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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

As time passes and temperature records continue to be broken, we will see fewer and fewer people speaking like the frog in this cartoon.

Some will realize that they have been conned by the lies of Big Oil, but most will simply get on board with climate science without knowing precisely why.

Sadly, it really doesn’t matter what the majority of people believe, nor, really, does it matter how they vote.  Keep in mind that 91% of voters are demanding mandatory background checks for prospective gun owners, but that issue cannot even be discussed on the floors of Congress.

What will eventually happen is that the forces of pure market economics, e.g., the plummeting costs of solar, wind, energy storage, etc. will overwhelm the fossil fuel industry and make it obsolete.   How much damage will have been done in the process is anyone’s guess.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

If workers can be replaced with AI, or a variety of other technologies, what’s the incentive for CEOs and their corporations’ investors to keep labor alive?  In this less than one-minute video, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich argues that unemployed, suddenly poor people can’t afford to buy the stuff that these corporations produce.  He says in summation, “We’re all in this together.”

I’m not sure.  What does the impoverishment of a few million American workers mean to multinational corporations, most of whose customers live in far-flung regions around the globe?  What they can’t sell here, they’re selling all over Europe and Asia.

My local drug store, a CVS, has laid off its check-out clerks in favor of automated checkout machines.  They have 9967 extremely profitable locations and a market cap of $92 billion.  If you think they care an iota about their formerly employed Americans who are now living off food stamps, you’re an idiot.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

One of the great mysteries of American politics is why the people who are in the greatest need of good jobs, quality education, and free healthcare vote for people who ensure that their constituents will continue to live miserable lives.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

If there is anything we’ve learned from watching Trump in action over the eight years since he came on the American political scene, it’s that he always accuses his enemies of the precise set of crimes of which he himself is guilty.

Get a load of what he told a conservative audience the other day.  From Ring of Fire:  During his speech at this past weekend’s Turning Points conference in Florida, Donald Trump claimed that the United States had become a “third world hellhole” that is being run by “perverts” and “thugs.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I guess there are people who are impressed with Bill Barr’s integrity, now that he’s starting to tell the truth about Trump.

During the years Barr was Trump’s attorney general, he looked the other way while his boss was desperately trying to overthrow the U.S. government, but now we’re getting some actual candor.

Personally, I’m not too taken by a man who tells the truth only when he has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Kudos to cartoonist “Emmerson” whose work appears below.

We do indeed have a twisted sense of priorities.

Most Americans are aware of climate change and other elements of environmental collapse, but we’re a) stressed about near-term aspects of our lives, and b) largely apathetic, given that human civilization seems to be making such a pathetic amount of progress in decarbonizing its energy and transportation sectors.

In addition, we’re victims of propaganda coming from Big Oil, and, to a lesser degree, Big Meat.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s a company that claims it enables its customer to reduce emissions associated with heating their homes by 90%.  The concept is the operation of a heat pump with off-peak (cheap) electricity, and the distribution of that heat to the house as needed around the 24-hour cycle.

They apparently are counting on the fact that you don’t understand, as shown in these charts, that off-peak electricity is no cleaner that what’s available when demand is highest.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s never a good idea to dismiss something Mark Twain said out of hand.

Yet the majority of Americans are on the right side of most political issues. We want common sense gun laws, quality education, women’s rights, universal healthcare, and environmental responsibility.

We recognize Trump as a sociopathic criminal, and demand that he be held accountable for his attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Why don’t you call him a rapscallion or a rogue?

Trump’s a supremely talented criminal, who cheated his way to the very top. Many aspire; he achieved.  He brought our country to its knees.  Why doesn’t Christie call him a “cad?”  That would hurt, wouldn’t it?

It would be such a relief to have a Republican indicate this most blatant truth. As if that’s going to happen.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

From this:

Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo has withdrawn the state of Nevada from the U.S. Climate Alliance, the national coalition aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The alliance is made up of 25 governors across the country working to advance the goals set out by the Paris Agreement, an international treaty adopted by 196 countries.

In a letter sent by Lombardo on July 5, he describes the group as “ambitious and well-intentioned” though says that its goals “conflict with Nevada’s energy policy objectives.”

He also points to Executive Order 2023-07, which establishes the state’s “energy policy objectives.” These objectives include “developing and maintaining a diverse energy supply portfolio” while “utilizing a balanced approach to electric and natural gas energy supply and transportation fuels.”

Each of the 50 states has a unique political landscape, though Nevada’s is similar to others that feature huge rural expanses populated by undereducated people who tend to be Trump supporters, deeply resentful of all things “woke.”

Thus it comes as no surprise that Nevada’s governor is appealing to these people’s sensibilities, thumbing his nose at our extreme dire environmental issues.

We either find a way around spineless and greedy politicians, or we slowly bake our planet.

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