An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It : NPR

An Epidemic Is Killing Thousands Of Coal Miners. Regulators Could Have Stopped It : NPR

The Oil Industry’s Covert Campaign to Rewrite American Car Emissions Rules

The Oil Industry’s Covert Campaign to Rewrite American Car Emissions Rules

‘Yellow Vest’ Protests Shook France. Here’s the Lesson for Climate Change.

‘Yellow Vest’ Protests Shook France. Here’s the Lesson for Climate Change.

Opinion | Climate Denial Was the Crucible for Trumpism

Opinion | Climate Denial Was the Crucible for Trumpism



"we can now see climate denial as part of a broader moral rot. Donald Trump isn’t an aberration, he’s the culmination of where his party has been going for years. You could say that Trumpism is just the application of the depravity of climate denial to every aspect of politics. And there’s no end to the depravity in sight."

Opinion | The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial

Opinion | The Depravity of Climate-Change Denial

The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?

The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?

The Amazing Climate Trial (That Never Happened) | Other98

The Amazing Climate Trial (That Never Happened) | Other98

Fossil Fuels Are a Threat to Civilization, New U.N. Report Concludes

Fossil Fuels Are a Threat to Civilization, New U.N. Report Concludes

Air pollution particles found in mothers' placentas

Yet another link between fossil fuels and public health problems.



Air pollution particles found in mothers' placentas

Remember Energy Independence? The Red Herring Strikes Again, from the Orange Herring, Trump: Trump stresses energy independence while slamming OPEC at UN

Trump stresses energy independence while slamming OPEC at UN

How big business fights to keep warming the globe: Report: 90 Percent of World’s Largest 200 Industrial Firms Are Using Trade Associations to Oppose Climate Policy

Report: 90 Percent of World’s Largest 200 Industrial Firms Are Using Trade Associations to Oppose Climate Policy

What I saw on my (bike) ride in to campus this morning, this beautiful monument done by awesome Wash U. students....(in the South 40 residential area)

In The Coal Counties Of Central Appalachia, Will Trump's Promises Come True?

In The Coal Counties Of Central Appalachia, Will Trump's Promises Come True?

Documents Show Ties Between University, Conservative Donors (On Virginia and the Koch Brothers)

Documents Show Ties Between University, Conservative Donors

Canary in the Coal Pond — ProPublica (On coal ash and Trump's awful policies)

Canary in the Coal Pond — ProPublica

Harvard Aims to Become Fossil-Fuel-Free by 2050

Harvard Aims to Become Fossil-Fuel-Free by 2050



WUSTL could do this, and better, if we got rid of all the dinosaurs on the board of trustees, in the coal-fired engineering department, and in the administration.  Where are good scientists and engineers when you need them?

A Wind Lover's Dream: All 57,636 U.S. Wind Turbines on One Map

A Wind Lover's Dream: All 57,636 U.S. Wind Turbines on One Map



And, a good short video on the battery revolution.

Perched on a platform high in a tree, a 61-year-old woman fights a gas pipeline

Perched on a platform high in a tree, a 61-year-old woman fights a gas pipeline

How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream

How Windmills as Wide as Jumbo Jets Are Making Clean Energy Mainstream

Fossil-fuel critics push Washington U. to 'walk the walk' on global climate change

Fossil-fuel critics push Washington U. to 'walk the walk' on global climate change
I love WUSTL students.

Opinion | Earth, Wind and Liars

Opinion | Earth, Wind and Liars

Why is the U.S. Military Occupying Bases Across Africa? | JSTOR Daily

Why is the U.S. Military Occupying Bases Across Africa? | JSTOR Daily

Apple Now Runs On 100% Green Energy, And Here’s How It Got There

Apple Now Runs On 100% Green Energy, And Here’s How It Got There

Protest a pipeline? You are a felon in Iowa: Opinion | Iowa's Anti-Protest Bill Would Make The Boston Tea Partiers Felons

Opinion | Iowa's Anti-Protest Bill Would Make The Boston Tea Partiers Felons



More bad ideas coming from ALEC, the right-wing, and the fossil fuel industry, when a criminal industry tries to make people who are defending the planet into criminals too:

the Iowa state legislature just passed a bill to make it a felony, punishable by up to 25 years in jail, for any “unauthorized and overt act intended to cause” a substantial and widespread “interruption or impairment of a fundamental service” of gas, oil, petroleum or refined petroleum products.

