Given that Techdirt often criticizes industries reluctant to change, it's surprisingly that we aren't getting a steady stream of articles here pointing out that between politics and big energy lobbies, the US isn't making significant strides in clean tech. China, however, is.
Here are just a few articles, for those of you who haven't seen them yet.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Kid of Speed, Relative Prices of Coal. (To: Suzanne Lainson )
Here's an example of how changing environmental regulations have "encouraged" utilities to switch to gas. Otherwise they likely would have continued to burn coal.
Utilities Shift to Gas-Based Plants as Alternative to Coal - NYTimes.com: "“It’s a turning point,” said Bill Johnson, chairman and chief executive of Progress Energy, the parent company. “We’ve been a coal-based generator for decades, and until a few years ago, we thought we would remain largely coal-based and nuclear until people started talking about carbon regulation. We decided we had to do something about it.”"
Re: Re: Re: Kid of Speed, Relative Prices of Coal. (To: Suzanne Lainson )
Utilities are transitioning to gas in large part because of environmental issues. They have been told to clean up their acts. The coal industry, on the other hand, is lobbying hard to have utilities use clean coal technology. I'm not sure utilities would switch from coal to gas without some government and/or citizen pushes. One of the big problems in the past with gas was the unpredictability of pricing, which utilities don't like.
The actual mining, and the scarcity value of the coal, is a fairly minor component of the electricity's total cost. Something like a geothermal heat pump, or a solar water heater, makes financial sense mostly because it economizes on the electric utility's plant, eliminating the need to build new generators and new power lines and so forth, not so much because it saves fuel.
What is kind of crazy, given these economics, is the coal industry lobbying for clean coal technology usage and investment. Rather than trying to phase out coal altogether, they want to find ways to continue to use it.
Think of it this way. If we hadn't hit peak oil in the US already, would we really be dealing with other oil-producing countries that hate us? If oil can continue to come from the same sources we've already used, why are we importing oil and dealing with the political and economic ramifications that come with doing so?
One of the big economic advantages for the US in the 20th century was oil. But we've used up our cheap resources (there was no thought to conserving it); we started importing it; we want to pump out what is left here; and China, not the US, is taking the lead in clean tech.
How America will collapse (by 2025) - U.S. Economy - Salon.com: "Despite remarkable ingenuity, the major oil powers are now draining the big basins of petroleum reserves that are amenable to easy, cheap extraction. The real lesson of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not BP's sloppy safety standards, but the simple fact everyone saw on 'spillcam': one of the corporate energy giants had little choice but to search for what Klare calls 'tough oil' miles beneath the surface of the ocean to keep its profits up."
That's kind of the dilemma. We can't fully make the switch to clean tech right now because we don't have all the pieces in place. But we don't have the motivation to get them in place as long as fossil fuels are affordable. So we need to have the situation get worse before it will get better.
We've known since 1973 that we didn't have full control over oil prices. But rather than finding ways to wean ourselves off of oil, we've just imported more of it. We don't have to wait until it gets really painful, but we will.
We've had a bit of a taste for it lately. When the economy goes down, we cut back on consumption. If the economy gets worse, so much the better for the environment because we won't have the money to drive or fly as much.
Sooner or later we will begin using more clean tech. The issue will be how smooth the transition. Whenever the price of fossil fuels drops, there becomes less sense of urgency in investing in clean tech. Then when the price of fossil fuel jumps again, we don't have the infrastructure to quickly replace fossil fuels with comparably priced clean technology. Paying for expensive oil tends to create recessions, which result in even less money available to make the transition to clean tech.
Luckily the Chinese do have the financial resources and inclination to develop clean tech, even if there's no short term payoff. When the US is ready to move into solar, wind, and electric vehicles in a big way, the Chinese will waiting for us. Just as Japan developed the small car market while Detroit continued to make big vehicles, the Chinese are moving into clean tech while we're still tied to old energy models.
I'd be interested in hearing an explanation for how a planet with finite resources can supply indefinitely for a paradigm based on infinite growth.
