Home › Blog › Page 155

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Question: Which country, the smallest of the G20, is the world leader in decarbonizing its energy and transportation sectors? Hint: They feel a moral duty to lead the way, insofar as they had been an industrial giant in the past and contributed far more than their share to GHG emissions.

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance: This comes from a fabulous Ted Talk that can be found here.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

There is no doubt that corporate price gouging is a problem insofar that it’s driving inflation.

In this case I would point out that Walmart has competitors, e.g., Costco. a company that has a policy of basing prices on costs.  If I’m not mistaken, Costco makes a 14% margin on everything in its stores. If its costs don’t rise, neither do its prices.

Also, ask yourself why you want to support an organization owned by the wealthiest family on Earth that treats its employees so poorly.

Simply shop elsewhere.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

As the meme here suggests, renewable energy and electric transportation are making headway. Unfortunately:

• Our overall demands for energy are also increasing, especially as Asians want to live more like westerners.

• The developing world does not have the financial resources to jump ahead from fossil fuels to solar, wind, and nuclear in their electricity generation plants.

• Rich nations are showing tepid interest in making sacrifices to decarbonize the world’s grid-mix. The political will just doesn’t seem to exist at this point.

One wonders if some event, or series of events will take place, serving to catalyze planetary interest in averting climate catastrophe.

 

 

Tagged with: , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability
This from Major General Paul Eaton, United States Army, retired.
I’m going to ask you to chip in to VoteVets.  Let me tell you why:
Donald Trump is attacking Gold Star Families. When I lost my father in the Vietnam War many years ago, I could never have imagined a Commander-in-Chief calling him a “sucker” or “loser.” Trump did just that. He then had the audacity to attack the Gold Star Families that tried to hold him accountable. Gold Star Families who are just trying to honor their sons and daughters. It’s so disrespectful.
We must do whatever it takes to make sure Donald Trump loses re-election. VoteVets does the work – and will make sure the best possible people get elected to higher office. So please, make a donation to VoteVets today.
Our most respected and honored military leaders have a few things in common: they see that Donald Trump is a disgrace to our country, that he represents great danger in terms of our nation’s stability as a world leader, and that we as citizens need to do everything we can to ensure that he never returns to power.

Tagged with: , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s a thought on David Brooks’ recent essay in The Atlantic: “Chicken Littles Are Ruining America,” aka “The Zeitgeist of Doom.”

He writes: Since about 2004, the share of American 12th graders who say it is “hard to have hope for the world” has been surging, then provides many possible explanations for people’s negativity, including the notion that it’s become fashionable to be dour; young people may feel that they look silly and stupid with a smile and a “can-do” attitude.

But isn’t it possible that these folks are precisely right?  What did 2004 look like in terms of hostilities with world superpowers?  Did it seem possible that a Donald Trump would come along, reduce the United States to white nationalist, anti-intellectual rubble, then make a valiant and possibly successful attempt to overthrow American democracy?  Did it appear possible that climate change would soon be baking our planet while world leaders sat back and watched from their palaces?

Maybe it’s a good thing that our teens recognize this crap for what it is.

 

Tagged with: , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
In an effort to establish something he calls the Midwest Values PAC, former U.S. senator Al Franken presents this interesting and heart-warming story:
My dad was a lifelong Republican — until Barry Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act.
My family watched Cronkite every night while we ate dinner on tray tables, and in 1963, we watched as police set fire hoses, dogs, and billy clubs on civil rights protestors. In no uncertain terms, my dad said we couldn’t be for that. So when Goldwater voted against the Civil Rights Act, my dad said, “F*#$ that.”
OK, he didn’t say that — he was the gentlest, kindest guy you can imagine — but he did leave the Republican party.
I started MVP to help elect candidates who share my dad’s values: Fairness. Justice. Equal opportunity for all. The belief that our country is stronger when everyone has the opportunities and resources to succeed. Your contributions support our efforts not only to elect qualified candidates, but good people— in 2024 and beyond.
This is an effort to move some Republicans in the red, midwestern states over to the Democratic ticket, and it’s bound to be at least somewhat successful, as the GOP continues its move even further to the right, with its platforms like a national ban on abortion, and other issues for which there is practically no public support.
Godspeed.
Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, asserting that the President of the United States is “trying to destroy” (the country).

Apparently, this type of rhetoric plays well in the American south, where the people, mostly poorly educated, eagerly accept the idea that Democrats are actively engaged in ruining our nation.

Fortunately, this type of language is not particularly effective elsewhere.

More to the point, we used to have political opponents, rather than enemies.  We hire these people to make laws that guide our lives, and sometimes these processes require compromise, or at least the recognition that the guy across the aisle is actually not a traitor to his country.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I love Moyers.

Let’s put so much hope and trust into our teachers, pay them as if they were the trash we are barely willing to collect.

Let’s make sure they have no capacity to discipline their pupils.

Then, as often as not, let’s, send them into our inner cities and let them deal with gun violence that’s laid so many of their peers and so many of the tens of thousands of little pupils into early graves.

And then let’s blame them when our kids can’t read or write.

We deserve every cent of the cost to our society.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In addition to what former Labor Secretary Robert Reich writes here, as I understand it, the real scandal is that DeJoy has a direct incentive to degrade the level of quality provided by the U.S. Post Office: his eight-figure investment in a competitive mail delivery service.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

What’s remarkable about these words from Pope Francis isn’t that they accurately express an important truth; anyone with any sense and integrity recognized the fallacy of trickle-down economics decades ago.

What’s worth noting is they came from the leader of the Catholic Church, an institution that hadn’t done much for humankind over its 1600-year history until Francis came along.

Tagged with: