A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Tonight we watched An Inconvenient Truth on DVD. We’d been meaning to for a while since we’ve heard so much about it — for and against.

What did I think? It’s excellent. The case for global warming is made in a clear, straightforward manner backed up by graphs, photos, and scientific evidence. I doubt if I’ve seen the evidence as clearly and concisely presented in this form. I’d expected to see some of what people have complained about — exaggerations and soft and mushy science. Not there. I’m afraid the nay-sayers have been misleading the public again. There is very little that is stated in the movie/slide show that is not backed up by scientific fact. The bits that are opinion or reminiscences are clearly delineated and if viewers can’t tell the difference, I doubt they’d recognize the difference between truth and fiction anyway.

I was doubly impressed with the short segment on automobile gas mileage requirements in various countries. In this segment, it shows the US against many other countries, and that we have the worse mileage rules regarding what our automobiles should be getting per gallon of gas. Then it listed California’s proposed standard for cars and the fact that automobile companies in American complain that this would require them to, in eleven years time, meet the current Chinese standards. He then showed a chart of the profitable car manufacturers worldwide. Guess what? The US big three car companies were in the red on that chart. Now years later and our big 3 are in critical trouble. While the rest of the world was at least taking a interest in helping the environment (if not just conserving their own oil reserves), we, in the US, put short-term profit over all other considerations and we lost — big time.

Gore also tries to deal with the major objections used by those that try to poo-poo Global Warning. His data blows most, if not all, of those objections out of the water. The few that aren’t totally torn down are left to be merely rumble-strips to be dealt with but not deal breakers.  The fact is, all reputable scientist accept that global warming is real and caused, in whole or in part, by our actions.  The only disagreement is on what is going to happen as a result, and how soon its going to happen.

We’re in trouble. Our environment is our environment. This Earth is all we have and if we don’t start doing everything in our power to help stabilize or reduce the impact of Global Warming, we are looking at worldwide catastrophes that are going to change the shape of the world, our societies, and our way of life.

Everyone should have to see this film and think about the changes that have happened during their lifetimes and what changes are coming in the next fifty years. Then we need to not just think about our place in this world but what we can do to help. That help can be changing to compact florescent lighting, improved insulation, lowering our thermostats (I have and I’m cold), recycling, properly inflating our tires, getting a more fuel efficient car or hybrid, recycling (we have to actually take our stuff to a recycle center it isn’t picked up for us). Individually, we really don’t need to do that much, but what little we can do, needs to be done.

If we all do our part and make our elected representatives understand that our environment is as important an issue (at least as important as the economy because many of the problems with our economy spring from environmental issues), and act for the good of the Earth, not just their state — it will be a good thing. Why? Because it will be good for the states and the country in the long run and thus good for all the citizens. We’ll all be better off, remember it is not like we can go live somewhere else, Earth is currently all we have and that’s not going to change anytime soon so we have to take care of our home planet.

I was perusing the news this morning and ran across an article about a walking house. Well, the article seemed so far-fetched and weird that I looked up the N55 Collective to find out more about it and found this manual about the walking house.

I’m flabbergasted by it. All I can think about is Howl’s Moving Castle. It was a very good anime film based on a YA novel by Diana Wynne Jones. But, watching the film I was entranced by the castle which moved about the landscape from country to city to lakeside — where ever it wanted to go. Imagine having a home that you could move about the countryside in. Suddenly you’ve not limited to one plot of land — you become nomadic.

The houses can move on their six pneumatic legs. But they’re built to have a very small environmental footprint. They have a water capturing system, solar panels, a small windmill, composting toilets, a energy-efficient wood stove, and there’s an option for a greenhouse so you can grow your own food. The living space is very small — kitchen area/living space with toilet and sleeping loft. You’d need to really, really, like the person you chose to live in the walking house with.

But think of the ability to move with the seasons or the sun — to get the most efficiency out of the solar panels, solar water heater and wind generators. Think of being able to move and take your house with you without being in a gazillion dollar RVTrailer. Nomads without tents — while now most are nomads with RVs.

However, living in small spaces takes a different mindset than most of us are comfortable with — though we could learn. For me, the hardest part of moving to a very small space such as this would be giving up my books. But the current technologies in ebooks and the Kindle could make that much easier than in years past. But still, I’ll be interested to see if this walking house takes off as more than an oddity, seaside vacation home, or hunting hut. It has potentially some very good uses and I wonder if they’ll be realized or this will just disappear as an interesting idea with no takers.