The Oil Drum | Does Peak Oil Even Matter?: "In sum, although it is technically feasible to increase the production of 'oil,' peak conventional oil, as it was first envisioned by Hubbert in 1956, has manifested itself almost exactly as predicted.[7] As Campbell described, peak oil will bring about short bouts of economic growth and contraction as oil demand and prices play tug-of-war, creating what has been referred to as an undulating plateau.[8] We seem to be experiencing these economic conditions right now. So the question is no longer 'when will peak oil occur,' but 'how long will the effects of peak oil last?'"
The Oil Drum | Does Peak Oil Even Matter?: "If we are to consider NGLs and other unconventional resources of oil as substitutes for oil, than we should also consider conventional oil a substitute for whale oil. After all, whale oil and the oil sands are both chemically similar to crude oil, and crude oil production offset the decline in whale oil production due to depletion of whales just like NGLs and unconventional oil may offset the decline in crude oil production due to the depletion of conventional crude. Thus, by this transitive property of economics, we are really still waiting for a peak in whale oil production!"
I think selling stills is an interesting idea, but the numbers so far show just how difficult it can be turning exposure into sales.
16 millions views = 335 sales. And given that that are only 2096 prints available, there is a built in scarcity that hasn't resulted a rush to snatch them all up.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
Yep, I agree with all that. With the possible exception if the zero tolerance policy causes a lack of judgment. Meaning the stories of kids getting kicked out of school for getting beat up on. There's a zero tolerance policy, so the principal just suspends anyone involved without figuring out what actually happened and who needs to be punished.
I agree. If a kid has been harassed or beaten up and responses to defend himself, he shouldn't be treated exactly the same as the aggressor.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
Will training potential victims solve the problem? Certainly not. Would it mitigate the problem? It sure seems possible to me. Would it do harm? I don't see how.
Although teaching people how not to be victims is a good thing in general, as a parent I also believe you come down hard on kids who behave badly. If a kid is mistreating someone, you tell that kid it is unacceptable behavior. So a zero tolerance policy toward bullying is, in my mind, an acceptable if potentially unachievable goal.
If tolerance is perceived to be too touchy-feely, so be it. If we want to build effective online and offline communities, we have to promote tolerance/cooperation/negotiation as a concept or we will have people justifying why they can exclude, pick on, or bully other people. In other words, I think it is fair to say meanness is unacceptable even if you can cite reasons why the other person "deserved it."
I'll also say that if someone has called you a bully and you don't think you are, it still indicates there is a communication problem between the two of you which should be addressed. Whatever your justification, you still need to work it out, or you need to find a way to separate yourselves from each other.
I read it as a recommendation to teach people how to deal with (or avoid) bullying effectively, rather than exclusively focusing on teaching the bullies not to bully.
And how do you teach people to avoid being bullied? Any tips? As I said before, my personal experience, both as a kid and as a parent, is to learn to fit in. If people make fun of your clothes, you change your clothes. That's why kids all want the same things to wear.
Sure, you can learn to be different, but if people are inflicting bodily harm on you, you either learn to fight (which may get you in trouble), to run, or to hide ("fit in" or move to a place where you won't be so different). You can also report it to the authorities, but again, this is dealing with bullying, no matter what you call it. If the teachers and administration are receptive, maybe you eliminate the bullying. If they are not, the bullying may just get worse and sometimes you end up with suicides as a result.
Yes, there are survival skills, but I'd much rather attend a school or send kids to a school where those aren't necessary. I'd also rather live in a society where those aren't necessary. For example, in some neighborhoods you carry a weapon to protect yourself. Do I want to live there? No.
I think what you are suggesting is that we should teach children to conform to all social norms in an effort to "fit in."
I was going to say the same thing. When I was in school, I learned the best way to avoid being bullied was to "fit in." So when people complain about Americans being "sheeple," that's because these same Americans learned that the best way to avoid problems is not to stand out. If you look and act like everyone else, you'll have fewer problems.
