I’ve written about this before. We have a group of citizens here in town called the “sustainability task force” which is highly influenced by the eco-zealotry of Chico State University pushing their ideas of how everyone should live onto the citizens of the town. Just last week, it got worse.
Below is an editorial rebuttal from our local newspaper.
From the Chico Enterprise Record: Hits and Misses 12/11/10
MISS: The Chico City Council just made it more expensive for residents who want to sell older homes.
The council voted 6-1 on Tuesday — with Larry Wahl voting no — to mandate up to $800 in energy efficiency improvements paid by sellers for any house built before 1991. The mandate is the work of the city’s sustainability task force, which falsely promised no government regulations aimed at private individuals.
It’s just another case of the council’s penchant for wanting to dictate how people should live their lives and passing some regulation to do so.
In this case, as we’ve stated before, any home improvements that are needed should be negotiated between the buyer and the seller. If the buyer wants, for example, extra insulation in the attic or better weather stripping on the windows, the buyer can make that part of the purchase offer. Then it’s up to the seller to decide whether to accept that offer or not.
That is how it has always worked, and how it should continue to work.
Here’s the report and agenda (PDF), with a screencap below:
I echo their sentiments in saying: stay out of my house! My home sale is a private transaction and none of your business.
I’m sure we’ll hear in comments from professor Mark Stemen of CSUC, who has blown gaskets (and started name calling) here at WUWT anytime CSUC and this pet group of his is mentioned, to tell us why what we do privately with our homes, is the business of the “sustainability committee”, or the council’s.
I’m all for energy efficiency, but in my opinion, this “mandate” for an $800 energy efficiency upgrade upon a home sale screams for civil disobedience.
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Thank God i live in an almost third world country 🙂
This is simply Tyranny. Now it is of the Post-Civilization and Democratic kind.
Minorities can’t resist this Statist Power grab, tyrannical by its overreach.
But the issue that confounds me is why there are people that need for some strange reason to enforce what others should do to their lives and have pleasure in it?
One answer to that maybe because they can’t do anything else in their lives.
To have this bureaucratic job and maintain it they have to find ever more outrageous things to force other citizens to do because the plain common sense things are already done.
Big part of local Government would be obsolete – and many gov/local puritans unemployed -without this petty interferences in peoples lives.
Only interfering they find a meaning for their lives.
Yes they are of puritan kind.
What about the Northern Ca and Southern Ca idea that gets discussed every once in awhile? Would that help Californians from being ruled by two super-populated counties?
In my state elections are decided by one county basically. That, and felons who vote.
@ur momisugly Mark says:
December 15, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Absent a Global enforceable agreement (which is extremely unlikely), what exactly do AB-32 and other California or even National requirements along these lines do, besides impose financial hardship, except make a few left wing radicals feel good about themselves? It doesn’t create any new jobs – except in China perhaps. Is the population in CA so drugged out they don’t care what you political types do? 30 years ago, when I lived in LA , a study was conducted by the official air quality people and the amount of marijuana smoke in the LA basin was easily detectable. I suspect it has gone up since then. California has bragged for years about how it “leads the nation” in any number of areas. I think it’s ways past time to put that brag out to pasture. Nobody is following you, especially that part of the country you people only see from an airplane.
The “why” may be answered in this way:
1. California believes that CO2 causes catastrophic global warming (see e.g. AB 32 preamble, which lists a long parade of horribles). No “climate change,” no “climate disruption,” no “climate chaos” for California! Nope, it’s pure “Global Warming.”
2. Energy efficiency measures reduce energy consumption, and thus CO2 emissions (never mind that California’s electric energy is some of the “greenest” in the nation, if not the world, due to a) geothermal energy, b) hydroelectric energy, 3) solar, wind, and nuclear (not renewable by any means but has low emissions of CO2, if you don’t count the construction and fabrication issues, and fuel preparation issues, and fuel transport issues, and future reprocessing issues, and decommissioning issues, etc. as nuclear proponents are prone to do). )
3. Energy efficiency measures also reduce home heating requirements, so natural gas use is reduced. Very little home heating oil is used in California.
4. California is convinced and has publicly stated time and again that AB 32 creates jobs, and AB 32 will be the economic engine that rescues California from its dismal 12-plus percent unemployment. “Green jobs are growing while other jobs are declining.”
5. California states that cutting residential energy by 40 percent WILL be done while electricity prices increase only 13 percent. Thus, there will be a savings to each homeowner who does this.
6. California will show the way, be a world-leader, in achieving CO2 reductions while improving the economy. Thus, the rest of the world will be in awe and will follow California’s lead. (AB 32’s text actually says this. Except for the part about being in awe.)
Counts 1, 4, 5, and 6 are clearly false, yet California as a state is hell-bent on racing down this path. A song from the sixties comes to mind: “The Eve of Destruction.”
Mark says:
December 15, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Well, as promised, here is my attempt to answer the questions posed, by name.
