Neon Leon: March 2018

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Neon Leon: As The World Becomes Hotter, Mankind Swims In a Se...

Neon Leon: As The World Becomes Hotter, Mankind Swims In a Se...: The Many Faces of Climate Change “It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." A...

As The World Becomes Hotter, Mankind Swims In a Sea of Ignorance

The Many Faces of Climate Change

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment." Ansel Adams (1902-1984)

Adams is still considered one of the best photographers in history. He specialized in capturing the beauty of nature with precision and patience. He was instrumental in the growth of the Sierra Club, successfully lobbied Congress to enact Alaskan wildlife legislation to protect 100 million acres, and was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980 by President Carter for his "visionary . . . efforts to preserve this country's wild and scenic areas both on film and on earth."

Adams was one of the first defenders of nature, and many others followed his lead over the ensuing years, culminating in the creation of The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1970 under President Nixon as an agency of the federal government with a mission to protect human and environmental health.

I had an epiphany of sorts on July 21, 1969 with the realization that while Neil Armstrong was walking on the Moon, on Earth, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was burning. (Later, I learned that it was aflame on twelve occasions before.) Many Americans like me began to realize that our environment was under attack, and the event helped to spur the environmental movement in the US.

The reports soon came pouring in about what was happening to our air, land, and water. For those who are too young to remember, here are a few examples I have summarized from Wikipedia:

Toxic chemical dump sites were discovered in Love Canal, N.Y. and Times Beach, Mo. in the 80's. Officials discovered a high rate of birth defects, miscarriages, illnesses and white blood cell counts. Since then, 1,324 other sites have been unearthed. Here is where they are:

It was also a time when Americans gradually learned about the possible danger of radioactive decay posed to citizens. The most radioactive site, at Hanford, Washington, was initially designed to create the atomic bombs dropped on Japan in WWII. During the Cold War, the site grew to include nine nuclear reactors and five large processing complexes, which produced plutonium to add 60,000 nuclear weapons to our arsenal.

Many early safety procedures and waste disposal practices were inadequate, and government documents have confirmed that Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River. In addition, nuclear waste depositories from power plants and bomb production eventually ended up in some 30 states.

Today, it's run by the Department of Energy through its contractor, Washington River Protection Solutions. The contractor is managing a $110 billion cleanup of 56 million gallons of chemical and nuclear waste, stored in 177 underground tanks — a task that's expected to last the next 50 years. Just this year, 61 workers have been exposed, and some nuclear experts have called Hanford "the most toxic place in America" and "an underground Chernobyl waiting to happen." (source: KGW News - Nov. 29,2016)

From Wikipedia: In the late 1960s, the Public Health Service identified new threats to the quality of drinking water. Industrial and agricultural advances used new man-made chemicals which had negative impacts on public health and often found their way into water supplies through factory discharges, street and farm field runoff, and leaking underground storage and disposal tanks. Although techniques such as aeration and carbon adsorption (for removal of organic contaminants) existed at the time, they were either underutilized or ineffective at removing some new contaminants. Several studies showed that as little as 60 percent of the systems surveyed delivered water that met health standards, while 50 percent of the delivery systems had major deficiencies involving disinfection or pressure.

By the 1960s, the United States was poisoning itself with pesticides. I remember reading naturalist Rachel Carson's book, "Silent Spring" which was required reading in many colleges in those days. The book documented the detrimental effects of DDT, a synthetic pesticide, and other chemical compounds that caused harm to wildlife, especially to birds. It helped to catalyze what became known as the Environmental Movement, symbolized by the first observance of "Earth Day" in April of 1970.

The word "smog" became known during the 70's to identify the brown and grey haze hanging over many cities. The long lasting and nasty effects on the air we breathed were documented many times. I remember seeing the stuff when I flew or drove into L.A., Medford (OR), and Denver. Once there, you could actually taste the stuff. Acid rain, (a combination of rain, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides) was another biggie. It was caused by power plant emissions, especially coal fired ones. And it had negative effects on plants, fish, soil and forests. I remember stories about it destroying car paint when it rained, but I don't recall seeing any actual pictures or video of damaged cars.

The EPA responded in numerous ways to fix the mess. In the 1980s, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) instituted Superfund, an environmental initiative that authorizes the EPA to evacuate populations, perform emergency removal actions and pursue polluters.

The EPA and state agencies use the Hazard Ranking System to calculate a score (0-100) based on the actual or potential release of hazardous substance from a site. A score of 28.5 places a site as eligible for the Superfund program. As of August, 2016 there were 1,328 sites listed; 391 had been delisted, and 55 new ones proposed. ed. note: Wikipedia is the source for factual data in this posting, unless otherwise noted.

The cleanup of chemical dump sites by the EPA has continued unabated. Many states have joined in the effort also. And a whole industry of private cleanup companies has evolved in the past 20 years. Spurred by Love Canal, Congress levied a special tax on oil and chemical companies to clean up such sites. It raised $1.8 billion—plenty, they assumed, to clean up all the toxic waste in the country. But as more and more toxic sites were identified—at one point, 30,000 were nominated—billions of more bucks have been needed. Many federal and state regulations now insure that there will be no additional

sites will be added and efforts to make corporations, who dumped their waste anywhere they chose to over the years, are faced with legally mandated payments for cleanup efforts. If you want to know if a superfund site is near you, click right here.

