The irony of this history is that our nation's natural resources have been plundered and pillaged through corrupt practices by public agencies and private interests, depriving all Americans of the benefits of these resources from the very beginning of European exploration and US existence. Native Americans have been blamed for being in the way, distracting white working Americans from the real political obstacles to American prosperity, health and well being. The current irony and travesty is that Republicans are still clinging to old talking points and technologies, as old as their Confederate sympathies while Wall Street and international corporations are transitioning rapidly without Republican support to Electric Vehicles. Wall Street, GM, VW, Tesla, China and thousands of auto, transportation and technology companies are racing to keep up with this transition which will happen as quickly as computers took over our lives. Republicans are lagging behind, holding our nation back, spending our Federal, public, private and taxpayer dollars on dying industries. What these politicians imposed on Native Americans has been and is being imposed on all of all. Deb Haaland and Native Americans are more advanced in mind and spirit than their opponents.
Nice comment, excellent points. I think we will know we are making some progress in North America when the native peoples can both live on and govern their own land with meaningful independence and recognition of the sacrifices they have been forced to make since the arrival of Europeans at the end of the 16th century. To say that Deb Haaland's appointment as Interior Secretary was long overdue is the understatement of the year.
Whilst the dark, trumplican regime dragged us backwards 30-40 years or more, we are seeing the early light of the Biden era ratcheting our country forward rapidly. I have been so amazed to see the auto industry commit to our future and leave major fossil fuels so rapidly. On a daylong outing this past weekend, I saw many electric car juice stations popping up all around our little rural state. What a joy to witness such big change for our our environment, our Native and POC people, women, our political landscape, and the immediate action for our health protection during this pandemic and economic crisis! I am also very heartened to read that the Dems/Progressives are now shunning insurrectionists in our government, who should have permanently lost all rights on January 6, 2021 by putting up their middle fingers to our fragile democracy before and during their and their cult leader's occupation.
Well, Penelope, it certainly looks good and brings a strong rush of optimism, but ... it is still really fragile, with each positive event determined by a tiny majority in the Senate, and with the filibuster likely blocking Biden - and our - way forward. While the rapid growth in the popularity of electric vehicles is encouraging, I notice that the next big thing will be not only electric SUVs (already grown to near monstrous size) but gargantuan electric 4x4 double-cab pick-ups which will still require electricity to be produced by coal, oil and gas-fired plants for quite some time. And while the pandemic has perhaps caused overall CO2 emissions to flatten out a bit, the coming economic rebound will fix that, and overall CO2 production will continue its steady rise, already 6 years out from the Paris climate agreement.
So while there is room for optimism, a GOP retaking of the House and Senate in 2022 would put us back on square one, or worse. So here's hoping, but I am reserving judgement.
Well, I am absorbing all good feeling days when I can get them! I know how fragile it all is, but positive news has been an endangered species for the past five years. I am reveling in this moment, Pollyanna as it may be, no matter how brief. Hope you can enjoy just a moment of this...and let's string each moment together as they come.
I’d like to add universities to your list. My husband (Ohio State University, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Center for Automotive Research) is an expert in EVs, and has been researching alternative fuels for decades. The Federal government does support this research, and even did (at a reduced level) during the previous administration. His lab just a received a nearly $5M grant from the DOE. He likewise gets research contracts from auto and heavy equipment manufacturers, and his students fairly easily get jobs in industry. We are moving along. But this will not be a rapid transition. Many vehicles purchased today will still be on the road 20 years from now. We should also note that EVs are not pollution free, either. Where does the electricity come from? Renewables, or coal- fired plants? That matters, too.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if a majority (or more!) of American households installed solar panels. We have solar on our garage and thrill to watch the solar gain shift over the seasons in Minnesota. We are ready to receive an EV when our current car is done. The tax rebate for solar was extended by Congress and, at least in our state, the power company has made favorable terms for crediting the energy we put into the grid. This is a good year to look into it for your own household.
In 2015 while flying into Copenhagen I noticed all the wind turbines out in the bay. Later ran into some Danish tourists here on Miami Beach and they said they also get electricity from Solar Panels. We get a lot more sun here and finally FPL is starting to get the message. In visiting Nevada I noticed many solar panels, sometimes covering parking lots. In Southern California there is a large field of Wind Turbines. We are moving in the right direction trying to kick our oil addiction.
The UK is the "world champion" of offshore wind farms. Here in France people say yes with the "tip of their tongue (literal translation of french idiom)" and complain that the equipment spoils the view for the tourists......and is somewhat difficult to live near with noise and "magnetic fields" generated. Otherwise slaor farms are spreading quickly.
I have stood under some wind turbines in Mass. They didn't seem terribly noisy. And I love seeing them. They look like signs of hope to me, and I do find them aesthetically pleasing.
Tesla Roof System is a no brainer. There are other MFG'ers trying to get this going too. I would love to be selling both panels and solar shingles in Texas this summer! You can bet a lot of Texas Republican voters will be putting these up on their roofs for years to come.
I’ve had a Tesla solar system (18 panels, 3’x6’) on my roof for five years. Produces between 15% less and 10% more electrical power than we use annually, using the PG&E (California) grid for storage. This is on the central coast, which is often cloudy but no snow.
Okay, I want that now. Your statement reminds me of when HCR talks history & politics, about how pre civil war government should exist to create conditions where the middle class can produce more than they can consume.
Germany is north of all of the Great Lakes except for Superior, and its northernmost point is as far north as the southernmost part of Hudson Bay. Incidentally, Ms. Rizzoni, I occasionally write about cars, so I've looked your husband up, and if I need a source on EVs, I may contact him.
I expect that 30 years from now, most of our electricity will be coming from renewables. (I sure hope so!)
The average lifetime of cars in the US is now 12 years.
David, how cool! I’m sure he’d be glad to speak to you. Give me a heads up and I’ll send you his email address, or just mention me and Professor Richardson :).
Or heavily treed. I live on ten pine filled acres & keep hoping solar technology will advance to where I can use it. Joan, some panels can be angled so the snow slides off. There are some interesting methods on "Homestead Rescue". I think it's on Discovery.
Our roof solar panels actually belong to Tesla - there's a lease agreement - and they don't ever change position. My co-owner has been battling them about it for years with no results.
Yes, my neighbor down the road has two large panels in his field that follow the sun all day and they are angled so the snow slides off. I have been a member of a solar farm for about 10 years and I have been very happy with my bills or lack of during the warmer months!
It depends where you're located. But I'm in Massachusetts, and I have friends here who get most of their electricity from solar panels. It is definitely easy to hook them up so that when the panels are producing more electricity than the house is using, they can feed the electrical grid. People are working on batteries for solar powered houses, but any expert on renewables will tell you we need them all.
Renewables are currently providing 78% of all new generating capacity, according to the Sun Day Campaign (you can google it)
Indeed, most people here can at least scratch their heads and remember when they saw snow on the doorstep and not just on the Alpine peaks nearby......doesn't rain a great deal either but the Mistral wind ensures sunshine and blue skies.
It would certainly be part of a stronger recovery plan to have a program to do this. I'm sure many Texans are eager to get some energy security, at least enough to boil water each day after their debacle in energy deregulation. Geez, didn't Enron teach us enough?
In France the power source for these new cars is Nuclear! this can not be a permanent solution. Friends not far from me live in the 25kms radius of a plant and are religiously supplied with their Iodine pills......just in case. I would be happier with Hydrogen power.
I believe France utilizes smaller nuclear plants that also run on the spent fuel from larger plants/recycling that fuel from older plants. N. Research was halted after Chernobyl worldwide, except at a few sites like Idaho National Laboratory. Water is not a good match nuclear cooling. Da! there is a liquid Sodium cooled reactor model that is much safer that could really help the energy balance, and keep that coal in the ground where it belongs. Solar and wind are the future, but new nuclear could help bridge the gap till enough renewables can be built.
That's a valid point. Even if those Nations wanted to sell their resources, set their own price. But what about clean up too? Dont we have enough fuel stockpiled in nuclear weapons that can be converted to fuel? I believe we do. Swords to plowshares, sort of.
OR, we could fully engage in energy and resource conservation. America wastes enough to power and supply much of the world. Too many future planning options do little more than try to sustain unsustainable consumption levels.
The trouble is dealing with the major and minor waste, decommissioning the plants and the constant"unimportant" leaks announced with great frequency in the local papers that merit 3 weeks later a back page post scriptum acknowledging the the leak was significantly worse than at first thought. Oops! I haven't even touched on the cooling waters taken from the Rhône...aaaggghhh!
Yeah, water is not the appropriate coolant for nuclear. There are no easy answers for energy, but the status quo is not sustainable to a healthy environment. All the solutions have more than one risk. If one solution means leaving coal, oil, and natural gas in the ground, does not release CO2 in the air, and doesn't utilize nor pollute water and earth, has stringent safety backups and history record, and can bridge the gap to more renewables, then I think it should be researched and explored. I also like how you mentioned Hydrogen. BMW has an experimental motorcycle that runs on hydrogen, no emissions ( im unsure on range and explosiveness though!)
I want to trust engineers and science. I want Energy to be regulated to the highest standard with every precaution, plan, and back up to maintain a healthy environment, no matter how far you live from it.
I do believe that the petroleum industry invests heavily in public relation campaigns against all other forms of energy production, research, and spending. This $ is wasteful in our economy. Spending against other technologies is not capitalist, it is another part of Oligarchy. It appeals emotionally to the masses, manipulating their passions, maintaining their control and their power over energy production for profit. This money should be going to research new cleaner and safer technologies for the benefit of all of society. The answers are out there, but I think it takes leadership to secure the funding to put those engineers and scientist's to task.
informative documentary on the Liquid Sodium reactors. Chernobyl and Fukushima would not have happened with this design, the coolant is the Liquid Sodium and can handle the higher temperatures. The lab in Idaho ran this model reactor for over 30 years with no issues and tons of testing. Infrastructure depends on Steel and concrete production, both hugely energy intensive. ( I still believe every house should have solar though!)
In France they are proving themselves incapable of actually building the EPR new age reactors. The concrete and welds are never up to scratch for security. I think the building budget has doubled and they are 10 years overdue!
Solar, wind, and other renewables are far cheaper than nuclear in its current forms and solar--and I think wind--rival natural gas in cost. Liquid sodium is explosive--I would not want to be anywhere near a liquid sodium cooled reactor.
I remember many years ago in high school my chemistry teacher - during a lab session - brought out a glass jar filled with a clear oil and a shiny lump of metal in it. He fished it out of the jar, wiped it off, and with a penknife sliced off a small piece, then put the lump back in the jar and closed the lid. Then, without explanation, only warning us to stand back, he dropped the little slice of metal into a glass of water and jumped back himself. It was like the 4th of July, sparks flying everywhere and flames coming from the glass of water. "That's sodium, kids," he said with a big smile.
I don't disagree with the renewables. For Nuclear I held your viewpoint for a long time, till i learned how and why anti technology propaganda and hysteria is spread by the petroleum industry and whose biggest supports are from Texas, OK, WY, CO, PN and anywhere fracking is booming. The Sodium cooled nuclear reactor is worth learning more about. If you listen the scientists who designed it, built it, ran it, tested it to extremes for 30 years with no issues, and how it differs from older water cooled designs, it may change your mind. It is truly amazing what problems they solved for safety and longevity. I don't think we can build enough wind or solar fast enough to meet energy needs of both now and the future. And the equation to produce Steel and Concrete for needed infrastructure do not pencil out with only wind and solar at current technology. So, without something other than wind and solar, the status quo continues of burning fossil fuels, and CO2 just keeps increasing. Who's goal is that?
I think it's a lot faster to produce solar and wind than nuclear. It's much simpler. But if you want to give me whatever you think is the best link on sodium cooled--something at preferably a NYer level--I'll take a look.
Avoid acronyms unless you're sure they are in general parlance (MPG, DNA, HIV...) I don't know what SMR stands for. I bet a lot of the readers here don't know Oak Ridge National Lab or the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Military people routinely talk in acronyms. I've attended several academic seminars with officers spouting letter combos that civilians don't know. At the start of one at MIT, I asked everyone to ID their acronyms because "we swim in different alphabet soups." Both the speaker and audience members proceeded to do exactly the opposite. At the end, I told the moderator that it was a deliberate slap in the face to all the uninitiated. He agreed, but had done nothing about it.
Intelligible communication isn't just necessary, it's a courtesy. Alas, common courtesy, like common sense, isn't all that common. Alas!
Small Modular Reactors: "A report recently released by the Department of Energy details how small modular reactors, or SMRs, can provide energy resilience for federal agencies and focuses on a SMR project being developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The report, “Small Modular Reactors: Adding to Resilience at Federal Facilities,” was prepared by Kutak Rock LLP and Scully Capital Services Inc., with funding from DOE." 😁
You might be interested in this - a student team set a land speed record using fuel cells back in 2007. Their other three records came from batteries, most recently in 2016 with lithium ion batteries. The first one basically used hundreds of c cells! It was an amazing project for the students. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckeye_Bullet
Hi Stuart. Just curious... When you say hydrogen power, are you referring to nuclear fusion or fuel cells or hydrogen turbines. Didn't Mario Andretti win the Indy 500 years ago with a car powered that way?
