BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENT/ Google Images

LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHERS: We return to the great debate following our brief hiatus, better prepared for the inevitable environmental battles that lie ahead. It has occurred to us that as the doomsayers blather, and the politicians bicker, little has been or is being done, to address the search for realistic and practical solutions to the environmental quagmire -- whether Obama or Humpty Dumpty is playing solitaire in the Oval Office.

We took the page down for a temporary review for a number of reasons. A reassessment of the political landscape as the 2012 election cycle begins in earnest was clearly in order. In its first week, www.earthscantv.us was viewed in almost 30 countries, a true testimony of the international nature of this debate. Nations from a staggering Japan, rethinking all nuclear power in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami, to an economically exploding China are looking for real answers and not rhetoric. Al Gore is not going to teach a Bolivian how to exploit and market the vast deposits of lithium his South American country is now in control of – as lithium battery demand sweeps the automobile market.

SO MANY QUESTIONS; SO FEW ANSWERS: The Gore mantra has been, “Green for Green Sake,” whether it works of not. Obama rages on and on about corporate private jets which actually save money. Farmers sell ethanol to refineries while food prices soar and livestock goes unfed. Just about all food utilizes corn oil. If every ear of corn was converted to ethanol it would displace just 3 % of American oil consumption. America is floating on clean, affordable natural gas, but the liberal stereotypical, evil industry and its filthy wells, has been told to hold back – when natural gas could easily and quickly yield energy self-sufficiency, and help the environment.

SUBTEXT: The subtext is totally ignored and nearly endless: Technology now exists to marry bus-sized sanitation and water systems, with bus-sized nuclear reactors and change the entire world – off the grid. Try to find someone who is interested – big business is constantly called the enemy and made wary of environmental investment. China is the largest polluter, the largest and fastest growing nation both in population and industrial polluting, and is now among the largest investors in cleanup efforts. Warren Buffet has just invested in Chinese electric-car efforts. Soon America will be just as beholden to China for environmental solutions as it is now for its deficit – but environmental America doesn’t approve of Chinese politics, just its investment in T Bills, so this nation can spend itself to death without working.

WORKABLE SOLUTIONS: Everybody agrees there is a problem but nobody has come up with a workable set of solutions. If this involved more blank-check writing, Obama would have appointed 20 Czars and Commissions by now. But private industry can’t be trusted in the new class warfare environment our President sanctions – everyone who disagrees with him is now apparently a terrorist of some sort, according his party allies.

Solutions require widespread coordinated planning, in the development of communities and their business, residential and recreational components. There are literally thousands of models that must be studied and carefully analyzed. Developing new or improved theories, policy and methods for landscape planning, design and management at local, regional, national and multi-national levels is crucial.

Monitoring proposals are needed for conservation and recreation areas along with new or improved theories and methods to promote environmental awareness and planning. This includes many areas such as design and restoration of landscapes in urban, suburban, and rural areas including private and public open spaces, parks, gardens, streetscapes, plazas, housing developments, burial grounds, memorials; tourist, commercial, industrial and educational complexes; sports grounds, zoos, botanic gardens, recreation areas and farms.

COMPLICATED PUZZLE: Many elements are involved, such as roads, dams, wind farms and other energy and major development projects. Other factors need analysis, such as climate, soil, flora, fauna, surface and subsurface water and drainage. Coordination of engineers, architects and planners is essential as expert witnesses in Development and Environment Courts. None of this is being done.

ACTION REQUIRED: Right now 50% of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the ocean coasts and the Great Lakes. Planners tend to fall into two interest groups; one wants unrestricted growth, the other no-growth. GPS mapping technology affords new opportunities for intelligent planning on a continent that will have a population of close to 1 billion by the next turn of the century. All of this goes ignored.

OUR GOAL: We have a unique chance, if we act now, to carefully organize and plan for our future living spaces. Precious little of this is being done with rhetoric set aside and real solutions in sight. The time has come to act, not argue or talk. We hope that the website www.earthscan.us , a series of handbooks on environmental solutions (including detailed directories), as well as future TV show efforts will together provide a platform to begin the process toward real environmental progress in a coherent and responsible manner. The governments of the world are on the verge of picking the winners and losers in this race for alternative fuels. Earth Scan will explore all of the most important issues and options in an objective manner. We welcome your input and support as we work together, toward the solutions of tomorrow that will make the world a better place for our children.(Double left click on image for full story).

Dennis Mullin, Bill Rife, Peter Alexander

lightRadio cube mobile technology/zdnet.co.uk

SCIENCE: Despite the economic and political malaise, high-tech explosion continues. Engineers have invented a device the size of a Rubik’s Cube that will replace all cell-phone relay towers. Sales of E-books jumped in January past hard covers. Drones are monitoring nuclear plants in Japan. Col. Qadhafi is hiding in a tent to elude the pinpoint accuracy of cruise missiles. The U.S.S. Whitney in the Mediterranean is a brand new command-and-control ship, that on its own could have run the invasion of Normandy in WWII. Social internet networks are sparing revolutions all over the world. Those regimes that ignore these advances do so at their own peril. (Left click on image for full story).

By Dennis Mullin

HIGH SPEED RAIL/sacramento.cbslocal.com

EDITOR’S CHOICE:  Posted by Geoffrey Styles  in The Energy Collective February 18 2011.  “The editors of the Washington Post have expressed  the goal of linking 80% of the US population by a new fast rail network. If the facts they cite concerning the ongoing subsidies suc h syst ems require in other countries are correct--including countries with more suitable geography for high-speed trains--then attempting to follow their lead here could amount to buying a gigantic money pit. While I certainly see the benefits of high-speed rail as part of an upgraded US transportati:on infrastructure, I'd like to see the architects of the current proposals provide some hard numbers on how high speed rail compares to our alternatives."

Gullier Travels, Laputa, The American Interest

STATE OF PLAY:  The Congress appears to be hell bent on going ahead with new climate legislation regardless of the political impact – a draft bill came down last week. The calculation is that with the Gulf oil spill, opponents will be on the defensive; after November the Democrats won’t have this kind of legislative muscle again for a long time; and they have to expand government while they can. But their model relies on the public accepting orders from “experts,” who are now under severe criticism over faulty science. The process may end up creating the very uncertainty on energy prices that the industry wants to end.

By Dennis Mullin

Treehugger.com

ENERGY: The race for new sources of energy production and conservation are continuing even as nuclear power is ignored. The hugely expensive Cap & Trade bills loom on the hazy horizon and hyperbole now rules the climate-change “catastrophe” debate at levels rivaling that of politics.

By Dennis Mullin