Public awareness eventually led to the passage of several federal environmental and health laws, one of which was the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974. That law, with significant amendments in 1986 and 1996, is administered today by the EPA.. Since the passage of the original 1974 Act, the number of water systems applying some type of treatment to their water has increased. According to several EPA surveys, from 1976 to 1995, the percentage of small and medium community water systems that treat their water has steadily increased. In 1976 only 33 percent of systems serving fewer than 100 people provided treatment. By 1995, that number had risen to 69 percent. (Larger systems often have the customer base to provide the funds needed to install and improve treatment equipment.)

Improvements to distribution systems evolved as populations have grown also. Today, filtration and chlorination remain effective treatment techniques for protecting U.S. water supplies from harmful microbes, although additional advances in disinfection have been made over the years. According to a 2005 EPA survey, approximately 64 percent of community groundwater and surface water systems disinfect their water with chlorine. Almost all of the remaining surface water systems, and some of the remaining ground water systems, use another type of disinfectant, such as ozone or chloramine.

As for the air quality, the Clean Air Act passed in 1970 gave the EPA permission to regulate acid forming chemicals and acid rain is largely a thing of the past. Smog conditions have improved also. According to EPA statistics, "aggregate emissions of six common pollutants dropped 70% between 1970 and 2015.

So while the Superfund sites will remain a huge problem for years to come, overall the EPA's record is not too shabby. Unfortunately, the to do list for the agency continues to grow (e.g. abandoned mines and contaminated military bases).

Today, the overarching concern of the EPA in America, as well as virtually every nation on earth, centers around what many consider as an existential threat to life on Earth. It's a threat that has been growing for a century which can not be easily fixed. It is known as---

Global Warming

Dictionaries define global warming and climate change as terms for the observed century scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system and its related effects. Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming. OK, so the last sentence is dismissed by some, but we will return to debate that a bit later. I should note that while there is considerable agreement that some locales are experiencing a warming climate, there is less agreement that it is the fault of mankind, rather it is simply a normal change in nature.

Since we are talking about a global situation, let us look at a few of the places that are impacted by climate change.

The man in the picture below is Robert McLeman, an environmental scientist who co-founded Rink Watch, at a municipal rink in Waterloo, Canada. Right, a puck in a local soggy backyard. Canadians are facing a huge decline in ice skating, a national pastime, because its too warm for deep ice. (Credit Aaron Vincent Elkaim for The New York Times)

The picture below is of the Pacific Island Nation of Kiribati, which has been called the first country to succumb to the rising waters caused by global warming. They have purchased eight square miles on Vanua Levu, one of the Fiji islands, about 700 miles away. The population is 110,000. A bit of a tight fit, in my opinion.

"Ask nearly anyone in the Miami area about flooding and they’ll have an anecdote to share. Many will also tell you that it’s happening more and more frequently. The data backs them up.

In the US, south Florida is ground zero – as much for the adaptation strategies it is attempting as for the risk that it bears. One reason is that water levels here are rising especially quickly. The most frequently-used range of estimates puts the likely range between 6-10 inches above 1992 levels by 2030, and 31-61 inches by 2100. With tides higher than they have been in decades – and far higher than when this swampy...corner of the US began to be drained and built [100 years ago] – many of south Florida’s drainage systems and seawalls are no longer enough [which means more flooding and] challenges for the infrastructure that residents depend on every day, from septic tanks to wells. --source: BBC April 4, 2017 by Amandi Puggeri.

On the left is a picture of an ice calving event. Ice calving, also known as glacier calving or iceberg calving, is the breaking of ice chunks from the edge of a glacier. In 2005, nearly the entire shelf calved from the northern edge of Ellesmere Island. Since 1900, about 90% of Ellesmere Island's ice shelves have calved and floated away. This event was the biggest of its kind for at least the past 25 years. A total of 33.6 square miles of ice was lost in this event. The largest piece was 25.6 square miles in area, slightly larger than the City of Manhattan. On the right is a snapshot taken from a weather satellite which shows that since 1979, more than 20 percent of the polar ice cap has melted away. Source: Wikipedia

"Higher waves caused by a warming planet are chipping away at platforms that have supported some of the famous statues on Easter Island for more than 500 years, according to a United Nations report on cultural heritage sites and climate change.

'Some Easter Island statues are at risk of being lost to the sea because of coastal erosion,' said Adam Markham, deputy director of the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists and lead author of the 2016 report, which examined the potential damage climate change can have on 31 of the world’s more than 1,000 heritage properties. 'Climate change is affecting World Heritage sites across the globe,' Markham said." (CNN Dec. 2016) One could easily add Uganda, Venice, Australia, and The Alps to the list also.

