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Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

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Posted by Ben.

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–

Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

1. Give up and find other things to do. There are Other Things. 
2. Design and build a competitive club racer. Not doing it would be a waste of opportunity. 

• 17 x 3.5" wheels with split hub center steering at both ends. If I can steer the rear wheel, I can drive the front wheel. An overrunning clutch to the front wheel will eliminate the need for a differential. Initially, entirely machined wheels were planned, but previous generation R1 front wheels are ideal - they are very light for a production wheel, and the hub area is big enough to bore out and install a smaller universal joint in the center with a lighter machined hub. A cheap damaged wheel verified that it will work.
• 500 single 2-stroke power, with a combination counterbalancer/intake valve (My design), and a 6 speed transmission with a dry clutch. A KX500 engine (On hand) will provide most of the mechanical parts, a Ducati 999 engine (On hand) will provide most of the transmission and clutch parts (Similar to the Tul-Aris set-up), and a foundry (Not on hand - yet) will provide the cases necessary to make it all work. That will be a lot of work, but it should make a lot of power for a very small engine, with much less maintenance, tuning work, exhaust fabrication, and cost than a multi-cylinder engine. 
• Very narrow triangulated steel tube chassis. Exotic construction techniques were studied with a lot of enthusiasm, but none of them had any practical appeal. The ergonomics of the first racer were excellent, as viewed from the side, but the hands, knees, and feet need to move a LOT closer together to improve safety and aerodynamics. 

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

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Ben Wilson
–
info@benwilsondesign.co.uk
07973 667 654
–
www.benwilsondesign.co.uk
www.wilsonbrothers.co.uk
–
Ben Wilson Design Ltd incorporated in England Company no 09698216 registered office unit 15-16 7 Wenlock road London n17sl

Posted by Ben.

I had such a wonderful time living in Melbourne and I know it’s a period of being settled (by my standards), that I’ll always look very fondly upon.  It’s amazing how much I managed to make my home and routine in a mere six months.

I feel really proud that not only did I manage the basics of moving to a new place, such as finding a job, a place to live and gaining an idea of the surroundings in a foreign country, but I also forged true friendships, joined and created community and was able to deeply follow my passion, giving me a great sense of achievement and possibility.  Sometimes we need to put ourselves out of our comfort zone to remind us what we are capable of.

Finding a balance

Striving to find a balanced and healthy lifestyle is something I’ve been continually experimenting with and honing over the past few years. In Melbourne I was able to create the most balance I have ever had.

It all starts with work…

Having lived resourcefully for over a year from savings, it felt good to earn money again and be able to pay for the lifestyle I wanted to have in the city.  Since my dreams of working in a hippy paradise cafe had abruptly ended and money was running out, irregular cafe work seemed like less of an option. So I ended up signing up to some temp agencies specialising in office work knowing this would be the best way to save and comforting myself in that it would just be for a short while.

I was feel very grateful that I managed to get a temporary administrative role at the Department of Veteran’s Affairs.  Working in the public sector felt good as the few days of work I had done for a Corporate before this role just didn’t feel right. It was a fairly easy job which worked for me at this time.

Admittedly it was extremely boring, pretty much just processing forms and writing letters but the perks were numerous – I was able to work 9am – 5pm, earn a decent wage that allowed me to save up (as the minimum wages in Australia is high) and have very minimal stress as I had very little responsibility. I would never think about work once I got home for the day.

The people were friendly and I appreciated that I could walk around the office in my socks and get up to make myself cups of tea without feeling clock watched. For the 5 months I did this job, that was ideal as I had so much space and energy to live a really fulfilling life outside of work.

Remembering the magic in the world

I know people sometimes wonder how I can live such a lifestyle of uncertainty and not knowing what is ahead.  I acknowledge there’s a lot of value in planning and working towards a goal, but sometimes there’s something special in releasing yourself to an experience to see what it brings you.

Somehow the universe has always provided me with what I have needed at the right time.  By complete serendipity it turns out that I already had a friend from England living in Melbourne which made my experience of living there better than I could ever have hoped.  I now had my wwoofer friend Kaitlyn from the blueberry farm as my room mate (yes sharing a bed to cut costs) and Kim, my friend from England.

Kim arrived in Australia just four months before me with his girlfriend Kiki.  They’ve been in the process of trying to settle there through the work route as Kim has lots of family close by and was also drawn to the lifestyle.  Kim and I had lots of mutual friends in London –  we sung in a few choirs together, used to go on weekends away to sleep in a yurt and sing, but we weren’t what you’d call close.  I was aware he had been planning to go to Australia but at that time I had not yet a clue that I would ever even go there and so it slipped my mind.

