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

King Canute economics comes to Massachusetts

According to legend, King Canute tried to order the tide not to come in. Needless to say, he failed, divine rights of kings nonwithstanding. Back when we lived in North Carolina, we visited the Outer Banks a few times. There were many expensive homes on the shoreline. These were often casualties of hurricanes that would […]

Fusion power won’t save us

“Using the Joint European Torus (JET) — a huge, donut-shaped machine known as a tokamak — the scientists sustained a record 69 megajoules of fusion energy for five seconds, using just 0.2 milligrams of fuel. That’s enough to power roughly 12,000 households for the same amount of time.” Progress, yes, but incremental. “And myriad challenges […]

The science of climate change

In my early days of following Angry Bear, there was a climate change denialist troll whose handle was “CoRev.” Most of the stuff CoRev posted was standard denialist fare that had been debunked. At the time, one favorite denialist claim was the “hiatus,” a period between 2001 and 2014 during which warming seemed to “pause.” […]

Climate loss, grief and migration

by David Zetland (originally published at The one-handed economist) Climate loss, grief and migration The climate we grew up with is leaving. International action to slow climate chaos is not really working. National action and market innovations are having some useful impacts, but they are far too few on the mitigation side and far too […]

Climate chaos: notes on Interesting Stuff

Lifted from notes from David Zetland’s news letter Interesting Stuff: The sustainability challenge is not population as much as consumption. Me in 2009: “A sustainable economy is like a sustainable lifestyle: Minimize your consumption, put something away for a rainy day, and MAKE SURE that you are selling good quality at a good price.” NYT 2022: “By […]

Extreme heat belt

Angry Bear Michael Smith’s post The Future of Farming reminded me that food and water supply issues need regular updates and highlighting. This report caught my eye since we here in Boston are experiencing very dry conditions with hot day temps. The U.S. could see a new ‘extreme heat belt’ by 2053: The report, released […]

Cooking the Planet by Limiting EPA’s Power to write Regulations and Rules

SCOTUS is moving to limit the power of congressionally legislated Agencies to write Regulations and Rules as delegated by Acts of Congress. The decision forces actions normally taken by empowered legislative Agencies back into Congress where they can be challenged. SCOTUS is picking on the EPA, restricting various regulations and rules it dislikes using the […]

Dry, Dusty, Rain. Humid, Windy, Dry. Chaos and The Grip of La Niña

Just how dry have the ground conditions been? Dire. Fire sweeping towns from Austin to Los Angeles, dire. Rain? Forecast yes, but closer to the Powell Line. The Powell Line, as stated previously is where the dry plains and the wet prairie meet. An abundance and a desert. Too much and not enough. Floods and […]

Spirit of The Mist, Drowned in the Desert

Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot: O Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea. About, about, in reel and rout, The death-fires danced at night; The water, […]

Another Trying Season, La Nina Now Through Summer

The good folks over at the National Weather Service have posted that La Nina, the ENSO negative Pacific Ocean pattern is here to stay for a threepeat. What this typically means for us in the US is that we are looking at drought. More drought. From the Texas South to the Dakota’s. This also means […]