My Personal Credo

                                                                                           written 20 April, 2025

                                                                                       published 27 April, 2025

    

            I addition to being a life-long scientist, I have a strong spiritual perspective as well.  It is inspired by the philosophies of quantum mechanics and Buddhism, in accord with the mystics of all spiritual traditions.  Some years ago, I wrote a brief summary of my personal credo, consisting of an image of reality, and suggested guidance for living in that reality.

            Image: Unity Consciousness is the transcendent ground of all reality.  This may be called the Divine, but any specific name is inadequate, and limits further understanding.  Material reality, described by physics as space/time, is a 4-dimensional membrane/subset completely expressed within, and shaped by, Unity Consciousness.  Matter can be viewed as the skin of the Divine, like waves on the surface of an ocean, each individually unique in location and duration, yet always arising in the same substance, never inherently separate.  The story of time appears as an increase in material complexity, supporting growth of self-awareness within matter. 

            The foundation of evil is denial of Unity, the first ignorance, an inaccurate perspective which engenders fear.  Resonance with Unity is experienced as Love.  Life challenges and supports each individual to increase awareness of their resonance with Unity Consciousness.

            Guidance: Choose love over fear.  Choose the truth of Unity over the material illusion of separation.  Be happy and laugh often.  Life is good, beneficial, nurturing, and joyous.  As life is whole, massively interconnected, the Golden Rule is not so much a moral commandment, as a relational fact of nature, like gravity.  Love, respect, and honor yourself as the Divine manifesting.  Love, respect, and honor all Others as the same Divine manifesting.  

            Strive to be present and aware in every moment.  The only point of action is in the eternal NOW, and each moment is unique.  Life is a metaphor.  The opportunity for learning is ever present.  Take responsibility for your part.  There are no "accidents".  In resonance with the Divine, we create our own reality, by belief, imagination and intention.  The balance between Being and Doing is inspired intention.

            Be honest (internally and externally) in every action into reality.  Be grateful (internally and externally) for every gift from reality.

            From the above perspective, our current social upheaval appears as the conflict between the selfish, unaware individual and unity reality.  This has been going on for as long as history has been recorded, but seems to be coming to a head, perhaps because we are now more numerous and more powerful than ever before in history.  For the first time, ignorant, selfish human greed has begun to affect the climate of the entire planet, pushing it away from a condition that has nourished human life for thousands of years.  This looks like a disaster, and may indeed crush our species, but it may also be a force of sufficient magnitude to transcend all the tribal warfare and inequitable economics resulting for our cultural belief is separation, ushering in peace on Earth.        

            Despite constant political denial, the scientific community has been ringing the alarm about the climate crisis for decades, monitoring the growing risk, trying to generate social consensus toward action.  Although increasing physical damage sweeps the land, the over-extended economy is much more fragile.  

            In the last 12 months, US regional economic losses due to extreme weather were $625B, closing in on the annual Pentagon budget.  Although less than half of this loss was insured, the insurance industry is being pushed to insolvency, as costs soar far beyond premiums.  Recent updates of flood and hazardous fire maps, reflecting the new reality, are bringing this problem front and center.  When insurance become unaffordable, even if available, the real estate industry, the banking industry, and the funding of state and local governments all become more precarious.

            The changes are measurably accelerating.  Climate is a massive, nonlinear, complex system, which can shift abruptly beyond historic experience.  Climate science is constantly learning about new, previously unknown feedback forces.  In addition, the scientific process of observation, contemplation, and reporting, has a pace of its own.  As the system changes more rapidly, this lag slows understanding.  Furthermore, responding to increasingly hostile political denial, science is reluctant to present low probability/high risk scenarios, so called "black swan" events, leaving us all unprepared or unmotivated.

            Despite the insane climate denial from the current Federal government, the climate crisis is real, affecting everything on Earth, and therefore requires a global effort in response.

Traitor, Crook, Or Just Demented?

                                                                                       written 13 April, 2025

                                                                                   published 20 April, 2025

  

            Just three months in, we already see what MAGA "leadership" looks like.  Critical parts of the government are being dismantled, with no coherent plan.  People are being "disappeared" in unmarked vehicles.  Fundamental social structures are under assault.  Prices are jumping higher.  The risk of recession, even depression, is increasing.  Fear and despair are rising everywhere.  Consumer confidence has plummeted.  

            Extreme tariff uncertainty has disrupted the entire economy.  The stock market dropped, then rose.  The treasury bond market almost collapsed.  Fundamental western alliances are now in tatters.  The US is threatening to invade our closest neighbors.  It looks like a deliberate attempt to destroy America.

            Consequently, some believe our Mad King is a Russian agent.  Bailed out of several bankruptcies with shadowy money from Russia, he may be beholding to his banker.  While he admires autocratic dictators, his only experience is reality TV and doesn't have the continuity of focus required to be a reliable thug.  It is much more likely he is just a "useful idiot", vulnerable to any suggestion of the moment, sowing disruptive chaos as his mood swings wildly from one extreme to the other.