It was amazing to discover from a friend that he was in Melbourne and to have such a connection drop seemingly out of nowhere. Meeting up with him was so easy, we already understood eachother and could pickup our favourite activities that we had done together in London.  It felt like we’d been great friends for a really long time and we both appreciated the sense of home.

In addition, it meant I had an instant family base in Melbourne as he was living with his mum Avis who also welcomed me into their home with open arms and that was always a great joy for me.  Their home felt very warm and comfortable and I loved helping out around the garden, eating dinner and being treated as part of the family.  It also felt so familiar having that Englishness around me whilst living in Australia – no one makes a proper cup of tea like a Brit!

Life comes in cycles

Melbourne is a really cycle friendly city and it’s the only time I’ve enjoyed a traffic jam as it was one consisting of only cyclists and not drivers! It’s so heartening to me to see so many people getting to work this way and living such active, healthy lifestyles.  My cycle commute to work was one of the most enjoyable parts of living in Melbourne, I felt so fit, from just doing my normal daily routine and not having to set aside time to do this.  Kim could immediately tell me where all the best cycle lanes were and we had alot of fun going on bike trips to explore the city and surrounding countryside.

Music brings me home

I think that maybe music is my religion…..  It’s the one constant in my life that brings me home to myself and makes me feel most connected to the world wherever I am. Bearing that in mind, being suddenly put in contact with Kim who has this whole shared history of the same songs, was really powerful.

We had so much fun meeting up to sing songs we had sung together in choirs in London and working together on songs with us singing and playing guitar to sing at open mics.  I think it’s one of the most fun things ever for me to do. In a short amount of time we were invited to perform as a support act for a local choir and we were meeting up regularly to play.  One thing led to another and before we knew it, we were setting up our own pop up choir to campaign for the creation of a national park around Melbourne that would end the disastrous logging –  More on that in my next blog.  This experience was particularly dear to my heart and is the closest experience I have had to feeling like ‘having a calling’ in life.

Nothing is ever perfect

That’s not to say it was perfect completely perfect but it was pretty damn good.  For me finding a meaningful, enjoyable job that is not too high stress and earns a decent enough wage to live comfortably has always been the holy grail.  I don’t think it’s impossible but perhaps I need to accept there are always to be some compromises ( I haven’t quite yet been able to).

My job was boring as hell and my saving grace was that all day (quite literally) I listened to podcasts and music, so I could still get a sense that I was growing through my work, but it wasn’t sustainable.  By the end, it was quite a drag and one of my favourite songs by Martha Tilston about wanting to run across the office tables and feeling like a drone going to work, would regularly march through my head.

Bringing in an income

This might sound strange but it was nice to have some income again as my travel lifestyle has been funded by saving up and then when I am travelling living extremely frugally.  I even just appreciated the fact I could afford to pay to attend a weekly yoga class in a nice studio, which gave me grounding, strength and flexibility as well as routine.

I was also really lucky to be able to live in some really cute neighbourhoods in Melbourne including Brunswick and Carlton North – both close to my work and with a great deal of character and life.  I love the Victorian architecture, the amount of trees and green spaces and the cafe culture.  One extremely unique thing about Melbourne is that there are still so many independent shops and businesses adding to the quirkiness and uniqueness. Also unlike a lot of Australia, Melbourne is a melting pot of diversity  and is very open minded, liberal and forward thinking.

Melbourne is said to have quite a European feel and have some of the best coffee shops. I really connected with this.  Especially when the weather is great, I’m much more drawn to waking early, being productive and spending time outside than to staying up and enjoying night life.  This period of my life is the time in which I have drunk the least alcohol which for me personally I have found to bring lots of balance.  Kaitlyn and I had a tradition of going for brunch at a different cafe every week which was so delicious, felt like a proper treat and meant we really made the most of the delicious food on offer.

We Brits love to talk about the weather

Melbourne is know for having ‘four seasons in one day’, but a more accurate assessment in my eyes is four seasons in one week.  Located on the South of Australia, Melbourne is subject to weather influences from the cool sea combined with the heat of the North, depending on which way the wind blows.

In one week it could go up to nearly 40 degrees with humidity and then drop right down to 18 degrees the following day, with cool winds and rain. It meant the mantra ‘always be prepared’ really rang true.  Some Australians I encountered found this a great source of annoyance, but for me it was a breath of fresh air compared with English weather.  You really appreciate rain after the intense heat, yet it was comforting to know that a grey sky would never linger for too long and that soon I would feel the glow of the sun on my skin, one of my favourite feelings in the world. For fleeting moments, this warmth brings me to peace no matter what is happening.

