Ventura County in Southern California is represented in the Congress by Elton Gallegly, a Simi Valley Republican who has served for ten terms and will, after some indecision, run again in the fall. I disagree with Gallegly on many issues, but it’s a fact that he has avoided the worst excesses of the modern-day GOP,Continue reading “Moderation Can Be Useful–Even For Republicans”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
Al Gore Speaks: Deniers Freak
The release of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth climate change documentary next week has oil co-funded deniers at the anti-regulation Competitive Enterprise Institute and at FOXNews in full tizzy mode. According to Kevin Drum and Christina Larson at Political Animal, the "thinktank" is responding with a week-long television advertising campaign in fourteen US cities thatContinue reading “Al Gore Speaks: Deniers Freak”
The Sound of the Northern Ice
About six months ago I had the bright idea of pulling together resources on climate change for students, who despite a generational interest in the issue, often are daunted by the vastness of the subject. But it turns out that Andrew Revkin of The New York Times, along with the paper’s Learning Network and theContinue reading “The Sound of the Northern Ice”
Telling the Nation
A couple of weeks ago, David Roberts at Gristmill had the chance to interview climate change hero Al Gore and kindly solicited questions. My question for him was: Does Al ever feel like saying "I Told You So" to the nation? Roberts didn’t ask Gore the question, but the thought has crossed Gore’s mind. OnContinue reading “Telling the Nation”
Sick? Or Just Burned Out?
"The environment" (God, I hate that word) also includes our lives at work, and in an important column last week in the NYTimes (excerpted below the fold) Paul Krugman discusses a carefully designed study that compared the health of Americans versus the health of Britons. The study finds that despite spending twice as much money, on average, as the Brits, Americans are far sicker.
Malcolm Gladwell, the gifted writer for the New Yorker, discusses the column and solicits comments on his fairly-new blog, and makes the crucial point:
Krugman argues that this is evidence of how much more stressful living in America is than living in England. I think that’s absolutely right. I would simply add that it is one more nail in the coffin of the notion that good health is something that can be purchased through fancy, high-tech drugs and doctors and hospitals. I know the idea that health care is just another consumer good is pretty popular at the moment. But its very hard to read the JAMA study, see what our $5274 actually buys us–and still believe in that notion. Our health is in reality a function of the broader society in which we live–the pressures and conditions and environments in which we find ourselves.
As one of the comments on Gladwell’s post points out, Americans consider themselves lucky to get paid for two or three weeks a year of vacation; in Britain, it’s five or six weeks. This is no small difference; and, I strongly suspect, a big reason why Americans lives are so much more stressful and so much less healthy than the Brits, even though Americans smoke less and drink less.
A solution? My fantasy is that a well-liked candidate runs for President on a platform of providing a month of paid vacation per working American per year. When I mention this people give me the sort of tolerant looks that one turns on crazy people, but why is this deranged? That we should have a tenth or so of our time for ourselves? And not for money? Man, don’t even mention it. That’s crazy…
Andrew Sullivan Stops Scoffing
Most right-wing commentators (such as George Will) still refuse to face the facts on our changing climate, so it’s worth pointing out an exception to the rule. Andrew Sullivan also happens to be my favorite right-wing commentator, partly for his relative open-mindedness, but mostly for his sheer ability to write. The cold fury with whichContinue reading “Andrew Sullivan Stops Scoffing”
Sunset from the Topa Topas
For my pal Cary’s birthday a week ago we went on a backing trip. Not an easy trip–somehow, the Sespe backcountry’s always tough–but one that left us lots of memories. Cary had a great time, I can honestly report. We first went to the top of the local ridge, the Topa Topas, at about 6500Continue reading “Sunset from the Topa Topas”
Struggling Through a Bog
Faithful readers know that in recent months yours truly has been troubled by a frustration with the modern nature of time itself. That’s putting it pretentiously, but sometimes one has to reach above the routine to express the sense of a change, and for the moment, it’s the best I can do. But you mightContinue reading “Struggling Through a Bog”
For and Against Hope
In a hard essay in this month’s Orion, Derrick Jensen argues forcefully against hope. But no matter what environmentalists do, our best efforts are insufficient. We’re losing badly, on every front. Those in power are hell-bent on destroying the planet, and most people don’t care. Frankly, I don’t have much hope. But I think that’sContinue reading “For and Against Hope”
The 3% Solution
From Time magazine, which has been surprisingly feisty lately, a story called The Fix For High Gas Prices That Congress Won’t Touch. The telling quote: The cantankerous Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has made repeat appearances on CNBC this week to bark out a stern conservation message. "If everyone cut back their driving byContinue reading “The 3% Solution”
Kit Stolz 