Old fashionned hydrogen gas produced from water for instance! Mario Andretti showed the way and the oil companies bought out all the patents to stop it happening.
And that explains why much of the hydrogen power technology development for vehicles has gone away in the United States. I am glad to see BMW will be releasing a vehicle in 2022 that will be powered by hydrogen. (Thanks for the article Ted Keyes!)
Toroidal technologies could produce energy practically free without disrupting environmental integrity - only how would industries adapt, and what would happen to those who depend on financial securities they support?
Nuclear fusion is not going to happen. It's way too complicated. There was an article in the NYer in the last five years about a major experimental fusion reactor being built in Europe. YOu could tell that the writer REALLY liked the idea a lot; yet, the information he provided made it clear that this was far too complicated a device to ever become commercial. I don't remember if this was a toroidal reactor, but I don't think so; but nuclear fusion in any form is way too complex on Earth (it works fine on the Sun).
President Obama's science advisor, John Holdren, my long ago professor, got his PhD in plasma physics in the 1960s, because he wanted to save the world. But he came to realize that fusion was impractical, and since then turned most of his attention elsewhere (I had him for a class called Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems, in '75, and I learned about global warming in that class, as well as ecosystem services).
My dad was a labor lawyer at the Atomic Energy Commission back in the Nixon-Ford-Carter administrations and was still there when it became the Energy Department. Way before 3-Mile Island and Chernobyl (but after certain lesser known accidents somewhere in Idaho (was it Hanford?), he was a pretty enthusiastic booster of nuclear energy and used to talk about it quite a bit. As a teenager, I naturally thought it was pretty cool, too. One day he brought home a pamphlet all about the latest thing (still in the future "at least 10 years from becoming a reality" I seem to remember) called "fusion power", with a nice little physics lesson about how hydrogen powers the sun and how we could recreate the same reaction by creating a super-heated hydrogen plasma enclosed in a magnetic field, basically make a tiny sun that could be used to produce enormous amounts of electricity but without creating a lot of dangerous nuclear waste. This technology would satisfy everyone's energy needs forever, and all it needed for fuel could easily be removed from seawater, or some such thing. This was not long after the first Earth Day (I marched past the White House that day shouting pro-environment slogans), so I was pretty excited my dad was somehow contributing to a good cause by helping to settle strikes by workers involved in various nuclear industries and govt. projects, like fusion energy I supposed.
Anyway, that was all going on 50 years ago, and as far as I know, no one has yet produced more electricity from a controlled fusion reaction than it takes to just get the reaction going, which is to say it is still pretty much just a dream. Still pretty cool, however, at least as hydrogen plasmas go....
Were there any significant accidents at the Hanford facility in WA state? I can't recall. The major problem with Hanford was decades of irresponsible mismanagement and disposal of waste material, resulting in a grossly contaminated site. Maybe not an accident, but certainly a catastrophe.
No workers would have been involved in fusion, because it's always been lab science. I do think there was an atomic workers union, although I'm reaching back 40 years for that, so I'm not certain.
As long as we know how to deal with the "after effects" great stuff. We got into the Nuclear stuff with eyes closed and crossed fingers...hoping for the best! Science hasn't so far solved the problem....3 mile Island, Tchernobyl, Fukushima and more in Russia itself!
All of those accidents are from water cooled reactors. Early and bad designs with failed back ups and safeguards. Fear from those accidents is real, but also exacerbated and exploited by the petroleum industry's propaganda preventing new technology from being explored and explained.
The initial move into nuclear technology was weapons driven and Admiral Rickover was instrumental in maintaining that focus for long enough that a lot of people aren't aware that the field has continued to develop and that there are more efficient and effective power generating reactors that, widely used, could enable a carbon free transition away from fossil fuels. The problems cited are hangovers from technology that is older than I am and, while they, especially the waste issue, must be solved, we also need to move forward and not be bound by the mistakes that were made before we knew better.
This is a two hour movie, with nothing to do with nuclear fusion contrary to my initial thought. I went through it very quickly, spending maybe 20 minutes. It's very new agey. The only names I recognized of contributors were Paul Hawken, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Deepak Chopra. I don't know whether it would be worth listening to the whole thing or not, but I'm more skeptical than not, partly because of claims of extraterrestrial influence on Earth, of which I'm extremely skeptical. Still, although I didn't tarry on any area long enough to judge, there might be some wisdom in here. If I were retired, I might watch the whole thing... or at least enough to see where it's going.
I was just going to ask whatever happened to the hydrogen power technology they were working on for vehicles? I know the process to fill/fuel a vehicle with hydrogen was a major hurtle (dangerous/not stable), but if they could solve that, I think it's a great solution. Especially since the "exhaust" is water. The additional water in the atmosphere would be beneficial, especially in the West, and is definitely preferred over CO2.
Very good to see! Thanks for digging that information up! Interesting it doesn't mention the issues while fueling up - only that finding the fueling stations (at this point - and understandably so) is the challenge. I'm glad it's still being explored.
What do you call an industry with one product, a cartel of suppliers no competition, the profit margins to run Marketing campaigns (propaganda) to keep consumers miss and uninformed, and politician's PAC's well funded to keep that way forever?
I’d like to a “cash for ga trade in value for ELectric cars. This could revitalizes Detroit as well as Tesla, others. Like the “cash for clunkers” deal. Programs like this work both supply and demand sides. MFG’ers would feel secure to invest in an EV line, knowing the demand has been guaranteed by the program. Consumers get a new car that is cleaner & cheaper to operate. Recycle the old cars into steel for road infrastructure.
Might be good to do the same for weapons of mass destruction in the hands of citizens... just a thought...I sure would like the children in our country to feel safer going to school after the pandemic recedes. And people in movie theaters and nightclubs and concerts..and....and...everywhere.
Well, I studied Nikola Tesla's ideas and inventions when I was in my 20's. He was a man who could have changed our world drastically had more of his ideas been accepted. He was way ahead of his time around energy and medicine. His dream was to have free electricity for the world! Maybe his time is finally now.
Kathy, I'm sure your husband is aware of the short-comings of battery powered cars and, I trust, the clean air potential of H2 fuel cell development for cars.
Lithium-Ion battery powered cars may be short-lived because of their substantial carbon footprint and potential depletion of limited resources, such as lithium and cobalt.
Many major auto manufacturers, such as, Honda, Toyota, BMW, GM, etc., are investing many millions in H2 fuel cell develop for cars. There are many(?) H2 cars on the road today and over 300 H2 fueling stations Worldwide; most of those in the US are in California. In my opinion, more $'s should be diverted from battery to H2 fuel cell development! One option being proposed is combining wind/solar to utilize the excess electricity in the electrolysis of water to produce H2.
However I see this as much more of a bipartisan problem in recent decades than you have indicated. I grant that the Trump years were so troglodyte as to make one despair. However there is a huge internal battle within the Democratic Party which, in some senses, leaves me even gloomier. There is a small progressive cadre within the party who evangelized for a bold Green New Deal for a couple of years, but have gained no traction - in fact the GND seems to have almost become a term of derision. The “moderate” wing of the Party dominates to such an extent that it seems that no true debate is possible.
This has happened in Canada. Author Naomi Klein, her husband Avi Lewis (huge political name in Canada) and journalist Martin Lukacs wrote the LEAP Manifesto in 2015, in its way a precursor of America’s GND. Hundreds of prominent Canadians proselytizes for it. But not a single political party picked it up. It languished for a while, was subjected to mockery and vitriol from many and has since utterly faded from consciousness.
It is possible that Biden will continue to pull in a more progressive direction than any of us believed possible. I do not think however that his agenda will extend to appropriating the boldest ideas in the Green New Deal. My greatest fear is that there will be an irreparable schism at some fairly near point, allowing the GOP to slide back into power, at least in Congress, when they show no inclination currently to regain it on their own merits.
All this and we are staring down the barrel of the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced. We have delayed long enough now that many experts fear that the worst effects of climate change are going to be insuperable hard to avoid. The most radical “solutions”, like geo-engineering to interfere with the sun are being seriously mooted now.
We need head-snappingly bold ideas to forestall climate change in America. GM, Tesla et al are now wedded to incontrovertible science and are doing their bit privately. But the governments of most major nations are a crushing disappointment.
Your article David made good points. But its apparent partisanship struck a dissonant note with me. The Democrats have been abysmally timid in exerting any serious leadership in this area. Until proven otherwise they are just another part of the problem.
And I underline that this febrile attitude is not limited to America. However America has the clout to lead the world still if it would only act.
I also get tired of what I call the “Joe Manchin Proposition”, as in you can only expect so much from a Democrat in a red state. There are times when a government must *lead* the voters, rather than constantly holding a wet finger up to see which way the wind is blowing.
Eric, In you comment, full of justified doubt about what Biden's Administration could accomplish in flipping our addition to fossil fuels (given zero bi-partisanship and the huge influence of Dark Money) I would include John F. Kerry into the equation. He is the first person to hold a new position, in Biden's administration as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
'As Secretary of State, Kerry initiated the 2013–2014 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks and negotiated landmark agreements restricting the nuclear program of Iran, including the 2013 Joint Plan of Action and the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In 2015, Kerry signed the Paris Agreement on climate change on behalf of the United States.'
We have a number of grand older people in our government, with an emphasis on 'grand'. Kerry is a very accomplished and determined human being who will do everything he can, along with others, to reverse the tragic course we have been on.
I would love to see the Democrat Party start to toot it horn on the intelligence, valuing and respecting all Americans, and actually working to overcome obstacles and, of course, get this pandemic under control and our economy back on track. I think the derision in the Democratic party comes from the intelligent and outspoken young people. Presently, their futures don't look at all good with the heavy financial debt of our country, the recurring climate change consequences already taking place and increasing in their future, and a nation loosing its grip on democracy in favor of authoritarianism. These are the ones that have and are experiencing mass shootings, law enforcement's tendency to kill black people, and a GOP that uses lies, distortions, bully tactics, and deflection to control the people. The older Democrats all possess the same intelligence and respect for all Americans, but possess a different experience from the youth. Older Americans learned not to speak until spoken to, and the young speak their opinions freely, and they want change now. So let's not blame or ridicule Democrats for their unrest in the party, but rather understand what's happening, and try to encourage change.
Well explained. I agree that the younger Dems are prone to rushing in - a condition of youth - and the older Dems have the wisdom of those who have fought many battles and have the scars to demonstrate so. I also know that it is easy to write in a blog and airily propose change on the grandest of scales, as if it merely needs to be said to be done.
I am certainly not inclined to ridicule Democrats who are involved in unrest. However I am more than prepared to blame the party as a whole if they continue to slouch towards Bethlehem.
I am 70. Climate change will affect me personally should I live a few more years. It will certainly devastate my children and grandchildren if it is left more or left unchecked.
I am radical in my views on this. I fear that we will not not galvanize on a program of mitigation unless there is a disaster clearly attributable to climate change that displaces millions or kills tens of thousands. Will it take this? I certainly hope not.
The Republicans have been worse than useless when Senator Imhoue (so?) brought a snowball into the Senate to illustrate with a “Hah! I’ve got you now” gesture that global warming was not real, I knew it was probable, indeed almost certain, that his party could be written off.
We are much closer to the precipice now. We do not have time for even the glimmering of an internecine quarrel among the Democrats about how fast and hard to do it. Legislators have got to get their priorities right. Just winning elections and pushing gradual change will not do when it comes to climate.
Biden swung for the fences with the Recovery Bill. I delight in that. He must now do the same with the filibuster, Voting Rights, and climate. Climate. Climate.
With all the mini-disasters since, say Sandy, has it not begun to register?
I have great faith in John Kerry. I think he’s one of the great underrated Democrats. I hope he is there for the big push, not as window dressing.
Here in Canada, our Conservative party would, for the most part, align with your moderate Democrats. But we have three parties to the left of the Conservatives, the Liberals (the Natural Governing Party), the New Democratic Party, and a tiny Green rump party. We really have no excuse for being as slow as we have been with this issue. But nobody wants to rock the boat.
Well, the “boat” is going to be rocked and capsized unless we get our act together.
And the U.S. Must. Lead. Politicians have to take the best guidance of science and enact proposals that will even make the majority of their supporters shudder.
The results will surprise us I think. Better than being stunned and abjectly terrified in a few years to come.
Excellent exposition, Eric. John Kerry would have been president, and a good one, if Repugs hadn't stolen the vote in Ohio in 2004.
Canada provided one of my greatest political pleasures a couple of decades ago. Details are forgotten, but the major opponent of the Conservatives totally wiped them out in an election. And I mean totally, as in dropping from hundreds of MPs to single digits. Too bad it wasn't the GOP at the same time.
