writeaboutwarming

October 4, 2011 - Amidst all the very real anxiety brought about by our transitional economy and the "New Normal," I think it's terribly relevant to ponder some of the unintended consequences of the aforementioned. Case in point: our declining consumption of gasoline. What years of well-intended non-profit preaching could not accomplish, a brutal recession has. Higher fuel prices and lower incomes are keeping people closer to home. Couple these two facts of life - experienced most poignantly by our shrinking, high school-educated middle class - with improved car technology, and the verdict is incontrovertibly in: Americans are using less fossil fuel to power their cars. Energy Department statistics show Californians out in front in the race to clean up the air by burning less gasoline. Golden Staters can be doubly proud, since they have not only decreased their fuel consumption, but have done so while adding to the total number of drivers in the state. While gasoline cons...

December 9, 2010 – There’s a story about how the United States was trooping into an arena along with other countries in order to take part in the Olympics, back in the early years of the 20th century. As the American cadre of athletes approached the platform where the head of the host nation typically sits, the flag bearer dipped our flag as a sign of respect. An athlete from Ireland is said to have run forward and caught the flag in its downward trajectory. “This flag bows to no man,” he admonished. Ever since, the United States has refrained from dipping its flag. Americans to this day consider themselves and their country exceptional, but are capable of explaining why only with platitudes such as “because this is the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” The rest of the thought, “… and it is for this reason that we represent to the world the hopes and prayers of all of humankind,” is generally regarded as window-dressing, and goes unsaid. We increasingly ignore the responsib...

December 22, 2009 – The post-Copenhagen verdict runs the gamut from “By George, we’ve got it!” to “The sky is falling!” depending upon whom you believe. My hope and my prayer is that it is a beginning, one upon which we will shortly build. One note to readers: when you hear that the United States is advocating a 17% reduction in carbon emissions by 2020, be mindful that we use 2005 emissions as our starting point. The rest of the world uses 1990, as stated in the Kyoto Protocol. When we convert our reduction to a starting point in 1990, the reduction works out to be 3 – 4%. Call it what you like. It’s not enough. That’s why Copenhagen must be considered a beginning only. My hat is off to the thousands of delegates who worked tirelessly to bring us this far. One attendee came up with what I thought was a brilliant idea. Perhaps you heard: George Soros, the billionaire investor, has proposed that developed countries lend money they received in Special Drawing Rights (SDR) from the Intern...