Regarding the catastrophic feedback loop forming as we lose the Ponderosa pines: would massively replanting Redwoods along the California coastline help? I’m thinking along the lines of transpiration of the coastal fog…. And grazing buffalo on the grasslands rather than cows for their benefit to those ecosystems…. Obviously we’re not going to get any help from the federal government anytime soon enough, but California, being the world’s fourth (?) largest economy, ought to ever more boldly lead the way in implementing as many creative solutions to the climate crisis as possible! Did everyone see the recent PBS New Hour segment about the project using sound engineering to help revive dead and dying coral reefs? As one of the scientists in that project said, we need to be trying everything now!
I am Canadian. What I think we are witnessing is the decline of the American Empire and the rise, for better or worse, of China of the next global power. Smarter people than me can comment if this decline was historically inevitable. However, without doubt, this sea-change has been accelerated by the Idiot in Chief. Canada looks for new trading partners, and our equation with the USA will nevee go back to what it was. CF climate unfortunately Carney is petro postive more that he is on renewables, which is ass backwards.
Ken, smarter people than me will have to answer your question. All I can say is that it is a transition and while this might be overly simplified, one hopes that renewables increase as they are doing in Europe and Asia while the reliance on FF drops.
And I am confident that tRumpf in his love for SMRs will never decide to undo the Price Anderson Act....this longstanding regulation indemnifies nuke power plants. If they are so safe let the free, I said:"FREE" market handle the risk!
Great piece! Love the focus on differentiated wind speeds that work at night, in winter, after a cold front - basically whenever. That's what's always struck me as so odd about the "what about when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow" argument. Ignoring the incredible rise in batteries, it doesn't actually follow logically that the wind for sure won't blow when the sun isn't shining. And then there's the "aesthetics objection." I personally think wind turbines look really cool! I see a ton of them every summer driving up 127 in Michigan, and they're borderline majestic.
In Massachusetts we have a beautiful set of wind turbines--around eight of them--at the top of the Berkshires, which I enjoy seeing when I drive the back roads between my home near Boston, and my best friend's, near Albany NY.
Yes, true. I was responding to what Bill wrote about hoping Trump would be seeing all of the progress China has made with wind and solar as a reality check on his trip there. I was simply agreeing with him.
This post brilliantly highlights that the renewable transition is no longer a mere engineering challenge of "installing turbines." It has evolved into a complex upstream supply chain and logistical struggle.
From a systems theory perspective, China currently holds a "thermodynamic" advantage over the West. While Western democracies face significant socio-political friction—manifesting as NIMBYism and regulatory bottlenecks—China’s centralized model minimizes this entropy of implementation. By suppressing public dissent, they reduce the internal resistance of the system, allowing for a much faster throughput of energy infrastructure.
The real question for the West is: can we achieve the necessary speed of transition without sacrificing the democratic feedback loops that, while slow, serve as essential safety valves for the system? We are no longer just fighting carbon; we are fighting the "social friction" of our own institutional complexity.
The US is a crumbling empire. While our fossil fuel companies give lip service to the free market, they LOVE corporate welfare. RMI reports that fossil fuel subsidies are $1.3 trillion and with implicit subsidies, $7 trillion. That's more than they net from selling fuel. See page 41 of their free download, Cleantech Revolution. https://rmi.org/insight/the-cleantech-revolution/
Thank you so much for your work in keeping us informed. I love the optimistic attitude you have in this writing. It encourages me to believe science will win out in the long run. DJT cannot stop the incredible tide moving in our direction.
In your book on page 55, you ask us for "sheer ebullience". Bill, do you practice what you preach? Yes, old habits die hard, but ... we are in a hinge moment.
The biggest polluter, China, with 30% of global emissions is working hard on reducing them. https://archive.is/GdUIL We are #2, with just 15%.
I wrote a thank you note to Mr. Trump for disrupting the globe's comfortable dependence on fossil fuels with the chaos at Hormuz.