Speaking of sun, there is a huge hole in the O Zone directly above Australia and you really notice the power of the UV rays.  The sun feels all consuming and powerful.  Suncream of factor 50 is a must during all these weathers as people are known to burn in just 15 minutes.  One of Australia’s many dangers!

Quite the impression

Were visas not an issue and were Australia not on the otherside of the world, I think I could very happily live in Melbourne.  However this is not the case!

I feel lucky that I got to experience this time in Melbourne and these friendships – I’ll miss these a lot. It’s hard to leave Melbourne as it felt so much like home but ultimately I know my time there was always limited and it’s exciting to have had a great glimpse of what a balanced and fulfilling home base can look and feel like.  I look forward to bringing these elements into my future living situation.

If you're reading beyond the headlines about the recent climate change report, you'll quickly hit lots of references to emissions scenarios called Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). I'd heard of these, but they were different from the scenarios used in the previous reports by the IPCC in 2001 and 2007. Here's my summary of these scenarios based on an excellent guide by Graham Wayne at skepticalscience.com

RCPs are scenarios that describe alternative trajectories for carbon dioxide emissions and the resulting atmospheric concentration from 2000 to 2100. They encompass the range of possible climate policy outcomes for the 21st century. By agreeing on a limited set of scenarios, researchers (especially climate modelers) can be more sure they are comparing apples with apples when conducting their research and communicating their results.

The RCPs describe 4 different scenarios based on different assumptions about population, economic growth, energy consumption and sources and land use over this century. Details can be found at skepticalscience.com or the source for much of Wayne's document ie van Vuuren etal (2011).

The scenarios are named after the level of "radiative forcing" that each scenario produces (measured in watts per square metre). While crucial to describing the mechanics of climate change, I've found that an understanding this term is not needed to comprehend the problem of climate change, its scale and its implications.

Notice how concentration continues to increase even after emissions slow and then drop. Carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere and stays there for decades. Even if emissions start reducing in 2020, the concentration continues increasing and starts falling very slowly only after 2050. Understanding this relationship between our emissions today and the CO2 concentration experienced by our grandchildren is key to grokking the problem of climate change.

So now a brief look at each of the scenarios.

This scenario might be described as the best case for limiting anthropogenic climate change. It requires a major turnaround in climate policies and a start to concerted action in the next few years in all countries, both developing and developed.

Global CO2 emissions peak by 2020 and decline to around zero by 2080. Concentrations in the atmosphere peak at around 440 ppm in mid century and then start slowly declining.

Global population peaks mid century at just over 9 billion and global economic growth is high. Oil use declines but use of other fossil fuel increases and is offset by capture and storage of carbon dioxide. Biofuel use is high. Renewable energy (eg solar & wind) increases but remains low.

Cropping area increases faster than current trends, while grassland area remain constant. Animal husbandry becomes more intensive. Forest vegetation continues to decline at current trends.

Emissions peak around mid century at around 50% higher than 2000 levels and then decline rapidly over 30 years and then stabilise at half of 2000 levels. CO2 concentration continues on trend to about 520 ppm in 2070 and continues to increase but more slowly.

Population and economic growth are moderate but slightly lower than under scenario RCP 2.6

Total energy consumption is slightly higher than RCP 2.6 while oil consumption is fairly constant through to 2100. Nuclear power and renewables play a greater role.

Significantly, cropping and grassland area declines while reforestation increases the area of natural vegetation.

In this scenario, emissions double by 2060 and then dramatically fall but remain well above current levels. CO2 concentration continues increasing, though at a slower rate in the latter parts of the century, reaching 620 ppm by 2100.

Population growth is slightly higher peaking at around 10 billion. This scenario assumes the lowest GDP growth of the four.

Energy consumption increases to a peak in 2060 then declines and levels out to finish the century at levels similar to RCP2.6. Oil consumption remains high while biofuel and nuclear play a smaller role than in the other 3 scenarios.

Cropping area continues on current trend, while grassland area is rapidly reduced. Natural vegetation is similar to RPC4.5

This is the nightmare scenario in which emissions continue to increase rapidly through the early and mid parts of the century. By 2100 annual emissions have stabilised at just under 30 gigatonnes of carbon compared to around 8 gigatonnes in 2000.

Concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere accelerate and reach 950 ppm by 2100 and continue increasing for another 100 years.

Population growth is high, reaching 12 billion by centuries end. This is at the high end of the UN projections. Economic growth is similar to RCP6 but assumes much lower incomes and per capita growth in developing countries.

This scenario is highly energy intensive with total consumption continuing to grow throughout the century reaching well over 3 times current levels. Oil use grows rapidly until 2070 after which it drops even more quickly. Coal provides the bulk of the large increase in energy consumption

Land use continues current trends with crop and grass areas increasing and forest area decreasing.

