Give credit to the NY TImes: they still put whole speeches of note on the front page and on the record. Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce today, President Obama pledged co-operation, but defended sensible regulations (such as we didn't have in the financial meltdown) and added a verbal jab: So if I've got oneContinue reading “Obama: American businesses sitting on two trillion”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Severe weather in 2010: food price inflation in 2011
As I've said before, it's just not fair that Paul Krugman is not only the best lefty writing about the economy, he's also the lefty best able to write about the consequences of global warming.
From today's column, a taste…more below the virtual fold.
While several factors have contributed to soaring food prices, what really stands out is the extent to which severe weather events have disrupted agricultural production. And these severe weather events are exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see as rising concentrations of greenhouse gases change our climate — which means that the current food price surge may be just the beginning.
Hansen sees rapid sea level rise this century
Back in l981, as a relatively young man, a physicist named James Hansen led a team that reported in Science on Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. The paper predicted that the warming signal would emerge clearly from the noise of natural variability by the end of the century. In the 21st century, saidContinue reading “Hansen sees rapid sea level rise this century”
The lives of the harvesters
Grist features a photographic essay about the immigrant farmworkers who harvest the fruits and vegetables in California, earning little, working hard, feeding the nation. According to The Migrant Project, California agriculture produces about fifty percent of the nation's food supply, which means that these folks do about half the fieldwork in the country. The photoContinue reading “The lives of the harvesters”
Cold this winter? Take another look at the Arctic Paradox
As another huge storm turns south towards the Midwest, some say that the cold winter can be explained by the Arctic Paradox, which links a natural phenomenon (the Arctic Oscillation) to a man-made phenomenon (diminishing ice in the Arctic), which combines to let polar winds escape southward. First question: Is ice in the Arctic really diminishing? ThisContinue reading “Cold this winter? Take another look at the Arctic Paradox”
The political wit of Jeff Tweedy (with music too!)
Sometimes I think the Internet is the greatest invention ever, and sometimes I think it's the greatest waste of time in world history. But sometimes you can split the difference. You can listen to music and do other stuff at the same time. Plus, of course, the music can be pretty darn wonderful. Such asContinue reading “The political wit of Jeff Tweedy (with music too!)”
David Brower sees a UFO
Gotta love an autobiography in which a man will confess to everything he's ever seen, even if it makes him sound a little crazy. Here's David Brower, in his delightful autobiography For Earth's Sake (l990): When I was eight, walking home one day [in Berkeley], I happened to look up at the sky and sawContinue reading “David Brower sees a UFO”
The fate of the mountains under climate change: a ray of hope for the Sierra?
In his inimitably far-sighted way, John Muir considered the fate of the Sierra Nevada in an era of climate change, long before global warming even began to take hold. In August 1875, in his journal, he wrote: I often wonder what man will do with the mountains…Will human destructions like those of Nature — fireContinue reading “The fate of the mountains under climate change: a ray of hope for the Sierra?”
American Have-Nots: Too poor to afford Hollywood?
The collapse in revenue generated by the entertainment business has analysts thinking deeply: The anemic economy…is widening the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, making it tougher for some consumers to justify paying for cable or tossing a new DVD into the shopping cart. "Right now it is a tale of two cities," [Craig]Continue reading “American Have-Nots: Too poor to afford Hollywood?”
How to reduce greenhouse gas levels
Research brings forward two possibilities from the past: Kill a lot of people: Over the course of the century and a half run of the Mongol Empire, about 22 percent of the world's total land area had been conquered and an estimated 40 million people were slaughtered by the horse-driven, bow-wielding hordes. Depopulation over suchContinue reading “How to reduce greenhouse gas levels”
Kit Stolz 