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

Carbon capture and geoengineering

In a previous post, I made the point that even if all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions ceased tomorrow, the half-lives of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, together with climate change-driven gas emissions from melting permafrost and methane clathrates doom us to decades more of warming. The only ways to avert this are (1) carbon […]

Former Ohio House Speaker Finally sentenced to 20 years

As taken from this column and other sources as well. Former Ohio House speaker sentenced to 20 years in $60 million bribery scheme | CNN Politics, Sydney Kashiwagi. A Little Background: FirstEnergy and its executives denied wrongdoing and have not been criminally charged for a scheme to bail the company out.  However, federal investigators say […]

About the Past

How we humans came to be where we are today had a lot to do with stability and the invention of calendars. Before stability, glaciers came and went. Best we and most other animals could do was run around looking for food and shelter. After the Last Glacial Period(LGP), aka as the Last Ice Age, […]

America’s Clean Energy Transition Needs Federal Action—Not Rollbacks

What the Roosevelt Institute and GreenBiz are pointing out is the delay in bring Energy, more clean energy online to satisfy the nation’s requirements, reduce pollution, and avoid severe climate change. Both are putting pressure on the government to move these projects along. They are calling for a mobilization of resources to implement the projects […]

We would’ve never been able to see cricket live on television

Basically, a story about big oil selling prosperity to a country by having their cricket team televised on TV and building a new stadium to be completed by 2025. Exxon and their partners were busy telling the story of fossil fuels as the solution to poverty. This story told as more and more Global North […]

Enabling Fossil Fuel Addiction: It’s About More Than Money

Interesting article about local communities beginning to sue energy companies because of climate change and the mischaracterization of how oil products impact the nations climate. Down in Phoenix, we are seeing temperatures approaching the one hundred and teens. No relief is in sight for a couple of weeks. The same can be said for other […]

1877

An important reason to read history is to gain a perspective on current events. If you watch exclusively mainstream media television, particularly Fox News, you might be forgiven for the belief that things in this country are the worst they have ever been in history. “1877: America’s Year of Living Violently” by Michael Bellisiles is […]

Can architects and designers make a difference in the climate emergency?

Can architects and designers make a difference in the climate emergency? Carbon Upfront, Lloyd Alter, One prominent English architect says we should just shut up and draw, we don’t matter much anyway. I am single-minded when teaching sustainable design at Toronto Metropolitan University: it is all about carbon, carbon, carbon, the issue of our time. […]

Irrigation efficiency for who?

I live halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. Pretty much what you would call desert if you were new to the area like I am. Water is an issue as much of it comes from the Colorado river. The limits to draw water from the Colorado are still being determined or in a flux. The states […]