MUENCHHAUSEN, FEB. 8, 2015

MUENCHHAUSEN 

AN ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ABOUT  

ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY, RENEWABLE
RESOURCE TECHNOLOGY,
AND RELATED TOPICS
By BOOTSTRAP PRESS, INC.
BETHESDA, MD 20817
JJGREENBARON(at)VERIZON.NET
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Feb. 8, 2015
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WELCOME!

The Green Baron (TGB) welcomes one and all who take the time to read Muenchhausen. He aims to "tell it like it is" as much as possible, and avoid advocacy and ideological positions. There are enough of those to go around in other publications. The Green Baron also welcomes comments from anyone who may read Muenchhausen. Please send comments to the e-mail address above.

PASSED SENATE, 68 TO 32

The bill to authorize the Keystone XL Pipeline to refineries in US Gulf states has passed the US Senate by a margin of 68 to 32 votes. Apparently, the House of Representatives will go along with the Senate version, reconcile it with whatever may need reconciliation, and send it along to the White House, where a presidential veto appears certain. There may be enough votes in the House to override the veto, but TGB doubts that 67 votes needed to override will be found in the Senate. TGB wonders, however, what might be the political fate of the Democratic Senators who voted for Keystone—“defected”, so to speak. He thinks they will at least receive a strong reprimand from the White House and party leaders.

Even if, by some odd turn of fate, the presidential veto is overridden—a chance, TGB believes, is equal to that of his winning the jackpot on the Powerball Lottery—construction work on the pipeline will almost certainly be tied up, and likely stymied by batteries of lawsuits whose papers, TGB thinks, are at the ready for filing should the nearly unthinkable happen. TGB repeats, however, that the Canadian Oil Sands oil will be produced and shipped, if not to the US Gulf area, then to the People’s Republic of China. A pipeline can be constructed, perhaps not with ease, but constructed nevertheless from Alberta to the Canadian Pacific Coast, perhaps somewhere north of Vancouver.

GEOENGINEERING?

Lately, there has been some discussion about modifying the climate-warming effects of carbon dioxide (CO₂) by injecting measured amounts of sulfur oxide gases (SO_x) into the atmosphere. This practice, if implemented, would be known as geoengineering. TGB has read—this needs further substantiation—that, say, one part per million (ppm) of SO_x could neutralize the effects of 1 million parts of CO₂ by reducing the level of solar radiation that would arrive at the earth’s surface. One would see thin clouds that curtail the amount of sunlight. TGB quails at this idea, as do many scientists critical of this approach. Several other approaches are suggested, each with potential “advantages” and “disadvantages” (1). They all give TGB the “willies”.

TGB strongly recommends a good look at this Web site.

 

 Some possible geoengineering approaches (4)

DOLLARS AGAINST “R”?

By “R”, TGB means microbial resistance against medicinal drugs, which is a long-standing “bugaboo” with him. The administration is seeking funding to the level of $1.2 billion, which would essentially double the current level of funds for anti-“R” research (2). Recently there have been some hints at promising findings in battle against “R”, essential if currently used medicines, particularly antibiotics, are totally resisted by “superbugs”.

Perhaps such government assistance is indeed necessary here. As TGB heard it, perhaps a decade or even more ago, drug discovery involves extensive (and mainly very expensive) research. Imagine that to find one eventually marketable drug, researchers must look at 10,000 candidate substances initially. Of those 10,000, about 9,900 will soon be discarded. The next step is where the real expense comes in. The remaining 100 candidates each must be tested exhaustively. Even then, there can be no assurance that the one will be found. Even a very wealthy pharmaceutical company’s directors, officers, and staff will think long and hard before embarking on such a project. This is one reason why many experts in the field of “R” seem pessimistic about a pharmaceutical company’s motivation to develop new drugs when the marketability and profitability prospects appear to be so “blue sky”.

As one came to the entrance of the second circle of Inferno (3), having been rowed across the River Acheron, he/she saw the ominous sign, “Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch’entrate!” That is, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter!” The ongoing situation concerning “R” indicated that this sign is to be heeded on earth. But now, possibilities arise that the abandonment of hope might at least be postponed, at least for a while (4).

 

 "R": Have we a reprieve?

REFERENCES

1. Bennett, M. Clean Technica. "Geo-Engineering for a Tailor-Made Planet". http://cleantechnica.com/2008/06/02/geo-engineering-for-a-tailor-made-planet/. June 2, 2008.

2. Dennis, B. “Administration targets antibiotic-resistance drugs”. The Washington Post, Jan. 27, 2015, page A2.

3. Alighieri, D. “Inferno”. La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), ca. 1320. http://www.centrostudilaruna.it/lesoterismo-di-dante.html

4. Feltman, R. “Playing in the dirt yields an antibiotic”. The Washington Post, Jan. 8, 2015, p. A1.