My Open Letter to My Congressman #2: Solar Roadways

Dear Representative Hultgren:

I am writing you again and asking that you take a leadership role on the Climate Change crisis.

Though I was very disappointed to read that you signed the Koch brothers' pledge against the creation of a carbon tax on major corporate carbon polluters, a group to which the Koch brothers not surprisingly belongs, I think I do have a way for you to act on the Climate Change crisis without breaking that pledge. (Though of course I would strongly suggest you reconsider your allegiance to the Koch brothers given their past record.) I would like to call your attention to the Solar Roadways project which is just finishing Phase II of the parking lot prototype this week.

The Solar Roadways project would address several issues that you mention you are concerned with as a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on your web page as well as addresses my concerns on Climate Change:

• Implementation would pay for itself in energy produced alone, 
• Provide more jobs in construction and related industries (Scott Brusaw, project founder, estimates that 5 billion panels are needed for this country alone),
• Increase "local control, improve regional planning, and incentivize partnerships between the private and public sectors to fund and manage these critical assets.", 
• Provide "long-term surface transportation" solutions,
• Provide a "globally competitive infrastructure",
• Reduce transportation congestion,
• Reduce carbon produced by vehicle emissions,
• Reduces our dependence on oil for creating asphalt.
• Reduces our dependence on oil overall which is this century's growing security issue! 

And those are just a few of the positives indicated for this idea. Booz Allen Hamilton has one of the original working panels on display in their offices not far from your office in DC.

You are no doubt thinking this 'open letter' thing is more than a little bit gimmicky. I know it is. The climate change crisis is the most deadly challenge of our lifetimes and I see Congress' inaction on this to be a blunder of epic and historic proportions. By way of this 'gimmick' it is slightly more likely that you will actually read these words and consider taking action or at the very least, look further into this idea.

I am copying others who may join you in writing legislation from the other side of the aisle on the Transportation and Infrastructure committee and on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The Energy and Commerce Committee's hearing coming up on the 18th of this month on Climate Change may be as good a time as any for Congress to begin to consider this project.

And again, this letter will be posted online at my blog Exploring the Green Road. A hard copy will be sent to you by fax (and copied to others indicated below) with a page of links provided as well as contact information if you would like to talk with me directly.

Addressing this crisis will take courage. I ask that you do for the sake of our children and generations to come.

Sincerely,

Monica Jenkins
Constituent of District 14 

cc:
Nick J. Rahall, II, (D-West Virginia) Ranking Member on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee;
Henry Waxman, (D-California) Ranking Member on the Energy and Commerce Committee;
Jan Schakowski, (D-Illinois) Member Energy and Commerce Committee.

See letter #1 HERE.

More on the 'Sun is Just Hotter Now' Myth

Just found this video on Skeptical Science this evening and had to share. It's short, sweet and loaded with science fact that's easy to follow.

• Smoking gun evidence right here: Troposphere, lower atmosphere is warming as the Stratosphere, upper atmosphere is cooling.
• The planet warms at the same rate at night as it does during the day.
• More warming in winter than in summer.
• More warming at the poles than at the equator.

'Windows to the Universe' by Randy Russell

And be sure to watch the latter bit that addresses a well-worn and false argument that it's sun spot activity. Nope. It's not those crazy sunspots either no matter how the data is cherry picked.

It's Climate Change.

Let us all do something about it rather than focus on a few diehards who continue to throw up poorly reasoned arguments that obscure the crisis at hand and waste valuable time.  

See my earlier post:
Isn't the Sun Really Just Hotter Now? 

Christian Statements on Climate Change

The Christian Post: "Climate Change: Evangelical Scientists Say Limbaugh Wrong, Faith and Science Compliment One Another"

In response to an earlier assertion by a nationally known radio talk show host that one cannot be Christian and 'believe in climate change', Dr. Katharine Hayhoe and Dr. Thomas Ackerman wrote in The Christian Post 8/31/2013.

"...For us, global warming is not a matter of belief - it is about applying our understanding of science to the climate of this planet. The author of Hebrews tells us, "faith is … the evidence of things not seen." We believe in God through faith. Science, on the other hand, is the evidence of our eyes. We can measure the extent to which natural levels of heat-trapping gases in our atmosphere regulate and maintain our climate. We can track how excess heat-trapping gases, beyond what would naturally occur, are being added to the atmosphere every day by human activities. We can calculate how this artificially warms the Earth's surface, increasing risks of extreme heat, rain, and drought. We can see how these impacts often fall disproportionately on those with the least resources to adapt, the very people we are told to care for by our faith...."

