Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

The Big Crunch

Our current economic model, premised on profits and returns, consumption, and growth — on greed, has proven to be problematic for the environment, society, and governance.*   Over time, humans have inflicted grave damage to the land, forests, rivers, streams, and atmosphere. Some of this was in the interest of survival. A lot more was done […]

American society was not always so car-centric.

Introduction: Nice piece on how Americans are so tied to their gasoline powered cars, pickup trucks, etc. and the impact on cities and environment. What is key to this article and the author’s thought is this statement: “The obvious solution … lies only in a radical revision of our conception of what a city street […]

In-Box Topics Which May Be of Interest

Each day, I get an array of emails in my In-Box offering up articles, what they think can be interesting reads, or junk. Some are hawking subscriptions too. I like to subscribe to news letters and magazines. The problem being, I never get a chance to finish reading them all. SCOTUS Billionaire Gifts to Thomas: […]

Slowing Down to Urban Speed Limits Impacts the Climate

Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism posted this Yale Climate Connections commentary on vehicle speeds impacting urban climates. Where I live in AZ, speed limits, stop signs, and stop lights are just suggestions. They are not followed religiously and the accidents are often tragic. Quite a few crosses marking accident spots line the highway out of […]

In-Box Topics Which May Be of Interest

Evey day, I get an array of emails in my In-Box offering up articles or what they think can be interesting reads. Some are hawking subscriptions too. I like to subscribe to news letters and magazines. The problem being, I never get a chance to finish them all. Law Why the Supreme Court rejected a […]

A Century Ago, This Water Agreement Changed the West. And Now?

Reader Dan – On Water – Angry Bear According to a University of Arizona researcher, “society is losing $2.4 billion per year because the Colorado River’s water” no longer flows all the way to the Gulf of California. ~~~~~~~~ And that problem, still exists today as states argue about Colorado River water rights and keep […]

NYT writes about the rapid growth and change in the drive-through restaurant

Lloyd answers the question about how Americans will be getting their food from fast food establishments in the future. Innovative but does little for the environment and also for people’s health setting aside the argument of fast food not being necessarily healthy. To catch the rest of Lloyd’s article, click on the Carbon Upfront link. […]

Electricity Statistics by Month and Overall – United States

AB: IEA will not allow me to change any wording. Anything in italics or leads with an AB in front is my wording. I believe the following (charts and brief summation) to be a good explanation of where the US stands at far as changes in energy and usage. A little background concerning our home. […]

Taxing the Wealthy Before They Kill Us All?

Lloyd Alter’s adds a new CO2 or carbon pollution commentary on Carbon Up Front which follows many of his other commentaries on the issue. They can be found here. All of which address the issues of our advanced civilization slowly poisoning the world with a continued release of CO2. His latest article identifies the worst […]

Heirloom crops and global warming

The biggest near-term threat to human civilization from global warming is loss of fresh water and arable land for crops. It turns out that nature has confronted the challenges of increased temperature, increased salinity, disease resistance and violent weather. Recently, as strain of maize called “Jimmy Red corn” has been resurrected from a population bottleneck […]