Let’s talk a bit about climate change. Is the climate changing? Of course it is. It has been changing from Day 1 and that is not going to change. Evolution is an integral part of nature and that will continue. The real question is: To what degree does humanity impact that change?
It
is a tribute to the monumental conceit and arrogance of the human animal that
some of us actually believe that we can control
climate change. We cannot. We are grains of sand upon the beach of the universe. No doubt, we can influence climate change; but the amount of that influence is
debatable. The single most important
thing that we can do in order to make our approach to climate change reasonable
is to apply some common sense to our actions.
Can we do a better job at being good stewards of the marvelous planet
the Good Lord has given us? Of course we
can! But just because a practice or a
so-called solution looks good on paper or makes a great video sound bite does
not mean it is a practical and effective step to take towards addressing the
adverse effects of climate change. It is a well known fact that when it comes to government actions, many times the cure is worse than the disease. A
common sense approach to climate change means we pick and choose our remedies,
select them with forethought and deliberation, rely on those among us who have
expertise in the fields we select, and carefully consider the consequences…both
pro and con…of our actions before jamming new policies down the throats of our
citizenry.
Man...we sure do love our cars, but we
have too many cars in America. Whether
you live in rural America as I do or live in Chicago, Nashville, New York, or
Los Angeles…traffic congestion is an issue that we all deal with. It is simply a matter of degree. And what is the most glaringly frustrating
thing about traffic congestion? It is
the fact that the vast majority of personal vehicles on the road are occupied
by a single person. In many ways, the
freedom of mobility that our private vehicles provide to us is our
independence in a microcosm. Our personal vehicles are personal, but the people
and businesses that deal with the transportation of goods and material in our
country are governed by efficiency, effectiveness, and a cost/benefit metric. This is what should drive the movement of
people in the United States.
The
foolish notion that we can change over from internal combustion to electric
vehicles (EVs) overnight is the
typical naïve attitude of many green
advocates. Even before we have adequately
considered the cost/benefit metric of EVs, people in positions of power and
authority have leapt to the conclusion that in a perfect world, EVs would be so much better than internal combustion
vehicles. Guess what? We do not exist in a perfect world.
There
are situations where personal transportation demands are repetitive,
short-range, and may in many respects lend themselves to the unique qualities
of EVs. Urban environments provide a
rich opportunity for this application.
On the other hand, the needs of personal transportation and equipment
usage in rural America pose many obstacles to the use of EVs. For instance, it is patently ridiculous to
broadly apply the utilization of EVs to agricultural production. It took forever to get good internet service
to many parts of rural America and that battle continues; the challenges of
providing an effective charging network for EVs would dwarf this problem. We must carefully select where and how we apply EV technology and to the greatest extent
possible, let the marketplace and
consumer demands drive those efforts.
I
work part-time for a multifamily housing developer and a part of my job is to
review market studies for the potential project sites. The market studies thoroughly dissect the
environmental/demographic aspects of the potential locations and their geographical subjects
range from rural communities of 5-10
thousand folks up to urban areas of well over half-a-million residents. Part of the market study deals with how
workers travel to and from their jobs; the mode of transportation they
employ. It never ceases to amaze me how
few people in our country use public transportation. It is one of the most under-utilized aspects of
our nation today.
I
have no doubt that one of the best potential options for improving our climate is
engineering an increase in the use of public transportation. Think about that the next time you are stuck
in traffic or flying up the interstate.
Look around you and notice how many people are in each of the individual
vehicles that surround you. The next
time you are in town and passing through car
dealer row, look how many vehicles are on the used and new car lots. You want to improve the climate? Expand public transit; make it affordable and
reliable; make it safe and sanitary; and make it readily accessible. That would be an honest effort to reduce the
number of cars that populate our countryside and a significant step towards addressing
climate improvement.
I
honestly believe that at some point in the future…well after I am in the
ground…there will be scenes across our national landscape of an apocalyptic
nature that depicts acres and acres of decrepit, decaying, and abandoned wind
turbines littering the fields. In dairy
sections of rural America, there are structures known as blue monuments. These are
steel structures built on dairy farms to store and process silage used for
feeding the dairy cattle. As the dairy
industry has moved towards vertical integration and become an industry of fewer
and larger operations nationwide, these hulking structures can be found
abandoned at many farm sites all across the country. They have become obsolete due to industry
evolution. It costs more to dismantle
them than the benefit gained from their removal and they simply stand
there…rusting down and blighting the landscape.
That
is what will become of many wind farms that have been thrown up without
deliberation or forethought to the consequences of the action. Tens of
thousands of acres of our nation’s most productive farmland has been taken out of
production so that endless monuments of steel, wire, and propeller blades can
litter the land and destroy not only the aesthetics, but also the wildlife. How is the food product that was once
produced on that land now being replaced?
