Our World and Everything in It

 I can’t say enough about Petersburg being a tree city. Trees have been ignored and considered expendable for far too long. I have two Ash trees that I’ve spent a lot of money on trying to save. It looks like they not going to make it and must come down. I will cry. Those trees were here for the past 20 years I’ve lived here and are in many pictures of my now deceased pets. They will leave an awful blank spot in my yard and my heart. To me, new subdivisions are an eyesore most specifically because they are devoid of trees. They appear stark, uninviting, and like I said before, without trees during the hot summer months, the homes in treeless subdivisions literally bake in the heat.

 
J. Sterling Morton’s idea of Arbor Day needs to be acknowledged and venerated now more than ever. Trees can literally help reverse the over-accumulation of CO2 and give us pure oxygen in return. They are a remarkable part of our environment’s system of coping with pollution. Yet the first thing someone does when excavating to build is mow all the trees down. How tragic.

 
My husband and I just purchased vacant property down the road from us to preserve it.. There isn’t much property like this left. There are 80 ft. evergreens blocking the view of the road. When I walk onto the property, it’s like a sanctuary. There are actually live bunches of Ash trees blooming still. It opens onto open water on the mouth of the Huron River. I was standing on the property one day when the neighbor across the street came running over. She said she was so distressed it was for sale. Someone was going to ruin her little slice of heaven over there and bulldoze all that wonderful nature down.  I told her I bought it. She almost knocked me down with her hug. She asked what we were going to do. I said “nothing.” It will stay that little slice of heaven for as long as we own it. Her sentiments were my sentiments. Call me nuts, but I’m a little tired of “progress” and never ending human sprawl. Surely someone would have knocked all the trees down and planted a giant albatross of a house it.  Na,na,na!!!

 
Think twice about the easy disposal of trees, shrubs, or any type of greenery. They take in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen. If you plan to build try to keep some trees on your property. They provide shade and windbreaks. And plant more large trees and shrubs. Many people receive Arbor Day Foundation literature in the mail and toss it. Big mistake. For a small fee a person can fill a yard with trees and shrubs of all sorts through the Arbor Day Foundation. When they say they will send 10 trees for a pittance, it’s true. I’ve supported the Arbor Day Foundation for years and purchased plenty. Of course the new plantings are small, bordering on miniscule and some appear to be nothing but a stick or twig. But oh how they transform.

 
When you receive your order from the Arbor Day Foundation, plant all you receive in a tilled bed first. It keeps them together where it’s easier to nurture them and helps avoid running them over with your lawnmower, and bunnies or deer eating them.  Within a few years they will be ready to transplant where you want them. I have a 30 ft. Silver Maple, a 20 ft. Pin Oak, and a beautiful 12 ft. Blue Spruce Evergreen that began as twig, another twig, and what appeared to be a 3 inch top sprig of an evergreen someone lopped off.

 
I’ve also purchased for next to nothing a fence of lilac bushes through the Arbor Day Foundation. Again, they looked like twigs when I got them but now tower over my head in rich pungent blooms every spring. I know we are a nation of “want it nows,” but time flies. I thought the same thing when I plant all these teeny tiny shoots. It’s been only 10 years for much of the things I’ve mentioned to spring forth and tower over my property. So think about it. If you have the patience you can get 10 times the trees through the Arbor Day Foundation as compared to the purchase of one at a nursery. For large property owners it’s the only way to go and you’ll be helping the environment 10 times more, as well as, assuring the Arbor Day Foundation continues on, an idea of J. Sterling Morton that is one heck of a legacy for Monroe.

I am sorry I was warned to use notepad and did not. So the former post on this subject was all lumped together and harder to read. This is an easier version to read. I’m bothering to do this because I think this is important to know.

Friday’s paper had a column about DTE customers and their ability to subsidize renewable energy by opting to buy the alternative energy sources. I don’t like the word subsidize. Ever since the deregulation of electricity in Michigan there has been much subsidizing going on already. The public was warned that deregulation would cost a rise in consumer electricity bills.
 
“As predicted, all the benefits of deregulation are going to investor-owned utilities in the form of multi-billion dollar bailouts, and to large industrial and commercial customers who have the clout to negotiate lower electricity prices. Meanwhile, residential and small commercial customers are receiving few if any benefits as electricity in many deregulated states is still more expensive than the national average.”

There is basically no free market system. It is still a monopoly but is now unregulated. The larger investor-owned utility holding companies offer lower rates to the big block buying power of larger consumers affiliated with them. These utility holding companies cross subsidize their unregulated subsidiaries with revenues from us. We are unable to realize really low and fair pricing elsewhere. This is the control I complain about.

