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Introduction - Myths about the Middle AgesThe Flat EarthChurch Suppression of ScienceWitch BurningBathing and HygieneMedieval Technology and InnovationMedieval WarfareFurther ReadingIntroduction - Myths about the Middle AgesAs Shaun Bennett has noted, there are many historical myths about the Medieval Period. This is partly due to the rise of Humanism in the early Modern Period and the Renaissance movement in art and architecture. Both these movements venerated the Classical world and considered the period which followed the Classical era as degenerate and barbaric. So Medieval Gothic architecture, now recognised as being both extremely beautiful and technically revolutionary, was denigrated and abandoned for styles that copied Greek and Roman architecture. The very term "Gothic" was originally applied to this Medieval style as a pejorative: it's a reference to the Gothic tribes that sacked Rome and was meant to mean "barbaric, primitive".The other reason for many of the myths about the period is its association with the Catholic Church. In the English-speaking world these myths have their origin in a Protestant denigration of Catholicism and a corresponding disdain for the period in which the Catholic faith was dominant. In other European cultures, such as Germany and France, similar myths have their origin in the anti-clerical stance of many influential Enlightenment thinkers Here is a summary of a few of the myths and misconceptions about the Medieval period that have arisen as a result of these prejudices:1. People thought the earth was flat and the Church taught this as a matter of doctrine.In fact, the Church did not teach that the earth was flat at any time in the Middle Ages. Medieval scholars were well aware of the scientific arguments of the Greeks that proved the earth was round and could use scientific instruments, like the astrolabe, the accurately measure its circumference. The fact that the earth is a sphere was so well known, widely accepted and unremarkable that when Thomas Aquinas wanted to choose an objective fact that is not able to be disputed early in his Summa Theologica he chose the fact that the earth is round as his example.And it was not only the learned who knew the shape of the earth - all evidence indicates that this was commonly understood by everyone. A symbol of the earthly power of kings, used in their coronations, was the orb: a golden sphere held in the king's left hand to represent the earth. That symbolism would not make sense if it was not understood that the earth was round. A collection of German sermons for parish priests from the Thirteenth Century also mentions, in passing, that the earth was "round like a apple" with the expectation that the peasants hearing the sermon already understood what this meant. And the popular Fourteenth Century English book of travelers' tales, The Tales of Sir John Mandeville, tells of a man who traveled so far east that he returned to his homeland from the west, while not explaining to its audience how this works.​Medieval illustration of the earth as a sphereThe popular idea that Christopher Columbus discovered the earth was round and that his voyage was opposed by the Church is a modern myth created in 1828. The novelist Washington Irving was commissioned to write a biography of Columbus, with the brief that he depict Columbus as a radical thinker who turned his back on the superstitions of the old world. Unfortunately Irving found that Columbus was actually wildly wrong about the size of the earth and discovered America by pure chance. Since this did not make a very heroic story, he invented the idea that the Medieval Church taught the earth was flat and created this persistent myth when his book became a best-seller.Collections of famous quotes found on the internet often include a supposed quote from Ferdinand Magellan which goes "The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow of the earth on the moon and I have more faith in the Shadow than in the Church." Magellan never said this, not least because the Church did not say that the earth was flat. The first use of this "quote" goes back no further than 1873, when it was used in an essay by the American freethinker and agnostic Robert Green Ingersoll. He gives no citation for it and it is highly likely that Ingersoll himself simply invented it. Despite this, the Magellan "quote" can still be found in quote collections and on t-shirts and posters sold by atheist organisations.2. The Medieval Church suppressed science and innovative thinking and burned scientists at the stake, setting back progress by hundreds of years.The myth that the Church suppressed science and burned or repressed scientists is a central part of what historians of science refer to as "the Conflict Thesis". This persistent idea has its origins in the Enlightenment, but was fixed in the public consciousness by two popular works of the Nineteenth Century. John William Draper's A History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology (1896) were both highly popular and influential works which popularised the idea that the Medieval Church actively suppressed science. Twentieth Century historians of science have since heavily criticised the "White-Draper Thesis" and noted that much of White and Draper's evidence was wildly misinterpreted or, in several cases, totally invented.Early Christianity in the later Roman era did initially have an issue with what some churchmen considered "pagan knowledge" - the scientific works of the Greeks and their Roman intellectual successors. Several preached that a Christian should avoid these works and rejected their knowledge as un-Biblical. The early Church Father Tertullian famously asked sarcastically "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?" But this line of thinking was rejected by other prominent churchmen, with Clement of Alexandria proposing that just as God had given the Jews a special insight into spiritual matters, so he had given the Greeks a particular insight into things scientific. He argued that just as the Israelites carried off the gold of the Egyptians and put it to their own use, so Christians could and should use the wisdom of the pagan Greeks as a gift from God. Clement was later supported by the highly influential Augustine of Hippo and later Christian thinkers built on this idea, noting that if the cosmos was the product of a rational God then it could and should be apprehended rationally.Natural philosophy, based largely on the works of Greek and Roman thinkers like Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy, Archimedes and many others, therefore became a major part of the syllabuses of Medieval universities. Thanks to the preservation of these works by Arab scholars when they had been lost in the West after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Medieval scholars did not just study these texts and the works of the Arabs who added to them, but used them to make discoveries in their own right. Medieval scholars were particularly fascinated by the science of optics and invented eye glasses partly as a result of their studies using lenses to determine the nature of light and the physics of sight. The Fourteenth Century scientist Thomas Bradwardine and a group of other Oxford scholars called "the Merton Calculators" not only first formulated the Mean Speed Theorem but were also the first to use mathematics as a language to describe physics, laying the foundations of everything done in the science of physics ever since.