When I was reading CNN this morning, I saw a link to a science article called “Meltdown: A global warming travelog“. I’ve always heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. I believe in it mostly because there’s so many times that I just can’t express what I want but if I show it to someone they “get it” immediately.

Global warming is, next to the economy and health care, one of the most important problems facing our country and the world. Global warming effects the world — not just the US. Even more important, because it does effect the entire world (remember it’s global), it will effect us here in the US whether we believe in it or not — no matter how much our politicians pretend it’s not important.

Well, I went the CNN article which was basically a short paragraph description and a short narrated slide show of photos. I found the slide show to be so jaw-dropping in images. I’m talking about the before and after glacier photos:

The Pasterze Glacier in the Austrian Alps, in 1875 and then in 2004.

The Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park, Canada, in a 1917 and again in 2005

The difference between the two photos shows more clearly and concisely than any million words just how much trouble our Earth is in.

I haven’t read the entire book, What Matters by David Elliot Cohen and photography by Gary Braasch. But you can check the book out at its website where there is a e-version available that appears to be free. Here’s the book description from Amazon:

For more than a century, photography has revealed truths, exposed lies, advanced the public discourse, and inspired people to demand change. Socially conscious pioneers with cameras transformed the world—and that legacy lives on in this eye-opening, thought-provoking, and (we hope) action-inducing book. Like Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, and Jonathan Schell’s The Fate of the Earth before it, we believe that What Matters will fundamentally alter the way we see and understand the human race and our planet.

What Matters asks: What are the essential issues of our time? What are the pictures that will spark public outrage and spur reform? The answer appears in 18 powerful, page-turning stories by the foremost photojournalists of our age, edited by The New York Times best-selling author/editor David Elliot Cohen (A Day in the Life and America 24/7 series), and featuring trenchant commentary from well-recognized experts and thinkers in appropriate fields. Photographer Gary Braasch and climate-change guru Bill McKibben provide “A Global Warming Travelogue” that takes us from ice caves in Antarctica to smoke-spewing coal plants in Beijing. Brent Stirton and Peter A. Glick examine a “Thirsty World,” chronicling the daily search for clean water in non-developed countries. James Nachtwey and bestselling poverty expert Jeffrey D. Sachs look at the causes of, and cures for, global poverty in “The Bottom Billion.” Stephanie Sinclair and Judith Bruce present the preteen brides of Afghanistan, Nepal, and Ethiopia.

Sometimes the juxtaposition of photographs can be startling: “Shop ’til We Drop,” Lauren Greenfield’s images of upscale consumer culture, starkly contrast with Shehzad Noorani’s “Children of the Black Dust”—child laborers in Bangladesh, their faces blackened with carbon dust from recycled batteries.

The combination of compelling photographs and insightful writing make this a highly relevant, widely discussed book bound to appeal to anyone concerned about the crucial issues shaping our world. What Matters is, in effect, a 336-page illustrated letter to the next American president about the issues that count. It will inspire readers to do their part—however small—to make a difference: to help, the volume includes extensive “What You Can Do” sections with a menu of web links and effective actions readers can take now. This year give What Matters.

It looks from what I read of the e-version (sampling some chapters), that this might be a book that can get people talking about global warming beyond the usual response of “if global warming exists it wouldn’t be so cold in the winter”. Our climate is changing and it’s changing far more rapidly than scientists have predicted. There’s now an almost clear passage at the north pole. Antarctica is losing huge chunks of its iceshelf and other areas are degrading. There was a recent report that the nitrogen is now being released from the northern ice where its been sequestered. The Earth is in trouble and it’s time to stop talking about whether the problem exists and talk about what to do to adapt to the changes that global warming is going to make in our lives — I think we’re beyond talking about how to stop it. Now we need to deal with the repercussions and this book might, with it’s wonderful photographs be a way of explaining it to those who need to see to believe.

Normally, I don’t pass these things on because I don’t really know where they came from. This one is different, it’s from the daughter of friend. My friend rewrote it so it could be posted and sent to others. Read and ponder, and if you can do something to help, please do so. Evidently, FEMA didn’t learn from the aftermath of Katrina and now Houston is in the same fix.