The evidence is right before our eyes--yep, the world is warming. Just how much is a matter of considerable debate. Here are a couple graphs provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)and the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) which indicate just how much warming exists:

This graph illustrates the change in global surface temperature relative to 1951-1980 average temperatures. Seventeen of the 18 warmest years in the 136-year record all have occurred since 2001, with the exception of 1998. The year 2016 ranks as the warmest on record. (Source: NASA/GISS).

This research is broadly consistent with similar constructions prepared by the Climatic Research Unit and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others seen below.

Climate skeptics have their images also. Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) uses satellite data for all kinds of applications, including climate changes in weather, and are well regarded in the scientific community. So their graph, entitled "No Global Warming in 17.5 Years" (one source of the infamous Climategate stories, later debunked) of a puzzler, because it bears no resemblance to what Dr. Carl Mears and Frank Wentz of RSS reported recently in The Journal of Climate: “The changes[using more precise satellite readings] result in global-scale warming … about 30 per cent larger than our previous version of the dataset." Here's that report:

So what do the climate scientists have to say? Here are two polls which reveal massively different results:

The round one here is offered by Jonova.com. ( a site long critical of scientific reports in general). The source of the data is from what was called the 30,000 Global Warming Petition 20 years ago, the brainchild Art Robinson of the self-proclaimed “Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine” (OISM) Along with the Exxon-backed George C. Marshall Institute, Robinson’s group co-published the infamous “Oregon Petition” claiming to have collected 17,000 signatories to a document arguing against the realities of global warming. Then they produced phony documents...made to look like official papers from the prestigious National Academy of Science. They weren’t, and this attempt to mislead has been well-documented. Also attached to the petition was an apparent “research paper” titled Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. The paper was made to mimic...a research paper posted in the ... Academy’s prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy journal [and prompted] the National Academy to issue a news release stating: 'The petition project was a deliberate attempt to mislead scientists and to rally them in an attempt to undermine support for the Kyoto Protocol. The petition was not based on a review of the science of global climate change, nor were its signers experts in the field of climate science.' "---source: Huffington Post which you can read right here. The thing has a life of its own in the climate sceptics' alternate universe.

This one (above) is the real deal, formed after three years of research by by three national and international organizations specializing in analysis of scientist and their work.

When does hot become too hot?

From a report by Phys.Org in 9/29/16:

"Earth is on track to sail past the two degree Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) threshold for dangerous global warming by 2050, seven of the world's top climate scientists warned in Sept. 2016.

"Climate change is happening now, and much faster than anticipated," said Sir Robert Watson, former head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), the body charged with distilling climate science for policy makers."

"Without additional efforts by all major emitters (of greenhouse gases), the 2C target could be reached even sooner," he told journalists in a phone briefing."

"The planet has already heated up 1.0 C (1.8 F) above the pre-industrial benchmark, and could see its first year at 1.5 C within a decade, scientists reported at a conference in Oxford last week."

"The Paris Agreement, inked by 195 nations in December, set an even more ambitious target, vowing to cap warming at "well under" 2C, and even 1.5C if possible." ed note: President Donald Trump withdrew American participation in the agreement.

Who are the major pro and con participants in what I consider as the most important debate in the world?

American Meteorological Society

PRO

Intergovernmental Panel
On Climate Change

US National
Academy of Sciences

NASA

US Global Change
Research P

American Association
for the Advancement of Society

What all these organizations (there are dozens more) from all over the world have in common are the following facts about the world we live in: (1) The planet's temperature is rising. (2) Carbon dioxide levels are increasing in the atmosphere. (3) Increased CO2 is the primary driver of global warming. (4) We are responsible for the increase in CO2. (5) An overwhelming majority of scientists agree with all the above.

CON

These organizations are not as well known as the ones listed above, so here's a brief sketch of each: The George C. Marshall Institute (GMI) was a nonprofit conservative think tank, established in 1984 focusing on science and public policy, initially in the area of defense. In the late 80s, GMI started disputing mainstream scientific opinion on climate change. Matthew Crawford, appointed head of GMI in 2001, left after 5 months, saying the institute was "fonder of some facts than others...the trappings of scholarship were used to put a scientific cover on positions arrived at otherwise...my arguments about global warming [were made] to coincide with the positions of the oil companies that funded it. In 2015, it closed after lobbying against negative reports on tobacco, acid rain, and ozone depletion.

The Global Climate Coalition was an international lobbyist group of businesses that opposed action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and challenged the science behind global warming. The GCC was the largest industry group active in climate policy and the most prominent industry advocate in international climate negotiations. The GCC was involved in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, and played a role in blocking ratification by the United States. The coalition promoted the views of climate skeptics. It dissolved in 2001 after membership declined in the face of improved knowledge of the role of greenhouse gases in climate change and public criticism.

