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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

There is a great deal of sentiment being expressed right now to the effect that the extreme stresses our society is facing can be used as springboard to launch a new and better civilization–and it’s quite gratifying to see.

In and among all our clamoring to “return to normalcy” are voices that are saying, “We don’t want normalcy.  That’s what got us here in the first place.  We want a brotherhood of humankind, one of peace, of compassion, of justice for all.”

We don’t want police killing unarmed black men, environmental degradation, our educational system destroyed, a sociopathic president, tens of millions of people kicked off healthcare, or a pandemic raging out of control because we don’t have the spirit of community required to stamp it out.

We can, indeed, become a better people, and this is an exciting opportunity to make that happen.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Old white people, i.e., those who were young white people in the first half of the 20th Century, grew up in a time when overt racism was the norm, and it’s for this reason that most of us forgive them for not shaking off these values of hatred and exclusion.  Yet we encounter many old white folks who either never bought into racist views in the first place, or shed them at a certain point along the way, as their lived experiences made them more enlightened, more gracious people. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

This video lays out the difference between the Canadian and the American approach to dealing with COVID-19, as well as providing the results.

In it, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, says, “It’s about vigilance,  individually and collectively.”  He may have nailed it right there.  Many Americans are failing to act responsibly on an individual basis.  Moreover, we don’t do anything collectively; we have virtually no sense of responsibility to other members of our community.

This is especially true given the us-versus-them zeitgeist that has arisen here over the past 3.5 years.  We regard one another with suspicion.  Ewww…is that guy a (Trump supporter / libtard?)

All this could go from bad to worse.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

OMG.

Researchers say that?  We needed research to come to that conclusion?

Yes, leaders who are elected by educated and compassionate people, leaders who honestly support the will of those people, are going to promote environmental stewardship.  Every.  Single.  Time.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Fortunately, this message on this shirt is failing to reach anybody but the very core of Trump’s base. Most Americans understand that most of the developed world offer things like universal healthcare (see list below).

Are these nations radical leftists? Are they unpleasant places to live because of government intrusion into its citizens’ lives?

Americans aren’t falling for it.

Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

From this article on Norway’s amazing progress in electric vehicle sales:

Electric car market share hit a record high in Norway for the first half of the year as overall car sales have been hit by the pandemic but less so for electric vehicles. Norway has long been the world’s leading market when it comes to electric vehicles. They have the most aggressive electrification goal of any market with the aim to have every new car on the road being electric by 2025. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

My mom mentioned the other day that this blog tends to be somewhat repetitious, and I don’t contest that.  There are only so many important points to be made in today’s world, so full of horror as it is, and I concentrate my thinking on those that have the most bearing on the outcome of our civilization. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Big City Pollution

A growing number of Americans are expressing their displeasure at their president, given Trump’s insensitivity to spate murders of black people at the hands of police, his gross mishandling of the pandemic, and his allowing Russia to maintain  bounties on the heads of American soldiers.  At this point, it appears that he’ll be leaving office in January if not before. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Then what?  It doesn’t matter.

Removing Trump from office by any legal means shouldn’t scare anyone.  It’s not like he’s Saddam Hussein and this is Iraq with its Ba’athist Party, in an environment with sects of Muslims that have hated each other’s guts for 1400 years.  He’s a cancer in the United States, and no one worries too much about removing a tumor from an otherwise healthy body.

Worried about stock market volatility?  Don’t be.  Markets like rationality, reason, and predictability.  Trump affords the world precious little of any of that.

Concerned that it will take a long time before the majority of Americans has any respect for or trust in the Republican Party?  Well, that’s is indeed well-founded, but isn’t that a positive thing?  How much good do you think people like Mitch McConnell, William Barr, Jared Kushner, Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, Betsy DeVos, Ben Carson, and Wilbur Ross are doing for our country?

Personally, I don’t care if the GOP never recovers at all, but if it does, it certainly needs a wholesale rethinking of its values and its relationship with the people it ostensibly serves.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Americans who have good attitudes at this point in time deserve our respect.  I ran across this masterpiece this morning, written by the son of an Air Force brigadier general who himself rose to the rank of colonel. Here’s the beginning of a fairly lengthy essay that explains the author’s optimism as follows:

Of my 57 years drawing breath, I’ve spent 51 of them directly or indirectly serving this once great nation. So, as you might imagine, I found myself on Nov. 8, 2016, more than a little dismayed at the news we had elevated Donald J. Trump to the nation’s highest office – a man so clearly unfit to lead America. (more…)

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