Who is better at rolling with the punches, you or Donald Trump? A word for that is zanshin. In the Tao of Personal Leadership Diane Dreher says "...zanshin is the ability to recognize and flow with change. ... leaders who believe a static condition is normal feel unsettled and victimized by change..." (p 17). "Flowing with zanshin, we become part of the process..... We improvise, combining different energies, reaching out courageously to produce new harmonies. The act of creation requires us to take chances, to risk making mistakes." (p 19)
Thank you for the excellent article. I am currently making efforts to forward this to my government representatives in hopes that they will take on board some of the information and hopefully implement the some of the legislative and economic solutions you describe here. Sharing information is imperative if we are to move into the future rather. Too many seemingly want to turn their backs on the new sustainable economy.
I continue to be shocked by not just Americans but everyone seems blind how existential climate change is rapidly unfolding. In the Pacific Northwest it seems like spring as a season is gone, or maybe down to a few weeks. Rain is now as rare in Seattle as it is in Los Angeles. I cannot hike anywhere without morning the trees that have or are dying…burning up, not by fire but by heat and sunlight that they are not adapted for. It is like a real-life version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The number of people responsible for this are so few it is shocking. They will come to be known in the same way as the totalitarians of the 20th century—evil, destructive, inhumane, power-hungry. I see them every time I look up at a sky peppered with foreign, thin, striated clouds that never used to show up here.
What an informative and excellent essay! Thank you for pulling all this together and writing so well.
Regarding the catastrophic feedback loop forming as we lose the Ponderosa pines: would massively replanting Redwoods along the California coastline help? I’m thinking along the lines of transpiration of the coastal fog…. And grazing buffalo on the grasslands rather than cows for their benefit to those ecosystems…. Obviously we’re not going to get any help from the federal government anytime soon enough, but California, being the world’s fourth (?) largest economy, ought to ever more boldly lead the way in implementing as many creative solutions to the climate crisis as possible! Did everyone see the recent PBS New Hour segment about the project using sound engineering to help revive dead and dying coral reefs? As one of the scientists in that project said, we need to be trying everything now!
I am Canadian. What I think we are witnessing is the decline of the American Empire and the rise, for better or worse, of China of the next global power. Smarter people than me can comment if this decline was historically inevitable. However, without doubt, this sea-change has been accelerated by the Idiot in Chief. Canada looks for new trading partners, and our equation with the USA will nevee go back to what it was. CF climate unfortunately Carney is petro postive more that he is on renewables, which is ass backwards.
Yes, our US president is making China great again. https://rmi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Slide4.png
What is Canada doing about its use of fossil fuels for all the transportation required to transition to renewables like wind and solar?
Ken, smarter people than me will have to answer your question. All I can say is that it is a transition and while this might be overly simplified, one hopes that renewables increase as they are doing in Europe and Asia while the reliance on FF drops.
And I am confident that tRumpf in his love for SMRs will never decide to undo the Price Anderson Act....this longstanding regulation indemnifies nuke power plants. If they are so safe let the free, I said:"FREE" market handle the risk!
Yesterday i learned from Persuasion Francis Fukuyama substack of the two critical types of Trust.
I am reminded of it by your post today.
Thanks for your excellence.
Great piece! Love the focus on differentiated wind speeds that work at night, in winter, after a cold front - basically whenever. That's what's always struck me as so odd about the "what about when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow" argument. Ignoring the incredible rise in batteries, it doesn't actually follow logically that the wind for sure won't blow when the sun isn't shining. And then there's the "aesthetics objection." I personally think wind turbines look really cool! I see a ton of them every summer driving up 127 in Michigan, and they're borderline majestic.
In Massachusetts we have a beautiful set of wind turbines--around eight of them--at the top of the Berkshires, which I enjoy seeing when I drive the back roads between my home near Boston, and my best friend's, near Albany NY.
I think we are all on the verge of a good rant.
Thus, this turned out to be a need vicarious catharsis.
I feel much better now, thanks!
