MUENCHHAUSEN
AN ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER ABOUT ENVIRONMENT,
RENEWABLE RESOURCE TECHNOLOGY,
AND RELATED TOPICS
By BOOTSTRAP PRESS, INC.
BETHESDA, MD
JJGREENBARON(at)VERIZON.NET
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November 28, 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.
PARIS MONDAY
Well, the big international climate conference opens in Paris this Monday--that's November 30, and it lasts until December 11, if all goes according to plan. The United States goes there riding on its moral high horse, being in the process of closing down the coal industry and leading the charge away from (or retreat from?) fossil fuel use. Please don't misunderstand TGB. He is truly all in favor of the use of renewable sources of energy to power the economies of the various nations of the world. May he presume to inquire how such energy is to be accumulated, stored, and distributed to drive our various economies?
Additionally, with 100+ nations being represented at the Paris conference, including many heads of state of heads of government, will this grand conference be deemed a total success, a partial success, or, effectively, a failure? That remains to be seen and how those who report on it spin their stories. Meanwhile, TGB reads that there has been one of the worst air pollution episodes in Beijing, China, in a long time, and in a city that experiences air pollution incidents frequently (1). Numbers? The US Embassy in Beijing reported particulate matter levels at PM2.5 = 391 micrograms per cubic meter. The World Health Organization places the safe level at 25 micrograms per cubic meter. Reportedly, visibility was reduced to "a few hundred meters" (1). TGB believes that the Chinese delegates to the Paris conference will give strong lip service to reduction of air pollution levels and other environmental problems. Whether and when this lip service will evolve into actual results is what TGB hesitates to speculate.
Cough, cough! (3)
Here's another one from the Financial Times: "India has blocked G20 efforts to pave the way towards an ambitious global climate change accord, in a sign of the deep divisions confronting negotiators just weeks before delegates from nearly 200 nations meet in Paris" (2). This is worth a read if one can read the whole story, which TGB has on a flash drive. Who knows how many other parallel examples there may be, with some hemming and hawing, and "we wholeheartedly support combating climate change, but, ah, we do have certain, er, problems that we need to address first." Well, you get the picture.
And just to add some icing to the cake (and TGB likes icing on cake, take that, Sugar Police!), imagine the security measures that will be taken in Paris, given the events of Friday, Nov. 13! Stay tuned!
REFERENCES
1. Air pollution in Beijing hits hazardous levels". http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Air-pollution-in-Beijing-hits-hazardous-levels-6661328.php, Nov. 28, 2015.
2. Barker, A., Clark, P. "India stance slows progress towards climate change deal". Financial Times, Nov. 17, 2015, p. 6.
3. http://chinatravelgo.com/travel-air-pollution-in-beijing-and-china/
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