Junk Appointments

Is global warming nothing more than "Junk Science" as Fox News and conservative pundits such as Rush Limbaugh are noted for saying?

Not according to Representative Henry Waxman (Democrat) who stated that "we need to get the facts and rely on federal scientists and agencies to give Congress and the public the true facts about this global threat. Yet the preliminary evidence we're seeing from the White House suggests that the administration may have taken a very different approach. If the documents we have seen so far are representative, it appears that the White House installed a former oil industry lobbyist as the chief of staff for the Council on Environmental Quality and then systematically sought to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from reporting on dangers to health, the environment and the economy."

What's this all about? It seems that the Bush White House appointed Philip Cooney to the position of chief of staff of the Council on Environmental Quality. Cooney has been altering environmental reports to suit the Bush administration's tortured view of the environment.

Joining other scientists complaining about improper edits of their reports, NASA climatologist Drew Shindell, testifying on 1/30/2007 before the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cited improper edits by Cooney of his work prior to release to the public. For example, the scientist report said "Changes observed over the last several decades are likely mostly the result of human activities.”

Cooney altered the report to say: “A causal link between the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the observed climate changes during the 20th century cannot be unequivocally established.”

Ah yes, more Newspeak wisdom from the Ministry of Truth:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

~ George Orwell, 1984

Sierra Club Radio

Did you know the Sierra Club has a weekly radio show?

Hosted by Orli Cotel, Sierra Club Radio broadcasts for a half hour every Saturday at 3:30 pm on the Quake Radio (960 am) in San Francisco. But of course, it's 2007, and you can listen to the show anytime from anywhere -- on your computer, your iPod, maybe even your phone.

Highlights of last week's show included an interview with author Bill McKibben on his walk across Vermont to draw attention to global warming, tips on green house-cleaning, commentary of Bush's State of the Union speech from the Club's Executive Director Carl Pope, and the impacts of tourism on Antarctica.

There's a new podcast every week, and you can download or listen to it at http://www.sierraclub.org/radio.

Enabling Death

I don’t smoke. Never have, never will -- intentionally that is. Yet, I did last night, and not by choice. I spent two hours at the Hanger 9 bar in Carbondale in conjunction with the ‘Hangin’ with the Candidates” gathering. I was fortunate to talk with old friends I haven’t seem for some time, as well as, meet any candidates that took the effort to talk to this grey-haired, old guy.

The small crowd was thinning about 9 PM and I felt compelled to also leave because the cigarette smoke was making me sick. Interestingly, throughout the event, others without any prompting by me, others commented to me about the dismal air quality. When I got home, I immediately took a shower because I reeked of smoke. The next morning I could still smell cigarettes on my hands, in my hair, and the objects I brought with me to the event. Stupid me. I should have known better.

I don’t think the event was attended by two candidates championing an anti-smoking ordinance for the city: Mary Pohlmann and Paulette "Will" Sherwood. Makes perfect sense to me to not attend a medically harmful event since the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that adult male smokers shorten their lives by an average of 13.2 years of life and female smokers lose 14.5 years of life because of smoking. Despite those grim statistics, 44.5 million US adults were smokers in 2004. That equates to 20.9% of all adults, 23.4% for men, and 18.5% for women.

It turns out that Monday's smoke-filled candidate event was held the same day as European Union announced plans for a total smoking ban across 27 countries.

The anti-smoking ban movement is quite active in Europe where “passive smoking still kills 79,000 people in the EU every year, and adults who are in daily contact with a smoker increase their mortality rate by 15 per cent, even if they have never smoked themselves.” In the US, secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 35,000 to 45,000 deaths each year from heart disease and 3,000 more deaths from lung cancer among nonsmokers.

As a technologist, I want to believe that there ought to be some effective technical answer to prevent damage from second-hand (passive) smoke. Yet, I am convinced that it just isn’t going to happen! Which brings us to Carbondale government’s enabling of death.

When talking about addition, psychologists refer to people who “enable” addicts. Enabling refers to behavior by someone other than the addict that contributes to the continuation of addiction. Enabling can be either intentional or unintentional. An example of enabling behavior a local government that publicly encourages smoking cessation while facilitating citizen and city employee smoking. Lots of well intentioned folk do it. Take Southern Illinois Regional Social Services (SIRSS), for example. It’s a Southern Illinois mental health agency that counsels smoking cessation, yet the agency finances a designated, sheltered smoking area for its clients and staff.

