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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability
“Love is wise – Hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other. We have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things we don’t like. We can only live together in that way. But if we are to live together, and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital, to the continuation of human life on this planet.”
— Bertrand Russell, BBC Interview on Face to Face (1959)
I’m not sure Lord Russell would be too impressed with what’s happened recently in many parts of the world, but I suspect he’d be especially peeved with the UK (with its anti-immigrant sentiment that formed the underpinnings of Brexit) and the United States (with Trumpism).
The latter is one of the most shockingly disgusting setback events in the recent history of the developed world, especially since insofar it has unleashed a pandemic of hate and ignorance, the course of which is going to be very difficult to reverse.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The cartoon here would be a lot funnier if it didn’t so accurately depict the behavior of our global corporations.

Whether it’s plastics, fossil fuels, fast food nearly devoid of nutrition, exorbitantly expensive drugs, products with planned obsolescence, weapons of war, or tobacco, the people at the top are (at best) indifferent to our well-being.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m still struggling to understand how half the nation voted for terrorism, gutting Social Security and Medicare, and banning abortion.

We’re a very coarse bunch of people at this point.  We’re closer to Iran or Syria than we are to the America of a decade ago.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A reader notes: This is how the global appetite for ‘cheap meat’ is affecting the earth.

So true.  Fortunately for us, the Asian countries use meat more as a decoration that a meal in and of itself.

Also on our side is plant-based and laboratory-grown meat, both of which are improving with each passing month.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Sure would be good to see this in action.

The sketchy performance of Trump’s endorsements in the midterms combined with his legal woes seem to indicate that he’s going down hard. But is he taking the whole GOP with him? I doubt it.

My prediction: Two years from now the Republicans will nominate someone who will pretend he’s never heard of the Big Lie, and that Trump was just an unfortunate phase.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This from a reader.

I don’t think anyone is kidding himself about the candidate’s astonishing lack of intelligence, or his capacity to do anything for the people of Georgia.  If he’s elected, God  help us, he’s there to do what he’s told.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

At a certain level, the 2022 midterms were a referendum on honesty, at least as far as the voter fraud myth was concerned; most of the purveyors of the Big Lie got clobbered.

Yet that doesn’t mean we’ve moved into an era of candor and transparency.  I was amused at the Republicans’ political posturing in Texas, where they have been in power for the last 27 years.  Their slogan?  “Help us fix what’s broken in Texas.”

I kid you not.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

A bit of gallows humor here.

Seriously, sea-level rise is slated to hit Florida hard over the next 50 years, and its coastline is so long it’s very hard to protect.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

One take-away from the midterms is that election denialism appears to be on its way out.  Of the 300+ proponents of the Big Lie who were on some ballot somewhere, the vast majority lost, and, with the possible exception of Arizona and Nevada (we’ll have to wait and see), nobody seems to be taking the Donald Trump tack and making unfounded claims of massive voter fraud.

I take this as a message that voters are sick of listening to this bullshit.

Obviously, if Republicans take control of either of the houses of Congress, anything’s possible, but it’s comforting to know that the voters themselves believe in the legitimacy of the American democracy, and don’t want to be represented by those willing to lie about something so basic to our culture.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Oh, let’s not be too hasty here.

If gasoline goes up 50 cents per gallon, it will have a temporary negative affect on the personal economy of some Americans.

Who cares if we wake up one day to find that Trump has the same authoritarian status as Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping?  What’s the worst that could happen?

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