Coal - YouTube - #cleancoal

New ad from the coal industry



Coal - YouTube

John Oliver takes on Don Blankenship -- start around 12:38

June, 2017.

A Scourge for Coal Miners Stages a Brutal Comeback

A Scourge for Coal Miners Stages a Brutal Comeback

New reports: Contaminants from coal ash at levels 40 times above safe drinking water standards

New reports: Contaminants from coal ash at levels 40 times above safe drinking water standards

Utilities find groundwater contamination, radioactivity at unlined coal ash sites

Utilities find groundwater contamination, radioactivity at unlined coal ash sites

The oil-weapons-war cycle and our relation to Saudi Arabia: Here's more on Yemen: Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen

Last week we discussed the Congressional vote on whether we should be helping Saudi Arabia wage war against Yemen.  We talked about the famine, similar to what happened in Biafra 50 years ago.  Here's U Michigan historian Juan Cole, saying similar things.

Apocalyptic Numbers: The Saudi-Trump War on Yemen  (Juan Cole, March 26, 2018)

Saudi Arabia and its allies bombed indiscriminately. A third of their targets have been civilian buildings like schools or hospitals or key civilian infrastructure like bridges. Perhaps half the people they’ve killed have been civilian non-combatants, including children.

Also deadly have been the public health effects of the war.

The numbers on the Saudi-led Yemen War are apocalyptic, worse even than Syria.

The total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Yemen is 22.2 million – or 76% of the population – including 11.3 million children.

The Saudis and allies have hit Yemen with 15,000 airstrikes.

5,000 children have been killed.

8,700 civilians have been killed

50,000 civilians have been wounded

1.9 million children are not in school, and both sides have recruited children, some as young as ten, as fighters

11.3 million children need humanitarian assistance, with many on the verge of going hungry.

All in all, 22.2 million Yemenis of all ages need humanitarian assistance, 3/4s of the population.

There have been a million cholera cases and there is the threat of another outbreak.

Worth 4:16 of your time to watch this:

Middle East: Failures of Iraq and New Tensions with Iran: More on militarism and Bolton: | Trump and Bolton’s Plan to Isolate Allies and Encourage Enemies

Opinion | Trump and Bolton’s Plan to Isolate Allies and Encourage Enemies

Militarization and/in Africa: U.S. Strikes Qaeda Target in Southern Libya, Expanding Shadow War There

We discussed mission creep, the blurred lines of justified (and legal) war, and the expansive militarization of Africa being pushed by US through AFRICOM.  This article makes many of the same points.



U.S. Strikes Qaeda Target in Southern Libya, Expanding Shadow War There

A Global Energy alum wrote this: Tribes Build a Traditional Watch House to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion

Tribes Build a Traditional Watch House to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion

Mass Arrests at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Blockade

Mass Arrests at Kinder Morgan Pipeline Blockade

“Today we’ve remembered and embraced the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, who believed in the power of civil disobedience to shift public opinion. We want to demonstrate that we mean business. We’re going to do whatever it takes, and by any means necessary, and we’ll show up day after day until we win this fight. We encourage our allies, native and non-native alike, to join us in this collective action,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, member of Treaty 6 Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, as he was being taken away by RCMP.

We'll be discussing on Wednesday: Soldier in Bloody Niger Mission Had Warned of Gaps, Defense Officials Say

Soldier in Bloody Niger Mission Had Warned of Gaps, Defense Officials Say

Saudi Arabia Lightens Up, Building Entertainment Industry From Scratch

Saudi Arabia Lightens Up, Building Entertainment Industry From Scratch

Nigeria: Amnesty activists uncover serious negligence by oil giants Shell and Eni

Nigeria: Amnesty activists uncover serious negligence by oil giants Shell and Eni

‘This is a matter of life and death’: A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help

‘This is a matter of life and death’: A Virginia community choking on coal dust pleads for help

Harms of Fracking: Increased Risks of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer

Harms of Fracking: Increased Risks of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer

And in good news, Army vet and steelworker in Wisconsin running against Paul Ryan...

War on I.S.? or War on Terror? Or permanent wars that are waged outside of law and public oversight, all in the name of assuring extra-legal "access" to places rich in resources or transit zones? U.S. Kept Silent About Its Role in Another Firefight in Niger

Wars are to be waged with congressional and public oversight.  We are a democracy, not a military state (at least in theory).  So have our special forces and intelligence agencies turned into a parallel war-making machine, in service of interests that could hardly be said to be those of our people here at home?  The gentlemen in the photo below are lying to the US Congress, by not being forthright about their actions in places like Niger.
U.S. Kept Silent About Its Role in Another Firefight in Niger (via Ny Times)

Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, right, the head of United States Africa Command, with Gen. Joseph L. Votel, who leads Central Command. General Waldhauser did not mention the December gun battle in testimony to Congress this month. CreditAaron P. Bernstein/Reuters

Who’s Greener? California Housing Plan Splits Would-Be Allies

Who’s Greener? California Housing Plan Splits Would-Be Allies
We need more density in urban areas, and more proximity to good public transportation.  What is the best way to get there?  Here in California, a debate over the tension between democracy and state mandates.

Saudi Crown Prince Likens Iran’s Supreme Leader to Hitler

Saudi Crown Prince Likens Iran’s Supreme Leader to Hitler
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince (has his mother locked up because she’s one of his critics), trying to convince the U.S. citizens that Iran is the bad guy of the region.  This plays into the hard-line right wing crowd in the White House, and in Israel, who are pushing to undo the nuclear agreements with Iran.  Also stokes the Sunni-Shiite division.  All of which means: use less oil. Click picture for full story.

Burning Coal for Survival in the World’s Coldest Capital

Burning Coal for Survival in the World’s Coldest Capital (New York Times)

Mongolians need renewable energy - good place for solar - but have long been treated as a coal colony, aka sacrifice zone.  And poor folks killing themselves by burning coal to stay warm.

Abandoned open pits of the former Soviet-operated coal mine at Nalaikh. The surrounding hills are green with grass during the warmer months. (New York Times caption)

Near Noisy Oil Fields, Lovesick Birds Change Their Tunes

Near Noisy Oil Fields, Lovesick Birds Change Their Tunes

And here's the research on how transportation noise - i.e. fossil fuel combustion – has been linked to hardening of the arteries in humans: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/ehp1136/.

Saudis Hire Top D.C. Lobbyists to Seek U.S. Approval for Deals

Saudis Hire Top D.C. Lobbyists to Seek U.S. Approval for Deals

Deepwater Horizon/Offshore Drilling lecture coming up, here's an update: Trump Rollbacks Target Offshore Rules ‘Written With Human Blood’

Trump Rollbacks Target Offshore Rules ‘Written With Human Blood’

Resource Curse coming to Ghana? What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown (via NY Times)

Discusses points we covered in class:  apparent 'boom'; decline in manufacturing; rise in currency valuation; the challenge of economic diversification... can Ghana outsmart the resource curse?

What’s the World’s Fastest-Growing Economy? Ghana Contends for the Crown

Street salesmen in Accra, Ghana’s capital. The country is likely to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies this year. CreditAshley Gilbertson for The New York Times

Good news: the economics are against the tar sands. Bad news: Part of that is because of the expansion of fracking in the US: Alberta’s oil exports face ocean of trouble - Climate News Network

Alberta’s oil exports face ocean of trouble - Climate News Network

Aptly-named: A very large crude carrier in harbour. Image: By Titus Eapen, via Wikimedia Commons

Saudis Said to Use Coercion and Abuse to Seize Billions

Mentioned this in class when we talked about corruption, authoritarianism, and the political effects of the resource curse.

Saudis Said to Use Coercion and Abuse to Seize Billions

The Saudi government locked up hundreds of powerful businessmen and royals in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh in what it said was a crackdown on corruption. CreditTasneem Alsultan for The New York Times

Ecological Violence should be criminal, not permissible: Ameren Missouri is in collusion with the state to allow for pollution of groundwater at Rush Island plant (and elsewhere). This is what we refer to as ecological and structural violence.