            Promoted as a "good businessman", he acts like a crook.  Fourteen of his companies failed due to mismanagement, failure to deliver, or outright fraud.  He routinely refused to pay suppliers, choosing to sue instead, initiating over 4,000 lawsuits.  He lies for his own advantage, the goal being increased "brand worth".  He is guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.  During his first term, he used his office to enrich himself on public money, treating public service as a "cash cow".  This time, his economic "policy" is to shut down all social services in order to reduce taxes for the already wealthy, while increasing the national debt.

            But actual business people know prosperity needs a stable economy.  Big projects require big investments, financed over decades.  When the future becomes chaotic, interest rates soar, and everything becomes increasingly risky and expensive.  What we see today devastates the poor, but doesn't help the rich either.

            While a few insiders benefit from stock market swings, the tariff turmoil has caused a global economic slowdown.  This has depressed crude oil prices below the level where most domestic oil production is profitable.  Oil companies, which are supposedly allies of this administration, and should benefit from the "drill, baby drill" energy plan, are instead curtailing new production and even pausing stock buyback plans for their wealthy investors.

            Charles Koch, a Republican mega-donor billionaire, has joined Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society architect of the current Supreme Court, to sue the administration for their tariff "policy".  Contrary to their plans, the monster they created isn't really under their control at all.

            From the first, our "leader" has been described as a "malignant narcissist", which Wikipedia defines with the following traits.  "They use, abuse, and discard people.  They are obsessed with power.  Everything is personal.  They hold grudges and take revenge.  They take pleasure from the suffering of others.  Nothing is ever their fault.  They are ruthless in their pursuit of what they want.  They don’t have a conscience.  They have many enemies."

            The Mad King is an old man, with a terrible diet, under considerable stresses.  Wikipedia describes the following signs of advancing dementia: "short-term memory loss; word loss; difficulty multitasking; repetition; confusion about time and place; changes in judgment". 

            Of the three choices, traitor, crook, or dementia, the truth is probably a little of all three, but dominated by an increasingly unstable mind.  Whatever the internal reality or reasons, we can only judge by his actions.

            My primary issue is the climate crisis.  Extreme weather around the world makes the news every week.  Costs are rising as destruction increases, and insurance companies are pushed to insolvency.  Ignoring this, the administration is adamant the climate issue is a hoax.  They are ruthlessly killing even modest attempts to address the issue, doubling down on pushing obsolete, uneconomical, and harmful energy sources.  They are going so far as to stop all investigation, or even monitoring, of the changes, leaving the entire economy blind to what is happening. 

            The changing climate is a global problem, adversely affecting every political system, every economic system, and every individual.  To completely ignore such a problem is insane, and suicidal.  But here we are.  Our emperor has no mind.  Without a fundamental change, things will continue to fall apart.

 

Electric Home Tours

                                                                                               written 6 April, 2025

                                                                                         published 13 April, 2025

     

            The economic and ecological costs of the climate crisis are growing.  Despite the suicidally insane climate denial from the Federal government, many people want to address the climate issue and leave a habitable planet for our grandchildren.  One important step is to decarbonize our economy, making energy investments to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases we release into the atmosphere.

            Change is difficult and expensive, but the status quo is increasingly unsustainable.  Fossil fuels are finite, and the cheap reserves are already gone, assuring increasing costs.  Fossil fuel combustion increases atmospheric carbon dioxide, risking complete economic collapse.  Natural gas is methane, almost 100 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide over a decade.  

            The natural gas pipeline infrastructure is old, and expensive to upgrade.  PG&E, our natural gas supplier, is on record stating they are getting out of the business, and will add no new natural gas infrastructure.  The City of Ukiah has a general plan element to eliminate natural gas in the city by 2045.  

            Sonoma Clean Power supplies 88 percent to 100 percent carbon-free electricity.  City of Ukiah Electric Utility supplies 70 percent carbon-free electricity.  Even PG&E provides 47 percent non-nuclear carbon-free electricity.  Every move we make toward electrification, and away from fossil fuels, decreases our risk of climate induced economic collapse.   

            Toward this goal, the city of Ukiah Electrical Utility, in conjunction with Climate Action Mendocino, will host a free, self-guided Electric Home Tour on Saturday, April 26th, from 1-4 pm.  Tour registrants will receive a map showing five homes, and an apartment complex, which have a variety of technologies to decarbonize our lives.  Each location will include some, or all, of the following. 

            Rooftop Solar: With good solar exposure, you can power everything electrical while using less electricity from the grid.  Solar energy is free, and the hardware to collect it is a fixed cost, warrantied for 25 years, but lasting even longer.  

            Battery Storage: Solar energy peaks in the midday, but household loads extend throughout the day.  Battery storage allows midday sun to be used at night, reducing your impact on the grid by avoiding using the more expensive evening electricity.  With battery storage, your home is more power resilient to grid blackouts.

            Heat Pump Heating and Cooling: Heat pumps move heat, rather than producing heat, much like a refrigerator moves heat from inside the appliance into the kitchen.  Consequently, this technology is 3 times more energy efficient than any form of combustion or resistance heating.  

            Heat Pump Water Heaters: Heating water is one of the most energy consumptive appliances in a house.  Heat pump water heaters, like heat pump house heaters, are 3 times more energy efficient than traditional water heaters, electric or gas. 

            Induction Cooktop: Induction cooktops use an electromagnetic coil to induce an electrical current in your cookware, heating the cooking utensil and contents, and nothing else.  Induction heating is as precise as cooking with gas, with less air pollution and more energy efficiency.  

