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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s an article in Global Citizen that begins:

Record heat. Record rain. Record fires. Recording-breaking environmental news is starting to sound like a broken record.

As Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), summed it up: “2023 was an exceptional year, with climate records tumbling like dominoes.”

2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes. Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1°C warmer than the pre-industrial period.

All this raises the question, of course, that since we’re clearly seeing the onset of environmental collapse, how much longer do we sit by and watch as the oil and gas industry profits from our civilization’s slow but steady demise?  Wish I had an answer to that one.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
From Aldous Huxley: “The greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.”
This really does explain a great deal, at least about life in the United States.  As long as the masses can afford to live in some level of comfort, it is foolish of us to expect them to become politically active to any significant degree.

That said, it’s possible that the 2024 presidential election may present an interesting counter-example. As we sit here, 10 months away, we notice an incredible level of animus when it comes to Trump–even from members of his own party.  Traditional Republicans may be concerned that the GOP is rapidly establishing itself as a criminal enterprise, and thus untenable to their voting base.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s Bobby Kennedy’s assertion on our society’s resistance to change.  He certainly nailed something important, but I would argue that what we’re looking at now, several decades after his death, has a far uglier and meaner look on its face.

The vast majority of Republican voters appear comfortable being led by a vicious criminal who is doing his level best to overthrow American democracy and replace it with a dictatorship featuring mass cruelty, the rejection of science, racism, fanatical Christianity, the demise of the middle class, and the abandonment of rule of law.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

In a recent post I commented that proponents of inductive charging face a huge challenge:  the world is steadily replacing gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks with EVs that are physically plugged in when not in use.

Here’s a meme suggesting that I’m wrong, but if this were authentic, wouldn’t the green sign have been written in Swedish?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Over the years, I know I’ve recommended The Daily Stoic to readers a few times, and I hope you’ll clink on the link above to request their free daily email.

At left is one of the gems that Marcus Aurelius left as a suggestion as to how to live a harmonious life.

It makes one think about “lying and unjust men.” Perhaps, it’s somewhat comforting to be reminded that there was no shortage of evil in the world  2000 years ago. It’s very much credible that ancient Rome had its equivalents to Donald Trump and the other world dictators who used fear, lies, and violence in their quest to gain absolute power.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

So the laws of the land apply to every one of us–except for the single most powerful?

And that sounds like the underpinnings of a democracy?

He really is putting this country through hell.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

A reader points out: (Trump) will most likely leave the country to avoid prison.

One would certainly think.

Outside of a person facing execution, it’s hard to imagine a greater flight risk.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In the last year, the percentage of Republicans who want to see a full accounting for the events of January 6, 2021 has fallen from 27% to 13%.  The vast majority of the GOP simply wants to “let this go.”

It’s easy to understand that Republicans want to pretend that either a) this never happened, or b) it was essentially non-violent, but given the criminal charges against the former president, it looks extremely unlikely that J6 will blow over, rather, that all Americans and people around the globe will be exposed to a torrent of evidence proving the guilt of Trump and his senior staff.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s a guy selling a perpetual motion machine  (see photo at left) that I’ve seen frequently on social media.

For the life of me, I can’t understand why this fraudster isn’t in prison.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

It was Nikola Tesla who first noticed that a current flowing in a wire would induce a current to flow in a nearby conductor. 130 years later, this is the way we charge our electric toothbrushes.  But will this transfer to the arena of electric vehicles?

I doubt it.

The challenge that the proponents of inductive EV charging face is that the world is steadily replacing gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks with EVs that are physically plugged in when not in use.

If I were betting, I would say that inductive charging is appropriate only to vehicles like shuttle buses that make stops at well-defined places.

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