Water is something most of us take for granted. We let the spigot run without giving it a thought.  With regard to the environment, we take many things for granted or perhaps many of us choose to remain ignorant.

It is difficult to listen to the news without some mention of global warming or climate change as it is now often referred to. Even watching the Super Bowl we were treated to a clever commercial involving the environmental police. Perhaps, we have become so inundated with discussions of the environment we turn a collective deaf ear.

Steven Solomon has just published his most recent book, Water, The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization. If you are at all a student of history you will find this a fascinating read simply for its entertainment value. There is so much more to it than entertainment, however.

Even for those of us who have picked up the environmental mantle and made such items as the diminishing water supply something to focus on and rail about, this book offers so much insight into the most elemental force that has determined the path of civilization.

“It is earth’s most potent agent of change,” writes Solomon. “Water in Ancient History,” Water and the Ascendancy of the Wet,” “Water and the Making of the Modern Industrial Society,” are beginning chapters in a study of water and its impact that, if nothing else, will make your jaw drop.

Seemingly new is the Presidents recent nod toward corn ethanol and clean coal. In the first place clean coal is a highly inflammatory subject and many would argue there is no such thing. Secondly, corn ethanol is not nearly as efficient as the President and his staff would have the public believe.

Today in Biofuels Opinion: Reaction to Obama Administration on new …

“The only way to invest into biofuel programs correctly is to make sure the public gets real environmental protection for our climate, our water, our wildlife and our health. …. Despite intense pressure from the corn ethanol industry to exclude emissions from indirect land use change the EPA found that such emissions are a major source of heat-trapping pollution from food-based biofuels such as corn ethanol. This finding affirms the view of 200 scientists and economists …

Biofuels, clean coal top White House energy initiative | NewsWatch …

Friends of the Earth was glad the EPA took into account land use policies when considering the ultimate environmental impact of biofuels, but found many of their conclusions too optimisitc: … The EPA’s prediction that in 2022 most corn ethanol will result in less carbon pollution than regular gasoline is surprising and strikes us as highly optimistic, especially since the EPA acknowledged in its rule finalized today that corn ethanol production is driving the …

Is Corn Ethanol Cleaner than Crude Oil? – Environmental Capital – WSJ

Really it’s hard to comprehend how a superpower whose cotton and other producers are laying waste to farms all around the third world, is suddenly getting so sensitive when it comes to ethanol land and water use tradeoffs. …

There is a bumper sticker many of you have probably seen – Extinction is forever. It addresses a very real problem that is directly related to ecosystems and their destruction.

Global warming skeptics and proponents of the use of fossil fuels – themselves fossils – often discuss the cost to switch to renewable energy sources. Yes it will cost to switch and their will be job losses, although there should also be job creation, but these proponents never seem to consider the economic factors having to do with the destruction of the planet.

If the world we live in is a gift from the almighty and the resources provided are limited, the destruction of any living specie is a tragedy of monumental proportion. Not only does each individual specie support the ecosystem it is a part of, losing the hereditary germ deprives future generations of the necessary antidote to who knows what disease. Morally speaking this can not be right, but morality aside, this is just plain foolhardy.

It costs to build solar paneling or wind turbines just as it costs to pump oil, dig coal and harvest a rain forest, but over harvesting a rain forest will cause it to burn down whereas a healthy rain forest will not burn down. As one of nature’s pharmacies is destroyed this becomes catastrophic from a purely economic point of view.

Tropical rain forests are complete ecosystems that, everyone knows by now, have an extraordinary ability to turn sunlight into first-tier energy producers otherwise known as plant life.

What many people do not know about are the services rain forests provide. Aside from obvious goods such as paper products, rain forests provide trillions of dollars worth of services: climate control, erosion prevention, recycling of nutrients, storing of nutrients and recreational services, to name a few.

If a rain forest is burned off to create grazing land for cattle the grasses will do well until the ash disappears and the soil becomes barren. This harks back to the Dust Bowl era and the great depression.

When we talk of climate control we are also speaking of the water table, bringing water inland and supplying the rivers of much needed water. It is a cycle that does not want interrupting and an integral part of a larger scheme we cannot risk losing.

Development Vs Tropical Rainforest

Development Vs Tropical Rainforest I few weeks ago I came across an article about the deforestation situation of all the tropical rainforests. It talked about.

3. Why Save Our Rainforests? Mission of BTRF – Borneo Tropical Rainforest Foundation

Energy produced from wind turbines is not something we’ve discussed in awhile but Amanda Little’s recent book Power Trip has rekindled that subject. Her interview with T. Boone Pickens – “Texas Tea, Black Gold” – was of particular note. “I’m a man who thinks with his wallet,” he told her. He also told her, “we’ve reached peak oil.”

Loosely translated, that means the world is producing oil at optimum levels and already on a par with demand. Since the demand for oil is most likely to increase before we finish this post, it stands to reason alternate energy sources should be uppermost on people’s minds.

Pickens’ determination to pursue these energy sources is significant. For a man of such enormous power, influence and business savvy, not to mention wealth, to make his case against oil in such unequivocal terms is remarkable. This man has spent a good deal of money defeating democrats and supporting republicans. “I’m not Al Gore,” he says quite plainly.

It is interesting to juxtapose the comments of Dr. William Gray and T. Boone Pickens.  Dr. Gray, a renowned atmospheric scientist and avowed global warming skeptic said we should stick with fossil fuels to avoid economic disaster; Mr. Pickens, one of the foremost businessmen of our age and whose fortune comes from fossil fuel, says differently.

He might have suffered a temporary set back regarding all those wind turbines he put up in Texas, and he has long been a proponent of natural gas along with other clean energy sources.

Natural gas may also be too expensive and only a temporary solution to a long term problem but the oil man does not like our dependence on foreign oil, “sucking hind tit,” as he puts it. His move from wind turbine to natural gas is just a slight hitch up in the git-along but, as Mr. Pickens continues to think in terms of  green energy solutions, we’re happy to saddle up and ride along side him.

Wind energy in west Texas, Wind Turbines

Clean energy technology refers to any energy source that does not further pollute the environment. We understandably think in terms of renewable energy sources – energy sources that are part of a natural cycle, where energy is created but nothing is lost in the process. We also think in terms of whole businesses and entire industries that will make use of this clean energy technology by incorporating it into the design concept.

Clean-energy firms win tax credits

President Barack Obama says 17000 jobs will be created by $2.3 billion in tax credits that have been awarded to 183 clean-energy manufacturing projects in 43 states. … Industry-Partners technology-based platform provides industry networking, educational outreach and on-line capital. marketplace for residential and commercial real estate,. private equity and fund management marketplace. Over 250000 professionals worldwide utilize our …

Oil Free Technology » Blog Archive » Be Aware Of Alternative …

Ocean-produced energy has a huge advantage because the timing of ocean currents and waves are well understood and reliable. Investments in hydro-electric technology have grown in the last two decades. Hydro-electric power is clean; …

Green Technology: Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing

One hundred eighty three projects in 43 states will create tens of thousands of high quality clean energy jobs and the domestic manufacturing of advanced clean energy technologies including solar, wind and efficiency and energy …

Clean Energy for a Smarter Planet