            Electric Car Charging: As transportation shifts from fossil fuels to more energy efficient electric vehicles, one of the benefits is being able to charge your car at home.  In SCP/PG&E territory, traveling 100 miles will cost about $11 in electricity.  In Ukiah, the cost is half that.

            Certified installers will join each homeowner to answer questions about costs, installation, and incentives.  Installers participating in the tour are: Jim Apperson (retired), Apperson Energy Management; Fernando Arcilas, Ultra Air HVAC; Rod DeWitt, American Refrigeration Services; Ronnie Dodd and Justin Foster, All In Heating and Cooling; Pete Gregson, Advance Solar, Hydro, Wind Power Inc.; Jonathan McChesney, Radiant Solar Technology; Jim Purcell, Pardini Appliances; and Laurent Richard, AC&R.  For those who want to see heat pump products, another stop on the tour is AC&R Heating Cooling & Solar in downtown Ukiah. 

            Ukiah offers rebates to its electric utility customers to help offset the cost of energy efficiency upgrades, including $500 for a heat pump water heater and $150-$500 for whole house heat pump.  These are in addition to possible state tax credits and rebates.   

            Upgrading our homes and community makes sense economically, and environmentally.  This is a complex issue, but every incremental change is a step in the right direction.            

            Register for the Electric Homes Tour at climateactionmendocino.org/events.  Registrants will receive a map with addresses, a glossary of terms, and information describing what appliances and installers will be at each stop.  

 

Firewise Communities

                                                                                        written 30 March, 2025 

                                                                                        published 6 April, 2025

      

            In 2004, the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council was created "to inform, empower, and mobilize residents to survive and thrive in a wildfire-prone environment, through education, preparation, and collaborative action."  There are now 74 local Fire Safe groups in the county, representing about 15 percent of the population.  The Ukiah Western Hills Fire Safe Council formed in 2018.  

            The hills west of Ukiah haven't burned since the middle of the last century, but inexorable heating from the changing climate increases the odds.  CalFire recently released an updated map of Fire Hazard Severity Zones, and the entire western edge of urban Ukiah is in the "Very High Hazard" group.  For more information visit: http://osfm.fire.ca.gov/FHSZ.

            While some still deny climate change, most people know someone affected by fire storms.  A fire chief in LA recently said "When the wind is less than 10mph, we can fight the fire.  When it is over 30mph, we can only help with evacuations."  The recent LA firestorm had steady 55mph winds, gusting to 100mph. 

            Fire insurance costs are increasing everywhere.  In the last decade, fire claims at Lloyd's of London increased a factor of 3, and expenses increased a factor of 5.  Insurance companies are leaving California, and those remaining are increasingly unaffordable, forcing homeowners into the California FAIR plan, which is more expensive with less coverage.

            The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), founded as a non-profit in 1896, has the mission "to provide information and knowledge for the elimination of death, injury, and economic loss due to fire, electrical, and related hazards."  They have been promoting safe building practices ever since.

            NFPA runs the Firewise USA program, for communities to enhance their wildfire resilience, in collaboration between residents, local fire departments, and state agencies, to bolster the fire resistance of homes and surroundings.  Firewise encourages communities to document their volunteer hours, expenses, and vegetation removal each year, including such tasks as mowing your lawn, trimming trees, and clearing debris from your roof and gutters, thus increasing community awareness of the growing fire hazard.

            Responding to uncertainty in California homeowner's insurance, standards are evolving for best practices for home-hardening and defensible space.  Fire hardening your structure can double the chance of it surviving a fire.  State regulations require "Zone 0", five feet around structures and at least 6" up the side, be ember-resistant.  California Department of Insurance requires insurers to offer discounts for such homeowner mitigations.  Living in a recognized Firewise community provides potentially greater discounts for homeowners who do more to reduce their risk.  

            Last year, the Western Hills Fire Safe Council voted to join 11 other Mendocino county Firewise communities.  This new Firewise community in the western portion of Ukiah includes everyone west of Dora, extending the full length of Ukiah, a total of 2000 home.  The goal is for each household to annually record at least one volunteer hour (valued at $31.80 per hour) or an equivalent amount in expenses.  Everyone is already included, and all are invited to participate, but no one is required.  

            Through education, planning, and action, Firewise communities work together to minimize the vulnerability of homes and communities to wildfire damage.  In addition to potential discounts on insurance premiums, benefits include: increased safety through implementing proven risk-reduction strategies to protect both residents and first responders; strengthened neighborhood connections; improved access to grant funding for projects; and increased peace of mind throughout your neighborhood.

            A letter is being sent to all homeowners included in the new Ukiah Western Hills Firewise community, explaining Firewise, and listing several sources for more information.  The two co-chairs are: John Rodgers (JohnRogers8200@gmail.com) and Jeanne Chinn (JeanneChinn@gmail.com).  There is a Western Hills newsletter (whfirewise@gmail.com) and a Facebook Group (Western Hills Firewise Community).  For more information about the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council go to: FireSafeMendocino.org.

