Don’t Breathe..

[Terran Terran]

https://www.burpee.com/cantaloupe-el-gordo-hybrid-prod003506.html

[Jerry Adams]

I think I’m growing “sugar cube” – a smaller version more likely to ripen in cooler climate

[jscott]

I grew up putting salt on my canteloupe (sp.?). I was shocked to discover no one else does this. Then I realized that it wouldn’t occur to me to put salt on a peach or an apple or berries. I have no idea where my family learned to do this. I still salt my canteloupe.

Maybe a PNW thing?

[Jerry Adams]

In my family we put salt on cantelope.  Yeah, maybe a PNW thing.  Or Yakima valley thing.

[dreamer]

I put salt on cantelope and I’m from Maine.

[Jerry Adams]

https://www.engadget.com/breakthrough-geothermal-tech-produces-35-megawatts-of-carbon-free-power-210032356.html

they just started a geothermal site where they drilled two wells and “fracked” between them and are now pumping water down one well which comes up hot from the second well, used to generate electricity

previously, they had to tap into existing sites with naturally occurring heat and water which is rare.  This new method should work at many locations.

this may be part of the solution to providing electricity when the sun sets and the wind dies

there are a lot of hopeful developments happening that we can feel good about.  This doesn’t have to be doom and gloom – hopeless problem that’s impossible to solve which causes people to just give up and ignore

[Steve S]

Jerry, convince polar bears there is no existential problem. Convince shellfish that acidifying oceans are a minor threat. The there’s the matter of diminishing ocean and land productivity with no obvious replacement for sea mammal or human populations. You really think that cooking the biosphere with more energy from the geosphere is a fix? A bandaid, perhaps, that maintains the status quo while kicking the underlying problem toward an unknown and apparently increasingly dire future.

[jscott]

I think Jerry’s jsut saying that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Jerry’s not a skeptic–are there any skeptics anymore? Rog Tallbloke used to post about how climate change wasn’t happening. But already the real effects are being felt by so many people that the ‘show me’ types have come around because they’ve indeed seen and felt it. So if you tell people about the advances being made it might overcome the sense of hopelessness and spur further action. I think that’s what Jerry’s saying.

Now can we please get back to whether people put salt on their cantelope? Or is it cantelopes?

[Jerry Adams]

so, the solution is for everyone to take mass transit, wear a sweater in the winter to stay warm, quit using steel and concrete, move to Canada,…?  We’ll still be emitting CO2 so that doesn’t even work.

that won’t be popular with voters so if that’s the plan, it won’t ever get enough votes so we’ll end up doing nothing

actually, like in Texas, they now produce all their electricity from wind and solar at some times.  Despite their political proposals.  We’re actually making major progress.

We’re all just arguing on the internet and calling each other names.  I’m not talking here, this is a pretty civil discussion.  It’s not clear to me what the best path forward is but it seems like moving towards ending CO2 emissions as quick as possible using all means that actually work.

More power lines to carry electricity from where it’s windy and sunny to where it’s used

There’s a nuclear design that uses molten sodium.  The heated sodium can be stored when solar and wind are generating electricity, and then used when there’s a shortage of electricity.  Terra Power.  This may take too long.

there was a proposal to do pumped hydro in the Columbia gorge to provide electricity when it’s not windy/sunny.  I think that got shot down because it destroyed tribal historical sites.  There must be some way to do this while respecting tribal concerns.  It’s difficult to do anything because someone will always object.

I think there’s a positive story here.  Zillions of people and dollars working on the problem.  Lots of progress.  Ignore the political people claiming global warming is a communist hoax.  Don’t get depressed about some of the possible dire consequences.

[Jerry Adams]

“you catch more flies with honey than vinegar”

exactly!

although, actually, I have a glass jar with apple cider vinegar and dish detergent which works quite well to catch fruit flies.  But I was thinking that exact metaphor.

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