A recent National Geographic television channel program helped me understand the physics behind the increased number of violent storms--hurricanes, floods, tornadoes. An increase in the earth's temperature causes greater evaporation and more water vapor in the atmosphere. This moisture has to go somewhere, and that is back to earth. Also the increased water vapor absorbs more of the sun's energy and this energy contributes to storms.
Now, for public policy-- It is past time we got serious about our activities contributing to greenhouse gases, etc. particularly coal-fired power plants. The key to utilizing wind and solar energy is a national power grid to carry the electricity from the sunny and windy places to our major cities.
Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Sunday, September 19, 2010
recycling plastic and energy policy
How have the Republicans turned policy addressed to climate change into a dirty word? We have no new energy and climate change legislation thanks to the notion that there is no evidence of global warming and no need to take it seriously. Is this the return of the "no-nothings" to political power?
Thomas Friedman writes in the NYT that an American company has developed technology to turn waste computers into usable plastic at low cost. But new factories using the technology are being built in China and Europe. Friedman explains:
"Americans recycle about 25 percent of their plastic bottles. Most of the rest ends up in landfills or gets shipped to China to be recycled here. Getting people to recycle regularly is a hassle. To overcome that, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea — and next year, China — have enacted producer-responsibility laws requiring that anything with a cord or battery — from an electric toothbrush to a laptop to a washing machine — has to be collected and recycled at the manufacturers’ cost".
Why don't we follow suit? Answer--because the "no-nothings" regard it as a socialistic plot! Industry screams that such a policy would cost American jobs and slow the economy when exactly the opposite is true.
Thomas Friedman writes in the NYT that an American company has developed technology to turn waste computers into usable plastic at low cost. But new factories using the technology are being built in China and Europe. Friedman explains:
"Americans recycle about 25 percent of their plastic bottles. Most of the rest ends up in landfills or gets shipped to China to be recycled here. Getting people to recycle regularly is a hassle. To overcome that, the European Union, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea — and next year, China — have enacted producer-responsibility laws requiring that anything with a cord or battery — from an electric toothbrush to a laptop to a washing machine — has to be collected and recycled at the manufacturers’ cost".
Why don't we follow suit? Answer--because the "no-nothings" regard it as a socialistic plot! Industry screams that such a policy would cost American jobs and slow the economy when exactly the opposite is true.
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