BTW, tell Halifax thanks for the majestic Christmas tree they send to Boston every year. It's one of the finest traditions in the entire Western Hemisphere.
I have a book on the 2004 election and the Ohio debacle. Harpers did a huge expose of the foul play at work in 2005 or 2006 and it always stuck with me. Elections have consequences ans all that jazz.
You’d know more about the literature than me. “What Happened in Ohio?”, maybe?
You do know a lot. Next time I’m in Halifax I’ll pass this genuine thank you on.
The election you speak of was in ‘92 or ‘93. At the time this was the *Progressive* Conservative Party. For a variety of complicated reasons “Progressive” has now disappeared from both their name and policies. Indeed we had some good Conservative governments before the turn of the century. It was no insult to be called a “Red Tory”. (Our colors associated with parties are opposite to yours -Libs are red and Tories blue).
In any case, this PC party had a woman leading it - Kim Campbell. The Liberals had a wily politician Jean Chrétien opposing her. Chrétien had Bell’s palsy and it had disfigured his face so that it was often contorted into a grimace.
The PCs went for an attack ad attacking his disfigurement, along the lines of “Do you want this man representing Canada to the world”?
It was born of desperation. As I recall, the PCs were not ahead in the polls. In any case, it backfired spectacularly, more than any ad I can remember. Chrétien had been around since the 60s. He was known as the “fighter from Shawinigan”. People were protective and fond of him.
The Liberals destroyed the PCs 177-2. Of course the NDP and Bloc got a share of seats but Chrétien was finally in the driver’s seat and proved to be a very good leader.
Also, expert at handling burglars, but that’s another story.
The demise of the PCs led eventually to the rise of what many call the Regressive Conservatives and a long period of rule by them.
So there’s an interesting Canadian story (we have the odd one :).
I think the most vocal parts of the GND have been absorbed into our subconscious in the same manner as commercials (When you buy a product without thinking about it). It's not fast or ideal, but it is a start.
And since Koch is heavily into fossil fuels, I'm sure he will/has thrown a lot of money into the status quo.
Senate Republicans have no sense of irony. Not long ago they cheerfully confirmed an anti-environment man to head the EPA, an anti public education woman to head the Dept of Education, an open racist to head the Dept of Justice, and so on for most of failed45’s wrecking crew. Now they object because Secretly Haaland will be an “untraditional” person to head Interior. .. and my day starts with a big smile!
I can't even begin to describe the hypocrisy of the Republicans. In fact, my head hurts even thinking about it. When I remember all the unqualified cabinet appointments, federal and supreme court judges/justices, department head appointments (key up Louis DeJoy), there is absolutely no way to defend any of them. And yet they now question every single appointment that President Biden makes.
I don't think it is hypocrisy any longer. It is a group of seemingly entitled white men seeking power and wealth and the death of the government through lies, intimidation, more lies, and loads of whining. And, there isn't a brain among them.
One must have a modicum of intelligence to appreciate irony. The Republican politicians and their slavish constituents do not possess either intelligence or principles, and that accounts for their deplorable (nod to Hillary) governance.
Thank you for the historical background of the Interior Department. Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) as Secretary of the Interior Department has a huge responsibility, and I am impressed with her erudite response to Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She neither maligned him nor acquiesced to his billion dollar bank roll for his rich constituents; I especially cheered her polite in his face pointing out her primary interest in serving the paycheck to paycheck folks. Another reason to feel so much better about America.
I agree Andrea--my temptation when faced with such a self-serving and mansplaining statement would have been to say "well, maybe Wyoming should be looking for other sources of income, eh?" As usual, the Gormless Obstructionists have it bass-ackwards: The problem is not the states (mostly blue-dominated) that receive less in government bailouts than they fork over in tax revenue, it is the states (the Deep South and the "small population" states) that are underwritten and completely bailed out by the government which they claim to disdain (they would not survive without federal bailouts). Does Wyoming pay for itself? No: they rely on government stipends and tax breaks for the gas and oil industry. In terms of dependence on federal monies dragged out of blue states, Wyoming is two Alabamas without the humidity. This article refers to stats from 2011 but the situation has not changed: https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/news/wyoming/article_e9b925fc-8518-5326-a4db-bf5c01d67933.html
Yes, Linda and Camilla, that's a neat turn of phrase. Other than my cousins' ranch, the best thing about WY is that it has 6 less electoral votes than AL.
I volunteered for Deb Haaland's first campaign for Congress in 2018, and I totally agree that she is an impressive woman! Although she is very accomplished, there is no sense of ego about her. The first time I met her was during her service as chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. What made me take notice of her was a small kindness she did for me at a party meet-and-greet. It was a tiny, simple gesture, but it showed her character and it stuck in my mind.
The only sad thing about her ascent to this cabinet position is that we likely won't be seeing her much around NM for the next few years. I've missed seeing her in person during the pandemic year.
I think I know what you mean, Elene, about a "tiny, simple gesture" showing character. Thanks for sharing your experience with our newly confirmed Secretary.
Another sad thing will be not having her voice in our NM congressional delegation. I hope her replacement in the house will be as strong and sensible as she. I'm not sure how her seat is filled...is it by appointment or vote?
You're sure right about this being a big loss to our congressional delegation.
Democratic Party folk will choose the candidate from among those who have put in their names, in an internal process; there's no primary. That person will run against whoever the Republicans choose. There are a LOT of potential candidates.
Georgene Louis, who is in the state legislature and is also Native, is looking like a strong contender.
Thank you for that link, Joan. I knew there were a few unsettled items about "what if." It's not my district, but we only have 3 house seats in NM so each one is important to all of us. (alas, the southern district representative seems to be stuck in support of That Former Guy. Fortunately, I don't live there.)
Both of Colorado's Democratic Senators "Not Voting" because their flights back to DC were cancelled due to the blizzard. Really? That they both went home despite the forecasted severe weather is irresponsible and disappointing.
Deep gratitude to all who voted for Secretary Haaland, most especially the four Republican Senators who voted to confirm her. They voted for the people.
I saw that Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper didn’t vote, and had to wonder if they used the snowstorm as an excuse. Granted, it was an epic storm, but why were they in CO this weekend, anyway? Hickenlooper is a geological engineer by training and, historically, in favor of fracking, for which he has taken a great deal of heat. He knows he is being watched closely on these issues. They did vote in favor of Haalan earlier in the process, fortunately, but they are definitely between a rock and a hard place in Colorado where oil & gas has been a significant contributor to the economy. That’s no excuse, in my opinion, not to stand boldly in favor of what is right and just, but it is the reality. And, yet, if they had voted against a talented, qualified Native American woman in order to satisfy the oil & gas industry, they would have unleashed an epic backlash in proportion to the storm.
I'm surprised Senator Bennett - who has always struck me as thoughtful, even intellectual - didn't make the effort to get back to DC and vote 'yes' for Deb Haaland, though I do not know what his stand on fracking is, nor what his relations with the oil and gas industry are. I guess I should find out
As for former CO Governor Hickenlooper, I should think he might see the advantages - both for Colorado's economy and the World's future - in dialing back on fracking and, instead pushing wind and solar power, both abundant in Colorado and most of the far West. Burning natural gas - while slightly less polluting than burning coal and oil - leads to plenty of CO2 emissions. Also raw methane gas is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 and can be released directly into the atmosphere during fracking unless expensive measures to prevent leakage are taken. Often, such measures are not taken. Gas should only be used as a stopgap while we are rushing to develop the many varieties of solar power (including wind). Fossil fuels are nearing the end of the line, no matter how strong the interests of some very rich folks may be to keep them going. And while many of these nostalgic politicians complain about job losses in the fossil fuel extraction industry, they seem not to know that the market - yes the market that is supposedly GOD to the GOP and plenty of moderate Democrats too - heavily favors solar and wind power, and that these industries - at least over the short term - are creating lots of new jobs that tend to pay pretty well and are surely healthier occupations than mining and drilling. Lots of political upside here.
To sum up, favoring natural gas extraction via very environmentally damaging fracking will soon be a political dead end, and Democrats, at least, should be able to understand that.
Agree 100%. We lived within a few miles of a large wind farm in Eastern El Paso County. I was delighted when it was purposed and built. We could see several of the turbines from our home. Watching them turn gave me hope that Colorado was taking positive steps towards a better future via renewables. (We had a great view; Pike's Peak to the west and wind turbines to the east. Breathtaking!)
Nothing like the early morning sun on Pike's Peak.
I understand why some people with vacation homes might protest when wind farms sprout up right in the middle of their million dollar views, but I guess I don't lose a lot of sleep over it; rich people can pretty well look after themselves. I think those giant 3-bladed windmills are pretty cool, especially when 50 or 100 of them are all together in one windy spot, whirring away. No need to sacrifice National Parks to the cause, and there sure is a lot of still-empty land in the USA and plenty if wind.
I'm not a businessperson, but given that the energy dumped on the Earth every day by the Sun is practically infinite and free for the taking, it would seem to be one of those no-brainer, win-win situations entrepreneurs are always yakking about: solar panels on every roof, extra energy added to the grid or saved in storage batteries or charging up the car, universal use of LED lights and other low consumption devices, a ban on dryers, smart switches turning things on and off, lots of walking and bike-riding.
We can let the earth heal and live better and get everyone involved. We don't have to be our own worst enemy.
As well, it is puzzling to me that both men were in Colorado last weekend given the significant nature of the vote. As a Colorado voter, I was furious when I saw both did not vote. As a former rural Colorado landowner I understands the nature of oil, gas, mineral, and water rights and know there are deeply divided camps when in comes to oil and gas exploration. They both made a serious mistake sidestepping this vote. We can't take for granted that either of them will "do the right thing" when it comes to voting because both chose to do nothing. And that speaks volumes.
I should elaborate in re oil & gas rights: some Colorado landowners, big or small, would happily have a well in the middle of their living room in exchange for royalty checks.
Daria, do you know if either Senator had anything more to say about their non-vote? Would they have voted in favor? Would they have found a way back to DC if their votes had been needed? I'm interested because I vote in Boulder County...
The Colorado Sun is an online news source started by 17 Denver Post reporters, who left the Post in the wake of it being ravaged by its current owner, the vulture investment fund Alden Capital. They’re doing a good job with the Colorado Sun reporting on politics and business news relevant to Colorado, which is important, since Alden eliminated all the reporters who covers these topics. You can read their articles for free, but they really need readers to become members @ $59/year to survive.
This is some of the best news I’ve heard since Joe Biden won the election. The desecration and destruction of our land by the previous regime has bothered me greatly. Knowing there is an Indigenous person now in charge of DOI gives me hope. Thank you, Heather, for the background information for both Rep Haaland and the DOI. I know a little bit about the history of our country’s treatment of our Indigenous peoples and am slowly reading your book on Wounded Knee but this puts it in context to Rep Haaland and is helpful to understand how monumental this appointment is. I am reading the book slowly because it is just too painful and heartbreaking to take in big chunks - I have to step away and process the horrors I have read before I can go on and read more. Maybe we really can “build back better”. Maybe it really will be “all of us” this time. Hoping, for the first time in a while.
A reading of ‘On Fire’ by Naomi Klein will awaken your sense of urgency on the current climate crisis. Red skies morning, noon and night are more than biblical warnings.
By “your book on Wounded Knee,” do you mean the Dee Brown book? Another authoritative US history from an indigenous view is one by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. I had to read it even more slowly than Brown’s book, though.
The reference is to Dr Richardson's own "Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre." Last month I foolishly waited to buy a less costly copy from an independent used bookstore; it was gone when I returned the next day. Like fisherfolk, bibliophiles never forget "the one that got away."
HCR posts perhaps just before midnight, USA time: it’s about 7 p. m. here in Portugal. I read it, go to sleep on it, and read it for the commentary about 9:30 a.m. It is so valuable to me to hear everyone’s views, because it’s richer and truer than any news casts and reflects a group I thought had vanished when i retired here 30 years ago. Thank you, Heather, for your kind and thoughtful offerings and for giving your readers a voice.
I look forward to these letters. Today’s was no exception. In my past I was given a job as a change agent in a company that was stuck in its inefficient ways. The interesting thing about organizations are that they act like a organism. Organisms don’t appreciate change and tend to consider change agents like a virus and quickly develop antibodies to kill it. This occurs even when the organism really needs the help. Haaland is a change agent, and the vested interests within the Dept. Of Interior will work hard to resist that change. She will need top cover from the Administration to protect her from vested interests in congress and also within the Dept. Of Interior. These vested interests (antibodies) will try their hardest to either neutralize or remove her. The vested interests have the advantage of time and knowledge. They are there from administration to administration and understand the organism that is the Dept of Interior better than she will.
What a great analogy! Sometimes, that vaccine (change) makes you a little queasy, but in the end you (your institution) will be better for it. Putting a parallel to another important topic, the institutional mindset of law enforcement will resist the changes that must be made in their mission, training, and application; they should come back as better and true public servants as a result.
