(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Energy & Water -- Strike for the Planet week 103 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-12 You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference! This is the letter for week 103 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents of the topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile… STRIKE FOR THE PLANET It’s All About The Basics If You Want A City This week’s topic is Energy & Water. They’re linked, you know. 20% of SF’s electricity comes from Hetch Hetchy.1 For the rest of our power, in PG&E’s mixes 13 to 27% is from large hydropower that relies on roughly 100 reservoirs, and a notable chunk comes from small hydro.2 Nuclear energy supplies between 27 to 44% and also requires vast amounts of water.3, 4 Reduce the amount of water and the timing of when water is available and our power is reduced. Decimate the amount of water and when we have it and our power is decimated. We’re now in a megadrought. Based on the data, this megadrought is the worst in over 1,000 years5, is primarily the result of human-caused climate chaos, and is resulting in the permanent aridification and desertification of the west.6 Unlike in past megadroughts, there will be no return to normal after this megadrought. This megadrought will not end; it will, instead, create a new normal.7 And there is no saying what our new climate normal will stabilize to because we keep increasing the amount of CO 2 we’re pumping into the atmosphere. This is adding fuel to the climate fire, in a mad rush for ecocide-for-profit that profits no one.8 Lake Powell surface area shrinkage from 1999 to 2021 from Landsat imagery — water in the west is vanishing Isn’t your course of action obvious? You need to change SF’s water usage immediately, continually, and permanently. You need to change SF’s energy sources immediately and permanently. And, to avoid making the disaster even worse and nullify all our efforts, you need to stop the pumping out of carbon both in SF and tied to SF, immediately and permanently. Cities without power and water die.9, 10, 11, 12 Unless the plan is to shut down and send everyone away, SF needs to face reality and change these basics now. How does SF do this? For water, start here: Institute universal blackwater recycling. 13 Create strict water use limits. 14 Invest in cheap and cleaner water purification technology. 15, 16 Localize water sources when new water is needed. 17 Increase SF’s ability to capture atmospheric water. 18, 19 Increase SF’s ability to retain water.20, 21, 22 SF needs to be rebuilt as an oasis in the desert that is forming — if we’re to survive. For energy, start here: Build, support, and allow microgrids. 23 Put rooftop solar on every available roof. Use the windmills. 24 Put small wind turbines everywhere feasible. 25, 26 There is a lot of wild wind in this city. There is a lot of wild wind in this city. Require geothermal 27 or water 28 (on the shore) heat pump systems. or water (on the shore) heat pump systems. Use tidal energy. 29 Change building design permissions to mandate passive heating and cooling.30, 31 If you don't pay attention to this most basic tech, you can’t support anything at all. Use your resources! Stop sidelining and ignoring SF Environment and limiting the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning. We’re in a fight for our lives here, and these are your two best weapons. Use them. Put them in charge. Run everything through them. Fund them. Listen to them. What they are telling you is infinitely more important than what you’ll hear from developers, funders, and political operatives. Thwaites is melting. When it goes, and it could be anytime now, that’s an immediate 2 foot sea level rise.32 SF is not ready for this in any way, shape, or form. The stuff above — energy and water — those are the basics. There’s more that needs to be done if we’re to be ready. If Thwaites or any other climate disaster happens before we’re ready, SF will not survive. If you’re okay with earthquake preparedness, why not with climate chaos preparedness? Climate action delayed is climate action denied. Taking action too late is the same as doing nothing. You have to act now if SF is to have a chance of surviving. Stop missing the big picture here — this is about survival. SF can make the right choices, but will you?33 You’ve taken oaths to act for the good of SF. You say you are bound by the Precautionary Principle. So act already. Because the costs of climate change are huge.34, 35, 36, 37, 38 It’s now or never; damage is already being done and it’s only going to get worse.39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 You have to fight for the people of SF now while accomplishing anything is still possible! FOOTNOTES 1. “Hetch Hetchy Power”. San Francisco Water Power Sewer. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://www.sfwater.org/index.aspx?page=1241 . 2. “Exploring clean energy solutions”. PG&E. Accessed 13 April 2021. https://www.pge.com/en_US/about-pge/environment/what-we-are-doing/clean-energy-solutions/clean-energy-solutions.page . 3. “How it Works: Water for Nuclear”. Union of Concerned Scientists. 15 July 2013. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/water-nuclear . 4. “Where your electricity comes from”. PG&E. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://www.pge.com/pge_global/common/pdfs/your-account/your-bill/understand-your-bill/bill-inserts/2018/10-18_PowerContent.pdf . 5. Brain Clark Howard. “Worst Drought in 1,000 Years Predicted for American West”. National Geographic. 12 February 2015. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/150212-megadrought-southwest-water-climate-environment . 6. Doyle Rice. ‘Megadrought’ emerging in the western US might be worse than any in 1,200 years”. USA Today. 17 April 2020. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/16/drought-worst-western-megadrought-here-study-says/5145929002/ . 7. Hilary McQuilkin and Meghna Chakrabarti. “America’s West Faces A Megadrought. What’s The Solution?” WBUR. 18 March 2021. https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2021/03/18/america-west-megadrought-dry-farmer . 8. Michael Le Page. “A pause in growth rate of atmospheric CO2 is over — here’s why”. NewScientist. 9 November 2016. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2112153-a-pause-in-growth-rate-of-atmospheric-co2-is-over-heres-why/ . 9. “Cities Without Water”. Keepers of the Waters. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://www.keepersofthewaters.org/projects/cities-without-water . 