​A Medieval scientific diagram of the refraction of light in a spherical container of waterFar from being persecuted by the Church, all of the scientists of the Middle Ages were themselves churchmen. Jean Buridan de Bethune, Nicole d'Oresme, Albrecht of Saxony, Albertus Magnus, Robert Grosseteste, Thomas Bradwardine, Theodoric of Fribourg, Roger Bacon, Thierry of Chartres, Gerbert of Aurillac, William of Conches, John Philoponus, John Peckham, Duns Scotus, Walter Burley, William Heytesbury, Richard Swineshead, John Dumbleton and Nicholas of Cusa were not only not persecuted, suppressed or burned at the stake, but were honoured and renowned for their learning and wisdom.Contrary to the myth and to the popular misconception, there is not one single example of anyone being burned at the stake for anything to do with science in the Middle Ages, nor is there any example of science being suppressed by the Medieval Church. The Galileo Affair came much later (Galileo was a contemporary of Descartes) and had far more to do with the politics of the Counter Reformation and the personalities involved than anything to do with the Church's attitude to science.3. In the Middle Ages millions of women were burned by the Inquisition as witches and witch burnings were a common occurrence in Medieval times.Actually, the "Witch Craze" was not a Medieval phenomenon at all. Its heyday was in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries and was an almost exclusively early Modern affair. For most of the Middle Ages (ie the Fifth to Fifteenth Centuries) not only did the Church not bother pursuing so-called witches, but its teaching was actually that witches did not even exist.Until around the Fourteenth Century the Church scolded people who believed in witches and rejected the whole idea as a silly peasant superstition. Various Medieval law codes, both canon and civil law, did not declare witchcraft to be forbidden, but rather declared belief in the existence of witches to be outlawed and/or sinful. One churchman was confronted with a village of people who genuinely believed the claims of a woman who claimed to be a witch and who said, amongst other things, that she could turn herself into a puff of smoke and leave a locked room through the keyhole. So to prove the foolishness of this belief he locked himself in a room with the woman and encouraged her to escape through the keyhole by beating her with a stick. The "witch" did not escape and the villagers got the idea.Thinking about witches began to change in the Fourteenth Century, particularly in the wake of the Black Death of 1347-1350, after which Europeans became increasingly fearful of conspiracies by maleficent underground forces, mostly imaginary. Apart from blaming the Jews and fearing cells of heretics, the idea of covens of witches began to be taken more seriously by the Church. This came to a head in 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII published the bull Summis desiderantes, which effectively kicked off the Witch Craze which raged across Europe for the next 200 years.Both Catholic and Protestant countries were caught up in the Witch mania once it got going. What is interesting is how the Craze seems to have followed the fault-lines of the Reformation: Catholic countries which had little major threat from Protestantism, such as Italy and Spain, saw very little witch-hunting while those in the front-line of the religious struggles of the time, like Germany and France, saw the most. This meant the two places where the Inquisition was most active were also the places where there was the least hysteria about witches. Contrary to the myths, the Inquisition was far more concerned with heretics and relapsed Jewish converts than any "witches".In Protestant countries, witch-hunting flared when the status quo was under threat (such as in Salem, Massachusetts) or in times of social and religious turmoil (as in Jacobin England or under Oliver Cromwell's puritan regime). Despite wildly exaggerated claims of "millions of women" being executed for witchcraft, modern scholars estimate the actual death toll to be around 60-100,000 people over several centuries, with 20% of the victims being men.Hollywood perpetuates the myth of "Medieval" witch hunting and few Hollywood movies set in the period can resist at least some mention of witches or someone being threatened by a sinister churchman for suspicion of witchcraft. This is despite the fact the craze was largely post-Medieval and for most of the Medieval period belief in witches was dismissed as superstitious nonsense.4. The Middle Ages was a period of filth and squalor and people rarely washed and would have stunk and had rotten teeth.In fact, Medieval people at all levels of society washed daily, enjoyed baths and valued cleanliness and hygiene. As in any period prior to modern hot running water, they would have been less clean than we are, but like our grandparents or great-grandparents, they were able to wash daily, stay clean, valued cleanliness and did not like people who were filthy or smelt.Most people in the period stayed clean by washing daily using a basin of hot water. Soap first began to be used widely in the Middle Ages (the Romans and Greeks did not use soap) and soap makers had their own guilds in most larger Medieval towns and cities. Heating the water for a full bath was a time consuming process, so baths at home were less common, but even the lower strata of society enjoyed a hip bath when they could get one. The nobility raised baths to high levels of luxury, with bathing in large wooden tubs of scented water with seats lined with silk being not only a solitary pleasure, but something shared with sexual partners or even parties of friends, with wine and food on hand, much like a modern hot tub or jacuzzi.​Medieval bathing and dining (and sex) - from a Fifteenth Century manuscriptPublic bath-houses existed in most larger towns and hundreds of them thrived in larger cities. The south bank of the Thames was the location of hundreds of "stewes" (the origin of our word for the dish "stew") in which Medieval Londoners could soak in hot water, as well as chat, play chess and solicit whores. In Paris there were even more such baths and in Italy they were so numerous that some advertised themselves as being exclusively for women or purely for the aristocracy, so the nobles didn't find themselves sharing a tub with artisans or peasants.The idea that people in the Middle Ages did not wash is based on a number of misconceptions and myths. Firstly, in the Sixteenth Century and again in the Eighteenth Century, ie after the Middle Ages, there were periods in which doctors claimed bathing was harmful and in which people avoided washing too regularly. People for whom "the Middle Ages" seems to mean "any time longer ago than the Nineteenth Century" have assumed this means these ideas were prevalent earlier as well. Secondly, Christian moralists and churchmen in the Middle Ages did warn against excessive bathing. This was because such moralists warned against excess in anything - eating, sex, hunting, dancing or even penance and religious devotion. To conclude that these warnings meant that no-one bathed is clearly nonsense. Finally, public baths were closely associated with