The Information Council for the Environment (ICE) was a program formed by a coalition of U.S. coal companies joined by the Edison Electric Institute. The goal was to “Reposition global warming as theory (not fact),” which it would accomplish through radio and newspaper ads. It was guided by a “Science Advisory Panel” made up of scientists who contributed with public appearances and newspaper columns for the group. ICE claimed that “evidence that the earth is warming is weak” and also claimed proof that carbon dioxide was the primary cause for climate change was “non existent.” ICE collapsed in 2015 shortly after internal memoranda for their PR campaign were leaked to the press, after which some members reported that the campaign contained “blatant dishonesty." A 2015 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) noted that ICE's ad campaign “was designed to disparage climate science [by cherry-picking data about] cooling temperatures." ”

By contrast, The National Association of Scholars is alive

and well with a 31 year history. The NAS is an American non-profit, conservative advocacy group, with a particular interest in education. It promotes free speech on college campuses for dissident political trends, a return to mid-20th-century curricular and scholarship norms, and an increase in conservative representation in faculty. It has a deep bench of respected conservative intellectuals who, until, 2010 maintained an agnostic, centrist approach to their criticism of multiculturalism, political, correctness and the content of collegiate courses, and they still do. But in 2010 and 2011 writings by NAS president Peter Wood attacked sustainability and climate science. His efforts in a public relations program to cast doubt on a climate science was exposed and was widely criticized for espousing climate contrarianism under the group's auspices, with no evident expertise in the climate science field. Critics note current efforts to deny climate change continue. National Association of Scholars has 40 employees and an estimated annual revenue of $2.3M. Their financial records indicate heavy backing by conservatives such as the Sarah Scaife, J.M., Coors and Smith Richardson foundations, among others.

A number of common threads run through most of these groups. (1)
There is insufficient evidence that global warming is occuring. (2) Carbon dioxide is a good thing, critical for plant growth, etc. with no negative impact on climate. (3) Global warming is a hoax that exists only to fill the pockets of the scientists and groups involved. (4) One only has to look at the snow and ice out their window to realize that it's not really hot out there. (5) China is promoting Global Warming so that the US will be suckered into spending unnecessary billions on the climate. (6) The second coming of Jesus will fix any and all problems, including climate change.

My take: While it is always important to recognize that humans are susceptible to group-think (i.e. members of groups tend to ignore beliefs or facts that do not support theirs) the scientific method, consisting in systematic observation, measurement and experiment as well as the formulation, testing and modification of theories still provides the best antidote for tribal ignorance. As a journalist, I have always sought opposing views gleaned from the most current and accurate cold, hard facts available. I am not a climate scientist, of course, but after years of reviewing information about our planetary health from any and all sources imaginable, its my humble opinion that global warming is a fact and yes, we should be afraid. Afraid especially, for our kids who will live in either an increasingly hostile world or a world full of wonder and love. Time is not on our side. We already know how to proceed, let us get on with it!

Let us take a squint at how that journey is evolving in America by looking at the EPA after a year under the Trump administration.

Make America Toxic Again

It should be no surprise that, given the oft repeated belief that "Global warming is a myth!" held by President Trump and virtually all members of his administration, the EPA would undergo significant change, but nothing like this:

To date, the Trump administration has sought to reverse more than 60 environmental rules, according to a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Regulation Rollback Tracker, Columbia Law School’s Climate Tracker and other sources. The report is right here:

The list is far too large for this posting but I will highlight some of them, divided into two sections--  rollbacks which are in progress and rules which have been overturned. (The withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement by Trump isn't included because of its largely international focus.)
IN PROGRESS
Clean Power Plan
Car, truck fuel-efficiency standards
Offshore oil and gas leasing
Status of 10 national monuments
Status of 12 marine areas
Limits on toxic discharge from power plants
Coal ash discharge regulations
Emissions standards for power plants
Sage grouse habitat protections
Regs for offshore oil and gas exploration
Limits on methane emissions on public lands

OVERTURNED

Flood building standards
Freeze on new coal leases on public lands
Methane reporting requirement
Anti-dumping rule for coal companies
Decision on Keystone XL, Dakota pipeline
Decision on Dakota Access pipeline
Offshore drilling ban in the Atlantic and Arctic
Ban on seismic air gun testing in the Atlantic
Royalty regulations for oil, gas and coal
Inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews
Permit-issuing process for new infrastructure projects
Endangered species listings
Hunting ban on wolves and grizzly bears in Alaska
Protections for whales and sea turtles
Environmental mitigation for federal projects
Mine cleanup rule
Sewage treatment pollution regulations
Restrictions on fishing
Fracking regulations on public lands
Migratory bird protections

And that ain't all folks. The long anticipated and badly needed American infrastructure plan put forth by the administration deserves a heightened degree of attention also. Forbes magazine said this in their Jan. 30 web posting, under the title "Trump’s Infrastructure Plan Is an All-Out Assault on the Environment." The report went on to say "The Trump administration’s head-spinning plan is simple: Gut or weaken environmental protections that get in the way of [the] ... bulldozers. In fact, the...plan would require significant changes to at least nine environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Clean Air Act, and Clean Water Act.  Americans don’t want this. A poll of likely voters...by the Center for American Progress and Defenders of Wildlife found that 94% of likely voters—including 92% of Trump voters—believe we can build...America’s infrastructure while also maintaining environmental protections for air, water, wildlife, and natural places."

