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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

A couple of comments on the meme.

There is a distinction to be made between a natural disaster like an earthquake, which has virtually nothing to do with human activity, and wildfires and hurricanes which are greatly exacerbated by human-caused climate change.

The frequency and severity of disasters is not the only criterion for deciding on a place to live.  If you’re not a hateful moron, you probably don’t want to live in a state in which you’ll be surrounded by rednecks.  I would not live in Florida, even if its physical environment were Shangi-la.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

The ridiculous claims made by cleantech scammers are made possible by Americans’ amazing level of ignorance when it comes to science.

Ask yourself how it is remotely possible that driving a hydrogen fuel-cell based car purifies the air.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized
From Arizona Republican political figure Kari Lake, “I just want the people of AZ and America to know that I’m (still) fighting it .. and that’s why we created Save Arizona Fund.”  
Adds a reader:  possibly the “Save Kari Lake” fund.

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Between environmental collapse, world fascism, and nuclear holocaust, it’s not easy to name the threat that is most likely to take us down.

And let’s not forget runaway AI.  Carl Sagan warned us many decades ago that we are a civilization built on the exponential development of technology in the context of a society that is almost entirely ignorant of even the most basic elements of science.

We Americans have a tendency to be insular in our thinking, i.e., to entertain the belief that nothing of any real consequence happens outside our borders.  Yet, I think there is a great deal of validity to the idea that the U.S. is at a make-break point, and, that if we can stave off the attack on our democracy and restore rule of law and the acceptance of science in the policy-making, we can lead the world back into some level of rationality and normality.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

There are a number of kitchen appliances on the market that claim to have benefits over the way garbage is traditionally processed, i.e., by being thrown away to decompose in landfills. Of these, Lomi (shown at left) seems to be the largest in terms of sales.

Some of these claims are exaggerated, while others are blatantly false.  True, if you overfill your trash bags, they will spill unwanted garbage onto the floor.  If you leave an open garbage bag under your sink for more than a few days, it will stink.  If you live in rural environments and have no trashcan lids, you may attract raccoons.

But if you think you’re doing the environment a favor by plugging this device into the grid and using electricity to remove the water from your garbage, you’re 100% incorrect.  The scene in their promotional video that shows a net savings in pollution from processing garbage and other green waste using this device isn’t just misleading; it’s a lie.

Notice that they never show a power cord; the device is always photographed with the cord tucked away.

They claim:  Lomi is the easiest, lowest cost investment you can make in fighting climate change. Pure bullshit.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Re: this meme on atheism, I doubt that an examination of the bible causes any significant number of people to disbelieve in God.

I suggest that, like so many other aspects of human behavior, it’s a matter of how our brains are “wired.” Some people are incapable of accepting ideas, especially ideas with huge impact on ourselves and our civilization, without evidence.  The matter becomes ever clearer with each passing year and the accumulation of physical evidence in scientific disciplines like astrophysics and evolutionary biology.

Others, whether it’s through fear of death or the teachings of their parents, are eager to glom onto a concept that puts their fate in the hands of a loving God, who has a plan for their lives, albeit a mysterious and unknowable one.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

At left is a screen shot from this video that suggests that we will soon have robots to fill our gas tanks.

That means that somewhere, someone thinks there will be enormous investments in this infrastructure that will pay for themselves before electric transportation becomes ubiquitous.

Preposterous.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Kudos to the author of the meme here.

With the possible exception of Trump, this smarmy used-car salesman is the most transparent liar that American politics has ever seen.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s another reminder of the “chicken-and-the-egg” question that we face in our attempt to understand contemporary American politics. Did American hatred and ignorance cause Trump, or was it the other way around?

In any case, we have a country in which about one-third of its people believe that woke liberals hate America and are trying to destroy it.

Note that this is much different than the way the Republican party characterized progressives just a few short years ago.   Until Trump, the GOP would say that liberals were ill-informed bleeding hearts, hoping to create a utopian society built on impractical ideas.

Now, we’re evil.  Quite a switch indeed.

Since the beginning, Trump has counted on the idea that a huge swath of the American electorate would believe anything he said.  And, for a long while, it appeared that this “swath” was large enough to keep him in power and immune from criminal prosecution.

Now it appears that this notion is simply wrong. Thank God.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Rock legend “The Boss” has nailed it.  Trump supporters are somewhere between one-quarter and one-third of the American electorate.

And that’s now, before the entire world is exposed to the extensive evidence proving that Trump committed 91 felonies, most of which were associated with his attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

Sadly, there are people who don’t care that Trump is a criminal conman, who would happily vote for anyone or anything rather than a Democrat.  But fortunately, they’re in the minority.

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