Existing legislation in the USA at many levels (Federal, State, County and Municipality) addresses climate change in a wide variety of ways. Few have a simple acknowledgement that human activities have a material impact on climate change. So the overarching focus gets lost in the details. In order to clearly focus everyone on the issue, I thought that Federal legislation with a straight forward acknowledgement of this would be helpful, so I asked the AI agent ChatGPT to draft such legislation. Of course, this would apply to every government in the world but I used the USA as a starting point (since they are the largest contributor in the world at the moment).
The voting results in both the Congress and the Senate would give the public a clear measure of where their representative stand. It could spark a useful public debate and educational process. Also, it could provide a basis for future vote decision making. I can see a future where the cost of climate change impacts ramp up exponentially (they already are). In such a case, it might be natural to hold responsible those who denied human caused climate change and those who obstructed mitigation initiatives. This responsibility could extend beyond elected representatives to corporations and their executives. The intention is not to enter into a blame game, however, the potential of that future liability could certainly help to focus their efforts on this existential issue. Here is the ChatGTP draft legislation. You Draft a simple legislation for the US Congress that acknowledges that human activity such as the extraction and use of fossil fuels, deforestation, agriculture, some industrial processes, and waste management are major (material) contributors to climate change. This legislation should simply be an acknowledgement and not an action plan. ChatGPT [Draft Legislation] Title: Climate Change Contributor Acknowledgment Act Section 1: Short Title This Act may be cited as the "Climate Change Contributor Acknowledgment Act of 2024." Section 2: Declaration of Purpose The purpose of this Act is to formally acknowledge the role of certain human activities as material contributors to climate change, thereby laying the groundwork for future policy development and action Section 3: Findings Congress finds and declares that: (a) Climate change is a significant global issue that poses risks to the environment, public health, and economies worldwide. (b) Scientific evidence indicates that certain human activities are material contributors to climate change. (c) These activities include, but are not limited to:
(a) Congress hereby acknowledges that the activities listed in Section 3 are major contributors to climate change. (b) This acknowledgment does not prescribe specific actions or policies but serves as a foundation for future legislative and policy considerations aimed at addressing climate change. Section 5: Intent for Future Action (a) While this Act serves as a formal acknowledgment, it also expresses the intent of Congress to consider and develop effective policies and strategies to address the identified contributors to climate change in future legislation. Section 6: Effective Date This Act shall take effect immediately upon its enactment. Notes: This draft legislation is intended to be a formal acknowledgment by Congress of the major human activities contributing to climate change. It is a preliminary step designed to set the stage for future legislative and policy efforts without prescribing specific actions or creating immediate mandates. The acknowledgment serves to align legislative understanding with scientific findings on climate change contributors.
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This is a time sensitive article. You can participate up to 6pm on Monday 11 September.
It is easy to think that we are doing our civic duty if we vote in federal, provincial, or municipal elections. And we are, but that is only part of the democratic process. Each political party has a process to determine who will run for the party in the next election and this process involves a shockingly small number of people. There are also processes to choose party leaders and to determine party platforms. In each case, the number of people is small. As a result, it is relatively easy for small special interest groups to overwhelm the process. We saw this play out this weekend at the national Conservative Party convention in Ottawa where some of the more right wing members pushed through policies which clearly are not supported by the majority of Canadians. That will create a problem for the party in the next federal election. So what is the Sept 11th deadline? It is the last day that you can become a member of the Liberal Party of Ontario and still get to vote in the Leadership Election on Nov 25-26, 2023. Membership is free. Why should you be interested in doing so?
Democracy works better when we have strong representatives, strong leaders and strong parties. Currently in Ontario, political power is lopsided. Even if you are a conservative, democracy will work better for you if the opposition parties are all strong. So, if you live in Ontario, here is your chance to participate in the election of the next leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. There are two front runners - Bonnie Crombie and Nate Erskine-Smith. Personally, I am voting for Nate Erskine-Smith. Bonnie Crombie comes across as a bureaucrat through and through. Ford will eat her lunch in an election. On the other hand, Nate Erskine-Smith is smart, has excellent political experience, has a well thought out platform, and very importantly, he has great ideas on how the make politics better, more civil. I urge you to participate - become a member of the Ontario Liberal Party before 6pm Monday 11 Sept. It is free and can be fun too. PS - Becoming a member of the Liberal party does not obligate you to vote Liberal in the next election. You are just participating in an important step in the democratic process. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been in the news a lot, particularly in the last year. And we hear great proclamations from scientists and noted personalities. These proclamations range from "It will be the savior of humanity" all the way to "It will be the end of humanity".
