environment Politics: Barack Obama Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan solar panels
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Month 7, Day 3: I’m Gonna Make Him An Offer He Can’t Refuse.
I mean it. If he does it, I’ll do it, too.
Dear President Obama —
I know you’ve got a lot on your plate. Your predecessor left things in a hell of a mess and you’ve got a lot of cleanup to do.
And it wasn’t just your immediate predecessor. Every Republican president since Reagan’s election has left a mess behind. So you’ve got thirty-year-old messes to clean up.
When Jimmy Carter was in office, his ideas about energy and the environment were far ahead of the conventional wisdom. A family friend, an elderly gentleman in his 80’s, told me, “When Carter put those solar collectors on the White House roof, I got inspired, and I made a solar water heater and put it on my roof. And that was thirty years ago and it’s still working just fine, and it’s saved us thousands of dollars.” Carter’s ideas may have been ahead of their time, but if we’d followed his example and his advice, we wouldn’t be in this predicament today, for we would no longer be dependent on oil and coal for our energy needs.
Of course, when Reagan took office, he immediately removed those solar panels. They’re probably in the White House basement somewhere.
I think it would be a nice gesture to put them back, don’t you? Or perhaps you could get some newer, more efficient panels. It would also be a nice gesture to invite President Carter to help with the re-installation. Maybe you’d pound a few nails yourself?
And it would be a really nice gesture to acknowledge that when it came to energy and the environment, Jimmy Carter had it right all along: we need clean, decentralized energy from multiple sources, and we urgently need to get off fossil fuels. If we had stopped our dependence on oil and coal back then, the world would not be reeling towards a climate crisis now.
Tell you what: you get solar panels up on your house, and I’ll get solar panels up on mine. Deal?
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
humor Personal Politics: Richard Nixon
by Warren
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A Message From Tricky Dick
As far as I can figure out, my maternal grandparents must have written to Nixon, telling him they supported the war. He sent back this postcard, which they kept. At some point it fell into my hands, whereupon it disappeared for decades. A recent digitization push has brought it to light again…and now it’s readily available on the Intertubes.
environment: climate change Michael Mann newsweek Penn State
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Month 7, Day 2: All The Specious Equivalence That’s Fit To Print
Newsweek has treated climatologist Michael Mann pretty shamefully. After Penn State’s Inquiry Panel completely exonerated Mann, Newsweek finally printed a pathetic excuse for a retraction, without acknowledging their own part in defaming his reputation.
It would be great to have actual journalism in this country, wouldn’t it?
It isn’t just the newspapers that have to retract their misleading reports about climatologist Michael Mann, whose work was unfairly maligned and misrepresented. Newsweek itself, which accused Mann and his colleagues of “massaging” their data, has some apologies to make and a retraction or two to print. Newsweek’s earlier articles on the “climategate” non-scandal were factually flawed, riddled with omissions and decontextualizations, and written carelessly and sloppily. So-called “journalism” of that standard is more appropriate for the celebrity beat; when reporting on science, it should be the first thought of a responsible news writer to make sure the truth is conveyed accurately. By hewing instead to a policy of spurious equivalence, where a fact from a scientist is “balanced” with a lie from an industry-funded spokesperson, Newsweek has helped damage the reputation of a man whose work on the science of climate change is (as PSU’s Investigatory Committee stated this week) beyond reproach. Michael Mann has been working to help all of us understand the facts of global warming, the greatest existential threat humans have ever faced. Newsweek has been obscuring the facts and aiding the forces of denial. We are all diminished by such irresponsibility.
Warren Senders
India Indian music Jazz music Warren's music: Ajit Soman Antigravity Ashish Manchanda Atul Keskar Indo-Jazz Ramakant Paranjpe Sudhir Parkhi Vijaya Sundaram
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Antigravity — The Indian Group, 1990-1991
Here are the pieces which make up the first Antigravity CD, released as “Antigravity — The Music of Warren Senders” (Accurate AC-4307), along with scans of the complete CD booklet & tray card. These were recorded at Ishwani Kendra Studios in Pune in 1990 and 1991.
