#GreenNewDeal

The Green New Deal aims to get us there—and remake the country in the process. It promises to give every American a job in that new economy: installing solar panels, retrofitting coastal  infrastructure, manufacturing electric vehicles. In the 1960s, the U.S. pointed the full power of its military-technological industry at going to the moon. Ocasio-Cortez wants to do the same thing, except to save the planet.

Source: Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal Is a Winning Climate Strategy – The Atlantic

This is the most exciting package of climate change policy to come from the Democrats in a long time. Great article that dives into the messaging problems that have existed in the past regarding climate change policy. I don’t know that it actually has a chance to be passed, but the clock is ticking to 2030…

Video: Naomi Klein Interviews Bernie Sanders on Climate Change

THE BOLD MORAL leadership of newly elected members of Congress like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has me feeling more optimistic about our collective chances of averting climate breakdown than I have in years.

Source: Video: Naomi Klein Interviews Bernie Sanders on Climate Change

Worthwhile video – we have 12 years…

This is terrifying

The Insect Apocalypse

When his parents took him driving, he remembered, the car’s windshield was frequently so smeared with insect carcasses that you almost couldn’t see through it. But all that seemed distant now. He couldn’t recall the last time he needed to wash bugs from his windshield.

nyti.ms/2DMT70v

passive house

The Pratt House project is an example of a burgeoning movement in the building industry. With the growing concern over the environment and energy, builders and architects are devising ways to dramatically cut the energy use in people’s homes, for both new construction and retrofits. In the U.S., all buildings represent about half of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the U.S. Green Building Council.

Via: This Green Home Will Heat Itself

At some point in the future, we’re going to either convert or build a new house that is passively heated and cooled. All of the research I can find so far says that we will need an auxiliary heat source, but that we should be able to achieve a very energy efficient home in minnesota.

Morning Notes

Up a bit earlier than normal this morning… here’s a collection of stuff I was reading…

Eurostar, the high-speed rail link between Paris, London and Brussels, said last week it was raising its target to cut emissions because it had already reached its original goals — three years early.

Seems to me that its time to end the moratorium on new nuclear plants. From: French Nuclear Power Cleans Up Eurostar

More on the environment:

The worst case scenario, ES&T found, would be irrigated sorghum grown in Nebraska and turned into ethanol. This would use up to 115 gallons per mile. Corn grown there would require 50 gallons of water per mile. Say good-bye to “food vs. fuel,” say hello to “Drink or drive.”

Ethanol from corn is an environmental disaster. Obama’s administration should stop the madness when it comes to subsidies for corn ethanol. From: The Water Cost of Corn-Based Ethanol

The new Wolfram Alpha “fact engine” looks like it will be pretty amazing. Here’s a series of screenshots showing examples of different types of searches.

Our friend (and Emilia’s godmother) Diane is working on a photo-a-day project. I’ve wanted to start doing this, since there are times where I’ll go weeks without taking any pictures. One of my disappointments from our recent trip to Seattle was that I didn’t take more pictures. I did grab this picture, which I’m quite fond of:

caution

meat eaters

The Kindest Cut on Slate is filled with mind-boggling statistics about food production, for example:

35 pounds of manure incurred per pound of saleable beef.

and

The poultry-broiler industry consumed some 240 billion megajoules of energy in 2005, or the equivalent of 42 million barrels of crude oil. That’s more than the entire country of Sri Lanka consumed the same year—all to keep us well-stocked with wings and drumsticks.

and

The livestock industry as a whole consumes a whopping share of the world’s crops—at least 80 percent of all soybeans and more than half of all corn.

and

food writer Michael Pollan recently suggested that if Americans went meatless one night a week, it would be equivalent to taking “30 to 40 million cars off the road for a year.”

I do like eating meat, but we’ve tried to cut back a bit. Maybe we should look in to raising some chickens in the back 40.

urban chickens

Raising chickens in the city is growing in popularity among those interested in sustainability and keeping chickens as pets. But the venture often proves more difficult than expected.

via MinnPost – Urban chicken farming on the rise.

I joke about this quite often… I didn’t realize that people actually did it in the city.