prostitution. There is no doubt that many prostitutes plied their trade in the bath-houses of Medieval cities and the "stewes" of Medieval London and other cities stood close to the most notorious districts for brothels and whores. So moralists railed against public bath-houses as sinks of iniquity. To conclude this meant people therefore did not use the bath-houses is as silly as concluding they also did not visit the adjoining brothels.The fact that Medieval literature celebrates the joys of a hot bath, the Medieval knighting ceremony includes a scented bath for the initiatory squire, ascetic hermits prided themselves on not bathing just as they prided themselves on not enjoying other common pleasures and soap makers and bath-house keepers did a roaring trade shows that Medieval people liked to keep clean. The idea that they had rotten teeth has also been shown to be nonsense by archaeology. In a period in which sugar was an expensive luxury and in which the average person's diet was rich in vegetables, seasonal fruit and calcium, Medieval teeth were actually excellent. It was only in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century that cheaper sugar from the West Indies flooded Europe and caused an epidemic of cavities and foul breath.A Medieval French saying shows how fundamental washing was to the pleasures of a good life in the period:Venari, ludere, lavari, bibere! Hoc est vivere!(To hunt, to play, to bathe, to drink! This is to live!)5. The Medieval period was a technological 'dark age' and there were few to no advances in technology until the Renaissance.The Medieval period actually saw many advances in technology, several of which were amongst the most significant in human history. When the Western Roman Empire collapsed in the Fifth Century the effect on material culture and technology in Europe was devastating. Without the Empire to fund major engineering projects and large scale infrastructure, many of the skills and techniques involved in monumental buildings and complex technologies were forgotten and lost. The break down of long distance trade meant people became increasingly self-sufficient and produced what they needed locally. But this actually had a stimulating effect on the adoption and development of technology in the longer run. Technical advances that helped self-sufficient farming communities to be more productive became more widely adopted across Europe and this led to the development of the horse-collar, allowing more efficient haulage and plowing, the horse shoe, the mouldboard plough, allowing the cultivation of heavier northern European soils and a widespread adoption of water power in the form of water mills and tidal mills. The result of these developments was wide areas of Europe that had never been farmed in Roman times came under production for the first time and Europe became vastly more productive and, ultimately, richer than it had ever been.The widespread adoption of water mills on a scale never seen in Roman times led not only to a wider range of uses for water power, but an increase in other forms of mechanisation. The windmill was a Medieval European innovation and both wind and water mills were not just used for grinding flour but also fuilling cloth, making leather and driving bellows and trip-hammers. These last two innovations led to the production of steel on a semi-industrial scale and, along with the Medieval invention of the blast furnace and development of cast iron, advanced Medieval metal technology well beyond that of the Romans..By the second half of the Middle Ages (1000-1500 AD) the wind and water-powered agarian revolution of the previous few centuries made Christian Europe into a rich, populous and expanding power. Medieval people began to experiment with other uses of mechanisation. Noting that warm air moved up a chimney (which were another Medieval innovation), larger Medieval kitchens had fans installed in the chimney to automatically turn spits by use of a gearing system. Medieval monks noted that using a similar gearing system driven by a descending weight might be used to measure out an hour of time mechanically. In the Thirteenth Century the first mechanical clocks began to appear across Europe, a Medieval innovation that would revolutionise how humans saw time. Medieval clocks developed rapidly, with miniaturised table clocks appearing within a few decades of the instrument's invention. Medieval clocks could be vastly complex calculating devices. The immensely complicated astronomical clock built by Richard of Wallingford, abbot of St Albans, was so complex it took eight years to run through its full cycle of calculations and was the most intricate machine ever built up to that point.​Abbot Richard of Wallingford and his astronomical clockThe rise of universities in the Middle Ages also stimulated several technical innovations. Scholars studying works on optics by Greek and Arabic scientists did experiments on the nature of light using lenses and invented eye glasses in the process. Universities also provided a large market for books and encouraged methods of producing books more cheaply. Experiments with block printing eventually led to the invention of moveable type and finally another highly significant Medieval innovation: the printing press.Medieval maritime technology meant that Europeans were able to sail to the Americas for the first time. Long distance maritime trade led to the development of increasingly larger vessels. though the older form of rudders - a large oar-style of rudder mounted on the side of the ship - limited how big a ship could be. In the later Twelth Century Medieval shipwrights invented the stern-mounted "pintle and gudgeon" rudder which allowed far larger ships to be developed and steered more effectively. The later Age of Exploration was made possible by this Medieval innovation.So far from being a technological dark age, the Medieval period actually saw many important innovations in technology and several of them - eye glasses, the mechanical clock and the printing press - are amongst the most important inventions of all time.6. Medieval warfare consisted of unorganised knights in massively heavy armour leading rabbles of peasants armed with pitchforks into battles that were chaotic brawls. This is why Europeans were usually beaten by their tactically superior Muslim enemies in the Crusades.The Hollywood image of Medieval warfare as unskilled, disorganised chaos where knights bent on individual glory led armies of peasant levies has its origin largely in one book - Sir Charles Oman's The Art of Warfare in the Middle Ages (1885). This book began life as an undergraduate essay at Oxford but was later expanded and published as Oman's first book. It then became the most widely read book in English on the subject of Medieval warfare, largely because there really were not any others until several decades into the Twentieth Century, when more systematic modern study of the period began.Oman's research suffered from many of the disadvantages of the time in which he wrote: a general prejudice against the Medieval period as "backward" and "inferior" to the Classical era, a lack of many sources which were yet to be published and a tendency to take sources at face value. As a result, Oman presented Medieval warfare as unskilled and without tactics or strategy and focused mainly on a quest for individual glory by the knights and nobles. But