10. Andrew Freedman, Jason Samenow, Paulina Firozi, Matthew Cappucci, and Reis Thebault. “Deaths mount, millions still without power amid new winter storm”. The Washington Post. 17 February 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/02/17/winter-storm-weather-texas-live/ . 11. Adrian Sainz, Paul Weber, and Acacia Coronado. “Southern cities hit hard by storms face new crisis: No water”. AP. 19 February 2021. https://apnews.com/article/power-texas-water-shortage-south-b1cad8589083d0f6c79020ef642995d1 . 12. David Brand. “It’s Not Just Flint: 5 Other US Cities That Have Water Crises”. Global Citizen. 9 February 2018. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/us-crises-water-flint-modesto-fracking/ . 13. See Strike letter week 95, p. 2-3. 14. The WHO benchmark of adequate water for healthy living conditions is 27 gallons per person per day. See “Cities Without Water” at https://www.keepersofthewaters.org/projects/cities-without-water for more information. 15. Bob Marcotte. “Lasers etch an efficient way to address global water crisis”. University of Rochester Newscenter. 13 July 2020. https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/lasers-address-global-water-crisis-443612/ . 16. Jess Brown. “Biological Treatments of Drinking Water”. Expanding Frontiers of Engineering. 1 December 2007, Vol 37, Issue 4. https://www.nae.edu/19579/19582/21020/7413/7700/BiologicalTreatmentsofDrinkingWater . 17. See Strike letter week 95. 18. Edie Juno and John-Rob Pool. “Forests Near or Far Can Protect Water for Cities”. World Resources Institute. 23 September 2020. https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/cities-forests-water-supplies . 19. Plant native trees, especially redwoods. See Joan Hamilton’s “Fog and Redwoods: Demystifying the Mist” (Bay Nature, 30 June 2013, https://baynature.org/article/fog-and-redwoods-demystifying-the-mist/ ) for more details. 20. Dorota Jopek. “Water in the city. The development of permeable surfaces in urban areas”. E3S Web of Conferences/ResearchGate. January 2018. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326687635_Water_in_the_city_The_development_of_permeable_surfaces_in_urban_areas . 21. Elżbieta Jarosińska and Klaudia Gołda. “Increasing natural retention — Remedy for current climate change in urban area.” Urban Climate. December 2020, Vol 34. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212095520302431 . 22. “Permeable Pavement”. Green Building Alliance. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://www.go-gba.org/resources/green-building-methods/permeable-pavements/ . 23. “California Microgrids: Anaylsis, Forecasts, and Project Information”. Microgrid Projects. Accessed 14 April 2021. http://microgridprojects.com/california-microgrid-projects/ . 24. “Golden Gate Park Windmills”. Golden Gate Park. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://goldengatepark.com/windmills.html . 25. Charlie Hewitt. “Wind Generation in Urban Settings”. Renewable Energy World. 18 June 2015. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/wind-power/wind-generation-in-urban-settings/ . 26. “Urban Wind”. SF Environment. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://sfenvironment.org/energy/renewable-energy/wind/urban-wind . 27. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. “5 Things You Should Know about Geothermal Heat Pumps”. Energy dot Gov Offices. 1 August 2017. https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/5-things-you-should-know-about-geothermal-heat-pumps . 28. Devin Abellon. “Exploratorium’s New Waterfront Home Features Innovative Radiant System Using S.F. Bay Water”. Uponor. 2012. https://uponor.greenhousedigitalpr.com/archive/casestudies/exploratorium.shtml . 29. “Tidal Energy”. SF Environment. Accessed 14 April 2021. https://sfenvironment.org/article/hydro/tidal-energy . Please note that the only study done was severely limited in location and technology, and is woefully dated (Mayor Newsom initiated the study in 2006.) 30. Martha Henriques. “Can you cool a house without air conditioning?” BBC. 23 August 2019. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190822-are-there-alternatives-to-air-conditioning . 31. Benjamin Blankenbehler. “Passive Solar Heating And Cooling Building Design”. Architecture Review. 14 October 2015. https://architecturerevived.com/passive-solar-heating-and-cooling-building-design/ . 32. A.K. Wåhlin, A.G.C. Graham, K.A. Hogan, B.Y. Queste, L. Boehme, R.D. Larter, E.C. Pettit, J. Wellner, and K.J. Heywood. “Pathways and modification of warm water flowing beneath Thwaites Ice Shelf, West Antarctica”. Science Advances. 9 April 2021, Vol 7, no. 15. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/15/eabd7254 . 33. Richard Procter. “San Francisco Knows How to Stop Global Warming — Will It?” SF Weekly. 11 September 2019. https://www.sfweekly.com/news/san-francisco-climate-change-emissions/ . 34. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/ . 35. Harper’s Index. March 2021. https://harpers.org/archive/2021/03/ . 36. Dana Nuccitelli. “New report finds costs of climate change impacts often underestimated”. Yale Climate Connections. 18 November 2019. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/11/new-report-finds-costs-of-climate-change-impacts-often-underestimated/ . 37. Rebecca Hersher and Nathan Rott. “What Are The Costs Of Climate Change?” NPR. 16 September 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913693655/what-are-the-costs-of-climate-change. 38. Samantha Fields. “Insurance increasingly unaffordable as climate change brings more disasters”. Marketplace. 31 August 2020. https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/31/insurance-increasingly-unaffordable-as-climate-change-brings-more-disasters/ . 39. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736 . 40. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report . 41. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html . 42. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ . 43. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html . 44. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/ . 45. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/ . 46. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/ . 47. Lauren Frayer. “Scores Are Feared Dead In India After Himalayan Glacier Breaks Away”. NPR. 7 February 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965046888/scores-are-feared-dead-in-india-after-himalayan-glacier-breaks-away . It’s now looking like it was a landslide which makes the situation worse. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/12/2197852/-Energy-amp-Water-Strike-for-the-Planet-week-103?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/