It is reasonable to conclude that the "purpose" of the universe is to create and evolve intelligence. Actually "purpose' is way too strong a word for most people, but all the scientific evidence lead us to believe that the laws of our universe destine it to create and evolve intelligence. For humans to think that will are the end point of evolution would be the height of conceit. It appears likely the human species will be superseded by a higher AI intelligence simply because AI can now evolve faster than humans. The best we can hope is for humans to form a symbiotic relationship with AI. To that extent, it may be "manageable", as some suggest. Let us approach our place in the evolutionary tree with humility. If the human species is eventually superseded by some form of AI, then we will have played our role in the evolutionary destiny of the universe - "creating and evolving intelligence". Fortunately, we are capable of nudging that evolution is a positive direction. Let us strive to do so. This will have to be a coordinated effort of all of humanity, not one country vs another or one corporation vs another. We have the technical intelligence to do so. The question is "do we have the social intelligence to cooperate sufficiently to do so?" If we do, we may be able to continue playing a role in evolving intelligence long into the future. This is my own response to my previous opinion piece, A Simple Choice.
Of course, there is not another choice in this election, other than getting out and voting. It seems that voter apathy is the real determinate of who wins. There are several factors driving voter apathy:
If both parties had platforms to lead governments at all levels to become more efficient, more responsive, and less expensive, then both parties might find that they can find some common ground for programs that grow the economy, cost less, be responsive to business and the public, and provide robust social services. And with growth in a cooperative spirit, everyone will have time and energy to tackle the really big issues such as climate change. Seems that growth in a cooperative spirit is needed in all countries. How can this happen? Perhaps while we ask our politicians to start talking with and listening to each other, everyone else should also work at finding a way to talk with and listen to each other. I don't have any real answers but I believe this is key. I heard about an experiment where a dozen Democrats and an equal number of Republicans agreed to the following experiment. The researchers questioned each individual privately about their beliefs, especially what they thought about Republicans and Democrats. Then, they all got together and sat in two concentric circles. They flipped a coin as which group would go into the inner circle first. The other group sat in a larger circle around them and were instructed to listen only. Then the inner circle group were asked to describe the life experiences that lead them to have the beliefs they have. They were asked to focus on their life experiences, not their beliefs. After everyone had their turn, they switched inner and outer circles. Finally, they sat in one big circle with alternating Democrat Republican Democrat Republican etc. and were asked to talk with one another. The researchers found that virtually everyone moderated their view of the others and that they were able to talk about various political issues and find at least some common areas of agreement. Perhaps a movement of small groups around the country listening to and sharing life experiences in this format would help us relearn the skill of talking with each other in a civil manner. Americans actually have a simple choice. Sadly, this simple choice gets lost with the focus on personalities - much of which is not civil rhetoric.
Choice #1 - Republicans They stand for a capitalist free market with much less regulation. History shows us that this approach does create winners (the American dream), but it also creates many more losers. Republicans believe that lower taxes for corporations and the wealthy will help create a strong economy which will benefit all. Wealth inequality is the highest in modern history. They also want less government support for the losers. They believe that if they create a strong economy, people can fend for themselves. This includes people buying their own medical insurance. History also shows that less regulation results in more environmental damage. In one term during the Trump administration, the Republicans rolled back more than 100 environmental rules. Climate change is rapidly becoming an existential threat to humanity. Choice #2 - Democrats They stand for a capitalist free market with some regulation. They believe in reasonable support for those struggling the most. Wealth inequality should be less than it is now. This means that there could be higher taxes for wealthy individuals and corporations, and lower taxes for the average American. There should be fewer losers. Then everyone can contribute to the economy, and the economy will be even stronger. The Democrats are working to protect the environment and lessen the existential threat of climate change - for Americans and all of humanity. The choice: Republicans - winners take all philosophy Democrats - we can all win philosophy See my next blog for further discussion on this subject. https://thoughtsbyjuliansale.weebly.com/blog/american-election-8-nov-22-another-choice Politics can be defined as being "Left of Centre" or "Right of Centre". Where the "Centre" is varies from country to country and within countries over time.
Rebutal to Kathrine Mangu-Ward TED Talk - "What capitalism gets right - and governments get wrong"9/4/2022 TED2022 - Katherine Mangu-Ward - Editor in Chief of “Reason” magazine.
"What capitalism gets right — and governments get wrong" Dear Katherine, I recently listened with interest to your TED Talk on What capitalism gets right — and governments get wrong. https://www.ted.com/speakers/katherine_mangu_ward Like you, I like Capitalism. There is no greater engine of creativity and industriousness. However, I would like Capitalism a LOT more if it had a moral compass and was much less predatory and extractive. I invite you to join me in a thought experiment where we imagine a world driven by “Capitalism with a moral compass”. Such a world would be much more self-regulating and as a result there would be a dramatic decrease in the amount of Government regulation required, and thus a related dramatic decrease in the size and cost of Government. If the cost of Government is significantly less, then perhaps taxes could be reduced for everyone including businesses. Yes, both poverty and literacy have improved dramatically. And many other indicators of wellbeing have similarly improved. However, you attribute this entirely to Capitalism. You have shown that there is a “correlation” between the rise of modern Capitalism and these improvements, but you have not demonstrated a sole “causal” relationship. You ignore the fact that many of these improvements came through hard fought government programs and laws. Indeed, Capitalism often fought against many of these programs and laws. Through the creativity and innovations of Capitalism, we have a world today which is capable of feeding everyone. And yet we have a world in which we have great hunger and starvation. If we imagine a world driven by Capitalism with a moral compass, there would be very little hunger or starvation today. We would have a world where corporations pay a fair living wage and try to minimize the long term environmental impact of everything they do. Instead, we have a world of economic slaves. America is the richest country in the world, and yet 50% of the population live from paycheck to paycheck and have virtually no retirement savings. In many parts of the world, it is even worse than America. We should be ashamed of a system that has produced these outcomes. Modern Capitalism played a leading role in creating a world in which climate change is a threat to humanity’s very existence. Governments have tried to regulate industry to benefit the environment, but Modern Capitalism has fought it every step of the way - successfully more often than not. Now we have a world that is going to face trillions of dollars of climate change driven damage to property, infrastructure, and to the very lives of people. And who has to step in to rescue people facing unimaginable tragedies due to climate change? Government - the very beast that modern Capitalism hates the most. In a world driven by Capitalism with a moral compass, corporate profits might be down a bit and the wealthy a little less wealthy, although I suspect the opposite would be true in the long run. We should be striving for a world in which everyone can be wealthier and healthier and happier. And this includes a healthy environment. The world CAN be a much better place than it is currently. Let’s focus on making that happen. Let’s focus on creating a Capitalism that can do that. More of the same is NOT the answer. Thanks for listening. Julian Sale [email protected] Update 25 Nov 2022 Tesla has released several software updates since this review. With these updates, "phantom braking" is no longer an issue. Autopilot in general continues to improve. Tesla are now selling their CCS 1 Combo Adaptor in Canada. If you are thinking of embarking on any road trip or think you might go on one sometime in the future, I highly recommend you acquire one. Update 23 July 2022: Some have asked about the cost of Tesla chargers vs other chargers. Tesla has a 4 Tier pricing system based upon how fast your vehicle charges. Since the charge rate is never constant, you might get a weighted average charge from 2 or 3 Tiers. It also varies depending upon which region/province you are in. My average for all Tesla charges was: $0.43 per kWh. My average cost for third party chargers was: $0.30 per kWh. Newfoundland Road Trip - 19 June - 15 July, 2022 In November 2021, we bought a Tesla Model 3 Long Range. I immediately thought of a road trip to Newfoundland. Our planning for 2022 travel was to stay in Canada, and Newfoundland was definitely on our list, so this fit perfectly. Maggie was not so sure about a road trip since she still had range concerns. This model has a rated EPA range of 576 kms. With 85% efficiency and never running the battery below 10%, that left us with a usable 400 km range between charges if you start with a 100% charge. Here is a summary of our charging experiences: This trip would not have been feasible without the Tesla CCS1 adaptor which I had to buy from South Korea. It allowed me to connect to virtually all fast charging stations. There are more sites offering this Tesla branded adaptor for shipment to Canada. I purchased mine from www.harum.io for $309 USD shipping included. I did have to pay $71.36 CDN duty. A very worthwhile investment. I also used the J1772 adaptor that came with the car a few times.