by the 1960s more modern historical methods and a wider range of sources and interpretations were being brought to bear on the subject, initially by European historians like Philippe Contamine and J.F. Verbruggen. These newer works revolutionised our understanding of Medieval warfare, showing that while many of our sources emphasised individual actions by knights and nobles, use of other sources painted a very different picture to Oman's.In fact, the rise of the knightly elite in the Tenth Century meant Medieval Europe had a professional class of warriors who dedicated their lives to the arts of war. While individual glory and prowess was prized, this elite trained from early childhood and knew well that battles were won by organisation and tactics. Knights trained in group maneuvers and aristocrats trained in how to co-ordinate a number of these groups (often called conrois or "lances") into "battles" or "battalions" . This was done through combinations of trumpet signals, flag signals or visual and verbal commands.The key to Medieval battlefield tactics was to position the core of the enemy's army - his infantry - so that its ranks were disrupted enough to be vulnerable to a killing blow: a charge by the knightly heavy cavalry. This had to be timed precisely and done while maintaining your own army and not allowing your opponent's heavy cavalry a similar opportunity. Contrary to popular belief, Medieval armies were substantially infantry-based, with cavalry, including the elite knightly heavy cavalry, forming a sizeable minority.The Hollywood image of Medieval infantry as a rabble of peasants armed with farm implements is also a myth. Infantry was often raised by levying men from the countryside, but the men who were selected were not untrained or ill-equipped. In lands where military obligation was required, there were always some men given time to train so as to be ready for war. The English longbowmen who won the day at Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt were "peasant levies", but they were skilled, well-trained and efficient in the extreme. Italian city states set aside one day a week for citizens to drill and maneuver in unit formations and these units came to represent formidable forces. Finally, there were many men who chose warfare as a profession and nobles often took their vassals military obligations in cash and used this money to hire professional mercenary units and units of specialists in particular weapons or types of warfare (eg crossbowmen or siege engine experts).Pitched battles were risky affairs that could easily go either way even if you had the enemy greatly outnumbered. As a result, open battle was actually very rare and most Medieval warfare consisted of strategic maneuver and, more often, sieges. Medieval architects raised the art of fortification to new heights and the great castles of the Crusaders such as Kerak and Krak de Chevaliers or Edward I's chain of massive castles in Wales were masterpieces of defensive engineering.Along with the myths of Medieval armies as rabbles led by tactical idiots is the idea that the Crusaders were usually outclassed and defeated by a more tactically sophisticated Muslim enemy in the Middle East. Actually, a survey of the battles fought by Crusader armies shows that they won slightly more encounters than they lost, with both sides borrowing tactics and equipment from each other in what was generally an even struggle. It was a manpower shortage that led to the fall of the Crusader Kingdoms of Outremer, not inferior fighting skill.Finally, there are the myths about Medieval armour. The common misconception is that Medieval armour was massively heavy, that knights had to be hoisted into the saddle by cranes and that once unhorsed a knight would be unable to stand up again. Of course, only an idiot would go into battle and risk his life in armour that encumbered movement in such a way. In fact Medieval plate armour weight only around 20 kgs (45 pounds), which is almost half what a modern infantry carries into battle today. Modern re-enactors like to demonstrate how agile a fully armoured man could be by doing acrobatics in full plate armour. Earlier full suits of mail were much heavier, but even in them a fit man was entirely agileFurther Reading:Stephen J. Harris & B.L. Grigsby, Misconceptions about the Middle Ages (2008)Jeffrey Burton Russell, Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern Historians (1991)Edward Grant, The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts (1996)James Hannam, God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Lay the Foundations of Modern Science (2009)Brian Levack, The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe (2006)Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages (1989)Ian Mortimer, The Time-traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century (2008)Jean Gimpel, The Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages (1976)Lynn White jr., Medieval Technology and Social Change (1962)J. & F. Gies, Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages (1994)Philippe Contamine, War in the Middle Ages (1984)J.F. Verbruggen, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe from the Eighth Century to 1340 (1997)

There are exactly three solutions to global warming.Primary global clean energy.Excess CO2 removal.And increasing Earth's albedo.That's it. All else is just politics, non war time issues, false agendas and even corruption.Edit: I would personally buy shares of Tesla, since they seem to be the world’s leading clean energy innovator.There’s adaptation, conservation and efficiency, however, that’s a different issue leading to failure if we do not mobilize to prevent the actual problems in the first place. Global primary clean energy must be first and foremost, and CO2 removal, via regenerative agriculture, must be concurrent. We might not have to mess with Earth's reflectivity if we can figure out how to get the entire atmosphere back down to just 280 or 300 ppm in a reasonable amount of time. However, I believe I am mistaken about how non trivial sunlight is when we have extra radiative forcing from GHG and melting ice amplifying it. I’m not sure if climate models are good enough to predict whether or not there will be more clouds in a warmer biosphere which would equal more reflectivity in most cases.War requires a vast energy expenditure. It always does. This time, it has to be powered by solar, wind, advanced nuclear (if we could mass produce it fast and cheap enough) and, obviously, better battery research and development. Solid state batteries would weigh less, operate in more extreme environments, cost less to make, last for longer cycles and have far less “thermal issues”. We might want to step up research on aneutronic fusion, too, as that would be the ultimate “tactical weapon” to be used in the fight to reverse global warming (and power spacecraft).War requires prodigious amounts of infrastructure, bases, intelligence and man power. It always did and this time around, there's no difference. We can not afford to lose because we all treated it as just a little enviro problem. And we can not afford to lose because whichever social structure “we” operate within is questioned.In a battle, the enemy will sneak up on you, an alarm is sounded to raise troops, the enemy is already increasing its numbers and then it's full on destruction if “we” do not