I got into a discussion with my son today [who is in his mid twenties] about the real costs of oil and coal. Trying to put it into perspective, I realized one thing about the price of gas: we carp here about the price of gasoline and diesel, but in Europe they have been paying more for many years, as we know.
If one compares the price of gas and diesel and the rise in price, Europeans have seen almost exactly the same rise in price, about 3 dollars [maybe a little more] since 2000. We feel it more, because going from roughly $1 to $4 has a much bigger impact than going from roughly $6 to $9, as they have. Our price has quadrupled, while theirs has increased by half.
Europeans have partially worked in the real costs of using petroleum based products into their tax structure. They have socialized the costs of using petrochemicals; some use these funds to help alleviate the deleterious effects, others may not.
Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it's not a white issue, it's not a black issue, it's not a South or a North or an East or a West issue. It's an issue that all of us have a stake in - Barack Obama
Contrary to reports of my untimely demise I am still here I just have been having problems coming up with stuff to write about. I've written a lot of diaries on Obama's platform but there is one issue that I have not written about much. And it's a very, very important issue. A little something called our environment. Barack Obama has been a champion of the environment for a long time. In this diary I will take a look at his background on this issue and plans for moving our country and environment forward.
Corn ethanol and biofuels production has driven global food prices up 75%, triggering a global food crisis according to a secret World Bank report revealed by the London Guardian. The report was apparently kept secret to protect the United States which is most responsible for the diversion of food to fuel. The World Bank, released a report on Wednesday, July 2, on the jump in food prices without specifying the cause (PDF).
Food prices have accelerated sharply in 2008. Grain prices have more than doubled since January 2006, with over 60% of the rise in food prices occurring since January 2008 (Figure 1). Individual grain staple prices have increased even more, with monthly average wheat prices doubling since January 2006. Rice prices more than tripled between January and May 2008.
Call me an optimist. Coal is king, tar sands oil is booming, the arctic is melting, tropical cyclones keep setting new records, and my own city is still flooded. Yet, in these times, a revolution in both energy and electrified transportation is taking place right beneath our noses, and perhaps nowhere are we seeing the seeds of this being planted more than on the island of Oahu.
Read on to learn more about the world you may be leaving to your grandchildren and the role Hawaii's third largest island may play in bringing it about.
Talking Liberally Progressive Parley
by Seth Pearce, Living Liberally
Part of Living Liberally's mission has been to promote engagement and collaboration among progressive organizations. To fulfill this goal we at Living Liberally have decided to feature interviews with people involved in different parts of the progressive movement. Hopefully, through these interviews, we can learn about what progressives are working on today, and get a little more in depth about what its like to be a part of the progressive movement.
Our first interviewee, Daniel Mintz, is in Research and Development at progressive powerhouse MoveOn.org Political Action. He currently lives in Brooklyn and every once in a while shows up at the Original Drinking Liberally. Enjoy!
Group Seeks Divine Intervention to Ease Oil Prices
(CNSNews.com) - As the price of oil continues to rise, the Pray at the Pump Movement has been holding prayer vigils at gas stations across the country. On Monday, founder Rocky Twyman decided to take his movement from Exxon and Shell stations straight to the steps of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, D.C., hoping to encourage the oil-rich country to raise the amount of barrels they release each day from 200,000 to 1.2 million. Twyman, who is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, spent the afternoon outside of the embassy praying and asking passersby to sign his petition for the release of more oil, which he hopes to deliver to the Saudi oil minister. Full Story
This should have about as much effect as the McSame Drain America First policy...
Federal tax credits and state laws have caused wind power to grow at a rapid rate in the United States during the early years of this century. This year, wind turbines will supply enough energy for about 4.5 million homes in the US. However, this is still only 1.2% of the nations electricity needs, compared to 20% in Denmark and 12% in Spain.
This information is paraphrased from a Thursday, June 19, 2008, page A11, article in the Wall Street Journal of the above title. Sorry, I have no Internet reference.
