Re-Gain

Our lack of coherent energy policy reflects both the price and cost jeopardizing both our national security and future prosperity. Unfortunately energy efficiency has failed to be realized as a national priority. Presently energy inefficiency has a huge hidden price and cost. How we can better generated and consume energy must be adequately addressed. U.S. energy demand consists of 85% fossil fuels or about 50 million barrels of oil consumed each day in America. As we past $100 per barrel for crude and this price shortly could easily double. Energy imports of oil account for 20% of our total U.S. energy requirements. However the cost for this is a huge burden not just on our balance of payments and on our environment. Approximately, 61%of energy produced is lost due to factors such as poor insulation, inefficient gas guzzling vehicles and other reasons according to a 2007 National Petroleum Council report to the Department of Energy. This translates to an overall efficiency of 1...

Why is it that insurance companies and major corporations know about climate change while many Congressional leaders and Tea Party members think this is a myth? I bet you that anyone who has serious money or manages it is starting to add up the impacts. This January a leading world insurance company, Munich Re, released a report on the natural disasters of 2010 and concluded that the high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures provide further indication that climate change is advancing. According to the report, 2010 had the second highest amount of weather-related catastrophes since 1980, and caused about $130 billion in damages--$37 billion of which was insured. While some of the 950 natural disasters that occurred last year were earthquakes, and not attributable to climate change, nine-tenths of them were weather-related. Finally, I ask if any person is in doubt look on your own. Yes it is very cold now but last year was one of the hottest on records...

November 2, 2010 election results reinforce that Americans are concerned most with our economy. However how we stimulate new goods and services is multi-trillion dollar question. I propose as we become more efficient we improve our economy. The best definition of what green is efficiency minus subsidy. The challenge is that in the U.S we have subsidized many things that increase waste and prevents us from profiting from pollution prevention. Just look how we have addressed our national security challenge. Presently, conflicts over water, and other essential resources. Does our U.S. military act as peacekeepers? A majority of experts predict that if our government does not prepare for climate change we will have hell to pay for. Several years ago a number of retired generals and security experts presented national-security study*. Using the military's risk-assessment practices, 11 retired generals and admirals issued a report* saying that climate change creates massive instab...

Shenandoah County will benefit from good rural planning. Promoting rural prosperity will happen when we keep new housing near our towns; invest in land conservation; and strengthen our zoning ordinances. New innovations can be explored once we see these as beginning economic development tools for our county. How we allow our land to be developed can be a win/win situation if we exercise wise best management practices. Otherwise irresponsible development will be passed on to us tax payers. One great example is who is going to be taking care of all the abandoned junk yards in our county? Who is going to clean these up? Citizen’s freedom to do things must be balanced by their responsibility to take care of those things they have. The more we keep growth near our towns with joint comprehensive plans the cheaper it will be for us to provide public services and improved land use patterns. Already we our towns have invested in hundreds of millions in water and waste water and expansion...

Government waste is a common used phrase. However, even the many organization’s that are the watchdogs of this costly act have been unable to get to the root of the problem. We love create spend more instead of fully using what we have. Consume seems to be an economic mantra however, it all results in less if we do not show some thrift. The government wastes money, resources and other precious things because there is an incentive to do so. We, Americans or better yet our Congress, has no reason to save since everyone wants more and more. Look at any area of government support- health care, defense, education, environmental protection, transportation, housing, foreign affairs, intelligence you see billions of dollars lost. The question is how we can create new commerce and prosperity without jeopardizing future generation's quality of life? Now what incentives does our government give to be frugal or more conservative? You can search for performance based saving measur...

For over thirty years I have been active preventing oil spills. These come from do-it-yourself motorist. Our country’s worst environmental accident proves that we do not value prevention. Lessening human error and having back-up plans is critical to our very future. Years ago there was a Pogo cartoon with a picture of an oil tanker in a backyard, and the caption read, “We have met the enemy and it is us.” At George Washington University in 1977 one of my environmental science text books alerted me to oil polluting my local watershed of Little Falls in Bethesda, Maryland that runs into one of the drinking water reservoirs for the nation’s capital. Since then I have promoted the recovery of do-it-yourself automotive fluids from every possible angle. I began this effort in Montgomery County, Maryland and started DC’s used oil recycling efforts. I even helped build the region’s largest used oil recycling facility and recently worked on updating Virginia’s used oil collection program th...

The recent Gulf oil spill is a rude awakening to humans regarding the price and risk of energy exploration. With now an estimated 23 to 47 million barrels of oil draining into the gulf region we are seeing tremendous alarm why we need to reexamine our American energy policies. The tragic costs of this accident will be accounted for in years. This includes the lost of marine life, devastated wetlands and economic impacts to the Southeast. Oil extraction results in the destruction or alteration of wildlife habitats, erosion, sedimentation, pollutant loading of groundwater and surface water from product and/or waste leaks and spills, groundwater contamination from communication between production or waste injection zones and underground sources of drinking water, release of hydrocarbons and hydrogen sulfide to the atmosphere, and decreased soil productivity from land spreading and/or releases of reserve/mud pit contents. While oil and gas professionals have developed practices that hav...