prepare, now. This time, the enemy creeps up so slowly that most people see no cause for alarm.Fossil fuels are the trojan horse. Just like any army, global heating will surprise and gain a foothold using the power of exponential force.Hundreds of heat records broken will turn into millions in short order. Because of greenhouse gas induced radiative forcing, the initial cause of global warming, Earth will become a large and vengeful planet with a formidable ally - the angry ocean.The entire Holocene will be overwhelmed and in some areas, people will be dropping like flies from the heated humidity. Solar fields and wind farms, the soon to be primary, almost unlimited energy source, might be ripped asunder and cities and homelands across the planet will be assaulted - if we do not win this war.Exponential growth of solar, wind and batteries, along with a stronger distribution system, electric cars, trucks, heavy equipment and even hydrogen storage (electric everything) will be the way to combat global warming without going back into the dark ages. These are the weapons at our disposal. With these, we can continue to grow more solar and wind, build mountains of batteries and have the energy to recycle them. These will give us the energy to enact regenerative agriculture necessary to sequester the excess CO2, as carbon, into the ground, making better soil. These will give us the added energy needed to combat global warming.Healthy soil is the vital supply line.https://soilcarboncoalition.org/files/JONES-Carbon-that-counts-20Mar11.pdfHow can we transition to 95% solar and wind? Vote.Vote out all fossil fuel interests.Be careful to vote for people who knows science, and don’t vote for people that just use it as an excuse to change the American way, such as for socialism.Industrialize the machine mass manufacture of solar and wind ASAP.Direct billions of dollars for stationary battery research.Direct billions of dollars toward regenerative agriculture.Build water piping and desalination infrastructure, worldwide.Ban all fossil fuel subsidies and tax breaks.Direct billions of dollars for HVDC lines.Build intercontinental HVDC lines that import and export RE.Promote trade treaties that facilitate all of the above.Trade treaties that incur carbon fees based on percentage of clean energy not used.Renewable energy (RE) will be cheaper, than fossil fuels.If carbon taxes are to be enacted, they need to fund the bigger, better grid, research on clean energy such as stationary batteries and even to help the homeless.Building water and desalination infrastructure will guarantee the ability to grow more crops and sequester more of the excess CO2 into the soil (and making better soil). This would be highly advantageous around the edges of all deserts.Regenerative agriculture means “better soil management”. Minimal tilling, if any. Minimal chemicals, if possible. Polyculture, instead of mono culture. Animal grazing, within natural limits. And always something growing on the soil. Clearing the top of the soil from natural debris requires more water and bakes the soil.High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) lines are necessary to transport large amounts of electricity across long distances. A global grid would transport solar energy from a long summer day to a long winter’s night, at the speed of light. They are perfect for bridging different types of electrical grids, as one side can convert to 60 Hz AC for the U.S and the other, to 50 Hz AC for Europe. Undoubtedly, the per km cost will come down as more get built.Consider how much money will be required to solve the global warming challenge. The graphic below shows that Americans alone spend about a trillion dollars per year on mostly fossil fuels.In 2016, U.S. energy expenditures are about $1,000,000,000,000. Note the highly fluctuating costs of what is still mostly finite fossil fuels.About half of the population of the US (160 million people) works, and pays taxes. The other half are mostly kids and elders. If we divide $1,000,000,000,000 by 160,000,000 we see that each person on average spends about $6,250 on energy per year. That’s over $17/day. Now, let’s see how large of an all clean energy powered electric infrastructure America would get for the same costs, assuming $100/kWh battery storage, 50% $1/watt utility scale solar and 50% $1/watt wind energy. Granted, this is assuming about a fifty percent drop in the current price for the batteries. However, the raw supplies cost much less than that, as the forecast battery price for 2030 ($62/kWh) must account for that. I believe another stationary battery type will be invented that is cheaper and longer lasting within 5 years.It is already getting cheaper to use solar and batteries than to continue with fossil fuels.If converted to all electric and electric vehicles, the US would require (very roughly) about 2 terawatts. We now use the equivalent of about 4 TW, however more than half is wasted as heat in the fossil fuels combustion process. Solar works about 1/4th of the time (as per the physics of a spherical world) and wind works about 30 to 60% of the time (depending upon location). Wind will, at times compliment solar and at other times will not. This is why we need long powerlines, to get past the local disadvantages of intermittent RE. At a global level, we would need far less storage than at a local level. At the country level, we would still need at least 12 hours of storage, figure 15 hours to make sure. Together, solar and wind ought to equal a solid 8 hours of generation. This is a very rough estimate based on combined capacity factor and long powerlines enabling best distribution. Thus, we would need the inverse, to insure enough power generation to charge the batteries. That’s 6 TW, or $6 trillion for the solar and wind. About 2 TW of that will provide power in real time and 4 TW will be stored. 15 hours of storage x4 TW = 60 TWh of storage capacity needed. At $100/kWh, that’s another $6 trillion.We could do this in only 15 years, if our current energy expenditures were spent on this. Yes, I threw in efficiency losses and another trillion dollars for the extra power lines. However, we shouldn’t have to spend that much because we already have a lot of hydro electric, nuclear and RE.Climate Change Is Here Right Now: 17 Quotes That Will Inspire You to Take ActionTo be sure, global warming must be defined as greenhouse gas induced radiative forcing. Currently, CO2 is causing an extra 2 watts per meter squared and all the others such as methane and CHCs cause another 1w/m^2.This is like cranking up the sun by an amount equal to 164/3! Earth absorbs about 164 watts/m^2 on average, everywhere, all the time (the rest is reflected before it hits the ground). Almost 2%!Skeptics can not disprove any of this!Climate Disaster: Our CO2 Levels are Dangerously High, but add in the Methane and it is Much WorseThank you for your consideration and for reading this!Please upvote, share, add to favorites… just kidding. Actually, please consider that global warming is caused by proven radiative forcing, as per the laws of known physics and that the solution is to simply reduce that extra radiative forcing, not to denigrate social political structures.