“In short, state-led deregulation has created unregulated monopolies to the detriment of consumers, competitors, workers, and the environment.”

A good example of buying power and offsetting costs to consumers was the rise in gasoline prices when America’s own oil reserves were opened but foreign oil was not cut off. The idea of opening our reserves is to bring relief to all consumers. Foreign oil imports are stopped or slowed during this time so that their cost to us drops because of lower demand. It is the first time any president/administration opened our reserves but did not cut off foreign oil imports. The result was that the lower priced American oil reserves were given or allotted to big industry, which may or may not have been a company like DTE, while you and I paid dearly for the expensive imported foreign oil instead. We literally paid for the reduction of costs to the big guys who did not pass that reduction of cost onto us in the form of lower bills.

There is plenty more to be read about the deregulation of energy utilities I’ve already cited at:

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/energy_enviro_nuclear/electricity/deregulation/articles.cfm?ID=4165.

The above article is not the easiest to understand if we are not adept at financial jargon, but as a way of fortifying what I did manage to understand, that the cost of deregulation would indeed be passed on to consumers, I dug up my old electricity bills. This April’s electricity bill is $21.00 higher than it was in April, 2004 even though I’ve cut back on my consumption, and changed out the requisite low energy bulbs in my house. They should be lower due to competition. Which proves there really is no competition.
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On another note, DTE’s CEO Anthony Earley recently spoke to Michigan’s congress about reversing deregulation in Michigan. Their monopoly would be regulated once again, and I assume our utility bills would drop also. Adding rules to the already deregulated market could achieve the same results however, where there would be no monopoly at all. The lure I imagine is that if my bill dropped the $21.00, I might be more enticed to take the plunge to add the 2 cents per kilowatt-hour back onto my bill. But I’m still a little reticent about incurring any costs at all. Remember not long ago DTE announced in the Free Press they would continue production (coalburners) as usual for the next 20 years. Now they are offering renewable sources at a little higher cost that is past onto us. This is the other thing I complained about, picking up the tab for a companies poor foresight as far as environmentalism. We shouldn’t. I found another article on:

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2004/2004-10-20-03.asp that states:

October 20, 2004 (ENS) - The Energy Department and the private sector are beginning to roll towards the creation of a hydrogen economy to replace today’s petroleum economy. On Tuesday, the agency awarded more than $75 million in hydrogen research projects, a figure that mounts to nearly $100 million when private sector contributions are added. In addition, a hydrogen technology park opened Tuesday in Michigan with the ability to produce hydrogen to refuel fuel cell vehicles. 
 

The high tech facility in Southfield, Michigan is the result of a partnership between the Department of Energy (DOE) and DTE Energy to develop, install and operate a multi-use renewable hydrogen station. “Today’s opening of the Hydrogen Technology Park is an important step forward,” said Acting Under Secretary David Garman. “Projects such as the one here in Michigan will enable industry to reach a 2015 commercialization decision with hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.”

Now I’m really confused because that article is dated 2004. And the government through the Energy Department helped subsidize the park. So why is it we as consumers are just now being offered alternative renewable sources and asked to subsidize them as well? Why would DTE, not long ago, announce they would continue as usual for the next 20 years? I will be posting another article soon about the ability to convert coalburning facilities to produce hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used for many things besides vehicles.

You know until it is all put together and explained in terms the general public understands from before deregulation until the present I don’t think I will make any moves to invest. Something is not right. DTE ignored environmentalism as long as possible to squeeze what they can out of their investment in fossil fuels by squeezing us when in fact they own every aspect of the industry from the coal, to the trucking, the grids and lines, etc.  We should have the lowest bills in the country, yet they’ve risen and now we are asked to pay more again to go green. Let it come out of their pockets. I’m tired of the little guy suffering more than those at the top. Small businesses don’t have that luxury. I owned my own business. If I made mistakes, or decided to switch my methods, the cost came out of my income first in order to save my business. I could not pass the cost along to customers because of competition. It should be likewise for big business, which is afforded the luxury of bailouts, cross subsidizing, and unregulated monopolizing. And they have little to fear from competition. Yet they turn around and raise the price for consumers anyway.
 