I have been aghast at what I have learned about my profession over the past several years; one was our roles as protecting the property of rich white men, whether it was people (Black slaves) or revenue generation (factories or manufacturing) and the other was how case law has evolved to justify the use of force (deadly and physical) in a manner which results in an overwhelming use of force against "others".
I was our department's use of force expert for the last 8 years I was employed full time (I retired in 2013, before Ferguson) and I taught force documentation and justification for 15 years. My main focus as an instructor was to explain the physical and psychological reactions to perceived threats and how to get out of the immediate (flight/fight/freeze) and back into the ability to utilize complex thought. To see where "Warrior Training" has "evolved" in the last 8 years is stunning to me; and it has become essentially a license to execute when one feels "in fear of injury". Couple this with the absolute refusal to acknowledge systemic racism or perceptual bias throughout LE, and it will require some real transformation.
Thank you, Ally. In the last millennium I worked in a CT sheriff's dept for a couple of years, The Real Training - socialization, not formal -- from its veterans was an education in immorality.
I wish that Eugene Goodman was the face of American policing; tragically, it is Derek Chauvin. We desperately need him convicted on murder charges (2-D far better) to provide greater accountability for all LE.
Your work seems to embody the Peelian Principles of law enforcement, direct ancestor of community policing. (From Sir Robert Peel, founder of London Metro Police, nicknamed "Bobbies" after him.) I have no book ref. on it beyond ones on Peel himself, but on our less admirable, more lethal tradition, there's Sally Hadden, Slave Patrols. It's much harder to find affordable copies since we lost George Floyd. US law enforcement is an uneasy blend of Peelism and de facto slave patrolling. The stark contrasts are now visible for all to see, and will persist until they're resolved in favor of greater justice and accountability.
But to ensure we don't actually kill anyone doing it the frontal lobes are supposed to take back control from the automatic pilot to ensure a smooth landing!
Thank you for putting into context Debra Haaland's appointment to the Department of Interior. The Republican from Wyoming, when questioning Haaland, made quite a point that 80% of oil production is used for non-propulsion purposes. He was attempting to make a case that modernity requires oil to function. What he ignored is how much of "non-propulsion" oil is used to create single use plastics! If we can do one simple but difficult thing, we must stop using single use straws. Try it. You might find it a humbling experience.
Not sure how drinking directly from a glass or cup would ever be a humbling experience but your retelling of the non-propulsion use of petroleum products is spot on.
I live in the Republic of Panama. Several years ago we eliminated plastic bags in all retail establishments not just grocery stores. There are reusable bags for sale at the checkout in case you forgot to bring one. They can only be sold at cost. Many of the larger stores also offer single use biodegradeable bags, also at cost.
It really feels like a new day dawning! As usual, Heather, you teach me something I either didn’t know or only had a gliding acquaintance w/in American history. I “knew” the Teapot Dome Scandal was during the Harding administration and that it involved oil. Now I know a lot more AND have a connection as to why it matters and how it’s relevant. I’m so grateful that Deb Haaland was confirmed. Maybe we have a chance at making this country a fit place for all of us to live after all. Thanks for your commitment to sharing your knowledge w/us—and thank you for renewing my thirst for knowledge and love of American history❣️
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! So pleased with Deb Haaland being confirmed to be our next Interior Secretary. 35th generation "New Mexicaner," yikes!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viBLTbdwjks
Thank you, Lynell, for that link. It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart that
my earliest American ancestors, and women, are finally having their day. The pain of Native American genocide, broken treaties and the world slave trade they, and our African Americans who were able to survive, deserve our full respect and rewards for their tenacity despite severe oppression. The wealth of this country was built with the colonial's knees on their necks for hundreds of years. Lifting those knees, in whatever ways we can, benefits all of US. This is how we begin to take All of our people forward this time.
Does more and more of this Light in 2021 not feel very, very delicious?
I was so excited when I heard that Rep. Haaland was given the nod as Interior Secretary and I cheered (silently: I was teaching an online class) when I got the email alert that she had been confirmed (shame on all the people who voted against her--including both MO senators and one of the KS ones--Marshall was mysteriously absent). While I was silently cheering, the tornado sirens went off and--because climate change has made late winter and spring completely unpredictable in my part of the USA, even though such storms usually wind up staying well south of the city--I had to tell my students, some of whom live in the path the storm was taking, to take cover. Thus endeth the lesson about the Fourth Lateran Council and the Doctrine of Papal Supremacy. Sigh.
What got me upset yesterday was the papal pronouncement about LGBTQ people and same-sex marriage. I admit I did not expect this pope to walk back the homophobia of a church that has consistently protected its male members when they have abused boys and young men with impunity for centuries. I did not expect this pope to walk back the misogyny of the church that has classified women as sub-human (unless they are capable of virgin births or submit to sacrificing themselves in excruciatingly sadistic ways). But I did not expect the encyclical to be so cynically self-serving, labeling gay sex a "sin" and kowtowing to the most radically backward-facing of the church leadership. This supposedly reformist pope has slammed the door on women gaining full citizenship in the Catholic Church; now they are claiming some kind of bizarre moral and sexual purity when the world knows how mendacious that claim is.
I was shocked, too, two days ago when Pope Francis discussed the suffering and humanitarian disaster in Syria. He offered his prayers and asked his parishioners "to pray for Syria." Sending "thoughts and prayers" is not a solution. To engage the wealthiest church on earth merely in prayers toward such suffering seems monstrous. I had hoped that Francis would bring the change to the Catholic Church that is so necessary but he seems to have been dragged back into the ugly past.
Yes. Pope Francis seems to have walked back "who am I to judge?". That comment gave hope to many. Having read Martel's "In the Closet of the Vatican" I supposed I should not have been surprised...politics in the Vatican is as ugly as it is in Congress.
Secretary Halaand will need to be strong and not ploughed under by politicking.
All true and deplorable, but Francesco is still the best Pope since Giovanni 23, maybe ever. Many in his flock, particularly in largely homophobic Africa, have bigger in-your-face problems to worry about on a daily basis than we ever do in the wealthy north, and COVID to boot, and not much chance of getting vaccinated soon. The Pope's undivided attention given to the plight of folks in the areas of the world most crushed by poverty and ravaged by war largely makes up for his unwillingness to fight retrograde behavior by a certain cynical, perverted, venal and misogynist minority of the clergy.
For what it's worth, I'm a life-long non-believer, but I believe Francesco's heart is in the right place, encyclicals come and go, and Rome wasn't built in a day.
Which John XXIII, David? There were two of them! 🤪 I know which one you mean (Vatican II) but I just had to yank your chain a bit. His decision to take the name John XXIII was hugely controversial because the last one was forced to resign by the Council of Constance (1414-1418) at a time when there were THREE popes (one in Rome, one in Avignon, one wandering around but mostly in Agnani, I think) and the Powers That Be refused to identify him as a "true" pope. The "first" John XXIII was in favor of the Doctrine of Conciliar Supremacy, which if it had survived would have made the architecture of the church far more collaborative. The successor popes (who were doozies, I have to say: Borgia, Medici, della Rovere, etc) shut that right down. I do not trust Francis. I understand that he is walking a tightrope between the more "liberal" European bishops and the misogynist homophobes in Africa and Asia (The USA and Australia are more mixed) but when you're supposedly supporting the liberation theology of a group of nations who have made homosexuality a crime punishable by death, and you say NOTHING, you're not a real mensch in my book.
Can't tell the John XXIIIs apart without a scorecard!
Linda, I am still hopeful about Francis, who makes some progress in the face of near-insurmountable opposition. He may well have decided that it's not possible for him to make all the necessary changes needed by the Church, and this is proof. It's tragic, but being a successful pontiff requires great political and diplomatic skill.
I'm a bit wary of the first XXXIII's enthusiasm for Councils, since his Council of Konstanz condemned and burned Jan Hus in 1415. Still, councils in general have a positive influence on the RCC by opening policymaking to wider scrutiny, if not accountability.
NB, the surplus popes of the 14C Great Schism most likely didn't hang around Anagni. You are probably thinking of the Crime of Anagni in 1303, when Philip the Fair's forces kidnapped and assaulted Boniface VIII in his hometown. Other popes would have avoided the site of such an outrage unless they too had ties to Anagni.
All this is an outside perspective since I'm not Catholic. Hopefully I remember and understand it properly.
Yes--Constance was kind of a schizo conference, condemning Wyclif and burning Hus but also trying to establish some kind of representative system to control the papacy (especially the money situation). And I knew I was wrong about Anagni but my brain won't come up with the papal estate outside Rome that they tended to flee to when the Romans kicked them out (a fairly regular occurrence). It was interesting how rapidly the bishops tired of the idea of Conciliar Supremacy and was willing to go back to the old system, but the result was a battalion of gobsmackingly corrupt and venal popes. Made Leo III (who crowned Charlemagne in 800) look like a piker. I admit that I LOVE that Deborah Harkness has made Gerbert of Aurillac (aka Pope Sylvester II) not only a vampire, but the most evil guy in the universe in her book series. Just digressing . . .
Thanks Linda, I'd forgotten about Wyclif. (No "fe" suffix?)
Perhaps you refer to Castel Sant' Angelo, just outside Vatican City? It's where the pope in 1527 fled when Benevenuto Cellini helped sack Rome on behalf of Emperor Charles V.
That is a good one re Gerbert/Sylvester. I've never been to Auvergne, but spent a semester in Aveyron and am still fond of les pays d'Occitanie, though unable to say it in Occitan.
In the first Gal Gadot "Wonder Woman," Ares the god of war is revealed to be Erich Ludendorff (of Beer Hall Putsch infamy). So appropriate! It was a letdown when the true Ares turned out to be an obscure British bureaucrat.
Thanks for the heads up on the other John XXIII. And you make a good point, and perhaps Francis should go out on a limb and see what happens. He's still young (for a Pope), let's give him a break for a few more years. God knows who might replace him.
I agree. I think Francis, like John XXIII, is doing the best he can. His situation reminds me of the comment above by Robert Atac describing change agents in an organization as a virus that is attacked by the antibodies, the vested interests, that are part of the organization. Considering how long the Catholic church has been around, these vested interests are so calcified that real change is almost impossible.
The irony of this history is that our nation's natural resources have been plundered and pillaged through corrupt practices by public agencies and private interests, depriving all Americans of the benefits of these resources from the very beginning of European exploration and US existence. Native Americans have been blamed for being in the way, distracting white working Americans from the real political obstacles to American prosperity, health and well being. The current irony and travesty is that Republicans are still clinging to old talking points and technologies, as old as their Confederate sympathies while Wall Street and international corporations are transitioning rapidly without Republican support to Electric Vehicles. Wall Street, GM, VW, Tesla, China and thousands of auto, transportation and technology companies are racing to keep up with this transition which will happen as quickly as computers took over our lives. Republicans are lagging behind, holding our nation back, spending our Federal, public, private and taxpayer dollars on dying industries. What these politicians imposed on Native Americans has been and is being imposed on all of all. Deb Haaland and Native Americans are more advanced in mind and spirit than their opponents.
Nice comment, excellent points. I think we will know we are making some progress in North America when the native peoples can both live on and govern their own land with meaningful independence and recognition of the sacrifices they have been forced to make since the arrival of Europeans at the end of the 16th century. To say that Deb Haaland's appointment as Interior Secretary was long overdue is the understatement of the year.
This is definitely a feather in Biden's cap, too.
Whilst the dark, trumplican regime dragged us backwards 30-40 years or more, we are seeing the early light of the Biden era ratcheting our country forward rapidly. I have been so amazed to see the auto industry commit to our future and leave major fossil fuels so rapidly. On a daylong outing this past weekend, I saw many electric car juice stations popping up all around our little rural state. What a joy to witness such big change for our our environment, our Native and POC people, women, our political landscape, and the immediate action for our health protection during this pandemic and economic crisis! I am also very heartened to read that the Dems/Progressives are now shunning insurrectionists in our government, who should have permanently lost all rights on January 6, 2021 by putting up their middle fingers to our fragile democracy before and during their and their cult leader's occupation.
Well, Penelope, it certainly looks good and brings a strong rush of optimism, but ... it is still really fragile, with each positive event determined by a tiny majority in the Senate, and with the filibuster likely blocking Biden - and our - way forward. While the rapid growth in the popularity of electric vehicles is encouraging, I notice that the next big thing will be not only electric SUVs (already grown to near monstrous size) but gargantuan electric 4x4 double-cab pick-ups which will still require electricity to be produced by coal, oil and gas-fired plants for quite some time. And while the pandemic has perhaps caused overall CO2 emissions to flatten out a bit, the coming economic rebound will fix that, and overall CO2 production will continue its steady rise, already 6 years out from the Paris climate agreement.
So while there is room for optimism, a GOP retaking of the House and Senate in 2022 would put us back on square one, or worse. So here's hoping, but I am reserving judgement.
