benefits. The environment is one of those goods that cannot be adequately safeguarded or promoted by market forces”.[134] Once more, we need to reject a magical conception of the market, which would suggest that problems can be solved simply by an increase in the profits of companies or individuals. Is it realistic to hope that those who are obsessed with maximizing profits will stop to reflect on the environmental damage which they will leave behind for future generations? Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention. Moreover, biodiversity is considered at most a deposit of economic resources available for exploitation, with no serious thought for the real value of things, their significance for persons and cultures, or the concerns and needs of the poor. 

Environmental protection cannot be a financial calculation. Hello, USA Republicans.

 191. Whenever these questions are raised, some react by accusing others of irrationally attempting to stand in the way of progress and human development. But we need to grow in the conviction that a decrease in the pace of production and consumption can at times give rise to another form of progress and development. Efforts to promote a sustainable use of natural resources are not a waste of money, but rather an investment capable of providing other economic benefits in the medium term. If we look at the larger picture, we can see that more diversified and innovative forms of production which impact less on the environment can prove very profitable. It is a matter of openness to different possibilities which do not involve stifling human creativity and its ideals of progress, but rather directing that energy along new channels.