Given that polling, one has to wonder why on Earth congressional Republicans, especially those who are facing what most consider a dim outcome in the midterm elections support Trump's plan.

Andy Kroll wrote an essay in the November 2016 issue of The Rolling Stone which still resonates:

"The GOP has come to rely on (and fear) the spigot of campaign cash from the fossil-fuel industry. The Koch brothers and their donor pals have pledged $889 million to push their conservative agenda in 2016 alone...Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist [responded by saying] "Isn't that interesting? You have 889 million reasons to go against the facts, the voters and their icons."

'...oil and gas companies know that they've all but lost the war of public opinion on the truth of climate change. So instead they have trained their firepower on a single party in a single place in hopes of blocking progress [at ]...the key strategic choke point: Congress,' says Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse(D-R.I.)... he has delivered nearly 150 speeches on the Senate floor...calling out "the Web of Denial," the network of secretly funded groups that peddle doubt on climate change. 'They put a choke chain on the Republican Party [and then...gave a couple of hard yanks to say, 'Line up with us.'"

'It's a strategy born of desperation, but a clever one all the same...Whitehouse says. 'They silenced the McCains. They got ...Mitch McConnell totally in their corner with the floods of money they're pouring in to support his candidates. And once they had accomplished that, they were able to take what is essentially dirty, traditional, special-interest pleading and make it look like part of the partisan wars.' " In addition, let me offer up this link about the  right-wing media echo chamber that feeds anti-science conspiratorial thinking.

"According to congressional Democrats, plenty of Republicans ... know the truth about climate – most of them just won't come out and say it. Whitehouse tells me he knows a dozen Senate Republicans who want to help on climate change but say they can't, for political reasons. Part of the evolution that has to occur is they have to be more scared of pro-climate voters than these Super PACS that threaten them."

"There are initial signs that heretics exist within the Church of Carbon. [Note the recent]...creation of the Climate Solutions Caucus, a group of 20 House members equally divided among Democrats and Republicans, as evidence of an awakening to the reality...of climate change... But David Jolly, a Republican congressman, says he doesn't expect much more movement in the current crop of GOP lawmakers, saying 'It might take another 10 years for a new generation of Republicans to take a new approach to this. ' "

"But Republican Bob Inglis, for his part, [has been] somewhat more optimistic. He [has said] it's only a matter of time before the ravages of climate change – flooded cities, resource conflicts, extreme heat in the summers and unbearable cold in the winters – persuade his fellow Republicans to emerge from hiding. 'It's an unsustainable position. We're gonna change. The question is whether we change fast enough.' "

Amen.

Neon Leon is posted every second and last Sunday each month except the usual holidays and occasional wild and wooly expeditions. Please use the search window or the listings of specific dates for access to previous posts.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

The Future Has Arrived---.Welcome to the Cloud!

"The best way to predict the future is to create it." --Peter Drucker  (1909 – 2005).

Drucker was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation.

I would add that human creativity never sleeps, and our knowledge base grows exponentially. And while we have always had the potential to create any number of nasty things (think nuclear bombs, a warming planet, etc.), we also have an innate ability to create things that have improved our lives (think the invention of the wheel, autos, computers, etc.)

Amidst the ever prevalent news of war, genocide, rising seas and the like, we need to remember how far homo sapiens has advanced since we ventured out of our caves aeons ago.

In that vein, consider Steven Pinker's (A respected linguist and cognitive scientist) new book "Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress" (which Bill Gates says is "My new favorite book of all time"). Pinker reiterates some well documented facts that need repeating, to wit:  The world is about 100 times wealthier than 200 years ago. The share of people killed annually in wars is 25 percent less than during the 1980s and half a percent of the recorded deaths in the second world war. During the last century, Americans became 9 percent less likely to die in a car crash, 92 percent less likely to perish in a fire and 9 percent less likely to die at work. And few would deny that we are living longer and healthier lives.

Let me paint you a picture of how wonderful the world is right now and will be in five, ten and twenty years out. For real. No wild schemes or fantasies here, just the facts.

Smart Cities

Songdo, South Korea

River and Pavillion

Typical Apartment

Central Control of All Functions of City

Songdo is the first "smart city" built from the ground up in a span of only ten years. Not for long however, as there are plans to build more in Niger, India and China. Bill Gates has invested $80 million into a planned smart city based outside Phoenix, Arizona, according to local news publication AZ Central. The 24,800-acre development plan is for 80,000 homes to be built, with 3,800 acres reserved for industrial, office, and retail space, 3,400 acres of open space, and 470 acres dedicated for public schools. Dozens of American cities are retrofitting their systems to utilize the new technology also.

Cities around the world will invest a total of about $41 trillion over the next 20 years to upgrade their infrastructure and benefit from the network of connected devices known as the Internet of Things, experts at the Smart America Challenge forecast.

