The Journal

This is an on-line journal of ideas and white papers.  The writings on this page are basically my BLOG.
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Sustainability as an Inalienable Right

Life, Liberty, Justice, and Sustainability? Is it possible that all men and ecosystems were created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights? The implications would be interesting.
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 Are green energy myths dangerous?

 I have proposed that green energy technologies, wave energy, algae, biofuels, solar, wind, hydrogen... are not really available in any meaningful way when considering the problems of 6% oil supply decline rate and 2 ppm per year CO2 increase. The most dangerous things about the myths of green energy is that they effectively delay the real changes that are required to achieve demand reduction. I'm not against renewable energy. I'm against waiting for renewable energy to provide for continued growth. This is a hard concept to latch onto for an environmentalist like myself. Renewable energy is good, so that should be the positive focus. But, green energy has so far brought us 30 years of increased fossil fuel use. THE REAL GREEN IS LEAN!
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 Long Run Thinking about Oil

 Should the New Zealand government be investing $40M now to explore and develop any remaining oil reserves in our Southern Ocean? Are the methane hydrates that rest in the cold deep ocean our saviour for future secure energy? I would say no to both. What are we doing right now with oil and gas that is so important that it is worth the future? I would be willing to reduce oil and gas supplies and reduce the risk of collapsed Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. The hard fact is that no matter how hard we keep looking and trying to use up every last drop as quickly as possible, production is decreasing, and adapting to that reality is where our $40M and innovation and exploration efforts must go.
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NIMBY is a Sustainability Adaptation

My own opinion of Not-In-My-Back-Yard is that it is one of the first signs of an evolution toward sustainability. When the rights and preferences of local people to preserve their natural assets is balanced against the demands of others far removed from that environment for energy or resources, then we have one of the key building blocks for a sustainable society. Even if the local intrusion is something we like, like wind energy, and not popularly vulgar operations like mining, water harvesting, commercial fishing, logging of native forests, radioactive waste dumps… I would like to study how to incorporate NIMBY into energy system planning as a system dynamic, not figure out how to curtail it and damp it out. 
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