I wrote a post last week in attempt to answer this question, in which I suggested that it’s simple supply and demand.  Anywhere there is a demand for contra-scientific thinking, there will be charlatans popping up like mushrooms to supply that demand.

When my wife read the post she voiced her surprise that I didn’t mention corruption, i.e., enormous and dishonest control that Big Oil exerts on the Republican Party.  She made a great point. (more…)

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My colleague Jon LeSage serves as Editor and Publisher of Green Auto Market, which tracks the business of green cars, fuels, and technologies.  As shown in the bar chart below, pure diesel buses now account for less than half of the total market, and, if the trend holds, will experience zero sales somewhere around 2030. (more…)

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Violence against environmental activists is skyrocketing.

350.org founder Bill McKibben receives death threats regularly, though, to my knowledge, there have been no attempts on his life.  When I met him a few months ago, he seemed assured, though I don’t know how much that means; I’m sure JFK and MLK were calm a second before bullets went through their heads.

Especially in lawless countries, activists risk their lives for the sake of sustainability every day of the week.  They deserve our gratitude.

 

 

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As you absorb the discussion here, realize what this means.  Trump’s fan base will not be told anything about his proposed budget as it pertains to Social Security, and even if they were to come across it accidentally, they would dismiss it as “fake news.”

Having tens of millions of voters who will believe anything their savior tells them, regardless of how demonstrably false, renders a democracy quite fragile, if it doesn’t kill it dead.

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Here are a few words from Neal Katyal, American lawyer and partner at Hogan Lovells, as well as Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center.  Katyal served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States from May 2010 until June 2011.  He concludes his note, “Let’s make him pay for it in November.”

One can only hope, and, in fact, this really could happen. (more…)

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A reader submits the pic here and adds: “Roof mounted solar panels and solar water thermal mirror panels for a commercial building.” (Larger version below.)

This concept misses the central point of solar, i.e., aiming panels directly at the sun, so as to grab every available photon, and in turn, kick out as many electrons from the semiconductors as possible.  In the northern hemisphere, this means facing them to the south, and, if feasible, helping the process along with motorized devices that track the apparent motion of the sun across the sky.

Moreover, the one thing you don’t want is a device that casts shadows on itself.

 

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What’s happening in the U.S. Senate is viewed by people around the world as the end of rule of law we had treasured since the dawn of the republic.

For most of us, at least here at home, this is the darkest day in U.S. history, but for others, e.g., the former president of Estonia, it’s cause for celebration.

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Australia is facing one of the worst fire seasons that it’s ever seen. While heavy rains have started to fall, bringing some respite to exhausted firefighters and frightened citizens, these blazes have torn through more than 10 million hectares, taking the lives of 29 people and more than a billion animals as of the time of this writing. (more…)

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I’ve known Jigar Shah for about ten years now; in 2015 he was good enough to write a testimonial that I used on the back cover of my book “Bullish on Renewable Energy: 14 Reasons that Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose.” (See below.) (more…)

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From this article written in 2015: On Tuesday, Jeb Bush proposed to eliminate the Obama administration’s regulation of carbon pollution, and, in keeping with his self-styled goal of “growth at all cost,” proposes to make any further climate regulation essentially impossible. (more…)

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