Information on Ameren's Rush Island Coal Plant (from the hearing on March 8, 2018), via Sierra Club.  Ameren has been poisoning us for a long time, and now they seek permission to ensure that future generations will also be subjected to it as well. 

Fossil Fuel Execs Very Annoyed #KeepItIntheGround Movement Crimping Their Ability to Pillage Planet

Fossil Fuel Execs Very Annoyed #KeepItIntheGround Movement Crimping Their Ability to Pillage Planet



#schadenfreude

ENERGY: Pipeline builders, gas drillers fret about protesters

ENERGY: Pipeline builders, gas drillers fret about protesters

Fossil fuel capitalists pushing new infrastructure are on the defensive, and revealing their latent tendencies toward violence and police-state rule.

CEO of Energy Transfer Partners suggests executing an activist. https://t.co/uH2hYbAWxl

— Energy Politics (@energy_politics) March 9, 2018

Democrats Release Infrastructure Plan With $80 Billion for Grid Upgrades

Democrats Release Infrastructure Plan With $80 Billion for Grid Upgrades

"The plan includes funding for energy storage, smart grid technologies, microgrids and electric vehicles—paid for by reversing parts of the Republican tax bill."

Stand Up for the Constitution: Stop Unauthorized Involvement in Yemen's Civil War

Two military men agree, we are breaking our own laws by intervening in Yemen



Stand Up for the Constitution: Stop Unauthorized Involvement in Yemen's Civil War

Child Labor In America: Horrible Photographs That Show Boys At Coal And Zinc Mines From A Century Ago

Child Labor In America: Horrible Photographs That Show Boys At Coal And Zinc Mines From A Century Ago

Re: Our Venezuela Lecture -- Today's NYT -- Opinion | Why I Am Running for President of Venezuela

Opinion | Why I Am Running for President of Venezuela



My email to a student who shared this with me (thanks!):



Yes!

I just tweeted that out a bit ago — and you’re right, he blames it on mismanagement (which there indeed has been) but not on the structure of oil dependence itself (or the low price of oil) — so you are right, he is not questioning oil dependence, but I would not say that he is demanding ‘resource nationalism’ explicitly, since it is not clear whether he suggests that private or American oil industries are the problem (I doubt he would, he is our preferred candidate).  His discourse is probably ‘good governance’ — but what this really means in practice it’s hard to say.  And, he does not recognize that some social gains were made (while prices were high).  

I think the main takeaway for me was that he blames it all on Maduro, and not on the volatility of oil prices or the problem of oil dependence itself.  Note that he says “equitable and sustainable growth”  he does not say anything about moving beyond oil.

Glad you saw that, and thanks for sending!  And stay tuned…

BG

Dear Professor Gustafson, 

I just wanted to share an article I came across today by a candidate who is challenging Maduro in Venezuela. You have probably already seen this, but I thought it was very interesting in light of our most recent lecture. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/06/opinion/henri-falcon-president-venezuela.html

I thought that this paragraph was particularly noteworthy: 

"Venezuelans’ plight today is the result of two decades of mismanagement. My country sits on the world’s largest oil reserves and enjoyed a huge oil boom from 1998 to 2012. Regrettably, the money from that good fortune was squandered and stolen. Venezuelans deserve to have their public finances be managed with honesty, responsibility and common sense. We should partner with the rest of the world to build a dynamic economy that can deliver equitable and sustainable growth."

I thought it was interesting that he mentions a dynamic economy in the same paragraph as demanding more control over oil, which we learned leads to resource curse and economic dependence and instability. Is this a recognition of current economic thought that is nevertheless being manipulated to support resource nationalism? 

Thanks for hearing my thoughts, I am really enjoying this class. 

Do Terrorist Trends in Africa Justify the U.S. Military’s Expansion?

Do Terrorist Trends in Africa Justify the U.S. Military’s Expansion?

Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails Show

Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails Show

Do new rooftop solar price projections mean 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' for utilities?

Do new rooftop solar price projections mean 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' for utilities?