Except for road trips, I'll never use these public charge providers. I have enough range for all reasonable day trips without charging. Most of my charging will be at home. This is what makes me think that we will not need as many charge stations as many predict. When people travel, they often stay at friends, and if most people eventually have an EV, they will have a 240v outlet they can share. Many destination hotels/motels/resorts are already installing their own overnight chargers - basically 240 v outlets which are not expensive to install. I also predict that some entrepreneurial people will rent out their 240v plug outlets - more reasons why we may not need so many standalone charge stations. You cannot fill up your gasoline vehicle at home. You can charge your EV at home (those with apartments and homes with street parking only, may have to use public charge stations more but innovative solutions are being worked on even for such EV drivers). Driving Experience with Tesla - Pro’s & Con’s Pro’s
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Bottom line, we had a wonderful trip. Atlantic Canada is a special place and Newfoundland is a special place within a special place. Services are not always as readily available as some parts of the country, but the people are always friendly and willing to help, and the scenery is amazing. As a result of our experience, we are now much more likely to go on road trips with our Tesla. Canada, here we come! 😀 PS: Tesla, please sell your CCS1 Adaptor in Canada and please sell it at a reasonable price. Also, some sort of grip on the adaptor would be helpful since it is quite difficult to separate it from some connectors. Updates: 21 July Based on questions I have had and some further research, here is some additional info Tesla has a 4 Tier pricing system $0.25 $0.65 $1.25 Rates vary quite a bit by region. If you are on the low side of the charge range
Many have referred to those in the Truckers Freedom Convoy and their followers as "Idiots". They are not "idiots". Many are well educated although in some important respects, they are undereducated. Many do not have a good understanding of one or more of the following: scientific method, probabilities, logical reasoning, critical thinking, democracy, fact checking. A sad commentary on our educational system.
It appears that over 50% of the funding came from the USA, and a disturbing amount came from right wing organizations and their followers. This is a new peril in our modern society. That peril is the ability of deep pocketed extreme groups (from anywhere in the world) to fund and rally these undereducated to disrupt society for their own political purposes. We need a major educational effort, not just for children, but everyone. We need to learn new skills in order to navigate this fast-changing digital world. We are witnessing the slow (and sometimes not so slow) disintegration of American democracy. Indeed, there is an erosion of democracy all around the world.
First some background. The United States is a constitutional federal republic, in which the President (the head of state and head of government), Congress, and Judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments. There are two chambers of Congress - the Senate and the House of Representatives. Since the civil war, there have been only two parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (referred to as the GOP - Grand Old Party). The Democratic Party has a philosophy of modern liberalism blending notions of civil liberty and social equality with support for a mixed economy (a blend of a market economy and a planned economy). The Republican Party's 21st-century ideology is American conservatism, which incorporates both social conservatism (focus on traditional values and beliefs) and fiscal conservatism (fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, and limited government). The GOP supports lower taxes, free-market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, gun rights, restrictions on abortion, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. This system is unique among democracies of the world. For this system to work, the President and the two parties must negotiate and compromise to reach a consensus. This process worked quite well for at least 225 years since Independence on 4 July 1776. This process has totally broken down. Today, there are no meaningful negotiations and no meaningful compromises. It is "us" against "them" and what's good for the public is entirely lost. To compound these issues, the Judiciary has become politicized. The role of the Supreme Court is not to make law but to interpret laws relative to the constitution. Some justices interpret the law applying literal wording of the constitution and some apply some degree of intent. But as we have seen recently, these interpretations can be conjured according to political ideologies. Recent rulings limit the Federal government's ability to make laws and this is aligned with Republican ideology of limited government. Today, the majority of the Supreme Court judiciary unabashedly support the Republican Party. This gives individual States incredible power, and as we have seen, they can pass very restrictive abortion laws (when a significant majority of the American public supports some level of legal abortion), and alarmingly, they can pass voter suppression laws to suit their purposes. So how did we get to where we are today? For the past 20 years or so, public confidence in government has dropped significantly from about 60% in 2001 to a low of 17% in 2019. Since then, it has recovered a bit to the low 20's%. Still historically low confidence in government. And why is that? One contributing factor is an appallingly poor understanding by the public of how government works. But even more significant is the public's visceral feeling that something is wrong. It is this feeling that Trump tapped into so