Analysts estimates on the urban innovation trend are eye-popping — but right now it's as much for how greatly they vary as for how big the market may ultimately grow to be. Some analysts peg the smart-cities market to be worth about $27.5 billion annually by 2023, while others say the market could reach as much as $757 billion by 2020. (Source: CNBC.com 28 Oct 2016)

Here are some features of Songdo life:

All garbage is segregated into organic and combustible waste. At the collection point, there are other bins for glass and plastic and other sorts of refuse. Sensors determine if the trash has been properly separated and is then sucked through high pressure underground pipe systems from a central station to recycle centers. Some unnamed portions are burnt for fuel.

There are also bike paths and indoor parking spaces. Despite prohibitions, residents grow vegetables on the undeveloped land. 40 percent of the city is park space—one of the highest percentages in the world.

The automobile is king, especially electric vehicles. The city has deployed charging stations for them.

A bridge spanning more than 13 miles connects the Incheon international airport to Songdo, which serves as an Asian hub for multinational companies.

Four international universities have established a campus here. Some say it has the best schools in Korea — they are certainly the newest. In the interior courtyards of the high-rise clusters, there are playgrounds and fitness stations, benches and plant-lined pools.

Songdo has a “telepresence” system; a joint venture by Cisco and the developers of the city. Residents use custom TV screens to chat with say, English tutors in Hawaii or fitness classes from instructors. While the video-chatting is not a great leap from Skype—its integration into televisions and the subscription-oriented menu of classes is new technology.

Cisco’s Global Innovation Lab maintains a tech center that is working on technologies-in-development, including mobile phone-controlled home appliances and even micro-chip tracking of Songdo’s children—so they don’t get lost. (Chips would be implanted in children's bracelets.)

Revolutionary Health Care

Editor's note: Information about Artificial Intelligence and 3D Technology are in my Blog Archive dated 10/27/17 and 10/8/17.

You can already use the internet for all manner of medical needs. Communications via direct consultation on hospital and doctor's web sites are common now. Video taping is often available whenever you choose to engage on Skype. These days there are a growing number of over the counter tests one can purchase for medical conditions such as Strep, diabetes, urinary tract infection, allergies, cholesterol, blood pressure, HIV, Colorectal cancer, kidney screening and thyroid function. And my research indicates that the list is guaranteed to grow at a quick pace.

But here is the breaking news on a larger scale: In the last two months, virtually every news outlet in America reported on a paradigm shift in medical care. Some wags have taken to calling the system "Doctor You" because it increases the role of patients in managing their health.

On January 24th, Apple laid out its plans to ask organisations to let patients use their smartphones to download their own medical records. And on February 1, three of the biggest names in American business—Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase—announced a new venture to provide better, cheaper health care for their employees. These pioneering initiatives can be summarized in four ways, as set forth in The Economist Magazine on Feb. 1.

One is better diagnosis. "Someone worried about their heart can now buy a watch strap [with] ... a medical-grade monitor that will detect arrhythmias. Apps are vying to see if they can diagnose everything from skin cancer and concussion to Parkinson’s disease. Research is under way to see whether sweat can be analysed for molecular biomarkers without the need for an invasive blood test."

A second "...benefit lies in managing] complex diseases. Diabetes apps can change the way patients cope, by monitoring..."glucose levels and food intake, potentially reducing long-run harm such as blindness and gangrene. Akili Interactive, a startup, plans to seek regulatory approval for a video game designed to stimulate an area of the brain implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder."

Thirdly, "...patients can also improve the efficiency of their care.

Although health records are increasingly electronic, they are often still trapped in silos. Many contain data that machines cannot read, [leading] to delays in treatment...Many of the 250,000 deaths in America attributable to medical error each year can be traced to poorly coordinated care. With data at their fingertips, common standards to enable sharing and a strong incentive to get things right, patients are more likely to spot errors."

A final gain-- "... putting patients in charge stems from the generation and aggregation of their data. Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being trained by a unit of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, to identify cancerous tissues and retinal damage. As patients’ data stream from smartphones and 'wearables', they will teach AIs to do ever more. [Some possible outcomes:] ...providing automated medical diagnosis from a description of your symptoms, spotting behavioural traits that [indicate depression] ...or identify if you are at special risk of cardiac disease. The combined data bases will also make it easier for you to find [others] with similar diseases and to see how they responded to various treatments."

Communications via direct consultation on hospital and doctors websites are universal now. Video taping is often available whenever you choose on Skype. These days there are a growing number of over the counter tests one can purchase for medical conditions such as Strep, diabetes, urinary tract infection, allergies, cholesterol, blood pressure, HIV, Colorectal cancer, kidney screening and thyroid function, and that list is guaranteed to grow at a quick pace.

A review of the efforts of other countries in this arena shows that Sweden is the leader in opening up their medical records. It seeks to allow all citizens electronic access to their records by 2020.

Further, they note that over a third of Swedes have already signed up. America and Canada have a few trials in place, but preliminary results indicate happier patients and lower costs due to a drop in phone and email questions to clinics and hospitals.

Scientific Advances in Farming: Increasing New and Safer Food Sources While Cleaning the Environment.

Here are are a few highlights about life on the farm and what's for dinner: ed. note: All aspects of new farming is detailed in my post "Secret Weapon Revealed On Farms"--Sept. 5, 2017 in my blog archive on right side of this page.