How America's clean coal dream unravelled

How America's clean coal dream unravelled

Why the Koch Network Took Credit for Dakota Access, Keystone XL, and REINS Act

Why the Koch Network Took Credit for Dakota Access, Keystone XL, and REINS Act

Customer empowerment upheaval forces California into hold on renewables

Customer empowerment upheaval forces California into hold on renewables

350.org on Judge Ordering Review of Documents Related to Trump’s Keystone XL Decision

350.org on Judge Ordering Review of Documents Related to Trump’s Keystone XL Decision

Inside the Trump Admin's Fight to Keep the Keystone XL Approval Process Secret

Inside the Trump Admin's Fight to Keep the Keystone XL Approval Process Secret

Anti-pipeline activists set to converge on Burnaby Mountain in March

Anti-pipeline activists set to converge on Burnaby Mountain in March

Ballot box battle over clean energy is brewing in three states

Ballot box battle over clean energy is brewing in three states

‘An Endless War’: Why 4 U.S. Soldiers Died in a Remote African Desert

‘An Endless War’: Why 4 U.S. Soldiers Died in a Remote African Desert

We will be discussing next week... we've been saying this for five years now.   Endless, meaningless intervention in places we cannot even find on a map.

MI: Campaign wants to push insurers away from US coal after progress in Europe

""If our world gets 4°C hotter, it will no longer be insurable," AXA wrote. "As a global insurer and investor, it is up to us to set an example by slowing climate change as much as possible, while there is still time.""



MI: Campaign wants to push insurers away from US coal after progress in Europe

Federal Grants Meant for Clean Coal Misspent on Liquor, Spas

Federal Grants Meant for Clean Coal Misspent on Liquor, Spas

Billionaire Trump Foe Behind Solar Energy Measures in Arizona, Other States

Billionaire Trump Foe Behind Solar Energy Measures in Arizona, Other States



OK, this is one way to make things happen...

Trump budget would gut EPA, DOE renewables office

Trump budget would gut EPA, DOE renewables office



And again, why the Trump administration is insane.

No Drop in U.S. Carbon Footprint Expected Through 2050, Energy Department Says

Why the Trump administration is insane.

No Drop in U.S. Carbon Footprint Expected Through 2050, Energy Department Says

Candidate Ejected From West Virginia House Floor for Listing Lawmakers’ Oil and Gas Donors

Candidate Ejected From West Virginia House Floor for Listing Lawmakers’ Oil and Gas Donors

Tillerson’s Mideast Trip Was Already Daunting. Then Israel and Iran Collided.

Tillerson’s Mideast Trip Was Already Daunting. Then Israel and Iran Collided.

The convergence of fossil fuel industries, and the rightward shift of anti-immigrant labor in Europe, as foretold by Mitchell: Workers of Germany, Unite: The New Siren Call of the Far Right

Workers of Germany, Unite: The New Siren Call of the Far Right

Exceptional Victims: On Militarism, Race, and Exceptionalism

"The new exceptionalism is born of the vilification of the antiwar movement and the veneration of U.S. troops as heroic victims."

Exceptional Victims  (Christian Appy, in the Boston Review)

To understand our current political moment, we must understand how political and media forces, especially on the right, responded to this embarrassment and to criticisms such as King’s. Conservatives at the time were determined to rebuild everything they thought the war had destroyed—U.S. power, pride, prestige, and patriotism. Above all, they sought to resuscitate a faith in U.S. exceptionalism. That restoration project was surprisingly successful, but it produced a new, makeshift form of U.S. exceptionalism that is different from its original model. In place of the universalistic, idealistic, intrinsically confident faith in national superiority of the 1950s, the post-Vietnam version of exceptionalism is ever more nationalistic, defensive, bombastic, and xenophobic. Both versions are dangerously imperialistic and aggressive, but our latest model is more explicitly founded on a demonization of foreign—primarily nonwhite—others.

Perhaps the most characteristic feature of the new U.S. exceptionalism is the belief that the world’s greatest nation is not the envy of the world, not a shining city on a hill, but the victim of outrageous and inexplicable attacks from nonwhite countries and cultures. Whether the attacks are real (such as 9/11) or imagined (such as Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction), they are almost always attributed to “rogue” nations, terrorist groups, religious extremists, or nonwhite immigrants whose actions are represented as barbaric hate crimes with no plausible historical motive or U.S. provocation.

