WHERE I’M AT IN MAY, 2022
The world today
is in an amazing state of turmoil with many of the contributing components
rising to crisis proportion…climate change, energy supply, war with a possible
nuclear outcome, social, moral, and political unrest, disinformation, lies, and
hypocrisy…most of it at the mercy of just a handful of powerful
individuals.
Susan and I are
about to embark on a long-awaited trip back to Greece, where I hope to tune out
from most of my regular frantic readings keeping up with what is going on all
fronts. I plan to sit on peaceful mountainsides
in my ancestor’s homeland and contemplate and ponder the past, present, and
future. We are so fortunate to live
where we are in these times, as I reflect back on our lives in the “golden era”
of the US. I feel that things will not
get back to that again, at least not in our lifetime. So sad, but everything changes.
A quick
update on my thoughts on what is going on with energy. Oil and gas will continue to be necessary and
valuable commodities, but it will take time to reduce their demand and replace
them as dominant fuels. The nuclear
industry continues to lobby and promote the myth that it is necessary and
relevant for the future, despite the tremendous costs along with the environmental,
social, and political issues. Due to its
economic power, nuclear will continue to drain our budgets as plants are
eventually shut down and decommissioned, and the mounting wastes are stored and
monitored. The risk of an accident remains
in all sections of its aging infrastructure. The “new” nuclear, even fusion, will
not make a major contribution to our energy supply because by the time any of
this is developed, demonstrated, and actually constructed and put online,
renewables will have made major strides in supplying new, clean, abundant,
affordable, and sustainable energy systems to meet our needs. This transition
will be slow…it should have seriously begun 30 years ago, and will probably continue
to be dragged on in the future. But the
final outcome is just common sense, instead of common dollars…our dollars are
being wasted lining the pockets of a few with schemes such as carbon capture,
clean coal, deep-hole boring, fusion…blah, blah, blah!!!
My shining
light in all this is Hydrogen, which I have endorsed for so many years. With all the pressures on energy today, a lot
of people are beginning to see its value…abundant, versatile, clean, and
eventually cheap and decentralized. The global awareness now being reported by even
major media, is overwhelming in what is happening all over the world. Major developments and deployment in
Australia, China, Northern Europe, and even Greece.
Again, the US is determinedly slow to commit to reality.
Having
decommissioned our local nuclear power plant, and having the high-level wastes
in casks secure on-site for the near future, I will continue to educate what
all this means to my community. My next
push will be to introduce hydrogen production to Humboldt Bay to take advantage
of the development of the wind potential off our coast. Instead of exporting the
declining products of the timber and fisheries industries, we can export
Hydrogen fuel to where it is needed anywhere in the world. look forward to the challenge, though I don’t
relish having to deal with the negative throwbacks by the powers that be, their
greenwashing, and their continued ignorance and burliness towards reality.
Yassas!!!!!!!!!
