What Makes the Eastern U.S. Drought Different from the West’s

"Water levels are dropping in reservoirs. Multiple wildfires have ignited tinder-dry brush, exposing people across the region to harmful air pollution levels. It has barely rained for weeks.

"This time we’re not talking about the frequently drought-plagued western U.S. but rather the typically wetter eastern portion of the country—where an unusually severe drought has triggered water restrictions, damaged crops and fed as many fires in six weeks as New Jersey typically sees in six months. Some of the effects resemble those of dry periods out West, but drought in the East is a bit of a different beast."

Click on this link for the details.

Dependence On Fossil Fuels Is An Addiction

"In this episode, I’m venturing into new territory by discussing the environmental crisis with Dr. Roger Gottlieb, author of “The Sacrifice Zone.” Dr. Gottlieb offers a powerful perspective, arguing that avoidance and denial are the greatest environmental threats we face. He draws a compelling comparison between humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels and addiction, highlighting the challenges of inspiring action on climate change and overcoming feelings of powerlessness."

Click on the link below for more:

What would an environmental saint look like?

The Future Of Food

"The food industry is one of the biggest polluters on Earth, and as our planet’s population grows, we’ll need to find new ways to keep people fed while also protecting the climate. Today, I’m taking a look at some delicious (or not) food sources which might become common visitors to your dinner table in the future."

Click on the link below for a realistic possibility of what our food will be like in the future:

Goodbye Meat, Hello Crickets

Yes, We Can (Control Climate Change)

"Galvanize Climate Solutions Co-Founder Tom Steyer discusses his outlook for energy solutions that work for both companies and the consumers they service. He speaks with Bloomberg's Lisa Abramowicz and Annmarie Hordern."

Click on this link for the details.

Is Economic Growth Always Good?

"A 10th basic tenet of our system is that economic growth is always good.

"This, too, is utter bunk. Unconstrained economic growth is causing such grave harm to the climate that its costs are likely to be greater than the gains.

"Mainstream economists don’t measure the costs of growth. They talk about climate change as a so-called “externality,” as if it were just incidental to growth.

"But if you consider the deaths and injuries caused by chemical pollution, wildfires, and more intense hurricanes and storms, the costs of growth are huge.

"It’s possible to shift from an economy organized around growth to one organized around sustainability. How? Dramatically reduce the use of fossil fuels. Limit what can be mined and extracted."

"Treat the Earth the same way we treat any limited natural resource: We prevent overfishing by limiting the amounts of fish that can be taken out of the sea over a given period of time.

"We should also limit the amount of gunk that can be put into the air, limit how much plastic can be produced, how much of our coastlines can be developed, and how much land can be owned and developed.

"In other words, if we accept that the Earth is a finite resource, let’s also agree that infinite growth will destroy the Earth. It’s already on its way."

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/debunking-myth-10-economic-growth

Yes, Tucker, They ARE FOSSIL Fuels

"In this video, I provide context on a podcast that Tucker Carlson recently did with climate change denier Dr Willie Soon. It is mainly about the abiogenic petroleum theory, that is, the question whether the crust of planet Earth contains hydrocarbons that do not come from fossils, but I also have some comments on what Willie Soon said about the honesty of climate scientists."

Click on the link below for more about how climate change deniers are stooping to non-issues to confuse the gullible:

Fossil Fuels Don’t Come From Fossils? Tucker Carlson Fact Check

Deep-Sea Mining

"John Oliver discusses deep-sea mining, whether or not it’s worth doing, and which undersea creature he most wants to eat."

Click on this link for a critique of the practice of Deep-Sea Mining.

The Future Of Energy And Climate Is On The Line

"We’re back with another episode of our WITHpod 2024: The Stakes series, in which we choose specific areas of policy and talk to an expert about Trump and Biden’s records on the topic. This week, we’re discussing what’s at stake for an area of top salience: climate and energy. There’s a lot to unpack. David Roberts is the founder of the Volts podcast, newsletter, and community. He joins WITHpod to discuss the Biden administration’s record action on climate, rollbacks that would be likely during a second Trump term, why this moment is such an inflection point, and more."

Click on the link below for another podcast in a series analyzing the risks of another Trump presidency: 

The Stakes for Climate and Energy

Urban Tree Planting: A Solution To Climate Change?

"When it comes to cities, we know that planting trees will help urbanites endure the climate crisis by creating shade while photosynthesis can cool the atmosphere. But what many city planners and scientists have trouble implementing are cost-efficient and effective climate mitigation strategies. Many look to trees as an ideal solution, but even that’s proven hard to implement. In 2007, the City of Boston announced its plan to plant 100,000 trees in 10 years, but struggled to keep newly planted trees alive and ultimately failed to meet its goal.

"Since then, the climate crisis has only gotten worse with record breaking global summer temperatures and dangerous heat waves. A sweeping 2021 climate report released by the United Nations found the crisis is accelerating, not slowing, increasing the urgency to implement the best possible solutions to curb global climate disaster. So how can cities like Boston hope to succeed in mitigating climate change and cut their own carbon emissions?"

Click on the link below for more:

The MacArthur 'Genius' Changing How We Think About Urban Trees

Green Technology And Regulated Capitalism: An Optimistic Outlook

"Nuclear power contributes to nearly 20 percent of the electricity generated in America, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Enormous growth has occurred since the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which allocated more money towards climate, and green energy subsidies than any piece of legislation in American history. But a lot of work still remains. Jigar Shah is director of the Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, a role in which he oversees investing and scaling carbon free energy. Before this position, he was a clean tech investor. He joins WITHpod to discuss recent inflection points, the future of nuclear, the importance of remembering that 'big things' can be done and why he’s more hopeful now about the space more than ever."