For Carbondale City government, enabling is licensing businesses that permit smoking on their premises because they are "afraid" of what will happen if they don't: business owners angered at losing business from addicts, irate smoking addicts who want unfettered rights to smoke in public spaces, and, of course, possibly lowered cigarette sales tax revenue. Enabling is permitting smoking in public places. Enabling is setting aside special smoking zones for those with addictions. Enabling is promoting events where smoking is expected to occur. Enabling is making excuses for addicts and other enablers of dangerous behavior to continue with the status quo.

I remember about 25 years ago when I, as an employee of the City of Carbondale, brought a small American Cancer Society display to the lobby of city hall. I was directed to remove it because it was deemed offensive to city employees that smoked freely throughout in the building. Now, 20 years after the definitive 1986 US Surgeon General’s Report showed that secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer, we still have government and health care agencies enabling death. Since the report was published over 12 million premature deaths are being attributed to smoking. (1)

Can a city ban smoking? Of course it can! Pueblo, Colorado implemented a smoke-free law in July 2003, heart attack rates fell by 27%, from a rate of 257 per 100,000 people per year to 187 per 100,000. In comparison, researchers found no decrease in heart attacks in nearby counties without smoke-free laws. (2)

What is the ultimate answer to the smoking problem in our community? Maybe citizens need to elect leaders who aren’t enablers?

Rock Island is a Cool City

The Quad Cities of Illinois consist of Rock Island and Moline on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River and Bettendorf and Davenport on the Iowa side. Historically the area is known best as the headquarters of the John Deere Corporation and the location of Arsenal Island, the 946-acre island that served as a prisoner of war camp for nearly 13,000 prisoners during the Civil War. Today it is home to the largest government-owned weapons manufacturing arsenal in the western world.

Rock Island acquired new significance this week by becoming the latest Illinois city to join the national Cool Cities Campaign. Mayor Mark Schwiebert showed his leadership skills by being the first Quad City mayor pledging to reduce global warming emissions citywide to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012!

To begin its Cool Cities efforts Rock Island intends to:

• Buy and operating White Hydropower Company dam on the Rock River to generate electricity for the city.
• Rehab a downtown warehouse into first floor offices and retail space with loft apartments on the upper floors. The building will be fitted with a green roof - often a key component of an autonomous buildings.
• Build a bike lane system throughout the city and promote safe and energy efficient bicycling.

Let's hear it for the Mayor Schwiebert! Leadership does make a difference.

Think Globally, Act Locally

How does a city impact global warming? It could just proceed with the status quo and witness the sustainability of the local economy decline, the environment become degraded, and its citizens become impoverished. Alternatively, the community leaders could bravely embrace the challenge to “think globally, act locally.”

As a splendid example of local government initiative, one need only look to Springfield, Illinois for a daring plan to create smart energy solutions.

When you drive into Springfield, one can’t help but notice the two giant smokestacks owned by the municipal utility, City Water Light and Power, belching soot, smog, and mercury pollution into the city and surround region.

As a part of an agreement that the Sierra Club brokered with the EPA, Illinois Governor’s office and the City, the utility will close its oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plant and replace it with a new coal plant subject to the most stringent soot, smog, and mercury pollution limits in the nation. The new plant will emit 99 percent less sulfur dioxide than the existing power plant.

The new plant coupled with investments in wind power and an ambitious energy efficiency program constitutes the first enforceable agreement in the nation by any city or utility to significantly reduce its global warming pollution. The part of the agreement that is most likely to turn heads around the country, however, are the measures addressing global warming - the most ambitious in the nation for a utility.

The plan calls for the City to cut its global warming pollution by 25 percent below its 2005 levels by 2012, the equivalent of removing 103,000 automobiles off of our highways. Towards that end, Springfield plans tap into wind power and providing investments in new infrastructure that will double the wind energy capacity of Illinois. "This deal is a huge step forward for smart energy solutions and a first in the effort to curb global warming," said Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. "Not only do Springfield residents benefit from cleaner air and water and new ways to save money on their energy bills, but other communities can use this agreement as a model for their own energy and global warming strategies," added Pope.“

As part of the plan, Springfield will also conduct a comprehensive energy efficiency audit and invest $4 million over the next decade - a tenfold increase - in efficiency programs and incentives for ratepayers. The agreement also formalizes a role for local citizens to help the City direct investments in additional conservation and energy efficiency measures, including a special program targeted to help low-income and elderly residents. Overall, the landmark energy agreement would do the following:

* Replace the City’s Lakeside coal plant, one of the dirtiest coal plants in the nation, with the cleanest coal-fired power plant in the nation.

* Cut mercury emissions from its existing and new coal plants by 90 percent by 2009 (the most stringent requirement in the nation).