Well, I am absorbing all good feeling days when I can get them! I know how fragile it all is, but positive news has been an endangered species for the past five years. I am reveling in this moment, Pollyanna as it may be, no matter how brief. Hope you can enjoy just a moment of this...and let's string each moment together as they come.
Deb Haaland is a breath of fresh air!
There's nothing like a breath of fresh air to scare the old farts.
Can I stand alongside you, or 6 feet apart so we can take our masks off, and we will lift our faces to the sun?
Absolutely, Meemoo! Bask in it together! We have earned it.
Or as Janis Joplin said, "Get it while you can".
I'm with you on that.
Hundreds of them are already arrested
Yes!
I’d like to add universities to your list. My husband (Ohio State University, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Center for Automotive Research) is an expert in EVs, and has been researching alternative fuels for decades. The Federal government does support this research, and even did (at a reduced level) during the previous administration. His lab just a received a nearly $5M grant from the DOE. He likewise gets research contracts from auto and heavy equipment manufacturers, and his students fairly easily get jobs in industry. We are moving along. But this will not be a rapid transition. Many vehicles purchased today will still be on the road 20 years from now. We should also note that EVs are not pollution free, either. Where does the electricity come from? Renewables, or coal- fired plants? That matters, too.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if a majority (or more!) of American households installed solar panels. We have solar on our garage and thrill to watch the solar gain shift over the seasons in Minnesota. We are ready to receive an EV when our current car is done. The tax rebate for solar was extended by Congress and, at least in our state, the power company has made favorable terms for crediting the energy we put into the grid. This is a good year to look into it for your own household.
Yes! In Germany, solar panels are on many homes. They are subsidized. Germany is hardly sunny! I am so intrigued by the Tesla roof system.
In 2015 while flying into Copenhagen I noticed all the wind turbines out in the bay. Later ran into some Danish tourists here on Miami Beach and they said they also get electricity from Solar Panels. We get a lot more sun here and finally FPL is starting to get the message. In visiting Nevada I noticed many solar panels, sometimes covering parking lots. In Southern California there is a large field of Wind Turbines. We are moving in the right direction trying to kick our oil addiction.
The UK is the "world champion" of offshore wind farms. Here in France people say yes with the "tip of their tongue (literal translation of french idiom)" and complain that the equipment spoils the view for the tourists......and is somewhat difficult to live near with noise and "magnetic fields" generated. Otherwise slaor farms are spreading quickly.
I have stood under some wind turbines in Mass. They didn't seem terribly noisy. And I love seeing them. They look like signs of hope to me, and I do find them aesthetically pleasing.
Didn't know you're in France. I'm a tad envious. Lived there the year I was 12. Here's the story (ignore the title--should have been A la recherche du temps perdue) https://www.hagerty.com/media/driving/a-60s-summer-in-paris-leads-to-a-search-for-a-good-peugeot-404/
Tesla Roof System is a no brainer. There are other MFG'ers trying to get this going too. I would love to be selling both panels and solar shingles in Texas this summer! You can bet a lot of Texas Republican voters will be putting these up on their roofs for years to come.
I’ve had a Tesla solar system (18 panels, 3’x6’) on my roof for five years. Produces between 15% less and 10% more electrical power than we use annually, using the PG&E (California) grid for storage. This is on the central coast, which is often cloudy but no snow.
Okay, I want that now. Your statement reminds me of when HCR talks history & politics, about how pre civil war government should exist to create conditions where the middle class can produce more than they can consume.
Germany is north of all of the Great Lakes except for Superior, and its northernmost point is as far north as the southernmost part of Hudson Bay. Incidentally, Ms. Rizzoni, I occasionally write about cars, so I've looked your husband up, and if I need a source on EVs, I may contact him.
I expect that 30 years from now, most of our electricity will be coming from renewables. (I sure hope so!)
The average lifetime of cars in the US is now 12 years.
David, how cool! I’m sure he’d be glad to speak to you. Give me a heads up and I’ll send you his email address, or just mention me and Professor Richardson :).
Solar is great but it is not much use when the panels are covered with snow. It needs to be combined with other energy sources.
Or heavily treed. I live on ten pine filled acres & keep hoping solar technology will advance to where I can use it. Joan, some panels can be angled so the snow slides off. There are some interesting methods on "Homestead Rescue". I think it's on Discovery.
Our roof solar panels actually belong to Tesla - there's a lease agreement - and they don't ever change position. My co-owner has been battling them about it for years with no results.
Yes, my neighbor down the road has two large panels in his field that follow the sun all day and they are angled so the snow slides off. I have been a member of a solar farm for about 10 years and I have been very happy with my bills or lack of during the warmer months!
It depends where you're located. But I'm in Massachusetts, and I have friends here who get most of their electricity from solar panels. It is definitely easy to hook them up so that when the panels are producing more electricity than the house is using, they can feed the electrical grid. People are working on batteries for solar powered houses, but any expert on renewables will tell you we need them all.
Renewables are currently providing 78% of all new generating capacity, according to the Sun Day Campaign (you can google it)
Indeed, most people here can at least scratch their heads and remember when they saw snow on the doorstep and not just on the Alpine peaks nearby......doesn't rain a great deal either but the Mistral wind ensures sunshine and blue skies.
A few years ago, I read about the French experimenting with solar-gathering surfaces on roads in Normandy. Do you know if anything ever came of that?
The mistral? So you’re in France? Lucky you
Yes Joan has to be where we live.
It would certainly be part of a stronger recovery plan to have a program to do this. I'm sure many Texans are eager to get some energy security, at least enough to boil water each day after their debacle in energy deregulation. Geez, didn't Enron teach us enough?
In France the power source for these new cars is Nuclear! this can not be a permanent solution. Friends not far from me live in the 25kms radius of a plant and are religiously supplied with their Iodine pills......just in case. I would be happier with Hydrogen power.
I believe France utilizes smaller nuclear plants that also run on the spent fuel from larger plants/recycling that fuel from older plants. N. Research was halted after Chernobyl worldwide, except at a few sites like Idaho National Laboratory. Water is not a good match nuclear cooling. Da! there is a liquid Sodium cooled reactor model that is much safer that could really help the energy balance, and keep that coal in the ground where it belongs. Solar and wind are the future, but new nuclear could help bridge the gap till enough renewables can be built.
I doubt that “recycled” uranium will solve the climate crisis. More nuclear would require reviving uranium mining near Laguna Pueblo.
That's a valid point. Even if those Nations wanted to sell their resources, set their own price. But what about clean up too? Dont we have enough fuel stockpiled in nuclear weapons that can be converted to fuel? I believe we do. Swords to plowshares, sort of.
OR, we could fully engage in energy and resource conservation. America wastes enough to power and supply much of the world. Too many future planning options do little more than try to sustain unsustainable consumption levels.
The trouble is dealing with the major and minor waste, decommissioning the plants and the constant"unimportant" leaks announced with great frequency in the local papers that merit 3 weeks later a back page post scriptum acknowledging the the leak was significantly worse than at first thought. Oops! I haven't even touched on the cooling waters taken from the Rhône...aaaggghhh!
Yeah, water is not the appropriate coolant for nuclear. There are no easy answers for energy, but the status quo is not sustainable to a healthy environment. All the solutions have more than one risk. If one solution means leaving coal, oil, and natural gas in the ground, does not release CO2 in the air, and doesn't utilize nor pollute water and earth, has stringent safety backups and history record, and can bridge the gap to more renewables, then I think it should be researched and explored. I also like how you mentioned Hydrogen. BMW has an experimental motorcycle that runs on hydrogen, no emissions ( im unsure on range and explosiveness though!)
I want to trust engineers and science. I want Energy to be regulated to the highest standard with every precaution, plan, and back up to maintain a healthy environment, no matter how far you live from it.
I do believe that the petroleum industry invests heavily in public relation campaigns against all other forms of energy production, research, and spending. This $ is wasteful in our economy. Spending against other technologies is not capitalist, it is another part of Oligarchy. It appeals emotionally to the masses, manipulating their passions, maintaining their control and their power over energy production for profit. This money should be going to research new cleaner and safer technologies for the benefit of all of society. The answers are out there, but I think it takes leadership to secure the funding to put those engineers and scientist's to task.
informative documentary on the Liquid Sodium reactors. Chernobyl and Fukushima would not have happened with this design, the coolant is the Liquid Sodium and can handle the higher temperatures. The lab in Idaho ran this model reactor for over 30 years with no issues and tons of testing. Infrastructure depends on Steel and concrete production, both hugely energy intensive. ( I still believe every house should have solar though!)
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/the-nuclear-option/
Ted, Thank you for these lessons on the past, present and future possibilities regarding energy.
In France they are proving themselves incapable of actually building the EPR new age reactors. The concrete and welds are never up to scratch for security. I think the building budget has doubled and they are 10 years overdue!
And France has plenty of experience with nuclear.
Running a model reactor in a lab is a lot different from widespread commercial use. And renewables are already much cheaper than this option would be.
The INL model reactor was capable of supplying enough energy to support a medium sized city.
Solar, wind, and other renewables are far cheaper than nuclear in its current forms and solar--and I think wind--rival natural gas in cost. Liquid sodium is explosive--I would not want to be anywhere near a liquid sodium cooled reactor.
I remember many years ago in high school my chemistry teacher - during a lab session - brought out a glass jar filled with a clear oil and a shiny lump of metal in it. He fished it out of the jar, wiped it off, and with a penknife sliced off a small piece, then put the lump back in the jar and closed the lid. Then, without explanation, only warning us to stand back, he dropped the little slice of metal into a glass of water and jumped back himself. It was like the 4th of July, sparks flying everywhere and flames coming from the glass of water. "That's sodium, kids," he said with a big smile.
I was reading through this thread when I got an email from a friend on a type of wind power under investigation. Here's a link: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/16/good-vibrations-bladeless-turbines-could-bring-wind-power-to-your-home?utm_term=a81beec932ff6a251883bf06300b6ce7&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUS&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUS_email I know nothing about this, beyond what this Guardian piece says, having never heard of it before. I offer it here FWIW.
Thank you Sandra!
I don't disagree with the renewables. For Nuclear I held your viewpoint for a long time, till i learned how and why anti technology propaganda and hysteria is spread by the petroleum industry and whose biggest supports are from Texas, OK, WY, CO, PN and anywhere fracking is booming. The Sodium cooled nuclear reactor is worth learning more about. If you listen the scientists who designed it, built it, ran it, tested it to extremes for 30 years with no issues, and how it differs from older water cooled designs, it may change your mind. It is truly amazing what problems they solved for safety and longevity. I don't think we can build enough wind or solar fast enough to meet energy needs of both now and the future. And the equation to produce Steel and Concrete for needed infrastructure do not pencil out with only wind and solar at current technology. So, without something other than wind and solar, the status quo continues of burning fossil fuels, and CO2 just keeps increasing. Who's goal is that?
I think it's a lot faster to produce solar and wind than nuclear. It's much simpler. But if you want to give me whatever you think is the best link on sodium cooled--something at preferably a NYer level--I'll take a look.
SMRs are being developed by ORNL and TVA
Avoid acronyms unless you're sure they are in general parlance (MPG, DNA, HIV...) I don't know what SMR stands for. I bet a lot of the readers here don't know Oak Ridge National Lab or the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1 out of 3 for me -- TVA.
Military people routinely talk in acronyms. I've attended several academic seminars with officers spouting letter combos that civilians don't know. At the start of one at MIT, I asked everyone to ID their acronyms because "we swim in different alphabet soups." Both the speaker and audience members proceeded to do exactly the opposite. At the end, I told the moderator that it was a deliberate slap in the face to all the uninitiated. He agreed, but had done nothing about it.
Intelligible communication isn't just necessary, it's a courtesy. Alas, common courtesy, like common sense, isn't all that common. Alas!
Small Modular Reactors: "A report recently released by the Department of Energy details how small modular reactors, or SMRs, can provide energy resilience for federal agencies and focuses on a SMR project being developed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The report, “Small Modular Reactors: Adding to Resilience at Federal Facilities,” was prepared by Kutak Rock LLP and Scully Capital Services Inc., with funding from DOE." 😁
You might be interested in this - a student team set a land speed record using fuel cells back in 2007. Their other three records came from batteries, most recently in 2016 with lithium ion batteries. The first one basically used hundreds of c cells! It was an amazing project for the students. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckeye_Bullet
Hi Stuart. Just curious... When you say hydrogen power, are you referring to nuclear fusion or fuel cells or hydrogen turbines. Didn't Mario Andretti win the Indy 500 years ago with a car powered that way?
Old fashionned hydrogen gas produced from water for instance! Mario Andretti showed the way and the oil companies bought out all the patents to stop it happening.
And that explains why much of the hydrogen power technology development for vehicles has gone away in the United States. I am glad to see BMW will be releasing a vehicle in 2022 that will be powered by hydrogen. (Thanks for the article Ted Keyes!)
That figures...
Toroidal technologies could produce energy practically free without disrupting environmental integrity - only how would industries adapt, and what would happen to those who depend on financial securities they support?
