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Want to save the world like MLK? |
Build a solar power plant |
To stop illegal immigration |
Financed by the Saudis |
Posted on 01/15/2007 10:42:46 PM PST by humint
I dedicated my day to Martin Luther King Jr. not only to remember him, but also to emulate him --- Nobody suggested I do it, but I did the best I could. When I simply remember MLK, and I do often, I listen to his Mountain Top speech more than any other. April 3rd 1963 in Memphis Tennessee, king took his audience with him to the Mountain Top and it was, in my opinion, the best speech ever delivered in human history. That evening in 63 his spirit spoke to directly to the audience. It hardly mattered what he had to say because Martin’s real power was oration. He could seemingly connect his spirit directly to his voice and articulate the values, objectives and ideals of his movement. The message he gave to the world was easy to amplify with passion. His message was “love”. He was fanatical about it. The conclusion of his Mountain Top speech is clear evidence.
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!
If King was an uncompromising fanatic as I’ve described him, with love and oration as his weapons, what was his mission? Who or what was King trying to conquer? I realized early this morning, around 9:30AM that I wouldn’t be able to emulate the man in a lifetime much less a single day if I didn’t understand the essence of his life’s mission. So I went back to his writings, interviews and speeches to look for the answer to my question. What I found was striking. King was unquestionably one of the most ambitious men of his day. His intent was clear. He wanted nothing less than to save the world from itself, with love! That was his mission and it’s no surprise at all that the world adores him for it. With that realization around 11:00AM, I was ready to start the emulation process. With my best ball point pen and an 8.5X11 piece of paper, I started labeling it with mission statements:
Submission to the perception that the world is ill is a prerequisite to emulating King. For the entire day, I’ve believed the world needs a mortal savior. The idealistic and utopian seeking mission statement I attribute to King’s life required drastic alterations before it could approach plausibility against today’s conundrums. In any case, to emulate MLK is to pursue his goals, but not necessarily by the same methods he used. Love has its place in bringing people together in order to make positive social change but love cannot stand alone as the singular solution to the world’s ills. Where love might not last, great ideas are sure to, until they are replaced by better ideas, hopefully. By 12:30PM I had made a list of the world’s (America's) perceptual ills that follows:
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After flipping my ballpoint pen around for more than an hour, around 2:00PM a flood of ideas came to me in the form of an elaborate scenario. It was the only intellectual product that had anything to do with my emulation project so here it is:
The Saudi Royal Family [among other petro-wealthy philanthropists] finds it in their hearts to fund the construction of solar powered desalination plants in Mexico along the Gulf Coast and Baja. Money not spent funding terrorism is money well spent… right? In addition to the desalinization plants, the largest ever solar power plant is built just south of Arizona with the singular goal of producing solar panels, mirrors, solar ovens, solar pumps and wind mills for use by developing nations. Think about that for a second, a solar power plant that produces solar panels… nice huh? That really might save the world and make money doing it.
In the downstream phase, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gets into the act by funding the design and construction of tools and computers that run off of the solar panels produced in the new Saudi-Mexican Solar Power Plant. The primary job for Mexicans (reducing the urge to immigrate the United States illegally) in and around these new solar energy intensive power plants is to grow bamboo (the fastest growing plant) and burry them to sequester carbon dioxide. More importantly however, the decentralization of electricity production and increased access to fresh water would open up new markets for Gate’s solar powered electronics and tools. This is where investors will really make their money back and then some. The returns on Gate’s investment would then be rolled into funding the “World Wide White Roof Grass Roots Initiative”, a painting program that paints black surfaces in urban areas white, in order to reflect solar radiation back into space, cooling cities enrolled in the program by up to 10 degrees (I just made that number up).
To summarize, there is no reason why at least some of the petroleum dollars flowing into the coffers of wealthy Arab families should not be recycled into carbon sequestration programs that could employ individuals who would otherwise become illegal immigrants to the United States. With respect to decentralized electronics for a decentralized solar power infrastructure in developing regions of the world, a great deal of money could be made in these emerging markets that will otherwise, remain stagnant. Poverty would be reduced, more value created in society and war would be less likely for all.
