Modern Tek News
Modern Tek News on KZSU Stanford 90.1 FM
News about new technologies and sustainablity
In our interview, Professor Ehrlich's discussed his work on sustainability and his article "Can a Collapse of Global Civilization be Avoided?", published in January, 2013 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences. Professor Ehrlich said "it looks like we're going to bust through the 2 degree Celcius warming, which everybody agreed is a danger point"; he added "we can't negotiate with nature" and suggested working together, using education and technology, to solve the global over population and energy problems.
Professor Ehrlich shared a letter from HRH Prince Charles praising this article. He also mentioned other important leaders who are doing important work to promote sustainability.
Professor Ehrlich wrote many books, including the best seller, The Population Bomb. To promote sustainability, Professor Ehrlch started Stanford University's Mahb Group (Millenium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere) which he hopes you can join to help change the world! The Stanford Mahb Group's mission is to bring natural scientists and social scientists to work together and discover a new type of intelligence, foresight intelligence that can change the world!
Robert Dickinson, CEO, Argos Analytics, Discusses Climate Change
In this interview Mr. Dickinson, a leading climate change expert and entrepreneur, discussed the effects of climate change, including droughts, sea level rising and the Carbon Dioxide levels which now reached 400 ppm. We talked about the 2010 drought in Texas and the effects of sea level rising. Mr. Dickinson mentioned that many coastal areas will have to deal with seal level rising. He pointed out that the Pacific Island, Kiribati, may not be able to withstand the erosion and sea level rising and that Kiribati's population of about 100,000 people might have to move within the next decade, thereby becoming the first climate refugees.
Mr. Dickinson discussed the probabilistic systems that Argos Analytics develops to help estimate and manage climate dynamics. One of these tools, the Argos Trace System, is being used to help estimate the probabilities as well as the lengths of droughts; the Argos Trace system is also used to estimate the probabilities of major storms and adverse weather conditions.
Tom Stokely, California Water Impact Network,
Discusses California's Water & the Twin Tunnels Project
In this interview Mr.Stokely discussed the water crisis in California, the Twin Tunnels Project and other water projects that would better serve California. Mr. Stokely discussed his organization's work in making the public more aware of the water problems and how to solve them. He discussed new technologies that can strengthen levees and that can help increase recycling and storm water capture. Mr. Stokely encouraged people who are interested to get involved with their local water districts and with some of the water organizations across California.
We also discussed fracking and how oil companies are lobbying for the Twin Tunnel Project, so that they get subsidized water for fracking in Southern California.
Mr. Stokely's interview will be broadcast on KZSU in September, 2013 and is available from this link.
Professor Sweeney is Director of Stanford's Precourt Energy Efficiency Center and teaches at Stanford's Department of Management Science and Engineerig.
In this interview, Professor Sweeney discussed how the California Electricity Crisis in 2000 was solved, and how the energy policies then were changed to avoid similar crisis, at later dates. He also discussed how research at the Precourt Energy EfficienyCenter is helping influence future energy policy choices. Professor Sweeney also talked about the upcoming conferences at Stanford's Precourt Energy Center, including the Silicon Valley Energy Summit which will be held at Stanford in June, 2013.
Professor Sweeney's KZSU interview is available from this link.
KZSU interviewed Congressman Jared Huffman and Rancher John Wick about how the Marin Carbon Project will benefit the environment
In October 2014, The Marin Carbon Project was sited in a White House Report on Enhancing Climate Resilience for its work to help mitigate climate change by increasing carbon sequestration on ranch land. In his interview with KZSU, Congressman Jared Huffman mentioned why he invited John Wick, co-founder of the Carbon Marin Project to testify in Congress about the project’s potential benefits to the environment. Congressman Jared Huffman’s interview is available from this link.
During his interview, John Wick gave us a history of the project which started on a ranch he bought in 1998. He described the scientific experiments that were carried out to measure the carbon content of the soil, and those that measured how the water level increased as the soil retained more carbon. Mr. Wick also discussed the future plans for the Marin Carbon Project and how any landowner or rancher can benefit from the experience of results of the Marin Carbon Project.
KZSU broadcast the Marin Carbon Project interview on February 4, 2015; the audio is available from this link.
For our Earth Day 5 minute News update, KZSU interviewed Danica Sarlya from Stanford's TomKat Cetnter for Sustainable Energy about Stanford's Earth Day Celebrations on April 19, 2016. Donna talked about Knowledge to Action, Connecting the Dots Symposium that the TomKat Center has organized at the Arrillaga Alumni Center to showcase the sustainability projects that Stanford's faculty and students have been working on. The Symposium is free and open to the public; the Keynote Speaker is Dr. Marcia McNutt, Editor-inChief, Science.
This 5 minute interview about Knowledge to Action, Connecting the Dots is available from this link.
Danica Sarlya gave KZSU a 2nd Earth Day at Stanford News update. In this update, Danica talked about the Tour and Reception at Stanford to celebrate Earth Day on April 19th from 5 pm - 6:30 pm. Guests will tour Stanford's Central Energy Facility and Educational Farm, to see the sustainability projects that Stanford faculty, students and staff have been working on, and how Stanford is having an impact on sustainability. Donna mentioned the different groups at Stanford that work on Sustainability and that students could contact these groups for work and fellowship opportunities. All these events are free and open to the public.
This 5 minute interview about all April 19th Earth Day Celebrations at Stanford is available from this link.
