Where does Indiana really want to rank on the environmental charts?

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Permalink Reply by John Blair on May 20, 2009 at 11:46am

Indiana is in a race with West Virginia and Kentucky to see who can reach the bottom of the proverbial barrel the quickest. These three states will do just about everything for coal and that is proven by Mitch Daniels' insane prognostication in the Wall Street Journal last week.

You should also see the video I did of Daniels when he was recently in Rockport.

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Permalink Reply by Ernest Rando on May 20, 2009 at 1:33pm

If you would care to send me some facts, figures, and links to those facts and fugures all wrapped up in a nice little article, i would be happy to post it on my blog at http://greenkarnyval.blogspot.com also any events that you may be attending in regards to your struggle in this matter i would urge you to include on www.AGreenerIndiana.com/events or send me a link and i will be happy to post them here on AGI.

ALso if you have a blog feed or video feed of these matters as they pertain to Indiana please let me know so that i can add that to my Indiana Green Feed at http://friendfeed.com/a-greener-indiana Thanks and i wish you the best of luck and would like to stay informed of your struggles greenerdog@gmail.com

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Permalink Reply by Ernest Rando on May 20, 2009 at 1:29pm

OMG you mean he does not know if CO2 contributes to Global Warming? you have to be kidding me. This was a very good video!

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Vaughn on June 2, 2009 at 8:31pm

Naw ...while he was a little waffley with how much warming might result, he did make the traditional argument that China and India have to reduce emissions too - before we will "play ball" (and alluded to the fact that plants need CO2 - so not quite a "global warming is good for you") Pretty standard right-side arguing points. And the people cheering him on (jobs, jobs, jobs)

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Permalink Reply by Tom Butler on July 10, 2009 at 9:37pm

He knows - Mitch is the most intelligent governor that we have ever had - He had the highest test scores of anyone in The State when he graduated from high school and he was Validictorian of his class.

It's impossible to convince someone of facts when her job depends on not getting it.

This is the hardest thing for me to understand - I understand it when the ignorant are short term thinkers and greedy, but I don't understand it among the wise. Mitch can be very wise about good business practices...I guess it has something to do about thinking in terms of 3 year or less ROI's on everything as a principle or something.

You know, I am starting to think though that we need to develop clean coal technology because even if we shut it down in America, it will be even harder to politically shut down in China and if we can pioneer the tech, then we can export it and also help them to get it done.

Is this too practical and cynical?

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Permalink Reply by John Blair on May 20, 2009 at 5:54pm

I am uploading several data files that makes this case. If you have questions, please contact me. Thanks.

Attachments:

• SW Indiana TRI 2007 3:09.xls, 38 KB
• SW Indiana TRI Comparisons.xls, 38 KB
• Tri State Power Plant Emissions 2005.xls, 40 KB

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Permalink Reply by Ernest Rando on June 2, 2009 at 10:57pm

Just a thought, but if America and Indiana for that matter is wanting to stay on top of technology and be leaders that pretty much squashes the argument that we gotta change once they change. To be the change leaders and innovators I think we need to take the first step set the example so to speak! There is something to be said for social innovation leaders as well.

Often I ask myself if a consumption based economy is going to have to change and if so what will that change be? I mean even if it is still a wiser consumption matter, is consumption still the way to go? Will GDP continue to be the measurement that matters? What is it going to look like if it isn't?

Thank you for these supplied files and conversation on this topic. Hopefully i can put them to meaningful use shortly.

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Permalink Reply by John Blair on June 3, 2009 at 8:58am

All power plant emissions can be tracked at "eGRID". Just google that term and you will find a great database of power plant emissions.

One more thing. Much of the electricity generated in Indiana is sold out of state. In fact, I estimate it to be around 25%.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Dauble on June 30, 2009 at 5:23pm

Yes, we must make some serious changes, not just to our economy and our technology, but to our culture. The country of Bhutan measures and reports that countries Gross Domestic Happiness as an indicator which is as important as Domestic Product. Our country leads the world in it's worship of the "god-almighty-dollar". That is how they manipulate us with the threat of lost of jobs, increased utility bills, and higher taxes. Few people are willing to give up the lifestyle to which they have grown accustomed, and it is natural for everyone else on the planet to desire the lifestyle that we have. Unfortunately we would need four planets to support that rate of consumption given the current population. I see no indication that rate of population growth is going to stop any time soon. Too few people understand the risk of maxing out their credit cards, judging by current statistics. Extending that concept to the consumption of global resources is simply going right over the head of the average voter, and nearly every politician. It seems to me that the real leadership is working it's way from the bottom up. I have more respect for people that are gardening, recycling and car pooling than I do for people like Mich Daniels who is just pandering to the short sighted and materialistic.

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