successfully. The more radical elements on the right and the left and many others are correct. Something is wrong. "Big money" now controls politics in the USA. This is especially true since 2014 when the Supreme Court ruled that corporate funding of independent election ads could not be limited under the First Amendment. Big money now controls much of what happens and what does not happen in US politics. This is described in startling detail in Jane Mayer's book, Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. The other key factor impacting public distrust of big government (big anything for that matter) is the rise of the Internet and social media. Compounding this issue was governments' and big business's inability or unwillingness to limit or control the spread of untruths and hate. Freedom of speech laws, especially in the USA and to some degree in many other countries did not anticipate the Internet. Now a small number of more radical players can disproportionately influence the public. The Senate consists of 100 members, two from each state. The US continues to become less rural as people migrate to large urban centres. The 10 least populated states are largely rural states and rural states historically vote Republican. There is no guarantee that all these states will vote for all Republican Senators but the majority do. A clear advantage the Republicans want to protect at all costs. These 10 states account for 2.5 % of the US population but still get 20 senators or 20% of all senators. Whereas the 10 most populated states account for 50% of the population and they too get 20 Senators. U.S. Senate representation is deeply undemocratic — and cannot be changed without a fundamental change in the constitution requiring 2/3 majority vote, which will never happen in today's environment. For more info on how undemocratic the US Senate is, check the following articles.: https://www.minnpost.com/eric-black-ink/2021/02/u-s-senate-representation-is-deeply-undemocratic-and-cannot-be-changed/ and https://www.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-courtwww.vox.com/2020/11/6/21550979/senate-malapportionment-20-million-democrats-republicans-supreme-court The Republican House of Representatives benefit from Gerrymandering In representative democracies, Gerrymandering refers to political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent of creating undue advantage for a party, group, or socio-economic class within the constituency. In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Courts cannot stop partisan gerrymandering. Another blow to democracy. Yet another key factor that has arisen in the USA and around the world is the distrust of science. Once again, there is an appalling lack of understand about how science works. The rise of anti-vaxxers is the most dramatic example of that today. People are dying and governments are racking up billions in debt to no small degree because of this distrust in science. And the USA always seems to be the epicentre of this distrust. In Jan 2022, the US Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s mandate, which compelled companies with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested regularly. The anti-vaxxers interpreted that as vindication of their anti-vax position. The politicized court is not helping democracy. Finally, technology is changing the world at an exponential rate. And people are frightened. The European Union, Australia, and others, even China, are trying to rein in Big Tech. However, the USA with its very capitalist and "survival of the fittest" mindset, not so much. This is adding to the "distrust" malaise in the USA. Today, there are concerning tends all of which threaten democracy:
The USA has always been the most individualistic society in the world - me comes before we. Don't get me wrong. Historically the USA has been the most generous nation on earth. Interestingly, recent historical works are showing that that generosity was not always altruistic. Political and capitalist gain often drove it. The capitalist system is by far the greatest engine for ingenuity and growth the world has known. And no country has pushed capitalism more than the USA. But capitalism is inherently "extractive and predatory" and while Americans love the idea of the American Dream that anyone can become fabulously successful and wealthy, they are starting to realize the "extractive and predatory" nature of capitalism. For example, the majority of Americans want government to do more about climate change - the result, in part, of poorly regulated capitalism. Even here however, the divide is evident. Twice as many Democrats support climate change action vs Republicans. The disfunction of government and the right-wing bias of the courts is hampering the kind of action that is required. Counter to intuition, the fear and stress of climate disasters is further deteriorating democracy. The US has been the economic and military leader in the world for a long time. The growth of China, India, and someday maybe even Africa threatens that leadership. Ironically, the US has educated many of the engineers and scientists that are now leading these other countries who will eventually surpass the US. The US has not come to grips with that reality. And that fear will push the US to become even more authoritarian and less democratic. Steve Bannon and many like him want to "Deconstruct the Administrative State" in order to build a new state with less regulation and more emphasis on unrestricted capitalism. There are many forces pushing the US to become less democratic. Currently, many predict that the Democrats will lose both the Senate and the House of Representatives in the upcoming mid-term elections in Nov. What amazes me is that few seem to realize that the "house of democracy is on fire". Either that, or they just don't know what to do about it. |
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