What's wrong with this picture? This is a screen capture from a new reality show on The History Channel called Bamazon. It's about eight construction workers from Alabama who decide to go to the Amazon in search of a fortune in gold. They mine gold in the Amazon the way we used to do itContinue reading “Bamazon: A jungle reality show that doesn’t strike it rich”
Category Archives: activism
Ojai Valley News: CA shale oil 3/5ths of Prudhoe Bay
In the Ojai Valley News, friend Marianne Ratliffe digs deep into the story of how fracking is coming to Ventura County in particular and the state of California in general, and uncovers a world of new information on the latest. Terrific story. Here's the punchline, I think: California is the fourth-largest oil-producing state in theContinue reading “Ojai Valley News: CA shale oil 3/5ths of Prudhoe Bay”
How to deny climate change with Antarctic sea ice record
A recent study, brilliantly explained in November by the Guardian, lays out the story of a slight but consistent rise in the extent of Antarctic sea ice. The mystery of the expansion of sea ice around Antarctica, at the same time as global warming is melting swaths of Arctic sea ice, has been solved using data from US military satellites. TwoContinue reading “How to deny climate change with Antarctic sea ice record”
The “fiscal cliff” and the climate cliff: Tom Toles
A month ago the environmental Time reporter Bryan Walsh, commenting on Paul Krugman and the fiscal cliff, laid out the basic equivalence between these two crises, one manufactured, the other real: The fiscal crisis and global warming are both, to put it bluntly, problems for tomorrow. Even if Congress can’t come to an agreement toContinue reading “The “fiscal cliff” and the climate cliff: Tom Toles”
To wipe out coastal cities, burn the fossil fuels: Hansen
In his latest posting, James Hansen looks at ice sheet loss in Greenland and Antartcia, and warns of the possiblility of an exponential ice sheet loss rate. Posing the question, he asks: A crucial question is how rapidly the Greenland (or Antarctic) ice sheet can disintegrate in response to global warming. Earth's history makes itContinue reading “To wipe out coastal cities, burn the fossil fuels: Hansen”
A quick fix for global warming: Replace kerosene lamps
A new study out of UC Berkeley finds that simply replacing kerosene lamps, used by approx one billion people around the world, could substantially reduce black carbon, a tremendously effective heating agent in the atmosphere. From the press release: "7 to 9 percent of the kerosene in wick lamps — used for light in 250-300Continue reading “A quick fix for global warming: Replace kerosene lamps”
Thought experiment: Imagine the end of NYC by drowning
Can't really do it, can you? Don't worry, it's not you, it's us. If we can’t imagine our own deaths, as Freud insisted, how can we be expected to imagine the death of a city? From a great op-ed/essay by James Atlas. In today's New York Times, of course. With an image to match…
How to start a conversation: David Brooks
David Brooks, the conservative columnist for The New York Times, can be irritating to a Californian: During his first term, President Obama faced a wicked problem: How do you govern in a highly polarized, evenly divided country with House Republicans who seem unwilling to compromise? The GOP did not "seem" to be unwilling to compromise.Continue reading “How to start a conversation: David Brooks”
Check Yourself: How to fight (testicular) cancer
My feature on the subject today in the VC Reporter: Check Yourself. With excellent pics by Matt Hill.
McKibben stands up for the climate against Obama admin
Bill McKibben vs. Obama administrators: In March, 2009, the White House invited leaders of environmental organizations to a meeting. The invitees thought they were going to hear about the president’s strategy on climate change, in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December. And they did — aides to theContinue reading “McKibben stands up for the climate against Obama admin”
Kit Stolz 