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Category Archives: Environment
The ‘new normal’ has been postponed (and probably canceled)
The ‘new normal’ has been postponed (and probably canceled) There remains a hope that once we get past the economic and social effects of the pandemic, all of us will be able to return to something resembling normal life before the pandemic—even if it is a “new normal” marked by heightened vigilance and protection against […]
What Are Your ‘Ecological Virtues?’
What Are Your ‘Ecological Virtues?’ For example, are you performing ‘just acts,’ or just performing? A new book of essays invites readers to reflect. ‘If one strives to live a life worthy of the mountain by challenging the systems that threaten its beauty, one must reform one’s internal habitus…’ Photo of Mount Fairweather via Shutterstock. As […]
Is the Green Deal a card shuffle trick?
Is the Green Deal a card shuffle trick? (NOTE; this is not an analysis of the US New Green Deal, it is about the “green growth” narrative with the European Green Deal as the point of departure.) The European Green Deal is a ”growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous […]
“Powerful” Hurricane Teddy Strengthens To Cat 4 With Canada In Crosshairs; Tropical Depression 22 Forms In Gulf
“Powerful” Hurricane Teddy Strengthens To Cat 4 With Canada In Crosshairs; Tropical Depression 22 Forms In Gulf The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is closely monitoring “powerful” Hurricane Teddy as it continues to churn in the Atlantic Ocean and could make landfall in Canada early next week. As of 0500 ET Friday, Teddy is generating 130 mph winds (Category 4) […]
Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions are Fate
Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions are Fate Mill, Halsey, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. I developed a model of Global Warming based on the anthropogenic perturbation of the Carbon Cycle. The essence of this model is a rate equation for the evolution of the carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere. The interesting results from this model […]
Catastrophic Hurricanes Are the ‘New Normal,’ and They Will Cost Trillions
Catastrophic Hurricanes Are the ‘New Normal,’ and They Will Cost Trillions Taxpayers and already struggling communities are largely bearing the brunt of the costs for climate change-fueled disasters created by big oil and big business. “We got a little bit lucky,” said President Donald Trump about the storm which killed at least six people in […]
Climate explained: why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth’s climate
Climate explained: why carbon dioxide has such outsized influence on Earth’s climate I heard that carbon dioxide makes up 0.04% of the world’s atmosphere. Not 0.4% or 4%, but 0.04%! How can it be so important in global warming if it’s such a small percentage? I am often asked how carbon dioxide can have an important […]
Delaware Just Sued 30 Fossil Fuel Companies and the American Petroleum Institute Over Climate ‘Denial and Disinformation’
Delaware Just Sued 30 Fossil Fuel Companies and the American Petroleum Institute Over Climate ‘Denial and Disinformation’ Delaware, the home state of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, announced on Thursday, September 10 that it is taking dozens of major oil and gas companies including BP, Chevron, and ExxonMobil to court over the rising costs of climate impacts […]
The Net Zero Emissions Lie
The Net Zero Emissions Lie Cutting carbon emissions has become a central focus of countries and companies alike in the past decade. The oil majors are racing to ‘go green, Microsoft has pledged to go ‘carbon negative’, and over 20 nations have either committed to or achieved net-zero carbon targets. For public companies, the incentives to go green are […]
Why Permaculture?
Image by author Why Permaculture? It’s been several years since I first stumbled upon permaculture, and several years minus a couple of months since I started doing my best to practice it. Many people have a similar story, and my guess is, like me, they’ve been asked dozens, possibly hundreds, of times what permaculture is. But, it’s […]
Is there a limit to optimism when it comes to climate change?
Is there a limit to optimism when it comes to climate change? Photo by Lance Cheung/USDA ‘We’re doomed’: a common refrain in casual conversation about climate change. It signals an awareness that we cannot, strictly speaking, avert climate change. It is already here. All we can hope for is to minimise climate change by keeping global average […]
Nobel prize-winning economics of climate change is misleading and dangerous – here’s why
Nobel prize-winning economics of climate change is misleading and dangerous – here’s why While climate scientists warn that climate change could be catastrophic, economists such as 2018 Nobel prize winner William Nordhaus assert that it will be nowhere near as damaging. In a 2018 paper published after he was awarded the prize, Nordhaus claimed that 3°C of warming would reduce global […]
Possible Future Trends of CO2 Concentration and Global Temperature
Possible Future Trends of CO2 Concentration and Global Temperature Wildfire smoke and power line, northern California. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) has been accumulating in the atmosphere since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution (~1750), because increasingly voluminous fluxes of that gas have been exhausted from the lands and the oceans, and […]
Do we have room for a billion Americans?
Do we have room for a billion Americans? As I was reading Matthew Yglesias’ piece “The Case for Adding 672 Million More Americans,” the Soviet-era designation of Mother Heroine, initiated by Joseph Stalin in 1944, came to mind. Stalin and subsequent Soviet leaders gave Mother Heroine medals to mothers who bore and raised 10 or more children. Lesser […]