            Part of the Firewise program asks communities to make goals and a plan for the next 3 years to help prioritize actions to become more wildfire-prepared.  Some highlighted goals for Ukiah's first year include: encourage registration on wildfire alert systems, promote the Free Defensible Space Program offered for income-eligible seniors, educate on the importance of removing vegetation within 5 feet of a home, promote use of a free chipper program to reduce vegetative fire fuels, and partner with the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority to identify areas for fuels reduction.

            Wildfire doesn’t recognize property lines, so the more we work together, the safer we all are.

Paying Attention

                                                                                         written 23 March, 2025

                                                                                     published 30 March, 2025

   

            Our Mad King in the White House is a master at self-promotion and capturing media attention.  Most of his life has been a reality TV show, designed to increase his brand value and keep his fragile ego inflated.  He now plays the role of an autocratic political bully, making up the script moment to moment.  The more outrageous his actions, the better, as long as everyone is focused on him. 

            He has been described as a malignant narcissist, living in a bubble where only he is important, and everyone else is, at best, a prop, or an asset to be consumed and discarded, if he gives them any consideration at all.  This is a destructive personality type, made more dangerous with power.

            Naomi Klein's book, "Shock And Awe", describes how US interests helped overthrow the elected government of Chile in 1973.  This play book is now on full display here in America.  We already see wide spread destruction, dismantling the America we have known all our lives, building to an unknown crescendo.  Some is planned, but more results from the unstable "genius" at the top being so lightly tethered to reality.

            Despair and depression are on the rise, and little has been suggested for how to effectively respond to a force that has zero respect for honor, tradition, compassion, or the rule of law.  Enrichment of the already very rich, domination, and fear are the goals of this regime.

            Our culture has devolved down to an economy of distracting attention.  The news media has always gone for the exciting and extreme to grab attention.  Consumer capitalism is about the next new and shiny thing "out there", always promised to improve our lives.  Online, the goal is to hold our attention on a particular site, and then pitch advertising to those drawn in.  What we pay attention to shapes our view of the world, so capturing attention is a form of brain washing.  Perhaps an effective response is to reclaim where we put our attention.  

            We experience despair and grief as we see what we once had, now being deliberately destroyed.  But the past, incompletely remembered, is already gone, and the world is always in flux, so any expectation of certainty or continuity has always been at risk.  We fear what worse disaster might be coming, but the future isn't really here yet, and our expectations are based on our past experiences projected forward.

            Changing the past isn't possible, and the future is yet to be.  When we look closely, reality is only what is happening in the present, this moment, right now.  Each moment is unique, unlike any other moment, so change is inherent in the now.            Because action can only take place in the present, not in the past or the future, everything you have ever done has always been in the present.  But being present, living is full awareness of each moment, takes intention and practice, because our culture isn't inclined toward being in the moment.  Consequently, our upbringing and life experience must be transcended.  

            Sit comfortably, and consider yourself in this moment.  If you can read this, you are alive and relatively healthy, which means your heart, lungs, circulatory system, and all your senses are functioning.  Put your attention there, notice and be grateful.  You are likely warm, fed, clothed, housed, and relatively safe.  Notice this good fortune.  As you tune into the beneficial reality of your present situation, you will feel calmer, experiencing less stress in your body, which helps support your immune system.

            In this state of present physical awareness, you might be able to watch the stories rolling through your mind, without having to obsessively identify with them.  As each story comes to an end, there is a short break before the next one starts.  By noticing the breaks, they extend in time.  Embrace the experience of simply being.  Notice the beauty of the natural world around you.  This internal refuge is always available to us, by simply choosing to pay attention.  

            We have no idea how this will all play out, as we are in uncharted waters.  However, as more of us practice being calm in the moment, we see more clearly what makes sense to do.  At the very least, our part of the human collective feels better.  Perhaps there is a tipping point in consciousness, a critical mass, beyond which a wave of awareness spreads globally.  

 

     

Storing Energy (part 2)

                                                                                         written 16 March, 2025

                                                                                     published 23 March, 2025

  

            Let's pretend.  Assume most people want a habitable planet for their grandchildren.  Imagine the partisan fever dream of climate denial has broken, and we realize only coordinated action will preserve our technological society.  Rather than burning through our energy inheritance, consider living within our energy income, collecting heat from the Earth, and solar, wind and rain energy from the Sun.  

            Even if that all happened, we still need to be able to store this collected energy for months or years, using energetically efficient, economically affordable, existing technologies, which are scalable to the quantities needed.  Several candidates exist.

            Pumped hydro is currently installed at grid scale.  Electric pumps push water to higher elevations, which then runs downhill, using the pumps as generators to produce electricity at a later time.  This is expensive to install, not easily expanded, limited to sites with adequate access to water and elevation, and rarely stores energy for more than a few days due to capacity constraints.

            The other possible candidate is using electricity to produce hydrogen by electrolysis of water, which can later be run through a fuel cell to produce more electricity.  The problem is storing the hydrogen gas, the smallest molecule of matter.  Hydrogen can be compressed as gas, cooled to a liquid, or converted to another chemical.

            Hydrogen must be compressed to 250 atmospheres to increase the density enough to be stored and transported economically.  To make hydrogen liquid, it must be cooled below -421°F.  Both these storage forms take energy and expensive, specialized containers, limiting their economically viability.  For long term storage of grid scale quantities, conversion to a "liquid organic carrier" produces the easiest storage form.  Two options are commercially available: ammonia and methanol.  

