It is September and there about two months until the midterm elections. Washington D.C. is crazy, even by its own messed up standards, as Trump is increasingly isolated and alone in the White House. Anonymous op-eds, tell all books, and the constant drumbeat of scandal have made the past year and a half seem like an eternity. Heck, Trump has even managed to alienate some of his staunchest supporters by going down the old “dumb southerner” route. Way to go Donny Two Scoops.
It sounds trite, but the only hope for a path forward is to vote for candidates who will actually hold this administration accountable for its misdeeds.
On to the links…
A ‘Jaw-Dropping’ 15 Million Super-Environmentalists Don’t Vote in the Midterms—I do not know what a “super environmentalist” is, but I know that if there are really 15 million people out there eligible to vote yet do not cast ballots in November we deserve everything Republicans can do to us.
We Could Shift to Sustainability and Save $26 trillion. Why are Aren’t We Doing It?—Maybe because we live in a world where the “most power man on the face of the Earth” is a running joke of a human being. Seriously, how can we have a substantive discussion about a transition to a sustainable global economy when the President of the United States spends more time on Twitter than reading briefing books?
An Old Anti-Irish Law Is at the Heart of Trump’s Plan to Reshape Legal Immigration—This is just the old racist handbook employed by politicians in the United States and across the globe for the past two hundred years.
Trump’s EPA Reconsidering Power Plant Rule Preventing 11,000 Premature Deaths Per Year—Here is what you get with the modern Republican party: more pollution and more death. As long as the policy favors a rich interest like coal mining or oil drilling Republicans will favor the policy despite its impact on actual people.
The Giant Coal Plant Converting to Green Energy—We can debate just how “green” biomass burning is relative to other renewable energy sources, but is has to better than coal. Why can’t we start a program of reforesting denuded landscapes with trees for biomass and convert coal power plants to burn the biomass in the U.S. Is there not a large amount of acreage in Appalachia that has been devastated by mountaintop removal mining that could be part of this plan?
You’ve Heard of Outsourced Jobs, but Outsourced Pollution? It’s Real, and Tough to Tally Up—Imagine if a country claimed that it had reached a 10% emissions target. Everyone applauds. However, imagine if that country reached that goal by ceasing production of cement and buying it from a foreign provider. The total emissions are unchanged, but one country’s scorecard looks a lot better.
Lego Wants to Completely Remake Its Toy Bricks (Without Anyone Noticing)—When I was in business school I sat in on a presentation by someone from LEGO. The presenter was discussing quality control and production consistency. The crazy thing was that he said bricks made today needed to be made to the same tolerances as bricks made thirty years or more earlier because customers expected them to be compatible. Imagine another product having that same kind of concern and being designed for children.
Is California Becoming Unlivable?—California has always been a place of climactic extremes and natural disasters. Maybe it was never meant to be such a large state in terms of population and economic activity.
Five, just Five, Solutions to Roll Back Greenhouse Gas Emissions.—It does not seem so hard:
- Radical Efficiency! (Reduce demand!)
- Radical Sufficiency! (Appropriate technology!)
- Radical Simplicity! (Keep it dumb!)
- Electrify Everything!
- Decarbonize Construction!
Top 10 Secrets about Stress and Health—It is no secret that stress is detrimental to your health.
My Green Misadventure 