Scope

While awareness and understanding of human caused climate disruption appears to have increased significantly in recent months and years, I believe we still have not yet grasped the scope of the challenge, the benefits of the solutions, nor the magnitude of the effort we must mount to meet our circumstances. A Denver Post Op-Ed article yesterday by John Podesta and Timothy Wirth expresses this view when they write:

 

“The size and urgency of this task require a president willing to make it the top domestic priority in the White House — not pigeonholed as an energy initiative or environmental initiative or even as a security initiative, but made the centerpiece of his economic agenda. Indeed, it will demand that the president refocus the mission and responsibility of all relevant government agencies and convene them in a new National Energy Council in the White House.”

Energy Independent Zones

Today, Climate Progress reported on an proposal raised at the National Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas this week. Essentially, the suggestion is to create regions that are entirely energy independent to demonstrate both the feasibility, and the significant economic advantages available.

In particular, the reports cites a California study that indicates that a solar-thermal power plant would provide “ten times the economic benefit of a comparable coal-fired power plant”.

Big Box and a New Downtown in Falmouth?

This week’s Forecaster has an article on “big box” developments in Falmouth and Cumberland. It reports that the Falmouth Town Council rejected a development recently, and is now considering another.