Did you know May is National Bike Month? People will celebrate it with various activities around the nation, including Bike-to-Work Week from May 17-21. Bike-to-Work Day will take place Friday, May 21. (That morning, get breakfast, tune-ups and prizes at the Bethesda pit stop) Living in Bethesda for over 40 years, I have become an avid cyclist. There is no better way to get around. It is quicker and cheaper, has no parking problems and I enjoy the exercise. Also there are lots of other psychological benefits: I get to slow down, get a feel of the community and lessen my environmental impact. As an expert in used oil recycling, I also believe in another type of “re-cycling”; this is why biking is my thing. Also I have documents showing the numerous water impacts cars have on the Little Falls and other area watersheds. According to WorldWatch Institute, a short, four-mile round-trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air. Also the Nationwide Personal Transp...

This is a guest column thanks to Jack Lundee - "Taking a more progressive green approach." Some of the more heavily discussed topics of early 2010 include obesity, green infrastructure, clean water, and more. In particular, the addition and/or substitution of green spaces have been quite controversial as of late. Senior resident of Urban Land Institute Ed T. McMahon states "Green space adds value to property." Not only would these areas of conservation drive economic trends upward, but they also improve the overall health of the surrounding community. For example, substituting things like golf courses with conservation areas would essentially increase surrounding property value while diminishing overpriced maintenance fees. The same holds true for airports and other large acre-eating developments. Some of these areas are already abandoned or unkempt. For instance, park and recreational areas that were once highly visited have become urban wastelands. In an articl...

A knowing farmer, who, Midas like, can convert everything he touches into manure, as the first transmutation towards gold. For 45 years George Washington was the master of Mount Vernon, and he viewed his occupation as farmer very seriously. Beginning as a tobacco planter like his father and older brother before him, Washington devoted himself to producing bounteous crops of the weed for export to England. He realized early on, however, that this plant was ruinous to the fertility of his soil. Therefore, he soon stopped growing tobacco and took up the cultivation of wheat as his primary money maker, complemented by corn and a variety of lesser crops aimed at sustaining his family and slaves. The quest to improve his yields led Washington to explore a wide range of agricultural experiments, including composting as a means of restoring soil nutrients. In 1794 Washington sadly noted in his diary that, "Unless some practice prevails, my fields will be growing worse every year, until th...

I have been curious why at times I feel anxious, unsettled, despairing, and depressed. In the course of my life I have observed much disconnection, distraction and denial of what we are doing to our planet. Glenn Albrecht has a name for psychological condition. In a 2004 essay, he coined a term to describe it: “solastalgia,” a combination of the Latin word solacium (comfort) and the Greek root –algia (pain), which he defined as “the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault . . . a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at ‘home...’ In September, the British trip-hop duo Zero 7 released an instrumental track titled “Solastalgia,” and in 2008 Jukeen, a Slovenian recording artist, used the word as an album title. “Solastalgia” has been used to describe the experiences of Canadian Inuit communities coping with the effects of rising temperatures; Ghanaian subsistence farmers faced with changes in rai...

If your house started to catch fire, what would you do? Well our Earth is catching fire, and many humans are sleeping through the beginning flames. The world’s future is interdependent on our ability to foresee and forestall this global blaze. Never in human history have we been faced with such a menacing wildfire. Are we, the human species, going to become burn victims? Are we on the verge of bringing on the sixth great Earth extinction event? Reflecting on the fact that ninety-nine percent of the species that have ever lived on this planet are extinct, you may hear your smoke detector start to scream. Can you feel it getting hotter? Yes there is truth what Smokey the Bear used to say, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Fires caused by humans are usually the result of carelessness and ignorance. A critical mass of people who are asleep act as small sparks igniting flames throughout our collective home. In order to survive, we must change our mind-set of “independence” into a new “D...

We live in a time where there is battle between two hemispheres - North versus South. As each of our rich and poor nations make it through each day, the melting at the poles increases. Now industrial North does not want to fully shell up the cash to help the South lessen their emerging carbon impact. Those third world Southerners have HIV, malaria, malnutrition, and sanitary daily threats presently diverting them to invest in the future. The Northerners are just coming out of the worst recessions in half a century where jobs and extra money are scarce. Many of these Northerners are skeptical question whether we need to act in the first place and in investing in carbon trading pollution control measures. This is a time to paraphrase Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, “testing whether any nation can long endure.” In early December, over 60 newspapers each wrote editorials on climate change. Many in the media cite the facts despite the complex science. Humans must act to limit tempera...