Have you seen this?
THRIVE ON
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=emb_logo&time_continue=5&v=lEV5AFFcZ-s&fbclid=IwAR04oU6DmiIYMSWXAE3ILG-q9-pMZFDP-szKLEm4KJbdYvEnP5sGBDcghkI
Nuclear fusion is not going to happen. It's way too complicated. There was an article in the NYer in the last five years about a major experimental fusion reactor being built in Europe. YOu could tell that the writer REALLY liked the idea a lot; yet, the information he provided made it clear that this was far too complicated a device to ever become commercial. I don't remember if this was a toroidal reactor, but I don't think so; but nuclear fusion in any form is way too complex on Earth (it works fine on the Sun).
President Obama's science advisor, John Holdren, my long ago professor, got his PhD in plasma physics in the 1960s, because he wanted to save the world. But he came to realize that fusion was impractical, and since then turned most of his attention elsewhere (I had him for a class called Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems, in '75, and I learned about global warming in that class, as well as ecosystem services).
My dad was a labor lawyer at the Atomic Energy Commission back in the Nixon-Ford-Carter administrations and was still there when it became the Energy Department. Way before 3-Mile Island and Chernobyl (but after certain lesser known accidents somewhere in Idaho (was it Hanford?), he was a pretty enthusiastic booster of nuclear energy and used to talk about it quite a bit. As a teenager, I naturally thought it was pretty cool, too. One day he brought home a pamphlet all about the latest thing (still in the future "at least 10 years from becoming a reality" I seem to remember) called "fusion power", with a nice little physics lesson about how hydrogen powers the sun and how we could recreate the same reaction by creating a super-heated hydrogen plasma enclosed in a magnetic field, basically make a tiny sun that could be used to produce enormous amounts of electricity but without creating a lot of dangerous nuclear waste. This technology would satisfy everyone's energy needs forever, and all it needed for fuel could easily be removed from seawater, or some such thing. This was not long after the first Earth Day (I marched past the White House that day shouting pro-environment slogans), so I was pretty excited my dad was somehow contributing to a good cause by helping to settle strikes by workers involved in various nuclear industries and govt. projects, like fusion energy I supposed.
Anyway, that was all going on 50 years ago, and as far as I know, no one has yet produced more electricity from a controlled fusion reaction than it takes to just get the reaction going, which is to say it is still pretty much just a dream. Still pretty cool, however, at least as hydrogen plasmas go....
Were there any significant accidents at the Hanford facility in WA state? I can't recall. The major problem with Hanford was decades of irresponsible mismanagement and disposal of waste material, resulting in a grossly contaminated site. Maybe not an accident, but certainly a catastrophe.
No workers would have been involved in fusion, because it's always been lab science. I do think there was an atomic workers union, although I'm reaching back 40 years for that, so I'm not certain.
You're correct that fusion reactors haven't produced more energy than it takes to get the reaction going.
As long as we know how to deal with the "after effects" great stuff. We got into the Nuclear stuff with eyes closed and crossed fingers...hoping for the best! Science hasn't so far solved the problem....3 mile Island, Tchernobyl, Fukushima and more in Russia itself!
All of those accidents are from water cooled reactors. Early and bad designs with failed back ups and safeguards. Fear from those accidents is real, but also exacerbated and exploited by the petroleum industry's propaganda preventing new technology from being explored and explained.
The initial move into nuclear technology was weapons driven and Admiral Rickover was instrumental in maintaining that focus for long enough that a lot of people aren't aware that the field has continued to develop and that there are more efficient and effective power generating reactors that, widely used, could enable a carbon free transition away from fossil fuels. The problems cited are hangovers from technology that is older than I am and, while they, especially the waste issue, must be solved, we also need to move forward and not be bound by the mistakes that were made before we knew better.
I agree Stuart— nuclear is tricky.
This is a two hour movie, with nothing to do with nuclear fusion contrary to my initial thought. I went through it very quickly, spending maybe 20 minutes. It's very new agey. The only names I recognized of contributors were Paul Hawken, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Deepak Chopra. I don't know whether it would be worth listening to the whole thing or not, but I'm more skeptical than not, partly because of claims of extraterrestrial influence on Earth, of which I'm extremely skeptical. Still, although I didn't tarry on any area long enough to judge, there might be some wisdom in here. If I were retired, I might watch the whole thing... or at least enough to see where it's going.
Nuclear fusion's not going to happen. Here's the NYer article https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/03/a-star-in-a-bottle
I was just going to ask whatever happened to the hydrogen power technology they were working on for vehicles? I know the process to fill/fuel a vehicle with hydrogen was a major hurtle (dangerous/not stable), but if they could solve that, I think it's a great solution. Especially since the "exhaust" is water. The additional water in the atmosphere would be beneficial, especially in the West, and is definitely preferred over CO2.
https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a33414795/bmw-will-offer-hydrogen-fuel-cell-x5-suv-in-2022/
Very good to see! Thanks for digging that information up! Interesting it doesn't mention the issues while fueling up - only that finding the fueling stations (at this point - and understandably so) is the challenge. I'm glad it's still being explored.
What do you call an industry with one product, a cartel of suppliers no competition, the profit margins to run Marketing campaigns (propaganda) to keep consumers miss and uninformed, and politician's PAC's well funded to keep that way forever?
I’d like to a “cash for ga trade in value for ELectric cars. This could revitalizes Detroit as well as Tesla, others. Like the “cash for clunkers” deal. Programs like this work both supply and demand sides. MFG’ers would feel secure to invest in an EV line, knowing the demand has been guaranteed by the program. Consumers get a new car that is cleaner & cheaper to operate. Recycle the old cars into steel for road infrastructure.
Might be good to do the same for weapons of mass destruction in the hands of citizens... just a thought...I sure would like the children in our country to feel safer going to school after the pandemic recedes. And people in movie theaters and nightclubs and concerts..and....and...everywhere.
Yes
I’d settle for our new Prius hybrid
Well, I studied Nikola Tesla's ideas and inventions when I was in my 20's. He was a man who could have changed our world drastically had more of his ideas been accepted. He was way ahead of his time around energy and medicine. His dream was to have free electricity for the world! Maybe his time is finally now.
Kathy, I'm sure your husband is aware of the short-comings of battery powered cars and, I trust, the clean air potential of H2 fuel cell development for cars.
Lithium-Ion battery powered cars may be short-lived because of their substantial carbon footprint and potential depletion of limited resources, such as lithium and cobalt.
Many major auto manufacturers, such as, Honda, Toyota, BMW, GM, etc., are investing many millions in H2 fuel cell develop for cars. There are many(?) H2 cars on the road today and over 300 H2 fueling stations Worldwide; most of those in the US are in California. In my opinion, more $'s should be diverted from battery to H2 fuel cell development! One option being proposed is combining wind/solar to utilize the excess electricity in the electrolysis of water to produce H2.
He has a hydrogen fueling station at his lab :).
I envy your husband being in this exciting field! I've been out of the research lab for a long time. My goal is to own one of these in my lifetime!
https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a31992552/bmws-hydrogen-x5-promises-374-hp-and-blissful-silence/
Re: H2
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/energy-department-looks-to-boost-hydrogen-fuel-for-big-trucks/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/green-hydrogen-could-fill-big-gaps-in-renewable-energy/
Interesting points.
However I see this as much more of a bipartisan problem in recent decades than you have indicated. I grant that the Trump years were so troglodyte as to make one despair. However there is a huge internal battle within the Democratic Party which, in some senses, leaves me even gloomier. There is a small progressive cadre within the party who evangelized for a bold Green New Deal for a couple of years, but have gained no traction - in fact the GND seems to have almost become a term of derision. The “moderate” wing of the Party dominates to such an extent that it seems that no true debate is possible.
This has happened in Canada. Author Naomi Klein, her husband Avi Lewis (huge political name in Canada) and journalist Martin Lukacs wrote the LEAP Manifesto in 2015, in its way a precursor of America’s GND. Hundreds of prominent Canadians proselytizes for it. But not a single political party picked it up. It languished for a while, was subjected to mockery and vitriol from many and has since utterly faded from consciousness.
It is possible that Biden will continue to pull in a more progressive direction than any of us believed possible. I do not think however that his agenda will extend to appropriating the boldest ideas in the Green New Deal. My greatest fear is that there will be an irreparable schism at some fairly near point, allowing the GOP to slide back into power, at least in Congress, when they show no inclination currently to regain it on their own merits.
All this and we are staring down the barrel of the greatest crisis humanity has ever faced. We have delayed long enough now that many experts fear that the worst effects of climate change are going to be insuperable hard to avoid. The most radical “solutions”, like geo-engineering to interfere with the sun are being seriously mooted now.
We need head-snappingly bold ideas to forestall climate change in America. GM, Tesla et al are now wedded to incontrovertible science and are doing their bit privately. But the governments of most major nations are a crushing disappointment.
Your article David made good points. But its apparent partisanship struck a dissonant note with me. The Democrats have been abysmally timid in exerting any serious leadership in this area. Until proven otherwise they are just another part of the problem.
And I underline that this febrile attitude is not limited to America. However America has the clout to lead the world still if it would only act.
I also get tired of what I call the “Joe Manchin Proposition”, as in you can only expect so much from a Democrat in a red state. There are times when a government must *lead* the voters, rather than constantly holding a wet finger up to see which way the wind is blowing.
“Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth savin'
And you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'”.
Eric, In you comment, full of justified doubt about what Biden's Administration could accomplish in flipping our addition to fossil fuels (given zero bi-partisanship and the huge influence of Dark Money) I would include John F. Kerry into the equation. He is the first person to hold a new position, in Biden's administration as U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
'As Secretary of State, Kerry initiated the 2013–2014 Israeli–Palestinian peace talks and negotiated landmark agreements restricting the nuclear program of Iran, including the 2013 Joint Plan of Action and the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. In 2015, Kerry signed the Paris Agreement on climate change on behalf of the United States.'
We have a number of grand older people in our government, with an emphasis on 'grand'. Kerry is a very accomplished and determined human being who will do everything he can, along with others, to reverse the tragic course we have been on.
I would love to see the Democrat Party start to toot it horn on the intelligence, valuing and respecting all Americans, and actually working to overcome obstacles and, of course, get this pandemic under control and our economy back on track. I think the derision in the Democratic party comes from the intelligent and outspoken young people. Presently, their futures don't look at all good with the heavy financial debt of our country, the recurring climate change consequences already taking place and increasing in their future, and a nation loosing its grip on democracy in favor of authoritarianism. These are the ones that have and are experiencing mass shootings, law enforcement's tendency to kill black people, and a GOP that uses lies, distortions, bully tactics, and deflection to control the people. The older Democrats all possess the same intelligence and respect for all Americans, but possess a different experience from the youth. Older Americans learned not to speak until spoken to, and the young speak their opinions freely, and they want change now. So let's not blame or ridicule Democrats for their unrest in the party, but rather understand what's happening, and try to encourage change.
Well explained. I agree that the younger Dems are prone to rushing in - a condition of youth - and the older Dems have the wisdom of those who have fought many battles and have the scars to demonstrate so. I also know that it is easy to write in a blog and airily propose change on the grandest of scales, as if it merely needs to be said to be done.
I am certainly not inclined to ridicule Democrats who are involved in unrest. However I am more than prepared to blame the party as a whole if they continue to slouch towards Bethlehem.
I am 70. Climate change will affect me personally should I live a few more years. It will certainly devastate my children and grandchildren if it is left more or left unchecked.
I am radical in my views on this. I fear that we will not not galvanize on a program of mitigation unless there is a disaster clearly attributable to climate change that displaces millions or kills tens of thousands. Will it take this? I certainly hope not.
The Republicans have been worse than useless when Senator Imhoue (so?) brought a snowball into the Senate to illustrate with a “Hah! I’ve got you now” gesture that global warming was not real, I knew it was probable, indeed almost certain, that his party could be written off.
We are much closer to the precipice now. We do not have time for even the glimmering of an internecine quarrel among the Democrats about how fast and hard to do it. Legislators have got to get their priorities right. Just winning elections and pushing gradual change will not do when it comes to climate.
Biden swung for the fences with the Recovery Bill. I delight in that. He must now do the same with the filibuster, Voting Rights, and climate. Climate. Climate.
With all the mini-disasters since, say Sandy, has it not begun to register?
I have great faith in John Kerry. I think he’s one of the great underrated Democrats. I hope he is there for the big push, not as window dressing.
Here in Canada, our Conservative party would, for the most part, align with your moderate Democrats. But we have three parties to the left of the Conservatives, the Liberals (the Natural Governing Party), the New Democratic Party, and a tiny Green rump party. We really have no excuse for being as slow as we have been with this issue. But nobody wants to rock the boat.
Well, the “boat” is going to be rocked and capsized unless we get our act together.
And the U.S. Must. Lead. Politicians have to take the best guidance of science and enact proposals that will even make the majority of their supporters shudder.
