Sunday, January 15th, 2017
Stephan: At the present time less than 85,000 people work in all aspects of the coal industry; in the solar industry that number of now 373,000. And that is just in America, globally the number is 2.8 million. The Chinese estimate that as they ramp up solar they will create, in China alone, an additional 12 million new jobs.
Meanwhile the Trump administration and the Republican Party are doing what they can to protect the carbon energy sector, and it is not a coincidence that every appointee to the incoming administration is a climate change denier, and the man nominated to be Secretary of State is the president of one of the largest carbon energy corporations in the world.
Which country do you think will be prospering in the post carbon era -- China or the United States?
Solar industry employs 373,000 American, 2.8 million globally – Solar power will continue to gain political strength across the nation as we see serious installation volumes spread to all 50 states. Already solar power lobbyists are able to wield great influence – see the 2015 tax credit extension. The energy industry, in 2016, represented 14% of all new jobs in the USA – a large amount of those coming from renewable and efficiency.
Autonomous solar powered research ship being designed – We’ve got an airplane that circled the world on solar, islands that live off of solar and now an autonomous ocean research vessels to be powered by solar. Scientists are real good at designing instruments that work off of light amounts of energy – a lot of times those restrictions have to do with large amounts of fuel needing to be on the same vessels. […]
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Sunday, January 15th, 2017
Christina Fan, - ABC - KFSN
Stephan: We are right on track, America. Another week, another human tragedy, another toddler killing a baby sibling with gun. My wife and I talked tonight about what going through an experience such as this would be like, and would anyone in the family ever really recover from it. We didn't think so, do you? Please hold this family in healing intention.
CHOWCHILLA, CALIFORNIA — Heartbreak on Alameda Road quickly spread through the small town of Chowchilla as parents learned about a deadly shooting involving two siblings on opposite sides of the gun.
“I feel really bad for the family, for their loss and for the child, not understanding, not knowing,” said Kathy Scott, neighbor.
The call for help came in around 5:00 p.m. Wednesday. Inside the bedroom, officers found a 1-year-old boy with a bullet wound to his head. His sister had accidentally shot him with a parent’s gun.
Paramedics transported the toddler to Valley’s Children’s Hospital but he didn’t make it there alive.
“Well anytime a child gets a hold of firearm, and there’s some sort of a negligent discharge, it’s a criminal matter,” said Lt. Jeff Palmer, Chowchilla Police Department
Officers said the mother, Erica Bautisa, was home at the time. She is a 16 year veteran of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Detectives said the handgun was registered to her and was not a duty weapon, and they suspect it was stored improperly.
“Firearms are not something to be taken for granted, don’t leave them loaded, and absolutely don’t leave them in an […]
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Saturday, January 14th, 2017
Matthew Nitch Smith, - Business Insider
Stephan: [caption id="attachment_30473" align="alignleft" width="283"]
Australia, which is number 4 on the list of nations with the highest standards of life.Credit: Craig Sillitoe[/caption]
One of the reasons I believe Donald Trump was elected is that we cannot stop lying to ourselves, as a populace; consequently we cannot make an accurate assessment of our true position.
Do you think we have the highest standard of life of any country in the world? Do you think we have the best health care? The best education system? The longest life spans? Keep asking yourself any question you like? Here's what we are actually first in 1) The largest nastiest prison gulag in the developed world. 2) The biggest pile of war making machines. 3) The most civilians killed by other civilians by guns, with a special shout out for the most deaths by guns fired by toddlers.
If we are going to save the United States, pull it back from the cliff it is about to go over, we need to tell ourselves the truth about ourselves. Because if we don't do this, who will?
As any 12 step program will teach you, the first step to healing is to start by recognizing the truth about yourself. The fact is in terms of standards of life we aren't in the top 10; we're just barely in the top 20. Here's the list.
The countries with the highest quality of life have been announced by the not-for-profit organisation Social Progress Imperative.
Scandinavian nations scored highly in the “Social Progress Index,” but more surprising are the very large countries which came lower down the list — suggesting that a strong GDP per capita is not the only gauge for a high standard of living.
Despite this, all of the top 19 countries are developed nations — so having a strong economy clear has an impact.
The “Social Progress Index” collates the scores of three main indexes:
- Basic Human Needs, which includes medical care, sanitation, and shelter.
- Foundations of Wellbeing, which covers education, access to technology, and life expectancy.
- Opportunity, which looks at personal rights, freedom of choice, and general tolerance.
The index then adds the three different factors together, before giving each nation a score out of 100. You can see the countries with the highest quality of life in ascending order
19. United States — 84.62. The US scraping into the top 20 may surprise some, and the report does call it a “disappointment,” saying the country’s huge economy does not translate into social progress for many of its citizens.
18. France — 84.79. For many France is a liberal bastion, but it […]
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Saturday, January 14th, 2017
Lorraine Chow, - EcoWatch
Stephan: Here is some wonderful news for the planet, and particularly for the Dutch. Imagine, they not only have high speed trains, the trains all run on wind generated energy. A whole national train system that is carbon neutral.
Ask yourself: Why can't the United States have high speed trains, let alone a system that runs carbon neutral?
As of Jan. 1, 600,000 daily train passengers have been traveling completely carbon neutral, according to an announcement from the Netherlands’ principal passenger railway operator, NS. (emphasis added)
Dutch electric trains are running on 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of wind energy supplied by sustainable energy supplier, Eneco. As Brightvibes noted, a “decreasing and relatively small number” of Dutch trains are still running on diesel.
NS and Eneco first announced their plan of a wind-powered railway in 2015 in order to drastically slash train ride emissions. Their original goal was to transition the trains to 100 percent renewable energy by 2018, but that target was moved up after reaching 75 percent in 2016. Impressively, this means their initial goal was met one whole year ahead of schedule.
According to Eneco, the power used by the carriers comes from newly built wind farms in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Belgium. By tapping into both domestic and foreign sources of wind power, it “[ensures] that there is always sufficient green power available on the grid for rail companies, even if […]
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Saturday, January 14th, 2017
Stephan: Here is more good news. In my view California, based on its social outcome data is the best governed state in the union, and California's Democratic Governor Jerry Brown is the best Executive Officer in government.
The state leads the way in programs that promote wellbeing, and the government recognizes this as a priority. California is also soon going to have highspeed rail.
Over the next decade the difference in the standard of life between states under Republican governance, and those under Democratic governance is going to become more and more pronounced, and that is not a partisan statement.
My focus is not on politics but wellbeing as objectively measured. We know what works. Some of us just choose not to pursue that path because other considerations take priority.
As of January 1, all new buildings of 10 stories or fewer in San Francisco must be built with solar panels included. (emphasis added)
Since that local measure passed last spring, its author, Scott Wiener, moved from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to the state senate. Now, he’s bringing the concept to Sacramento, first in summary form, with the full proposed legislation expected in four to six weeks.
If adopted, mandatory rooftop solar legislation would set a groundbreaking example of how a legislature can expand distributed solar through less conventional means, diverging from the default models of renewable portfolio standards and tax credits. That outcome is by no means guaranteed, though.
The process of passing the legislation through the state legislature will likely raise new questions about how the policy would impact the entirety of the massive Golden State. There are more legislators to convince than in San Francisco, and more interest groups and industry lobbyists who may try to stop it.
“The state, of course, is much bigger and much more diverse geographically and in every other respect,” Wiener told GTM. “We are actively soliciting input to make […]
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