This article details a former NASA scientist's personal experience combating global warming through clean energy practices. Drawing on his 30 years of observing climate change evidence, he outlines his family's efforts over the past decade to reduce their carbon footprint.
I was a research scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for 30 years. I retired in 2005. While I was at NASA, I had ample time to see the evidence of global warming . With satellite imagery, we observed a nearly ice-free Arctic Ocean in the summer for the first time in recorded history. Our satellite images also observed the continuation of ~90+% of mountain glaciers in the world retreating over the last 50 years.
I will never forget wearing all my ski clothes — including warm boots, ski pants, parka, balaclava, and gloves — in the winter to stop energy use for heating in that first Nissan Leaf, and still having to charge in Salt Lake City on the 90-mile round trip from our house near Provo to the Salt Lake International Airport. Our Model 3 now drives us to the airport and back almost perfectly autonomously, and we don’t even think about range.
Figure 4: Wife, daughter, and granddaughters on electric golf cart. Camp Hasler, Three Lakes, Wisconsin. June 14, 2020. Photo by Fritz Hasler.: We have a small Alumacraft boat in Wisconsin which was powered by an old 15 hp, two-stroke, manual-start outboard motor. With a two-stroke motor, you add the lubricating oil to the fuel and burn it. Two-stroke motors emit so much pollution that they are no longer legal. Ours would no longer start, so we needed a new motor.
My primary lifelong hobby has been competitive trick water skiing. I even have an age-group national championship to show for my efforts. My practice boat is a 2019 Correct Craft Ski Nautique with a 343-hp V8 engine. We only run the motor for ~40 hours/season, so we are not burning a lot of gas. At age 84, I can now barely get up on water skis and can no longer trick ski. However, I have 12 grandchildren and now 2 great-grandchildren who ski.
Global Warming Clean Energy Renewable Energy Carbon Emissions Sustainability
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