Peak Oil Didn’t Happen, But….
From this week’s newsletter from the American Energy Society:Conventional oil discoveries have been declining; however, there were three large oil discoveries in 2019:
From this week’s newsletter from the American Energy Society:Everyone Can Plant a Tree & Help Fight Climate Change
As we get closer to the holiday season we start to think about our traditions. One we have in the Shields family is to buy a live Christmas tree and plant it after the first of the new year; every home we’ve owned through the years has at least one such addition.
As the good people at the Arbor Day Foundation point out: “Planting trees is a simple thing everyone can do to reduce carbon dioxide, a principal greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. No matter where you live, you can plant trees…and take a proactive, positive step toward keeping our planet healthy.”
(At left, another one from the prolific and incredibly talented Italian artist Maurizio Rega)
Tagged with: fight climate change
Coke Does It Again
For the second consecutive year Coca Cola won the award for the most polluting brand in a global audit of plastic trash conducted by the Break Free From Plastic global movement.
As noted here: The giant soda company was responsible for more plastic litter than the next top three polluters combined. (more…)
Making America Great Again
There are people who believe that America is on the right path, i.e., becoming great again–but here’s a meme that raises the question: Who are they? What do they believe in?
Their values aren’t Christian, and they aren’t humanitarian. (more…)
America the Hateful
I wish I had been on this train to tell this this guy how much I approve of his hat.
Racism isn’t uniquely American; moreover, there has never been a time in history that the U.S. wasn’t rife with it. (more…)
There Is No Middle of the Road
We speak so much about divisiveness in U.S. politics that we often overlook how, I believe literally, everything else in our lives is going to extremes at the very same time.
To take one of hundreds of glaring examples, look at organized religion. (more…)
Tagged with: divisive politics
Climate Change Denial and Dark Money
Those wondering how climate change denial became an integral part of the Republican party should check out the video below. There really has been a dramatic shift here; three decades ago, there were several bipartisan bills on the U.S. Senate floor that would have addressed climate change, potentially preventing us from getting where we are now. Now, such efforts would be unheard of. (more…)
Tagged with: 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision “Citizens United”, American for Prosperity, billions of dollars of campaign contributions from anonymous sources aimed at creating a climate denial orthodoxy within the Republican party, estimates of fossil fuel subsidies, fossil fuel industry funded dozens of front groups, International Monetary Fund, opposition to climate action, phony science
Whither Goest Trump?
Oh, I think he’s correct here. It’s strange; occasionally he says something that’s true.
There are dozens of scenarios that might play out. He may go to prison, or he may escape with his family to Moscow, but it’s extremely unlikely that he’ll have a public presence after he’s removed in disgrace, whether before or by way of the 2020 election.
Tagged with: Whither Goest Trump
Hydrogen-Powered Cities?
Here’s an article that claims: South Korea wants to build three hydrogen-powered cities by 2022.
Though this might sound legitimate on the surface, we need to realize that hydrogen is a carrier, not a source, of electricity. This, therefore, is the equivalent of saying that we’re going to run these cities on batteries. The question, of course, is: Where does the energy comes from to charge the batteries, or in this case, create the hydrogen?
Your President Needs You: Doh!
When I met Dr. Steven Chu, then U.S. Secretary of Energy, at a conference a few years ago in Santa Barbara, someone standing near us asked him why he took the position. “The President of the United States asked me to,” he replied. We all smiled. That made sense. (more…)