With this information on board I can try to make at least some sense of the forecasts included in the IPCC's latest report. Figure 3 below is a chart showing forecast temperature change under the best (RCP2.6) and worst (RCP8.5) scenario.

If we get it together and emissions peak by 2020 and reduce to zero this century (ie RCP2.6), global temperature could be stabilised at around 1°C above levels in the late 1900's. The IPCC say it is unlikely (<33% probability) that the rise will exceed 2°C.

On the other, hand if we carry on as if there is no problem without even a slow down in emissions growth until late in the 21st century (ie RPC8.5) , the forecast outcome is not pretty. Temperatures are forecast to continue increasing and by 2100 and reach around 4°C higher than late 20th century levels. The likely range of outcomes for 2100 is approximately 3°C to 5.5°C higher.

While these projections are similar to those produced by the IPCC in 2007, the prospect of a +4° or higher world seems more possible or even probable now 5 years later. The colossal impacts and implications of a +4° or +6° world are better understood now than in 2007. The IPCC's Working Group II will release their report on impacts, adaptations and vulnerability in March 2014. I don't expect it to be fun reading.

Working Group I Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Summary for Policymakers (draft 27 September 2013) (pdf)

Wayne, G.P. (2013) The Beginner's Guide to Representative Concentration Pathways, Version 1.0 August 3013 www.skepticalscience.com

van Vuuren, D.P. et al (2011), The representative concentration pathways: an overview. Climatic Change, Vol 109, Issue 1-2, pp 5-31 Springerlink Open Access

jdeboi.com & goCaptainPlanet.com

1. Katrina

Katrina hit when I was a junior in high school, flooding my home, my school, my city— rendering my family, like thousands of other families, homeless 21st century climate refugees. My hurricane experience was unequivocally the most emotionally traumatic, significant, and life-defining experience of my life to date. And the mental scars associated with watching my home and its citizens get swallowed alive by one of the most destructive natural disasters in American history is the reason I decided to study climate change and is the number one reason why I am so passionate about combating the climate crisis.

I could spend hours talking about this subject, but for the sake of holding your attention, I'm going to share just a few particularly vivid memories.

The first is about my father. As the Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit at Charity Hospital, a public hospital and a long-time sanctuary for less fortunate New Orleanians, he had to remain in the city to keep the hospital running during the storm.

There were 11 patients in the Medical ICU at the time, 9 of whom were on breathing machines- all of them very, very sick. When the levees broke on Tuesday, the day after the eye of the storm passed, water rushed into the city, flooding the hospital and destroying the backup up generators. All of the infusion pumps, defibrillators, monitors, and batteries started to fail.

For four days, they were forgotten; they were left without food, without water, without electricity, air-conditioning,flushing toilets, or any way to communicate with the outside world. At one point my father had to perform surgery on a young man in the back up a pickup truck— without anesthesia— using a flashlight and a scalpel. And while they were struggling to keep their patients alive with limited resources, refugees from the city were coming to the hospital for a safe haven.

Here's a pic of my dad in a Black Hawk with a patient when FEMA finally showed up:

In the interest of time, I'll leave you with a link to the ABC story written about his experience.

Needless to say, I didn't hear from my father for over a week, a horrendously agonizing experience, especially when every news outlet was reporting rampant looting, and chaos, and fire, and deluge. I'll share a few more — I came back to New Orleans for the first time in November (the storm was in August). At the time, the national guard was only allowing first responder type personnel into the city, so my best friend and I had to hide under blankets in the back of her minivan while my father drove through the security checkpoint. We left really early to make sure we could get into the city. It was probably about 4:30 in the morning when we rolled into the CBD, and I pulled my head out from under the blanket for the first time. Here are some imagery bullet points:

• completely unlit skyscrapers; an early morning sky pocked with stars
• thick brown sludge coated every car, plant, surface.
• a desolate, sepia post-apocalyptic war zone; the only sign of life— National Guard trucks
• brown water marks circling every home like the rings of Saturn
• spray-painted neon Xs, a sign the National Guard had searched for bodies
• interiors: mold-infested, black oozy, smelly alien planets

There's one thing that no New Orleanian who returned after the storm will ever forget: the smell. I don't know how to do it justice. It's reminiscent of mildew or some other type of mold, but it had a faintly sweet scent- almost like pine sap. Or spoiled eel sauce- sweet and noxious at the same time. I'll stop there and finish with a conclusion:

Katrina gave me a truly visceral understanding of the destructive capacity of nature as well as the fragility of modern society.

And so senior year of high school when I learned that climate change had the potential to create more frequent and more powerful storms- storms like Katrina- I knew that combatting climate change was my calling.

