Mainstream media catching up with my This is Not Cool video series.
I’ve been hearing for years from TV meteorologists about their evolution on the climate issue.
Month: July 2022
Let Bison be Bison: Recovering the Prairie
Above, herding Bison (minimally) on native prairie in Oklahoma.
The Weekend Wonk: The Brink of a Food Crisis
Music Break: Randy Newman – Burn on, Big River
This week, Republicans rekindled their nostalgia for the good old days of unbridled pollution.
I was a deckhand on an iron ore freighter in the early 70s, and went up the Cuyahoga to the heart of the Cleveland industrial district more than once. It was like a hell from Hieronymus Bosch.
Chilean Reservoir Turning to Desert
Mirroring the critical situation in the US Southwest, the reservoir serving the city of Valparaiso, Chile, is drying up after extensive years-long drought, and rising temperatures. (HT to reader rhymeswithgoalie)
For comparison:
More Responses to SCOTUS-ocolypse
“Could have been worse” is cold comfort in an extinction event.
Ben Inskeep is Program Director of the Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana.
Seeing a lot of Very Serious People On Here trying to parse the West Virginia v. EPA ruling to say EPA can still regulate CO2, use other sections of the CAA or other tools, etc., and that we
I have bad news for you folks.🧵
While in this case SCOTUS did thread a needle, the principles used to justify (1) hearing this moot case and then (2) ruling against the EPA clearly show it doesn’t gaf about enacted legislation, precedent, or deference to expert admin agencies if it can score an ideological win.
If you have been paying attention the past 2 weeks, or the past 2+ decades, it is clear that the majority want to transmogrify our country into radically conservative Christian Theocracy and are not afraid of breaking norms to get there.
Sure, EPA can promulgate new climate regulations on the power sector. But those will also be challenged in court by fossil fuel and ideological interests.
Do you really think that this Supreme Court will uphold those? How could you after the judicial coup we are witnessing.
In Massachusetts v. EPA (2007), the Court ruled 5-4 that EPA must regulate CO2 if its causing climate change. 15 years later, we still have no power sector CO2 rules. And the Court now seems poised to overturn that case the first chance it gets.
So if you are banking on a Joe Biden EPA issuing new stringent CO2 regulations on the scale and timeline that we need, and then SCOTUS upholding those regulations, well, I think that’s a bit naïve and you’re setting yourself up for more disappointment.
Daniel Brown is a photographer/climatologist.
In Ladakh, Solutions to Climate Change Draw Controversy
Fascinating to me – as it’s such a mirror for us in the developing world.
In the Himalayas, the Ladakh region of India – one approach to extending precious water supplies in light of shrinking glaciers is a system of “ice Stupas” or artificial glaciers, which trap water during cold months and dole it out slowly in warmer seasons.
All too predictably, like the climate solutions (solar and wind energy) rolling out over the US heartland, the solution is drawing opposition from those who mistakenly, through misinformation, see it as a threat.