2004 Review/2005 Outlook | Green Energy News |

December 26, 2004 – Vol.9 No.40

2004 REVIEW/ 2005 OUTLOOK.

There were fifteen named tropical storms in the Atlantic. (The average is ten per year.). Nine of them struck the United States. Four of those crossed through some portion of Florida as major hurricanes.

The Pacific had a slightly above average year for typhoons: 29. The average is 27. Japan was hit by ten of the storms we call hurricanes in the U.S. Two came in ten days. On average the nation gets hit by fewer than three a year.

Caterina was the first-ever known hurricane in the South Atlantic. In Brazil, where Caterina came ashore, meteorologists didn’t believe the storm was a hurricane until they saw the satellite photos.

In the U.S., 1,717 tornadoes spawned, a new record, breaking the previous of 1,424 in 1998.

Drought continued in the western U.S.states, as well as in Australia and parts of Africa. Heat waves made life miserable in Spain, Portugal, Romania and Australia.

Globally, it was the fourth warmest year on record. Nine of the ten warmest years since record keeping began in 1861 have occurred since 1995.

The war in Iraq continues with estimates of deaths of Iraqis ranging from 15,000 to 100,000, or more. Dead and seriously wounded U.S. troops total around 10,000 and the number is growing daily.

Now, of course, 150,000 or more are estimated to have died in the Indian Ocean tsunamis. Five million are homeless, news reports say. Whole islands and their inhabitants disappeared in a matter of minutes.

Did 2004 seem like the beginning of the end of the world? Unfortunately many, too many, may think so.

Yet there was hope out there. Hope that at least some things can be fixed.

People of the Ukraine saw something wrong in their election, rallied peacefully for days in the cold and snow, and won their Orange Revolution.

At the last U.N. meeting on climate change prior to the Kyoto Protocol going into force this February 14 (a ray of hope in itself), delegates there representing a number of U.S. state governments asked how they can get involved in the greenhouse gas cutting process, even without Washington’s blessing.

Green leaning industries were there, too. They think greenhouse gas reductions can be made without the economic damage the Bush Administration, and many in Congress, predict would happen.

Surprisingly, Saudi Arabia has agreed to Kyoto (though they are considered a developing nation and don’t have to comply). Australia too, generally siding with the U.S. on taking no action on climate change, is now indicating they will distance themselves from the U.S. on the issue.

And there was even some good news from epic disaster in the Indian Ocean. Though tsunami waves surged two miles into the Yala National Park in Sri Lanka, a wildlife preserve, none of the elephants, deer and jackals appear to have died. None. They knew something was coming and ran to safe ground in time. Humans that died in the park didn’t recognize the threat.

It seems the creatures humans share the world with are tuned in to the natural environment around them. People are more tuned to radio, television, incessant urban noise; and each other. They’re not listening, watching, feeling or comprehending real trouble.

Maybe 2005 will be better. Maybe 2005 will be the year people start to look for answers and demand long term solutions to global problems.

For example, if animals can be aware of possible life-threatening events, why aren’t people watching the animals constantly for changes in behavior as a useful warning sign. The undersea earthquakes near Sumatra were detected in real-time by humans half a globe away. A crouching and running animal might be a good warning that something even bigger is about to happen close by.

Animals could be part of global detection system for many life-threatening events from tsunamis to tornadoes. Seismologists should stay in touch with zoologists.

Terrorism, as well as the war in Iraq, will continue to be headline news in 2005. At what point will the root causes of terrorism, the attacks of 9/11, and the insurgency in Iraq be openly discussed?

If, as some say, it is U.S. and western policies in the Middle East that have created the hatred, isn’t it time to rethink our policies?

For instance, if the U.S. would create new policies that would ensure that remaining oil supplies will last for a few more centuries, instead of a few more decades, wouldn’t that help quell some of the hatred?

If they now think that we’re there only for the oil, couldn’t we show them how to build economies around the oil that would create more evenly dispersed wealth and new opportunities? Those opportunities would be for the young - the ones who seem to hate us the most - who will eventually inherit the region.

Instead of wasting the oil as fuel it could be used in even more durable goods than it is today. Those durable goods industries could be the backbone of new economies for the region and create those opportunities.

There’s an endless list of questions people need to ask of course, ones that will affect them and their children.

But there’s one major question that could be asked of the Bush Administration, and those in Congress who steadfastly refuse to tackle climate change head on: How exactly would the U.S. economy be damaged by cutting greenhouse gas emissions? Industry by industry, business by business, job by job, how and who would be hurt. No far-reaching numbers or statistics please. Who is it, how much and why? Be specific.

Then, when you’ve laid out all that, let’s get to work and find solutions so that no one gets economically damaged.

People in our country, and in countries watching us, are discouraged. They think the end is near. If steps aren’t taken, leadership and honesty put forth, maybe it is.

Regards,

Bruce Mulliken

(The regular ENERGIES newsletter will be back next week.)