I have always been more interested in solar energy partly because it seems more similar to electronics, an area I know something about. I have been fascinated by the various advances in solar technology. However, the recent Energy Department estimate (see below) that wind power may be able to meet 20% of our energy needs really caught my attention.
For all its advances, solar has yet to take a real bite out of our carbon-based power generation. Perhaps significant results that would impact the country as a whole are closer with wind power.
HOUSTON -- The heart of the U.S. oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said.
The move shows how renewable energy's prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving closer to the mainstream.
Yes, wind is cheap enough to be competitive head on with coal and gas - even as they aren't taxed for the pollution they cause or the carbon emissions they generate.
As Americans struggle with the high cost of energy these days and politicians are (finally) talking about conserving energy -- I wondered why I have seen no stories on McCain's energy use. The guy reportedly has 8 houses. Who needs 8 houses?
As a general rule, we know that Democrats and progressives seek to end our addiction to oil, both for our environmental and economic health, and that Republicans want to push the fossil fuel syringe a little deeper. On Tuesday, Barack Obama and John McCain each unveiled their visions for a new energy future, and the two can't be any different.
I found a good breakdown of the differences, and will, in addition to linking my fellow Kossacks to it, wanted to share a part of Obama's inspiring speech:
The poll released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center shows nearly half of those surveyed — or 47 percent — now rate energy exploration, drilling and building new power plants as the top priority, compared with 35 percent who believed that five months earlier.
The Pew poll, conducted in late June, showed the number of people who consider energy conservation as more important declined by 10 percentage points since February from a clear majority to 45 percent. People are now about evenly split on which is more important.
I've been following developments in Polywell fusion for about 2 years. Dr Nebel is running the Polywell program after its founder DR Bussard passed away last year. In short all the critics have been swept away over the last few years, as each new machine brought forward new positive developments. The lab in Santa Fe is home to a small Polywell test fusion reactor undergoing test runs over the last 6 months. THe US NAvy has funded this reactor to the tune 1.8 million bucks, and they maintain a publishing embargo on data. But Dr Nebel has been blogging, and recently dropped a bombshell in 2 parts"
We're getting data.
We might as well build the next one in that size range
The size range DR Nebel is talking about is a 1.5 meter 100 MW net power fusion reactor.
I really thought much more research was in the works, but I now understand where Dr Nebel is coming from. But let me backtrack:
It is oddly fitting that we touched $100 oil on 31 December and got halfway from $100 to $200 oil on 30 June - so we're on track to reach $200 oil by 31 December this year (in case you're wondering: +42% and again +42% from that level = +100% from the initial level).
It is also fitting that on that same date, the International Energy Agency published one of its gloomiest ever analyses of the oil markets, asserting that oil prices are justified by fundamentals
It said: “Like alchemists looking for a way to turn basic elements into gold, everyone wants a simplistic explanation for high prices,” bluntly adding: “Often it is a case of political expediency to find a scapegoat for higher prices rather than undertake serious analysis or perhaps confront difficult decisions.”
George W Bush is a moron, this we know. But you never know how big a moron he is until you watch his "energy policy" in action. Case in point: While Republicans were talking about the Chinese drilling off Cuba and Bush's jawboning Saudi Arabia (who do not have much more oil) into giving us more black goodness, the Chinese quietly made a deal with a country that is soon to become the third largest oil exporter in the world: Brazil. According to an email alert I received today:
With all the recent distress over a couple of not-completely-progressive stances -- and the requisite not-more-more-dime comments, it's probably a good idea to step back for a moment for some perspective:
Barack Obama will be the most progressive president in the history of our great nations.
I'm not here to get into historical disputes about why, given the times, FDR or JFK or whoever may prove more progressive. My point is that, on issue after issue, Obama will be the most progressive than any President before him. By a long shot.
We know he's going to end the war in Iraq, restore habeas, reduce the influence of lobbyists, close Gitmo, engage in tough diplomacy with our enemies, appoint progressive judges, etc. But this just scratches the surface. Just a quick trip through some of Obama's issues pages reveals the breadth of progressive change that he wants to bring to American
