I’ve written on this blog about how France, the most nuclear country in the world, is having problems with their water being too warm to cool their plants. Some plants had to be shut down last summer because of the potential danger of meltdown. Now, there’s a new concern in Australia about drought and over-population putting such demands on water supplies that nuclear plants will not have enough to function. And that’s without even considering global warming. This is rather important information for the Utah legislature as they decide whether to build two nukes on the Green River in Emery County. Drought and nuclear appear to be a bad mix.
October 31, 2007
Nuclear Drawback: Water; Does Utah Have Enough?
Solar Panels Made From Cyber Waste!
As a former Vermonter (I lived in Burlington from 1999-2001), it makes me proud that this remarkable achievement came from the IBM plant there. Solar PV panels from scrap semiconductors. An invention that truly makes sense. If they can make it so the process is not so prohibitively expensive as to make these panels affordable to a mass market, then they’ve really got something. Too bad the government incentives for rapid production and deployment of these outstanding developments are so paltry. Oh, well- the Germans will probably have a similar product available in a couple of months.
October 30, 2007
Utah Teachers Association: Convention A Polluters PR Fest
The Utah Education Association conference started Monday at the Salt Palace. From an environmental perspective, it’s a clean sweep for the polluters. I volunteered to staff The Nature Conservancy’s information table at the conference. We’re encouraging teachers to sign their classes up for tours of our Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve where I volunteer as a nature guide. The tours are growing in popularity. But
if the number of environmental groups represented at the conference is any indication, environmental education in our schools is getting smothered by the big polluters. TNC is the only environmental group there while Big Energy- coal, oil, natural gas, mining, not to mention the military- were all there with big, colorful displays, lots of spokespeople and, consequently, lots of interest.
This is my first UEA conference. But from the looks, the dirty energy industry is stepping up their propaganda to combat the bad PR they’re getting from Crandall Canyon, the Wasatch Front’s air crisis, global warming, the nuclear conflict of interest in the legislature, etc. If the turnout at our table is any indication, Big Energy is winning the minds of teachers who will then tell their children how wonderful and indispensible Utah’s 
fossil fuel industry is even though it means more disease, medical costs, traffic, and no recess on those inversion days. I hope Utah’s teachers see through the spin and treat childhood asthma, obesity, and nature deficit disorder with the same enthusiasm that they’ve got fighting vouchers. Private school vouchers we can live with. Bad air, polluted water and sick, fat, stupid kids- we can’t.
Step It Up: Rally Saturday to Fight Climate Change
Step It Up is writer Bill McKibben’s campaign to raise awareness and create action against human-induced climate change. This Saturday November 3 has been declared as a National Day of Climate Action and rallies are scheduled all over America including here in Salt Lake City. Here’s the schedule of events. The rally is spearheaded by Jim French, whom I met at a Utah Solar Energy Association meeting, and who’s a strong advocate for clean air and reduction of coal use. See you there!
Hosted by Salt Lake City: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Saturday, November 3rd Washington Square 400 South State Street (In case of bad weather, join us at the SLC Library); Free pancake breakfast with former Jazz Coach Frank Layden; Youth poetry slam; Mingle with elected officials; Music by School of Rock
Co-hosted by Post Carbon Salt Lake & the Environmental Ministry of the First Unitarian Church: 7:00 pm Saturday, November 3rd First Unitarian Church 569 South 1300 East Speakers: Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson & Dr. Brian Moench, M.D. of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment: http://www.uphe.org
October 29, 2007
California Fires: Voices of Reason Emerge To Avoid Repeating Mistakes
This linked article is the closest thing to common sense I’ve heard come out of the discussion of how to handle re-development and federal fire protection policy after the California wildfires. Regardless, the California home construction industry is likely rejoicing the destruction because it provides them much-needed work in the rapidly-deteriorating new home building business. The question is: will the developers, builders, homeowners, and public land managers do it right this time? We can only hope that their rejoicing is tempered with a little serious thought and planning. That not only means following the recommendations in the linked release but rebuilding farther away from forests, out of the “stupid zone,” and other public lands so private homeowner issues don’t become public taxpayer-funded ones.
Nature Needs An Agent: I Offer My Services
Dear Ms. Nature:
I’m writing to offer you my services as representative of your public image, brand and properties. Negatively-impacting events beginning several thousand years ago with the evolution of humans, ensuing conflicts of interest with said races i.e. disasters, wars, resource depletion, litter, and continuing most recently with the California wildfires, human-induced climate change, etc. indicate a serious need for you, Nature, to “get your message out.”
