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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here in sunny California, we’re preparing to elect a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left by Dianne Feinstein.

If you’re looking for a little comic relief in your day-to-day life, check out the article linked above, and note that former baseball star and conservative Republican Trump supporter Steve Garvey is among the contenders.

He’s the top GOP contender for the job, not that this means much, given that he’s running in a state where Trump lost to Biden by 29 points in 2020.

God only knows what approval rating Trump has at this point, now that he’s facing 91 felonies stemming from crimes he allegedly committed during his presidency and since he left office.

Dismal, yet amusing at the same time.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Questioning/doubting is not taboo. The real issue here is what one is calling into question and for what reason.

You’re essentially a crackpot if:

You have no scientific training, and you’re questioning the findings of scientists in their respective fields of expertise.

You believe that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump, despite the fact that 60+ courts found no evidence for this whatsoever.

Here’s what I wonder about: Who is this semi-naked woman, and what kind of racket sport is she playing?

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

By the time young people in Europe leave high school, they are fluent in 3+ languages, have read Plato, and play at least one musical instrument fairly well.

Southeast Asians, as we all know, are more inclined towards math and science, which is why we see their surnames all over our hospital placards.

Americans are lucky if they can find Poland on a map of the world.

So, why this cataclysmic failure?  I suspect that it’s a combination of factors, mostly rooted in U.S. politics.  Americans have very little patience for solutions to problems that take years or even decades to play themselves out.  If a certain politician advocates for something that doesn’t show immediate benefits, he’s a failure, and that now becomes ammunition for his opponent in the next election.

This is all coupled by the fact, that, at a certain level, we simply don’t care.  If you disbelieve that, ask yourself why we pay our teachers so poorly, and why we allow charter schools to siphon the cream off the top of the student population.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Today’s piece in the WSJ’s Climate and Energy section is called “The Problem With Stuff.”

It begins:

A Glass-Half-Full Look at the Gargantuan Carbon Footprint of Making Stuff

Every year, America gets through roughly 700 pounds of cement, nearly as much steel, 300 pounds of plastic and 25 pounds of aluminum per person. Providing the raw materials of modern life with far less emissions is starting to look tantalizingly possible, but the making-stuff business remains a laggard in its response to climate change.

“Making less stuff” is akin to morphing away from our consumer society, and it’s refreshing to see the WSJ talk about that, even obliquely.

IMO, what we are seeing here is the WSJ’s trying to position itself as dead-on “centrist” in their journalism.  This is distinctly more to the left from their earlier conservative leaning; it would have been fanciful to think of anything associated with climate change even a few years ago.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s common for people to wonder about human civilization, how it’s been dominated by men, and what form it would have taken if that weren’t the case.

Would war have become the default mechanism for settling disagreements between nations?  To what extent would there be nations at all, meaning tribal groups that generally act as competitors, rivals, even enemies?

How likely does it seem that a woman would rise to a position of absolute power, and use it to oppress millions of people, like a Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Xi, Kim Jong Un, Putin, or Trump (if he gets his way).

Sadly, it appears that we’ll never know how this could have turned out.  In fact, here in the United States, and in several countries around the globe, things are going in the opposite direction.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The meme here reminds us that it may be a good time to repeat the oft-given advice to Republicans: Maybe it’s time to actually do something that improves voters’ lives, as opposed to making things as miserable here as possible, so as to enable blaming your opponents.

The situation at the southern border is a great example.  Everyone is concerned about it.  We all want this crisis handled immediately, effectively, legally, and humanely.   Is it too much to ask to tell Trump to take a flying leap, and sign on to a bipartisan effort here?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Denmark has a number of advantages over the rest of the world, one of which is that they actually care about environmental responsibility, and thus they refuse to allow moneyed interests to pollute their country for profit.

Their bountiful renewable resources (mostly wind) and their capacity to sell excess energy to neighboring Germany also come down in their favor.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s something that many of us wonder about: how it’s possible for Biden-haters to say that the economy is a disaster.

The highest GDP growth in the G7, low unemployment, record stock market returns, inflation in control, all look pretty rosy to me.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Of course, this is just the beginning; we haven’t gotten to the 91 felony counts stemming from the four indictments.

But it sure does raise the question: How much appetite do American voters have for re-electing a criminal president?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

NPR reports: The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in an important environmental case today. It will consider whether to pause a federal rule obligating states to be “good neighbors.” At the heart of the dispute is a provision of the Clean Air Act that protects people and states subject to pollution that floats downwind from other states. These “downwind states” struggle to meet federal air quality standards, and their residents can face health complications due to pollution from afar. 

I would think a better question is why individual states are at liberty to establish lesser standards than others in the first place.  Can’t these mandates be made at a federal level?  A coal-fired power plant in Colorado emits the same lethal array of greenhouse gases, heavy metals, and radioactive isotopes as one in Alabama.

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