My daughter Jennifer lives in Houston outside the outer beltway. Three days ago, her electricity came back on. Since the hurricane, services that we take for granted are a hardship, even for the people who are lucky enough to have power. At the grocery store, people are allowed into the store accompanied by store employees. Only 20 people are allowed in at a time. They can get a limited selection of groceries – milk, eggs and bread being very precious and hard to get. They are then checked out using cash. The lines are long and Jenny has waited upwards to a couple hours for food. Gas lines are the same. This is still happening on a daily basis for her. Of course, she considers herself one of the lucky ones – she had emergency cash on hand and has non-perishable food to last several weeks. Now, magnify Jenny’s plight by millions. Not hundreds, not thousands, MILLIONS. 1.2 million people are still without power in and around Houston. These people are running out of cash, are having difficulty getting around to get groceries because they need gas for their cars, and are doing the best they can to survive. Neighbors and family are helping each other. But there are poeple there without that family or friend network.

Since she’s capable of caring for herself, Jenny decided to volunteer in some way to help the people who’ve lost everything, including their homes. Because the news is filled with headlines about the latest political campaign, Houston’s massive cleanup and rebuilding its infrastructure have passed from the public’s eye.

Jenny has been volunteering at a Red Cross shelter for the past 3 days. The shelter is an old big box store that was closed down. The Red Cross has set up cots, handed out blankets, and given each person a small bag of travel-size personal toiletries. Port-A-Potties and the trailer showers have been set up outside for hygienic purposes. Hand sanitizer is scattered throughout the shelter to help people keep clean. Each day, more buses arrive with more people. An entire group of mentally disabled people is now housed in this shelter. Their own facility is gone. The website says that only people who are being bussed back are in this shelter. However, Jenny says there are several people there who claim they were homeless before the hurricane. There are about 1000 people at this place. So far. There are 40 Red Cross volunteers – 2 groups are from Taiwan and Mexico’s version of Red Cross. One individual is the “mental health officer.” In trying to handle the crisis, the Red Cross volunteers have been at the shelter from 6 AM to 10 PM – without breaks. Many have had nothing to eat all day. Anyone who appears to possess food is descended upon by the clients and there’s simply no way to share with everyone. So because the Red Cross workers can’t take a break, they are simply not eating. There is no way to cook food. The Red Cross is handing out self-heating MREs (Meals-Ready-To-Eat). Tonight, Verizon donated 100 pizzas and 43 sandwiches to this shelter. Jenny said the “clients” fell on the food like starving wolves. Many of them have had little to eat for days.

The volunteers are there to help the people fill out forms to get aid, try to get them whatever they need as far as personal stuff (some only came with the clothes on their backs) and generally help people get settled with a cot and corner to call their own until FEMA and other emergency measures can be taken. From what I understand, FEMA has been so overwhelmed that the supply line is backed up and people are not getting the resources they need. The newspapers paint a rosier picture, but the reality is, thousands and thousands of people have lost not only their homes, but their livelihoods.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/us/21houston.html?em

Many of the clients come up to the Red Cross personnel and ask if they can help find a job. They understand the predicament they’re in, and are desperate for work to help themselves. Sadly, there aren’t any jobs available and even if there were, the Red Cross can’t give them one.

Up close and personal – Jenny says the biggest issue is FOOD. These people, including the workers, are going hungry. At different times during the day, she says even the Red Cross workers have broken down over the misery of not being able to alleviate the hunger. Sure, the clients are getting at least one meal a day, which is better than nothing, but for bodies used to 3 meals a day, its hard. One Red Cross worker hid under a desk so no one could see her crying. Then she wiped her tears, dusted off her hands and went back to work.

I am asking each of you to go to the Red Cross website and donate money or your time. If you can go down there to volunteer, please go give the aid workers help if its possible. If you can, take a busload of people with you – maybe your church group or your cheerleading squad or your boy scout troup. I realize school is in session and this is probably unlikely. But you could ask your schools and work to do a fund-raising drive for the Red Cross.

