Discuss: The Big Green Lie

To be really relevant in getting control of climate change, we have to go black not green in order to remove some of the overload of carbon dioxide by actually getting it back to charcoal.  I have outlined this in several comments in “Reasons not to Glow” “Altar Call for True Believers” and “The Unsung Song” in Orion’s Blog.  Setting up the pyrolysis process would have huge econmic benefits as I have outlined including helping to control another problem making news lately, namely the expanding environmental pollution from discarded pharmaceuticals. 
Using pyrolysis on organic wastes will stop them from biodegrading to reemit various greenhouse gases(GHGs) mainly carbon dioxide; will reduce greatly the costs in developed countries of having to maintain dumps to keep drugs, toxics and germs from seeping out; will reduce greatly in underdeveloped countries their expanding water polution problems caused by haphazard dumping of organic wastes, and will generate some electric energy fairly cleanly.
I also point out that the biocrops for ethanol is probaly a dead concept as recent reports indicate that expanding land preparation for such crops having yearly harvesting results in excessive GHG releasing due to trapped organic matter getting exposed to biodegrade.  Bioethanol is basically just recycling carbon dioxide doing nothing to reduce the overload of that gas that will keep exerting it climate changing power at the present levels.
I urge readers to check those other comments I have mentioned and start calling for development of the pyrolysis procees applied to organic wastes.  It will help kicki our oil addiction that sends megabucks to unfriendly countfries, It will also reduce our carbon footprint and megabuck expenditures for maintaining dumps.  And maybe most importantly, it will cut water supply pollution that, in underdeveloped countries, is expanding rapidly to become perhaps a bigger threat to their survival than climate change. Dr. J. Singmaster, Fremont, CA

I appreciate and agree with many of your points, Auden - it’s true that, while the tide has turned and many people and companies are at least aware that they HAVE a carbon footprint and can do something about it, we are a long way from having really addresses the root issue. I think that many environmental professionals have been so giddy to have some semblance of change and to have environmental impact in the spotlight (finally!) that we have not worried as much about what the message is as about the degree to which it is getting out and being considered as a mainstream American value.

People do need positive messages and feedback (research from NCAR among others has shown that this is the main motivator for action) But when we start congratulating ourselves for progress at the expense of understanding that we are slowing but not yet reversing the problem, we risk missing the point entirely.

Kool-Ade is not enough!

Auden, it is so refreshing to read some honesty about the subject. We seem to be very busy selling folks a pipe dream that economies can keep growing (and therefore businesses and consumption), and population levels can be ignored, as long as we all change our light bulbs and jump through all the right technological hoops. Many environmentalists believe the public to be incapable of acting on anything other than Polyanna feel-good fairy-tales.

I think it’s much more optimistic to give humankind credit that we just might do the right thing if given accurate information and true leadership. Seems our leaders are only willing to give us sugar-coated information and settle for goals that won’t get us where we need to go, out of fear that we would never respond to the truth.

It’s a tough process, but I’d rather shoot the moon with you if the moon is what it will take. Why set our sights on failure just because that’s more realistic? The truth is we need to get very real about changing our lifestyles, our public policies and our growth-centic paradigm. And you are right, that is a far cry from what most businesses, bureaucrats and individuals have been willing to do so far.

Dave Gardner
Producer/Director
Hooked on Growth: Our Misguided Quest for Prosperity
[url=http://www.growthbusters.com]http://www.growthbusters.com[/url]

In northern Europe, the country of Denmark has separated the link between economic growth and rising carbon emissions. Emissions are falling and the economy is growing. It is a remarkable achievement and wind power, which supplies 20% of Denmark’s electricity, is playing a major role in reducing emissions.
There is nothing to stop the United States from doing the same, aside from the might of the fossil fuel lobby.

Auden,thanks for pointing to our #1 problem in all of these debates:  dishonesty.  Without a commitment to honesty, it is unreasonable to expect that we will make much progress.  Look at the scientific method.  It presumes honesty for without honesty everyone has to independently do everything again for themselves.
Brigid, yes, we, American--like all human beings--are frightened by honesty and have a tendency to bury our heads in the sand.  That’s not the whole story, only an important part.  We, also, have shown a willingness to make great sacrifices when we understand the fullness of our reality.  How can dishonesty ever help?
Harris, you gave us a great quote you attributed to Einstein ("We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”) and then, it seems to me, you gave us the same kind of thinking that continues creating problems, namely, we must first control that which we can’t personally control BEFORE controlling that which we can personally control. 
I couldn’t directly keep us out of Iraq but I can protest.  And because I live in a small town, I can regularly riding my bike instead of driving my car much of the time; thus, reducing the fossil fuel consumption underlying that “war.” Of course, that also is a green act.
We, Americans, tend to discount the small actions needed to make truly great differences while only counting BIG actions.  In case anyone failed to note it, the USSR disappeared because a whole lot of individuals had finally had enough and--for the second time in modern Russian history--accomplished what was inconceivable to my generation.  The Russian people overthrew a seemingly all powerful, ruling hegemony with almost no bloodshed.  Is our task any greater than that?
Next, a new idea for this discussion, the genesis of which began long ago with my Dad.  Forty years ago, we were both in school.  I was in college and he was in the University of Chicago’s MBA program at night.  He asked me, “What is the first responsibility of a business to its employees?” His answer was, “To stay in business; otherwise, the employees won’t have a job.” He pointed to a necessary, but not sufficient, prerequisite.
I now understand that my father’s great insight was that in understanding any issue, it is always necessary to identify the prerequisites.
So, now, as I work trying to create a new local market oriented agriculture in my area, I ask young people wanting to start farms, “What is the most overlooked aspect of sustainable agriculture?” My answer is, “It must make a profit; otherwise, how is it ‘sustainable?’ What will sustain--the trust fund you don’t have?” Then I point out how the Slow Food movement recognized that from the start.
So, now back to you, Auden.  It seems clear to me that one conclusion you were headed toward but never said out loud was the need for higher energy costs, i.e., something closer to energy’s true cost.  That’s what my daughter pays for petrol in the UK.  This is being done in parts of Europe by shifting taxes from income toward consumption of energy, particularly at the lowest income levels.  That would make your green projects’ economies work more quickly.
Honesty is a prerequisite.  And, its corollary, accurate full cost accounting is too.
My thanks to all who are participating in this discussion.

Harry Hamil
Black Mountain, NC

Beth, you’re right, one of the great challenges for me is how to be honest about these things without bringing people down. How do you deliver a positive message but also understand that right now, we’re using a scale of inches when the climate is using a scale of miles. One friend/peer criticized this article because he felt we can’t afford to hurt people’s enthusiasm for green...that there is momentum here. Another pointed out that some businesses ARE in fact doing green profitably. That’s true. But it’s not happening at scale. And we don’t have time for the ramp-up. My worry is that enthusiasm without a clear eye on what it’s going to take is not helpful, it may in fact be damaging, even a distraction. In my work, people focus on the microscale, and miss the big picture. How can we recycle ski passes? Wrong question. It should be “How can we change climate policy?” By all means recycle the pass, but that’s not job one.

Auden and Others commenting here:  Honestly, your futures, if under 35, and your descendants’ futures are going to be hell hot if you keep worrying about upsetting green deluders that include all the major environmental groups, ED, NRDC, UCS, and Sierra Club. The delusional idea fostered by all these groups is that just cutting vehicle and power plant emissions will some how get control of global warming(GW).
THAT WON’T HAPPEN.
Why? Because the overload of GHGs, mainly carbon dioxide will not be reduced so that GW will continue merrily on its way destroying more coral, warming waters and melting ice. Blaming big oil and energy is nice scapegoating, but the time has come for new proposals to be put on the table to cut the overload.  This is what I have done in Comment 17 saying that we can get some energy by stopping organic wastes from just being left to biodegrade with the use of the pyrolysis process. Something very bad now for GW is the emphasis on composting some organic wastes, in which biodegradation quickly reemits carbon dioxide that nature so kindly trapped for us.
An interesting point to me is why big energy companies have not realized what they could get by using pyrolysis on wastes.  Perhaps they are fearful that getting the wastes means dealing with municipalities here where shady deals may not be nearly as easy to do as with leaders of foreign countries with large tables to deal under.  It might even give the public considerable control with lower costs for energy as it is the public’s wastes that will be involved.
Another delusional idea by some scientists and energy companies is the “Growing Fuel” idea as outlined in Natl. Geo. Oct, 2007.  Recent reports have indicated that just preparing land for crops causes exposure of buried organic matter to biodegrading by microbes releasing more carbon dioxide than will be released in making and using bioethanol.  So that"Growing Fuel” will be increasing the overload. Also someone on the New Scientist Environment Blog noted that corn has pushed out wheat in the nidwest to the point that we have only a few weeks worth of wheat in stock due to last year or 2005 having a wheat harvest at the lowest level since 1958
If you are involved with one or more of those environmental groups, I would urge to get their attention to the farce of just curbing emissions that will do nothing to reduce the carbon dioxide overload already on the globe.  And you also should get their attention to the pyrolysis process that uses organic wastes, a biofuelcrop wasted, that usurps no land or water from food production.  You also ought to get after officials, who are being misled to think emission controls will do anything and point out the loss of food prduction causing rising prices due to biofuels foolishness.
Honestly, you better start acting for your own future survival.  Dr. J. Singmaster

The article and discussion have inspired me to write a piece of my own: The Worst Trap in the World.

What is The Worst Trap in the World? It’s not the booby trap or the sand trap or the Trapp Family Singers trap. It’s the Can’t Do Anything Until You Do Everything trap.

That’s the one that immobilizes you before you take your first step.

You can read all about it at http://www.skipressworld.com — US or Canadian editions. Read it, but don’t fall into it.

jules