Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Flapper, your reasons are most interesting, and there are many reasons we are failing to control the consequences of global warming. Some of the more comprehensive reasons are that our political, academic and religious institutions fail the tests of honor, integrity and morality. And our social, political and economic leaders fail to consider long=term consequences of their actions in order to satisfy their greed today. Current events prove these facts of life daily, as documented 24/7 in worldwide news reports..
— February 5, 2016 12:44 p.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Don, as you know I graduated from Berkeley over 50 years ago, and over the last dozen or so years I have determined by communicating with many of the Cal professors that the cultural failures you and I have been talking about over about the same time period are worse than I ever wanted to discover. I have been constantly studying many subjects since I retired about 20 years ago and have discovered that knowing too much about social, environmental, political and other sciences can be produce more knowledge about the fallibility of human nature than I ever wanted to know because our universities, and basically all other institutions, are far too subservient to the power of money (as Ike gravely warned us) to expect survival of the human race under current, out of control global warming conditions. To answer your question, my worst case reality check was as a result of the fact that Edward Teller told members of my graduating class that fusion power production would be a reality before the end of 20th century, but the power of money prevented that from occurring. My discussion of marginalization of Linus Pauling is another worst case scenario because worldwide violence is also out of control. We are already paying a hellacious price for that consequence of our cultural failures.
— February 4, 2016 9:45 a.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Don, another most inconvenient truth was reported in “Berkeley in the News” last Wednesday in “On Climate Change, Are University Researchers Making a Difference?”: While university scientists have “a formidable record of accomplishment in the field of climate-change research,” this author takes a look at what they haven’t achieved — “figuring out how to stop it.” There are a number of considerations, including whether researchers should keep out of politics, and whether they have the right incentives or adequate tools. But there’s also, some say, a problem of “faintheartedness,” and that, says energy professor Daniel Kammen, is a “completely fair criticism.” He notes that as “the mother of all externalities,” climate is perhaps the clearest case in which academics who are concerned about the societal impact of their work should be involved in developing comprehensive problem-solving strategies. Thus we are almost out of time to prevent global warming consequences from creating unacceptable living conditions on this planet and our grandchildren shall pay the price for our culture of greed and corruption.
— February 3, 2016 12:27 p.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Flapper, you bring up a most serious point about whether our quality of life shall continue to be acceptable past this century considering our never-ending failures to solve the problems we keep creating for the human race and our planet. President Eisenhower gravely warned us about a root cause of our self-destruction in his 1961 Farewell Address: "The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded." This is perhaps the most inconvenient truth of all considering the fact that even our universities keep marginalizing it so as not to upset some of their major sources of funding. One notorious example is the marginalization of Nobel Laureate (Chemistry and Peace) Linus Pauling by the UCSD elite and the UC Board of Regents when he dared to lead peace movements in the 60s that upset military-industrial establishment that Ike also warned us about in the same Farewell Address. Indeed, nuclear waste containment is just one of the major threats we keep failing to eliminate at our increasing peril because of the power of money that prevents us from focusing on producing and perpetuating an acceptable quality of life for our newest and future generations as our highest priority.
— February 3, 2016 4:01 a.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Don, once again nothing has changed since Ancient Athens, the days of Solon and Socrates. Our politicians and intellectuals never learn from the Lessons of History that keep repeating. Once again the most overwhelming fact of life is that Oligarchs and the power of money always overthrow Democracies. Except today we have increasingly out of control global warming consequences and neither party, nor the United Nations is making the right things happen in time to protect and perpetuate an acceptable quality of life for future generations.
— February 1, 2016 2:47 p.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Don, you are absolutely correct again. The criminal acts are beyond outrageous with PG&E, SCE and Sempra/SoCalGas/SDG&E being allowed to threaten our health and safety (including killing us) with no significant consequences because the Governor and legislature are doing nothing to protect us as long as we allow the power of money to control all politicians in both parties. Why are we watching and doing nothing to protect ourselves!?
— January 31, 2016 5:28 p.m.

Ramp-up to inquiry on Alison Canyon gas leak

Don, first the 2010 PG@E San Bruno gas explosion deaths, now Sempra/SoCalGas safety/health threats to the people of Porter Ranch, why hasn't anyone been arrested? Both disasters have happened as a direct consequence of criminal negligence and corruption by Gov. Brown and his best buddy/former CPUC President Peevey. Now Michigan's Gov. Rick Snyder is following in Brown's footsteps, making it once again harder to tell corrupt democratic politicians from corrupt republican politicians with the increasing threats to public safety/health throughout America being the consequence.
— January 31, 2016 11:39 a.m.

Goliath will shrug

Gov. Brown's protection of a heinous CPUC proves that our democracy and public safety in California are in gravest jeopardy. Hard to believe that republicans are more corrupt than democrats anymore. Deaths in San Bruno, nuclear threats in San Clemente and execrable utility executives are most definitely a worst case scenario for the future of California. It's time for us to move Colorado with you Don, our politicians have become our greatest threat.
— November 13, 2015 2:50 a.m.

Nuclear waste on beach draws lawsuit

P.S. By coincidence, in the LATimes this morning Hiltzik's column mentions his new book "Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military-Industrial Complex." NYT Book Review: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/books/review/bi… Just more reason for Ike's grave concern. We really need another Manhattan Project to deal with Global Warming ASAP, maybe, just maybe Janet Napolitano's UC call on scientists to embrace the role of public intellectual can make the right things happen to right the wrongs at last to overcome their failures with a sense of urgency. http://universityofcalifornia.edu/news/napolitano…
— November 11, 2015 11:39 a.m.

Nuclear waste on beach draws lawsuit

Don, interesting thought, there is a 1996 book review on the life of Linus Pauling in the LATimes that I shall never forget about the culture of forced silence that still dominates UC professors and scholars today: "The Price of Doing Things His Own Way" http://articles.latimes.com/1996-02-08/news/ls-33… One quote summarizes this hideous culture, in this case at UCSD: "Pauling's life demonstrates yet again that anyone who does not see things in an essentially establishment way will be marginalized, regardless of whatever else he or she has done." Pauling was marginalized because he "crusaded for liberal causes when it was very dangerous to do so, won two Nobel Prizes (in chemistry and peace)--the only person ever to win two unshared Nobels--and wound up as an embarrassment to the scientific establishment ---" This culture of tyranny is why we still fail to deal with global warming today, a consequence that is destroying quality of life for future generations, another reason Ike expressed his grave "power of money over scholars" concern in his 1961 Farewell address. It is hideously ironic that even Ike's grave concern was marginalized even though he was one of the leaders who saved the world from Nazi tryranny during WWII.
— November 11, 2015 2:46 a.m.