2004
23 November 2004. Berkeley,
Calif., Adopts Green Purchasing Policies. BERKELEY,
Calif. - The city of Berkeley now considers
environmental attributes when making its purchases.
The newly adopted Precautionary Principle,
based on a model developed by the Alameda
County Waste Management Authority, requires
consideration of environmental factors such
as energy efficiency, resource conservation,
waste minimization, recycled content, and
toxicity when selecting vendors and products
for its operations.
"Greening Your Office"
http://www.realmoney.org/articles/offices.htm
July 2004. Thoughts
on Long-Term Energy Supplies: Scientists and
the Silent Lie. Physics Today. [Must be
AGU member for access.] The
world's population continues to grow. Shouldn't
physicists care? by Albert A. Bartlett. The
most sacred icon in the "religion" of
the US economic scene is steady growth of
the gross national product, enterprises, sales,
and profits. Many people believe that such
economic growth requires steady population
growth. Although physicists address the problems
that result from a ballooning population-such
as energy shortages, congestion, pollution,
and dwindling resources-their solutions are
starkly deficient. Often, they fail to recognize
that the solutions must involve stopping population
growth. Physicists understand the arithmetic
of steady, exponential growth. Yet they ignore
its consequences, including the first law
of sustainability:
"Population growth or growth in the rate
of consumption of resources cannot be [indefinitely]
sustained."
(See Ben Zuckerman's letter to the editor,
Physics Today, July 1992, page 14.) Sustainability
requires solutions that will be effective
over time periods much longer than a human
lifespan. Indeed, Paul Weisz makes a case
on page 47 of this issue that many time-honored
20th-century energy sources, such as petroleum,
natural gas, and coal, have been reduced to
the point that their longevities are now expected
to be of the order of a human lifespan....
Among physicists, there is a growing recognition
that we have a responsibility to become more
directly involved in the scientific aspects
of problems facing society. ...
Unchecked population growth as a source of
problems is not news. More than 200 years
ago, mathematician Robert Malthus (1766-1834)
addressed the issue in his famous essay. He
understood that populations had the biological
potential for steady growth and that food
production did not. Today, energy production
does not have the capability of steady growth.
Nevertheless, we are all aware of nonscientists
with academic credentials who proclaim that
our modern technology has proven Malthus wrong.
The most egregious of the high priests of
endless growth was the late Julian Simon,
professor of economics and business administration
at the University of Illinois and later at
the University of Maryland. In 1995, he wrote:
Technology exists now to produce in virtually
inexhaustible quantities just about all the
products made by nature.... We have in our
hands now ... the technology to feed, clothe
and supply energy to an ever?growing population
for the next seven billion years. In the eyes
of the general public, the silence of scientists
on the problems of population growth seems
to validate the messages of the politically
appealing and influential Julian Simons of
the world.... Researchers continue to debate
when the peak of world petroleum production
will be reached. Analytical estimates range
from 2004 to about 2025. But from a per capita
perspective, world petroleum production reached
a peak in the 1970s. I believe future historians
may identify this peak as one of the most
important events in all of human history.
Spring 2004. Six
Brilliant Megawatt Ideas, by Evan Ratcliff,
OnEarth (NRDC magazine) p. 28. 1. Sealing
ducts. 2. Voltage control. 3. Compact fluorescent
lights. 4. Power Supplies. 5. Switching power
supplies. 6. Roof color.
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