  Face it, Nat: Despite being the source of all life on Earth, you are almost entirely misunderstood by humans. As a result, you are reviled, assaulted, ravaged, exploited and destroyed by said humans. The reasons are complicated. This is where I can help, knowing them reasonably well. Simply put, humans are extremely imaginative and aggressive animals. They actually believe everything on Earth, including Nature itself, carries human characteristics i.e. love, hate, basic engineering skills. Despite humans’ imagination and power (most truly believe a human deity created YOU!), there’s one human characteristic that trumps the others: fear- of each other and especially of you.
  Their fear of you causes them to do crazy things like torture and murder, like they would another human, to make their own lives “better.” These betterments include larger TV sets, bigger vehicles and dwellings, and owning and exhausting all supplies of water, air, soil, trees- pretty much everything. My strategy is to improve your public image and relationship with humans by making them less afraid of you and understand how utterly screwed they are if they continue their current direction.
  I’m available to start immediately and look forward to hearing back from you soon. After all, time is running out.
Sincerely,
Ken Schreiner, Uberproducer
Schreiner Productions
October 28, 2007
Salt Lake Air Back In Black
The Wasatch Front’s been covered by an inversion for more than a week now. That means the air is worse than normal earlier than normal. We can now enjoy our itchy eyes, running noses and other assorted maladies longer than normal too. Maybe someday, Utah’s “leaders” will no longer consider ugly and harmful air pollution a sign of progress and start implementing more renewable energy and other measures that will redefine progress as “liveability.” Until then, pass the Murine.
California Fires: Common Sense is Not An Option
As the flames calm down, the whining flares up. Californians are displaying uncharacteristic ignorance for a state that prides itself on progressive thinking, especially on the environment. But what we’re hearing from the Land of Fruits and Nuts is how eager everyone is to not only rebuild their homes in the “stupid zone” near drought and fire-prone public lands, but to increase development and fire protection. Granted, many of the areas are now burnt so the threat will be less over the next few years. I wouldn’t be surprised if developers are happy because the fires did what they’ve always wanted to do: clear more land to build more stuff. Problem is WE TAXPAYERS are paying for their ignorance in the form of fire protection. In fact, almost all the U.S. Forest Service’s budget now goes toward protecting the homes of the idiots who build right next to national forests. In so doing, there’s no money left to maintain the forests, as in, CLEANING OUT THE DEAD STUFF SO IT DOESN’T TURN INTO FUEL MAKING FOREST FIRES WORSE. Ironically despite the whining, federal fire protection over the years has been so good over the years, these bozos actually THINK THEY’RE ENTITLED TO IT. Our federal forest, national park and fire protection policy is so out-of-whack it seems crazy. But that figures. It’s California.
Fake FEMA News Conference: It’s OK- We’re Faking We Believe Them
The Bush Administration’s clown squad has done a lot of things- in fact, most things-more fraudulent and destructive than FEMA staging a fake news conference last week about the California fires. The Iraq War, the War on Social Security, Terri Schaivo, Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, fake reporters, fake Education Department advocates, fake news releases- it’s a long, long list. But they might as well fake their news conferences because all their answers are fake anyway. The years of lies about 9/11, Iraq, Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Bush’s military “service,” etc. set the tone for the fake leadership of this arguably fraudulent presidency. The administration’s contempt for the truth is as great as its contempt for the First Amendment, democracy and freedom in general. No one with any life experience, memory or intelligence superior to a chicken really believes what Bush, Cheney, the generals, FEMA, Homeland Security or anyone connected with these idiots says. So I recommend even MORE FAKE NEWS CONFERENCES and muc better and more attractive fakers. The White House took a major step by hiring Dana Perino (pic) as news secretary and chief liar. She’s an obvious improvement over Tony Snow and a lot prettier, though slightly stupider than Scott McClellan. But they need to do more. They should bring in stars like Hannah Montana, Bruce Willis, and Charlie Sheen to read the fake answers Bush’s staff dishes out every day. Actors won’t be any more believable. But they will be nicer to watch.
October 27, 2007
KUTV’s Michelle King To Retire: TV News’ Population Crisis
Channel 2 anchor Michelle King ascends into the Valhalla of broadcasting- if there is such a thing- at the end of the November sweeps. Her retirement, combined with Channel 5 KSL’s Dick Nourse at the same time, dramatize a brutal reality in TV news: their audience and their staffs are literally dying off. The average TV news viewer is now more than 60 years old. The number of viewers continues a steep decline it’s suffered for more than 25 years. The departure of King, Nourse, Eubank, Wood, Todd, et al is symptomatic of a crisis throughout television but particularly in TV news: basically, a population crisis. Fewer kids are becoming news people because the pay is lousy, the hours are long, and the oppression and corruption of the absentee corporate owners of TV stations is greater than ever. Add the rapidly dwindling audience and younger generations hooked on computers and you have the quintessential recipe for disaster. Colleges and universities are dumping journalism for lack of interest. Bottom line: time’s running out for reformists to save the craft. And as on-line reporting grows, maybe it’s, sadly, for the best.
