Getting a heat pump installed this month and that’s the last step in our whole-house transformation to all-electric. Goodbye fossil fuels. We keep telling our neighbors how good it feels to stop reliance on oil and gas. Some of them are listening.
I've talked with several friends recently about our sense that a lot of the MAGA energy and vibes is like that of a middle school child who keeps yelling, "Get out of my life," but also wants you to drive them to the mall and do their laundry. The inescapable conclusion is that a lot of Americans are very immature, or perhaps have been taught to be immature by the media they consume: they want a lot of stuff, they want it cheap and they want it now, and they don't want to have to deal with the real-life consequences of anything. They think something like this: "Reality is so inconvenient and such a bummer! And so are the annoying teachers/mommies/nurses/librarians who want you to behave in a pro-social manner! Eff all those people!"
I am not attacking teachers, nurses, librarians and mommies. I am a mother and a teacher myself. I was paraphrasing the thoughts of MAGA people who voted for Trump.
I apologize for the post maligning professionals and mothers although I did not write it of course. Thank you for your dedication, care, sacrifice and the work you put into becoming a Nurse, which is no small feat. I work in a hospital in administration (at the front desk) and there is no way a Nurse could do what they do without having passion and commitment to the job they are doing. Every day I see Nurses playing a huge part in healing others. Nurses are truly healers, and it is a tough and mostly thankless role. I respect you and honor you. Our Nurses perform one of the most authentic roles in our society and I am absolutely appalled you were maligned. Just another first for me. I read somewhere we need to refrain from being drawn in and distressed by the ignorance all around us. There is too much to do. Take care. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
You completely misunderstood my comment. When I wrote about "the annoying teachers/nurses," I was paraphrasing the MAGA people who resent those of us, especially mothers, teachers, nurses, etc who try to get them to behave decently.
Certainly, you are free to express your opinion. It is your judgement and anger directed at our teachers, nurses, librarians and mothers that stings a bit. Take care of yourself.
I see that my comment was misunderstood. This part about "the annoying teachers/nurses/librarians" was meant to be a paraphrase of what the MAGA people are thinking. I myself am a teacher and a mommy. I am one of the people trying to persuade others to behave in a pro-social manner. And I get the finger a lot.
Brilliant strategy... "you're not the boss of me." Thanks as always for your vision, energy and relentless efforts. Dark times call for so much more from all of us.
Ever since Reagan explained “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” the American people have been bamboozled into believing it. And here we are. We can’t allow unregulated capitalism to complete the destruction of our environment, our health and our democracy. Our only recourse is to support our state and local governments in slowing the destruction until we can regroup and take back our federal government.
"Climate: Small steps matter" at Substack, is growing. We need more carbon-aware and politically aware subscribers to contribute ideas and to share posts with others.
I don't have kids, and am not a teacher, so I would be curious to find out what, if anything, eventually cures juvenile selfishness and rebellion. Maybe that information could be useful going forward.
Along the line of arguments that appeal to juveniles, I think it is worth more widely touting the amazing efforts that China (and to a lesser extent India) are making on renewable energy manufacturing and deployment. They are leaving the US in the dust, but most Americans don't realize it.
Finally, since climate action is relegated back to grassroots efforts, and I'm sure there are many frustrated Dem's who would also like to "act out", are there actions like boycotts (for example of X/Twitter, of oil companies and other Trump-aligned corporations) that could be massive enough to make a difference?
I am not at all surprised that the argument against rooftop solar has been proven false. It's obvious that if you feed electricity back into the grid there's more of it. When there's more of something, prices fall. Duh.
Thanks for another excellent installment, Bill. I hope McCann's counter finding that rooftop solar saves CA ratepayers billions each year reaches Newsom and the unions through groups like ECOS in Sacramento.
Hey Bill, solar-powered scooters are cool, but why aren't there any companies already putting solar panels on car roofs? And making SMALL, cleverly designed wind turbines for homes in cloudy, windy regions (everywhere, at least some of the time)? I'm with you -- I don't want big, greedy global corporations making all the decisions for me.
“the citizenry…surely can’t be left free to exercise their own preferences through purchasing and employment decisions.”
This is exactly true. We cannot, as a society, make the choice to be “transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner “, as COP28 correctly concluded that we must, at the pump, or through our monthly electric bill.
By the logic of price-for-performance at the point of purchase, based on availability and ability to pay, the consequences of extracting energy from hydrocarbons on habitat longevity and social equity don’t get factored in.