Friday’s paper had a column about DTE customers and their ability to subsidize renewable energy by opting to buy the alternative energy sources. I don’t like the word subsidize. Ever since the deregulation of electricity in Michigan there has been much subsidizing going on already. The public was warned that deregulation would cost a rise in consumer electricity bills.
“As predicted, all the benefits of deregulation are going to investor-owned utilities in the form of multi-billion dollar bailouts, and to large industrial and commercial customers who have the clout to negotiate lower electricity prices. Meanwhile, residential and small commercial customers are receiving few if any benefits as electricity in many deregulated states is still more expensive than the national average.”
There is basically no free market system. It is still a monopoly but is now unregulated. The larger investor-owned utility holding companies offer lower rates to the big block buying power of larger consumers affiliated with them. These utility holding companies cross subsidize their unregulated subsidiaries with revenues from us. We are unable to realize really low and fair pricing elsewhere. This is the control I complain about. “In short, state-led deregulation has created unregulated monopolies to the detriment of consumers, competitors, workers, and the environment.”
A good example of buying power by big business and offsetting costs to consumers was the rise in gasoline prices last time when America’s own oil reserves were opened but foreign oil was not cut off. The idea of opening our reserves is to bring relief to all consumers. Foreign oil imports are stopped or slowed during this time so that their cost to us drops because of lower demand. It is the first time any administration opened our reserves but did not cut off foreign oil imports. The result was that the lower priced American oil reserves were given or allotted to big industry, which may or may not have been a company like DTE, while you and I paid dearly for the expensive imported foreign oil instead. We literally paid for the reduction of costs to the big guys who did not pass that reduction of cost onto us in the form of lower bills.

Samantha Walter’s editorial in the Saturday paper about going vegetarian means going green is a growing phenomenon, especially among women. In the past week I’ve mentioned that I think I might try going vegetarian altogether to various people I was chit chatting with and found so many new vegetarians or those that have been one their whole lives. They were all women. I think it is not only a good thing for the environment, animals, and the small farm industry, but women’s overall health.

 
A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrates an association between red meat and increased risk of breast cancer in pre-menopausal women. According to USNews.com, “The extra risk ranged from 14 percent more for those who ate between three and five servings per week up to nearly double for women who ate more than 1.5 servings a day. Red meat included beef, lamb, or pork–as a main dish, in sandwiches, and in processed form.” It’s due to the hormones being fed to animals.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/061113/13health.meat.htm.

 
The reason I am attempting to go vegetarian is in protest of industrialized farming mainly. And I do hate the thought of eating something with a face.  Plus, I do all the cooking and have over time cut out or cut back all white flour products, salt, sugar, preservatives, caffeine, etc., substituting that with tasty dishes accented with fresh grown herbs from my garden. Since my husband refuses to cook at all, he pretty much has to go along.

 
It started with green beans over 20 years ago. My husband ate steak, potatoes or rice, corn, and salads. I’ve already stated I’m really ethnic and have eaten almost every type of vegetable and fruit that exists and learned about herbs early on. I couldn’t get him to eat green beans and found out why. His mother cooked them southern style, all day, with much bacon and salt. He hated them and called them green mush. My idea of green beans is steamed just right, not mushy, and not too crunchy. When done right, they are soooo good. He relented and liked them. Once I got green beans down him, it was easy for him to trust me to try everything I presented. I used an old tried and true gourmet cookbook but substituted too much “EEOV” and salt with broths, and herbs. From there he began to see how much better he felt also.

 
So now I have a veteran construction worker sitting among his big burly cohorts at break time and lunch quietly eating yogurt, fruit, and whatever wholesome leftovers from the night before while they gorge on donuts, bar burgers, and over stacked deli sandwiches. When they make fun of him, he points to the fact he weighs within 5 lbs. of his high school weight, has very dark hair mixed with a little gray on the sides mostly, (he retires in 4 years), and has a full head of hair. His having a full head of hair is curious considering he also has to wear a tight welding cap all day, his grandfather and uncle on his mom’s side were bald, his mom is balding, his dad is bald, and at least one of his dad’s brothers was bald. Something keeps his hair up there. It just may be he doesn’t experience the hormone overload found in too much meat. Male pattern baldness is associated with a type of hormone.

 
Eating this way over time, we have both realized we were meant to eat to live not live to eat. He now calls meals warm filler and doesn’t much care what it is he is eating as long as it’s healthy and tastes good. I started by having one totally meatless meal a week long ago. Eggplant and portabella mushrooms make good meatless dishes. Eggplant Parmesan is a specialty of mine. My mother can make tofu egg salad that will fool anyone. It fooled my husband. As far as all the goodies, I eat them as a treat once and awhile only. If you see me at a party eating everything chocolate or fattening I get my hands on, it is only for that occasion believe me. My whole system rebels the next day as a clear indication, it no longer likes that stuff. It’s a good thing I think. It keeps me on the straight and narrow.

 
I gave up little eating little calves first, in protest of their crating, being fed only milk to tenderize them and also kept in darkness for the same purpose. That’s malnourished meat, no way. I haven’t eaten a cute little pig for over a year, cows are out of the picture now. Turkey and chicken were all that was left. With the way they crate chickens…well like I said, I’m getting ready to take the plunge soon into the world of vegetarianism.