What power? The person itself - Police General Tito Karnavian, or the National Police Chief title itself? The political image of Polri has been described in other answer. I want explained anotherFunction & ResourcesIndonesia National Police (Polri) for me its quite powerful. Indonesia National Police is one unity. It consist of around 400.000 personnel all around Indonesia. It has budget 72.43 Billion Rupiah ($ 5.4 Million) in 2017 Polri Urutan Ketiga Institusi Penerima Anggaran Terbesar di RAPBN 2017 . Its responsibility is super big, from law enforcement, law and order, national security, traffic, etc.OrganizationI want to compare with US Police/Sheriff which has decentralized to state and city/municipality and has also in federal level. Polri organization consist of:Leadership - Chief of Polri (Kapolri ****) & Vice Chief of Polri (Wakapolri ***). Chief of Polri is answer to President directly. President nominate from three star general candidates to become Chief (Four star). Chief of Polri also must an active personnel (internal candidate) and still has enough times before retirement. House of Representative conducted hearing, fit and proper test to agree/not with President choice. President is also indirectly controlled Commissioned Officer (General) mutation, promotion and rotation tour-of-duty. For Chief Police, there are no exact terms like FBI (10 years) or Secretary (2-4 years), but as President want, and usually followed the pension age (58 yo); Chief Police usually held the position from 2 until 3 years. Tito Karnavian as young and rising star (He is a good anomaly; still 52 years old and already four-star general) is expected to retired in 2022 (from 2016). There aren’t also protocol/ethical procedure like in US which coordinate between President, DOJ and FBI Chief independency (which Trump-Comey feud dominated US news right now); which Chief of Polri act publicly more like Homeland Security Secretary more (yes to President direction) than Chief Law Enforcement (like DOJ/FBI, which independent to White House).Criminal Investigative Agency (Badan Reserse Kriminal - Bareskrim ***) - Just like Federal Bureau of Investigation in national level. It consist of many directorate of criminal investigation (general crime, economic&special crime, cyber crime, narcotics crime, corruption crime) and forensic labs, criminal statistics center, fingerprint analysis center, etc. It also has supervisory mandate to all of detective in Regional & Local Police (Biro Pengawas Penyidik); assistance mandate to all of civil service investigator (Penyidik Pegawai Negeri Sipil - in similar of federal agents from other agency in US)Security Development Agency (Badan Pemelihara Keamanan - Baharkam ***) - just like Homeland Security, although not as big as DHS in US (I will discussed it below). It consist of Marine and Air Police (Polair dan Udara), Community Policing Directorate (Direktorat Pembinaan Masyarakat); Anti-Riot Police Directorate (Direktorat Sabhara, usually secure/escorts the demonstration or doing routine patrol on street too); K9 Directorate (Direktorat Satwa), Critical Infrastructure and Vital Object Directorate (Direktorat Pengamanan Objek Vital) and etc. The Regional & local police consist of that directorate too. But in national level, Its job to create regulation to all local police all over Indonesia in terms of homeland security. It also has supervisory and assistance mandate to all special cops (Train cops, Tourism cops, Forest Cops, etc) and also regulate private security industry (Company/community security like Satpam). In terms of community policing, Indonesia has its own force named Bhabinkamtibmas (Bhayangkara Pembina Keamanan Ketertiban Masyarakat) scattered all over Indonesia until village level. Baharkam regulate its use. Usually, Baharkam is on high alert when big events happening such as national election and local election, national holiday such as Mudik, Christmas, new year, happened, or security issues such as ISIS at Philippine-Sulawesi Border.Intelligence Security Agency (Badan Intelijen Keamanan - Baintelkam ***) - just like Intelligence Section of FBI or MI5 in UK, National Polices Chief has authority over domestic intelligence too (Although, BIN as State Intelligence Agency - leading agency, is tasked both into foreign and domestic intelligence). In local level, it use to issuing Daftar Pencarian Orang (DPO) against criminal (like all-points bulletin (APB/BOLO) in US). In National level, It consist of many intelligence analysis directorate such as Domestic Politics, Social-Culture, Economic, National Security, Cryptic section, and tech section. It also regulate gun use and explosives substance like ATF in US. In Indonesia, gun for personal use is heavy regulated (only for police/armed forces, and sport) and explosives for such as mining & construction company. It also receive and analyze permit to big events in society such as demonstration, crowd, parade, conference, etc. It also conducting background check to create certificate to employer - SKCK (Surat Keterangan Catatan Kepolisian). It also regulate supervision against foreigner and against deviant sect and local believer. It also has new directorate- Counterintelligence, to tackle propaganda/deception/hoax.Traffic Corps (Korps Lalu Lintas) - Traffic cops is available to each Local Police. In National level, it regulate inter-province transportation, National Traffic Management Center (NTMC), highway patrol, or in big events or national holiday like Mudik Lebaran or Christmas eve and new years. It also regulate driving permits, car ownership and license plate (in Indonesia, the permits and plate is standardized all over the country, not by each province/city. Province Gov just collects its taxes)Mobile Brigade Corps - (Brigade Mobil - Brimob **) - Paramilitary arms of Indonesia National Police. The forces is available and ready-to-deploy in each Local Police (Polda). It play a role as anti-riot police (anti-anarchist, riot control), counter-insurgence (and guerilla also), bomb disposal, bio, chemical and radioactive detachment, HRT, and backup to counter-terrorism force (Densus). When Government or Polri is tighten security level, escort VIP, escort or arrest high-value-target prisoner, you can see Brimob presence with fully armed there. In history of independence struggling, Brimob play a big role in there. Their presence is also increased in conflict area like Poso (leading fight against Mujahidin Indonesia Timur) or Papua (against Organisasi Papua Merdeka)Counter-Terrorism Special Detachment (Detasemen Khusus 88 Anti Teror **) - Special forces of Indonesia National Police, like SWAT. In the beginning, they are parts of Criminal Investigative Agency (Bareskrim), but due to nature of crime which elevated in the next couple years, in 2010 reorganization, Densus placed under Chief directly, with One-Star General as Commander (now, its Two-Star). It has its own investigative, intelligence, and enforcement function. Tito Karnavian (Chief Police right now) is popular and rising star in Polri because his last job here as commander.Supervisory Inspector General (Inspektorat Pengawasan Umum - Irwasum ***). Supervision of budget and organization. Different than internal affairs.Education and Training Agency (Lembaga Pendidikan dan Pelatihan ***) - Consist of Police Academy, Police University (STIK), leadership school for commissioned officer (Sespim), and special training. It is like FBI Academy+FLETCDivision and Center (**) - Internal Affairs (include Provost); Public Relation; ICT; International Affairs (include NCB Interpol and Police