We have to disqualify hydrocarbons because of their consequences upstream from the point of purchase.
We can do that by moving Fiduciary Money aggregated into social trusts for Workforce Pensions and Civil Society Endowments out of Asset Ownership and into Prudent Stewardship, financially engineering socially beneficial enterprise cash flows through negotiated agreement on equity paybacks to an actuarial/fiduciary cost of money, plus opportunistic upside, from enterprise cash flows prioritized by contract for suitability of the technology, longevity of the enterprise and fairness in how the business does business, under the circumstances then prevailing, according to our common sense of prudence in the exercise of capacity in undivided loyalty to their aim, to invest money for income as well as safety to assure security and dignity.
To neutralize opposition from vested interests, we can mobilize this money to buy hydrocarbons companies out of public markets ownership, Private Equity-style, and place then into an innovative new social stewardship, where they can be directed to become, and supported in being, positive contributors a the rapid redesign and reconstruction of our global energy supply ecosystem, to be purpose-rebuilt for energy sufficiency complete with habitat longevity and social equity on a planetary scale in the 21st Century and beyond, hospicing hydrocarbons while “transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner”, per COP28.
What it will take is a chorus of voices speaking with a new common sense of what makes sense in climate action.
Sad to say the recent election highlights that we are a nation full of adolescents, many with WMDs. Getting information to those who won't get it through their current sources (social media, FOX et al) is a challenge, but critical to offset the interference from darker sources.
Years ago NYC ran a successful anti-smoking campaign directed at teenagers. Rather than focus on health effects, it pointed out that smokers are being controlled by "the man" who is tricking them into buying their product. A great example of the effective use of "you're not the boss of me"
Getting a heat pump installed this month and that’s the last step in our whole-house transformation to all-electric. Goodbye fossil fuels. We keep telling our neighbors how good it feels to stop reliance on oil and gas. Some of them are listening.
just right.
I've talked with several friends recently about our sense that a lot of the MAGA energy and vibes is like that of a middle school child who keeps yelling, "Get out of my life," but also wants you to drive them to the mall and do their laundry. The inescapable conclusion is that a lot of Americans are very immature, or perhaps have been taught to be immature by the media they consume: they want a lot of stuff, they want it cheap and they want it now, and they don't want to have to deal with the real-life consequences of anything. They think something like this: "Reality is so inconvenient and such a bummer! And so are the annoying teachers/mommies/nurses/librarians who want you to behave in a pro-social manner! Eff all those people!"
I'm a nurse . . .
I am not attacking teachers, nurses, librarians and mommies. I am a mother and a teacher myself. I was paraphrasing the thoughts of MAGA people who voted for Trump.
I apologize for the post maligning professionals and mothers although I did not write it of course. Thank you for your dedication, care, sacrifice and the work you put into becoming a Nurse, which is no small feat. I work in a hospital in administration (at the front desk) and there is no way a Nurse could do what they do without having passion and commitment to the job they are doing. Every day I see Nurses playing a huge part in healing others. Nurses are truly healers, and it is a tough and mostly thankless role. I respect you and honor you. Our Nurses perform one of the most authentic roles in our society and I am absolutely appalled you were maligned. Just another first for me. I read somewhere we need to refrain from being drawn in and distressed by the ignorance all around us. There is too much to do. Take care. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Maybe read a little more slowly and carefully before you assume that somebody is attacking all service professionals!
I edited my comment to make myself a little clearer. I think most people understood what I meant in the first place, though.
You completely misunderstood my comment. When I wrote about "the annoying teachers/nurses," I was paraphrasing the MAGA people who resent those of us, especially mothers, teachers, nurses, etc who try to get them to behave decently.
I take full responsibility for misunderstanding your post. It's all on me not you. Mea Culpa. No excuses offered.
Certainly, you are free to express your opinion. It is your judgement and anger directed at our teachers, nurses, librarians and mothers that stings a bit. Take care of yourself.
I see that my comment was misunderstood. This part about "the annoying teachers/nurses/librarians" was meant to be a paraphrase of what the MAGA people are thinking. I myself am a teacher and a mommy. I am one of the people trying to persuade others to behave in a pro-social manner. And I get the finger a lot.
Oh dear . . . I can see now that you didn't mean it at all the way it sounded . . . we are all on edge aren't we?
