Before, during and after Election ‘24
While our polarized country faces an election, I wonder what matters most.
I dream of regulatory commissions wherein legislators respectfully get informed about a given conflict’s history and the ecological and public health consequences of a new technology before they vote on anything.
I wonder where we can discuss anything respectfully in these times.
When the American psychologist Ram Das (aka Dr. Richard Alpert) went to India, his guru Neem Karoli Baba told him, “Love everybody.” Later, when George W. Bush became president, Ram Das acknowledged that he struggled with the job of loving President Bush.
Today, both mainstream candidates have policies that unsettle me. Neither candidate promises to direct Israel to stop starving and killing Palestinians and Lebanese people. Neither speaks about the impacts of telecommunications on public health or wildlife. Neither seems aware that when we evaluate solar PVs, industrial wind turbines, battery storage systems, electric vehicles, A.I. and nuclear power from their cradles to their graves, they are not renewable or sustainable. They require enormous amounts of mining, water and energy—and generate all manner of toxins and fire hazards.
When we focus on technology’s impacts on our economy—or politicians’ impacts on our economy—we neglect our dependence on healthy ecosystems. As long as we degrade nature, we cannot sustain our economy. We need leaders who can help us face this—and create a society that respects nature’s limits.
I admit that while I sincerely appreciate the candidates’ unenviable work in running for the U.S. presidency, loving Kamala Harris or Donald Trump stretches me.
After the election, how/could we nourish peace between people who voted for different candidates?
If a candidate you don’t respect wins, could you name one benefit to their winning?
Could you name two?
Pandora’s Electronic Box
After Israel planted explosive devices into 5000 new pagers in Lebanon (killing 32 and injuring thousands), Dennis Kucinich (running to represent an Ohio district in Congress) named: “With assassination by pagers and electronic devices occurring in Lebanon, the weaponization of things electronic, the world has entered into a sphere of activity where there is no refuge, no safety, no security, and no privacy. We have journeyed from the Internet of Things to the destruction of all things and all people connected to the internet. Turning electronics into personal bombing devices will have major economic and social consequences. We have just witnessed the opening of Pandora’s Electronic Box.”
A.I.’s huge energy needs are set to grow. A single search query for a chatbot such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT requires 10 times as much energy as a typical Google search, according to the International Energy Agency. The I.E.A. predicts that electricity consumption by A.I., cryptocurrency and data centers could double by 2026."
Colorectal cancer soaring in young adults; are smartphones in the mix? Epidemiologist De-Kun Li wants to know.
Windy problems
Turbine blades have piled up in landfills. By 2050, globally, turbine blades will generate more than 43 million tons of landfill waste. New, plant-based blades would make them recyclable, but investors are unlikely to support their increased cost.
Max Wilbert raises 120 Questions about Offshore Wind Energy and inspired my 21 questions for solar PV explorers.
Battery Energy Storage Systems
Power generated by solar panels or wind turbines needs somewhere to go—either to the grid or to battery storage. On September 5th, six days after AES Corporation applied to build a 700-acre solar facility with battery energy storage (BESS) in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, a thermal runaway fire started at AES’s BESS in Escondido, California. For two days, nearby residents could not open doors or windows or use ventilation systems. Schools and businesses also kept closed to avoid the highly toxic air. Electric Power Research Institute lists other recent BESS fires.
Will Santa Fe county commissioners abide by the principle that no technology is safe until proven safe—and require AES’ application to include a professional engineer’s certified report that all hazards at its proposed facility have been evaluated and mitigated?
A.I.
Some researchers have begun integrating synthetic biology (replicating substances like lemon flavor, saffron and breastmilk in a lab) with artificial intelligence to generate new proteins and DNA sequences—and create new medicines and solve like climate change. Alas, there’s no regulation for such stuff. See Jim Thomas’s report, ‘Black Box’ Biotechnology.
U.S. data centers will soon hit size limits. A.I.’s data centers suck ginormous power from the grid and cover acres of floor space. Google, for one, is building a 750,000 square foot center on 187 acres in Mesa, Arizona. Since one large center could consume multiple gigawatts of power (enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes) and overwhelm the grid (already overwhelmed on hot days), operators might instead build multiple smaller centers…or modular nuclear reactors.
Two Harvard students installed facial recognition software in Meta’s “smart” Ray-Ban glasses—and then could bring up a stranger’s name, address, biography and other info available online…just by looking at their face while wearing Meta’s “smart” glasses.
Mining
Here’s an 18-minute documentary about deep sea mining, “In Too Deep.” Manufacturers of solar PVs, electric vehicles and other technologies have begun digging up the ocean for their products’ elements. Here’s the Sustainable Ocean Alliance’s call to say NO to Deep-Sea Mining.
Check out Joshua Frank’s report in Counterpunch, “Robbing Africa’s riches to save the climate (and power A.I.).”
Arkansas May Have Vast Lithium Reserves. Researchers say there might be five million to 19 million tons of lithium, more than enough to meet the world’s demand for the battery ingredient.
Biological effects of exposure to radio frequency radiation
Dr. Henry Lai, Editor Emeritus of Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, and an emeritus member of the International Commission on the Biological Effects of EMF, has compiled summaries of research on the biological effects of exposure to radio frequency (RFR), extremely low frequency (ELF) and static electromagnetic fields (EMF). Dr. Lai reports that the preponderance of research has found that exposure to RFR, ELFs or EMFs produces oxidative effects or free radicals and damages DNA. Among hundreds of studies of RFR, 71% to 89% reported significant genetic, neurological and reproductive effects. Among hundreds of studies of ELFs and static fields, 75% to 90% reported significant effects. According to Dr. Lai, 95% of 237 low-intensity (SAR < 0.40 W/kg) radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure studies published since 1990 reported significant effects: "This means that biological systems are very sensitive to RFR." Moreover, "It is clear that the current RFR exposure guidelines are not valid in the protection of the health detrimental effects of RFR."
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