Writing on government subsidies for cleantech, a reader notes: taxpayers get stuck with inefficient, inadequate and inappropriate technologies, which government agencies support for political and ideological reasons. This suppresses and discourages R&D for potentially superior technologies. Let’s begin by admitting …
Government Subsidies for CleanTech: Two Competing Views Read More »
Here’s some apocalyptic stuff for your Friday morning: an article from today’s New York Times entitled: Donald Trump’s Energy Plan: More Fossil Fuels and Fewer Rules, explaining his plans to add jobs in coal mines and cancel the Paris climate …
The Trump Plan on Energy and the Environment: You Don’t Want to Hear It Read More »
Today’s news provides a wonderful example of the absurdities and hypocrisies of life in the U.S., as our president visited Hiroshima, the site of the first of two atomic bomb detonations in World War II Japan, and offered a very clear …
The U.S. Is a Great, Albeit Weird, Place to Live Read More »
Commenting on my post The Migration to Renewable Energy Isn’t All Smooth Sailing and its discussion of government subsidies, MarcoPolo writes: The danger is when governments stray from the path of economic management and pursue ideological .. agendas. What’s wrong with a …
A reader asks re: my post on the good news in renewables: Lots of recent progress with solar but what about that setback in your California backyard that involved a fire in the big tower of power? What went wrong …
The Migration to Renewable Energy Isn’t All Smooth Sailing Read More »
Regarding my piece “How the Media Is Ruining the United States,” a reader goes off on me, beginning as follows: “Geez … an anti-Trump rant that has excessive liberal bias helps me grow my knowledge about green energy –how?” I would …
I thought I’d reprint this email that I just got from legendary environmentalist Bill McKibben. In my opinion, no one on Earth communicates more clearly and compellingly on political/environmental issues than McKibben. Here he’s in his wheelhouse, calling for the …
Here’s an awkward situation: I’m staying the night today at the house of a friend who, I just learned, will be throwing a party celebrating Donald Trump’s nomination. Of course, my position on Trump is the same as that of …
U.S. Political Theater Can Cause Interpersonal Friction Read More »
Frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes: I can’t help wondering if your passionate crusade against “big oil” isn’t counter-productive….The average person doesn’t want an existing crusade, filled with revolutionary risk and perils. Indignation at injustice is and has always been a key …
Changes in Our Civilization Often Start with Outrage Read More »
According to the Writer’s Almanac: It’s the birthday of novelist Joseph Heller (books by this author), born in Brooklyn (1923) and best known for the novel Catch-22 (1961), about an American bombardier named John Yossarian. During World War II, Yossarian …
We Want a Sustainable Civilization, But There’s a Catch Read More »
