CONTEST: Best climate ideas for Salem's next mayor

OK, now that slightly more than a third of us bothered to pick who would run unopposed for the mayor's seat in November, the real work can begin: Helping her understand the opportunities and challenges Salem is going to face as a result of the massive "let's wing it and see what happens" experiment we're running to determine what happens when you pump aeons of fossil-fuel carbon emissions into the atmosphere in a century or so.

To do so, I thought I'd try something new: a LOVESalem reader contest.

That is, to help get more people thinking about how Salem can either help prevent, prepare for, or respond to the global climate destabilization experiment we're running, LOVESalem is giving away three hardbound copies* of the excellent book "The Weather Makers" by Tim Flannery to the three people who submit the most interesting, creative, and useful ideas (in my opinion) for how Salem can help prevent, prepare for, or respond to the consequences of this experiment.

To enter, put your idea(s) into a comment below. Enter as many times as you like, be as creative as you can, and anticipate objections where possible (while remaining reasonably concise). Feel free to build on the ideas of others (so long as you add something significant to them).

When it seems that the brainstorming has tapered off, I'll try to consolidate all the ideas and pick three winners. If you want the book, put an email in with your suggestions or otherwise let me know how to contact you so I can get you the book if one of your ideas lands among the three best.

[*Fine Print: Potentially this will only prove that nobody reads LOVESalem; if so, or if the ideas are all recycled or if I just can't find three that grab me as exciting, then I'll do something else with the books. In other words, while I hope to give away these three books in return for some great ideas, the books aren't guaranteed to be given away at all. Oh, and since everybody's carbon emissions are the problem, you don't have to live in Salem or even Oregon to win -- you do have to live in the US, though, because the price of mailing books internationally has gotten way out of hand. But if you're outside the US and you have a great idea for what Salem should do, feel free to speak up, as this is a problem that hurts everybody, everywhere.]

WORD: Higher Ed's Big Lie

Image via Wikipedia

This is the most important unrecognized development out there -- that in an era where resource limits are the constraints (rather than human capital), increasing the amount of education that the idle cannot apply simply diverts resources from productive use to helping people mark time before being unemployed or underemployed. Helping to strap those people to huge amounts of debt at the same time is not just immoral but also exceedingly unwise.

We're starting to experience the national equivalent of PTSD as young people experience the Higher Ed myth unraveling in their own lives. Supposedly educated, they know that they lack any meaningful skills that anyone needs. They cannot make or maintain any of the goods that they use every day, nearly all of them do not have the slightest idea about how to grow or prepare the food they consume, the clothes they wear, or the shelter they inhabit; yet they are marked like Cain with a flaming scar, the number of dollars they owe for this "education" that has left them entirely at the mercy of others for their survival.

The elite mandarins and pundits are all talking about how we need to raise the age of retirement and get ordinary folks to scale back their expectations of what people can do for themselves collectively (i.e., through government). The reality is that if we continue with the Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama globalization ideal -- this weird experiment in destroying the middle class and moving to a third-world economic model of a hyper-rich elite presiding over a shattered middle that is constantly being told that they have no alternative but to accept an impoverished future of debt and insecurity -- we are stacking all the kindling we need right next to the gas cans.

UPDATE: The antidote.

Good news of the "No duh" variety

Still nice to see.

Excellent reminder from the Salem Public Library

If you live in or near Salem and are served by either of the big private utilities, you are already paying for Energy Trust services with your utility bills -- why not take advantage of them to make your home more comfortable, energy efficient, and cheaper to live in?

This is in the current Salem Public Library newsletter's "Questions to the Reference Librarians" column:

Q. I would like to make my home more energy efficient. I have a long list of possible home improvements, but am having trouble deciding what to do first. In addition to doing my bit towards making our world a better place, I want to take advantage of the tax incentives that are currently available.

A. Salem Public Library has several new books that may help you prioritize [sic -- ugh] your projects. Green Sense for the Home: Rating the Real Payoff from 50 Green Home Projects by Eric Corey Freed and Toward a Zero Energy Home: A Complete Guide to Energy Self-Sufficiency at Home by David Johnston are just a few.

You might also want to contact to Energy Trust of Oregon for a free home energy review. They will send a trained Energy Trust advisor to your home to assess your energy consumption and will provide you with a prioritized [ack!] list of improvements you can make. To schedule an evaluation, call the Energy Trust at 1-866-368-7878 or go their website at energytrust.org. Another good place to find information about energy-related tax incentives is the U.S. Department of Energy’s website at www.energy.gov/taxbreaks.htm.

Perhaps this will help: For those unable to comprehend the idea of natural resource limits

Image via Wikipedia

A huge problem -- perhaps THE problem of our time -- is that humans are continuing to use carelessly a powerful technology (capitalism) that we developed in an essentially empty world of abundant natural resources. We are continuing to use empty-world logic long past the time when the world could be described as empty or resources could be described as abundant.

One of the first cases a law student encounters is the case of Ghen v. Rich, which is used to illustrate concepts of ownership under the common law -- in that case, of a finback whale carcass. The basis for the decision was the court's concern to find a rule that would promote whaling: "Unless it is sustained . . . industry must necessarily cease, for no person would engage in it if the fruits of his labor could be appropriated by a chance finder."

This 1881 case perfectly illustrates the trend that has continued ever since, and at a global scale: the purpose of the law is to facilitate conversion of natural resources, the uncountable wealth of nature that makes human life and civilization possible, into countable wealth in someone's pocket.

Humanity is like an alpine climber suspended over a deep chasm by a hugely thick manila rope -- only we are ceaselessly cutting the tiny threads that make up the rope, one after another after another, year after year, decade after decade. So far the rope hasn't parted and we haven't fallen -- so we keep plucking at the threads, snipping them off one by one wherever it's profitable to do so.

