Comments for Greenery & Other Fine Things to Look At

Comment on About Me by dbiello

dbiello — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:51:47 +0000

Thanks! And thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to the paper but I’m always interested in Haber-Bosch alternatives. Can you send me the paper?

Comment on About Me by Luis Razob

Luis Razob — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:26:03 +0000

Hi! I thought this paper of mine might be of interest to you since you had previously written about ammonium sulfate and also since the paper proposes obtaining it from microalgae.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852411018219

I ejnoy reading your tweets, by the way.

Comment on About Me by dbiello

dbiello — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:17:59 +0000

Hi Jan,

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. It’s always nice to hear from readers! And feel free to leave this comment on the SA site as well, if you care to. Thanks again.

Comment on About Me by Jan Lundberg

Jan Lundberg — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:15:53 +0000

Dear Mr. Biello,
Your latest piece on peak oil in Scientific American is useful, and is quoted with a link in communication to an Indiana media outlet concerning itself with a “NAFTA Superhighway.” I used to concern myself greatly with road fighting, but I’ve moved on to concentrating on other aspects of petroleum dependence such as the plastic plague. Here’s what I sent to the station for their show; I could find no other way of reaching you. – JL

Q: How can anyone square oil reality with the urge to build unsustainable new roads?

Putting aside that the scientific findings are overwhelming that we are in effect roasting the planet and upsetting its delicate balance, we need to admit and act as if oil and refined-product prices are high (and higher when subsidies are included), and supplies of oil are unreliable geopolitically. Plus, road building is damaging to ecosystems and means more roadkill of humans and animals.

The end of cheap, abundant oil means the end of economic growth. A new Scientific American article says, “A new analysis concludes that easily extracted oil peaked in 2005, suggesting that dirtier fossil fuels will be burned and energy prices will rise.” But that view assumes no collapse of the oil-based economy through major supply disruption can happen. Based on our experience in the 1970s’ oil shocks, now that peak oil has hit and society is unprepared with alternative fuels and materials, and the human population has mushroomed, it’s only reasonable to anticipate that in our lifetime we’ll see the house-of cards economy finished off for hapless consumers dependent on no end of polluting, toxic petroleum products.

Despite this “negative” view, there is great joy and hope in living car-free, closer to nature, and in community which we have lost as isolated materialists working for corporations and buying their questionable, unnecessary goods.

Background:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=has-peak-oil-already-happened
http://www.culturechange.org/cms/content/view/727/1/

Thanks for putting on the debate,

Jan Lundberg
independent oil industry analyst
founder, Alliance for a Paving Moratorium (now Culture Change)
Culture Change / Sail Transport Network
Mobile: 1-415-613-1936 Voicemail & fax: 1-215-243-3144
P.O. Box 3387, Santa Cruz, CA 95063 USA
http://CultureChange.org
http://SailTransportNetwork.com
______________________________
Dear Friends and Supporters,

Please tune into WTIU for this documentary. CARR co-founder Thomas Tokarski will be a panelist discussing I-69 after the broadcast.
You can submit questions NOW for the panel discussion. The e-mail address to submit questions is news@indianapublicmedia.org.

ARE WE THERE YET?
Thursday, January 26, 2012, at 8 PM
WTIU Public Television

WTIU/WFIU News presents a documentary about the various sides of the I-69 issue and explains the complications that INDOT has faced in its attempt to complete the corridor.

The documentary debuts on WFIU and WTIU at 8 p.m. 1/26. It will be followed by a half hour panel discussion moderated by WFIU/WTIU News Bureau Chief Sara Wittmeyer. Panelists include CARR Co-founder Thomas Tokarski, Daviess County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director, Ron Arnold and Bloomington/Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization member Richard Martin.

The live panel will take questions from the radio and TV audiences by phone, email, and through social media sites Facebook (facebook.com/interstate69) and Twitter (@INpubmedianews).

The Indiana Channel is carrying the documentary on 2/8/12 and 2/9/12. The documentary is also running on a number of other radio and television stations in other states.

~~~~~~~~~~

Thomas & Sandra Tokarski
CARR
PO Box 54
Stanford, IN 47463
carr@bluemarble.net
812-825-9555
800-515-6936

Comment on About Me by dbiello

dbiello — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:03:30 +0000

I’m a journalist, not a scientist. So all my articles appear in the popular press (like my employer Scientific American or other publications) not the scientific literature. Here’s a sampler from SA: http://www.scientificamerican.com/report.cfm?id=bp-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-anniversary . Hope that helps!

Comment on About Me by Jason Lamendola

Jason Lamendola — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:33:04 +0000

I was just wondering if you have ever had any articles pertaining to oil spills be published in a peer review journal, and if so which one(s). Thanks.

Comment on About Me by Richard Blakely

Richard Blakely — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:29:06 +0000

David, you are involved in the “lynching of CO2″ since you are calling Hertzberg’s work “nonsense”. As far as I can tell, you do not understand the physics, and so you are calling the work “nonsense”. Otherwise, you would offer a more scientific explanation of how CO2 can block more photons than it already does.
CO2 is used in microwave waveguides because it is so transparent to microwaves. CO2 only blocks two photon types. One of these it blocks totally already. Therefore, CO2 cannot cause climate change.

Comment on About Me by dbiello

dbiello — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:13:44 +0000

I did look at it (I always do). As far as I can tell, it’s nonsense. Fortunately for you and me both, the theory is testable–and is *not* backed by actual data. For a brief primer on all of this, try: http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/resources/oceanography-book/radiationbalance.htm

Comment on About Me by Richard Blakely

Richard Blakely — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:15:37 +0000

I wish you would really look at Hertzberg’s work. It is more than just a theory. It is based on actual data. Carbon dioxide cannot block any more photons because all those photons are already blocked. More CO2 in the atmosphere will not alter Earth’s temperature now.

Comment on About Me by dbiello

dbiello — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:47:22 +0000

Thanks Richard for reading and writing, and thanks for sending this link. Unfortunately, I think the work from Lavoisier on down pretty much disproves Hertzberg’s contention. In fact, you can do the test yourself in the lab, if you like.