sastyk | December 27, 2009I'm in the process of composing my annual predictions for 2010, and as those of you who were around for my last set will know, let's just say that my number of hits won't be as high as the previous year (the previous year was weirdly correct, this one more normally imperfect). This is not a serious problem for me, since every year I include the basic disclaimer that there's absolutely no reason why you should believe that my predictions are worth anything, but I do like to be right better than being wrong ;-).
The major thing I screwed up was underestimating how successfully the US…
sastyk | December 24, 2009I spend much of my life making the case for changing one's life (and not just one's life - for supporting political and social change that is associated with it) in fairly radical ways, very quickly. I spend a lot of my time writing, and periodically I get on a train or a bus or something and go stand up in front of people and make the same case. I know this is a diffcult thing for many people, whose infrastructure envelopes them and pushes them powerfully towards a particular way of life, so I try to make good arguments for doing it now. I make moral arguments, about the use of a fair…
sastyk | December 23, 2009I was just laboring over a post designed to explain the relationship between energy returned over energy invested and the importance of the *rate* of that return for our expectations about future resources, when I found out that Dr. Tom Konrad had already done this - yay! I think this is a useful and clear way of articulating the problems of future renewables. While I don't agree with all Konrad's conclusions as they are expressed (more on that in a second), I think he makes the relationship between EROEI and Rate of Return very clear and does so in a remarkably useful way. He writes:
The…
sastyk | December 22, 2009Ok, I did try and do a real blog post today, but it just isn't happening. We had wonderful guests this morning, and it is bloody cold, and I really need to clean the rabbit cages and then I just want to hang out and bake things that smell like cinnamon - writing is way down on the list.
So today I'm just inviting you to share - what's the best thing you've cooked in the last few weeks? What was so great about it? Want to post the recipe?
Besides pumpkin pie, which is always a high number contender for best food ever, my most recent contender for best recipe of the season is latke-kugle…
sastyk | December 21, 2009Ok, Christmas is getting close, so is Kwanzaa and you are already late with your Chanukah presents. You've got one more present to buy, and it is for someone really tough. Something wonderful. Or something they don't have - which might be a challenge. What should you get them?
How about a manual well pump? No, I realize it isn't a cashmere sweater, but hey, you can live your whole life without cashmere, but water...well, that's a bigger issue. And if your loved one is on a well, the chances are good that the next time there's an extended power outage, he or she is going to be out of…
sastyk | December 20, 2009Dear Sharon: Some of my friends say there is no Santa Claus. But I really need to know if there is. My Mom has been telling me about something called global warming, and I'm worried about Santa, because he lives up at the North Pole, and if it melts, he'll be in trouble. My Mom said some grownups were working hard in a place called Copenhagen to fix the problem, and I heard someone on the news say they decided something and someone else said they didn't. What happened in Copenhagen? Is there really a Santa, and what's going to happen to the North Pole? Please tell me the truth!…
sastyk | December 18, 2009When I decided to switch over to science blogs, I told Eric that he had to go with me. We've talked for years about doing a project together, but have always worried that a book or something would kill our extremely happy marriage, that we'd end up fighting over grammar (he's much more of a stickler on this than I am, which is sort of strange given our respective backgrounds). But blog posts, well, we could presumably do this together with minimal risk of homicide. So next week (this week is grading hell week for the honey) we'll start our "Apocalyptica and the Astrophysicst" series with…
sastyk | December 18, 2009Just went downstairs to see a sign, made by Simon. It says:
Simon's Bar: Drinks, Uno, Tick-Tack-Toe (sp), Math Drills and Dreidel.
Yeah, that'll make money. And no, I didn't ask what they will be drinking.
Sharon
sastyk | December 18, 2009You've got to give our Secretary of State credit - she knows how to make an entrance. Show up at the door with 100 billion and people can't look away. Of course, she didn't promise 100 billion from the US, but to raise it collectively with some unspecified other folk by 2020, but still, it is an impressive number, and it isn't wasn't a bad way to get attention. That doesn't change the fact that the rich world is still trying to blame the poor, or that the climate talks are still failing.
Meanwhile, a new UN report released confirms what we already knew - that everything presently on the…
sastyk | December 18, 2009A while back I argued that there's a rule - when the US spends a whole lot more and uses a whole lot more than everyone else, what we usually get back isn't just less than everyone else gets for the same buck, it is dramatically worse. I called it my rule of 10 times the price = 10 times crappier. It applies to an astonishing range of American actions - from our military budget and its results to the oil we invest in agriculture.
Back then, one of my examples was healthcare, which I pointed out was at least 4 times crappier (and at least 10xs or more for those who can't get it at all, an…
sastyk | December 17, 2009Note: Another new reader asked if I could say a little more about the goats. Here's more.
