Re/Action on Climate Protection

Trip to IEUA in SoCal

On Monday, 11/21, I visited two installations of the Inland Empire Utility Agency (IEUA). The IEUA is an "integrated utility" that is a water supplier as well as a

"regional wastewater treatment agency with domestic and industrial disposal systems and energy recovery/production facilities.

In addition, the Agency has become a recycled water purveyor, biosolids/fertilizer treatment provider and continues as a leader in water supply salt management, for the purpose of protecting the regions vital groundwater supplies. "

The agency operates an anaerobic digester facility that supplies biogas to generators at the desalination plant.

New Transit Solutions? Or More of the Same?

The toughest nut to crack in reducing GHG emissions in Sonoma County and elsewhere, is getting people out of their cars. In Sonoma County, the GHG emissions in the transportation sector grew by 43% between 1990 and 2000 due to the increase in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Studies have shown that the increase in VMT is due to land use leading to sprawl, and cheap gasoline. People are using their cars more frequently, for shorter trips. How can this trend be reversed?

Zero Carbon New Development for the Gulf

Recently I had the opportunity to participate in a brainstorming session with a group of local experts on sustainable architecture, green building, green business. Craig Williams, founder of the group Architects Without Borders, had recently visited Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. He felt that there was an opportunity there to present a rebuilding strategy that was innovative, sustainable and low carbon. As the representative of the Climate Protection community, I was invited to write a high-level, executive summary treatment of what zero carbon redevelopment in the Gulf States would involve, and what it might look like. Here is the paper. I'd be very interested in your thoughts on it. Download vision_for_rebuilding_the_gulf.doc

What is driving the growth in GHG emissions?

What is the root cause of growth in GHG emissions in the United States? GHG emissions grew by about 1.3% per year in the US, according to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. In the 1990's the primary growth components were electricity generation and transportation.

However, the growth rate of the GDP during this period was 2.9% per year. Energy use per dollar of GDP fell by 1.7% per year, while CO2 per unit of energy use stayed about the same.

According to the Pew study,

The Socio-Political Aspects of Climate Change

Over the last few days, we have had a couple of posts that depart somewhat from our usual "nuts-and-bolts" presentation. One post was by author/lecturer/activist Shepherd Bliss, on the visit of Prince Charles to the San Francisco Bay Area. This post provoked several comments on the meaning and relevance of Charles taking a position on climate change. This would be a good opportunity to weigh in on the apparent schizophrenia of the British Government, as well as the mechanisms of advocacy. Part of the mission of this blog is to explore what works and what doesn't in motivating political action.

Along these lines, we also had two posts from the director of Climate Protection Campaign, Ann Hancock. One post is on dependent co-arising which is an alternative way of viewing the mechanisms of political change. The other is on the relationship between activism on the Peak Oil issue, and climate change activism. There is a possibility that these two issues can merge and build a constituency for action. However, problems arise. What should the focus be? What if anything is the driving issue? For more information on Peak Oil, you can start here. Thanks for joining us, and I'm looking forward to hearing your views!

Dave

Peak Oil and Climate Protection

The peak oil argument bothers me, and I'm not exactly sure why, although I have some ideas. I'm hoping to clarify thinking about peak oil by exploring the topic on this blog. When explaining what bothers me about peak oil, the first objection comes from Alan Strachan who asserts that the world has a permanent oil glut, meaning that if we burn all the oil and other fossil fuel we have, we'll be toast. I've posted the paper he wrote with Scot Stegeman in 2001 about this Download Permanent Oil Glut Richard Heinberg responded to Alan 9/01 re the ideas in Alan's paper, ending his response with the following:

Dependent co-arising: An idea that helps sustain me

Joanna Macy, a teacher of mine who compared Buddhism and systems theory, introduced me to dependent co-arising.

Dependent co-arising seeks to describe how things happen and change. There is no first cause or prime mover, but instead patterns or circuits of contingency. The factors are sustained by their own interdependence. Things do not produce each other or make each other happen, as in linear causality; they help each other happen by providing occasion or locus or context, and in so doing, they in turn are affected. There is a mutuality here, a reciprocal dynamic.

"Emergence" is the closest concept in systems theory.

Sonoma County Biomass to Energy Workshop

Sonoma County Waste Management Agency is sponsoring a workshop in January to explore systems that produce energy from organic waste. The generic technology is known as anaerobic digestion. This is a low tech method for producing and capturing methane or biogas from decomposing organic waste. Digesters exist for many different types of waste streams, such as manure, food waste and yardwaste. The workshop will focus on several technologies such as Kompogas and Biogas Energy. Harvesting energy from the waste stream is a critical piece of the strategy for reducing GHG emissions.

Report on the Prince of Wales visit to Northern CA

The Prince and the Peak

By Shepherd Bliss, sb3[at]pon.net

England’s Prince Charles convened a Nov. 7 dialogue in San Francisco on “Peak Oil, Climate Change, and Business Action.” 300 high-level guests from corporations, government, and non-profit groups attended.

“We simply can’t go on as we are,” Prince Charles said to the select audience. He cited statistics and stories about global warming and oil depletion, contending, “Somehow we have to find the courage to reassert the once commonplace belief that human beings have a duty to act as the stewards of creation.”

The CPC White Paper Wiki

Climate Protection Campaign has a comprehensive white paper devoted to local actions for GHG emissions reduction. This paper is on the web here. Although it is presently set up for browsing only, some of the pages are set up to comment.

The real value of the wiki is to enable group development of a document. The vision was to create a living document that could serve as a roadmap for techniques and planning to reduce GHG emissions at a local level. Anyone with a good idea or insight can contribute.

If you feel that you can contribute to this effort, email me: dave[at]climateprotectioncampaign.org, and we can discuss your contribution.