You don’t need to be a climatologist to see which way the weather is heading. It’s getting warmer. Glaciers around the world are vanishing into the sky; if the current warming trend continues, Glacier National Park will be without glaciers by 2030. The Greenland ice sheet is melting at 250 percent the rate it wasContinue reading “The Future Taps Us On the Shoulder”
Author Archives: Kit Stolz
If Only We Watched the Snowpack the Way We Watch “American Idol”
Water managers in California have been concerned about global warming for years, knowing that if the Sierra snow pack doesn’t accumulate, or melts early, we simply do not have the reservoir capacity to compensate. More action has been taken than many realize; in Ventura County, for example, a major underground reservoir was constructed for theContinue reading “If Only We Watched the Snowpack the Way We Watch “American Idol””
The Scientist Becomes a Star–And Passes the Baton to Al Gore
James Hansen, whose important address to the American Geophysical Union in December inspired a clumsy attempt to muzzle him by a young public relations official from the Bush/Cheney campaign, has become something of a media star. The good news is that the controversy, a humiliation for a once-revered agency, has inspired a good faith pledgeContinue reading “The Scientist Becomes a Star–And Passes the Baton to Al Gore”
The Clock of the Long Now
On a walk the other night I was listening through my futuristic little Shuffle iPod to John Lennon being interviewed by Jann Wenner back in l972, and couldn’t help but be struck by Lennon’s eagerness to see the future. I can’t remember exactly how he put it, but his faith was absolute, unbending, full. HowContinue reading “The Clock of the Long Now”
Big News: Obama is a Crack-Up!
According to a transcript helpfully provided by the Chicago Tribune’s political blog, known as The Swamp, Barack Obama is funny. Really! Here’s just a couple of lines from his speech at the annual Gridiron Club roast. The target this year was Dick Cheney, of course. Word has it that the Big Veep was laughing soContinue reading “Big News: Obama is a Crack-Up!”
Am I a Hairless Chihauhau?
In today’s LATimes, Hal Clifford writes very amusingly about a not-so-funny possibility: That our way of life as we know it will soon collapse, leaving us as vulnerable as a hairless chihuahua in the woods. I live a comfortable, conventional life that is at odds with what I know intellectually. A life that I amContinue reading “Am I a Hairless Chihauhau?”
Troubling Fantasies
The famous farmer, poet, professor, and writer Wendell Berry confronts the industrial/scientific complex in a deeply troubling essay in a recent issue of The Hudson Review. When recently honored by the Smithsonian, Berry insisted that: "Part of the reason for writing all these essays is my struggle never to quit, to never utter those awfulContinue reading “Troubling Fantasies”
Quote of the Week
"A party of great vested interests banded together in a formidable configuration: corruption at home, aggression to cover it up abroad, sentiment by the bucket-full, patriotism by the imperial pint, the open hand at the public exchequer, the open door at the public house, dear food for the millions, cheap labor for the millionaire." WinstonContinue reading “Quote of the Week”
Graph of the Week
From the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Seeing No Evil–Nor Any Global Warming
It’s one solution to global warming: let our environmental satellites "collapse." From a CNN story: Scientists warn that the consequences of neglecting Earth-observing satellites could have more than academic consequences. It is possible that when a big volcano starts rumbling in the Pacific Northwest, a swarm of tornadoes sweeps through Oklahoma or a massive hurricaneContinue reading “Seeing No Evil–Nor Any Global Warming”
Kit Stolz 