Attache); Treasury; History; Health and Doctor (also include Disaster Victim Investigation);Chief Assistant (**) - Assistant in Planning (Financial and Budget); Logistic; Operation (which command deployment/mobilize all police forces in Indonesia); Human Resource (regulate police tour-of-duty rotation, mutation, and promotion around Indonesia, yes around Indonesia, not limited to each local police); and also Special Staff to ChiefRegional Police (**/*) Polisi Daerah - Polda, local police in Province level; each consist of Polisi Resor (City Level), Polisi Sektor (district level); and many division like in national level (Crime Investigation, Security, Intel, Traffic, etc). Regional Police (Polda) is leading operational forces to implement police regulation, policy and function. Chief of Regional Police answer to Chief Police command directly, not to Governor or Mayor. Local Government can’t command local police only coordinate. Local police don’t have to face election, re-election, involved in local politics or anything like Sheriff in US there. Because tour-of-duty in national/local level is conducted by Chief Police, position holder is sometimes from outside those area, sometimes in Regional level (Chief - Kapolda), He usually get one-until-three years before get rotated, promoted, or mutated, to reduce local politics roots involvement in that area.So, if you ask how powerful authority Chief of Indonesia National Police has? look how big the organization, resource, budget, jurisdiction, one-command to all of police function and police personnel he has.Governance and Authority “Power-Grab”Police is also has regulatory function beside operational function. It differentiate Police and Armed Forces in Indonesia. For Example; Armed Forces (TNI) only has operational function, but the policy making and budget-decision is from Ministry of Defense (Kemhan). You can see my other answer here: Someone anonymous's answer to What does the average Indonesian feel about its defense policy?But in Police, Chief of Polri has dual-hat role, he create policy (about law enforcement, national security & community service) and regulation, control budget, and also implement it. Many Civil Society Organization also criticized this enormous authority. Some said, this create political rivalry between TNI-Police and create small conflict all around Indonesia because show-of-force and Because TNI is under Ministry but Police is under President directly. TNI itself still has many power over domestic issues; read my other answer Someone anonymous's answer to Do Indonesia military still play huge influential role in the domestic affairs of Indonesia after the downfall of Suharto?In fact, there are Commission of National Police (Kompolnas), like watchdog for Polri. It want to follow example like National Public Safety Commission in Japan, But their authority (Kompolnas) is weak Imparsial Minta Kewenangan Kompolnas Diperluas / Pemerintah Diminta Perluas Kewenangan Kompolnas, only doing watchdog, receive community complaint and critics, supervise, but has no strategic authority like approving budget, or policy making, or can give sanction and punishment to personnel, it only advise President in terms of policing policy and recommend new Police Chief candidates for President choose (and still not legally binding from that list, President still get his prerogative right as head of state to choose his own Chief), and it’s not independent, as Head of Kompolnas are automatically Coordinating Minister of Political, Law and Security, and Minister of Internal Affairs (Mendagri) and Minister of Law and Human Right (Menkumham) are also part of Kompolnas, beside 6 outsiders (society and academician) as commissioners Menko Polhukam Dinilai Kurang Pas Kepalai Kompolnas / "Kompolnas Diisi 3 Menteri, Bagaimana Memosisikan Diri Ketika Hadap Presiden?"From year-to-year there are already suggestion and rumored that Indonesia National Police will placed under like-Homeland Security/Home Office department, under Attorney General or under Ministry of Internal Affairs-Kemendagri (fyi, it controls Local Government, Local Autonomy, Domestic politics, local election, political party and mass organization, and Citizen ID) Perlu Dibentuk Kementerian Keamanan Dalam Negeri? | Republika Online / Perlu Dibentuk Kementrian Khusus Untuk Polri? / Keamanan Dalam Negeri / Tim Seleksi Menteri Usulkan Pembentukan Kementerian Keamanan Nasional But Polri rejected this idea Polri Tolak Kementerian Keamanan Dalam Negeri because in past Polri has been under many organization such as ABRI (with Armed Force) during New Order, Attorney General or Ministry of Internal Affairs in late 50s and there many excess like dual function, police can’t investigate criminal under its ministry (impartial issue), or there are potential to politicized the law enforcement section (because Police in Indonesia is not about Homeland Security only but also like FBI too) Kapolri Menolak Kedudukan di Bawah Kementerian. You can follow about their reorganization history on quora too Why isn’t the Indonesian National Police (Polri) under the Internal Affairs Ministry (Kemendagri)?Recently also, there are judicial review to Constitutional Court about Police authority to issue driving license (SIM) and car ownership license (BPKB) Kewenangan Polri Terbitkan SIM Digugat di MK. because plaintiff said that that authority has nothing to do with Police function in security and order (Kamtibmas) and its create conflict of interest with Police function in traffic management. but Court finally reject it MK Putuskan Wewenang Polisi Terbitkan SIM Tak Langgar AturanThere are opinion in intellectual/expert circle that we have to follow US Homeland Security alike that aggregated many agency after 9/11. If we followed the US Homeland Security logic, In Indonesia homeland security function scattered from Indonesia National Police (Polri), Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla), Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT), National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), Search and Rescue (Basarnas), Secret Service (Paspampres, under TNI; Botasupal (Financial Anti-Counterfeit Police), under BIN), Border Security Forces (Army authority, under TNI), National Border Management Agency (Badan Nasional Pengelola Perbatasan, under Ministry of Internal Affairs), Directorate General of Immigration (under Law and Human Right Ministry), Directorate General of Custom and Excise (under Finance Ministry), Aviation Security (under PT Angkasa Pura, airport company and operator, each airport has one, not integrated like TSA), Nuclear Supervisory Agency (Bapeten, under Ministry or Research and Technology), and recently newest organization National Cyber Agency (Badan Siber dan Sandi Negara).US Department of Homeland SecurityUK Home Office, for comparisonAlthough, US DHS itself has many problem such as bureaucratic nightmare, ineffective, risk overestimate, its security paradigm, etc this is a good article Man-Made Disaster. UK later then facing the same problem UK spy agencies may face merger pressure - author / and recently in 2010 has reorganize National Crime Agency under UK Home OfficeIn past (New Order Era) there are Security and Order Commando (Kopkamtib) and Subsersive Law which has one command of all operational of security agency (police, military, intelligence) Komando pemulihan keamanan dan ketertiban - Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, ensiklopedia bebas / Tragedi 1965 dan lembaga super bernama Kopkamtib | merdeka.com. (and now, there are tendency that our security forces wanted it again, that’s dangerous Cegah ISIS di RI, UU Anti-Subversi Diusulkan Diterapkan Lagi / Tindak gerakan radikal, Kapolri minta pengganti UU Subversif | merdeka.com)Now Maybe there are already Coordinating Minister for Political, Law and Security (Kemenkopolhukam) which ‘coordinate’ all that agency and Ministry. But Kemenkopolhukam not only coordinate security agency, but also political (Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; General Election Commission; National Resilience Agency/Lemhanas; Ministry of State Apparatur and Bureaucratic Reform; Ministry of Communication and Information; etc) and Law (Ministry of Law and Human Right; Attorney General; KPK; Human Right Commission; etc); Oh don’t forget that many security agency. Which is so many and not effective. You know, politics and law is the daily problem and issues which dominated our news.General Gatot (Commander of Armed Forces), Police General Tito Karnavian (Chief of National Police), Police General Budi Gunawan (Chief of State Intelligence Agency)You know in Indonesia, coordination is super bad between agency. There are many political rivalry; sectoral ego; budget contest; and it depends heavily with the people and its characters, competence, professionalism, focus, who sitting as Coordinating Minister of Polhukam, not the system and governance itself;Case study; You can see why National Cyber Agency took time many time (from 2013–2017) to be formed, beside President reshuffle Menkopolhukam 3 times; Bakamla formation also took many years from Bakorkamla, which don’t mention rivalry between Sea and Coast Guard (under Ministry of Transporation) and Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla; under Coordinating Ministry of Polhukam) and Marine & Fishery Resources Supervisor (under Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fishery); or Why National Security Law (which supposed be an umbrella legislation to all security issues) can’t passed to parliament from 2005 and deadlock again in 2010 until recently has not done either; Wewenang Polisi Dipereteli / Indonesia satu-satunya negara tanpa UU Keamanan Nasional / Imparsial Nilai UU Kamnas Tak Dibutuhkan or Why State Secret Law (RUU Rahasia Negara) can’t passed also to parliament together with Freedom of Information Law (Law no. 14/2008) & Intelligence Law (Law no. 17/2011) RUU Kebebasan Informasi Vs. RUU Rahasia Negara/Masih Perlukah UU Rahasia Negara? ; Why interception law has not been discussed until now although Constitutional Court has ordered Government and Parliament to do it (regulate interception according to Human Right issues) since judicial review in 2010 Mendamaikan Pengaturan Hukum Penyadapan di Indonesia; Why now anti-terrorism law revision can’t passed to parliament from 2016 early year until now that had deadlock in the same place; rivalry between TNI and Police or Police with someone else (let say; KPK).ConclusionWell; I have talk to nowhere. So hope can answer your question. (Or not). I hope at least it became our concern and attention about Security Sector Reform (SSR) in Indonesia since 1998 reformation which still ongoing until now. (And people already forget it).In my opinion right now; In democratic phase of Indonesia history as a state, police hold critical key to implement democratic country. Armed Forces already did their job to reform since 1998 (civil supremacy, creating new doctrine, remove dwi-fungsi, promote professionalism, etc). Now our attention must shifting to Police forces (although, political situation lately in 2017 has shown that our reform in TNI also still has the long road). I’m not saying that the best format to police is like US Homeland Security or UK Home Office. I’m just mention that two, because they are number one reference for democratic government. Indonesia political and bureaucracy characteristic are really different like theirs (we are not federal states, or fully devolved autonomy like UK, we still don’t implement meritocracy spirit yet-although it has started since Law 5/2014, the system is still depends on the leaders not the system itself, political ethics is not good as theirs, law enforcement and corruption, collusion and nepotism eradication still not satisfied enough, etc), so we can’t really copy-paste their organization and policy to our country. Maybe national police format is the best to our time right now. In the future? That’s our job as young generation.My recommendation for short-term:Amend the Law 2/2002 about National Police and Law 8/1981 about Criminal Procedure Code KUHAP. 15 years after the law started there must be many complaint. You can find the study everywhere.Polri organization is so big, has many authority, budget, jurisdiction, etc. But the supervision is so weak. Give Kompolnas more authority to strategic function like budgeting, and reward and punishment (like include them in discipline trial, or regulate remuneration review). I have already mention National Public Safety Commission in Japan, or in UK you can see there are many ad-hoc committee inside Home Office to doing remuneration review, handling complaint, regulate forensic science.Biggest component in democratic country is governance. Good governance require splitting the body who has policy-making function and implement-policy/operational function and who supervise it. I know it really depends on the new President to create Homeland Security-alike Ministry. But, the Law itself who stated that Police is right under the President not any Minister. So, include this to that law amendment. Or if its not ready in 2019, create roadmap to….(mention some year here) to create transition phase to that. Kompolnas already mentioned at this Law but still not strong. In the long term, split policy-making function and operational function in Polri and give it to Kompolnas.In the meantime, Stick to the plan on bureaucratic reform in Police. See this as reference http://ntb.polri.go.id/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/road-map-reformasi-birokrasi-polri-gel-iii-2016-2019.pdf. Polri also have doing self introspection to be consistent to his own regulation like Perkap 1/2009 for Use of Force, Perkap 8/2009 for Human Right principle for policing, Perkap 3/2015 for Community Policing. and as citizen, we must keep vocal about this one.Law enforcement and National Security is two different domain. In other country, they split this function at national level. Because law enforcement need independence from executive (like KPK, that’s why KPK works.) and national security needs loyalty to leadership and order. That’s kind of contrary. But in our police doctrine, law enforcement (either general crime/transnational-organized crime) is part of keeping security and order in society (kamtibmas), so you don’t have to confuse that sometimes police do penal law concept like restorative justice (promote mediation and non-judicial process or you can call it, damai) instead of process all report from society (like KPK, so they don’t have SP3-letter that can terminate the criminal investigation so they have to prosecute it all) and sometimes it creates disappointment from victim family or law society. I know this is a long shot and need comprehensive discussion and study more than above.