2. Sandy

After graduating from college, I moved to New York City and started working for a software company. I had been there for about a year when Hurricane Sandy, the second costliest hurricane in US history, hit the East Coast.

If Katrina was my wakeup call, Sandy was the fire the under my ass. This "superstorm" marks my transition from environmentalist to activist.

I'll share a few Sandy stories that really hit home. I lived in Brooklyn, but I evacuated to my office building in SoHo- a trick I learned in New Orleans to prevent cabin fever (which was critical in New York since I lived in a tiny studio). When the lights went out Monday afternoon, I was afraid to be in the building by myself (and technically, I wasn't supposed to be there at all), so I decided to go across the street and stay with a coworker at his uncle's SoHo apartment. As a seasoned hurricane pro, I itched to experience the storm on the ground, and so at 10pm that night, as the storm made landfall on the coast of New Jersey, with sturdy boots and thick parkas my coworker and I ventured out into the city.

Exploring the southern tip of Manhattan as the rain and the wind whipped through man made glassy steel canyons, was oddly reminiscent of my experience entering New Orleans for the first time after Katrina. The streets of Manhattan- streets that never sleep, streets continuously packed with busy bodies, luminous advertisements, pungent smells and sounds— a deluge of stimuli— these streets were desolate; the starry steel skyline— completely black. Eerie to the core.

At that moment I realized a natural disaster had the power to render the world's most vibrant metropolis completely silent, empty, and lifeless.

But even more profound was the following morning's revelation. When we woke up on Tuesday there was no power, no internet, no cellphones, no way to communicate with the outside world whatsoever. We had no idea when the power was going to come back on. And we quickly realized that we had enough food to comfortably feed the group for one or two days, which was especially frightening considering the fact that most of the grocery stores were already empty. There was no leaving the city. The subways weren't running, and very few New Yorkers have cars. Even if we did have a car, it probably would have been easier to walk out of the city given the traffic insanity that would undoubtedly ensue.

And that's when it hit me: 9 million people trapped on a tiny rock without food, running water, electricity, or communication with the outside world. And I experienced, for the second time, the fragility of modern society; self-subsistence is a thing of the past. I felt certain that if all of New York City- not just the southern tip of Manhattan- had lost power for multiple days, the situation could have easily devolved into mass chaos.

Last story. While New York was in a limbo state (no subways or electricity or work), I decided to do some exploring. I walked around the tip of the island and up the west side along the Hudson River. When it was time to head back, I had to cross Lincoln Highway. Cars were barreling down the West Side at 40 mph, blazing through intersections DESPITE THE LACK OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS (which were completely defunct without electricity). The cars were traveling fast enough and the traffic was thick enough that one driver's decision to tread cautiously and politely through an intersection might actually lead to a massive pile up. So who's to blame?

So there I was, playing a very difficult level of human Frogger with no brake [pun intended] in sight. Several minutes later a pool of pedestrians had formed around me- all of us wondering how we might make it across the road to tell the tale. After five minutes, I was fed up (perhaps not realizing that East Coasters weren't accustomed to post-hurricane driving etiquette). I took a bold step into the highway, jabbed the palm of my hand at the windshield of an oncoming car, and stared the driver in the eyes. I felt like Moses parting the waters, and I got my people across. Why did I choose to tell this story?

For a second time I recognized that modern society's resiliency is diminishing while nature's propensity for destruction burgeons.

I was very upset after Sandy (and a little insane in the membrane), and to get some of these intense emotions off my chest, I wrote a letter to the American people:

3. New Orleans

4. I ♥ Science

academic background

• major: physics
• minor: Environmental Analysis

research experience

• organic photovoltaics— here's my senior thesis
• chemical and environmental engineering research at the University of Arizona
• studied lithium-ion battery technology for electric vehicles in the Advanced Technologies Division of Southern California Edison- one of the largest utility companies in the nation

5. Hot Music Festivals

I'll keep this section short. I've had the same eye-opening experience at two very hot (>95° F) music festivals— Electric Zoo in NYC and Coachella in CA. It's blazing hot, lots of kids are on drugs, lots of kids are sweaty, and lots of kids need water. And here's the problem: these stupid effing music fests have 1 or 2 watering holes for thousands of people. The lines in the middle of the day are insanely long- about a 40 minute wait to get to a hose.

Let me say this again: it's 100°F. Lots of kids on drugs. Lots of sweating. HUGE WATER LINE. Everyone's a little bit afraid that the waters going to run out (probably irrational fear, but it's damn hot and the line's damn long), and eventually the bros get tired of waiting. So what do they do? Cut the line. Then guess what happens…fights.

In the water lines at hot music festivals I have witnessed the devolution of humanity, precipitated by the scarcity of a basic necessity: water.