World leaders are supposedly considering serious emission control measures to combat climate change. However, translating this rhetoric into reality is something of international concern. Little focus has been made on what are the best management strategies that will lessen our dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. Also how will monitor and enforce such measures given the magnitude of this crisis? First the “cap” and “trade” will not best address this problem since a “cap” and “tax” is a more effective combating this problem. Many leading economists and financial experts have voiced the flaws with “cap" and "trade". Also how and who will enforce this measures? For example, governments in India and China — which is the world's biggest carbon emitter — have resisted draft proposals that would allow for international verification of data. Just look at USA’s environmental enforcement measures to see why there should be concerned. Presently the Obama administration is...

Last week the American Council for an Energy Economy (http://www.aceee.org/conf/09becc) held a conference exploring the behavior and decision making of individuals and organizations and using that knowledge to accelerate our transition to an energy-efficient and low-carbon future. Karen Ehrhardt-Martinez, the conference chair, remarked that personal choices have a huge collective impact on the climate crisis. Home energy use and the use of personal vehicles—that is, the way we live—accounts for about 38% of U.S. energy consumption. ” I just want to say that personal choices are probably the largest contributors to climate change and environmental degradation. I don’t know how one would conduct a study and come up with a percentage, but it would make sense that that percentage would be much higher than 38%". Last Thursday at a Energy and Environment Study Institute briefing after this conference I asked the panelist about model programs. Karen responded the importance of grass roo...

Back in April of 1979 I spent several weeks working full time at ACT 79. This was the first and largest national Appropriate Community Technology demonstration held next to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Appropriate Technology (AT) celebrates positive green actions that conserve energy, preserve the environment, and better people’s lives. Highlighting such measures can and promoting what’s right inspiring others to the many ingenious, creative and artistic ways they can transform their home and community. Appropriate technology directly helps others and improves community by transforming local eco-friendly resources. AT is based in the traditional notion of thrift where there is sensible use of resources- human, fiscal and physical. Alternative technologies are designed to make best use of local resources. Whether it is reducing, reusing, recycling and composting at home, walking/biking instead of driving, weatherization, greenhouses, solar, wind, bio-fuels, preventative he...

It can be described as a handful of charcoal, but Terra Preta (black earth), an ancient Amazonian agricultural practice, is gaining widespread attention. It is called “Biochar” or “Agrichar” these days, and it offers great potential for our planet. It may play a significant role in addressing issues of climate change, lessening erosion, improving crop yields and other environmental benefits. Biochar is a process where carbon is drawn from the atmosphere. Biochar stores carbon in the ground for hundreds of years and its potential in reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) is impressive. Biochar diminishes carbon release and reduces the impact from all farming and agricultural waste. Both the burning and natural decomposition of agricultural matter contributes to a vast amount of carbon released into our air. Biochar uses waste as feedstock—products typically mulched, composted or left to rot. Biochar stores carbon in the ground for long periods of time (estimates range from hundreds to tho...

Stephen Moore’s editorial in the WSJ on September 23, “Our $2 trillion Bridge to Nowhere,” addresses a recent Gallup Poll. While American believes that the Feds waste half of our tax dollars. He cites that the government spent nearly $4 trillion dollars this year. However when Mr. Moore compares another recent Gallup poll that American’s believe there is too much government regulation of business and industry as believe as too little (45% to 24%). He goes on to show that today public perception of government waste was lower 30 years ago when Americans thought 40 cents of every dollar was wasted. We Americans are the source and solution to government waste. Many businesses externalize their waste passing if out to the taxpayer evident by our recent financial crisis. Privatization is another example where sometimes it costs the government more. Both sectors can foster innovation to fully optimize their transfer goods and services with less waste and improved performance. Increasin...

I first met Larry Kelly back in 1989. November 11, the day the Berlin Wall fell, a truck carrying an international cross section of laundry workers from a Southampton New York laundry crossed the road, and hit me head on at 50 miles per hour. There seemed to be no insurance, and my physical therapist recommended an out of the box thinking trial attorney with a local reputation. Larry used Virginia and Maryland law to create new law in New York State, making a silk purse out of what appeared to everyone else as a sow's ear. The law is only a tool, he would say, a tool to find justice. For many years, Larry would tackle the unpopular cases. He embraced the challenge. His work on behalf of civil rights plaintiffs against law enforcement so impressed law enforcement officers that they retained him to challenge what they saw as the unfair exclusion of cognitive grading on police entry and promotional exams. On 9/11, Larry volunteered to lead the High Income Lead cases for the Canto...

Manage health care becomes a contradiction in terms when we do not create preventative measures. This is true is so many areas of American culture. Look how me manage our environmental resources? We invested little in preventing pollution however, latter waste billions attempting to clean things up. America will prosper when we fully invest in wellness. Certainly we do not manage our health care system. Health care premiums have shot up more than 90 percent from 2000-2007. Government involvement is important to regulate need from greed. In the last decade, profits from the largest 10 health care insurers has increased 428 percent. Besides preventing the escalting costs and increasing competition to make such insurance affordable we must create incentives to conserve. Critical to the health care reform is providing choice. Choice is a key issue for Americans not whether it is private or public insurance. For example, in the early 90's our indemnity insurance vanished. We lost ...