Message received by farmers from Silicon Valley: "There's an app for that."

Silicon Valley saw the potential to disrupt farming bout disrupt farming about 10 years ago and consequently, farmers have improved their yields, cut their operational costs as well as using much less water. Now drones are flying over their fields, looking for any problems. A stream of precision weather data is available 24/7, while a handheld pathogen detection system sets off alerts for diseases in the field in a matter of minutes. The modern farm is hooked up to a massive outdoor wireless network to insure that the land is never left unmonitored. The farmer can control everything from the comfort of the couch or from the tractor(s).

More farms are less stinky.

I was raised on a farm and I remember mucking out the barn by wheeling out endless wheelbarrows full of wet cow dung to a steep plywood slide which dumped the stuff on the big garden plot below. But the odor still hung in the barn like a acrid cloud.

Now, according to a report in The Economist magazine in November, a solution is at hand. Under the direction of Jacek Koziel of Iowa State University. a combination of titanium dioxide and ultraviolet light is clearing the air inside barns, stables,etc. It is done by painting a large area with titanium dioxide, which is as cheap as standard paints, and then turn on equally inexpensive, conventional fluorescent black lights and voila'! Let the barn dance begin!

Believe it--meatless meat. Check out this before you go shopping

That report from Fast Company is nothing short of world shaking news; there is an ongoing explosion in the creation of meatless protein. As of last December, agreements have been signed with many of the largest producers of poultry and beef in the world with supermarkets and restaurants eager for plant based food alternatives.

"When the meatpacking giant Cargill sold off its last cattle feedlots in April, it said that it wanted to free up funds to invest in alternatives like insects and plant-based protein. Four months later, along with Bill Gates and Richard Branson, the company joined a $17m round of investments in Memphis Meats, a startup that grows beef and chicken from cells instead of on farms.

"Tyson Foods, the largest meat producer in the U.S. was part of a $55 million round of investment in Beyond Meat. Roughly, a year after it started selling its meat like burgers in mainstream grocery stores. Beyond Meat's products are now in 19,000 stores and growing rapidly.
Nestle has acquired Sweet Earth Foods, which sells products like 'Harmless Ham' and 'Benevolent Bacon.' Maple Leaf Foods, a Canadian company known for selling Kam and Klik–the Canadian versions of Spam–along with deli meat, pork, poultry, and other meats, acquired Lightlife, [which]...makes products like “Chick’n” and plant-based hot dogs, and [has acquired]...Field Roast, which makes both plant-based meat and dairy-free cheese. Major meat processors are reportedly in talks to license Hampton Creek’s technology for 'clean' meat [which is grown from animal cells]. Unilever invested in university research to recreate the texture of steak. Walmart has asked [for]more meat-free products." And here's proof of the huge impact in Europe Click here.

Ugly fruits and veggies find love.

I can find few hard statistics about how much unwanted fruits and vegetables currently get tossed because they are visually imperfect. But many in the industry in the past have reported a 20 percent loss on their books. It is common knowledge that most of the produce ends up in a landfill, animal-feed or compost.

That is changing big time. I found two companies, Imperfect produce and Hungry Harvest which now provide boxes of subpar stuff directly to retail customers for about 60% less than the local market. In December, a new iPhone app, goMkt, is a startup that alerts retail buyers to flash sales of surplus produce in local markets and restaurants. Ain't love grand?

Nasty mussels to the rescue.

Some excerpts from The Economist in December: "SHELLFISH thrive in waters rich in nutrients [including] ...nitrogen used in fertiliser, which [flows eventually] into the sea. The shellfish grow, [and are harvested [for] profit..."

"The problem comes when discharges...are tainted with noxious material, such as bacteria that pose a threat to human health...This problem—and another, of excess nitrogen that can cause poisonous algal blooms—might be mitigated by shellfish that people don’t eat, reckon Eve Galimany and Julie Rose at the [NOAA] Administration... in Connecticut. ...Their chosen candidate...is the ribbed mussel [which] is edible, but it tastes terrible."

"The mussel is both hardy and adept at collecting a range of troublesome materials from its environment. [The researchers] ...thought it would be ideal to help clean up the Bronx River Estuary in New York [which] has a long history of suffering from harmful bacteria and high levels of nitrogen."

"With a group of colleagues they moored a 64 square foot... mussel-growing raft...and populated it with the mussels. They...monitored the...mussels over six months and...analysed the chemistry of the water both before and after the mussels had done their filtering. The results were impressive." [They] found that not only did the mussels thrive in the polluted waters of the Bronx River Estuary, but they also collected a lot of pollutants. ... a raft of mussels cleared an average of 12m quarts of water daily, removing 352 lbs of particulate matter, of which 27 lbs was absorbed by the mussels’ digestive systems...The remainder was excreted as waste [and] was ultimately buried in the river sediment. The material filtered out...included nitrogen, bacteria, relatively harmless trace metals like aluminium, copper and iron, as well as toxic metals like mercury, lead and arsenic....But what can be done with the mussels once harvested? The researchers hope they can be treated and recycled...Provided the levels of contaminants are not too high, [they] could be used as animal feed or fertiliser."

