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Gerry Gras wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4ABA4828.8030601@earthlink.net" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I think this is a better than normal article about global
warming. I learned a few new things from it.
"Collapse or Survive: The Stark Choice Facing Our Species
We all know what has to happen. But are we too primitive and irrational
to do it?"
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/23">http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/23</a></pre>
</blockquote>
Gerry, <br>
<br>
You are right. It is a good article and it contains nothing that we
have not known before. It is just that Hari put it on one page. <br>
<br>
There is some hope, and surprisingly, it is coming from the utilities.
PG&E has withdrawn from membership in the US Chamber of Commerce
over the Chamber's stance on Climate Change. Duke Energy withdrew from
the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity over that coalition's
opposition to any climate change legislation. <br>
<br>
But still the world is filled with mis-information, obfuscation and a
pathological insistence on viewing it all through ideological
glasses. I heard CNN's Gloria Borger comment that the Senate can not
accomplish anything on Climate Change this year because they are too
wrapped up in the health care battle. That needs to come from a
committee chaired by Sen. Boxer and given her penchant for bowing to
any and all special interests, I would guess that Borger is correct.
After all, Boxer took her position on agricultural subsidies with the
statement that "we have our rice people and our cotton people." She
never let a contribution go un-collected.<br>
<br>
The following is my latest Green Talk column in the Morgan Hill Times.
It will appear there on Friday, but is available online at <a
href="http://cagreening.blogspot.com/2009/09/pg-withdraws-from-us-chamber-over.html">California
Greening</a> now.<br>
<br>
<h3 class="post-title"> PG&E Withdraws from US Chamber over Climate
Change </h3>
<!-- put the first or teaser paragraph here --><br>
Pacific
Gas and Electric has created a major stir by its very public withdrawal
from membership in the US Chamber of Commerce and condemnation of the
Chamber's position regarding climate change. The announcement on
Tuesday has been picked up and repeated by <a
href="http://climateprogress.org/2009/09/22/utility-pge-quits-us-chamber-of-commerces-extreme-position-on-climate-change/">every
serious climate related web</a> site.<br>
<br>
My
reactions were submitted as a Green Talk column to my very local paper
this AM and are scheduled to appear on Friday. You can read them now by
clicking <span style="font-style: italic;">Read more</span>. <br>
<span class="fullpost"><br>
<!-- put the main text here. --><br>
The
withdrawal came in a letter from PG&E Chairman Peter Darbee to the
Chamber of Commerce, a portion of which appears on the PG&E web
site. “We find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable
fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global
warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored. In
our opinion, an intellectually honest argument over the best policy
response to the challenges of climate change is one thing; disingenuous
attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges are
quite another.”<br>
<br>
PG&E is not the first major corporation, nor
even the first utility, to make such public withdrawal. Duke Energy has
withdrawn from the <a
href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Coalition_for_Clean_Coal_Electricity#Leaked_memo_on_coal_marketing_strategies">American
Coalition for Clean Coal Energy</a> over that organization's opposition
to climate change legislation. Some have even begun to advertise their
actions, as <a
href="http://www.scjohnson.com/family/fam_pre_pre_news.asp?art_id=141">S.
C. Johnson</a>
has done, highlighting the fact that they have sought clean power for
their manufacturing plants or Subaru with their zero-landfill
automotive manufacturing plant in Indiana. They have found that these
are good business decisions, not just publicity stunts. <br>
<br>
Time
after time we have seen national organizations like the US Chamber of
Commerce take ideological positions that are at odds with facts and in
doing so reflect a disdain for even the well being of their own
membership. <br>
<br>
Mis-information abounds, takes on a life of it's
own and is repeated so often as fact that the original sources are so
far down the trail of citings that they might never be found.
Politicians, those who most loudly claim to have only the interests of
their constituents at heart, allow their staffs to make up stories as
long as they remain true to the ideology, never mind the facts. No one
is worse at this than Oklahoma Senator <a
href="http://www.desmogblog.com/inhofe-and-the-art-of-exaggeration">James
Inhofe</a> whose previous chief of staff, <a
href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/4002">Mark Marano</a>,
is now becoming the guru of climate change denial. The good Senator's
mind has long been made up and facts will not change it. <br>
<br>
Sadly,
we have come to expect this of politicians. But, it has also entered
the realm of journalism where the object lesson in non-objective
writing is surely <a
href="http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/george_will_disinformation/">George
Will</a>
and his blatantly erroneous columns on climate in the Washington Post.
Not to be outdone, even the venerable NY Times falls for a similar
trap, coming from their in-house climate maven, Andrew Revkin. <br>
<br>
Revkin, in writing about the <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/science/earth/23cool.html?_r=2">UN
Climate Change Conference</a>
held Tuesday, was at best mis-leading when stating that the temperature
has been comparatively stable for a decade. What he did not mention was
that it was still the warmest decade on record. It is so easy to pick
the facts to suite your explanation rather than making sure that your
explanation fits the entire set of facts that we have, so far,
discovered. <br>
<br>
It would appear as if many expect the universe to
be swayed by their ideological interpretations, much as they expect
voters to react, to fall in line as soon as they trot out a litany of
focus-group refined slogans. I wonder how many molecules of methane
they had in their focus group. <br>
<br>
It seems clear to me that the
universe does not care about, is not swayed by, does not change it's
course because of some senator's ideology. The world is what it is and
seems rather immune to what we think. It is not, however, immune to
what we do. Just as words have meaning, actions have consequences. So
far, the actions of mankind have not generally been benign with regards
to maintaining any ecological balance. <br>
<br>
I could speculate as to
how PG&E's actions will work out at the local level. When I was a
member of the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, one of the major
corporations involved was PG&E. The Morgan Hill Chamber also has a
good history of working with the City and other organizations toward
creating a green business environment. I would hope that this
continues, along with the assistance of PG&E. <br>
<br>
This is the
way that the world should work, but unfortunately does not. When we
have local businesses making decisions to manage their business in such
a manner as to work with the local ecology rather than against it we
will probably have better outcomes, not only for the business but also
for the entire world. That is not easy to do. It takes commitment, work
and an open mind. There are a lot of people willing to do the hard
work, but far fewer who maintain an open mind.<br>
</span><br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="80">--
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente
Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.refpub.com/">http://www.refpub.com/</a> -- Tel: 408.778.3024</pre>
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