 
One more thing I’ve learned from one of the vegetarians I just met this past week is that there is a huge organic store name Trader Joe’s in Royal Oak. I’ve also found one in Ann Arbor. She gave me a package of meatless meatballs from Trader Joe’s and literally dared me to cook them up for someone who likes meat stating, “they will not know the difference and comment on how good they are.” I’m game. As long as it tastes good, I will eat healthy and meatless. I can’t wait to go shopping with my mother to Trader Joes soon.

Remember when I blogged about conserving water by not letting it run while we brush our teeth? Well, on GMA this morning it stated we waste 8 gallons of water doing that every morning. If we just stop doing that we could supply water to the entire state of Texas everyday. I don’t know about anyone else but if we don’t start conserving water and the heat keeps up out west, the 3 fastest growing states New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona, (the 4^th is Texas) will dry up. The 3 states only have one water source. They will be eyeballing our water here. So before our Michigan water gets annexed, just shut the water off when brushing your teeth from now on. I know I never do that because I have a habit of walking around my house brushing while I look out my windows at the backyard, the front yard, across the street, etc. A strange habit I’ve picked up from having 2 cats.

They have to go out everyday and cover the entire yard to make sure their territory has not been corrupted you know, smelling every single bush. Once they do a quick survey, they’re happy and come in again.

 
Anyway, on 20/20 tonight there will be a special on who’s doing what to go green from all around the world. 94% of all people want to help alleviate global warming, so the 6% of you that are still arguing get over it. 74% of us have already started doing something to help. The biggest coverage is about wind turbine power. Abilene, Texas believe it or not is the largest field covering 41,000 acres with 400 wind turbines. Upstate N.Y. is second with 200 over 25,000 acres. They generate power to 160,000 people. I know Hawaii has had them for quite awhile on their North Shore.

 
Michigan should get on the stick with wind power. I live on a canal off of the Huron River and every afternoon like clockwork there is beautiful breeze blowing in. I just installed 2 energy efficient fans in the front and back of my house to draw this through so I won’t utilize much AC this summer. By the way, this is a fact many don’t know, the less number of fan paddles, the more efficient the circulation. Doesn’t sound logical, but it is fact. I have only 3 paddles and they act like a little wind turbine. So if you’re thinking in terms of fans, think fewer paddles.

 
Please watch 20/20 tonight on channel 7 at 10:00 tonight. Gather your family. There will be animals and all types of amazing things for your children to see and understand about the earth. Start them out young and secure a future for earth.  It is absolutely amazing what will be told. Already on GMA I learned that if every one of us were granted his share of land, we would all have 4 acres. Now are you going to fill your 4 acres with your trash? All your plastic bottles, Styrofoam containers, plastic shopping bags, toilet paper and paper towels, and every bit of trash you dump out every week. Heck no. You want to send it away, out of sight out of mind. It’s another story altogether if it gathered on your property isn’t it? Maybe then everyone would have a wake up call as to just how much we pollute. All the statistics on how much trash, in greater detail then I’ve ever blogged here will be told on 20/20 tonight as well as how far ahead other countries are compared to America.

The whole Al Gore debate on Capitol Hill regarding global warming ticked me off. When I saw Senator Inholfe wave some paperwork and make the remark that he had a long list of reputable scientists that say the opposite of Gore, I wanted that list. Well of course it doesn’t take much searching to find that stuff. There are naysayers everywhere and plenty that don’t mind being quoted that are all over TV. I thought it might be interesting to check out the background of some of the more vocal skeptics, and some of the opposing theories to global warming that are circulating, and then post them a little at a time until I’ve gone through most.

For starters and on Inholfe’s list no doubt we’ll take a look at Richard Lindzen, MIT scientist and former UN IPCC (Int’l Panel on Climate Change) reviewer. He reportedly called fears of man-made global warming “’silly’” in January 2007 and equated concerns to “‘little kids’” attempting to “’scare each other.’” Well:

·        Lindzen was contracted by oil and coal interests for which he charged $2500 per day for consultation.

·        Western Fuel paid for his trip to testify before a 1991 Senate committee.

·        His speech “Global Warming: the Origin and Nature of Alleged Scientific Consensus was underwritten by OPEC.

I thought I would have to do the digging but there is a website out there that’s a lot like “The Smoking Gun” that looks into the credibility of references or sources called sourcewatch.org. This website checks the sources that many people use to back up their arguments. I’ve tried to explain to people that there are many, many prejudiced, misguided, unethical, and outright crackpot websites out there and the number one thing to do to see if a source is reputable is to look at the ethics of the writer, specifically who is paying them, who has paid them in the past, and what they have to gain by opposing the growing consensus on global warming.

