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Can we review the headlines in the news over the past week?

 

  • Houston- 8" of rain in 1 hour
  • India- Heatwaves 120 degrees Fahrenheit kill over 1,000
  • Galapagos- Volcano erupts, threatening to wipe out fragile species that helped Darwin develop the theory of evolution
  • Worldwide- increase of allergies globally as warmer seasons spread ragweed and other pollens- increased C02 will feed them.
  • California- Santa Barbra oil spill over 100,000 gallons of crude oil last week.

 

And you want to sit there and tell me Climate Change isn't real?  And/ OR that humans have nothing to do with it? Then this is you my friend (insert pic)

 

 

The fact is, it's real and it's happening. So you can stick your head in the sand or you can be a part of the solution. And believe it or not, the solution doesn't even require you to give up something. You just need to get it a different way.

 

Energy is our Achilles heel, but also our greatest opportunity for strength.


In 2014, the United States generated about 4,093 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.1  About 67% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and petroleum).

Major energy sources and percent share of total U.S. electricity generation in 2014:

  • Coal = 39%
  • Natural gas = 27%
  • Nuclear = 19%
  • Hydropower = 6%
  • Other renewables = 7%
    • Biomass = 1.7%
    • Geothermal = 0.4%
    • Solar = 0.4%
    • Wind = 4.4%
  • Petroleum = 1%
  • Other gases < 1%

 



The technology already exists for us to make better infrastructure that needs less energy. And the technology already exists for us to make up the difference with renewables. But acknowledging and utilizing this information will only happen if people look up from their screens long enough to connect what's happening globally to what they are experiencing locally.
 
Every chance I get, I write legislators and the President asking for a reverse in subsidies- if the US switched the amount it subsidizes oil for the amount it subsidizes solar and wind (300 billion versus something like 30 million per year), I honestly believe the economy would change to create appropriate markets for a clean-powered nation. Give green a chance!! :)
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