Climate change means more frequent droughts and food shortages. Droughts and food shortages lead to unrest. Period.

6. BP Oil Spill

As a Gulf Coast resident who grew up fishing, hunting, and camping in the Louisiana marshes, BP oil spill, "considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry" (wiki), was a heart-wrenching, maddening reminder of dirty energy's detrimental impacts on our region.

The negative implications of the oil spill on Gulf Coast wildlife and communities were overwhelming. I immediately recognized the need to internalize the environmental and health costs of fossil fuels, which are enormous in accidents like this, and when considered, render renewables dirt cheap. So I'll conclude with one poignant question:

Why are we putting the very existence of civilization at risk for a filthy, finite, deleterious, and ultimately, uneconomic form of energy?

Congratulations!

From your recent letter to the editor, I understand that you question the science proving human-caused climate change.

I have an incredible opportunity that could make you more wealthy than Bill Gates.

I meet far too many otherwise intelligent people who refuse to believe in human-caused climate change either because their politics or their religious beliefs lead them to deny it. If this is you, then you are missing out on billions of dollars.

Let me explain.

There is not even a single insurance company in the world which accepts the premise that climate change is fake. Every insurance company is raising rates or even completely pulling out of insurance markets like Florida and the United Kingdom which are known to have high climate risk.

There is a HUGE potential for a disruptive, start-up insurance company to enter those markets and undercut all of their competitors. If you are right about climate change, then you can be richer than anyone else on Earth.

Why are you still working at your menial job?

Are you brighter than the Oracle of Omaha? You are if climate change turns out to be a hoax.

The most successful investors on Earth like Warren Buffett and Prem Watsa became rich by running large insurance companies and investing their corporate treasuries on Wall Street. All of these leading Wall Street wizards made their business decisions based upon the belief that climate change is real and is caused by human activities.

If you are right about your belief that climate change is a massive hoax, then everyone else in the insurance industry is wrong. You know more than the six million Americans working in the insurance industry.

You are truly one in a million.

Your privileged information allows you to undercut your competitors on price and win markets they concede. If you are right, you could beat them all.

You could sell insurance at lower rates along the coastlines of every continent. In this way, you would win all of those insurance markets.

You could beat every insurance industry expert at their game if you're right.

Of course, I should add an important disclaimer.

If you turn out to be wrong, you will likely be jailed like Ex-Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling.

If you are wrong, chances are almost certain that you will commit fraud to reassure investors and the media that your company was right about its bets. You would tell them that your company will remain solvent. It's human nature.

If you turn out to be wrong, your company will become so bankrupt from climate disaster claims that even an insurance bailout cannot save it. The claims will keep coming and will increase in size and volume.

If you are wrong, you will likely need to declare personal bankruptcy. Your mortgage will go unpaid as you languish in jail. No one will want to hire you again when you finally emerge from prison.

Are you willing to bet your freedom and your reputation for the potential to become insanely rich from your climate denial?

Or is this fantasy too hot to handle?

I'm a bit amazed at the weather forecast for the next upcoming week. Could be one of coldest temperatures for an NFL playoff game. Lots of snow coming down? Oh, what about freezing rain and planes skidding off the runway?

When I was a kid, I had to trek a mile in the snow uphill, both ways. (When I left school, I had to walk to the public library to work, thus trekking up the hill again. Gotcha.) It wasn't so bad…

Yet, what about super storm Sandy? Or record hot temperatures in Australia last year?

Just to warp your brain a little more, the earth in 2014 was closest to the Sun…its perihelion…yesterday. Which really doesn't matter because its the Earth's axis tilt gives us our four seasons — not how close we are to a ball of flaming gas. Bet you didn't know that.

Don't think the global warming is causing this? According to NASA, it is. They also say—

This has been the result of the "Arctic oscillation" -- a see-sawing pressure system over the North pole -- that has driven cold air into more southern latitudes.

So, we're on a tilt, close to the sun, yet our weather patterns are like seesawing with a guy who's trying to throw you off because he's just a mean old bitch.

When someone says well, there's no global warming because we're freezing — I really have to ask…are you serious?

To help those who know what's going on, my suggestion today is to rename global warming as global chaos. Already in use by me for more than a year. Keeping calling it warming and I'll make fun of you—

Get the 75 SPF sunscreen and larger than life hats before they goes out of stock. Also get them wool sweaters purchased more because you'll be getting more bone-chilling winters for years to come.

After all, a little chaos is fun. Right?

Compelling arguments for Congressional climate change action were offered by Ernie Cohen in his Nov. 22 letter to the editor, but he omitted the strongest argument: Justice.

