Doctors for Disaster Preparedness

Bernie Sanders has promised to save the Planet, make money, re-engineer our economy, and create 20 million new good “green” jobs—for a mere $16 trillion, or $800,000 per job. Some details we might want to ask him:

• What exactly will these workers be doing? Clearing enough land to install solar and wind farms? One estimate is an area greater than the size of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio combined. Another is 80% of the lower 48. Retrofitting all existing buildings for energy efficiency? Turning vehicles with gasoline or diesel engines, and gas appliances into scrap? Digging up and processing 500,000 pounds of raw materials to fabricate each new electric car battery?
• How many jobs will be lost in coal mining, oil and gas production, and other industries?
• Where will the money come from? Federal tax revenues are about $3.6 trillion per year. How much will they increase? ($16 trillion is nearly 4 ½ years of current total revenue.) With a federal debt already exceeding $22 trillion, where will we find lenders?
• What has happened to green jobs in the EU as tax subsidies dry up, and to electricity bills there?
• What will he do about the hundreds of new coal-fired generating stations in China, India, and elsewhere?

For more information, see “Green New Deal,” Civil Defense Perspectives, January 2019; the Climate Change IQ Test; what the Green New Deal means for medicine.

In the Democratic presidential debates, candidates promised to give a lot, but we need to ask: What will they take?

Under a “Green New Deal,” what happens to:

• Your van or SUV big and powerful enough to carry your kids, groceries, tools of your trade, camping equipment, etc.
• Your backyard grill—or your backyard in the suburbs
• Your favorite foods, especially if animal-based
• Your gas stove, water heater, and furnace
• Your air conditioner
• Your third child (and maybe the first and second one too—the population needs to decrease)
• Your job as an auto mechanic, coal miner, truck driver, petroleum engineer, rancher
• The trucks that collect garbage, deliver groceries, bring concrete to construction strikes, haul goods of all kinds
• Your business (service station, car dealership, factory that requires a lot of reliable electricity, restaurant, HVAC installation and maintenance, etc.)
• Your vacation in Hawaii (or other place not accessible by train)
• Fire trucks, ambulances, police cars?

Remember, they want zero fossil fuels—which means no internal combustion engines and electricity only from “clean, renewable” (unreliable, expensive) sources.

For more information, see “The Green New Deal: What It Means for Medicine.”

In the second round of Democratic presidential debates, the main difference between candidates was their level of passion about the “climate crisis.” Moderators asked no probing questions about the evidence for the crisis or the economic consequences of a Green New Deal.         

Here are some questions that thoughtful reporters should ask:

• Where should the $2 trillion proposed by Elizabeth Warren or $400 billion by Joe Biden, to research alternative energy, be spent? What might the ROI (return on investment in dollars or gigatons  of carbon dioxide saved) be, compared with using the money to build nuclear generating stations? (China can build one for around $3 billion each.)
• How much will it cost to replace our 260 million gasoline-powered cars with electric cars, or will they just be junked?
• Exactly how will food get from farm to supermarket without diesel-fueled trucks?
• What has happened to the price of electricity in green energy leaders such as Germany, Australia, and California, and  how does this affect the poor and middle class?
• Candidates want to keep a “climate denier” out of the White House. What would they do with the 31,000 scientists who signed the Oregon Petition stating that there was no evidence that atmospheric carbon dioxide was causing catastrophic climate effects?

For further information, see the Climate Change IQ Test or “Green New Deal,” Civil Defense Perspectives, January 2019.

“A family barbecue creates almost as much air pollution as doing a 100-mile car trip, scientists claim,” according to The Sun, a UK news company.

By “pollution,” the author means greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the gas used by plants to make food and release oxygen. A beefburger barbecue is claimed to be responsible for 23,048 grams of CO2, compared with 12,648 g from a chicken barbecue, and 8,236 g from a veggie sausage barbecue.

“Experts…claim by simply switching from cheese-topped beefburgers to chicken, families could nearly cut their carbon footprint in half. Not only do cows need lots more farmland than poultry, they scoff large amounts of grain and also burp greenhouse gases as they chew.”

Of course, one barbecue is completely insignificant; it’s about symbolism or perhaps the “optics.” The Green New Deal is part of UN Sustainable Development goals that include a war on meat. Some proclaim that meat consumption should be less than 1 oz per day. We are said to need a “Great Food Transformation” because “civilisation is at risk.”

When politicians call for “fundamental transformation,” find out what this means for the way you live.

For more on the Green New Deal, see Civil Defense Perspectives, January 2019.

For the effect of a drastic reduction in atmospheric CO2, see Climate Change IQ Question #5.

Democrats running for President are very vague about the Green New Deal that they all seem to favor. “Smart,” “energy-efficient,” and “environmentally friendly” sound great. But what if it means 320 sq ft per person living areas, no parking places, and shared kitchen facilities?