When I had finished scribbling By 2:45, it was Miller Time. I did the best I could without expectation of approaching MLK's commitment to his cause or strength of character. Happy MLK day…
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Want to save the world like MLK? |
Build a solar power plant |
To stop illegal immigration |
Financed by the Saudis |
http://cdiac2.esd.ornl.gov/index.html
Atmospheric levels of CO2 have risen from preindustrial levels of 280 parts per million (ppm) to present levels of 375 ppm. Evidence suggests this observed rise in atmospheric CO2 levels is due primarily to expanding use of fossil fuels for energy. Predictions of global energy use in the next century suggest a continued increase in carbon emissions and rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere unless major changes are made in the way we produce and use energy—in particular, how we manage carbon. One way to manage carbon is to use energy more efficiently to reduce our need for a major energy and carbon source—fossil fuel combustion. Another way is to increase our use of low-carbon and carbon-free fuels and technologies (nuclear power and renewable sources such as solar energy, wind power, and biomass fuels). Both approaches are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The third and newest way to manage carbon is through carbon sequestration.
Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, underground, or the oceans so that the buildup of carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas) concentration in the atmosphere will reduce or slow. In some cases, this is accomplished by maintaining or enhancing natural processes; in other cases, novel techniques are developed to dispose of carbon. DOE's Office of Science is focusing its carbon sequestration efforts on:
* Sequestering Carbon in Underground Geologic Repositories: Geosciences research related to understanding the geophysics and geochemistry of potential reservoirs appropriate for subsurface sequestration of carbon dioxide.
* Enhancing the Natural Terrestrial Cycle: Identifying ways to enhance carbon sequestration of the terrestrial biosphere through CO2 removal from the atmosphere by vegetation and storage in biomass and soils.
Current Projects
* Carbon Sequestration in the Oceans: Enhancing the net oceanic uptake from the atmosphere by fertilization of phytoplankton with nutrients, and injecting CO2 to ocean depths greater than 1000 meters.
* Sequencing Genomes of Micro-organism for Carbon Management: Sequencing the genomes of microbes that produce fuels such as methane and hydrogen or aid in carbon sequestration, to allow an evaluation of their potential use to produce, for example, methane or hydrogen from either fossil fuels or other carbonaceous sources, including biomass or even some waste products.
Understanding how carbon dioxide "sinks" perform so we can enhance the ongoing natural processes, and developing innovative new processes, may add powerful new measures to carbon management options.
http://www.inbar.int/faq.htm#q9
Is bamboo useful as a carbon sequestrator?
A: Bamboo sequesters at a rate of C=50% dry weight. Example: an average grove of Ph. bambusoides in Kyoto, Japan, has a carbon sequestration of approximately 3,700-4000 lbs per hectare. Bamboo has approximately the same percentage of carbon as conifer forest. A Japanese cement manufacturer has invested in Vietnam bamboo forest as a carbon credit investment. This project was begun in 1996. The size of the project is 36 hectares (Source: Karl Bareis, personal communication).
http://www.northstarcsi.com/technotes/tech-coolroof.htm
It comes as no surprise to those involved in the roofing business that white is cooler than black White roof coatings and granulated sheets have been very popular in the South and West. Whereas asphalt-based aluminum roof coatings have been successfully used to reduce heat load, their greater contribution has been to serve as an ultraviolet screen. These asphaltic products have excellent adhesion to asphaltic and modified-bitumen substrates, and typically last 5-7 years (for fibrated products) between applications. White products have had greater difficulty, especially where water ponds or the substrate is not especially clean.
The use of sprayed-in-place polyurethane foam, coated with an acrylic, urethane, or silicone reflective coating has been highly successful in the Southwest. Not only does the white coating provide high albedo (reflectance), but high emissivity as well. More importantly, the urethane foam is an excellent insulator and air barrier. The literature is replete with documented cases of quick pay-back and dramatic drop in mechanical air-conditioning demands.