Whether you want to call it "anti-bullying" or "sensitivity training" or "diversity training," it all boils down the the same thing: teaching kids tolerance and acceptance of other people's differences.
You could also say the same thinking got us into the war in Iraq. They didn't do anything to us, but we didn't like them, so we thought we could bomb their country into being the way we wanted them to be.
Yes, it's interesting the amount of justification for bad behavior. If you want communities to work together, you need to expect everyone will treat everyone else with respect. The "there are reasons why they get picked on" thinking isn't going to work. Go the extra mile to make sure everyone is included. If not, you're just going to get divided groups, which in an extreme form leads to road block in DC because no one can agree or is willing to work together.
I think humans are probably tribal by nature and try to exclude "other," but if we want people to work together on big projects, the "other" mentality isn't going to work.
Have you ever noticed how some women seem to have an ability to pick the wrong boyfriends. After seeing them abused by multiple partners, noone sane thinks "it's their fault" but their friends often wish they didn't keep picking those kind of guys.
My point is, some people clearly have a tendency towards serial victimhood, and it's often nothing to do with being poor or black or gay but to do with the way they handle themselves when/if the first incident occurs.
We're talking kids here. Most of them don't start out thinking of themselves as victims. They just find themselves "different" in some fashion which attracts attention and they get picked on.
It's the same with child abuse in a family. The kid may do nothing, but still gets singled out for punishment from an abusing adult.
I never said anyone was asking for it. I said that many victims of school bullying find it starts again when they move elsewhere. Which means they are doing SOMETHING that attracts it.
Like being the wrong color or unattractive or overweight or poor or gay or following the wrong religion.
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Some useful stats
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Re: Re: Re: The chart is way off ...
Here are just a few articles, for those of you who haven't seen them yet.
Silicon Valley’s Solar Innovators Forced to Retool - NYTimes.com
Federal Money for Alternative Energy Is Drying Up - NYTimes.com
China Wins in Wind Power, by Its Own Rules - NYTimes.com
China’s Push Into Wind Worries U.S. Industry - NYTimes.com
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Re: Re: Re: Kid of Speed, Relative Prices of Coal. (To: Suzanne Lainson )
Utilities Shift to Gas-Based Plants as Alternative to Coal - NYTimes.com: "“It’s a turning point,” said Bill Johnson, chairman and chief executive of Progress Energy, the parent company. “We’ve been a coal-based generator for decades, and until a few years ago, we thought we would remain largely coal-based and nuclear until people started talking about carbon regulation. We decided we had to do something about it.”"
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Re: Re: Kid of Speed, Relative Prices of Coal. (To: Suzanne Lainson )
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Kid of Speed, Relative Prices of Coal.
What is kind of crazy, given these economics, is the coal industry lobbying for clean coal technology usage and investment. Rather than trying to phase out coal altogether, they want to find ways to continue to use it.
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Energy and the Decline of the US
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Energy and the Decline of the US
How America will collapse (by 2025) - U.S. Economy - Salon.com: "Despite remarkable ingenuity, the major oil powers are now draining the big basins of petroleum reserves that are amenable to easy, cheap extraction. The real lesson of the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was not BP's sloppy safety standards, but the simple fact everyone saw on 'spillcam': one of the corporate energy giants had little choice but to search for what Klare calls 'tough oil' miles beneath the surface of the ocean to keep its profits up."
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: Re: Re: The chart is way off ...
We've known since 1973 that we didn't have full control over oil prices. But rather than finding ways to wean ourselves off of oil, we've just imported more of it. We don't have to wait until it gets really painful, but we will.
We've had a bit of a taste for it lately. When the economy goes down, we cut back on consumption. If the economy gets worse, so much the better for the environment because we won't have the money to drive or fly as much.
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re: The chart is way off ...
Luckily the Chinese do have the financial resources and inclination to develop clean tech, even if there's no short term payoff. When the US is ready to move into solar, wind, and electric vehicles in a big way, the Chinese will waiting for us. Just as Japan developed the small car market while Detroit continued to make big vehicles, the Chinese are moving into clean tech while we're still tied to old energy models.
