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.” This, according to CoRev and like-minded denialists, was scientific evidence that climate change was a hoax. Part of the...
Read More »Enabling Fossil Fuel Addiction: It’s About More Than Money
Interesting article about local communities beginning to sue energy companies because of climate change and the mischaracterization of how oil products impact the nations climate. Down in Phoenix, we are seeing temperatures approaching the one hundred and teens. No relief is in sight for a couple of weeks. The same can be said for other parts of the country. The intriguing part is how the industry and advertisers are going about with messaging of...
Read More »1877
An important reason to read history is to gain a perspective on current events. If you watch exclusively mainstream media television, particularly Fox News, you might be forgiven for the belief that things in this country are the worst they have ever been in history. “1877: America’s Year of Living Violently” by Michael Bellisiles is one effective antidote to that impression.The panic of 1873, when a post-Civil War speculative bubble burst, launched...
Read More »Can architects and designers make a difference in the climate emergency?
Can architects and designers make a difference in the climate emergency? Carbon Upfront, Lloyd Alter, One prominent English architect says we should just shut up and draw, we don’t matter much anyway. I am single-minded when teaching sustainable design at Toronto Metropolitan University: it is all about carbon, carbon, carbon, the issue of our time. My students are urban, interior, and fashion designers in The Creative School at TMU....
Read More »Irrigation efficiency for who?
I live halfway between Phoenix and Tucson. Pretty much what you would call desert if you were new to the area like I am. Water is an issue as much of it comes from the Colorado river. The limits to draw water from the Colorado are still being determined or in a flux. The states are jockeying for more to insure growth. Nothing is stopping our small city from issuing more building permits. Irrigation efficiency for who? – The one-handed economist,...
Read More »The Economics of Economics
Little doubt, economic policy will be one of the things experiencing the greatest change due to Global Warming (Climate Change). Always a construct, economic policies have, heretofore, in the main, been determined by the powerful. Seldom, if ever, have they been based on how it should be. If we are lucky, in the very near future, that determination will become a democratic one based on how should it be. If not, we haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell...
Read More »Silent Spring’s Legacy Continues 60+ Years Later
Image of tractor and workers spraying is used courtesy of Getty Images. Originally published June 30, 1962, the book Silent Spring was banned initially. It was met with great resistance by many. Carson was advocating a more careful use of the pesticide. Instead, DDT was banned from any use. Globally, other countries followed suit. And the deaths from malaria increased again. Fortunately, more disciplined minds prevailed in the use of DDT....
Read More »Love of the Land and Community Inspired the Montana’s Youth Climate Change Lawsuit Against the State Goes to Court This Week
Love of the Land and Community Inspired the Montana Youths Whose Climate Lawsuit Against the State Goes to Court This Week, Inside Climate News, Richard Forbes. For the plaintiffs in the first youth climate lawsuit to go to trial, finding their voice and inspiring others has been as much a salve for their climate grief as bringing their case to trial. Rikki Held headed southeast into the badlands, eyes fixed on the billowing smoke as it...
Read More »Narrowing the scope of the 1972 Clean Water Act
One would have to be totally unknowing or have a ignorant disregard for wetlands near streams, rivers, and lakes. Wetlands purify our water by removing sediments and other pollutants including chemicals. Wetlands also filter and process excess nutrients that may runoff from agricultural and development sites. Wetlands hold on to the water long enough to allow the sediments and other pollutants to settle out and the purified water then enters...
Read More »A Few Sunday Morning Reads
Niagara Falls: Some things never change, Carbon Upfront, Lloyd Alter. In 1882 Oscar Wilde noted that “Niagara will survive any criticism of mine. I must say this, however, that it is the first disappointment in the married life of many Americans who spend their honeymoon there.” (Calling it the second disappointment is a misquote) I recently visited with my daughter Emma’s family, and not much has changed since 1882, or at least since my kids were...
Read More »