Single-family houses in the suburbs may be a thing of the past. Without cars, people will need to live close to work. Most people may be unable to afford to retrofit their homes to meet energy standards: the cost to meet California requirements for an average home is $58,000. And as demands for “renewable” energy production cause electricity bills to soar (like in Germany), few will be able to afford to heat or cool a large home. Walk-up stack-and-pack aPodments might be in your children’s future.

The Green New  Deal is not Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s original idea. It’s part of the UN’s Sustainable Development agenda. A French nongovernmental organization, Novethic, proposes forbidding all new construction of single-family homes except trailers.

Let’s not wait to pass the Deal before we find  out what is in it.                

For more on the Green New Deal, see Civil Defense Perspectives, January 2019.

Democrats running for President all seem to be in favor of a Green New Deal. Americans need to ask them: Exactly what does this mean—to us?

Joe Biden promises to build 500,000 charging stations for the new all-electric fleet.  If we are going to wean ourselves off our “addiction” to fossil fuels, that means we need to get over our love affair with the internal combustion engine. That means replacing—or junking—260 million cars.

Questions to ask your candidates:

1. How many batteries for electric cars can we manufacture?

2. How much will the basic electric car cost?

3. Will it be big enough to carry the kids and the groceries?

4. Will AAA add a new benefit: a diesel-fueled truck carrying a diesel generator to rescue cars stranded between charging stations?

5. Will you still be allowed to drive your old car? Or will gasoline be unaffordable or unobtainable when Bernie Sanders finishes taking the profits out of the oil industry?

6. Will there be a place to park your car?

7. What if the charging station doesn’t have enough juice? The “green” economy will require twice as much electrical generating capacity as we have now. And the more wind and solar we add, the more unstable the grid and the more wastage of power.

 8. What will become of our current fleet, including the cars not yet paid for?

         

Kamala Harris was in prosecutor mode during the second Democratic presidential debate, and said it’s not “climate change,” but “climate crisis,” which threatens our very existence as a species. Joe Biden promises 500,000 charging stations for our new, all-electric automobile fleet. Bernie Sanders wants to “up the ante” on the Paris climate accord and make the rest of the world go along with a drastic transformation of the energy system. Millions need to rise up in a revolution against the fossil-fuel industry, the insurance industry, corporate greed in general, he said, and “we only have 12 years.” Gov. Hickenlooper said Colorado is leading the way on tough methane regulations.

Some follow-up questions that didn’t get asked:

1. Would they outlaw gasoline-powered cars and diesel-powered trucks? How about trucks carrying diesel generators to rescue electric cars stranded between charging stations? How about emergency vehicles or farm equipment or excavation equipment with internal combustion engines?

2. What would supply back-up generating capacity when solar and wind facilities are not generating any power (say to supply those charging stations and keep the lights on in the operating room)?

3. How do we prosecute China for building hundreds of coal-fired generating stations?

4. Where do we get jet fuel for our public officials if our own industry is destroyed? From Iran?

5. Who will pay the hundreds of billions of dollars to Third-World dictators in reparations for our driving cars and using coal-generated electricity?

6. Does AOC think her mentor Bernie Sanders has the “social intelligence of a sea sponge” to believe her 12-year deadline for Doomsday?

7. What did Gov. Hickenlooper do about methane-emitting cows and termites in Colorado? Should we still be allowed to eat meat?

For other major issues related to atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate (wildfires, health effects, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, Arctic ice, hurricanes, and more), see Climate Change IQ test. How well does your favorite candidate do?

During the first Democratic presidential debate, a number of candidates stated that climate change was an existential threat, one of our biggest national security threats, or their first priority. Here are some follow-up questions they all should be asked:

1. Would they outlaw gasoline-powered cars and diesel-powered trucks? How about trucks carrying diesel generators to rescue electric cars stranded between charging stations? Emergency vehicles or farm equipment or excavation equipment with internal combustion engines?

2.  Would they restrict meat consumption, air conditioning and heating, elevators, or home appliances such as clothes driers?

3. What would supply back-up generating capacity when solar and wind facilities are not generating any power?

4. How much increase in electrical bills is acceptable? What do they think of increases in Germany and Australia?

5. How much should homeowners be expected to pay to retrofit their homes for new energy-efficiency standards?

6. How many jobs will be lost in mining, oil and gas production, automobile manufacturing and servicing, other industries that require large amounts of reliable electricity, the trucking industry, etc.?

7. What will happen to living standards?

8. How much will climate change will result?

For other major issues related to atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate (wildfires, health effects, ocean acidification, sea-level rise, Arctic ice, hurricanes, and more), see Climate Change IQ test. How well does your favorite candidate do?