* Cut overall sulfur dioxide emissions from its existing and new coal plants by 75 percent by 2012 (the lowest SO2 pollution limit in the Midwest).

* Meet the goals of the Kyoto Protocol by cutting the City’s global warming pollution by 25 percent (600,000 tons annually) below its 2005 levels by 2012, the most stringent global warming reduction commitment by any utility in the U.S. It's the equivalent of removing 103,000 automobiles off of our highways.

* Double Illinois’ installed wind capacity by adding a record 120 megawatt of new wind turbines. This includes 60 MW to power the State’s Springfield office buildings, including the State Capitol -- this represents one of the largest investments by any state in clean energy.

* Boost the City’s investment in energy efficiency funding ten-fold to a record $4 million over the next decade.

* Establish an internship program for college students to work on clean energy projects.

What did it take to accomplish this turn about in Springfield’s future? Local leadership.

Where will that leadership come from in southern Illinois?

Digesting the Digital Divide

My recent blog about the 2007 election primary in Carbondale dealt with the election candidates (8 out of 11) deliberately not using of the Internet for voter communications. I intentionally listed the candidate’s age along with one web address providing information about either their campaign, background, or other presence on the web.

One reader questioned if publishing the age of the candidate had any significance. The answer is simple. Age has always had an influence of technology adoption, as have other factors, particularly race, income, and geography.

The issue of consumer technology adoption has historically been couched in the context of the so-called “digital divide.” Wikipedia defines it as the gap between those with regular, effective access to digital technologies and those without. The term digital divide refers to those who can benefit from it, and those who don't, as opposed to just talking about who has direct access to technology, and those who don't.”

The Web began its explosive growth in about 1993 – the same year I founded southern Illinois’ only non-profit ISP, the Shawnee Free-Net. Its early mission was to help close the digital divide in this region. We pioneered wireless WAN use to connect schools to the Internet and hosted over a hundred websites for community non-profits. This was done to empower the non-profit community and their constituents because they were among those that could especially benefit from better access to information resources more available to wealthier, better-educated, higher income, younger, and significantly Caucasian citizens.

Fourteen years ago, few schools had Internet access. Very few senior citizens had access. While university students did have access, they certainly did not have the ease of access and range of providers and technologies available today. To place the situation in context, one should recall the history of the predominate PC desktop operating systems (OS). In 1993 it was Windows 3.x – hardly the most robust, secure and user-friendly software!

Age remains a factor in Internet use today. One study shows significant productivity differences in performing online tasks by users of varying ages.” Age is negatively associated with one's level of Internet skill, and experience with the technology is positively related to online skill, and differences in gender do little to explain the variance in the ability of different people to find content online.”

Today the divide in the USA is still significantly racial and is linked to broader issues such as black and Latino community poverty and even a cultural reluctance to use the Internet. Every day I see a lot of that reluctance in the workplace.

The most disheartening aspect about all the effort put into closing the digital divide is that the divide is “widening, not narrowing, and at an ever-increasing rate.”

DigitalDivide.org postulates nine truths about the digital divide that act as a guide for what we still have to accomplish in this depressed region of southern Illinois. I encourage reading the nine truths in the context of of the claim by some that southern Illinois is similar to a small, third-world nation. Illinois has "the highest poverty rate for adults and children of eight Midwestern states, (where) 12.5 percent of Illinois residents - more than 1.5 million in all - live below the federal poverty level and nearly 30 percent of all state residents live at what the report calls "near poverty."” (Source) Southern Illinois continues to have the highest poverty rates in the state.

1. The Divide is widening, not narrowing, and at an ever-increasing rate.
2. Closing the Digital Divide may be the only way to make globalization work for the poor.
3. The consequence of not closing the Divide is terrorism.
4. Closing the Digital Divide is fundamentally about empowerment, that is, it is about using new technologies to empower the poor just as they now empower the rich.
5. Closing the Digital Divide is the only way to sustain the growth of world markets.
6. World leaders from every sector -- business, government, academia, NGOs -- can benefit from closing the Divide. Yet no one sector has the incentives to lead the effort to close the Divide.
7. Closing the Digital Divide requires building an "enterprise ecosystem" that offers "end to end solutions" for the poor.
8. The midlevel countries in relatively advanced emerging markets, not the poorest countries, are the best settings for experimental efforts to close the Digital Divide.
9. Closing the digital divide involves using new technologies to formalize the "informal economy," thereby bringing the poor into established markets.

Is there a relationship between election candidates’ non-use of the Internet, local poverty and the growing digital divide in southern Illinois? I think so. Is there an ultimate answer? Talk about it.

