Savannah Moments

Occupy Wall Street: This Movement has Legs

savannahbest — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 21:54:09 +0000

When police break up peaceful demonstrations the result has always been to radicalize individuals who, under other circumstances, would remain more moderate. With Occupy Wall Street (OWS) this action is even more ironic because the members of the police force, as individuals, have also been harmed by the actions of unregulated Wall Street and the move, primarily by Republicans, to reduce the size of government. The police and OSW should be joining forces instead of riot-gear heavy handedness.

OSW is a work in progress. Their actions have reminded America that the perpetrators of fraud in the derivatives scandal have never been brought to justice, and that the growing disparity of wealth in this country is bleeding the middle class and putting a terrible burden on those already living in poverty.

The parks may be cleared for the moment, but the spirit of OWS isn’t going
away. — js

Videographer Alert!

savannahbest — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:45:08 +0000

Videographers, Documentary Producers. I-Reporters. (Michael Moore?) Here’s a tip for your next project. There are 21,000,000 children in America who receive free or reduced-price
meals at school. Yet the Republicans in Congress won’t ask for a nickel
more from the 256,000 millionaires. How about a video showing the kids
lined up at school cafeterias, a shot of the menu, and an interview with
the local administrator to find out what these meals cost, and then
interviewing diners at a very posh restaurant in your area to find out
what they are eating and what it costs?

Just the facts — don’t even need comentary. Should make for interesting
viewing. — js

Beware the Rising Tide

savannahbest — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 21:04:10 +0000

President John F. Kennedy famously said “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Well that was true then, but over the last 20 years a rising tide lifted all yachts, left people in rowboats bailing furiously and those with no boats, who have not drowned yet, are treading water. — js

Kids in Poverty in America

savannahbest — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:00:47 +0000

One out of every four children in America lives in poverty, that is the latest national report. And we wonder why there are so many kids who drop out. The blamers point to school districts, teachers, unions, tenure — but is that where the real problem is? How, as a nation, are we willing to live with this shame? –js

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ExxonMobil: Kiss the Planet Goodbye

savannahbest — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:33:34 +0000

Global energy demand will be 30% higher in 2040 than in 2010 as the population soars to 8.7 billion notes Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO. He urges “Increasing energy efficiency is not a luxury. It is a necessity”. Otherwise energy demand will be 4 times higher.

However, he also predicts “the sources of energy are not going to be too different than they are today.” Oil, Gas, coal and nuclear will dominate and alternative energy will remain in single digits.

Doesn’t he realize that scenario means no serious reduction in the production of greenhouse gases over the next 30 years? He makes no mention of hydrogen and fuel cells as part of a future energy mix. Pity the planet if he is right. – js

March on, Occupy!

savannahbest — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:37:56 +0000

Today, November 17, is the two month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, launched on September 17.when a handful of activists marched down Wall Street and refused to leave.
Nay Sayers seem to forget that our nation was founded by brave young Americans protesting against the rule of the rich and powerful. They seem not to remember that the Civil Rights Movement, women’s equality (we’re not quite there yet, but we’ve come a long, long way), Gay rights (coming along) and other good things have been accomplished by such protests.
In these two months, a great deal has been accomplished. The media has been forced to talk about jobs, debt, inequality, corruption and greed. Giant banks have abandoned debit card fees, and billions of dollars have been moved from banks to credit unions.
In Ohio, Mississippi, Arizona, and Kentucky important elections have been won.
Those of us who have done little but quietly applaud should give some thought to getting out there and supporting our nearest local Occupy group….like all the other battles that organized protest has won, this one can be one as well.
Kudos to Occupy!
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Renewables soon to produce more energy than nuclear power

savannahbest — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:38:13 +0000

A recently released report on electric generation in the U.S. shows that renewables (hydro, wind, solar, biomass/biofuels) now produce an equivalent amount of electricity as all the nuclear power plants. (Both just over 8%). By 2012 renewables will produce even more. –js

Attacks on EPA come from coal backers

savannahbest — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 20:33:23 +0000

Speaking of coal, most of the attacks on the EPA are directed at regulations to reduce the amount of pollution still spewed out by older coal-fired utilities. The utility companies have several years to comply and some have decided to close their smaller, most polluting plants rather than spend the money to upgrade them. Those utilities with very large facilities that need to have better pollution controls want to weaken the authority of the EPA so they will not have to comply.
Newer coal-fired plants are already in compliance – so that is not an issue. Anticipating the new EPA regulations, the manufacturers of pollution control equipment are developing whole new technologies to educe pollution. Rather than crippling an industry, the EPA regulations are fostering the growth of these new technologies which have the potential to create more jobs, as well as stimulate exports to other
countries who are battling the problems created by efficient coal-fired plants. –js

Solar and Jobs

savannahbest — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:23:53 +0000

The supporters of the coal industry talk about the jobs they create when the truth is that, in the coal fields east of the Mississippi the number of jobs continues to decrease. Miners are replaced by humongous machines that rape the earth. In fact, there are now more jobs in the solar industry than there are in the Eastern coal fields. — js

Solar is The New Wind

savannahbest — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:28:04 +0000

You may remember when a senior manager at GE said “Solar is the new wind”.
Well, GE is making good on that by announcing the construction of a massive
thinfilm (CdTe – cadmium telluride on glass substrate) manufacturing facility in Colorado. Eventually costing $600-million it will be the size of 11 football fields and will have the initial capacity of 400MW with efficiency of over 14%. Construction will be completed in 2013 and sales will begin in 2014. GE predicts this is just one of many factories they will build and that globally installations will total over 75,000 MW in the next five years.

GE will have to compete in price with First Solar – and that company has said it is shooting for manufacturing costs nearing 50cents a watt (down from the 62cents today) At that price point solar installations should really take off.