It seems you do too as this ended on such a positive note.
Congratulations on your book, as well.
Yes, it also crossed my mind that Trump needs to be taken on a field trip in China.
One can dream that it could actually work as an inspiration. Wishful thinking, perhaps.
Trump needs to be ousted in the next election, by a Democrat.
Yes, true. I was responding to what Bill wrote about hoping Trump would be seeing all of the progress China has made with wind and solar as a reality check on his trip there. I was simply agreeing with him.
can you turn it into a plain spoken haiku that the non voters might hear?
Great post, Bill-- thanks!
This post brilliantly highlights that the renewable transition is no longer a mere engineering challenge of "installing turbines." It has evolved into a complex upstream supply chain and logistical struggle.
From a systems theory perspective, China currently holds a "thermodynamic" advantage over the West. While Western democracies face significant socio-political friction—manifesting as NIMBYism and regulatory bottlenecks—China’s centralized model minimizes this entropy of implementation. By suppressing public dissent, they reduce the internal resistance of the system, allowing for a much faster throughput of energy infrastructure.
The real question for the West is: can we achieve the necessary speed of transition without sacrificing the democratic feedback loops that, while slow, serve as essential safety valves for the system? We are no longer just fighting carbon; we are fighting the "social friction" of our own institutional complexity.
The US is a crumbling empire. While our fossil fuel companies give lip service to the free market, they LOVE corporate welfare. RMI reports that fossil fuel subsidies are $1.3 trillion and with implicit subsidies, $7 trillion. That's more than they net from selling fuel. See page 41 of their free download, Cleantech Revolution. https://rmi.org/insight/the-cleantech-revolution/
Thank you so much for your work in keeping us informed. I love the optimistic attitude you have in this writing. It encourages me to believe science will win out in the long run. DJT cannot stop the incredible tide moving in our direction.
In your book on page 55, you ask us for "sheer ebullience". Bill, do you practice what you preach? Yes, old habits die hard, but ... we are in a hinge moment.
The biggest polluter, China, with 30% of global emissions is working hard on reducing them. https://archive.is/GdUIL We are #2, with just 15%.
#3 polluter, India, is skipping coal and going straight to clean tech. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicolas-fulghum_india-will-not-be-the-next-china-for-coal-share-7453406683105632256-Tc6u/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAB7sz4BQ6-xp9PSYQS5pJyLjOpKblARfPU
I wrote a thank you note to Mr. Trump for disrupting the globe's comfortable dependence on fossil fuels with the chaos at Hormuz.
Who is better at rolling with the punches, you or Donald Trump? A word for that is zanshin. In the Tao of Personal Leadership Diane Dreher says "...zanshin is the ability to recognize and flow with change. ... leaders who believe a static condition is normal feel unsettled and victimized by change..." (p 17). "Flowing with zanshin, we become part of the process..... We improvise, combining different energies, reaching out courageously to produce new harmonies. The act of creation requires us to take chances, to risk making mistakes." (p 19)
"Blowing in the wind".
Thank you for the excellent article. I am currently making efforts to forward this to my government representatives in hopes that they will take on board some of the information and hopefully implement the some of the legislative and economic solutions you describe here. Sharing information is imperative if we are to move into the future rather. Too many seemingly want to turn their backs on the new sustainable economy.
Dang it, now I've got the "Wendy" earworm...
I continue to be shocked by not just Americans but everyone seems blind how existential climate change is rapidly unfolding. In the Pacific Northwest it seems like spring as a season is gone, or maybe down to a few weeks. Rain is now as rare in Seattle as it is in Los Angeles. I cannot hike anywhere without morning the trees that have or are dying…burning up, not by fire but by heat and sunlight that they are not adapted for. It is like a real-life version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The number of people responsible for this are so few it is shocking. They will come to be known in the same way as the totalitarians of the 20th century—evil, destructive, inhumane, power-hungry. I see them every time I look up at a sky peppered with foreign, thin, striated clouds that never used to show up here.