Wednesday, May 28, 2008

David Orr Interview at Treehugger




This is actually hilarious:

 I think there is no such thing here as cheap solutions or end-runs around the way the world works. We are going to have to balance the carbon books, balance the nitrogen books, and build a world that is a lot fairer than what we have at present. My sense is that it is going to be a tough thing.

That raises issues: ‘well what do you tell the public?’ Gustave Speth, the dean of the School Forestry at Yale, refers to a lot of this stuff as "happy talk." There is a lot of happy talk out there that is premised on the belief that you can't tell the public the bad news because it’ll scare them and they'll not do anything, or they will fall into despair.

That wasn't the strategy that Winston Churchill had in 1940;
Churchill told the British people that he didn't have anything to offer them but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. He didn't say, "hey this is a great opportunity for urban renewal in London and we can beat Nazism at a profit."

I think there's a requirement for leadership now in this country at the very top of the government, certainly in the next presidency, to tell the truth, to tell the American public that this in fact is a global crisis. We have to lead it. Time is short.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/12/the_th_interview_david_orr_1.php

Monday, May 19, 2008

BYU Acceptance Letter

5/19/2008

Jamund Ferguson
10420 17th ave sw
seattle Washington 98146
United States of America

Dear Jamund,

I am pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Brigham Young University as a graduate student. We look forward to having you join us for your graduate studies and trust that your graduate experience will be both challenging and rewarding.

Please indicate your intent to enroll at BYU for graduate study in Public Policy MPP by clicking the link below. If your program requires a deposit to reserve a spot in the entering class, you will be able to submit your deposit online.

Please click here to indicate whether you will be accepting or declining our offer of admission.

Carefully check the information above pertaining to your admission. If corrections are needed, please notify our office immediately. Should you be unable to enroll in the semester for which you have been admitted, please contact your department.

Graduate students are given first priority in registering, so it is best to register early to get the classes you want. Tuition must be paid 7 days prior to the first day of class. Failure to pay by then will result in a hold that restricts adding or deleting classes. To register, please log in to http://www.byu.edu with your net ID and password. Click on Route Y, School, MyMap, and Register. Be sure you are aware of the minimum registration requirements available at the following webpage: view minimum registration requirements. The graduate coordinator of your program is available to advise you of graduate program requirements and details of your first registration. The coordinator will also introduce you to members of the graduate faculty and assist you in selecting an advisory committee and determining your course of study.

Since all future correspondence will be sent via e-mail, please keep your e-mail address current on Route Y (BYU's Intranet), accessible at http://ry.byu.edu. If your email provider automatically removes bulk messages, be sure to add gradstudies@byu.edu to your address book. If our office can be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to call us. We wish you continued success.

Sincerely,
Bonnie Brinton, Ph.D. 
Dean, Graduate Studies 

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Categorizing Comments on Climate Change

There has been an uproar as of late in conservative media about prominent Republicans George Bush and John McCain's stance on global warming. The responses have brought out opinions of many kinds and help differentiate the prominent ideas on the topics. Here I will outline just a few of the ideas and try and track down proponents of those ideas and links to more information. This will be useful when trying to find a particular perspective on climate change and more information about a point of view.

Here goes:

"We Don't Have Enough Reliable Data"
Patrick Michael's, Cato Institute (Our Climate Numbers Are a Big Old Mess)
George Bush of the past

The Climate may be Changing, but it is not our Fault
Steven Millloy, Fox News (U.N. Climate Distractions)

The Climate is Changing, it is our Fault, but we Cannot Afford to Act  (At least in the Ways Most Commonly Suggested)
Bjorn Lumberg (Chill Out!)
National Review Magazine (Big Mistake)
George Bush (today)

The Climate is Changing, Serious Action is Needed (Tax, Cap and Trade, etc.)
The Pope
Al Gore (Cap and Trade + Everything)
John McCain (Cap and Trade + Nuclear)
Barack Obama (Cap and Trade)

The Climate is Changing and we are All Going to Die ("Nothing Can Be Done")
Derrick Jensen?

On the Solutions Side. There are 4 main ideas:
Do Nothing for Now.
Adapt. (London Climate Change Plan)
Contain. (Kyoto, etc.)
Preempt. (Heavy Investment in R&D)