In this respect, I can’t figure or find what Al Gore or any of the other scientists have to gain by warning anyone about global warming. I could understand it if there were well defined stocks or investments for environmental products or services that were growing at a rate beyond all others, but there is no such thing. Believe me. I’m hunting around for this type of investment all the time. In contrast, there are many skeptics and organizations like Lindzen that are funded or have large contributors from big energy in some form, specifically the oil industry. 

Stay tuned. There is a whole lot of debunking to come.

I started to write this blog on 12-22-06 but something else got my attention so I didn’t blog it here. I may have done it on one of many other blogs I hit intermittently.  I remember saying that just because the U.S. didn’t experience another horrible hurricane season like the one that brought us Katrina, we aren’t in the clear. It gives me the creeps because some of these things are happening, predictions are coming true in light of the horrible pummeling the New England coast, N.J. and N.Y. suffered over the weekend. Here it is:

While we’re having good weather in Michigan, our fellow Americans are suffering in many other parts of the country. We’ve witnessed fires, hurricane force winds, blizzards, and flooding on our west coast. El Nino is to blame for their horrible weather and our rather pleasant winter. As more studies surface, there appears to be a connection between global warming and more frequent El Ninos. Do we really feel for our west coast neighbors or do we have that nasty little instinct to say, ha, ha, ha, it’s great here? Just how far removed are we really and for how long?  Has our number not come up yet?

This strangely calm east coast weather versus west coast weather can be viewed as a giant alligator that is draped across our nation right now with its head at the west coast chewing away on their shores while nothing much happens here. The problem is that when winters are extremely harsh on the west coast and our apparent winter is mild look out for spring on the east coast. That alligator’s tail is going to whip. That whipping tail may bring a string of noreaster that could have bad consequences for cities well to the north. The phenomenon is easily explained.

Scientists found when looking back over a 350-year period, as far back as paleorecords allow, there was credible evidence that volcanic activity in the tropics may play a significant role in the occurrence of El Niño events. “We now have a long record showing that the relationship between volcanic eruptions and an increased probability of El Niño events continues to hold up over several centuries,” Mann [scientist] said. “It’s probably not just a fluke.” I know I recently wrote a blog about increased earthquake activity and the one I witnessed in Michigan in the 70’s. http://www.scienceblog.com/community/older/2003/G/20034621.html. A few quick facts:

• Latest research ties global warming to an increase in El Nino activity. Scientists warn global warming could make El Nino a permanent feature of the world’s weather system.
• El Nino is an unusual rise in sea-surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
• Hurricane force winds and waves batter the West Coast during an El Nino while hurricanes on the East Coast decrease.
• When a west coast El Nino winter is over, the summers in the southwest are hotter than normal and unusually dry.
• By next winter the East Coast suffers more noreasters.
• A noreaster is not a hurricane but a macro scale storm. The type that sits on an area and batters it to death.  Noreasters produce gale force winds, erosion, and flooding.

 
Enough said? These facts claim our east coast will suffer more noreasters next winter. Well they’re early. Let’s just hope they don’t keep up throughout spring into summer causing really strange weather patterns for Michigan. I don’t want to experience warning after warning for terrible tornadoes of which I am terribly afraid. Year before last we had one in the sky over Monroe in NOVEMBER. Not funny with me standing in the opening of the crawl space of our house trying to pack my two cats and parrot down there that were not happy at all, while my husband like most men poohed poohed it and went out on the deck in the dark of night to see what he could see. I hate to say it; I already had it in my head the hatch was going down with or without him. Nothing happened and I had to hear about it all night from him. When he came home from work he was a little more humble. Someone he worked with was in Newport where everyone was told to get out of their car if possible and take cover. The tornado was definitely sighted but never touched down.

 
I don’t like the prediction above that our southwestern states are going to be hotter and more dry than usual. Fires burning trees that we so desperately need for shelter, oxygen, wind breaks, erosion, etc., that provide a canopy for the scorching sun and is home for thousands of species of plants and animals is devastating. I hope another blog I did about whether or not we will be faced with the dilemma of sharing our water with fellow Americans that they will desperately need from Our Great Lakes does not come to fruition.

 
Al Gore the man everyone is making fun of these days coined the idea that global warming is a MORAL ISSUE. It might not be in the too distant future we face this very moral issue, that of sharing our Great Lakes freshwater supply with our fellow Americans. Just when we thought Michigan is struggling enough, we may lose our water also.