Musings from Jay (blog site permanently frozen 11/05/2024 morning)

It is interesting that Harris has changed horses. At one time she had talked about banning fracking and penalizing emissions but not anymore. While it is crucial to figure out a safe non disruptive way to transition to a future economy that emits much less, her change is quite startling. There is little talk of climate change on the campaign trail. So, what gives? What is my take?  Biden locked in a lot of gains with the decade-long bills he got congress to pass including the inflation reduction act and turbo charging nuclear power use in US. These initiatives include funding for a variety of climate initiatives, and I have small writeups on the key ones further below.   Many states are also making good progress with renewables. Also, EPA rules to cut power plant emissions, and EPA rules to cut methane emissions have been formed and they have not been blocked by the supreme court. Also, some actions have been locked in for emissions from agriculture. These are the ...

ORGANIZATION AND FOCUS The emphasis of these essays is on making you understand the problem and recognize it is real and what you individually can do. In the first essay, I have put together practical and impactful concrete things you can do for climate change. The major thrust of the science of climate series is science showing the solid basis for the scientific result that is understandable, so you know climate change is real, and why I am writing about it. Hopefully this motivates you   to do the actions in the first essay and supporting set of essays. The last set of supporting essays are often from the web and are an analysis of the key sectors for greenhouse emissions, and things  you can do . One essay is on some consequences of climate change which might motivate you to take action. It ends with a rallying cry to explain the power of grassroots to motivate you to take action.  The essays are razor focused on climate change and does not attempt to cover the much...

  I have outlined many things you as an individual can do. All of these add up and gets multiplied across many people. However, when the grassroots support gets to a critical mass, wonderful things start happening in the political sphere, policy sphere, international sphere, and markets! Even if not organized in a formal movement, thousands of people making similar choices independently is electrifying!! In a democracy, politicians represent the people and are attuned to their needs and opinions. When the critical mass is reached, they listen and take action - even if hard to do so. Policies then flow. International agreements are expedited and reached  including with the lungs of the world countries to preserve forests . People accept policy decisions and agreements more readily even if not convenient for them.  Policies like renewable energies gain steam in states which were dragging their feet before. Policies like less emitting transport options in a city or community...

This subject is best written as a country specific essay.  I asked copilot this question:  The transport sector is a major consumer of fossil fuels.  28% of US greenhouse gas emissions are due to the transport sector.  The breakdown of greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector in US in 2022 is:  Light-duty vehicles: 57%  Medium- and heavy-duty trucks: 23%  Aircraft: 9%  Other: 6%  Rail: 2%  Ships and boats: 3%   The US culture and lifestyles, city designs and population dispersal in cities, low prevalence of public transit systems, very limited rail options except primarily metros or light rail in a few cities, and vast spaces strongly favors using automobiles in most regions and this will not change. There are some high and mid-speed train corridors or new rail projects, but they are very few. The northeast is one of the few areas with a decent intercity rail market.  The outlook for hydr...