If you were to come to visit right now, you wouldn't see The Milk Truck until you started to get out of your car. But the moment you opened your door, the little vacuum cleaners would stick their heads in, just to make sure there's no food on the floor. You see, at my house, there's always food on the floor. My children drip crumbs and leave apple cores, and the litte vacuum cleaners feel it is there job to clean up.
But let's back up. The little vacuum cleaners are Tekiah (Tekky) and Arava. They…
sastyk | December 17, 2009The second night of Chanukah, my sons got clothes from their great aunt, which they received politely but unenthusiastically. As we were heading to bed that night, after a late night at our synagogue's annual Chanukah party, six year old Isaiah asked me "Mommy, will tomorrow night be another clothes present night?" When I told him I suspected not, since the next night's gift would come from Grandma, who likes to give toys, he sighed and said "It is ok if there's clothes, but I just needed to be ready for them." It can be tough to have good manners when you are little. We expect the kids…
sastyk | December 16, 2009Note: Tonight is the sixth night of Chanukah, the night we remember Judith hacking off Holofernes' head by eating cheese (yes, there is a reasoning behind that strange statement), and I really had planned to write a post about that. But it is also Isaiah's sixth birthday and deep in the grading nightmare for the husband and the night before we get up at 4am to butcher the turkeys (and if anyone is looking for a free-range, heritage turkey for the holidays in the greater Albany/Schenectady area, email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com) and I'm just not feeling innovative. So here's an old piece…
sastyk | December 16, 2009Not long ago I was out at a dinner of climate activists, at the beginning of a conference I was at, and as we were climbing into the car of one of the program leaders, there was talk about whose car was messier. This is a competition I always win - I mentioned to them that not only do I have little kids in my car, messing it up, but I drive goats around in my Taurus.
Several people asked me why I drive goats in a car, (which even to me seems like a reasonable question). The answer is that I am a farmer with goats, but I don't have a pick up truck, so when they go to be bred or to the vet,…
sastyk | December 16, 2009I'm doing the laundry! - The Tick
A new reader, Karen, (yay, new readers!) writes:
I really want to use less energy because my husband is out of work and I care about the planet - can you write about how you do it? We try and conserve, but our utility bills tell me we're not doing that great a job. I guess I care most about the everyday stuff - how you do the laundry, get to places, cook dinner, etc...
Thank you, Karen, for the push, since I'm supposed to be writing a book on precisely this subject right now, and instead have mostly, well, not been. So I thought I'd do a series of…
sastyk | December 15, 2009The seed is starting to take shape as the site and symbol of freedom in the age of manipulation and monopoly of life. The seed is not big and powerful, but can become alive as a sign of resistance and creativity in th smallest of huts or gardens and the poorest of families. In smallness lies power. - Vandana Shiva
There's an AP investigative report into Monsanto that suggests that the winner of the highly competetive "Evillest Corporation Ever" award has decided to raise the bar on evil further, trying to bring virtually all seed companies together under its own axis of evil.
"We now believe…
sastyk | December 15, 2009I made myself swear that I would not argue with any of my fellow Science bloggers for one full week after my arrival here, no matter what. Fortunately, my first week wound up yesterday, and with the arrival of Greg Laden's essay on the political and intellectual dangers of relocalization, I've got good fodder for my first donnybrook ;-).
Actually, I agree with Laden's concern about relocalization of political power on a number of points - my issue is more with how he frames the discussion, as one in which local policies are inevitably more subject to, well, stupidity. That said, I agree…
sastyk | December 14, 2009
The son seems to have taken a prior (and extremely common) teenage interest in "agriculture" and turned it into an actual interest in agriculture. I suppose you could see it as sinister, but I don't - I think anyone who wants to grow things, even pot, bad enough to move out to the desert and live off-grid is doing something worth taking seriously.
What's interesting about this video is the observation by the son that because the black market has set the prices, this is an extremely lucrative project for him and his mother. I've seen estimates that suggest, for example, that the entire…
sastyk | December 10, 2009The IEA has pretty much conceeded peak oil, announcing that growth to meet demand in the coming decades will come from entirely mythical sources. Ok, they didn't say that, what they said in the latest World Energy Outlook was that the majority of oil production by 2030 will be coming from "fields yet to be developed or found." But what that means is "we're hoping someone with magic powers will come and reverse the long-stand trend towards decline in oil discovery." Because we know that oil discovery peaked in 1964 and has been declining ever since, so that we are consuming oil five times…
sastyk | December 10, 2009There's an old Far Side cartoon, with a split panel, one side showing St. Peter greeting people passing the pearly gates, saying "Welcome to Heaven, here's your harp." On the other panel, the Devil greets folks at the gates of Hell, saying "Welcome to Hell, here's your accordion." My guess is that getting off the plane in Copenhagen to attend the climate talks, is, for most of the truly sincere people who care so much about the climate, a lot like entering into the warmer territories - oh, goody, you get polkas too! No torment will be denied!
Here's what we know about Copenhagen so far -…