KD,
#1) The City (and State) use the ICLEI software that calculates greenhouse gas production based on readily available data like energy use, vehicle miles traveled, economic activity, etc. The reports are produced ever five years. The City commissioned one in 2005, so another is du
#2) The city does not measure this
#3) I agree that the city reduction alone will have a negligible impact. I do not have any right to tell homeowners what to do in their homes, or anywhere else for that matter. Cities, however, have a long-standing precedence of regulating individual behavior for the collective well-being
———————-
#1 I’m sure you meant to say the City ESTIMATES GHG emissions using some data and some other estimates (e.g. vehicle miles traveled). Surelymyou can’t believe the ESTIMATE is an accurate depiction of the actual GHG emissions?
#2 So the City punts on measuring the impact of their actions. Is it reasonable, then, that the City is ASSUMING there is some impact or are they ASSUMING there is no impact? Or does the City just not care, because the real point is simply to push the boundaries of what they can enforce on “the collective”?
#3 Please cite other examples where a government is forcing a futile action to be taken for the better of the collective… Outside failed communist and socialist societies please.
I have an idea for those worried about automated toilet-paper dispensers.
How many like me (as I get older) awake at 3am in need of a visit to the WC?
Having spent much of my youth trying, mostly without success, to discover the different “plumbing layouts” between boy and girl, I can now confirm with some certainty that the girls prefer the toilet seat left permanently in the “down” position.
So along comes I at 3am – decision time – do I strain to bend down and lift the seat – or just accept where it is and sit to do what comes naturally
Now my question is quite simple – if sitting there doing my “thing” – I presume I am rewarded with a certain ration of loo-roll. Yet how many boys actually use the stuff for a simple pee !!!
QED – I have a secret supply of loo roll, bypassing the loo-police and all of it legit
Take that as a blow for male dominance (said ever so quietly whilst ‘er indoors is asleep and can’t hear me utter the words – heaven forbid)
Andy
From Zeke the Sneak on December 15, 2010 at 3:23 pm:
Does this nation and the world need or deserve this Ca-Ca?
I say let California remain a shining example of the folly of socialism.
We probably need a constant reminder.
Sorry Anthony….
Here is a letter I sent to my City Council;
I am forwarding this email put together by my good friend Brian. I ask you to view this comprehensive explanation in it’s entirety and save this email for future reference. As you will see a ways down in this email, Eric Feichthaler signed us on to this! You will see his name on the list.
I have Addressed The City Council On this Issue about a year ago. As a science hobbyist, I study the Earth’s Climate. People in the honest scientific community have assessed due to the longevity of the current solar minimum, three years on going now, and the massive La Nina forming in the Pacific ocean, the Earth has been dramatically cooling in recent years and the planet’s temperature stopped rising in 1998.
No matter what you believe about Man-made global warming, man-made climate change, man-made climate disruption, or whatever, use your physical ability to assess for yourselves what the climate of Cape Coral has been doing in recent years. Our climate has been getting demonstrably colder in direct contradiction to what the man-made global warming pushers have been telling you.
In my presentation to the City Council I showed the science behind the Global Cooling going on in recent years, and I suggested the City Council use this information to our advantage in its advertising and tourist budget that would explain to people moving from colder climates up north, to consider visiting and moving to Cape Coral. Our depressed economy can use a shot in the arm from people moving from colder climates to take advantage of what we have to offer. An Advertising campaign touting our still relatively warm climate as compared to the brutally cold winters up north will raise some eyebrows as it will focus on natural climate variability causing the Earth’s colder conditions in direct opposition to mans negligible affect on climate as proven out by the Sun’s recent influences. That’s why the Copenhagen and Cancun climate summits in the past two years ended up as dismal failures. Natural phenomenon such as the current solar minimum has also led to fewer hurricanes as demonstrated by zero major hurricanes hitting the US in the past two years as I have predicted, my prediction being 100% accurate. I predict 1 or 2 minimal hurricanes hitting the US in the next few years and very few for the foreseeable future as long as the grand solar minimum persists. People can go on the web to see the Sun’s condition for themselves, the TV will not inform you of what is really going on as they are in the business of socially engineering their own interests.
Should our city and county be buying into the man-made global warming meme, it is being done to our own detriment. I ask you to read through this presentation that follows and consider distancing ourselves from anything that has to do with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI): Local Governments for Sustainability.
(The rest of the email is too long to list but it thoroughly describes ICLER in our lives.)
So many man hours dedicated to mitigating an imagined problem, it’s just mind boggling.
http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=iclei-home
http://www.usmayors.org/climateprotection/cities.asp?state=FL
Way back when, at the beginning of my 39 year career as a corporate and then airline pilot, I was flying a 51,000 ft capable Lear Jet. Very often, on our west-bound legs, we would choose FL470 or FL490 (wrong way was not an issue at those altitudes!) where we got very nice rides and a significant reduction in headwinds. My colleague in the cockpit had a great deal of trouble keeping his thoughts to himself. Often we would hear the airline pilots “down in the 30’s” complaining about the ride and he would comment on the nice ride we were getting at FL470 or 490, knowing full well they could not achieve those altitudes. One day after one of these typical remarks of his, we heard a deep, southern accented voice reply, “You hear that Clem, them boys is up in the moronosphere!”. I laughed so hard I almost collapsed, and, after thinking about it, never again did I fly at those altitudes. (The danger is simply too great in an airplane with such a small cabin volume.)