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Re:
The Oil Drum | Does Peak Oil Even Matter?: "In sum, although it is technically feasible to increase the production of 'oil,' peak conventional oil, as it was first envisioned by Hubbert in 1956, has manifested itself almost exactly as predicted.[7] As Campbell described, peak oil will bring about short bouts of economic growth and contraction as oil demand and prices play tug-of-war, creating what has been referred to as an undulating plateau.[8] We seem to be experiencing these economic conditions right now. So the question is no longer 'when will peak oil occur,' but 'how long will the effects of peak oil last?'"
On the post: DailyDirt: Peak Coal And Other Energy-Related Stories
Best article I have read on peak oil
On the post: 'Her Morning Elegance' Artists Create Elegant Reason To Buy
Re: Re: ONLY $87,000
16 millions views = 335 sales. And given that that are only 2096 prints available, there is a built in scarcity that hasn't resulted a rush to snatch them all up.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
I agree. If a kid has been harassed or beaten up and responses to defend himself, he shouldn't be treated exactly the same as the aggressor.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
Although teaching people how not to be victims is a good thing in general, as a parent I also believe you come down hard on kids who behave badly. If a kid is mistreating someone, you tell that kid it is unacceptable behavior. So a zero tolerance policy toward bullying is, in my mind, an acceptable if potentially unachievable goal.
If tolerance is perceived to be too touchy-feely, so be it. If we want to build effective online and offline communities, we have to promote tolerance/cooperation/negotiation as a concept or we will have people justifying why they can exclude, pick on, or bully other people. In other words, I think it is fair to say meanness is unacceptable even if you can cite reasons why the other person "deserved it."
I'll also say that if someone has called you a bully and you don't think you are, it still indicates there is a communication problem between the two of you which should be addressed. Whatever your justification, you still need to work it out, or you need to find a way to separate yourselves from each other.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
And how do you teach people to avoid being bullied? Any tips? As I said before, my personal experience, both as a kid and as a parent, is to learn to fit in. If people make fun of your clothes, you change your clothes. That's why kids all want the same things to wear.
Sure, you can learn to be different, but if people are inflicting bodily harm on you, you either learn to fight (which may get you in trouble), to run, or to hide ("fit in" or move to a place where you won't be so different). You can also report it to the authorities, but again, this is dealing with bullying, no matter what you call it. If the teachers and administration are receptive, maybe you eliminate the bullying. If they are not, the bullying may just get worse and sometimes you end up with suicides as a result.
Yes, there are survival skills, but I'd much rather attend a school or send kids to a school where those aren't necessary. I'd also rather live in a society where those aren't necessary. For example, in some neighborhoods you carry a weapon to protect yourself. Do I want to live there? No.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
I was going to say the same thing. When I was in school, I learned the best way to avoid being bullied was to "fit in." So when people complain about Americans being "sheeple," that's because these same Americans learned that the best way to avoid problems is not to stand out. If you look and act like everyone else, you'll have fewer problems.
Whether you want to call it "anti-bullying" or "sensitivity training" or "diversity training," it all boils down the the same thing: teaching kids tolerance and acceptance of other people's differences.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Irony
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Irony
I think humans are probably tribal by nature and try to exclude "other," but if we want people to work together on big projects, the "other" mentality isn't going to work.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
My point is, some people clearly have a tendency towards serial victimhood, and it's often nothing to do with being poor or black or gay but to do with the way they handle themselves when/if the first incident occurs.
We're talking kids here. Most of them don't start out thinking of themselves as victims. They just find themselves "different" in some fashion which attracts attention and they get picked on.
It's the same with child abuse in a family. The kid may do nothing, but still gets singled out for punishment from an abusing adult.
On the post: Rethinking Bullying: Kids Don't See It As Bullying
Re: Re: Re: Whose fault is it ?
Like being the wrong color or unattractive or overweight or poor or gay or following the wrong religion.
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