Thanks for all the ~ma, everyone!

Typo Boy, it sounds like you had an amazing journey. How was it, conference-wise?

Wow! Bali sounds amazing.

Honey, can we go to Bali?

Yay Annabel!

I just experienced one of the most amazing theatrical experiences of my life. "August: Osage County" on Broadway. It was un-fucking-believable. Over three hours long, with two intermissions, and not a single moment of boredom. Hilarious, sometimes depressing, always interesting, and astonishingly well-acted and directed.

If you are anywhere near NYC you should REALLY try to get there. I've seen a LOT of theater, and this was just a cut or three above even the best normal fare.

I'm now third-wheeling at an overloud bar. It is not as awesome.

We made it too seattle. matt's glasses broke, somehow a pareing knife ended up in matt's carry on ( WTF) and the plane was delayed 3x. It is not warm here - but there were tons of underdressed people here.

Typo Boy, it sounds like you had an amazing journey. How was it, conference-wise?

OK - how to answer that without writing a book?

The conference was a meeting of the Durban Group, prior to the official UN conference. The Durban group is a bunch of organizations opposing carbon trading, for a number of reason. Here is a link to a pdf of the orginal declaration behind this group: [link]

The short version is that the group thinks emissions cuts should come from not burning fossil fuels, and not cutting down forests. They should not come from paying people in India to pump water with child labor instead of diesel so that we can continue to burn coal in U.K.

Among the examples we have of offset projects gone wrong:

A forest in Uganda where people were driven from their land at gunpoint so that "carbon storing" trees could be planted. (I put "carbon storing is scare quotes, because they will probably be harvested eventually.)

Or the Durban landfill in South Africa in a residential neighborhood that was supposed to be closed due to containing toxic wastes. But by burning the methane from the dump, carbon credits were earned; so with that guaranteed revenue source, it was kept open. One of the founders of the Durban group lived near that dump and died recently of cancer.

Or refrigerant factories in China that produce HFC-23 as waste gas get paid more to destroy the HFC than the usual profit from their product. As you would expect,the factories are expanded, run 24 hours a day, and reductions are made from this greatly expanded baseline. Since the permits generated are used to allow UK coal plants, this scheme (like many offset schemes) actually inrease emissions.

The conference dealt not only with problems with offset schemes, but problems with carbon trading in general.

My contribution: I'm one of the few people in the group who deal on the solutions end. If we are not going to use carbon trading what policy means can effectively stop global warming? Also, what technologies are available today to replace fossil fuels? I'm revising the presentation I gave at the conference based on feedback from the conference. Once it is posted, I'll link it in announcements. It is actually quite short.

If you want to learn more about the problem with offsets and carbon trading, there is a link a web page that deals a bit with the subject: [link]

And from the same page, the pdf of 22 meg book.

[link]

Typo, I'm way too snappish and petty to think we can fix or significantly slow the mess we're making, but not too far gone to appreciate the effort and knowledge of those that disagree with me. Good on you.

Which reminds me-if anyone wanted to be on the same post apocalyptic group as me, don't. I'm liable to be very short tempered. And armed.

not short-armed, let me stress.

ita, forget apocalypses. I don't understand what the fuck is the matter with your local emergency room that they won't give you the damn pain medication that has been proscribed for you! I don't understand what the matter is with your pain specialist that he can't come up with something that works at home, instead of forcing you to go to emergency room where they do not actually treat you!

Umm I assuming I understand this: you have method that can relieve your pain. It is just that those fuckers in the emergency room won't actually administer it?

The ER will often administer what's in my files, but I'm down to two hospitals because no one is going to take word for it all at once (which I get-it's a lot of opiates) but they are also reluctant to inch their way up to an effective amount.

Right now I'm actually admitted and my migraine specialist is trying to convince the pain managment people at this SAME HOSPITAL HE WORKS AT to give me meds in a peer-reviewed yadda yadda way, which means I'm basically getting ER drugs for inpatient prices, with attendant loss of dignity and comfort.

They had better let me out in time for the holiday party at krav tomorrow, or Cinderella is going to lodge these beautiful glass slippers somewhere they really don't want splinters.

Yeah, if I was in SoCal I'd give you backup on the splinters.

Am v. sleepy, but....

Bali sounds awesome, environment sounds scary, wish I could whisk ita to the magic Star Trek universe where they'd wave a light over her and boop! All fixed!

Kristin, shame you can't smack the students around.

How is it possible Em could be only a year and a half from kindergarten? Not possible.

I have a picture of me and Monk and Matisse from Pictures with Santa.

I am feeling kinda low and stressed and depressed, even though I had a good time dancing. I hate when I make stupid little embarassing mistakes and then obsess over them. Gah. But I expect I"ll feel better after a good night's sleep. Which is why I should go to bed now.