This is all my way of saying, and I have waited 30 years to do so, and I would credit that unknown airline pilot if I knew who he was, “Do you hear that Clem, them govenment boys in Chico have spent way too much time in the moronosphere!”
Ok…I just have to ask. Please understand that I was born in Maine, raised primarily in the Northeast (Maine, Ct., and Nh.). I have served on a zoning board, I’ve worked in high tech, I’m a veteran of the Army, and I’ve owned my own business. I now work for a company based in San Jose.
I have to ask…what do these people actually DO? What is their contribution? Do they produce anything? Do they in some way make it easier for those that DO produce something to do so?
Has anyone asked them these questions? Seems to me that a lot of them may be “hiding”…and not too well.
JimB
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
December 15, 2010 at 4:35 pm
From Zeke the Sneak on December 15, 2010 at 3:23 pm:
What about the Northern Ca and Southern Ca idea that gets discussed every once in awhile?
Does this nation and the world need or deserve this Ca-Ca?
You’re right. Two Californias? I think I need my head examined!
It’s still my contention that Chico State University is likely the biggest polluter (CO2 and otherwise) in the town of Chico. Closing it would surely achieve all of the objectives of the town’s sustainability committee…
Frank K. with a large student population, and a huge carbon footprint, you are exactly right. Closing it would meet the carbon objectives, but at the same time kill the town, since they are dependent on all that state money.
Professors would have to go begging in the street, instead of preaching gloom and doom.
As Northern California residents know, Chico and Santa Cruz are almost identical in their world view. Here is a likely voter from Santa Cruz.
Smokey,
Thanks for answering the question: what is a banana slug?
And just to show the world that mindless voters are not limited to California, here is South Carolina’s entry in the voting-your-money-into-globaloney-pockets sweepstakes.
Sky,
The banana slug is the mascot of the UC Santa Cruz football team, IIRC. A banana slug is a spineless yellow slug about 4 – 5 inches long that lives among the redwoods. It looks amazingly like a penis, which is probably why college students love it so much.
Did I pass?☺
Anthony Watts says:
December 15, 2010 at 7:11 pm
My comment was, of course, tongue-in-cheek, but I hope Mark will think about this next time he and the sustainability task force wishes to impose more ignorant and onerous regulations on the people…
I was also wondering if Chico State (like most campuses) has one or more big construction projects going (e.g. new science or student building). If so, I wonder how Mark feels about this. More buildings = more resource consumption = bigger carbon footprint. And who will supply the water, sewer, electricity, heat, etc.? Clearly, the sustainability council should be out in force protesting the expansion of the campus in any form!
Finally, I have a daughter who is a senior in high school and will be attending college next year. With the outrageous costs of college tuition and fees these days, it is no secret who is “sustaining” those in academia…
Sounds like the geoduck, Smokey, mascot for Evergreen State in WA. The geoduck has larger hands.
Mark
and yet no one can figure out why California can’t get or retain businesses…..
I have trouble swallowing the idea of sustainability that is bandied about so much these days and is quickly becoming the approved wisdom. It’s not that I’m against being conscious of what we do, but I can’t agree with the notion that through “sustainability” we will somehow improve our lives (and having it forced down our throats). The very term of “sustainability” implies the preserving of things forever, the continuation of something ad infinitum and that this is a perfected state of living
(at whatever the cost it would seem). Through this we can live in harmony forever. Anything less is…… “unsustainable”.
This smirks of Newspeak for social engineering to me.
But look at the bigger picture. How can anything be truly sustainable, including sustainability itself ? Universally, nothing in our world has ever been perpetual. People are born and die, civilizations rise and fall, continents drift and collide. Even our sun will go dark someday. Perhaps it missed the city council sustainability meetings.
2500 years ago the Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated, “nothing endures but change”.
I think these ancients had bloody better grip on things than we do today……
Mark says: “Cities, however, have a long-standing precedence of regulating individual behavior for the collective well-being.”
Jawohl. But there’s no well-being involved here, since the regulations are based on pseudoscience.
RichieP says: “…Other posters have also drawn your attention to … laws in fascist Germany (I know, I know, Godwin’s Law)…”
Godwin’s Law constitutes proof that we can learn from history, and are not doomed to repeat it. Unless we refuse to be reminded, by invoking Godwin’s Law.
The real issue here is that the Malthusian Zealot Task Force should have been striking the ordinance rather than updating it.
That final act right before dissolving the Task Force itself for want of reason to exist.
Perhaps these Sustainonauts own a startup selling $800 shower heads? Colorful toilet tank figurines?
Part of the “vibrant” new “Green Economy” exploiting political power to simply mug the electorate.
Then again, I guess R. E. agents could just keep one in the glove box.
This “Task Force” is simply a festering cult. The day approaches when this cult will seek its “final solution” of Genocide……..
to save a planet oblivious of man’s presence.