            Ammonia (NH₃) can be produced using hydrogen and nitrogen gathered from the air.  It must be cooled to below -30°F to be kept liquid at atmospheric pressure.  Even though ammonia is toxic, it is one of the most widely use industrial liquids.  Ammonia is used as fertilizer, and can be burned in internal combustion engines.  Alternately, the hydrogen can be regenerated and used in fuel cells.  Ships that run on ammonia are now operating.

            Methanol (CH₃OH) can be produced from hydrogen and CO₂ pulled out of the air.  It is a liquid at room temperature and pressure, making it the cheapest of all forms to store.  Methanol can be shipped by pipelines, rail cars, or tanker trucks, with no special storage requirements.  It can be burned in an internal combustion engine, or regenerated back into hydrogen to run a fuel cell.  Ships that run on methanol are now operating.  

            The full spectrum from power to liquid back to power requires four different stages of hardware: electricity to hydrogen, hydrogen to methanol, methanol back to hydrogen, and hydrogen back to electricity.  Each stage takes some amount of energy.  These needn't be large single plants, but collections of smaller identical units, mass production to reduce cost.  The modularity of the hardware allows for phased development of the industry and creative distribution of the stored energy.  

 

            Methanol is perfect for backup power at critical facilities, such as municipal sewer and water plants, supermarkets, emergency shelters and communication systems.  It could be burned as methanol, but that is energetically inefficient.  Changing it back to electricity would be more efficient.

            Taking Ukiah as an example, the City electric company could build all four functions in a central location and be able to store excess summer solar energy to provide electricity during the winter.  With the addition of a large battery, power could be shipped over the grid at night, when grid capacity is available, and produce methanol all through the day.  Ukiah could store some of this locally produced methanol at the sewer and water plants for backup power.  Stored methanol at the MTA could power long distance fuel cell busses.  Locally produced methanol would support the shift to long distance trucking using fuel cells.  In addition, NCPA, Ukiah's power provider, could produce methanol at central valley arrays, and truck it to Ukiah without stressing grid capacity.

            Grid scale power storage is a new addition to the electrical system, and planning and construction needs to begin now.

            In light of current politics, this may sound like planning a picnic while ignoring the hurricane destroying the area.  But holding an image of where we want to go helps us on the journey.

 

It Should Be No Surprise

                                                                                           written 9 March, 2025

                                                                                     published 16 March, 2025

   

            It should be no surprise that a tsunami of chaos and disruption is sweeping the land, because some people still believe Mad King Donald, despite him having told 30,000 documented lies during his first term in office.  

            The GOP used to have some bedrock principles: equal justice, law and order, and integrity in business.  Now that the GOP has been taken over by MAGA mentality, even those few guard rails have eroded as the action gets even greedier.  Justice depends on the wealth of those involved.  Law and order primarily protects personal wealth.  It is illegal to defraud investors, but acceptable to lie to the customers in advertising, make others pay externalized costs, or charge outrageous consumer credit interest.  

            By abandoning any pretense of a "common good", the goal is clear: use political positions for personal gain, liquidate democracy, and sell public assets to the highest bidder.  Putin did that in Russia.  Whether the man in the White House is a Russian agent, or just a malleable fool, the result is the same.  

            Despite denying knowledge of Project 2025, he immediately began destroying the Federal government, starting with anything that benefits the poorer portion of the population.  The GOP has always believed the rich should control everything.  Some even claiming that is God's will.  According to Bernie Sanders, over the last 50 years, $80 trillion have been shifted from the rest of us to the wealthiest 1 percent, and just three men now own as much as the poorest half of America.

            The Republican majority on the Supreme Court worked for decades to pave the way.  Corporations are people with rights.  Money is speech, allowing elections to be bought by the highest bidder.  Structural racism is over, freeing States to apply voter suppression.  Bribery is legal, and the President is in effect a king, immune under the law.

            Elon Musk, the world's richest man, spent over $200 million to help buy the presidency. His worth increased by $20 billion since the election, giving a 100:1 return on investment.  He is neither elected nor confirmed by the Senate, but has been tasked by the White House to head the Department Of Governmental Efficiency and decimate the Federal government.  Addicted to the horse tranquilizer ketamine, which can produce hallucinations, Musk is firing workers and closing agencies with little awareness or concern for the consequences.  This is "cleaning house" by burning it to the ground.  However, Musk preserves those portions of government that benefit him, while declaring “the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy".

            The announced goal is to cut $800 billion, in order to give the very wealthiest another $4 trillion tax break.  This can't be done without cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and/or Social Security.  

            Medicare supports health care for 66 million Americans over 65, at an annual cost of $848 billion, mostly to hospitals and the medical/pharmaceutical industry, not to patients, with an estimated 8-10 percent fraud.  Medicaid is a joint Federal/State program supporting health care for 83 million low income adults, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities.  The Federal portion costs $592 billion annually, with an estimated 5 percent fraud.  Little of this money goes to patients either.  Social Security provides financial support to 68 million elderly Americans, and annually distributes $1.35 trillion directly to individuals, with an estimated 1 percent fraud.