The National Association of Evangelicals has put together a booklet that is downloadable as a pdf titled Loving the Least of These: Addressing a Changing Environment. Dorothy Boorse, lead author describes this booklet:

"This document covers four ideas: a biblical basis for Christian engagement, a look at changing environments around the world, insight into how environmental variances affect the poor, and thoughts on what Christians should do.Each section includes text and examples, and each ends with a reflection from an expert to further the discussion."

The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) is a ministry that "educates, inspires, and mobilizes Christians in their effort to care for God's creation, to be faithful stewards of God's provision, and to advocate for actions and policies that honor God and protect the environment." Their 20 year old ministry is "grounded in the Bible's teaching on the responsibility of God's people to "tend the garden" through a faithful walk with our Lord Jesus Christ. Based in the scriptures."

From the Presbyterian Mission Ministries: “…God's work in creation is too wonderful, too ancient, too beautiful, too good to be desecrated...Restoring creation is God's own work in our time, in which God comes both to judge and to restore...” —PC(USA) Environmental Policy

From The United Methodists:

"All creation is under the authority of God and all creation is interdependent. Our covenant with God requires us to be stewards, protectors, and defenders of all creation. The use of natural resources is a universal concern and responsibility of all as reflected in Psalm 24:1: "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."

The United Church of Christ's Resolution on Climate Change from 2007:

"..THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Twenty-sixth General Synod of the United Church of Christ admits Christian complicity in the damage human beings have caused to the earth's climate system and other planetary life systems, and urges recommitment to the Christian vocation of responsible stewardship of God's creation, and expresses profound concern for the pending environmental, economic, and social tragedies threatened by global warming, to creation, human communities and traditional sacred spaces;..."

The Evangelical Lutheran Church statement on the Environment: Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice
includes these stirring words in response to the climate crisis:

"Our tradition offers many glimpses of hope triumphant over despair. In ancient Israel, as Jerusalem was under siege and people were on the verge of exile, Jeremiah purchased a plot of land (Jer 32). When Martin Luther was asked what he would do if the world were to end tomorrow, he reportedly answered, "I would plant an apple tree today." When we face today's crisis, we do not despair. We act." (emphasis mine)

The Unitarian Universalist's statement on the Injustice of Global Climate Change:

"...The U.S. constitutes 5% of the world's population, yet we consume 25% of the world's fossil fuel resources. The U.S. constitutes 5% of the world's population, yet we produce 25% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions.... The injustice of global climate change is that those who contribute least to greenhouse gas emissions are still the first to suffer. Those who contribute the most must recognize our responsibility for the suffering."

Ezekiel 34:2-4.
Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! 

Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? 

You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, 

but you did not take care of the flock! 

You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. 

You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. 

You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

Isn't the Sun Really Just Hotter Now?

The Sun

Question: Isn't the Sun Really Just Hotter Now? 

Short Answer: No.

I can see where this would be an easier way of looking at the whole climate change crisis. It's simple, it involves that large yellow orb we all see every day in the sky that we all know is very hot to begin with - so no visuals really needed to illustrate this response to those concerned with climate change.

But unfortunately for proponents of this explanation, Science provides a more complex but not hard to understand view of the actual reality. Indeed, no part of 'the Sun is just hotter now' is true.  

Data from satellite collection (ACRIM) indicates that the energy output of the sun is actually lower now than it was earlier last decade.

 

Data from ACRIM (Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor).

 Satellite measurements of daily (light line) and monthly average (dark line).

Scientists have been observing the sun's solar output since 1979 and have observed that the solar output over an 11-year cycle only changes 0.1 percent.

The global warming that has been observed since the 1950's has not followed this pattern.

When the sun's warming is at it's peak, you would think that both the the lower and upper atmosphere would become warmer as more ultraviolet light is captured. Not so. The lower atmosphere (troposphere), as it traps more greenhouse gases (carbon, methane, etc.), becomes warmer. The upper atmosphere (stratosphere) becomes cooler as less ultraviolet light is able to reach this level because our carbon pollution is becoming more and more dense, trapped in our lower atmosphere.

This graph shows the changes in this dynamic over the past 30 years. This data is consistent with a warming planet from greenhouse gases and not from the solar output cycle. 

 Source: NASA. Graph by Robert Simmon

For more information about the many ways our planet is warming, visit NOAA's 10 Signs of a Warming World.

Talk to your representative and tell him or her your concerns and ask for action to be taken immediately.

I propose that the first step would be to set up a task force of climate scientists and ecologists to discuss the various solutions open to us at this point. As with any crisis, the longer we wait, the fewer the solutions available. Please don't wait and think someone else will address this.

THIS is every human on this planet's problem. Please do your part as it is a vital one and talk about this with your representative in Congress. Not sure who that is? In the United States, find your representative HERE.