Comments on: Climate Crisis to Community Benefits

By: Thermal Imaging :

Thermal Imaging : — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 16:58:47 +0000

i can say that most environmental news today are disaster related, lots of flooding, earthquakes and oil spills–.

By: Abigail Moore

Abigail Moore — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 07:12:56 +0000

when i look at environmental news these days, they are not always good`~.

By: Kevin Mitchell

Kevin Mitchell — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:09:45 +0000

Environmental news these days are not so good, oil spills, oil leakages, etc.`”*

By: Ryan Martinez

Ryan Martinez — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:18:39 +0000

What is the latest environmental news today?,”~

By: Tameika Mclemore

Tameika Mclemore — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 20:31:40 +0000

Fascinating post. I have been looking for some very good resources for solar panels and found your blog. Planning to bookmark this one!

By: hemroid treatment

hemroid treatment — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:50:46 +0000

Hi Evelyn Rangel I have never met a person whose greatest need was anything other than real, unconditional love. You can find it in a simple act of kindness toward someone who needs help. There is no mistaking love. You feel it in your heart. It is the common fiber of life, the flame of that heats our soul, energizes our spirit and supplies passion to our lives. It is our connection to God and to each other.

By: The Yakima Kid

The Yakima Kid — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:32:08 +0000

There’s a problem. Where does tax money come from. Well, in large part it comes from corporations. Most of the tax revenue actually comes from the wealthiest portion of the population; and they can afford to move to another state if California raises the taxes – and they will take their money with them. The state of Massachusetts gave a $58 million dollar state aid package to Evergreen Solar – which then moved manufacturing to China.

Almost every solar power generating system involves sending more than $10,000 dollars to China; most of the rest of the money also goes overseas to the other countries where solar panels are made. Few solar panels are made in the US because the manufacture of solar panels involves very toxic substances and the expense of complying with US worker safety and environmental laws makes US made solar panels too expensive. So solar panels are made in countries where environmental laws are minimal, not enforced, or both. This has inflicted the people who work in, or live near, the solar panel makers with pollution and diseases related to the toxic products used in making the panels. See:
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/32974 at the Environmental News Network.

Tidal generation, hot rocks, and wind turbines in backyards are far less damaging to the environment than solar panels. They also involved local technologies and local manufacture. My husband hangs out online with people building wind terminals from scrap lumber and old automobile alternators obtained from junkyards.

Solar panels are also very inefficient and short-lived. After twenty years or less they must be discarded and replaced. There is better solar technology available, but government subsidies have removed any incentive for manufacturers to actually build longer lived, more efficient panels. If the subsidies and tax credits disappeared tomorrow, the solar industry would be back to its core market – those who live where it is too expensive to route utilities; and those very affluent families who buy them because they think they are less polluting.

By: Fast Credit Repair

Fast Credit Repair — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:09:31 +0000

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By: carolc

carolc — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:24:55 +0000

MFellion, Hether saw the pbs special on light rail, and I need to see if I can locate the name again. The problem with corporations is similar to a feral child – limited attention span an no sense of responsibility. If you really want to help, roll up your sleeves and attend some public policy meetings. Keep their feet on the ground when it comes to realistic regulations an comparing the full extent of costs (which corporations, feral as they are, never do). Your math gives me a headache. People are not going to conserve the amount of energy a solar panel would generate, a lot won’t conserve at all, and most who do conserve won’t do it forever or as much over the long term. You need an integrated program of cooperation. Conservation is important but difficult to predict or rely on, solar is very consistent and reliable, and many of those trained on solar will have new job skills. Some may incorporate those job skills into a business plan to install solar, to assess homes for solar, to make repairs, and somebody with more resources might start a factory – only expect it to call for minimum labor. While we adjust to how our world is changing, what about examining the idea that people who live off their investments should not be paying their share? That’s the difficulty – it is people who work who pay taxes. The guy who doesn’t work for a living, who could live the same way with no job at all (though he might have one) – should be paying taxes, too. Why is it so hard to get a tax passes? The people who have been paying taxes just don’t have the income to keep things up anymore. Any shouldn’t have to.

By: mfellion

mfellion — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:45:00 +0000

Heather, the problem from an economic standpoint is any change must increase economic activity if it is to be sustained, it can’t be a black hole swallowing up our dollars. I want my boy to have a real improvement in his environment not just some flash in the pan. You only have so much money in your budget, the same with mine, it is the same with the corporate budget and even the state budget. The Green Jobs politicians talk about is just a bunch of blah blah to win votes, it sounds sexy until you look at what is actually being done. You mentioned regulations which have helped make our lives better and also worse. For example, the state prohibits buying of health insurance over state lines, that has driven up the cost of health care. I used to construct houses, state building codes prohibited the use of flex plastic pipe in the house which was legal in other states. The regulations protected plumbers jobs but cost home buyers about a $1000 a house. Regulations are another kind of direct tax on us as is regular taxes. We pay these taxes which reduce the options for us, such as better health care. So if we were truly interested in reducing pollution I think we should direct our taxes and regulations to get the most bang for the buck. Another consider is how policy and regulations effect jobs. For example, solar cells are made in China (90%). Every solar array with Chinese parts cost American jobs, far more than the construction jobs of putting up the array because we are exporting money to China, about $14000 for a typical installation. Finnally, I would point out the cost of electricity from solar cells is many times what it costs for wind driven electricity which is still much more costly than conservation. Lets build a future which will help future generations rather than throw our money away like we did the last time government got involved, remember the gas crisis in 1973?. As a side note we have many other possible sources of energy much cheaper than solar or wind. Hot rocks of which California has a lot a mile or so down under the numerous volcanos in California. Ocean tide generators are another. Even nuclear energy is a possible source if we can ever agree on how to deal with the waste. France generates most of its energy from nuclear and has never had a problem. I suspect our problems with nuclear are more a symptom of how we build plants and operate them than in the actual source of energy. In any case I want a better future just like you.