The new U.S. exceptionalism has many sources but two important ones were born from the bitter memory of failure and defeat in Vietnam: the effective campaigns to vilify the antiwar movement and to instill deference to the military by constructing an image of U.S. troops and veterans as icons of heroic victimhood. 

MI: For 2018, EIA looks to get renewables right

MI: For 2018, EIA looks to get renewables right

Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever Of Fatal Coal Miners' Disease

Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever Of Fatal Coal Miners' Disease
What mining coal does to your lungs:

Fossil Fuels and Anti-Democratic Politics: ALEC sponsors legislation to criminalize pipeline protests, and it's spreading

OHIO AND IOWA ARE THE LATEST OF EIGHT STATES TO CONSIDER ANTI-PROTEST BILLS AIMED AT PIPELINE OPPONENTS

Alleen Brown (The Intercept)

February 2 2018, 10:58 a.m. 

The bills were proposed less than a week after the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council, which has close ties to the fossil fuel industry, finalized a model policy titled the “Critical Infrastructure Protection Act,” which calls for more severe punishment for those who trespass on facilities including oil pipelines, petroleum refineries, liquid natural gas terminals, and railroads used to transport oil and gas.

Ex-Military Men Offer Insightful Critiques of Permanent War and Generational War

We will be discussing the long (and ongoing war) in the MIddle East in coming days.  Here are two recent pieces by ex-military who dissect some of the many problems with these wars:

On how America's generals are still trying to re-fight the Vietnam War, in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Africa:

The War that Never Ends
by Major Danny Sjursen, is a U.S. Army strategist and former history instructor at West Point. He served tours with reconnaissance units in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has written a memoir and critical analysis of the Iraq War, Ghost Riders of Baghdad: Soldiers, Civilians, and the Myth of the Surge.

highlights:

"That war and its ill-fated lessons will undoubtedly continue to influence U.S. commanders until a new set of myths, explaining away a new set of failures in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, take over, possibly thanks to books by veterans of these conflicts about how Washington could have won the war on terror."

Our Enemy, Ourselves
by William Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and history professor, blogs at Bracing Views.

highlights:

"4. Generational wars -- ones, that is, that never end -- should not be considered a measure of American resolve, but of American stupidity.  If you wage war long, you wage it wrong, especially if you want to protect democratic institutions in this country."

In St Louis region, our coal-burning utility is polluting the air, and making bad asthma rates even worse: Ameren pollution making asthma worse?

Is Ameren pollution making asthma worse?

Report: Trump budget seeks 72% cut to DOE clean energy research

Report: Trump budget seeks 72% cut to DOE clean energy research

Former Massey CEO puts UBB blame on MSHA; outlines positions at campaign town hall

Former Massey CEO puts UBB blame on MSHA; outlines positions at campaign town hall

The Union of Concerned Scientists on Trump's State of the Union: The Values that Can Stop a Wrecking Ball Presidency

The Union of Concerned Scientists, more or less parallel to my comments in class.



State of the Union: The Values that Can Stop a Wrecking Ball Presidency

Big Oil displacing smaller frackers, now fracking at industrial scale. Not good news. Exxon plans fivefold rise in Permian Basin shale oil production

Exxon plans fivefold rise in Permian Basin shale oil production

Trump Says Climate Is Both ‘Cooling’ and ‘Heating.’ He’s Only Half Right.

Trump Says Climate Is Both ‘Cooling’ and ‘Heating.’ He’s Only Half Right.



Trump, I'm sorry to say, is a buffoon. 

Here is how the fossil fuel industry guts American democracy and the protection of health and environment: 66 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump

66 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump

Attacks Reveal What U.S. Won’t: Victory Remains Elusive in Afghanistan

For my students, for most of your life on this earth, we have been fighting, killing, and dying in Afghanistan.  This has everything to do with America's long war in the Middle East (Bacevich).  Which in turn has everything to do with the cycle of oil, militarism, and the fading imperial urge.



Attacks Reveal What U.S. Won’t: Victory Remains Elusive in Afghanistan

Two recent articles on the shale (fracking) oil boom, both saturated with fossil knowledge, not much critical insight

The Dark Side of America’s Rise to Oil Superpower  (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg's take, marginally better than that of the New York Times, here:

Oil Boom Gives the US a New Edge in Energy and Diplomacy (New York Times)

Source: Bloomberg - article here. 