            By contrast, the Pentagon, with an annual budget of $850 billion going mostly to corporations, can't account for 61 percent of their spending in the most recent audit attempt. 

            The president is not a leader, but plays one as a reality TV bully, surrounded by sycophants who boost his fragile ego.  His policies swing wildly from day to day, with no coherent plan.  This uncertainty risks collapsing the highly leveraged American economy.  He is eliminating all climate information, and shutting down NOAA weather reporting, choosing ignorance over responsible action.  Even Libertarians, who hold great distrust for the government, are concerned about the destruction now unfolding.    

            We are experiencing perhaps the final conflict between the illusion of the isolated individual and the reality of a fundamental unity.  Many have commented on the president's deteriorating mental abilities, suggesting advancing dementia or chronic sickness.  Whatever the cause, he is at war with reality, and reality will inevitably win.  The only unknowns are what it will take to change, how long will it take, and what will survive.

Storing Energy (part 1)

                                                                                           written 2 March, 2025

                                                                                       published 9 March, 2025

      

            Living systems store energy for long term survival.  They gather energy from the environment when it is available, use what they can in the moment, and store the excess to live until they can gather more energy.  

            Energy from the breakdown of food is stored internally as various carbohydrates, proteins, or fats, allowing life to survive in situations with extreme variations in available environmental energy.  Every life form on Earth synthesizes adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as the primary energy carrier for use in living cells, demonstrating the unity of life.  This stored energy carrier powers the essential cellular processes when released.  

            Animals collect and store food externally to achieve the same ends.  For example, bees produce and store honey from collected seasonal plant nectar, which nourishes the whole hive throughout the year.  Humans began wide scale food storage with the shift from hunter gatherer to agriculture.  Improving food preservation, creating greater storage life, has defined human "progress".  The relatively recent advent of refrigeration massively expanded the quantity of food preserved, but with the added cost of increased energy consumption, primarily electricity.  

            The first commercial electrical system was established in 1880.  Until fairly recently, all electricity consumed was produced "just in time", because once electricity has been generated, it must be used immediately.  Production has thus been designed to follow the varying load, and economic growth has been constrained by the amount of electricity able to be produce in any given moment.  Despite that extreme limitation, electricity has transformed our entire economy, even though humanity stores relatively little of the energy we consume each day.  

            For the last several centuries, most of our energy has been generated from fossil fuels, sunlight transformed by living organisms, and then geologically sequestered for millions of years.  Our consumption has increased to the point where all the cheapest, easily available fossil fuels have been burned, and the waste from this combustion is relentlessly changing the environment to conditions never before encountered by humans, risking economic collapse, possibly even human extinction.  This is the real push for the shift to renewables, not a hoax or a fashion statement, but the constraints of a finite energy source on a finite planet.

            However, as critics have pointed out, renewable energy is intermittent, not steady state.  It must be collected when available, not manufactured.  Like life forms before us, we need to develop energy storage at a scale that can support our needs, if we expect to survive much longer with the lifestyle we now take for granted.  Even if we reduce our consumption, acknowledging our real needs take much less energy than our current profligate culture, there are three cycles that must be addressed: day/night, summer/winter, and year-to-year.

            Battery technology has made amazing advances in just the last few decades.  Consider the impact of battery powered hand tools, cell phones, and computers.  Even at grid scale, new and larger batteries are being installed each month, with declining costs and improved chemistries.  Electric vehicles, despite the best efforts of the current president, are becoming mainstream, and will replace fossil fuels the same way cars replaced horses.  Even if the US is tries to be obsolete on the planet, the rest of the world is moving forward.

            Batteries are a good solution for the day/night cycle.  They already help store midday solar peaks for evening power usage.  An EV can last for days between charges.  However, while a long range EV might have as much as 100 kilowatt hours of storage capacity, the City of Ukiah consumes 300 megawatt hours each day, 3,000 times as much. And that is just 1/5 of the power consumed in Mendocino county each day.  While grid scale batteries this large are being built, they are not viable for dealing with the summer/winter cycle, especially not at grid scale.  

            A solar array output can vary from almost nothing on a grey winter day to more than 10 times as much on a sunny summer day.  Large hydroelectric dams have similar variability, ranging from flooding in the spring to droughts in the fall.  The challenge is to be able to capture all this energy when it if freely available, and store it for usage throughout the year.

            This must be existing technologies that have already been demonstrated to work, energetically efficient, scalable to the quantities needed, with stable storage for months or years, and economically affordable.  Fortunately, candidates do exist.

Fracking The Economy

                                                                                     written 24 February, 2025

                                                                                       published 2 March, 2025

        

            Fracking is scraping the "bottom of the barrel", technology use to extract the last bit of oil, thinly dispersed within hard rock.  The industry is forced to this because other oil reserves have already been depleted. 

            Wells are drilled, fluids and sand are injected at very high pressures, fracturing the rock and holding it open, allowing the oil to be extracted.  This process contaminates ground water, causes earthquakes, and requires huge amounts of energy, to produced oil in relatively small quantities.  Fracked wells deplete 80 percent in two years.  The industry now acknowledges domestic fracking is tapped out, having lost billions of dollars.