The results will surprise us I think. Better than being stunned and abjectly terrified in a few years to come.
Excellent exposition, Eric. John Kerry would have been president, and a good one, if Repugs hadn't stolen the vote in Ohio in 2004.
Canada provided one of my greatest political pleasures a couple of decades ago. Details are forgotten, but the major opponent of the Conservatives totally wiped them out in an election. And I mean totally, as in dropping from hundreds of MPs to single digits. Too bad it wasn't the GOP at the same time.
BTW, tell Halifax thanks for the majestic Christmas tree they send to Boston every year. It's one of the finest traditions in the entire Western Hemisphere.
I have a book on the 2004 election and the Ohio debacle. Harpers did a huge expose of the foul play at work in 2005 or 2006 and it always stuck with me. Elections have consequences ans all that jazz.
You’d know more about the literature than me. “What Happened in Ohio?”, maybe?
You do know a lot. Next time I’m in Halifax I’ll pass this genuine thank you on.
The election you speak of was in ‘92 or ‘93. At the time this was the *Progressive* Conservative Party. For a variety of complicated reasons “Progressive” has now disappeared from both their name and policies. Indeed we had some good Conservative governments before the turn of the century. It was no insult to be called a “Red Tory”. (Our colors associated with parties are opposite to yours -Libs are red and Tories blue).
In any case, this PC party had a woman leading it - Kim Campbell. The Liberals had a wily politician Jean Chrétien opposing her. Chrétien had Bell’s palsy and it had disfigured his face so that it was often contorted into a grimace.
The PCs went for an attack ad attacking his disfigurement, along the lines of “Do you want this man representing Canada to the world”?
It was born of desperation. As I recall, the PCs were not ahead in the polls. In any case, it backfired spectacularly, more than any ad I can remember. Chrétien had been around since the 60s. He was known as the “fighter from Shawinigan”. People were protective and fond of him.
The Liberals destroyed the PCs 177-2. Of course the NDP and Bloc got a share of seats but Chrétien was finally in the driver’s seat and proved to be a very good leader.
Also, expert at handling burglars, but that’s another story.
The demise of the PCs led eventually to the rise of what many call the Regressive Conservatives and a long period of rule by them.
So there’s an interesting Canadian story (we have the odd one :).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Chr%C3%A9tien_attack_ad
Yes Kerry will do his best
C'mon, Canada -- hurry up and annex us! Time's a-wasting, as well as changing.
I do appreciate your sarcasm, particularly when it contains a nugget of truth.
Thanks Fern. Fantasy, not sarcasm.
A little of both lightens the conversation
Ah, even better!
I think the most vocal parts of the GND have been absorbed into our subconscious in the same manner as commercials (When you buy a product without thinking about it). It's not fast or ideal, but it is a start.
And since Koch is heavily into fossil fuels, I'm sure he will/has thrown a lot of money into the status quo.
David, that was an excellent letter. Well-organized and well-written. Thank you.
Senate Republicans have no sense of irony. Not long ago they cheerfully confirmed an anti-environment man to head the EPA, an anti public education woman to head the Dept of Education, an open racist to head the Dept of Justice, and so on for most of failed45’s wrecking crew. Now they object because Secretly Haaland will be an “untraditional” person to head Interior. .. and my day starts with a big smile!
Let's not forget Bill Perry leading the Energy Department that he called to eliminate. Rather than irony the GOP has no integrity.
And remember that Perry forgot that the DOE even existed, climate denier that he is.
I can't even begin to describe the hypocrisy of the Republicans. In fact, my head hurts even thinking about it. When I remember all the unqualified cabinet appointments, federal and supreme court judges/justices, department head appointments (key up Louis DeJoy), there is absolutely no way to defend any of them. And yet they now question every single appointment that President Biden makes.
I don't think it is hypocrisy any longer. It is a group of seemingly entitled white men seeking power and wealth and the death of the government through lies, intimidation, more lies, and loads of whining. And, there isn't a brain among them.
When the goal is to destoy government...
Exactly. Then redistribute any governmental programs to industry to (not) handle.
That was, of course, supposed to be "Secretary" Haaland, but the autocorrect poltergeist had its own ideas.
One must have a modicum of intelligence to appreciate irony. The Republican politicians and their slavish constituents do not possess either intelligence or principles, and that accounts for their deplorable (nod to Hillary) governance.
This has never been so blatant as this past year. The idiocy shines.
Good one, Joan. I laughed and laughed when I read it!
Me too— they’re just amazing.
Thank you for the historical background of the Interior Department. Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) as Secretary of the Interior Department has a huge responsibility, and I am impressed with her erudite response to Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She neither maligned him nor acquiesced to his billion dollar bank roll for his rich constituents; I especially cheered her polite in his face pointing out her primary interest in serving the paycheck to paycheck folks. Another reason to feel so much better about America.
I agree Andrea--my temptation when faced with such a self-serving and mansplaining statement would have been to say "well, maybe Wyoming should be looking for other sources of income, eh?" As usual, the Gormless Obstructionists have it bass-ackwards: The problem is not the states (mostly blue-dominated) that receive less in government bailouts than they fork over in tax revenue, it is the states (the Deep South and the "small population" states) that are underwritten and completely bailed out by the government which they claim to disdain (they would not survive without federal bailouts). Does Wyoming pay for itself? No: they rely on government stipends and tax breaks for the gas and oil industry. In terms of dependence on federal monies dragged out of blue states, Wyoming is two Alabamas without the humidity. This article refers to stats from 2011 but the situation has not changed: https://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/news/wyoming/article_e9b925fc-8518-5326-a4db-bf5c01d67933.html
“...two Alabamas without the humidity.” 😂😂😂😂
Yes, Linda and Camilla, that's a neat turn of phrase. Other than my cousins' ranch, the best thing about WY is that it has 6 less electoral votes than AL.
PS, pardon Don Siegelman!
I volunteered for Deb Haaland's first campaign for Congress in 2018, and I totally agree that she is an impressive woman! Although she is very accomplished, there is no sense of ego about her. The first time I met her was during her service as chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico. What made me take notice of her was a small kindness she did for me at a party meet-and-greet. It was a tiny, simple gesture, but it showed her character and it stuck in my mind.
The only sad thing about her ascent to this cabinet position is that we likely won't be seeing her much around NM for the next few years. I've missed seeing her in person during the pandemic year.
I think I know what you mean, Elene, about a "tiny, simple gesture" showing character. Thanks for sharing your experience with our newly confirmed Secretary.
Another sad thing will be not having her voice in our NM congressional delegation. I hope her replacement in the house will be as strong and sensible as she. I'm not sure how her seat is filled...is it by appointment or vote?
You're sure right about this being a big loss to our congressional delegation.
Democratic Party folk will choose the candidate from among those who have put in their names, in an internal process; there's no primary. That person will run against whoever the Republicans choose. There are a LOT of potential candidates.
Georgene Louis, who is in the state legislature and is also Native, is looking like a strong contender.
There will be a special election. According to current law, there would be no primaries. The NM Senate recently passed a bill to add a primary election. That change may or may not become law. https://aldianews.com/articles/politics/elections/rep-deb-haalands-cabinet-confirmation-would-open-door-new-latinx
Thank you for that link, Joan. I knew there were a few unsettled items about "what if." It's not my district, but we only have 3 house seats in NM so each one is important to all of us. (alas, the southern district representative seems to be stuck in support of That Former Guy. Fortunately, I don't live there.)
Both of Colorado's Democratic Senators "Not Voting" because their flights back to DC were cancelled due to the blizzard. Really? That they both went home despite the forecasted severe weather is irresponsible and disappointing.
Deep gratitude to all who voted for Secretary Haaland, most especially the four Republican Senators who voted to confirm her. They voted for the people.
I saw that Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper didn’t vote, and had to wonder if they used the snowstorm as an excuse. Granted, it was an epic storm, but why were they in CO this weekend, anyway? Hickenlooper is a geological engineer by training and, historically, in favor of fracking, for which he has taken a great deal of heat. He knows he is being watched closely on these issues. They did vote in favor of Haalan earlier in the process, fortunately, but they are definitely between a rock and a hard place in Colorado where oil & gas has been a significant contributor to the economy. That’s no excuse, in my opinion, not to stand boldly in favor of what is right and just, but it is the reality. And, yet, if they had voted against a talented, qualified Native American woman in order to satisfy the oil & gas industry, they would have unleashed an epic backlash in proportion to the storm.
I'm surprised Senator Bennett - who has always struck me as thoughtful, even intellectual - didn't make the effort to get back to DC and vote 'yes' for Deb Haaland, though I do not know what his stand on fracking is, nor what his relations with the oil and gas industry are. I guess I should find out
As for former CO Governor Hickenlooper, I should think he might see the advantages - both for Colorado's economy and the World's future - in dialing back on fracking and, instead pushing wind and solar power, both abundant in Colorado and most of the far West. Burning natural gas - while slightly less polluting than burning coal and oil - leads to plenty of CO2 emissions. Also raw methane gas is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2 and can be released directly into the atmosphere during fracking unless expensive measures to prevent leakage are taken. Often, such measures are not taken. Gas should only be used as a stopgap while we are rushing to develop the many varieties of solar power (including wind). Fossil fuels are nearing the end of the line, no matter how strong the interests of some very rich folks may be to keep them going. And while many of these nostalgic politicians complain about job losses in the fossil fuel extraction industry, they seem not to know that the market - yes the market that is supposedly GOD to the GOP and plenty of moderate Democrats too - heavily favors solar and wind power, and that these industries - at least over the short term - are creating lots of new jobs that tend to pay pretty well and are surely healthier occupations than mining and drilling. Lots of political upside here.
To sum up, favoring natural gas extraction via very environmentally damaging fracking will soon be a political dead end, and Democrats, at least, should be able to understand that.
Agree 100%. We lived within a few miles of a large wind farm in Eastern El Paso County. I was delighted when it was purposed and built. We could see several of the turbines from our home. Watching them turn gave me hope that Colorado was taking positive steps towards a better future via renewables. (We had a great view; Pike's Peak to the west and wind turbines to the east. Breathtaking!)
Nothing like the early morning sun on Pike's Peak.
I understand why some people with vacation homes might protest when wind farms sprout up right in the middle of their million dollar views, but I guess I don't lose a lot of sleep over it; rich people can pretty well look after themselves. I think those giant 3-bladed windmills are pretty cool, especially when 50 or 100 of them are all together in one windy spot, whirring away. No need to sacrifice National Parks to the cause, and there sure is a lot of still-empty land in the USA and plenty if wind.
I'm not a businessperson, but given that the energy dumped on the Earth every day by the Sun is practically infinite and free for the taking, it would seem to be one of those no-brainer, win-win situations entrepreneurs are always yakking about: solar panels on every roof, extra energy added to the grid or saved in storage batteries or charging up the car, universal use of LED lights and other low consumption devices, a ban on dryers, smart switches turning things on and off, lots of walking and bike-riding.
We can let the earth heal and live better and get everyone involved. We don't have to be our own worst enemy.
As well, it is puzzling to me that both men were in Colorado last weekend given the significant nature of the vote. As a Colorado voter, I was furious when I saw both did not vote. As a former rural Colorado landowner I understands the nature of oil, gas, mineral, and water rights and know there are deeply divided camps when in comes to oil and gas exploration. They both made a serious mistake sidestepping this vote. We can't take for granted that either of them will "do the right thing" when it comes to voting because both chose to do nothing. And that speaks volumes.
I should elaborate in re oil & gas rights: some Colorado landowners, big or small, would happily have a well in the middle of their living room in exchange for royalty checks.
Daria, do you know if either Senator had anything more to say about their non-vote? Would they have voted in favor? Would they have found a way back to DC if their votes had been needed? I'm interested because I vote in Boulder County...
The Colorado Sun is doing a live online interview with Senator Bennett on Wednesday night, 3/17, at 5 pm MST. The topic is the American Rescue Plan and the child tax credit, but I submitted this very question about their absence for the Haaland vote, anyway. Perhaps if a few more people submit the same question, the interviewer will work it into the discussion. You can register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aE6Xg9w8Q9aUuAmXbkjQhw?utm_source=The+Colorado+Sun+Newsletters&utm_campaign=d3b051d160-BENNET_EVENT&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_61e0bd63dc-d3b051d160-67213742&mc_cid=d3b051d160&mc_eid=d47516a808
The Colorado Sun is an online news source started by 17 Denver Post reporters, who left the Post in the wake of it being ravaged by its current owner, the vulture investment fund Alden Capital. They’re doing a good job with the Colorado Sun reporting on politics and business news relevant to Colorado, which is important, since Alden eliminated all the reporters who covers these topics. You can read their articles for free, but they really need readers to become members @ $59/year to survive.
I also vote in Boulder County so I would be interested in any information you find out as well.
David, I haven't seen anything further. I'm a Denver City/County voter and am interested myself. I plan on writing both offices today.
Great, I'll leave the legwork to you.