Dinner in Asia

From Wikipedia, I have condensed the following information from a large list of sites. (And Amazon will gladly ship you the makings for an insect based dinner.)
These days some 1,900 edible insect species are being consumed worldwide, mainly in Africa, Mexico and Asia, for example, the silk worm and cricket . But also in Italy and Greece insects are on the menu in some typical local dishes, such as “casu marzu” from Sardinia, Italy.

Apparently, the use of edible insects as sources for food has become widespread, both in non-Western and Western cultures.
In The Netherlands, for instance, an insect cooking book has been published lately and edible insects for human consumption have been available in shops since January 2008.

Don't get all queasy on me now, dear readers, but I have eaten cicadas, sea stars, sea horses, locusts, silkworms, snake, lizard, and crickets. The latter, eaten in Washington D.C., was a tasty fried cricket entree, served on a bed of greens and a side of sticky rice. The crickets were crunchy and tasted like hot and spicy bacon bits. (Great with beer, but way too spendy.) The others were eaten in The Philippines, Okinawa, Vietnam and Mexico-- often deep fried and served on a stick. My point here is to just try some of these foods, you may very surprised how tasty and filling they can be.

More importantly, there will be 10 billion people on our planet within 20 years or less, according to dozens of experts. So the global demand for animal protein will continue to increase in the coming years. In order to meet this growing demand and to move towards sustainable nutrition, insects appear to be a good alternative to traditionally produced animal protein, especially if you don't have enough land to support hooved creatures.

YOUR ROBOT IS HERE

Robots of all kinds are becoming available for your home at Target, Amazon, dozens of commercial web sites, even Walmart (who is now using them to stock shelves in 50 stores). I ran through numerous best of robots lists for 2017. Here's my pick of the crop:

Aibo

Aibo was originally introduced in 1999 as a toy dog. The new version is way smarter. It plays, is expressive, responds to voice commands, and develops a unique personality it learns from its owners.

Aeolus

The Aeolus Robot is one of the first household robot assistants. Equipped with an agile arm, it is able to move household objects and can recognise and adapt to changing environments. It can learn, navigate and complete tasks independently. With several key features and functionalities such as recognition of thousands of items, it can pick up items off the floor and put them away in their proper storage areas. The robot can use a vacuum or a dry mop to clean floors, and continually adapts to unique home layouts and routines. With advanced sensory and biometric technologies, it can recognise and differentiate between family members, the physical living space and household items so its good at house patrol also.

Walker

Ubtech Robotics’ Walker is the world’s first commercialised biped (walking on two legs) robot for the consumer market, offering a complete “home butler” service. The robot is designed to provide smart assistance and support across a wide range of people’s daily lives. Activated by voice or via a touch screen, it can perform a variety of functions for the home; including smart home control, video surveillance monitoring, security patrol monitoring, motion detection, instant alarm, video calls/conferencing, real time email integration, calendar/schedule management, playing music and videos and dancing. New functional arms and a variety of interactive control features are being developed.

Buddy is a smart in-home assistant that can control internet-of-things devices, act as a walking talking calendar, and even be a smart alarm clock or security guard. The robot can help the family with daily tasks, entertain the children, and interact with other smart connected devices in the home.

And then there are the also rans, which I find clever, laughable and destined for those who are even lazier than I am.

Grillbot The $130 Grillbot works like a miniature Roomba, with metal bristles. On a hot or cold grill, start the bot, close the lid and 10 to 30 minutes later, the grate is clean enough to cook on. Forgetful types will appreciate the device’s alarm, which sounds when the bot is left in a hot grill for too long.

Scooba 450 No company has done more to popularize home robotics than iRobot, the maker of the Roomba vacuum, the Looj gutter cleaner, the Mirra pool cleaner and, this year, the Scooba 450 floor scrubber. The $600 device soaks the floor, spreads cleaner and scrubs and vacuums the dirty water before a final pass with a squeegee.

Robomow RS I kid you not. For about $1400 or so, this one will mow your lawn. The only catch, albeit a minor one, is that you must first map out your yard with wires to define the gadget's boundaries. Once that’s done, though, the bot cuts as often as you like and returns to its charging dock when low on power. It’s electric, so noise is less of a problem than with conventional mowers.

Droplet For $300, Droplet will reliably water your garden while you sip a cold one. Set the sprinkler in place, program the system on a computer or mobile device and connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi router, and the system takes over from there. It checks weather data and points the sprinkler to specific pockets of your garden to deliver water where and when it’s needed. With a range of 30 feet in all directions, the units can manage bigger gardens and entire swaths of lawn with less wasted water.

Five Must Have Consumer Products From the Consumer Electronic Show 2018

The Wall is a seriously impressive TV. It’s got a 146 inch screen, but more than that, it can connect to other Walls to make an even bigger um... Wall. Its display utilizes millions of MicroLED pixels, each of which can be turned on or off individually, producing jaw-dropping image quality. Soon to be released, no price given, but I assume buyers for this don't have to ask.