Oil Boom Gives the U.S. a New Edge in Energy and Diplomacy

Lacks critical knowledge and critical insight -- merely cheerleading for the fossil fuel apparatus.  A "new edge" is nothing good if you only use it to continue in the wrong direction.  Little mention of war, health, or climate.   Notice how both the reporter and those interviewed are fixated on "price" - what Mitchell calls economic calculation.  Fossil knowledge at its best.



Oil Boom Gives the U.S. a New Edge in Energy and Diplomacy

10 Monkeys and a Beetle: Inside VW’s Campaign for ‘Clean Diesel’

10 Monkeys and a Beetle: Inside VW’s Campaign for ‘Clean Diesel’

We'll be talking offshore, oilspills, and shipping, and here's the Sanchi disaster: Why more people aren't talking about the Asian oil spill as big as Paris

Why more people aren't talking about the Asian oil spill as big as Paris

3 Strategies to Get to a Fossil-Free America

3 Strategies to Get to a Fossil-Free America



1.  Mobilize at local level of cities and states to move to renewables.



2.  Stop new fossil fuel infrastructure.



3.  Divest.

ABInBev To Attach 100% Renewable Electricity Label To Budweiser Beers

ABInBev To Attach 100% Renewable Electricity Label To Budweiser Beers

Trump issues 30% tariff on solar panel imports

Trump issues 30% tariff on solar panel imports



Helps understand how the tariff will hurt U.S. solar jobs, mostly in installation of imported panels.  Utility scale solar expected to fall 9%.

Trump Slaps Steep Tariffs on Imported Washing Machines and Solar Products

Trump Slaps Steep Tariffs on Imported Washing Machines and Solar Products

The Connection Between Mass Incarceration and Environmental Justice

The Connection Between Mass Incarceration and Environmental Justice

Prisons (and communities) near coal ash dumps have a higher likelihood of negative health impacts.

Read the report here: http://abolitionistlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/no-escape-3-3mb.pdf or click image below.

Should Seattle declare war on parking to fight climate change?

Should Seattle declare war on parking to fight climate change?



File under practical things that have to happen to address carbon emissions - here's the Seattle case:



A) Raise parking costs so that more people takes buses?

But that hurts low-wage workers who have to come to work before the busses start running.



B) Eliminate car access to downtown altogether?

But that gets the well-paid commuters upset.



C) B, paired with improved bus service?

Oslo Norway has done this successfully. (And they are much healthier than we are, due to biking and walking, even in the cold).



I'd say C.



Full story here:



Should Seattle declare war on parking to fight climate change?

2017 Was One of the Hottest Years on Record. And That Was Without El Niño.

As we discussed in class -- by any measure, the Earth is getting hotter, here's another graphic representation of that

2017 Was One of the Hottest Years on Record. And That Was Without El Niño. (via NYT)

Mozambique's Gas-Rich North Faces Specter of Further Attacks

Mozambique's Gas-Rich North Faces Specter of Further Attacks

He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job.

He Leaked a Photo of Rick Perry Hugging a Coal Executive. Then He Lost His Job.

Wastelands - A Mellon Sawyer Seminar | America, Energy and War

Wastelands - A Mellon Sawyer Seminar | America, Energy and War

The Force Is With Clean Energy: 10 Predictions for 2018 | Bloomberg New Energy Finance

The Force Is With Clean Energy: 10 Predictions for 2018 | Bloomberg New Energy Finance

Shuttered coal plant fixer-uppers for sale all over the U.S.

Shuttered coal plant fixer-uppers for sale all over the U.S.

By 2020, renewables will be cheaper than fossil fuels around the world

By 2020, renewables will be cheaper than fossil fuels around the world

Illinois' Teachable Moment: The True Cost of Coal, Slavery and Historical Markers

Illinois' Teachable Moment: The True Cost of Coal, Slavery and Historical Markers

Big Oil strikes it rich in tax overhaul and looks to repeal landmark transparency law

Big Oil strikes it rich in tax overhaul and looks to repeal landmark transparency law