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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Forty years after Reagan and the advent of “trickle-down” economics, it’s widely recognized that the theory was an abject failure.

Of course, it didn’t fail the rich, whose already-huge piece of the pie has ballooned since 1980, an outcome that was probably well understood at the time: give us 40 years to pillage the nation, loot the Treasury, and dismantle the federal government; we’ll re-evaluate this later.

But importantly, trickle-down economics failed the country, whose working class suffered wage stagnation and a failing public school system, resulting in the election of a criminal conman in 2016, and set the nation back decades.

Can this be turned around?  Historians aren’t bullish; they say that imbalances like this are very hard to rectify.  Once the body politic loses power, it’s tough to get it back. We’ll see.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s an email I just got from Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley’s marketing team:

“What are we standing for?”  This question means more now than ever. 

Why?  Because liberals are determined to tear down America, our values, and our principles. And it’s up to us to stand up for America and show the far Left we WILL NOT let them remake this country. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s a piece on bottled water that doesn’t even get into the issue of plastic waste.

Nestlé CEO Brabeck-Letmathe called the idea that water is a human right “extreme.”

This really is one of the ugliest enterprises on the face of the Earth.  It’s not child sex trafficking or human slavery, but it’s something I’m very glad neither of my kids is involved in.

Perhaps it is more correct to say that it’s one of the ugliest legal enterprises on Earth, alongside cigarettes.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell says that he believes former President Donald Trump will be reinstated as president on August 13, claiming that Biden and Harris will both resign when “the evidence is presented.”

But what happens when August 14th rolls around and Biden is still president?  Will anyone ever believe anything Lindell says in the future?

The issue, of course, is that anyone insane/stupid enough to think Lindell is correct here will still believe his next prediction.

The rest of the world is asking, “Isn’t this wearing thin?”  The answer, sadly, is no.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business
From this article:
“This is a landmark victory for the local communities who have stood up and held firm for over a decade to protect the climate, the Salish Sea, and their own health and safety.”

In a move that comes as wildfires ravage the Western United States and could serve as a model for communities nationwide, the Whatcom County Council in Washington voted unanimously on Tuesday night to approve new policies aimed at halting local fossil fuel expansion. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

It’s the birthday of humorist and poet Don Marquis, who, before he died in 1937, left us with this:  I have noticed that when chickens quit quarreling over their food they often find that there is enough for all of them. I wonder if it might not be the same with the human race.

This made all the sense in the world in his age.  It was the days of the anarchists, of Trotsky, almost 20 years after “The war to end all wars.”  It was a short period in history when it really did appear possible that humankind actually might find a way to co-exist harmoniously on Earth.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

From the Writer’s Almanac:

It’s the birthday of writer Alexis de Tocqueville, born in Paris (1805). He was 25 years old when the French government sent him to America to study the prison system. He spent nine months touring towns and cities and taking notes. A few years later, he published his famous book, Democracy in America (1835). (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

This remarkable graph (larger version below) shows that, for the first time in history, renewable energy has surpassed the combustion of coal in the U.S. grid-mix.

This is an important reminder that things aren’t hopeless, regardless of what we may think, given the constant messages we receive as to the warming of the planet and its consequent droughts, floods, hurricanes, wildfires, etc.

Big money is doing everything in its power to prop up coal and prevent its disappearance, but there is no power on Earth that has the capacity to do that, given present-day market conditions, and the world’s growing concern about environmental ruin.
(more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

We all hope that the pandemic will be under control soon, and that the important events that drive commerce like industry trade shows will resume.

Linked below is one scheduled for August concerning plastic.  I have to confess that I got excited when I saw it–my first trade show in a long while, and an opportunity to learn more about the impact of plastic on the global environment and technologies that are under development to deal with this horrific phenomenon.

Clicking on the link, however, I found that the focus is on the latest innovative designs in blow molding, thermoforming, polymer casting, injection molding, 3D printing, extrusion, and robotics, i.e., ways to help us increase our consumption of plastic.

Will be skipping this one.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Vermonters are known to be quirky, but in general they’re fine, intelligent people.  Is there another state in which Bernie Sanders could be the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history?

It took some time, but now we’re seeing extremely strong correlations between compliance with our scientists’ directions and reduced numbers of COVID-19 deaths.

Witness Florida, whose governor bucked CDC guidelines and is now facing a sharp spike in cases.

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