Other white surfaces do not have quite as high an albedo. White Kynar on metal, or siliconized white polyester have only 67% and 59% reflectivity, compared to white paint coatings at 85%. However, their emissivity is 85% compared to only 4% for galvanized steel. White cap-sheets and white shingles at 25-28% are far worse. Should the granules become darkened with algae, typical of the more humid regions of the U.S., the reflectance approaches that of a black shingle at 5% to 10%.
http://www.rsnz.org/education/alpha/alpha106/alpha-106.htm
The increased dissolved Fe concentrations in the patch resulted in increased phytoplankton biomass production. The increased dissolved Fe concentration resulted in a decrease in the CO 2 concentration in the water. The length of time the carbon will be removed from the atmosphere remains unknown. The increased phytoplankton biomas was still present in the surface waters 32 days after the initial addition of the Fe.
Could/should Fe additions in the Southern Ocean be used to decrease the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere to reduce the greenhouse effect? There is still a great deal of scientific data required to answer this question and also an ethical debate to be conducted.
http://rael.berkeley.edu/old-site/aguasalud/aguasalud.report.htm
The Agua SALud project emerged in the fall of 2003 with the interest of analyzing the feasibility of introducing solar desalination units into communities that only have access to high salinity water sources. The project members initiated a programme to design, construct and test such units at UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Lab (RAEL). The initiative included comparing the performance of construction materials, the efficiencies of different designs and analyzing the system’s ability to remove other contaminants.
In parallel, the students began a dialogue with two institutions in the state of Baja California Sur, Mexico: the National Council for the Promotion of Education (CONAFE), and the National Water Commission (CNA). The purpose of forging these relationships was to gather information about water availability across the Peninsula, in order to design the best plan for the implementation of the solar desalination units.
With the help of CONAFE, a federal decentralized institution in charge of providing elementary education in remote and migrant communities, the students received qualitative data of water quality in the region in the spring of 2004. For many years CONAFE instructors have been reporting lack of water access as the main problem present in the rural communities, and they particularly emphasize the high salinity levels found in several water sources.
http://www.cis.org/topics/illegalimmigration.html
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) estimates that in January of 2000 there were
7 million illegal aliens living in the United States, a number that is growing by half a million a year. Thus, the illegal-alien population in 2003 stands at at least 8 million. Included in this estimate are approximately 78,000 illegal aliens from countries who are of special concern in the war on terror. It is important to note that the 500,000 annual increase is the net growth in the illegal-alien population (new illegal immigration minus deaths, legalizations, and out-migration). In 1999 for example, the INS estimates that 968,000 new illegal aliens settled in the U.S. This number was offset by 210,000 illegal aliens who either died or returned home on their own, 63,000 who were removed by the INS, and 183,000 illegal aliens who were given green cards as part of the normal "legal" immigration process. One of the most important findings of the INS report is the intimate link between legal and illegal immigration. The INS estimates that it gave out 1.5 million green cards to illegal aliens in the 1990s. This was not due to amnesty legislation, but rather reflects how the legal immigration process embraces illegal immigration and encourages it through legal exemptions. According to the INS, only 412,000 illegal aliens were removed during the decade.
The Census Bureau has also developed estimates of its own. Their estimate at the time of the 2000 Census suggests that the illegal immigration population was about 8 million. Using this number, it can be concluded that the illegal-alien population grew by almost half a million a year in the 1990s. This conclusion is derived from a draft report given to the House immigration subcommittee by the INS that estimated the illegal population was 3.5 million in 1990. For the illegal population to have reached 8 million by 2000, the net increase had to be 400,000 to 500,000 per year during the 1990s.
The two "magnets" which attract illegal aliens are jobs and family connections. The typical Mexican worker earns one-tenth his American counterpart, and numerous American businesses are willing to hire cheap, compliant labor from abroad; such businesses are seldom punished because our country lacks a viable system to verify new hires' work eligibility. In addition, communities of recently arrived legal immigrants help create immigration networks used by illegal aliens and serve as incubators for illegal immigration, providing jobs, housing, and entree to America for illegal-alien relatives and fellow countrymen.
The standard response to illegal immigration has been increased border enforcement. And, in fact, such tightening of the border was long overdue. But there has been almost no attention paid to enforcement at worksites within the United States. Nor has there been any recognition that the networks created by high levels of legal immigration contribute to mass illegal immigration.
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