WHERE I’M AT IN MAY, 2022

 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!!!!!!!!!