Scientists agree carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to stabilize the climate and protect the long-term health and security of future generations, our children and grandchildren. However, cutting fossil fuel usage might hurt short-term interests of some businesses, investors, politicians, utility customers and trade associations.

Those with short-term financial interests in maintaining the status quo pressure Congress not to act, resulting in our children's long-term well-being unjustly compromised.

Is Congress biased against children? Of course, not. But we — parents, grandparents, nurses, doctors, teachers, clergy, firefighters, newspaper editors — must work harder to convince Congress the political will exists for equitable climate change legislation. Without demonstrable public support, Congress hesitates.

Become an activist

How can you persuade Congress that the political will exists? Attend marches to close coal-fired power plants. Protest pipelines. Divest. Or join me as a volunteer with Citizens Climate Lobby. We serve as a counterweight to paid, corporate fossil fuel lobbyists.

By writing letters to the editor, meeting with newspaper editorial boards, and visiting our Senators and representatives, we advocate for legislation for emissions reductions via energy efficiencies, the development of clean energy and other solutions the free market will support.

Our approach is straightforward, administratively easy, transparent, and fair. We want Congress to charge fossil fuel producers a fee based on the amount of emissions their products cause. Justice requires paying for one's pollution.

The government would collect the fees and send rebates to households so it would not be unjustly regressive, or drag the economy down by going into government coffers.

International effort

With an emissions fee, the private sector will shift investments into clean energy. The fee would also apply to imported goods to encourage international cooperation against climate change. Justice requires that nations work together.

CCL members understand that government will only protect us from climate change if we spend time studying the issue and informing our elected officials about optimal solutions. CCL has chapters nationwide, including Bridgeport, Providence and Boston. Please contact us for more information.

The Bible commands: Justice, Justice, you shall pursue. Justice must be pursued both by courtroom judges, and ordinary people, in the short- and long-term, for one's own family and others.

We might add: Justice must be sought in the streets and in the halls of Congress, for those already suffering from climate change droughts, rising seas, health impacts and severe weather, and for those at risk in the future.

Rabbi Judy Weiss of Brookline, Mass., is a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby

WEBLINK: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20131202/OPINION/131209999/0/SEARCH

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I have come to believe that there is a false choice represented in the debate around climate change these days. On the one hand, we are told, we may choose environmental conservation and productive moderation. And on the other, we are told, we may choose social and ecological adaptation along with unfettered development. Either we keep carbon at bay and India and China languish, or we allow the World's populations to continue pursuing prosperity and bear the consequences of its externalities.

This analysis, obscured itself by the juvenile pre-occupation with the debate concerning the validity of global warming, obscures alternative possibilities that might preferably balance our valued commitments. Indeed, we need neither sacrifice ecological conservatism nor global prosperity.

Our attitude to China, as one example, is essentially this: if you want to deliver yourselves from poverty, you must devote yourselves to the production of endless junk that we over here do not actually need. Rather than collaborating to redistribute global resources and to harness the varied powers residing in your people, we'd prefer to relegate them to machine-like tasks for the time being, thereby subsidizing the cost of junk for us with a sacrifice in the meaning of individual lives by them. It is apparent to me that this cannot last; it is merely the most recent in a lineage of eager populations that we have mesmerized with the promise of development for a brief time. Once they have transcended the basic thresholds of industrial and urban life they, like we once did, will inevitably refuse to submit to this lifeless work.

The pollution assumed to inhere in China's development, in short, is unnecessary, but to obviate it would require the rest of the World's proposing an alternative path, one befitting the natural aspirations of a billion people who seek lives as full of opportunity, health, and nominal freedom as ours. Such an alternative would call upon us to sacrifice, but perhaps to sacrifice very little in the way of real freedom, real happiness, or real prosperity. It would mean that we perhaps think of our phones as more than disposable commodities. It would mean that we restrain our pursuit of bigger and bigger homes and cars, not by some arbitrary ascetic devotion but by a respect for what we know to be the limits of incremental gains in happiness. We would need to view the admission of the World's bottom billions into our modern digital community as a far greater realization of value than incessant, and incessantly disappointing, iOS upgrades.

As always, our choices are far more plentiful than the binaries that have ossified our discourse suggest. Those who advocate adaptation and those who advocate conservation ought to commit themselves to a collaborative and dispassionate accounting of the costs associated with different blended approaches, including more radical reorientations of the global economy of the sort that I'm proposing. Creativity, generosity, and imagination — paired with a reckless disregard for scarcity — can unlock a third path around climate and development that I am eager to embrace.

The Working Holiday Visa

I wasn’t ready to return home after the amazing adventure that was California.  I felt deep down in my soul that I wanted to continue to travel, be in beautiful surroundings and I wasn’t ready to leave my dear friend, the sunshine.  Yet I was aware that my finances couldn’t support me for much longer to just travel.  It was then I remembered talking to other travellers who had gone to Australia under the Working Holiday Visa.