Pay attention to these wind farms… notice how many of the units are
turning, how often they turn, and how fast they turn. What happens to them when the government
subsidies that birthed them go away and they must rely on their cost/benefit
metric to survive? There will be no
subsidy to tear them down and restore the land.
These will be the new blue
monuments. And you lucky folks on
the coasts of New England or California…who have had your seascapes infected by
these wind farms…yeah, you thought the occasional oil rig was a terrible sight? Man, are you in for a shock.
We
can live cleaner…we can treat our planet with a higher degree of respect. We can be good stewards of this world that
God has given us. But we can also employ
a practical approach to how we live and the methods we apply in that
effort. We must cease living in a fantasy
land of easy solutions to climate change that look good on paper but miserably
flunk the common sense exam. We need to
take a deliberate, intelligent, expansive, selective, and immediate approach to
keeping our environment intact, healthy, productive, and safe for future
generations. Before we jump into the
deep end of the pool, we must consider that which lies beneath the surface.
On
to the news………………
Our national education crisis
continues unabated, with little indication of positive moves towards
improvement. Liberal-controlled
teacher and administrator unions, along with radical school boards, are
continuing to push their woke agendas while ignoring their primary function of
fundamental education. This will not
stop until parents stand up for their children, re-assert their rights as the
financiers of public education, and return our education system to some form of
an institution that be relied upon to prepare our youth for the myriad
challenges of future leadership. There must
be some form of accountability for the foolish decisions and actions that are being
taken.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/08/consequences-of-eroding-meritocracy.php
Truth is oftentimes inconvenient:
https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/16/the-erroneous-underpaid-teacher-claims/
https://reason.com/2023/08/16/the-government-has-made-college-an-overpriced-scam/
It is truly sad to watch our
pathetic and incompetent President continue his public displays of having no
functionality. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/something-is-still-wrong-with-the-president/
We can only continue to hope that our
nation’s constitutional fabric is sufficiently strong enough to survive a
dysfunctional government at all levels and simultaneously have a nincompoop as
our Chief Executive. Unfortunately, the same and forgiving
margin of error that exists for domestic policy is not present for foreign
policy. The consequences for foolish
American international relations can be deadly and costly beyond comprehension. As I have repeatedly stated…these are very dangerous times we live in
and the leadership vacuum we now have only exacerbates that risk.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/08/bidens-iran-scandal/
https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-hands-cash-to-iran-an-incentive-to-take-more-hostages
Likely the most obvious victim of
the meritocracy erosion we are seeing in all aspects of our culture and society
is the plain and simple loss of competence from the people that we rely on to keep
the trains running, keep the lights on, and keep the bills paid. I don’t believe that any administration in
the history of our country has promoted more incompetence in government
administration than the Biden Administration. In the name of Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion…Biden has populated our government from top to bottom with ideologues
that are not only incapable of performing their assigned duties and
responsibilities…they don’t even care about making the attempt.
Not
a week goes by without seeing some high-ranking government official holding a
press conference and exhibiting an alarming amount of cluelessness about that
which they are discussing. I have no
problem with a reasonable patronage system; in the political arena, to the
victor goes the spoils. But for heaven’s
sake…when you pick a player from your team to reward, at least pick someone who
is qualified to do the job you picked them for.
https://reason.com/2023/08/14/the-irs-misplaced-millions-of-taxpayer-records-again/
https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/16/how-unions-have-betrayed-america/
Least of three evils…Biden, Harris,
or Newsom? https://reason.com/2023/08/18/public-employee-unions-rule-california/
Speaking of incompetence, the
multi-ring circus that is our Department of Justice and its national network of
liberal law enforcement officials is continuing its political activities on
behalf of the Democrat Party in a fashion that is both shameless and energetic. What a pathetic joke
our justice system has become in this country.
Consider when they choose NOT to
take action…
https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/15/when-the-justice-system-falls-apart-so-does-the-republic/
Consider when they choose to take
action…
Be very careful about where you get
your information these days…
https://amgreatness.com/2023/08/14/media-lies-about-bidenomics/
The Election Dilemma is in full
bloom for both national parties. The
Democrats have their Biden Problem
and the Republicans have their Trump
Problem. How do you suppose they
will be solved?
Republicans…do you really want four
more years of this? https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-georgia-press-conference/2023/08/17/id/1131161/
https://thefederalist.com/2023/08/18/nikki-haley-is-hillary-2-0/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/08/make-way-for-trump.php
Here is a great podcast with some
valuable insight: https://www.nationalreview.com/podcasts/the-editors/georgia-on-the-mind/
Here’s a bonus for reading this
far…enjoy…and good luck…
https://reason.com/puzzle/2023/08/11/no-such-thing-as-a-free-lunch-puzzle-2/
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