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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Short story writer Guy de Maupassant left us this: “Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched.”

FWIW, I’ve always felt the same way.  There is no good reason (especially now) to believe that the United States is a better country than France or Japan, or that Americans are better people than the Irish or the Poles.

Believing this garbage only sets the world a path toward childish hostility.

Adding religion to this only makes a bad situation worse.  If you really believe that God favors the U.S. over Sweden and Portugal, you have some sort of intellectual/moral defect.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Comments on the bar chart here:

The gating factors to a country’s adoption of EVs are a blend of three things: a) its ability to stand up to the corrosive power of Big Oil, b) its citizens’ level of passion to avoid environmental collapse, and c) the government’s support of it own economy, which is why China (with its BYD) is doing so well in this space.

As noted in the graphic, the numbers include plug-in hybrids.  It’s a wonder that these vehicles still exist at all, as their battery-only range is pitifully small, meaning that owners must both fill up their gas tanks and charge their cars.  Most people (certainly most Americans) resent having to work any harder than they have to in order to do anything positive for the environment.

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The point made at left appears to be that Trump does not succeed at all the crazy bullcrap he threatens, and this is true.  The United States will not be annexing Canada or Greenland, either.

Yet we must not forget that Trump represents a huge danger to American democracy and to the well-being of our civilization.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

At left we have another way of raising the question: Is the world really a worse place to live now, or are we simply more aware of its shortcomings?

For my money, today, humankind has the worst collection of world leaders, at least since the 1930s.  And, from the perspective of the United States, we have Trumpism, by far the worst thing to happen here in the entirety of U.S. history.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

This woman’s insight at left is interesting, but fear isn’t the primary reason I’d stay out of the United States if I were a European or Canadian.  Rather, it’s boycotting evil.  I don’t use Amazon, I don’t shop at Home Depot, I don’t eat at Chick Fil A, and I don’t go to Florida for any reason.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I just met a married couple in their early 30s, no kids.

The guy wanted to know what I do in life, and I explained that I’m a writer in environmental sustainability.  This caused him to chuckle and ask, “Holy cow.  How’s that doing?”

I admitted that it seems to be a war we’re losing to greed, and to especially Big Oil.  I quoted Kurt Vonnegut who said shortly before he died, “It appears that this will be the first civilization that went extinct because fixing its problems wasn’t cost-effective.”

He looked at his wife and replied, “That’s why we don’t have any kids.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Trumpism could be defined as the rejection of truth and science, and the willingness to tell bald-face lies in order to make Donald Trump appear to be an honest and effective servant of the American people.

Until what time, if any, that the United States repudiates Trumpism, any foreign government that trusts us will be acting very foolishly indeed.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The nonprofit Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides financial backing to thousands of public radio and television stations, including NPR and PBS. Republicans have succeeding in forcing it to close, making it that much harder for Americans to receive information  that is critical of the president.

This is a vital step toward fascism that all would-be autocrats take on their road to absolute power.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

If I were designing college curricula, an entry course of probability and statistics might be the only one I’d make mandatory.  Want to major in history or English?  That’s fine, but I don’t want you to check out of here with no understanding of how the most important underlying forces of nature work.

As the young fellow here points out, the topic can be broached much earlier in students’ math careers (though not before they’re proficient in adding and multiplying fractions and decimals).

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

What American actor and activist George Takei says here is 100% accurate.

If any sane and decent person were advising Republicans, he’d urge them to cut ties with Trump as soon as possible, and return to some level of credibility as a legitimate political party, rather than an organization of criminals and liars.

Virtually every day brings a new catastrophe.

Per the BBC: (Late last week) Trump has fired the boss of one of America’s most important economic institutions hours after weaker-than-expected jobs data stoked further alarm about his tariff policy. On social media Trump claimed that Erika McEntarfer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), had “RIGGED” jobs figures “to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad”.

From ABC News:

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called President Donald Trump’s accusation without providing evidence that the top Bureau of Labor Statistics official manipulated jobs report numbers “a preposterous charge” on Sunday.

Speaking with “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos, Summers said that one official would not be able to change the numbers.  “These numbers are put together by teams of literally hundreds of people following detailed procedures that are in manuals. There’s no conceivable way that the head of the BLS could have manipulated this number,” Summers said.

Isn’t the entire Republican party cringing in embarrassment? The president of the United States rejects truth if it doesn’t represent him in a good light.  This is depravity.

It’s long past time for a change.   He’s insane, and needs to be removed via the 25th Amendment.

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