Month: September 2021

We CAN Save Our Planet!

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by Linda Kaidan

Youth everywhere are feeling tremendous anger at previous generations for destroying our planet. Just this morning I heard a kid complaining that going to school is a waste of time because the world is going to end anyway. Joining the chorus of defeatist chants are some scientists who say we cannot fix the weather.

Fight destructive actions. Solve problems. While climate change disasters and destruction caused by reprehensible humans are daily occurrences all over the planet, amazing discoveries and technological advancements are happing all the time.

Right now there is a race to colonize Mars and the Moon. Neither have an atmosphere we can breathe or gravity that humans can tolerate long-term. On the moon, temperatures range from -280 F to 260 F. On Mars, they range from -220 F to + 70 F. Very thin atmosphere enables space debris to hit the surface with high impact because there’s no resistance.

Is it really easier to survive in space than on Earth? Despite major obstacles, NASA’s 2021 space budget is 23.3 billion.  This year NASA awarded $2.9 Billion to SpaceX to build a Moon Lander. The Space  Foundation reported that the nearly half a trillion-dollar global space economy grew by 4.4% in 2020. This kind of investment shows strong confidence that humans can live elsewhere in our solar system and beyond. We should have equal faith in life on Earth!

Can we fix our climate? You bet we can! On Earth, we have all the basics that we need for survival. These include oxygen, water, and the mineral base life on our planet evolved with. There is limitless energy potential. We can stop our planet from burning by reducing the amount of sun that reaches our atmosphere. We can protect our communities from wind and flood with intelligent building technologies.

Saying and doing are not the same things. Hope and plans must be accompanied by action! No matter what your age, find a way to contribute. Learn as much as you can and create your own team of activists to help your community whether global or local.

Be the inventors, investors, and contributors you need to be to save your future and the future of all life on our planet!

Climate Change Projected To Improve Herkimer NY Economy

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by Linda Kaidan

 We’re republishing this prophetic article, first posted in June 2017, to help those researching places to move to in upstate New York following the devastation of Hurricane Ida.

Yesterday’s New York Times discussed damage to our economy likely to be caused by climate change. Herkimer County NY (see above map) is likely to have GDP growth of at least 5% per year rather than GDP decline. This is indicated by the dark green color on the map. Similar advantages of climate are shared by west Alaska, adjacent Hamilton County and Maine.

Climate Change DEMOGRAPHICS will transform herkimer

The Herkimer Post’s recent review of Herkimer’s soaring home sales strongly hints that retirees who might once have moved South are relocating to Central New York, and especially to conveniently-located Herkimer. Given increasingly refined and alarming climate change figures, this migration trend’s likely to accelerate. 

There’s little residential construction in Herkimer and the supply of available housing is small. Competition for existing homes will become brisk. Buyers of vacation homes may also be turning their eyes from the sandy but imperiled Atlantic and Gulf beach communities north to the Mohawk Valley and Southern Adirondacks.

A critical mass of middle and upper-middle-class home buyers inevitably transform a community. Landlords either sell out or renovate properties to appeal to affluent newcomers. Empty storefronts become shops again. The police become responsive and the streets safe as criminals move on, no longer tolerated and unable to make a living. We saw this transformation happen in Boston’s Roxbury and Charlestown, and we’re seeing it begin here in Herkimer.

Promising new technologies can reduce greenhouse gas

Climate change becomes more erratic and costly every year. Yet there are many technologies that will help combat this devastating process. As our president continues to deny climate change, some technology innovators are filling the gap left by ineffectual governance.

Bill Gates is heading a $1 billion venture fund supporting development of clean energy technology, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Co-founders include Jeff Bezos and Richard Brandon. The goal of the fund is to build companies that will provide affordable emissions-free energy. Gates is personally investing $1 billion in startups and companies starting this year.

Climeworks, a new Swiss company hopes to extract 1% of worldwide CO2 from the atmosphere by 2025. Company founders Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher invented a Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology while students at ETH Zurich. They have lowered the cost of CO2 extraction from the air to less than $600 per ton. Climeworks envisions that they can create 250,000 plants by 2025.

Reducing greenhouse gases is essential to the planet’s survival, but blocking the sun may buy some time. Today there are over 375 operational nanosatellites in space, which may help us to find and improve climate change solutions.

As the earth grows ever hotter, it makes sense to consider moving to those green places on the map which are the most sustainable to live in, places like Herkimer, NY.

From September 16, 2017:

Herkimer County Ideal for Hurricane Refugees