Zen & the Art of Archaeological Maintenance
Being in the moment.
Author Archive
On Deniers, Warmistas, and Watermelons
Nothing seems to shake the climate rafters like a fierce debate over the labels that combatants use to smack each other around. Although this thread from yesterday is still going strong, I thought I would break out a comment that rises above the scrum: My belief is that those who are affected most negatively by the…Continue Reading…
When Ignorance is Invincible
This is painful to rehash, but I want to draw your attention to a streak of foreign policy ignorance that persisted in the 2000s. On a related (and more recent) note, four days after President Obama authorized a military campaign against Libya, I found this headline disconcerting: Who are the Libyan Rebels? U.S. tries to…Continue Reading…
Who's Exploiting the Holocaust?
Whether you believe the term”climate denier” is used accurately or unfairly in the climate debate, I’d be curious to hear what you think of this headline atop Andrew Bolt’s latest column: Six million Jews didn’t die so Combet could smear a sceptic
The Lonely Hearts Club
It wasn’t that long ago that George Monbiot was accusing Stewart Brand of running the most insidious and subtle exercise in corporate propaganda I have yet encountered. I thought it was a tad hyperbolic. But that was then. It turns out that both of these environmentalist icons share remarkably similar views on nuclear power, coal, and…Continue Reading…
The Romm & Watts Variety Hour
It would be so entertaining, wouldn’t it? Can someone please cut through the BS for me and explain what is going on with their dueling posts on this Berkley Earth Temperature Station business? Romm’s latest contains not one but two “bombshells,” a “wow” and a “double wow.” He also says that he meant all along to…Continue Reading…
Same As It Ever Was
From Bloomberg News: Saudi Aramco and China National Petroleum Corp. agreed to build a 200,000 barrel-a-day refinery in southern China as producers seek to meet rising fuel demand in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Same. As. It. Ever. Was. Might as well enjoy this classic from one of the best concert movies evah.
The Blues Life
Pinetop Perkins, who just passed away at the age of 97, was one of those ageless blues musicians. Jeez, I first saw him over two decades ago at the old Lone Star Cafe in Manhattan (I miss that iguana on the roof!). Here he is going strong at 95. Here’s how he lived life in his…Continue Reading…
On Climate Change, Attribution & a Shiny New Bow
If you thought assigning attribution of individual weather disasters to global climate change was tricky business, imagine trying to establish a causal link between specific ecological problems and global warming. In this commentary in Nature Climate Change, ecologist Camille Parmesan and her co-authors suggest not going there. It’s not that they think global warming doesn’t adversely…Continue Reading…
Facing up to "Environmental Change"
Cleo Paskal, whose book I reviewed last year, has a smart piece on what’s being left out in risk assessments for energy installations: First, due to changing environmental conditions (sea level rise, subsidence, changing storm activity, etc.), historical records may no longer be reliable predictors for future risks. For example, the summer of 2003 was…Continue Reading…