And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Simon Garfield, Environmental Activist
http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/Job/MF/job9915.htm
By Mike Fletcher
April 13, 1999
Situation August 2000
Simon looked at the results of the membership
campaign for the local GreenAct committee with a
good deal of satisfaction, as it had increased by
15%. But he recognized that there were
contradictions in the support he was getting. Some
people were much stronger supporters of
environmental issues as a result of Y2K. Others
though were more strongly opposed, worried
about any slowdowns that environmental concerns might create in
getting the overall economy back on track.
Simon had been an active environmentalist for many years. The
years 1999 and 2000 had not been good for pollution control.
There
had been many negative environmental effects from the Millennium
Bug. On the other hand, Simon thought that he could detect a sea
change in public opinion about better long-term planning
which in
turn hopefully meant less pollution in the future.
There had been individual incidences of devastating
pollution all
over the world as systems of all kinds ran into Y2K problems.
Generally they fell into three types: Failures of controls,
unexpected
fail-safes and deliberate short cuts around environmental
aspects in
order to get the economy going again.
Most of the worst incidences resulted from a failure of embedded
chips. That meant on January 1, 2000, all hell broke loose.
Three
supertankers went aground as well when their guidance systems
shut down. Another dozen smaller ones around the world also got
into difficulties, some from internal systems difficulties,
some as a
result of being unable to enter ports already jammed with ships
unable to leave because of other computer failures. Fortunately
almost all of them were re-floated, a testimony to the
contingency
planning and incredibly hard work of the Coast Guard. But
the ones
that could not left oil spills that spread for hundreds of
miles along
the coasts of the world.
Other failures came from unexpected "safety" measures. There was
the screwup with the systems for a dam in a mid-western
state. The
water level control computer had not been Y2K-ready and so when
January 1, 2000 had arrived had defaulted to a "failsafe" mode.
Unfortunately the designers of the dam had assumed that the
biggest danger for a dam would be too much water and the
risk of it
breaking. So the way they had decided to make it "fail
safely" was
to open the floodgates and let all of that water pressure
out. Not
only had this resulted in widespread flooding below the dam
but no
water also meant no electrical power generation. It had
taken three
months to correct the damage as well as bring the water
level back
up.
The biggest challenge that GreenAct now faced was to fight
against
pollution caused by the desire to circumvent broken pollution
controls. For example, the embedded chips on the scrubbers
on the
chimney at the local steel manufacturing plant had failed. That
meant that the company could not clean all of the particles from
their emissions, and that meant closing down, with the loss
of 200
jobs in the community. Even though the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) had denied the firm the right to reopen until the
scrubbers worked, that department was buried in problems all
across the country and was not monitoring individual companies.
Meanwhile the Mayor was vocal in calling on the steel mill to
reopen and re-employ, and to heck with environmental pollution.
But overall the community had started to look at how it
could work
more in partnership with nature rather than against it. That
didn't
mean becoming a bunch of ecological kooks, but it did mean
thinking about recycling more instead of just more garbage
dumps.
It meant looking at long-term plans that might cost a little
more up
front but which paid off in lower operating costs over the
next fifty
years.
Causes of the problem
Most of the difficulties faced by Simon's community are
typical of
the lack of Y2K planning that is now going on (or to be more
accurate not going on). Some of the other problems however come
from the fact that many of us look at the Millennium Bug
from our
specialist areas rather than on an integrated basis.
The best example is that of that of the dam, drawn from real
life. A
dam was checked out by an electrical utility and it found
that all of
its electrical generation systems were Y2K-compliant. But it was
only by accident that there was a second check done from a flood
control point of view that revealed serious Y2K problems as they
related to water control. More importantly, the lack of
water would
have affected its ability to produce electricity. The first
evaluation
of Y2K-readiness was in effect wrong.
Action Plan prior to 2000
When you do your Year 2000 analysis, check out all of the
systems
that relate to environmental concerns. Embedded chips are
often a
key and buried component in measuring and so managing pollution
controls. It is important that they continue to work properly.
But more importantly, double-check how they relate to other
systems and processes, both before and after their own
operation.
Failed scrubbers in a chimney can halt a manufacturing system.
Incorrect dates or data on a report going to the EPA could
result in
regulatory or monetary penalties.
It's like everything else with Y2K: consider the big
picture. As long
as many people consider it a computer glitch, they only
consider the
computer consequences. Those who see the bigger business issues
may find themselves with more work to do, but will also wind up
being better prepared.
Read Mike Fletcher's Bio
**Note: Westergaard Year 2000's "Y2K on the Job" gives
concrete examples of how Y2K may impact our careers and livelihoods. The
characters described are purely fictional. Any likeness to certain
individuals, living or dead, is purely accidental.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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