            Independent of money, it takes energy to produce useful energy.  The Energy Returned On Investment (EROI) for fracking averages 7:1.  In comparison, conventional oil EROI is 20:1 on up, and firewood is 5:1.  A technological society needs an EROI of at least 10:1.  Fracking is a last ditch effort, with massively externalized costs (where someone else pays), an economic loss even for the supposed "winners", and inadequate to power society as we know it today. 

            We see a similar process in our economy today.  

            The three richest Americans are Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg.  Musk bought the social media platform Twitter, and turned it into the hate filled "X".  Bezos owns Amazon, which dominates the economy, and works the employees so hard they have to piss where they work.  Zuckerberg owns Facebook, which no longer fact checks his conspiracy riddled social media empire, while addicting his customers.  These three men are worth over $900 billion, more than the poorest half of Americans.  These winners in the capitalist game are racing to become the first trillionaire.

            Musk, unelected, and unapproved by the Senate, now heads DOGE, the new agency with a mandate from the president to harvest funds from the poor to fund huge tax breaks for the richest, fracking the economy under the guise of fiscal prudence.  Agencies are being closed and Federal employees are being laid off.  Even some MAGA faithful are beginning to see problems.  

            Canceling USAID, preventing them from "giving away" food to starving people overseas, may sound good to some.  However, the money saved wasn't going to the starving people, but to American farmers, who are now being stiffed by the government.

            The IRS has been told not to investigate or prosecute business fraud.  The FDIC prevents banks from gambling with your deposits, but is being considered for elimination.  Does that make fiscal sense?

            Workers who maintain the security of nuclear weapons are laid off.  Air traffic controllers are laid off.  Threats of immigrant deportations are affecting agricultural production.  

            Support for rural hospitals is on the chopping block, and big cuts in health care are proposed.  Eggs cost more due to avian flu in chickens, and a measles outbreak in Texas is spreading, but Federal health control workers are being laid off.  Tariffs against Canadian oil have already caused gasoline prices to rise.  Tariffs against Canadian steel will affect auto prices.  Tourism from Canada to the US has dropped by 40 percent.  All this is inflationary.

            As Federal workers are laid off, family and community economics are disrupted.  Worried people spend less, and financial observers are concerned about recession.  Traditional American allies now realize the US is no longer trustworthy.  Immigrant groups that believed the lies and supported MAGA, now see their lives disrupted.  Locally, Ukiah announced expected grant funds to support wildfire suppression have been delayed, perhaps eliminated.

            This administration believes the climate crisis is a hoax, and repealed all existing climate mitigation programs, removed any mention of climate issues on Federal websites, and is removing EV chargers on Federal properties.  However, in the last 6 months, climate disasters caused over $400 billion in damages, the same fiscal burn rate as Pentagon funding.  Are we really better prepared by ignorance?  Anyone paying attention is anxious and depressed.  

            Sadly, none of this should have been a surprise, as the plan was advertised over a year ago.  But people believed what they wanted to hear, and couldn't accept the dark story there to be read.  Now loyalty to the "Mad King D" is the rule, with no actual job experience or competence required.

            What will it take?  Complete economic collapse?  Several massive climate disasters?  Eventually, everyone will see we really are all in this together, and the mental disease of unlimited exclusive gain is hurting us all.

 

 

 

Super Bowl Ads

                                                                                     written 16 February, 2025

                                                                                 published 23 February, 2025

  

            Like 127 million others, I watched the Super Bowl two weeks ago.  While the game was dynamic, I am not a sports fan.  I watched for the ads, which are a window into our culture.  This year they cost a record $8M for each 30 second spot.  They were well produced, included a wide variety of celebrities, and a few stood out to me.

            Despite official climate denial from the White House, there were several ads for electric vehicles, including a heartfelt endorsement of an electric Jeep by a Ford.  Fox News presented a moving tribute to all first responder heroes, folks who actually risk their lives to help others.  Being Fox News, they also snuck in a shot of the politician wounded in the ear while making his pitch at a rally.  

            However, I was most impressed with the many ads supporting improved social values.  One showed several groups of young children being led in multiple chants of "I am somebody".  It took several tries to get everyone shouting this wonderful affirmation with enthusiasm.  But as excitement grew, eventually everyone joined in.  This is a powerful antidote to the cultural pressures which tend to discount most people, exhalating only the "best", without crediting the fact that we are all unique, exist, and are therefore valid humans, entitled to respect.

            Another ad addressed the corrosive effect of hate.  If we accept that we are all somebody and unique, then it is foolish to hate just because the other is different, since everyone is different.  Only insecure people fear the other.  Hate weakens the mind and body.  Hate prevents us from learning anything new.  From a unity perspective, hate is just self-loathing projected onto the other.

            Once again, we saw the "Jesus Gets Us" ad.  This seems like a no-brainer, since the Bible describes him as the son of God, after all.  The more important question is: Who Gets Jesus?  This year the ad was more in depth, presenting the core of Christ's teaching: love and compassion.  For everyone!  I was impressed that so much money was spent presenting such a message, without any of religious/economic/political complex messaging that often comes with Christianity.