Carbondale Candidates Online - NOT!

According to Internet Usage and Population website there are over 210 million people in the Unites States that use the Internet. That is a 120% increase since 2000.

So, why is it so difficult to locate the e-mail address of local candidates for public office? If the candidates are running on a platform, why isn't it on a public website for everyone to see?

Read more about the candidate "web presence" in the 2007 Carbondale, IL election at: Bytelife

Crosswords for Carbondale

Take the 2007 Carbondale Election
Campaign Crossword Puzzle!
(Click cartoon or puzzle to enlarge and print)

ACROSS
3 Seven candidates pursue
4 Climate treaty
6 Renewable power
10 Librarian’s daughter
11 Froze utility rate
13 Mayor Hans
14 Candidates for mayor
15 Raising rates
19 Carbondale form of government
21 Before the general
23 Slaw
24 Top Manager
25 Pepper

DOWN
1 Carbondale could become a (___) city
2 Formerly Ameren
3 Energy Advisory
5 Youngest daughter of seven
6 Burning issue
7 Cole Gang
8 Determines outcome
9 Carbondale provided these audits
12 Wired power
16 The mayor wants to use this domain
17 Annual threat to city reputation
18 Carbondale men’s club
20 Surrounding government
21 Sheila wants one on Eurma Hayes
22 Carbondale utility

Puzzle solution will be found in the comments on 1/28/07. Good luck!
"Rustle The Leaf" Comics characters courtesy of Go Natur'L Studios, LLC, 2005. The "Rustle The Leaf Comics" properties copyright and trademark of Go Natur'L Studios, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Cheaper Gas

We all get excited when we see falling prices at the gas station. At their core many citizens think oil pricing is just one big conspiracy. They see stories in the news of crude oil process dropping and grow skeptical when the retail price doesn’t immediately follow the trend.

Unfortunately, gasoline is a commodity subject to supply and demand. High demand usually results in lower supplies and higher prices This is particularly the case during summer when driving tends to increase.

Gas prices are also subject to other factors such as shipping (tanker, pipeline and semi-truck) costs, distance from refineries or terminals, dealer competition and pricing strategies of the big name gas marketers. The price of crude oil affects only about 50% of the retail price. Refining contributes about 15% of the cost. State and local taxes vary widely but on average contribute about 25% of the price at the pump. The rest is marketing, distribution, and pure profit. Source

So where do find the cheapest gas? Online, of course! There are two types of sources for timely gas pricing. One collects real data from volunteer consumers like you, and the other aggregates data from credit card transactions from many tens of thousands of gas stations across the country where fleets purchase gasoline for business use. And, boy, do we have a lot of gas stations. I count more than 40 along the Highway 13 corridor between Murphysboro and Marion

Motor Trend gas data

A free railroad pass changed the planet

Around 1854 accounts tell of an unemployed railroad conductor and express agent named Edwin Drake who happened to be staying at the same hotel in Connecticut as an attorney looking to make a buck off so called “Seneca Oil”, a crude oil-based patent medicine being sold by hawkers since as early as 1792. The Seneca's are native americans that have occupied Pennsylvania since long before european settler occupation.

The attorney hired Drake in 1857 to visit Titusville, PA, a town on Oil Creek where people collected free flowing crude oil by damming the local creek. Apparently, Drake’s only qualification for this assignment was a free railroad pass remaining from his previous job.

When he got there his oil company boss gave him the phony title of Colonel despite having never being in the military so as to lend him more prestige in their nascent marketing efforts at selling the distilled oil. Apparently this trick works.

When Drake got frustrated with the inefficiency of being only able to skim about six gallons of oil a day off the dammed creek, he hired a salt well driller to help locate pockets of trapped oil. At a depth of 69½ feet they found their first black gold.

The rest is history. In 1859, Drake struck the first commercially productive oil well in the USA. It wasn’t a gusher, but it began the first great oil boom.

I suspect the residents of Titusville, thought they had found The Ultimate Answer to their dreams. Their answer was a non-renewable natural resource that took many millions of years to form that will be totally depleted in a geological blink of an eye.

The Seneca's had offerred a different answer to The Ultimate Question. The Senecas were perhaps the most sophisticated in all of the North-American Native cultures. With the exception of one tribe, they had adopted a democratic form of government after years of questionable leadership by Chiefs who had come into their positions out of lineage rather than virtue. "The Seneca women were in charge of elections, and decided who was to become tribal leader, Leaders usually held their posts for life, but could be removed if they became corrupt or proved to be incompetent; the Seneca political system also included a constitution, which is believed to have been the model for the American constitution." More.

