Comment Log Display

To Whom It May Concern:
The world-wide "greenhouse effect" caused by man's emission of CO2,
CH4 and other well known "greenhouse gases" is of immediate and
vital concern to national security, public health and ultimately,
survival of our civilization.  This story is well known in all its
details and time scales, and scientifically validated.  This is not
a linear problem: once we cross some thresholds, they take
millennia to be “re-crossed.”  
    We in CA must very significantly reduce our emission of
greenhouse gases in the near and far terms, and one near-term way
is to reduce/prohibit the use of "high carbon fuels" such as coal,
heavy oil fractions, tar sands and other "reduced" forms of fossil
fuels as sources of energy throughout, including in "power
generating plants."  To accomplish that, we need a strong reduction
in the use of fossil fuels, and, of course, we need to support the
development and evolution of non-fossil sources of energy at the
scales needed to support the public's needs. These "green" power
sources include solar, bird-safe wind, tidal and nuclear power, and
advanced batteries for mobile applications.  
If we don’t take the lead in  reduction and ultimate elimination of
the use of fossil fuels, the cost of replacing our great coastal
cities, inland agricultural, forestry and animal food production
areas (note that most of the farming areas are within a few feet of
sea level), changing our very expectations from all conventional
sources of food from the land and the sea (already in danger from
acidification from increased CO2 burden), and protecting ourselves
and our plant and animal life from tropical diseases and others
will far far exceed the immediate costs of moving from a fossil
fuel economy to a "renewable" power economy.  Please do not bow
down to the lobbying of the rich and powerful fossil fuel economy:
they will take their profits and invest in survival homes in
Switzerland and other mountainous areas, leaving us to drown, die
of hunger or disease.  Seems extreme?  Not if we ignore this
problem and follow the lead of the spokesmen of the fossil fuel
companies.