EcoWatch Journal Oct/Nov 2011 : Page 3

A while back I wrote to you and told you how much I appreciate EcoWatch Jour-nal and the great information it contains. Reading the articles and learning about the ways we harm the Earth each day, has helped me to make several life changes. I have started using my own bags when going to the store, instead of using single-use plastic bags, and switched to a vegan diet. Becoming a vegan has its challenges. Search-ing for vegan shops and restaurants in my local area hasn’t been easy. I’ve found that unless you’re a seasoned vegan or have the time to read labels and search department stores for hours at a time, it can be exhaust-ing to ﬁnd what you’re looking for. Taking all this into mind I decided to do some web searching on my own and created a blog for people who might be searching for such items. The blog address is www. green-vegan-nontoxic.blogspot.com. I have located merchants who supply only green, vegan and nontoxic products, and even added recipes and tips for a vegan lifestyle. Lee Calianno, Westerville, Ohio A recent edition of Sierra Magazine ended with a photograph of a tree that had grown around a bicycle chained to it decades ago. The rusty bike held ﬁrmly in woody and bard-clad embrace and it reminded me of the ensuing lines in Oliver Wendell Holmes’ The Autocrat of the Break-fast Table . “I don’t know anything sweeter than the leaking in of Nature through all the cracks in the walls and ﬂoors of cities. You heap a GREEN, VEGAN, NONTOXIC BLOG LETTERS TO THE EDITOR EMAIL LETTERS TO: SPEAR@ECOWATCH.ORG We have found most people with concerns for the environment don’t have the techni-cal background to properly understand the issues involved. David Pristash, Brecksville, Ohio growth and resource consumption. Dennis Worthem, Berea, Ohio million tons of hewn rock on a square mile or so of earth which was green once. The trees look down from the hilltops, and ask each other, ‘What are these people about?’” Surely a fanciful and yet trenchant com-mentary on the struggle between proud, ﬂeshy creatures and the green growth refreshing the atmosphere. Humankind has seldom scrupled before smothering ground beneath asphalt or hacking away woodlands. Still nature pa-tiently absorbs such onslaughts, as when a tree holds and lifts a child’s bicycle. William Dauenhauer, Willowick, Ohio WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE ABOUT? I happened to pick up and read the EarthWISE column in the Aug/Sep issue of EcoWatch Journal . The analysis provided by Megan Quinn Bachman is spot on and I would say this is the ﬁrst time I have seen a rational discussion on the subject of energy in a publication of this kind. I have been involved in the energy ﬁeld for more than 10 years (more like 20 over all) and I hold several energy related patents. I’m also a trained economist and student of history and I believe that more energy (the right kind) is the “only” way that we can get to a better and cleaner future. I have written extensively on the subject both from a policy and technical point of view and if your are interested I will share any or all of this work with you. I, along with a few other technically oriented people in greater Cleveland, have been trying to reeducate the people to the truth about conventional energy and alternative energy for a number of years. ENERGY ANALYSIS IS SPOT ON I have two brief responses to the article Renewable Energy Zealots Must Understand Net Energ y by Megan Quinn Bachman in the August/September issue of EcoWatch Journal . First, there have been a number of recent studies that have performed mate-rial resource and cost analyses for renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, that indicate a transition to a sustainable clean energy structure is feasible. One study A Plan for a Sustainable Future—How to Get all Energy from Wind, Water and Solar Power by 2030 appeared in the Nov. 2009 Scientiﬁc American (www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/ jacobson/Articles/I/susenergy2030.html). Second, Bachman characterizes renew-able energy advocates as having a “one track mind” on the subject. Advocates are aware that energy efﬁciency and conserva-tion are the foundation of a transition to a clean energy society and that a society of energy proﬂigates is unsustainable. They would agree that we need to make the transition now before ﬁnite resources are wasted on unsustainable energy strategies. Most renewable energy advocates favor local distributed resources within a net-work of micro-grids over large scale utility approaches wherever possible and generally share a broad environmental perspective on environmental issues such as population UNDERSTANDING NET ENERGY I completed Searching for a Miracle , that was suggested reading in Megan Quinn Bachman’s article Renewable Energy Zealots Must Understand Net Energ y in the last issue of EcoWatch Journal . It is well written and has useful information to help focus my path forward in the next few years. While I understand the position taken by Heinberg, Mander and the International Forum on Globalization, I would anticipate that the weight of recent evidence such as the data published by Dr. Roy Spencer would lead to some revised conclusions for the three-year-old paper. However, beyond those revisions and the hope that EcoWatch would reﬂect a higher priority on pollution issues versus unsupportable man-made global warming, I hope Bachman is not in agreement with Mander and Heinberg’s perspective regard-ing population control. Their position is Malthusian and has been recycled endlessly since the 18th century with no evidence to support that zero sum perspective. The problem with seeing energy as a zero-sum is that eventu-ally Mander and Heinberg’s position ends with an “elite” acting in a deterministic way “on behalf of ” the “masses” or “the planet” or even I have heard some elude to “saving the universe.” Perry Kent, Mansﬁeld, Ohio SEARCHING FOR A MIRACLE ECOWATCH MEMBERSHIP DRIVE—JOIN TODAY Visit www.EcoWatch.org or ﬁll out the form below to support the work of EcoWatch. Help us raise $10,000 before the end of the year. Donations are tax deductible. Planet -$500 Continent -$250 Country -$100 State -$50 Region -$25 NAME: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________ CITY: __________________________________________ ZIP: ____________________ PHONE NUMBER: _________________________________________________________ EMAIL: __________________________________________________________ CREDIT CARD #: _______________________________________________________________ EXPIRATION DATE: ____________________ V-CODE: ______________ Mail me my copies of EWJ Prefer to pick EWJ at my favorite location Make my donation anonymous PLEASE RETURN THIS FORM WITH CHECK OR CREDIT CARD INFORMATION TO: EcoWatch, 720 Literary Rd., Cleveland, Ohio 44113 WWW. ECOWATCH.ORG OCTOBER -NOVEMBER 2011 • ECOWATCH JOURNAL • 3