Wadda Ya Mean, Ya Sez Ya Can’t Sell Me $1.00 of Gasoline!

Ever tried to buy only ONE dollar of gasoline? You can’t do it! You can buy 99.9 cents worth, but never an even dollar's worth, or $2.00, or $3.00 for that matter.

Why is that? Several reasons. Foremost, we are quite befuddled by fractional math. Sure, 4 divided by 2 = 2, but exactly how many gallons of gasoline can you buy for $10 at $2.04 and 9/10ths a gallon? The addition of 9/10 cent to the price of a gallon of gasoline makes impossible the purchase of one gallon of gasoline at the advertised price. And it makes our mathematically challenged brains crash into a state of befuddlement. For some reason, consumers have just accepted the fact of fractional gas pricing. Imagine if all groceries, postage stamps and tuition were sold like that?

So why do you think we do it with gasoline? Well, some research says that a difference of two-tenths of a cent (about 30¢ for an average fill-up) may be enough to sway consumers' buying decisions. “Because of this, service stations quickly react to the price posted on the street corner by their competition and adjust their price accordingly. If not, they risk the possibility of losing their customers.”

Don’t lose a lot of sleep over this issue. What you ought to be worried about is why paying for a gallon of gas will likely always result in getting more or less than what you should. Did you know that gasoline volume changes approximately 0.058% for every 1ºF change in temperature. Hey, its just Boyles Law at work. “The energy content of a gallon of gasoline purchased by a motorist in Nome, Alaska in January could, theoretically, be as much as 8-10% greater that that of a gallon of gasoline purchased by a motorist in Marion, IL (center of the universe, I’m told) in July.” So 10 gallons in Alaska might be 11 gallons Illinois. But, they still have the identical energy content. You pay for 11, but really only get the value of 10.

Robbery you say? Fraud and conspiracy? Maybe. As this website describes, only a few places have adopted the readily available technology that automatically adjusts the price of gasoline as it exits the fuel pump nozzle: Canada and Hawaii. Iowa had the technology in place "from 1985 to 1989 before special interests reinstated the deceptive pricing practice. "

Is temperature compensated gasoline sales the ultimate answer to high prices. Of course not, but wouldn't be nice to end a system that is inherently confusing and misleading? Even most local communities could require the changes if the people wanted it.

Is Carbondale Cool?

Isn't it time that the City of Carbondale became a Cool City?

A Cool City has made a commitment to stopping global warming by signing the U.S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement. The Cool Cities campaign helps cities turn their commitments into action by pushing for smart energy solutions.

Did you know that from 1979 to 1985 the City of Carbondale had its own Energy Division with a mission to promote energy conservation, wise energy use, and use of renewable energy from sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal? With a staff of four professionals plus interns and community volunteers, Carbondale led the Midwest in attacking the long-term problems of declining energy supplies, high utility prices and pollution. Then Mayor Hans Fischer took a leadership role in saving city government, homeowners and businesses money through sound energy efficiency investments. He and I even took Carbondale's message of hope to the City of Seattle and said look what we can do! Twenty-five years later Seattle has sent the message back saying every city can now be a cool city. Every city can address the larger problems of climate disruption, dependence upon foreign oil, and energy waste.

What happened to Carbondale's innovative energy program? It was shut down when the "energy crisis" was no longer deemed a priority. Gas prices dropped, long lines at the gas pump disappeared, and the Republicans took office with a far different agenda for the future.

While Carbondale has sat on its aged and forgotten laurels, ten cities in Illinois have made the pledge to join the growing ranks of Cool Cities: Alton, Carol Stream, Chicago, Edwardsville, Highland Park, Lombard, Oak lawn, Rock Island, Schaumberg, and Waukeegan. These ten join the ranks of more than 319 mayors representing over 51 million Americans in 46 states and the District of Columbia (as of October 2006). These mayors have pledged to reduce global warming carbon dioxide pollution in their cities to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 (the same reductions and target date called for under the Kyoto Protocol Global Warming Treaty).

These communities are "moving forward with innovative energy solutions that curb global warming, save taxpayer dollars, and create healthier cities. At a time when the federal government is failing to act, when the Illinois state legislature is failing to stem massive gas and electric rate increases, these local leaders are moving America toward a safer and more secure future."

Where are Carbondale's city Council candidates on this issue? Why has Carbondale stopped being a leader in energy issues? Shouldn't Carbondale reenergize its commitment to a safer future?

Should Carbondale be a Cool City? Read about Cool Cities and then take the poll on this page to send your message to the leaders of Carbondale.