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OregonSean's comments:
on The Efficiency Factor
You sound pretty passionate about your ideas, but many of them were just too technical for me to understand. Any thoughts on making these ideas accessible to the masses?
posted 4 years ago
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on The Efficiency Factor
It sounds like you might have some smart ideas, but I have to tell you that there is a lot of technical jargon in your statement. I feel I would need to be in an all day class in order to properly understand the validity of your ideas. Are you suggesting these are ideas that the government should implement or the power companies or both. I think these kinds of detailed decisions may be over the heads of most consumers. Is there a way to simplify the information into bite size pieces?
posted 4 years ago
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on John Kroger's First 100 Days
Amen. Government is not going to watch itself. Since we are it's "customers" only we can decide if our needs are getting met and we can't do that if we're not paying attention.
posted 4 years ago
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on John Kroger's First 100 Days
This is an interesting point I haven't heard before. It may take an awareness campaign in order to penetrate the public conscious and overcome the will of those who wish their cats to do whatever they want.
Perhaps a study or survey would bring some hard numbers about the consequences to this topic.
posted 4 years ago
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on John Kroger's First 100 Days
I say call the Oregonian and the other news outlets. Embarrasing these agencies may be the only way to go in order to get them to do their jobs.
It may be possible to sue the poluters for damages directly.
posted 4 years ago
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on John Kroger's First 100 Days
Too true. Society doesn't seem to grasp that there are external costs to mosts forms of "growing the economy". All business need to have a "closed cycle" business plan where all these externalities are accounted for and an appropriate dollar amount is assigned to them in order to determine the true cost of doing business.
posted 4 years ago
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on Renewable Rates
I think that to increase rates, in part, due to population growth is disingenous. Obviously those new people going to be paying for the additional power they are going to use. If the utility isn't willing to take the time to budget and plan for the construction of new generation then they should have to face the consequences to their shareholders.
Also, why the heck do we even have a privately owned, for profit utility? What market forces are in play that make sense for us to agree that part of the rates we pay should be considered someone else's profits?
In regard to the way we determine the mix of energy sources that we use, the bottom line factors are the damage from global warming (long term costs) and the economics of investing in changes to renewables (short term costs). We simply need to use a realistic, science based risk analysis of the long term costs of global warming and ensure that we spread out the time to transition to renewables in such a way that accounts for the ability of the tax payer to afford it. Unfortunately, right now the economy is doing poorly. As long as the financial risks of global warming allow us time, it makes sense to set the speed transition to what the public can afford and consider transitional forms of power (like natural gas).
Again, we know we need to change and the long term benefits are clear (saving the planet, the cheapness of renewably generated electricity), however, Rome wasn't built in a day and the public can only afford so much.
posted 4 years ago
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on Renewable Rates
I agree with you. The externalities produced by non-renewable forms of energy have to be accounted for in the end, whether it is polution of the traditonal kind or polution that causes global warming. If the true economic cost was accounted for, the answer would be clear.
posted 4 years ago
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on Dishing Out Dollars
Tom! I can't agree with you more. Part of wealth equity is leveling the playing field to allow other to compete, and a big part of those (of necessity) start out as small businesses. People working for themselves is the main incentive that makes capitalism successful.
posted 4 years ago
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on Dishing Out Dollars
I agree that education, especially education like yours that incorporates art, and can be inspirational, is very important. Perhaps on some level replacing lights with energy efficient ones makes sense, but where is the piece of the pie for education?
posted 4 years ago
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on Healthy Choices
Information is power and providing that information to consumers in order for them to make choices that best meet their needs and, hopefully, encourage competition in meeting those needs, is just good customer service. If the interests of big business create of conflict of interest than it only makes sense to make this kind of customer service mandatory.
posted 4 years ago
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on As We Are: Sex Workers
I wish you had been a guest on the show. Thank you for challenging the stereotype and bringing another perspective to the conversation.
posted 4 years ago
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on As We Are: Sex Workers
Thank you for bringing the power of poetry to this topic.
posted 4 years ago
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on As We Are: Sex Workers
I fully agree. There seems to be no rational reason why some people who enjoy pleasing others in this way cannot have a fun and respectful means of making a living through it. There is a false premise being made today that this kind of work is inherently damaging. There seems to be no evidence to support this.
posted 4 years ago
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on As We Are: Sex Workers
This is another show that, no pun intended, sounded like a sexy topic and then the conversation became very stereotypical. Having an (apparently) black woman who delt in drugs and the worst forms of prostitution was like something out of a movie. Since the "as we are series" is technically information provided through anecdote, I think that more diverse voices (more than two sex workers) and some statistical information would have provided important context.
I realize this may be another show entirely, but some opinion (both from the guests and possibly citing some polling results) about whether prostitution should be legal and perspective from those are able able to do this kind of work and lead happy and productive lives, would have been refreshing.
posted 4 years ago
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on High Speed Possibilities
This is a good point. Obviously, these systems seem to work well in other countries. Studying why and they work well and finding appropriate locations to install them would be a smart idea. It seems like many good ideas are being tossed before they can even be studied to determine viability.
posted 4 years ago
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on High Speed Possibilities
KevinV makes a good point. A study on the long-term benefits of the immediate investment would shed some light on the issue.
posted 4 years ago
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on High Speed Possibilities
This is really a great idea. To couple tourism with effective transportation. I think the idea would require a lot of due diligence, but could be very worthwhile.
posted 4 years ago
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on High Speed Possibilities
I agree with KevinV. In some circumstances, trains can benefit from economies of scale that buses cannot. The important thing is to identify where those would come into play and then go with the mode that is most appropriate.
posted 4 years ago
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on High Speed Possibilities
Thank you DanInAloha, for your well educated comment. It makes a lot of good points.
posted 4 years ago
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