Letters To The Editor

GREEN, VEGAN, NONTOXIC BLOG A while back I wrote to you and told you how much I appreciate EcoWatch Journal and the great information it contains. Reading the articles and learning about the ways we harm the Earth each day, has helped me to make several life changes. I have started using my own bags when going to the store, instead of using single-use plastic bags, and switched to a vegan diet. Becoming a vegan has its challenges. Searching for vegan shops and restaurants in my local area hasn’t been easy. I’ve found that unless you’re a seasoned vegan or have the time to read labels and search department stores for hours at a time, it can be exhausting to find what you’re looking for. Taking all this into mind I decided to do some web searching on my own and created a blog for people who might be searching for such items. The blog address is www. Green-vegan-nontoxic.blogspot.com. I have located merchants who supply only green, vegan and nontoxic products, and even added recipes and tips for a vegan lifestyle. Lee Calianno, Westerville, Ohio WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE ABOUT? A recent edition of Sierra Magazine ended with a photograph of a tree that had grown around a bicycle chained to it decades ago. The rusty bike held firmly in woody and bard-clad embrace and it reminded me of the ensuing lines in Oliver Wendell Holmes’ The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. “I don’t know anything sweeter than the leaking in of Nature through all the cracks in the walls and floors of cities. You heap a million tons of hewn rock on a square mile or so of earth which was green once. The trees look down from the hilltops, and ask each other, ‘What are these people about?’” Surely a fanciful and yet trenchant commentary on the struggle between proud, fleshy creatures and the green growth refreshing the atmosphere. Humankind has seldom scrupled before smothering ground beneath asphalt or hacking away woodlands. Still nature patiently absorbs such onslaughts, as when a tree holds and lifts a child’s bicycle. William Dauenhauer, Willowick, Ohio ENERGY ANALYSIS IS SPOT ON I happened to pick up and read the EarthWISE column in the Aug/Sep issue of EcoWatch Journal. The analysis provided by Megan Quinn Bachman is spot on and I would say this is the first time I have seen a rational discussion on the subject of energy in a publication of this kind. I have been involved in the energy field for more than 10 years (more like 20 over all) and I hold several energy related patents. I’m also a trained economist and student of history and I believe that more energy (the right kind) is the “only” way that we can get to a better and cleaner future. I have written extensively on the subject both from a policy and technical point of view and if your are interested I will share any or all of this work with you. I, along with a few other technically oriented people in greater Cleveland, have been trying to reeducate the people to the truth about conventional energy and alternative energy for a number of years. We have found most people with concerns for the environment don’t have the technical background to properly understand the issues involved. David Pristash, Brecksville, Ohio UNDERSTANDING NET ENERGY I have two brief responses to the article Renewable Energy Zealots Must Understand Net Energy by Megan Quinn Bachman in the August/September issue of EcoWatch Journal. First, there have been a number of recent studies that have performed material resource and cost analyses for renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, that indicate a transition to a sustainable clean energy structure is feasible. One study A Plan for a Sustainable Future—How to Get all Energy from Wind, Water and Solar Power by 2030 appeared in the Nov. 2009 Scientific American (www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/ jacobson/Articles/I/susenergy2030.html). Second, Bachman characterizes renewable energy advocates as having a “one track mind” on the subject. Advocates are aware that energy efficiency and conservation are the foundation of a transition to a clean energy society and that a society of energy profligates is unsustainable. They would agree that we need to make the transition now before finite resources are wasted on unsustainable energy strategies. Most renewable energy advocates favor local distributed resources within a network of micro-grids over large scale utility approaches wherever possible and generally share a broad environmental perspective on environmental issues such as population growth and resource consumption. Dennis Worthem, Berea, Ohio SEARCHING FOR A MIRACLE I completed Searching for a Miracle, that was suggested reading in Megan Quinn Bachman’s article Renewable Energy Zealots Must Understand Net Energy in the last issue of EcoWatch Journal. It is well written and has useful information to help focus my path forward in the next few years. While I understand the position taken by Heinberg, Mander and the International Forum on Globalization, I would anticipate that the weight of recent evidence such as the data published by Dr. Roy Spencer would lead to some revised conclusions for the three-year-old paper. However, beyond those revisions and the hope that EcoWatch would reflect a higher priority on pollution issues versus unsupportable man-made global warming, I hope Bachman is not in agreement with Mander and Heinberg’s perspective regarding population control. Their position is Malthusian and has been recycled endlessly since the 18th century with no evidence to support that zero sum perspective. The problem with seeing energy as a zero-sum is that eventually Mander and Heinberg’s position ends with an “elite” acting in a deterministic way “on behalf of ” the “masses” or “the planet” or even I have heard some elude to “saving the universe.” Perry Kent, Mansfield, Ohio

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