The natural world holds wonders too numerous to be counted, whose beauty we often behold suddenly and unexpectedly. (A few seconds ago, when you checked out the latest posts here, you didn’t think you’d see an Alpine ibex, warming himself on someone’s chimney, did you?)
Yet as glorious as nature is, it’s certainly under immense pressure as human activity expands. (more…)
I used to play poker with Norm Novitsky, the fellow shown here. He always struck me as a smart guy, and he certainly earned my respect as a good player. (more…)
When Trump first became a thing in 2015, I remember speaking with my mother (who was here when Calvin Coolidge was president) and asking, “Didn’t there used to be an unwritten rule that a candidate for president of the United States had to be at least perceived to be a good person?” I felt like I had come out of a coma, only to learn the world is now a fundamentally different place.
When you try to take the long view of the so-called “Trump phenomenon,” this is one of the tragedies you see that can never be erased: character no longer counts. (more…)
It’s not news that the U.S. federal government is doing a terrible job protecting the environment, or, more accurately, that they’re doing a fabulous job destroying it for profit. What needs to be recognized, however, is that virtually everywhere else one looks in the public sector, i.e., the governments of the 50 states as well as the thousands of counties, cities and towns around the country, one see amazing progress. (more…)
The sequel to the 2018 best-seller that trashed the Trump Organization (“Fire and Fury: Trump in the White House) will be published on 4 June. In it, former White House adviser Steve Bannon has described the Trump Organization as a criminal entity and predicted that investigations into the president’s finances will lead to his political downfall, when he is revealed to be “not the billionaire he said he was, just another scumbag.” (more…)
Solar PV installations by country, as it morphs over time, is an interesting statistic. Anyone interested in the subject may want to check out the link above, featuring one of those fabulous high-motion graphics that shows this in a visually fascinating way. It’s like watching the Kentucky Derby, as the horses jostle for position, and one eventually prevails.
For those keeping track of the latest thinking among climate scientists, I offer this piece from last month’s Science Magazine: “New Climate Models Forecast a Warming Surge.”
The next IPCC report on the subject is due in 2021, but, interestingly, will probably minimize the use of models. (more…)
We haven’t heard too much about geothermal recently. When I was writing Renewable Energy–Facts and Fantasies almost 10 years ago, the interview I conducted with the leader in this space, Reno, NV-based Ormat Technologies left me with a sense of guarded optimism about the future of this technology, (more…)
Per the words of a great industrialist, “You have to think anyway, so you might as well think big.” Few places on Earth resemble New York City when it comes to deploying that concept; they’re not called the “Little Apple,” are they? (more…)
What’s the path to sustainability? Those of us who try to wrap our wits around where we are and where we need to be uniformly find that this is not a straight-forward question. For instance, would you like to see less consumption of resources? Well, sure, if you’re talking about North Americans. (more…)
