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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

In the political sense of the word, it seems like we’re a long way from seeing Florida as a blue state. Trump won the state in 2020 by only 3 points, but the overall feeling in the Sunshine State is heavily in favor of governor Ron DeSantis and his anti-woke platform.

The meme at left, however, uses the word “blue” in a different sense, i.e., blue as in the color of the ocean.  As the seas rise due to global warming, each of the states that border an ocean will lose land mass, but none as dramatically than Florida, with its vast regions that are just a few feet above the sea levels that have remained stable for millions of years.

It’s ironic that these folks on the political right with their viewpoints that climate change is a hoax are soon to see their real estate disappear.

 

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The United States stands alone in so many different arenas, and, as shown here, its attitude towards education is certainly among them.

Most other countries in the developed world understand that an educated workforce is going to improve everyone’s lives, and create programs to encourage young people to graduate from college.

We simply don’t care.  In fact, we’ve begun to lean in the opposite direction, spreading propaganda to the effect that colleges crank out woke liberals, and that our kids are better off repairing cars or building houses.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

From a reader:

So Elon made a deal to create extraordinary value for shareholders, enabled Tesla to build more EVs than most other makers put together, wasted $0 on advertising propaganda and got paid less than Ford spent on its ad (propaganda) campaigns, so you hate him?? That’s just dumb. Who do you think is going to actually build the clean transportation products we lefties have been screaming for? Just stop dissing the guy and let him keep helping us!!

There are plenty of progressives who feel this way, and I think it takes a great deal of maturity to agree.

Obviously, it would have been far better if Musk were a good person, and not a garden-variety Trump supporter, but “it is what it is.”

Clearly, if Trump is re-elected and succeeds in his quest to turn the United States into an autocracy driven by a sociopath, I’ll feel differently.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Social Security came into being in 1935, and thus every American alive today paid into the fund from the moment they entered the workplace until the moment they left.  Yet, as we’re seeing, the GOP believes that a tenable platform is simply this: let’s rip these people off.  Again, this isn’t some marginalized fringe group; it’s the entirety of the U.S. electorate.  If you’re a political strategist, does this seem like a good idea?

A progressive since a small boy, I’ve never liked Republicans.  I still remember distinctly my take as a nine-year-old on Barry Goldwater in ’64, and George Wallace, who got my grandfather’s vote four years later.  I was not impressed, putting it kindly.

Yet at that point, I understood that some folks, many of them older, might be drawn to more conservative values.  But what’s appealing about whacking the retirement plan that literally every American worker paid into?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

There are two main answers to this excellent question.

First and most obviously, about half of the U.S. electorate supports Donald Trump as our next president.  At a minimum, that means anti-intellectualism and the rejection of science in policymaking. This applies especially to environmentalism; in particular, these voters believe that climate change is a hoax, that climate scientists are bilking taxpayers, and that efforts in this space are engineered to weaken U.S. capitalism.

Secondly, by virtue of the popularity of Trump/MAGA, the Democrats have to be careful not to go too far to the left.  There is essentially zero demand for a candidate like Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley, Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, or any other progressive.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

No.

If you’ve ever visited Northern Europe, you’ve noticed that the fare is more about meat and potatoes than it is the rich salads and vegetable plates of the Mediterranean.  The reason for that is that higher latitudes have less solar irradiation, even in summer, than their lower latitude cousins, regardless of of how many hours of (extremely weak) sunlight they receive.

Below is a photo of the sunshine near the summer solstice in the northern part of Sweden.  Yes, it’s 24 hours a day, but does this seem like an environment in which veggies are going to thrive?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

With the possible exception of the causes and potential cures for cancer, perhaps no subject has received more rigorous study over the past few decades than the environmental effects of replacing fossil fuels with electricity generated by a grid-mix that is growing cleaner with each passing year.

Of course, this doesn’t prevent idiots from posting the same memes that were so popular in the late 1990s.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Anyone who imputes any honesty and sincerity to the evangelical Christians is an absolute fool.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

If you’re concerned about gun safety and the protection of our children, that’s wonderful–and there is no question that any Democrat is a better answer for you than any Republican.  The same can be said about quality education, healthcare, women’s rights, and dozens of other humanitarian issues.

Yet what sits at the top of the decision-making tree when it comes to Biden and Trump is that one of them is simply old, and other is a criminal sociopath.

That’s huge.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

FWIW, I completely agree with Julia Louis-Dreyfus here.  Being “PC” means having a sensitive awareness of other people, and that’s never a bad thing, IMO.

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