03/12/2021 Lately I’ve been having a lot of discussions with colleagues about various pathways to net zero carbon as we undertake the arduous task of preparing the US’s nationally-determined contributions to greenhouse gas emission reductions under the Paris Agreement. One topic which keeps bubbling to the surface is the role of nuclear energy. There is … Read more
02/15/2021 I’m not going to write a long post today, because taking a dive into how our society can effectively respond to climate change would take a treatise or two. It would require a discussion of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change — the agreement struck in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit — … Read more
02/07/2021 Our economic shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources has been underway for some time. For me, one key tipping point was when Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, a stock market infotainment program, referred to the oil industry as uninvestable. He’s since backtracked a bit, making an exception for … Read more
01/29/2021 Xi Jinping gave an interesting speech at the Davos World Economic Forum. Foreign Policy magazine published a good synopsis that’s worth the time to read, as it highlights the inconsistencies between Xi’s portrayal of China versus his government’s actions. Political posturing aside, Xi’s speech is worth understanding because he signals his country’s policy objectives. … Read more
11/10/2019 Things are getting interesting … as in the purported ancient Chinese curse: “may you live in interesting times.” A recent essay in the NY Times, titled “How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong“, noted that because of the perceived need for consensus when proposing new theorems or predictions, scientists “tend to underestimate the severity … Read more
08/18/2018 Nothing’s gotten big business and conservative groups all riled up like the EPA’s Clean Water Rule (aka Waters of the US, or WOTUS). The rule was adopted during the Obama administration under provisions of the Clean Water Act. It clarified and expanded the definition of wetlands and small waterways, and curbed development around waters … Read more