Take a U. Chicago course for free

If only those who most need this would bother watching it. Here's a review of the book used in the course, which you can take in, for free, at the links above.

5.0 out of 5 stars The next best thing to enrolling at U. of Chicago, February 24, 2007

By	raypierre (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast (Paperback)

I wish to commend this wonderful book written by my colleague, David Archer. The class upon which this book is based is a runaway success, and each year it seems they need to find a bigger lecture hall. When you have read the books like "The Weather Makers," and "Field Notes from a Catastrophe," and are ready for something more quantitative but still fairly gentle on the math, this is the one for you. I think it's the best source around for people who want to get a true scientific understanding of the physics and chemistry of climate change.

Some reading for Madam (almost certainly) Mayor-Elect

A clear, concise, chilling article by my favorite actuary, Gail the Actuary, who does a wonderful job explaining this moment in time and its repercussions in easily understood language.

The illustration above, in a nutshell, is the problem Salem (and everyplace else in America and the industrialized world) faces from here on out, as the blue portion gets larger and larger and larger still, even as the whole pie shrinks.

O.M.G. -- is there any better example of how catering to cars lobotomizes city officials?

The always-excellent Salem Heritage Network has a truly tragic entry today showing just how low Salem has fallen in terms of destroying its past -- our past! -- to cater to automobiles. Worse, living here now, one finds little evidence that anything has changed in City Hall.

See the pictures there for a truly horrific and revealing display.

In the late 1940s, Salem's downtown had spaces on the street for automobiles to park in front of stores, but did not have parking lots to accommodate the increase in personal cars since the end of the war. One innovative proposal was to demolish the Holman Building (top photograph above) and make room for parking above a new auto maintenance and repair shop. Those residents who were concerned by the loss of Salem's heritage which this building represented, formed the Marion County Historical Society with the mission of preserving it and, more widely, interpreting the city and county's cultural resources. Its first president, David Duniway, led the fight to preserve the historic Holman Building, reminding the public that for the first years of Oregon statehood (1859-1876), the legislature meet here and most of our basic laws were debated on this site. But he was not successful, the building was demolished and the Marion Car Rental and Park (lower photograph) was built this year.

When you visit
The Marion Car Rental and Park is located on the northwest corner of Ferry and Commercial Streets, a busy intersection for traffic entering Front Street going west from Ferry, or continuing south on Commercial. It is diagonally across the street from the Conference Center. To learn more about the Holman Building and the other historic buildings that were once on this important corner of the new city, read the interpretive panel on the stair landing inside the Conference Center.

Quick, get your state parks pass now

You can bet the prices will be climbing. Salem is blessed to be so close to Silver Falls State Park, a place so beautiful that words can't convey it.

If you get the $50 pass that's good for 24 months -- 25 if you buy it at the beginning of a month, you just have to visit Silver Falls ten times for it to pay off. Even better, the pass is now a card you hang over the mirror of your car, rather than a windshield sticker, meaning that you can give the pass to friends and family for use when you're not using it. We had guests at LOVESalem HQ this week and they're off with our pass now, gallivanting around Oregon.

TIP: When you go to Silver Falls, buy the pass at the Nature Store and the Friends of Silver Falls will get a cut, which goes to help maintain the park. If the entry booth isn't staffed, just drive past it, park, and go to the Nature Store and buy the pass and hang it in your mirror. If the entry booth is staffed, presumably they'll let you in to buy the pass at the Nature Store -- if not, just park outside the entrance for a minute, walk to the store, buy the pass, and you're all set.

It's a heckuva deal, and a great way to get great reminders of what a gorgeous place we live in.

The Elephant in the DEIS

Quick, if you were spotted a C and two Os, could you tell what's missing from the DEIS (supposedly stands for "Draft Environmental Impact Statement" but with equal or greater truth could be said to stand for Deceptive Evasive Insidious Scam)? The latest from the "Salem River Crossing" (3rd bridge) boondoggle, the last gasp of the megaproject boondoggle mentality, still limping along squandering millions of dollars while Oregon's budget situation goes from bleak to disastrous:

DEIS Update

The Natural Environment

When the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) is released this fall, it will discuss potential impacts to the natural environment. Some common questions that the DEIS will answer include:

• How will wildlife or fish habitat be affected by building a new bridge?
• Will air quality in the region be better or worse if a project is built or if construction does not occur?
• Are there any earthquake hazards that we should be aware of before selecting a preferred alternative?
• How will the project affect wetlands, vegetation, and wildlife habitat?
• How will project construction address stormwater runoff?
  

Schedule Update

The DEIS will provide detailed analysis of the potential natural environment impacts and will show how the impacts are different among alternatives. These impacts, as well as any steps to offset the impacts, will be part of the public discussion for deciding on a preferred alternative.

Since the last email update, staff have been working on completing the technical reports on which the DEIS is based. Most of the reports have been completed and are currently being reviewed and summarized by project staff. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the DEIS and the impacts to the natural environment, along with other impacts, when the DEIS is published this fall.

Please watch for future updates on the Salem River Crossing project and check the website for more ways to get involved later this year. If you have any questions, please contact us. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list, please let us know.

This misbegotten attempt to continue the auto uber alles mindset in Salem is getting ripe for a court challenge should the project backers (primarily ODOT and the construction/highway lobby -- or is that redundant?) attempt to proceed. Now that the Feds have recognized CO2 as a pollutant, a massive $600 million boondoggle that worsens our CO2 emissions is going to have a hard time pretending that it's still the 1950s and 60s.