I realize a lot of folk were not happy with the Red Cross a few years ago due to issues that made the news. But that has changed. Jenny has volunteered to man a TV hotline for aid, a FEMA POD center and the Red Cross shelter she’s now at. She says the Red Cross, BY FAR, is the most organized, most helpful and most reliable at getting the goods and services out there. But they are being slowly overwhelmed by the magnitude of Houston’s dire straits. Here’s the link for Houston’s Red Cross:

http://www.houstonredcross.org/

Please, if you can help, donate.

Thank you!

P.S. You have my permission to send this email to anyone as you see fit.

According to a Scientific American article from September 12, 2008:

In fact, oil companies have yet to take advantage of the nearly 86 billion barrels of offshore oil in areas already available for leasing and development. So why are they chomping at the drill bit to open up the moratorium waters and survey them anew?

“Oil company stocks are valued in large part based on how much proved reserves they have,” says Robert Kaufman, an expert on world oil markets and director of Boston University’s Center for Energy and Environmental Studies. Translation: just having more promising leases in hand would be worth billions of dollars.

As for reducing the price of oil:

Even by 2030, offshore drilling would not have a significant impact on oil prices, according to Martin, because oil prices are determined on the global market. “The amount of total production anticipated—around 200,000 barrels a day—would be less than 1 percent of the total projected international consumption.”

I found this even more interesting quote from Kaufman in the Scientific American article:

“At its peak in production, which occurred in 1970s, the U.S. produced about 10 million [barrels of oil] a day,” Kaufman says. “Now, after 30 years of fairly steady decline, we produce about five million barrels a day,” whereas we consume 20 million barrels daily. “Whoever talks about oil independence has to tell a story about how we close a 15-million-barrel gap.”

Not even all Republican’s are for off-shore drilling. I found this interesting quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger (Gov. of California) in a U.S. News article from Sept. 13, 2008:

Schwarzenegger was quick to acknowledge that the high cost of gasoline, which is selling for an average of $4.58 a gallon in the state, is taking a toll on California even more than other states. Recent national polls show as many as 67 percent of voters believe offshore drilling is a good solution. But Schwarzenegger today threw his support behind conservation and alternative fuels, instead. “We are in this situation because of our dependence on traditional petroleum-based oil,” Schwarzenegger said. “The direction our nation needs to go in, and where California is already headed, is toward greater innovation in new technologies and new fuel choices for consumers. That is the way we will ultimately reduce fuel costs and also protect our environment.”

What can I say but that I also believe that this is the direction that this country should be going in. Energy experts believe that we’ve pretty much achieved peak oil, meaning that the oil that we can get is no longer going to outpace demand no matter what we do. There will always be needs for oil and if we don’t reduce our dependence on oil and find alternatives for many of the oil-based products and uses that we have now we are going to run out. The only question is how much longer do we have. It’s also a given that as oil fields are emptied the places where we can get oil are going to require methods that are dirtier and harder on the environment than the present methods — and global warming is not going to get any less global or warm if we increase our pollution of the atmosphere.

Folks we need to find alternatives — no matter what the politicians say, there are no easy answers and off-shore drilling is not an answer at all. At best, it’s a way of making it sound like they’re doing something for us to reduce cost but it will only line the pockets of the oil companies and in the long run it is going to cost all of us citizens and people of the planet Earth big-time. We need to begin to look at alternatives and ways to reduce our reliance on oil.

I know everyone laughed when Obama suggested that every American keep his or her tires inflated to the proper level. Yeah, funny wasn’t it. However, it does increase your miles per gallon. Not a lot, true but if every car in American was running on tires that were properly inflated that little tiny bit for every car on the road can reduce the amount of gas used overall by a significant amount. It may not help you personally all that much; maybe a few dollars a week at the pump, but it helps the country. There are many other little things that can be done to help your mileage and if everyone did them it would help the country.

Why do we laugh? Because it’s not a single magic bullet? Probably. Most people want the problem taken care of without them having to do anything different. They want life to go on and all the problems to be fixed with no input or change in their own behavior. Sorry, life isn’t like that. It never was. You have to all work together.

