Environmental Fundamentals

Enormous quantities of nonsense are bantered about the media in the environmental arena. The principal reason for this is phony mysticism that the Green movement uses to hide from facts about the world. The Green movement blathers about "nature" as if it's an ancient God; some make this express by referring to Gaia, the pagan deity of ancient Greece mythology for the Earth.

Let's begin the deconstruction of the Green movement by looking at some basic truths about the physical world - the "real" Earth composed of atoms and molecules, held together by gravity and receiving truly "free" energy from the Sun. Earth has existed in this form for about 4.5 billion years and has evolved without external intervention or forces (other than the Sun and Moon) for that entire period. Earth continues to evolve and move along its worldline as a roughly closed system, again, other than the energy from the Sun and tidal forces of the Moon.

Here are some truths about this real Earth specifically as related to the Green movement.

All sources of "renewable" energy are NOT infinite. By renewable, I mean wind, solar and biomass. All those require LAND to transform the energy to a form usable by humans. Land is finite - limited to the surface of Earth. Green economists love to blather about "external costs" and claim that traditional power sources must be forced to bear more of those. But they simultaneously always neglect the cost of the LAND in their calculations of renewable energy economics. They also ignore the costs of the initial investment in production of the "renewable" energy, but that's for another post.

Rain falls from the sky for free. This is a true statement. evaporation caused by the Sun creates water vapor that circulates in the atmosphere, eventually condensing out and falling as rain. All free. The Sun provides the external energy and the Earth's gravity and rotation provide the forces for weather circulation.

Water is almost never truly destroyed. It's simply used in physical processes (e., g. washing, cooling, etc.) or chemical processes (e. g. plant photosynthesis). However, even for the chemical processes, when looked at as an entire system, the net gain or loss of water is practically zero. Why ? Water is an exceptionally stable molecule. If broken apart by energy in one process, another process tends to re-form the water molecule, releasing energy.

Carbon Dioxide is not a Poison nor is it a Pollutant. Carbon dioxide is crucial for plant life. Human beings exhale carbon dioxide in every breathe. How can such a crucially, absolutely necessary chemical compound be a "pollutant" ? That's like saying water is a pollutant. because water can cause much harm in the wrong place or in excessive amounts, such as in floods. Or that oxygen is a pollutant, because in concentration is can lead to explosions or fires, or can even cause rust in very small concentrations.

That's enough for now. Let's bring some real science and critical discussion to environmental issues, and leave the sophistry and mysticism out.

Actions

Still looking for new screaming buys or sells. None yet, other than the occasional municipal bond. My parameters on those are over 5% yield (both in yield to call and yield to maturity), ten years non call (5 years for a 20 year maturity), acceptable credit (A rated, no CA, AZ, NV, FL, no liberal bastions like NY and NJ, no Michigan). I also reject selected other places; an example was a bond issued by a medical facility located very near the NC coast - a hurricane target zone.

I diversify very, very broadly in municipal bonds. My largest holding is Harvard University. My smallest is an issue by county school system in western Pennsylvania. I buy the bonds in Mrs. B. "Sky Fund" - it's a joint account - with a real broker, so we pay full service fees. But the broker finds the bonds for us and that's fine. Plus the broker provides advice to Mrs. B, who mostly runs the account.

As Obama's huge tax increases for "high income" persons become closer to reality, I think people will realize these bonds offer great value. They also have good value even for AMT taxpayers. A 5% tax free rate is equivalent to 6.94% taxable rate for AMT taxpayers. I do not buy municipal bonds subject to AMT, as for some years I find myself subject to that tax.

And yes, I am a free-loader now, as plans for ObamaCare do not, so far, envision taxing that income. Hence I will not be supporting that folly, at least for that portion of my income.

Word of the Day

"Verdure" - noun [$10]
Verdure means 1. green vegetation; 2. the greenness of this; 3. (poetic) freshness.
Sentence: Carbon dioxide and the sun are the crucial inputs to plant life and its extraordinary verdure.