This has been out of print for years. I only have a few mint copies left.
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environment: MMS offshore drilling
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Month 7, Day 1: Day 182! The Halfway Point!
Submit YOUR comment against expansion of offshore drilling to the MMS Five-year Oil & Gas Program EIS here. I did.
What America (and the world) needs is not more offshore drilling. What we need is a transformation in our approach to our energy needs. Our priorities must be shifted: conservation, frugality and efficiency need to be first priorities.
More drilling is guaranteed to lead to more spills. We’ve already extracted the easily found oil; what’s left is going to be harder and harder to extract. As the recent revelations about major oil companies’ complete and pathetic lack of disaster preparations shows us, there are no effective strategies for coping with events of the magnitude of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.
With our explosive growth in carbon emissions already beginning to radically transform the planet into a place much less hospitable to humans, do we really want to continue the destructive behaviors that have brought us to this pass? To continue burning ever more oil in heedless consumption puts us in the position of a heart patient who continues to smoke heavily.
Our nation and the world can no longer afford it. Looking at an oil-soaked pelican, a drowned dolphin, or a burned sea turtle in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s evident: oil is the most expensive fuel of all.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: climate bill Scott Brown
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Month 6, Day 30: Oh, How I Wish Martha Coakley Had Been A Better Candidate!
Scott Brown doesn’t want to help out a climate bill.
Scott Brown is my junior Senator.
Scott Brown is an idiot.
Dammit.
Dear Senator Brown –
As the home of many important research centers and universities, Massachusetts is one of the nation’s scientific focal points. Consequently, our elected officials owe it to themselves and to the people they represent to understand enough about science and scientific method — not a lot, mind you, but enough that they’re not an embarrassment to informed citizens of the Commonwealth.
As one of your constituents, I am outraged that a Senator from Massachusetts is embracing an anti-science position. There is no significant scientific dispute over global climate change; ninety-seven percent of the world’s climatologists concur unanimously that the world is warming, that humans are the cause, and that the results will be catastrophic. The other three percent, for the most part, think more studies are needed. A few of that group are on the payroll of oil and coal companies.
If you went into a restaurant, and ninety-seven out of a hundred food inspectors told you that the kitchen was filthy and unsanitary, would you still eat there? If you were looking at a house, and ninety-seven out of a hundred home inspectors told you that it was a dump, would you still make an offer? If you found a lump, and ninety-seven out of a hundred oncologists told you to start therapy immediately, would you wait?
It appears that only in the area of climate science is the testimony of experts so irrelevant. Whose testimony is meaningful to you, Senator Brown? That of oil company representatives, coal lobbyists, FOX News commentators and your Republican leadership?
I thought you were supposed to be representing the citizens of Massachusetts, who overwhelmingly want you to support robust climate legislation that includes a price on carbon emissions.
I guess I was wrong. Funny how that happens.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: climate bill Harry Reid
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Month 6, Day 29: Harry Reid, Mensch.
Well, this is looking better and better. I finished faxing my Friday letter to all the Senators over the weekend (there were four senatorial fax machines out of order, so I didn’t quite make it), but if that DK article is on the level, Harry Reid is really sticking his neck out here. So I wrote him a letter of support.
Dear Senator Reid,
I write to express my enthusiastic support for your plan to get a strong climate bill passed before the August recess. The facts and figures from around the world tell a terrifying story: the climate has reached a serious “tipping point,” and there is absolutely no time to waste in bringing about very serious reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Even with emissions reductions at the highest level that is politically possible, we (all of us on the planet) are looking forward to a world that will be drastically less livable; a world in which a steady climate cannot be taken for granted; a world with more unexpected torrential floods and more sustained droughts. We’re past the point where we can get back to the climate you and I grew up in.