So, I know you’re wondering what have I done. Well, we make sure that the car is empty (we don’t carry extra weight if we don’t have to). Our tires pressure is checked regularly, and we make sure we have tread on them too. We plan trips to work in a circle to reduce back and forth driving. During the week, my husband goes to work and stops at the post office and/or store on his way home as both are on his travel route. I work at home. Our weekend shopping includes in a loop: dropping off the recycling, stopping at the post office (if needed), getting groceries (two stores), and returning home. Occasionally, we add a stop or two on the loop if necessary. If a doctor visit is needed mid-week, we plan to take care of any other stops along that route so we don’t need to drive it again. We’ve been doing this for years and there really isn’t any way to reduce the number of miles traveled in a month. Twice a month we go to a social event and while we try to match that with other tasks, we often can’t but we don’t want to give up this group either (I mean we really need some fun in our lives too.) We also have a Honda and based on our calculations of number of gallons purchased versus number of miles driven — we get 28 miles per gallon and we don’t yet have a hybrid but we’re saving for one.

These are simple things that can be done. They’re simple things anyone can do. It takes advanced planning and may seem difficult at times but you get used to it and the planning gets easier and finally becomes second nature.

Just to recap the top of the post on oil drilling.  If drilling is allowed off the coast or in the refuge in Alaska:

1. The oil companies already own leases on millions of acres that they’ve never bothered to even look at.
2. Not one drop of oil could be produced for at least 10 years. The oil companies have admitted that they don’t have the equipment or crews to even start exploiting any new sites.
3. Once oil did start flowing, it would be years more until any appreciable flow could be retrieved.
4. The amount of oil extracted, even at peak, will be such a small percentage of the total world oil market that it will have no effect whatsoever on prices.
5. ANWR is estimated to contain 7 billion barrels of oil … total.  Since America consumes about 20 million barrels a day, that means Alaska has enough to supply the U.S. with oil for ONE year.
6. How much is offshore?  That’s unknown, but the guess is about 18 billion barrels.  Enough to supply the U.S. for two more years.
7. So will drilling make us self-sufficient.  Sure … for three years … maximum.
8. Will the oil be used to fuel America?  Maybe.  The oil pumped belongs to the oil companies.  They can sell it to whomever is willing to pay the highest price.  Maybe that’s the U.S., maybe it’s China.  That’ the beauty and terror of a free market.
9. So, who really benefits from new drilling?  The oil companies, and only the oil companies.
10. Oh, and who pays for clean up if the new drilling causes an ecological disaster?  The tax payers.

And what sets the price of oil?  Speculation (using the English definition, not the economic one).  Russia MIGHT cut off oil: Price goes up.  A hurricane MIGHT interfere with oil platforms in the gulf: Price goes up.  Iran MIGHT cause problems in the Gulf of Hormuz: Price goes up.  Things don’t really go wrong for a while: Price goes down … slowly.

Why isn’t the price of oil based on the cost of pumping it out of the ground, refining it, and transporting it?  Actually, I haven’t got a clue.  It’s all part of the consensual hallucination we call economics.  Why isn’t the price of a house based on the lumber, bricks, nails, etc that went into building it?   It’s all a mystery to me.  I think if anybody actually tried to make sense of the market, the whole thing would come crashing down on us.  We’re the emperor with a new set of clothes.  Heck, if I balanced my home accounts the way the Fortune 500 balances their books … I’d be in sent to jail.

This morning I was reading during the rain storm and heard a loud crack sound–didn’t think anything more about it because after I got up and started moving around, I didn’t see anything.

The poison ivy never really went away and so today I had another Dr.’s appointment. Paul came home to pick me up and off we went. Got another course of prednisone Hopefully, this time it will take care of it. I’m really, really sensitive to poison ivy and it went systemic so the first time I was on prednisone is got lighter and faded but after I finished it was back a few days later.

We just got back from Dr.’s and CVS and found that a tree we’ve been concerned about fell over while we were gone. It’s a big tree, a huge tree. Last summer we went out and looked at it and tried to figure out where it would fall when it did. We figured it would miss the carport (it did miss it) and the shed (it missed that too). We thought it might hit one or two trees on the way down and it sort of did, skimming off some branches.

Guess now our weekend is taken. We’ll be out there with the chainsaw getting it cut up and ready for this winter and our wood stove. That’s the plus side of this event. The downside is, it’s going to be one heck of a lot of work to get this all cleared up and cut for firewood. The work is mostly going to fall on Paul since I can’t do much lifting but I can move the smaller branches and toss (well drag and heave) them onto the compost piles.

