clair031

Summary.   The growth of the U.S. from an agricultural society to an industrial power was driven in important ways by ambition, a positive attitude, and an ability to see opportunities and develop them.   Examples of changes that contributed to this growth include new means of transportation and communication. As our economy grew and matured, however, unforeseen harmful effects of some activities became apparent.   Acid rain from electric generation was identified as the cause of dying forests.   Synthetic refrigerants were flagged as the cause of the depletion of ozone in the stratosphere.   Increased carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels for energy was marked as the cause of global warming and its harms. The industries in question ignored the science behind these findings, and fought the need to change their business activities. Global warming remains an unresolved problem.   Because of the vast size of the fossil fuel industry and the major changes...

Summary: The author recently participated in a tour of Connecticut ’s first wind farm.   Operation of the wind farm represents the success of its campaign to gain permitting and financing, and to complete construction. Wind generation capacity has grown dramatically, but erratically, in the U. S. in response to the cyclical operation or expiration of a series of production tax credits.   The current credit, in place for five years until the end of 2019, will provide a more stable investment and business environment for wind development. The Department of Energy foresees major expansion of wind energy by 2030, and even more by 2050.   Wind could provide a significant fraction of U. S. demand for electricity by then.   On a beautiful sunny day at the end of June 2016 I joined a group of interested citizens on an organized tour of the state of Connecticut ’s first wind farm.   Our guide was Gregory Zupkus, the CEO of BNE Energy, the business venture that bui...

  T he city of Oakland California has unanimously turned down permitting of a large coal transshipping terminal on its waterfront.   Earlier, an even larger terminal project in Washington State was rejected because it would have infringed Native American rights. In view of the undisputed and urgent need to limit the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, governments at all levels, local, state or provincial, and national, must act to limit greenhouse gas emissions.   The action by Oakland is fully consistent with, indeed was driven by, this necessity for action.   Oakland , California .   Development of an export terminal in the city of Oakland, California for the shipment of American coal to China and other overseas users was unanimously rejected by the Oakland City Council on June 27, 2016 ( The New York Times , June 29, 2016 ).   The coal is being mined in Utah and other western states. A principal reason for voting the terminal down was that it,...

Virtually Complete Unanimity of Acceptance of Man-Made Global Warming .   James Lawrence Powell recently published an article ( Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society  1–4, 2016; DOI:10.1177/0270467616634958 ) which found that during 2013 and 2014 only 0.0058% of authors of peer-reviewed journal articles rejected the reality of man-made global warming.   Of the almost 70,000 authors of those articles only 4 reached that conclusion, giving a ratio of 1:17,352.    Powell writes “The extent of the consensus among scientists on [man-made] global warming [(MGW)] has the potential to influence public opinion and the attitude of political leaders and thus matters greatly to society.   [The results developed here show] the consensus on [MGW] among publishing scientists is above 99.99%, verging on unanimity.” Powell screened peer-reviewed articles found in the Web of Science Core Collection database over 2013-2014, using the search terms “global warming” or...

Representative Lamar Smith of Texas , in a speech in the U. S. House of Representatives, lamented the widespread press coverage of a scientific publication last year showing that global warming had not stopped since about 2000.   He then decried the lack of press coverage for a new article that he wrongly claims “refutes” the earlier work. In truth, both articles find that warming has continued during this period, contrary to Rep. Smith’s characterization of this period as a “halt” in global warming.   The new article finds that the warming during this period is a “slowdown” (compared to predictions from climate models), but not a “halt”, and thoroughly analyzes the reasons for the slowdown.   An important contribution comes from the decades-long cyclical operation of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation. Representative Smith is wrong in saying that global warming has halted.   The newest global annual average temperatures for 2014 and 2015 have resumed increasing...