It allows you to earn money there for a year (or two if you are willing to do some of the more arduous farming the Aussies don’t want to do) and if you are under 30.  The bonus is that the minimum wage there is very high, it’s not so much of a culture shock and it’s fairly easy to save up money.

What better kick in the backside to actually go and do it than being 29 and it being the ‘last opportunity’.  In all honesty there was never that much that appealed to me about Australia  – I’m done with hanging out with 18 year old backpackers, drinking too much and sleeping in bunk beds in hostels, but the idea of living in one place for a while so I could get to know people and my surroundings, of working and establishing routine, of living abroad, that really appealed to me and felt exciting.  Plus….it would be Summer in Australia. And so it all began to fall into place.

Plant a seed and watch it grow

I planted a seed in Kaitlyn’s head ( a 25 yrs old girl from Texas also volunteering on the farm with a super contagious smile and laugh). She’d mentioned to me she wanted to work and then travel in the future.  I asked her ‘why not do both in one sweep, in Australia with me?’ I hoped me being an experienced, trustworthy traveller type might hold some weight.

Having made this fly away suggestion whilst we were blueberry picking, I walked off to empty my bucket knowing that she would be having an ‘aha’ moment of ‘this could actually happen’.  Lo and behold, a week later she decided she was in.  We’d only known each other maybe 2 weeks, but that’s farm time for you – one day feels like a week and you form really deep connections fast.  The fact that my farm love interest would also be coming to Australia to work a few months after I arrived was another bonus, especially as I was really starting to fall in love (that’s a whole other story – maybe a novel!).

I was in luck – flights were cheap, Kaitlyn wanted to come and live with me and do the job hunt together, which I normally find super draining, but I knew having Kaitlyn by my side it would be great – we would make it fun.  I had a few people I knew who had already done the working holiday visa who I could refer all my questions about working in Australia to.

Finding my hippy paradise

My flight was from Los Angeles to Brisbane in New South Wales where I headed as I had visions of getting some beachy, tropical vibes.  There are some really cute, hippy towns in California and I had an image of me working in a super laid back cafe in the Australian counterpart by the beach in a surfer town.  Byron Bay was the place that came to mind (I can’t even remember how) but that became my holy grail of Australia.

I arrived ten days before Kaitlyn which gave me time to scope it out. I realised quickly that although a great place for a holiday, Byron Bay was no longer a hippy paradise, but pretty commercialised – the hostels were really expensive, it would have been nigh on impossible to get an apartment there, especially on a cafe wage with irregular hours and I was surrounded by the kind of crowd I wanted to avoid in the hostel of teens, living in a 8 bed girls dorm.

So I quickly needed a change of direction, especially with Kaitlyn arriving in a few days.  Mind you, I am not saying it wasn’t beautiful, there are some  really cool spots to visit and nice sites, but I just really didn’t feel ‘home’.  But I was infinitely grateful that Kaitlyn was with me, and we were in this together, that makes such a difference.

That’s when I had to be flexible and adapt fast as I realised that being in a city would be the best way to save up some money fast. I was really getting close to the line, especially having had to pay for an unexpected ‘health check’ to be allowed entry to Australia – I had to pay to have a chest scan and health check in the US before I could be approved for entry as I had been in Asia for over three months and they worry about TB (it was all very last minute and stressful – another story in itself!).

City life wasn’t quite the easy going lifestyle I had envisaged, but beggars can’t be choosers and we spent a couple of days researching and deliberating between whether to move to Sydney or Melbourne.  It’s so hard to know if you haven’t been somewhere where you want to spend the next 6 months!

Ultimately we decided that although Sydney had the consistent sunny, weather and jobs for sure – it sounded very busy, materialistic, a bit more shallow.  We felt that Melbourne sounded like it had more character – an arts and music scene, a cafe culture and Kaitlyn had some family out there.

So Melbourne it was based on not to so much information and a lot of trusting our gut!  We made that decision and didn’t look back as Melbourne turned out to be an awesome experience in more ways than one.  A huge part of that was forming my friendship with Kaitlyn – finding a home, job and sharing a room (even a bed!) to save up money and discovering new places together. So Kaitlyn thanks for being you and being so easy and fun to be with!

The long, dark night of the end of history has to be grasped as an enormous opportunity. The very oppressive pervasiveness of capitalist realism means that even glimmers of alternative political and economic possibilities can have a disproportionately great effect. The tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of reaction which has marked the horizons of possibility under capitalist realism. From a situation in which nothing can happen, suddenly anything is possible again.