As you can see the tree is about 100 feet high and fairly big around — I’m really glad we were gone when it came down. I’ve been home for some smaller trees coming down in our yard. I was here when two very big ones came down in a storm on a neighbor’s land. Those were a bit scary — they made lots of noise and then fragments would explode off them or crack and slide into the gully. I could see the whole thing happening from my desk chair out the dining room window. Then there was the time a huge branch fell down onto the access road blocking it after Paul left for work. Luckily the man that lives just further in the woods hadn’t left for work yet and he cut it up and I moved the smaller pieces.

Living in the woods is an adventure, every day nature is your partner and there is no getting away from it. We try our best to live lightly on the land. But, when something like this happens it’s a reminder to not take anything for granted.

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear/see/feel it — should you still be worried?

It seems that when the Mars soil was first scooped up and the arm tried to dump it in the ovens there was a bit of a problem. The soil was clumpy and things didn’t turn out quite the way they were expected too. However, scientists on Earth sent commands to jiggle/vibrate the screens over the intake tubes of the ovens and some finer bits of the soil filtered through and now the tests can continue.

Okay, I’m still in awe that someone here can send a message (actually computer instructions) to a machine there (170 million miles from here)  and have it work out. I find it very inspiring that Earthlings are actually branching out to explore our solar system in this small way. The more we understand the geology and geography and physical composition of the other planets and bits of debris that populates our solar system — the more we learn about our own environment.

A favorite saying of my grandmother was something like, “you can’t see the forest for the trees”. When we study Earth, we have all sorts of preconceived ideas about how things are and how they should be. So, we look for what we expect to find. In exploring the Mars surface, there is some of that. But, we don’t know what’s there and there are so many competing theories about what it is like and why it’s the way it is–that we have to look with open minds as well as open eyes (or probes, lens, and other mechanical tools). Once we look without the preconceived notions at another planetary body — scientists often find things that make them then turn towards our own planet and look again to see if those same insights can be used to better explain our world.

Of course the study of Earth is a bit complicated by the fact that we have an abundance of plant and animal life in a complex interplay and interconnected reliance on things being in balance. It’s the imbalance that has built up and caused (totally and unabashedly simplified here) what’s endearingly called Global Warming.

All that we learn is added to our knowledge of planetary formation, life, and decay. It can help us understand our own planet. No knowledge is useless, for science always builds on what has gone before — even if it is to reject it and start over from scratch.

Meanwhile, I marvel at the wonder of communicating with another planet even if it is communication with our own machinery.  (Hyperion: Especially when my cell phone won’t function in the brand-new high tech office building where I work.  Maybe we should relocate my office to Mars?)

Yesterday it was 107 with the heat index. Today it was even warmer. We walked down to the mail box to get the paper (1/4 mile). Then worked in the garden for about 20 minutes which was as long as we could take. Paul got the yard prepped for mowing–lots of branches and twigs came down in the rain last night.

I worked on the rosemary slice of the herb garden. Our herb garden is a big circle and the rosemary bit is one eighth of it. I had to pull out all the rosemary plants last years as they were really getting leggy. So this year I’m replanting with some new ones. I only got about half of the slice weeded and the dirt ready for planting. It was just too hot. Then it didn’t really cool enough in the late afternoon to go out. Well, okay we could have gone out but by then I was working on some indoor stuff.

Anyway, in view of the heat we’re having, I thought I’d use a picture of the Heat Miser doll for this post. I love Christmas and the TV and movies at that time (otherwise I hate the commercialism). But the song from the show keeps going through my head. It’s so lucky that we didn’t wait to get the furnace replaced. We (meaning me) would have been unable to manage this heat without air conditioning and we’re even under trees and fairly shaded from direct sun in the house.

It’s times like these when I really wonder how peopled lived in the heat without being able to change their environment to suit them. I do realize that in those days houses were built to help with that and now-a-days we build all the houses the same no matter where in the country they are or what the environmental conditions are. For example, I’d say in the tornado alley area, people should really be building underground or earthship type housing, which would be better able to survive a tornado — especially an underground house. We saw some of those when we were in Coober Pedy, Australia. They build underground because of the tremendous heat in the desert were the town is located (with some of the house above ground). However, underground housing is cooler in heat and easier to heat in the cold.

Wonder why no one is touting people looking at alternative housing for the energy crisis.