            For example, I recently heard a woman describe how, in second grade, her nun teacher told her she was "too sinful" to speak directly to God, and could only speak to God through a priest.  This is like a grifter trying to get you to pay for something you already own.  If there is anything an individual has, just by virtue of being alive, it is the internal capacity to pray and listen to inspiration, whatever form you believe that to be.  The attempt to highjack that, demanding it be channeled through "proper" sources, is spiritual assault.  When such rigid rules are attributed to God, violence can become sanctified.

            A local example occurred in 1850, when white vigilantes, joined by members of the California military, massacred native Americans at Clear Lake.  There was a cash bonus paid for the scalps, and the whole affair was justified as eradicating the "heathens", because they weren't Christian. 

            As spiritual power is collected and channeled, economic power increases, which must then be protected.  The 2015 movie "Spotlight" portrays the 2001 revelation, by the Boston Globe, of the wide spread pedophile priest problem.  The Church had covered it up for decades in order to protect the organization while sacrificing their parishioners.  As a result of the investigation, over 250 priests were exposed in the Boston area alone.  The problem was subsequently revealed in 100 other cities in America, and as many more around the world.

            As economic power grows, so does political power.  Leonard Leo, head of the Federalist Society, has selected GOP nominees for the Supreme Court for years.  He is also a member of Opus Dei, a powerful organization within the Catholic Church, which is criticized for its secrecy, ultra-conservative teachings, and alleged links to fascism.  In part, the chaos unfolding in America today is the result.

            Against this kind religiously distorted spirituality, it was refreshing to see the simple message of love and compassion presented.  Our president has stated that "fear is power".  While this is historically popular, it is naive and short sighted.  We are each faced with a personal choice: fear or love.  One divides us, and the other strengthens us.  It is your choice about how to live.

 

 

Deja Vu All Over Again

                                                                                       written 9 February, 2025

                                                                                 published 16 February, 2025

 

            The last time fascist boots marched across the world, millions died, and many countries were smashed to dust before it was over.  My father survived that war, so it is deeply depressing the authoritarian fascists this time are American.  In just the first few weeks in office, the tsunami of chaos, disruption, and ill feelings flooding from the White House feels overwhelming, and denial is policy.  

            As the Asian bird flu expands, decimating commercial flocks, raising egg prices, the Center for Disease Control is being gutted, and information expunged, leaving the population blind at a time of increasing risk.  A growing measle epidemic in Texas is expanding unacknowledged, without any official recognition or reaction, in that very red, anti-vax state.

            Rather than face issues, we have a "know nothing" party in power, focused on narrowly popular social issues, with heavy punitive religious overtones.  When authoritarian rule is aligned with fanatical religious dogma, people feel justified by God to kill and oppress for exclusive gain.  Fear, judgement, and revenge are the currency of this administration, and people already feel it.

            Yesterday, a man with a battery powered bullhorn was standing on the street corner, shouting non-stop at the passing traffic.  The words were unclear, but the tone was dire.  As I passed, I could only see the words "Jesus" and "vomit" on his sign.  According to the Bible, Christ taught the two most important actions were to love God and love the other.  How can anyone hate, and still believe they are truly "Christians"?

            But the most significant juggernaut headed our way is the growing climate crisis. Out of spite, the new regime is defunding all previous climate efforts.  Regulations are being removed, allowing unfettered fossil fuel development, despite the industry knowing their time is ending.  All mention of climate change is being stripped from government websites.  National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, which has been significant in monitoring climate change, is being gutted and muted.  

            But reality doesn't bend to denial.  January 2025 was the hottest January on record.  Temperature at the North Pole was 20°F above normal last week.  The Earth has now exceeded the previous Paris accord limit of 1.5°C above preindustrial times, and it was recently reported that we will blow past 2°C in no time, as the planet is heating faster than was previously feared.

            The proof is becoming impossible to ignore.  Lloyd’s of London, a major re-insurance firm, reported that in the last decade the quantity of insurance claims increased a factor of 3 and payments increased a factor of 5.  State Farm Insurance recently announced it will raise home owner insurance rates in California an average of 22 percent.  Insurance may not be affordable, even if available.  Uninsurable property loses 80 percent of its value, threatening real estate and banking industries, and the funding of state and local governments.

            The January wildfires in Los Angeles destroyed $70 billion in insured property, but the regional economic impact, including lost incomes, uninsured losses, and destroyed infrastructure, is estimated as high as $280 billion.  The estimated regional economic impact of the fall hurricanes in the southeast is $140 billion.  These two events, in just five months, add up to about half the annual US Pentagon budget.  Rest assured, these aren't the last climate disasters we will see.  These are only teaser previews of coming attractions!  But our "leader" doesn't believe it is real.  

            The challenge is how to respond.  We each have the power to choose, despite the external situation.  Hating the other, not only doesn't work, it is just the same play book as the party in power and we become what we resist.  

            From a Buddhist, unity reality, we are all one, and our "leader" is part of me.  He was abused by his father, taught the world is only killers and losers.  He had no emotional support, and no real friends.  He knows he is a fraud, but can't embrace that, so he spews hate on everyone else.  If I have compassion for that destroyed, angry, frightened little boy, my attitude changes.  I don't forgive his actions, but I don't hate him, and I feel better.

            We don't know what will happen.  In the long term, the rise and fall of Hitler ushered in 80 years of peace in Europe, the longest in recent history.  Hold fast to the vision of what we want.