Click on the link below for an understanding of how rapidly the conversion to Green Energy is happening within regulated capitalism:

The Explosion in Green Tech

Another Sign Of The Impending Existential Threat From Climate Change

"The mystery of the Siberian tundra craters may have been solved… but the discovery could point to something far more dangerous."

Click on the link below for the frightening details:

Frightening Reason Behind Explosions Over Tundra

Yes, Cold Snaps In Winter Can Be Caused By Global Warming

"After a summer of record-breaking heat, vast swaths of the United States are now grappling with extreme cold as a brutal Arctic blast brings snow squalls, deadly ice and life-threatening wind chills.

"As unprecedented heat makes way for cold, it can provide fuel for climate-change deniers who point to freezing temperatures as evidence that global warming is overstated.

"But scientists are clear: cold extremes will still occur even as winters warm overall.

"Global heat records outpace cold records — 2023 was the hottest year on record by a huge margin. And even as the US struggles to cope with intense bursts of heavy snow now, over the long term, the human-caused climate crisis has led to an alarming trend of disappearing snow in the Northern Hemisphere.

"Some scientists say that climate change may even be playing a role in these icy blasts, as warming in the Arctic increases the likelihood that frigid, polar air can sweep southwards."

Click on the link below for more against the conservative, anti-science propaganda:

Why we still have brutal cold snaps even as the planet warms to record levels

Reality Can Be Counter-Intuitive

"What is better, planting trees or covering the same area of land with solar panels? A group of geoscientists from Israel just looked at this, and they say that solar panels come out way ahead. Let's have a look at what the paper says."

Click on the link below for the details:

Solar arrays better than trees for climate, study says

Climate Change And The Details Of Science

"Many of the world's biggest problems require asking questions of scientists -- but why should we believe what they say? Historian of science Naomi Oreskes thinks deeply about our relationship to belief and draws out three problems with common attitudes toward scientific inquiry -- and gives her own reasoning for why we ought to trust science."

Click on the link below for the details of the best method to understand reality:

Why we should trust scientists

An Updated Look At Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy has been downgraded by many experts because of its history and expense. Since it seems that its negatives have been overstated, and it's going to be necessary to solve global warming through many routes, it is more than time to see what new technologies regarding nuclear energy bring to the buffet. Click on the link below for the details:

Is nuclear power really that slow and expensive as they say?

Scientific Consensus Clarified

"There are so many misconceptions about consensus in science: What is a consensus? Does science work via consensus? 

"I ask these questions and more in this interview with John Cook, the main author of the 97% consensus on climate change study!"

Click on the link below for the details:

Scientific Consensus with Dr John Cook

Lithium Batteries: The Disposal Problem

"Currently, lithium (Li) ion batteries are those typically used in EVs and the mega batteries used to store energy from renewables, and Li batteries are hard to recycle.

"One reason is that the most widely used methods of recycling more traditional batteries, like lead-acid batteries, don't work well with Li batteries. The latter are typically larger, heavier, more complex, and even dangerous if taken apart incorrectly."

Click on the link below for details:

Lithium batteries’ big unanswered question

Gravity Batteries: Another Approach To Clean Energy?

"Could a cutting-edge technology that harnesses one of the universe's fundamental forces help solve our energy storage challenge?

There is a riddle at the heart of the renewable energy revolution. When the wind blows, the sun shines, and the waves roll, there is abundant green power to be generated. But when skies darken and conditions are calm, what do we do?

The answer, today, is to ramp up conventional power production, supplying the grid by burning fossil fuels. It is a 20th Century solution to a 21st Century problem – one that sits in sharp contrast with plans for carbon neutrality.

A cleaner future will mean focusing on ever-larger lithium-ion batteries, some energy experts say. Others argue that green hydrogen is the world's best hope. And then there are those placing their bets not on chemistry, but the limitless force that surrounds us all: gravity.

"Underpinned by Newton's immutable logic – what goes up, must come down – this new field of energy storage technology is, in principle, remarkably simple. When green energy is plentiful, use it to haul a colossal weight to a predetermined height. When renewables are limited, release the load, powering a generator with the downward gravitational pull."

Click on the link below for the details:

Can gravity batteries solve our energy storage problems?

Geothermal & Geoengineering: A New Focus On Attacking Climate Change?

"As the hottest year in 125,000 years or so begins to come to a close, we turn to two projects still in their infancy that have big plans to decarbonize our electricity generation on one hand and give us a bit more time to turn our climate futures around on the other. The first is a reinvigoration of the geothermal power industry with the hopes of scaling up globally and the second is geo-engineering which aims to reduce the solar radiation hitting the planet to reduce devastating climate impacts while the world finishes up the work of going carbon neutral. Both ideas are a little scary, either or both could be brilliant or disastrous. The two things that are clear to me are that failure in the face of climate chaos will definitely be disastrous and any ideas with a reasonable chance of helping deserve further study."

Click on the link below for a podcast regarding two approaches to addressing climate change that are under the radar presently:

Testing New Climate Science Solutions

Ocean Currents: They ALSO Are Affected By Climate Change

"A vital system of ocean currents could collapse within a few decades if the world continues to pump out planet-heating pollution, scientists are warning – an event that would be catastrophic for global weather and 'affect every person on the planet.'"

Click on the links below for some information you probably have not been exposed to that is vital for understanding the complete effects of climate change:

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current – of which the Gulf Stream is a part – could collapse around the middle of the century, or even as early as 2025

Let's talk about AMOC