But if we act soon, and act strongly, we may be able to give our children’s children a world they can grow up in. That’s why it’s absolutely crucial that a strong climate bill get passed in the Senate as soon as possible — and that’s why I’m writing to support you.
Thank you for what you are doing. Please don’t let denialists and cynical opportunists weaken this bill. We can’t afford inaction, we can’t afford delay — and we can’t afford Republican obstructionism. Stand firm.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Barack Obama Blue Planet Prize James Hansen
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Month 6, Day 28: Honoring A Voice In The Wilderness
Well, James Hansen got another important prize. Meanwhile, he continues to be (shamefully) ignored here at home. Another letter to POTUS? Why not?
Dear President Obama,
This is the second time this year that climatologist James Hansen has been awarded a major international prize for his work in environmental science. Dr. Hansen has just received the Blue Planet Award, considered to be Japan’s version of the Nobel Prize. Earlier this year he was given the Sophie Prize, perhaps the world’s most prestigious award in climate science.
But there is one form of recognition that has eluded Dr. Hansen, and it is the one which would probably make the most difference to him. His work was silenced and censored by administrative fiat during the previous administration, because his warnings about global climate change and the effects of atmospheric CO2 ran contrary to what President Bush and Vice-President Cheney wished to believe.
It is time for the United States Government to recognize Dr. James Hansen as one of the world’s experts on the science of climate change. To be a genuine rather than symbolic recognition, this needs to take two forms. First, Dr. Hansen should be invited to the White House to meet with you; second, he should be invited to be a core participant in your administration’s decisions on environment and climate issues. All the international prizes don’t mean much to a man whose life’s work is ignored in his native land.
James Hansen has been sounding the alarm on global climate change for well over a decade. His predictions have been proven accurate over and over again. Isn’t it time that you and your administration took him seriously?
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: climate bill US Senate
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Month 6, Day 27: The World’s Greatest Deliberative Body, or just a Pack of Twits?
The LA Times ran an article about the Senate Democrats’ attempt to get a good climate bill. This is a pretty generic letter; I’m very tired and kind of groggy. Overslept; didn’t write it last night.
As extreme weather becomes the norm around the world, the position of climate-change denialists is becoming harder and harder to sustain. Unfortunately, quite a few of those denialists are U.S. Senators, and their obdurate refusal to recognize the facts of nature is imperiling their fellow citizens and the rest of the planet. Senate Democrats are to be commended for working towards a meaningful climate/energy bill. While a restricted carbon cap is a disappointing half-measure, it is certainly better than nothing. What we really need, of course, is to put a price on carbon. If we can find the political strength and the national readiness to start paying for our pollution now rather than later, we’ll spare our descendants a crippling burden of shattered ecosystems and weather-related destruction. We need a robust bill from the Senate; let us hope that the denialists don’t make it impossible.
Warren Senders
environment Politics: 350 Barack Obama CO2 crisis
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Month 6, Day 26: It’s going to be hot.
Please read this. Make sure everyone you know reads it.
This one is short enough that I’m going to write it by hand and send it to him. Why don’t you do something, too?
I’m going to Revere Beach mid-morning for “Hands Across The Sand.” How about you?
Dear President Obama,
I write to emphasize the urgency of the crisis. According to recently released NOAA data, atmospheric CO2 is now at 393 parts per million. That number by itself is bad news, for it’s well above the safe maximum for a climate suitable for humans. But it’s not the worst news. The worst news is the increase in atmospheric CO2 is getting faster and faster.
Americans need to relearn a lot of habits of conservation and frugality with respect to nature’s resources. The BP disaster and the hundreds of other oil spills around the world are a sad testimony to the pervasiveness of waste. At this crucial moment in history, we cannot continue our profligate ways — for we are turning our beautiful blue planet into a greenhouse gas chamber.
The problem of carbon emissions must be tackled with all the resources available. Of all the things we cannot afford to waste, the most precious is time.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders