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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

American cinema of 1999 featured “Sixth Sense,” a clever flick about a little boy who could see dead people.

So sad that we’re going through this, where hundreds of thousands of young people are enjoying spring break, packed together like sardines, partying without masks in bars all over the south part of the country.  Are they likely to die of COVID-19?  No.  Are they likely to transmit the disease and force our entire society back into lockdown? Of course, but who cares, when you really don’t give a damn about anyone but yourself?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

We all  know people who, despite knowing nothing about a certain scientific discipline, have unshakable convictions that fly in the teeth of the experts in the area–that they feel compelled to impose onto others.

Before QAnon, this was largely confined to climate deniers, but now we have pandemic hoaxers, anti-vaxxers, flat-Earthers, school-shooting hoaxers, etc.  It never ends.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Honduran mother holds her two-year-old

Here’s a discussion with a reader who notes:

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

If the new Attorney General Merrick Garland can dismantle the two-tiered system of justice that has plagued this country since its inception, it will be the finest achievement in U.S. history.

There is so much good going on right now that it’s hard to find anything to write a nastygram about.  I have the same comment John McEnroe made about the electronic linesmen in tennis: “Now I have no one to yell at.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

It’s the Ides of March, the date in 44 BCE on which Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the building that housed a meeting of the Roman Senate.  A conspiracy of men called the Liberators had been plotting his assassination for months, driven by their perception that Caesar was setting himself up as a tyrant, but with sad irony (from the Writer’s Almanac): The assassination that was meant to save the Republic actually resulted, ultimately, in its downfall. It sparked a series of civil wars and led to Julius’ heir, Octavian, becoming Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor.  This, of course, was the very thing the conspirators had meant to ovoid.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A great deal of environmental healing will come from the Biden administration, at least if we can predict the future based on the first two months.  In particular, there has been robust discussion concerning putting an end to subsidies that the fossil fuel industry receives from the U.S. government.

It appears that the U.S. Congress was not too pleased to learn that what was sold as “clean coal” actually increased, rather than reduced, toxic emissions from coal-fired power plants.  This article suggests that the outcome of a congressional investigation could influence whether lawmakers vote to renew a multibillion-dollar subsidy, which expires at the end of 2021.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Filed under the heading: “Would be funnier if it weren’t so tragic,”  or “One reaps what one sows.”

What we’ve sown is a terrible public educational system that, due to underfunding, is getting worse each year.

What we’re reaping is Trumpism, semi-illiteracy, white nationalism, street crime and mass incarceration, drug addiction, QAnon believers, and lack of preparedness to compete in the international marketplace.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
From this: “Rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 were people that love this country, that (sic) truly respect law enforcement. I might have been concerned if they were Black Lives Matter or Antifa protesters.” – Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI)

I don’t see how much worse it can get.  More than 300 arrested, 5 dead, including three members of law enforcement.  Johnson unconcerned, since they’re white “patriots.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Here we have Bill Gates discussing nuclear power, pointing out that it’s safer than oil, coal, natural gas–and, of course that it’s a requirement if our civilization is to mitigate climate change successfully, insofar as it emits zero carbon.

So good to see this.  It is true that most environmentalists are anti-nuclear, but that’s because their misinformed.

Advanced nuclear, e.g., the fission of thorium or the aneutronic fusion of hydrogen and boron, will take all this to a new level, one in which there will be no more dangerous waste.

It’s ironic that part of the QAnon belief system is that billionaire philanthropist, technologist and climate change evangelist Bill Gates is working towards the goal of the enslavement of human society, via the use of microchips.  It’s a great example of the old adage, “no good deed goes unpunished.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As Connecticut senator Chris Murphy points out here, there is a moral issue at stake here.

But, if nothing else, this will be a very interesting experiment in macroeconomics.  The neoliberalism that has defined the United States for the last 40 years has resulted in an obscene increase of wealth for the top 1%, even more so for the top 0.1%. What happens to all this money?  Well, some of it buys yachts, but most of it goes into stock and bond portfolios, many of them offshore, where it stays, generation after generation.

OK, so what happens when $1.9 trillion goes into the hands of people whose net worth is less than, say, $250K?  It’s spent, more or less immediately, into groceries, clothing, rent, car payments, and restaurants.  Now it’s in the hands of grocery store owners, restaurateurs, etc., soon to be spent somewhere else.

We’ll soon see what a high velocity of money does to an economy that has been stagnant for the common American for the last four decades.

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