Can’t begin to say how grateful I am for your intelligent, factual and compassionate writing on our climate crisis. 💔♥️🌹🙏🏼
Brilliant strategy... "you're not the boss of me." Thanks as always for your vision, energy and relentless efforts. Dark times call for so much more from all of us.
Ever since Reagan explained “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” the American people have been bamboozled into believing it. And here we are. We can’t allow unregulated capitalism to complete the destruction of our environment, our health and our democracy. Our only recourse is to support our state and local governments in slowing the destruction until we can regroup and take back our federal government.
"Climate: Small steps matter" at Substack, is growing. We need more carbon-aware and politically aware subscribers to contribute ideas and to share posts with others.
Here's our latest post. https://open.substack.com/pub/karenleemardicrane/p/plants-over-plastic?r=7yfoo&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I don't have kids, and am not a teacher, so I would be curious to find out what, if anything, eventually cures juvenile selfishness and rebellion. Maybe that information could be useful going forward.
Along the line of arguments that appeal to juveniles, I think it is worth more widely touting the amazing efforts that China (and to a lesser extent India) are making on renewable energy manufacturing and deployment. They are leaving the US in the dust, but most Americans don't realize it.
Finally, since climate action is relegated back to grassroots efforts, and I'm sure there are many frustrated Dem's who would also like to "act out", are there actions like boycotts (for example of X/Twitter, of oil companies and other Trump-aligned corporations) that could be massive enough to make a difference?
I am not at all surprised that the argument against rooftop solar has been proven false. It's obvious that if you feed electricity back into the grid there's more of it. When there's more of something, prices fall. Duh.
Thanks for lots of good information, Bill. I hope we only have to serve 4 years of penury under trump/vance. Even that will set us back decades.
Excellent post. Thanks for explaining Newsom's opposition to roof-top solar. I don't live in CA, and I've been perplexed by it.
Thanks for another excellent installment, Bill. I hope McCann's counter finding that rooftop solar saves CA ratepayers billions each year reaches Newsom and the unions through groups like ECOS in Sacramento.
You are the best Bill. Thanks!
Hey Bill, solar-powered scooters are cool, but why aren't there any companies already putting solar panels on car roofs? And making SMALL, cleverly designed wind turbines for homes in cloudy, windy regions (everywhere, at least some of the time)? I'm with you -- I don't want big, greedy global corporations making all the decisions for me.
“the citizenry…surely can’t be left free to exercise their own preferences through purchasing and employment decisions.”
This is exactly true. We cannot, as a society, make the choice to be “transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner “, as COP28 correctly concluded that we must, at the pump, or through our monthly electric bill.
By the logic of price-for-performance at the point of purchase, based on availability and ability to pay, the consequences of extracting energy from hydrocarbons on habitat longevity and social equity don’t get factored in.
We have to disqualify hydrocarbons because of their consequences upstream from the point of purchase.
We can do that by moving Fiduciary Money aggregated into social trusts for Workforce Pensions and Civil Society Endowments out of Asset Ownership and into Prudent Stewardship, financially engineering socially beneficial enterprise cash flows through negotiated agreement on equity paybacks to an actuarial/fiduciary cost of money, plus opportunistic upside, from enterprise cash flows prioritized by contract for suitability of the technology, longevity of the enterprise and fairness in how the business does business, under the circumstances then prevailing, according to our common sense of prudence in the exercise of capacity in undivided loyalty to their aim, to invest money for income as well as safety to assure security and dignity.
To neutralize opposition from vested interests, we can mobilize this money to buy hydrocarbons companies out of public markets ownership, Private Equity-style, and place then into an innovative new social stewardship, where they can be directed to become, and supported in being, positive contributors a the rapid redesign and reconstruction of our global energy supply ecosystem, to be purpose-rebuilt for energy sufficiency complete with habitat longevity and social equity on a planetary scale in the 21st Century and beyond, hospicing hydrocarbons while “transitioning away from fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner”, per COP28.
What it will take is a chorus of voices speaking with a new common sense of what makes sense in climate action.
Sad to say the recent election highlights that we are a nation full of adolescents, many with WMDs. Getting information to those who won't get it through their current sources (social media, FOX et al) is a challenge, but critical to offset the interference from darker sources.
I agree.
Years ago NYC ran a successful anti-smoking campaign directed at teenagers. Rather than focus on health effects, it pointed out that smokers are being controlled by "the man" who is tricking them into buying their product. A great example of the effective use of "you're not the boss of me"