Nuclear II
Before Class
- First and foremost: read this NPR interview with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Green New Deal! Please also hear the podcast that you can access on the right near the top. What does she say that that you find is supported by this class? What might she have done better?
- Please read about and start the empathy self-intervention. You can find the link to the website on the main class website.
- last 5 years were hottest 5 years in last century. Please see the animation in this article about the temperature rise.
- Finish PS#4 to turn in today.
- See the video: How about the nuclear power we have yet to control: Fusion
- Please see video Nuclear Safety
- Please see the slides if you like.
- Please see this video / read the article. Subramanian The numbers in this paper are important. Please know them.
- Maybe I’m wrong to dismiss nuclear in our energy future. See this video explaining why.
Wednesday’s Class: Climate Change, the Policy and Politics.
Before Class
- Today’s office hour (Wednesday) at 11 AM has been canceled, as I’m giving a talk about climate change to the club for public policy in 43A-150… in case you want to come. I will add an additional office hour at noon Thursday.
- Please see Social Change [related to climate change].
- Please see the video Response to CC Also see Slides about Human Response
- Please look up and understand what the Anthropocene Epoch is.
- While you read about the Kübler-Ross model, please ponder why I’d have you read this while studying human response to climate change.
- Please see this very short video from around 2006 CEI CO2 is life, by the Competitive Enterprise Institute , It’s interesting to note that two years ago, Trump chose the leader of CEI, Myron Ebell, to lead the EPA transition team.
- Please see Science Guy Denial
- Please see CC Policy
- We can speculate why shortly after taking office, Trump wanted the names of scientists working on climate change, but this isn’t the first time that there has been a Ban on talking about CC
- To identify GHG emissions related to our food (and other purchases), please look at Jones Kammen paper, Fig. 2.
- California has not been acting as a regular state. On some levels, California has lead or been in direct opposition to Washington DC. Jerry Brown has brought this to a head with respect to Climate Change and Immigration: read CNN.
- This is not new. A decade ago, REPUBLICAN Arnold Schwarzenegger initiated “international” climate change mitigation talks with UK’s Tony Blair saying that President George W. Bush was “late to the after party party”
- PS#5 posted, due next Tuesday.
- consider joining Mustangs United:
During Class
Friday’s Class
Before Class
- I’ve made an extra clarification of what I’m looking for in the empathy intervention. Please see the page again if you like. I’ve added the following paragraph:
“I’m not asking you about empathy. I’m asking you to have an experience this coming week and log it. When did you notice you objectified someone as an “other” this week? What might it be like for the other person? What did you learn? What do you think? What did you feel?” - PS#5 posted, due next Tuesday.
- Please see Peak Oil and the Peak Oil Slides
- Please see Getting Tight Oil and Gas and the Tight Oil Slides
- Please read Fracking and Earthquakes NPR
- January 2018 sinking of oil tanker
- No doubt you noticed the changes in USAmerican petroleum consumption and production in the video… well, that was kind of long ago, and there are major changes in the past decade. We should update ourselves. Please have a look at the graphs on this short US Energy Information Agency (EIA) document highlighting trends in our petroleum use and consumption. For sure, look at the graphs and be prepared to summarize these graphs on the midterm.
- US Gasoline Consumption Back Up Again
- Keep it in the Ground NPR 2018, the Response of the American Petroleum Institute
- Trump administration is opening up new off shore drilling – except in Florida because of the importance to tourism… What about California?
- Please read this NYTimes article about what countries are doing to mitigate climate change.
- Haas publication of fracking and learn by doing This is a learning curve article (how things get cheaper with increased practice), but also mentions the future of nuclear.
- Take a look at the news in Coal, and implications for corruption by industry insiders.
- We mentioned Greta Thunberg in class, the rising international voice of the environmental youth. Please see this NPR article about the rise of the environmental youth movement and see (at least) the last video.
During Class: We will visit Cal Poly’s thermal storage facility – the Mustang Water Tank – just down hill from the dinning complex. We will leave from our classroom at the beginning of class, but feel free to join us at the water tank at 10:15 if you prefer.
Activity
- Activity session: Having a discussion about materials for class prep, evaluating bills or taking a hike? pending weather.