What to do about global warming
- Thread starter Extrafire
- Start date
YouTube - Kick It
Engineer and Venture capitalist Tom Rand has an upbeat take on where we need to go with Renewable Solutions:
We’ve largely invented what we need to kick the fossil fuel habit. Efficiencies, clean sources and the smart grid are the third industrial revolution.
But we need to create market conditions that deploy clean technology at scale. We need massive capital (trillions) and it needs to move quickly. To do that, we need to shape the market.
These market signals can only come from policy, and policy (in a democracy) can only emerge in the face of a public that demands, or at least accepts, the need for it. Hence this video. There’s no way to move forward if the public doesn’t believe it’s possible (never mind necessary).
To those that love the free market and shudder at the thought of ‘interfering’ in it: The market is not a natural kind – like a tiger, or a shrub – that operates under some set of natural laws that are best left alone, as the Chicago School argues. The market is more like an iPod – we invented it, and engineered it to our purposes. We invented credit, currency, contract law, exchange rates, banking systems, etc. Now we need to shape the market to enable a low-carbon economy.
Best ideas? Tax-and-dividend to change consumer behaviour and government-backed Green Bonds to generate low-cost debt capital (devil is in the details, see www.greenbonds.ca for my version).
Some would accuse a cleantech venture/angel investor of speaking from self-interest. Perhaps, but I put my money where my mouth is because I want to move the needle on carbon.
Engineer and Venture capitalist Tom Rand has an upbeat take on where we need to go with Renewable Solutions:
We’ve largely invented what we need to kick the fossil fuel habit. Efficiencies, clean sources and the smart grid are the third industrial revolution.
But we need to create market conditions that deploy clean technology at scale. We need massive capital (trillions) and it needs to move quickly. To do that, we need to shape the market.
These market signals can only come from policy, and policy (in a democracy) can only emerge in the face of a public that demands, or at least accepts, the need for it. Hence this video. There’s no way to move forward if the public doesn’t believe it’s possible (never mind necessary).
To those that love the free market and shudder at the thought of ‘interfering’ in it: The market is not a natural kind – like a tiger, or a shrub – that operates under some set of natural laws that are best left alone, as the Chicago School argues. The market is more like an iPod – we invented it, and engineered it to our purposes. We invented credit, currency, contract law, exchange rates, banking systems, etc. Now we need to shape the market to enable a low-carbon economy.
Best ideas? Tax-and-dividend to change consumer behaviour and government-backed Green Bonds to generate low-cost debt capital (devil is in the details, see www.greenbonds.ca for my version).
Some would accuse a cleantech venture/angel investor of speaking from self-interest. Perhaps, but I put my money where my mouth is because I want to move the needle on carbon.
YouTube - Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero!
After dithering for some years on the edge of the issue, Bill Gates has finally gotten it, and jumped in to the climate debate with both feet. The rub is that he might have a little too much faith in some kind of magical technofix, whereas many thinkers believe we already have all the technology we need to make the transition, or at least get a long way down the road.
If you’re looking at carbon sequestration, and nuclear, as he does, you might indeed need a miracle.
Important to get it that we don’t need to wait for a magic bullet.
More in his recent interview in Rolling Stone.
After dithering for some years on the edge of the issue, Bill Gates has finally gotten it, and jumped in to the climate debate with both feet. The rub is that he might have a little too much faith in some kind of magical technofix, whereas many thinkers believe we already have all the technology we need to make the transition, or at least get a long way down the road.
If you’re looking at carbon sequestration, and nuclear, as he does, you might indeed need a miracle.
Important to get it that we don’t need to wait for a magic bullet.
More in his recent interview in Rolling Stone.
So what do we do, raise taxes upon anyone still using 1900 technology and force the massive expenditures to jump into this carbonless technology. If we did that it would break this fragile economic climate we now find ourselves in. Nuclear power, hydroelectric, solar and tidal (to a small degree) are the only temporary source's of clean energy we have at the moment (might have forgotten 1 or 2). With the exception of nuclear and tidal we are pretty much at the limit. Wind is not a viable source of sustainable energy because it cannot be relied upon. Of course we need that new power grid mentioned installed ASAP before any of these new technologies can even think of coming online. Until someone comes up with a new miraculous technology we are pretty much stuck with the old standby coal and oil based sources.
SAYS TEXTBOOK TONINGTON. new to this planet aint you, would you like to buy that bridge in Halifax?
Quote: Originally Posted by Tonington
Conspiracy nonsense. Banks aren't the beneficiary of taxes, government's are.
That boy has got some learning to do. If our debt was still owned by Canadian's through the Bank of Canada then I could agree with him but since it was sold off to the highest private bidder it is impossible to claim it doesn't go to private banksters.
Cancun produced the blueprint for rule by a secretariat, as they seem intent to call it. By now even the dimly illuminated can see the final solution spelled out in all its tax collecting glory.
Simply and irrevocably imposssible. But ole texbook ton will argue, just wait and see. As far as I recall this is only the seven hundredth and fifty second time he's been completely wrong.
Simply and irrevocably imposssible. But ole texbook ton will argue, just wait and see. As far as I recall this is only the seven hundredth and fifty second time he's been completely wrong.
Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture
September 20, 2010
On Monday, September 20, the Atlantic Council, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), and Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) held an event for the public release and discussion of the joint U.S.-E.U. report Global Governance 2025. This report analyzes the gap between current international governance institutions, organizations and norms and the demands for global governance likely to be posed by long-term strategic challenges over the next 15 years. The report is the product of research and analysis by the NIC and EUISS following a series of international dialogues co-organized by the Atlantic Council, TPN, and other partner organizations in Beijing, Tokyo, Dubai, New Delhi, Pretoria, Sao Paulo & Brasilia, Moscow, and Paris.
September 20, 2010
On Monday, September 20, the Atlantic Council, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), and Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) held an event for the public release and discussion of the joint U.S.-E.U. report Global Governance 2025. This report analyzes the gap between current international governance institutions, organizations and norms and the demands for global governance likely to be posed by long-term strategic challenges over the next 15 years. The report is the product of research and analysis by the NIC and EUISS following a series of international dialogues co-organized by the Atlantic Council, TPN, and other partner organizations in Beijing, Tokyo, Dubai, New Delhi, Pretoria, Sao Paulo & Brasilia, Moscow, and Paris.
http://www.acus.org/files/publication_pdfs/403/Global_Governance_2025.pdf
if you would be so kind as to read that for me and pick out the juicely bits I would be so happy
if you would be so kind as to read that for me and pick out the juicely bits I would be so happy
Smart Grid...... a system that sells electricity as a commodity with daily pricing fluctuations where you have two rates. One for daytime and one for night. If electricity is needed by industry during the day the smart grid can shut of specific appliances in your home leaving electricity up for grabs by industry.
Lets see how happy the greenies are when their AC is shut off in the middle of a July heatwave so that a smelter can make more aluminum beer cans for you to throw away.
Global Governance 2025: At a Critical Juncture
September 20, 2010
On Monday, September 20, the Atlantic Council, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), and Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) held an event for the public release and discussion of the joint U.S.-E.U. report Global Governance 2025. This report analyzes the gap between current international governance institutions, organizations and norms and the demands for global governance likely to be posed by long-term strategic challenges over the next 15 years. The report is the product of research and analysis by the NIC and EUISS following a series of international dialogues co-organized by the Atlantic Council, TPN, and other partner organizations in Beijing, Tokyo, Dubai, New Delhi, Pretoria, Sao Paulo & Brasilia, Moscow, and Paris.
That's fantastic. Hopefully we can wane power and influence from wealthy states and divert those resources to the poorer nations so that they can have a greater influence.
All of this shows some excellent foresight into today's global problems and how we can alleviate them in the future..
Three effects of rapid globalization are driving demands for more effective global governance. Interdependence has been a feature of economic globalization for many years, but the rise of China, India, Brazil, and other fast-growing economies has taken economic interdependence to a new level. The multiple links among climate change and resources issues; the economic crisis; and state fragility—“hubs” of risks for the future—illustrate the interconnected nature of the challenges on the international agenda today. Many of the issues cited above involve interwoven domestic and foreign challenges. Domestic politics creates tight constraints on international cooperation and reduces the scope for compromise.
The shift to a multipolar world is complicating the prospects for effective global governance over the next 10 years. The expanding economic clout of emerging powers increases their political influence well beyond their borders. Power is not only shifting from established powers to rising countries and, to some extent, the developing world, but also toward nonstate actors. Diverse perspectives and suspicions about global governance, which is seen as a Western concept, will add to the difficulties of effectively mastering the growing number of challenges.
- Brazilians feel there is a need for a redistribution of power from developed to developing states. Some experts we consulted saw Brazil tending to like “old fashioned” multilateralism, which is state-centered and does not make room for nonstate actors.
- Many of our Chinese interlocutors see mounting global challenges and fundamental defects in the international system but emphasize the need for China to deal with its internal problems. The Chinese envisage a “bigger structure” pulling together the various institutions and groups that have been established recently. They see the G-20 as being a step forward but question whether North-South differences will impede cooperation on issues other than economics.
- For participants from the Persian Gulf region, the question is what sort of global institutions are most capable of inclusive power sharing. They bemoaned the lack of strong regional organizations.
- The Indians thought existing international organizations are “grossly inadequate” and worried about an “absence of an internal equilibrium in Asia to ensure stability.” They felt that India is not well positioned to help develop regional institutions for Asia given China’s preponderant role in the region.
- Russian experts we consulted see the world in 2025 as still one of great powers but with more opportunities for transnational cooperation. The Russians worried about the relative lack of “transpacific security.” The United States, Europe, and Russia also have scope for growing much closer, while China, “with the biggest economy,” will be the main factor in changing the world.
- The South Africans assessed that globalization appears to be strengthening regionalization as opposed to creating a single global polity. They worried that the losers from globalization increasingly outnumber the winners.
YouTube - EcoTech-RMI & Efficient Cars
Thank you F1...more to come from this series as well.
Can'tsevatives won't like this.
Thank you F1...more to come from this series as well.
Can'tsevatives won't like this.
Avro, the feeling is mutual.
But you jumped the gun, or perhaps I was not quite clear to whom I directed my advice.
I meant those who gloat about their plug-in electric cars that is hooked right up to a coal-fueled plant. Think about that for a second. And count the carbon foot prints.
Also to those who fly around the world in private jets, like the icon Al Gore. Or closer to home, David Suzuki.
Or those who live in 8,000 square foot houses (based on their life styles no sane person would call them HOMES), while they preach about turning lights off and tell you to have the thermostat set at 65F.
Or those (perhaps the the same people) who have domiciles at various places in the world and preach to the unwashed hillbillies and rednecks about recycling and reusing.
Or those who believe that consensus of knuckleheads is science, but refuse to honour any majority opinion that disagree with their preconceived ideology.
Well, if they stopped exhaling, I am sure no one would weep for them more than they would weep for me.
Get rid of the coal plants....simple.
Suzuki has a prtivate jet?
Al Gore is a douche...next.
I have a 5500 square foot home and their are times I'm not even on the grid.
What's wrong with the three R's.
I have three domiclies, all energy efficient....still working on my cottage to make it more carbon neutral.
The majority aren't scientists and many of thoses still believe the bible is true.
No doubt population is a problem as well as consumption.