A monumental appointment and very courageous. America's genocide is another unforgiveable stain, along with slavery, on its history.
This is some of the best news I’ve heard since Joe Biden won the election. The desecration and destruction of our land by the previous regime has bothered me greatly. Knowing there is an Indigenous person now in charge of DOI gives me hope. Thank you, Heather, for the background information for both Rep Haaland and the DOI. I know a little bit about the history of our country’s treatment of our Indigenous peoples and am slowly reading your book on Wounded Knee but this puts it in context to Rep Haaland and is helpful to understand how monumental this appointment is. I am reading the book slowly because it is just too painful and heartbreaking to take in big chunks - I have to step away and process the horrors I have read before I can go on and read more. Maybe we really can “build back better”. Maybe it really will be “all of us” this time. Hoping, for the first time in a while.
That how I felt reading Isabel Wilkerson’s excellent 2020 book “Caste”
A reading of ‘On Fire’ by Naomi Klein will awaken your sense of urgency on the current climate crisis. Red skies morning, noon and night are more than biblical warnings.
By “your book on Wounded Knee,” do you mean the Dee Brown book? Another authoritative US history from an indigenous view is one by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. I had to read it even more slowly than Brown’s book, though.
The reference is to Dr Richardson's own "Wounded Knee: Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre." Last month I foolishly waited to buy a less costly copy from an independent used bookstore; it was gone when I returned the next day. Like fisherfolk, bibliophiles never forget "the one that got away."
https://www.betterworldbooks.com/search/results?q=wounded%20cox
HCR posts perhaps just before midnight, USA time: it’s about 7 p. m. here in Portugal. I read it, go to sleep on it, and read it for the commentary about 9:30 a.m. It is so valuable to me to hear everyone’s views, because it’s richer and truer than any news casts and reflects a group I thought had vanished when i retired here 30 years ago. Thank you, Heather, for your kind and thoughtful offerings and for giving your readers a voice.
Wonderful Letter, Professor - simply wonderful the way you weave the stories of generations so seamlessly. Thank you.
I look forward to these letters. Today’s was no exception. In my past I was given a job as a change agent in a company that was stuck in its inefficient ways. The interesting thing about organizations are that they act like a organism. Organisms don’t appreciate change and tend to consider change agents like a virus and quickly develop antibodies to kill it. This occurs even when the organism really needs the help. Haaland is a change agent, and the vested interests within the Dept. Of Interior will work hard to resist that change. She will need top cover from the Administration to protect her from vested interests in congress and also within the Dept. Of Interior. These vested interests (antibodies) will try their hardest to either neutralize or remove her. The vested interests have the advantage of time and knowledge. They are there from administration to administration and understand the organism that is the Dept of Interior better than she will.
What a great analogy! Sometimes, that vaccine (change) makes you a little queasy, but in the end you (your institution) will be better for it. Putting a parallel to another important topic, the institutional mindset of law enforcement will resist the changes that must be made in their mission, training, and application; they should come back as better and true public servants as a result.
As lon as they come back realizing that they are indeed servants of the public and not just gardians of property and the propertied.
I have been aghast at what I have learned about my profession over the past several years; one was our roles as protecting the property of rich white men, whether it was people (Black slaves) or revenue generation (factories or manufacturing) and the other was how case law has evolved to justify the use of force (deadly and physical) in a manner which results in an overwhelming use of force against "others".
I was our department's use of force expert for the last 8 years I was employed full time (I retired in 2013, before Ferguson) and I taught force documentation and justification for 15 years. My main focus as an instructor was to explain the physical and psychological reactions to perceived threats and how to get out of the immediate (flight/fight/freeze) and back into the ability to utilize complex thought. To see where "Warrior Training" has "evolved" in the last 8 years is stunning to me; and it has become essentially a license to execute when one feels "in fear of injury". Couple this with the absolute refusal to acknowledge systemic racism or perceptual bias throughout LE, and it will require some real transformation.
Thank you, Ally. In the last millennium I worked in a CT sheriff's dept for a couple of years, The Real Training - socialization, not formal -- from its veterans was an education in immorality.
I wish that Eugene Goodman was the face of American policing; tragically, it is Derek Chauvin. We desperately need him convicted on murder charges (2-D far better) to provide greater accountability for all LE.
Your work seems to embody the Peelian Principles of law enforcement, direct ancestor of community policing. (From Sir Robert Peel, founder of London Metro Police, nicknamed "Bobbies" after him.) I have no book ref. on it beyond ones on Peel himself, but on our less admirable, more lethal tradition, there's Sally Hadden, Slave Patrols. It's much harder to find affordable copies since we lost George Floyd. US law enforcement is an uneasy blend of Peelism and de facto slave patrolling. The stark contrasts are now visible for all to see, and will persist until they're resolved in favor of greater justice and accountability.
YES
To control the survival instincts of the reptilian brain you first have to want to!
We all have a part of that old reptile brain and that’s ok— it’s useful for survival
But to ensure we don't actually kill anyone doing it the frontal lobes are supposed to take back control from the automatic pilot to ensure a smooth landing!
Excellent analogy!
Thank you for putting into context Debra Haaland's appointment to the Department of Interior. The Republican from Wyoming, when questioning Haaland, made quite a point that 80% of oil production is used for non-propulsion purposes. He was attempting to make a case that modernity requires oil to function. What he ignored is how much of "non-propulsion" oil is used to create single use plastics! If we can do one simple but difficult thing, we must stop using single use straws. Try it. You might find it a humbling experience.
Great point. It is not hard to drink directly from a glass or cup. One can also buy a straw made to be used repetitively.
Not sure how drinking directly from a glass or cup would ever be a humbling experience but your retelling of the non-propulsion use of petroleum products is spot on.
Oregon was moving this direction in late 2019 and into early 2020, along with eliminating plastic grocery bags. The pandemic put a kibosh on that.
I live in the Republic of Panama. Several years ago we eliminated plastic bags in all retail establishments not just grocery stores. There are reusable bags for sale at the checkout in case you forgot to bring one. They can only be sold at cost. Many of the larger stores also offer single use biodegradeable bags, also at cost.
It really feels like a new day dawning! As usual, Heather, you teach me something I either didn’t know or only had a gliding acquaintance w/in American history. I “knew” the Teapot Dome Scandal was during the Harding administration and that it involved oil. Now I know a lot more AND have a connection as to why it matters and how it’s relevant. I’m so grateful that Deb Haaland was confirmed. Maybe we have a chance at making this country a fit place for all of us to live after all. Thanks for your commitment to sharing your knowledge w/us—and thank you for renewing my thirst for knowledge and love of American history❣️
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! So pleased with Deb Haaland being confirmed to be our next Interior Secretary. 35th generation "New Mexicaner," yikes!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viBLTbdwjks
Thank you, Lynell, for that link. It brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart that
my earliest American ancestors, and women, are finally having their day. The pain of Native American genocide, broken treaties and the world slave trade they, and our African Americans who were able to survive, deserve our full respect and rewards for their tenacity despite severe oppression. The wealth of this country was built with the colonial's knees on their necks for hundreds of years. Lifting those knees, in whatever ways we can, benefits all of US. This is how we begin to take All of our people forward this time.
Does more and more of this Light in 2021 not feel very, very delicious?
Delicious, indeed, Penelope!
Lynell, thank you for the link. Truly an inspirational autobiography.
Morning, Lyn! Great news today, indeed.
Morning, Ally...YES!!
I was so excited when I heard that Rep. Haaland was given the nod as Interior Secretary and I cheered (silently: I was teaching an online class) when I got the email alert that she had been confirmed (shame on all the people who voted against her--including both MO senators and one of the KS ones--Marshall was mysteriously absent). While I was silently cheering, the tornado sirens went off and--because climate change has made late winter and spring completely unpredictable in my part of the USA, even though such storms usually wind up staying well south of the city--I had to tell my students, some of whom live in the path the storm was taking, to take cover. Thus endeth the lesson about the Fourth Lateran Council and the Doctrine of Papal Supremacy. Sigh.
What got me upset yesterday was the papal pronouncement about LGBTQ people and same-sex marriage. I admit I did not expect this pope to walk back the homophobia of a church that has consistently protected its male members when they have abused boys and young men with impunity for centuries. I did not expect this pope to walk back the misogyny of the church that has classified women as sub-human (unless they are capable of virgin births or submit to sacrificing themselves in excruciatingly sadistic ways). But I did not expect the encyclical to be so cynically self-serving, labeling gay sex a "sin" and kowtowing to the most radically backward-facing of the church leadership. This supposedly reformist pope has slammed the door on women gaining full citizenship in the Catholic Church; now they are claiming some kind of bizarre moral and sexual purity when the world knows how mendacious that claim is.
I was shocked, too, two days ago when Pope Francis discussed the suffering and humanitarian disaster in Syria. He offered his prayers and asked his parishioners "to pray for Syria." Sending "thoughts and prayers" is not a solution. To engage the wealthiest church on earth merely in prayers toward such suffering seems monstrous. I had hoped that Francis would bring the change to the Catholic Church that is so necessary but he seems to have been dragged back into the ugly past.
Yes. Pope Francis seems to have walked back "who am I to judge?". That comment gave hope to many. Having read Martel's "In the Closet of the Vatican" I supposed I should not have been surprised...politics in the Vatican is as ugly as it is in Congress.
Secretary Halaand will need to be strong and not ploughed under by politicking.
All true and deplorable, but Francesco is still the best Pope since Giovanni 23, maybe ever. Many in his flock, particularly in largely homophobic Africa, have bigger in-your-face problems to worry about on a daily basis than we ever do in the wealthy north, and COVID to boot, and not much chance of getting vaccinated soon. The Pope's undivided attention given to the plight of folks in the areas of the world most crushed by poverty and ravaged by war largely makes up for his unwillingness to fight retrograde behavior by a certain cynical, perverted, venal and misogynist minority of the clergy.
For what it's worth, I'm a life-long non-believer, but I believe Francesco's heart is in the right place, encyclicals come and go, and Rome wasn't built in a day.
Which John XXIII, David? There were two of them! 🤪 I know which one you mean (Vatican II) but I just had to yank your chain a bit. His decision to take the name John XXIII was hugely controversial because the last one was forced to resign by the Council of Constance (1414-1418) at a time when there were THREE popes (one in Rome, one in Avignon, one wandering around but mostly in Agnani, I think) and the Powers That Be refused to identify him as a "true" pope. The "first" John XXIII was in favor of the Doctrine of Conciliar Supremacy, which if it had survived would have made the architecture of the church far more collaborative. The successor popes (who were doozies, I have to say: Borgia, Medici, della Rovere, etc) shut that right down. I do not trust Francis. I understand that he is walking a tightrope between the more "liberal" European bishops and the misogynist homophobes in Africa and Asia (The USA and Australia are more mixed) but when you're supposedly supporting the liberation theology of a group of nations who have made homosexuality a crime punishable by death, and you say NOTHING, you're not a real mensch in my book.
Can't tell the John XXIIIs apart without a scorecard!
Linda, I am still hopeful about Francis, who makes some progress in the face of near-insurmountable opposition. He may well have decided that it's not possible for him to make all the necessary changes needed by the Church, and this is proof. It's tragic, but being a successful pontiff requires great political and diplomatic skill.
I'm a bit wary of the first XXXIII's enthusiasm for Councils, since his Council of Konstanz condemned and burned Jan Hus in 1415. Still, councils in general have a positive influence on the RCC by opening policymaking to wider scrutiny, if not accountability.
NB, the surplus popes of the 14C Great Schism most likely didn't hang around Anagni. You are probably thinking of the Crime of Anagni in 1303, when Philip the Fair's forces kidnapped and assaulted Boniface VIII in his hometown. Other popes would have avoided the site of such an outrage unless they too had ties to Anagni.
All this is an outside perspective since I'm not Catholic. Hopefully I remember and understand it properly.
https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/history/characters/boniface_viii.php
Yes--Constance was kind of a schizo conference, condemning Wyclif and burning Hus but also trying to establish some kind of representative system to control the papacy (especially the money situation). And I knew I was wrong about Anagni but my brain won't come up with the papal estate outside Rome that they tended to flee to when the Romans kicked them out (a fairly regular occurrence). It was interesting how rapidly the bishops tired of the idea of Conciliar Supremacy and was willing to go back to the old system, but the result was a battalion of gobsmackingly corrupt and venal popes. Made Leo III (who crowned Charlemagne in 800) look like a piker. I admit that I LOVE that Deborah Harkness has made Gerbert of Aurillac (aka Pope Sylvester II) not only a vampire, but the most evil guy in the universe in her book series. Just digressing . . .
Thanks Linda, I'd forgotten about Wyclif. (No "fe" suffix?)
Perhaps you refer to Castel Sant' Angelo, just outside Vatican City? It's where the pope in 1527 fled when Benevenuto Cellini helped sack Rome on behalf of Emperor Charles V.
That is a good one re Gerbert/Sylvester. I've never been to Auvergne, but spent a semester in Aveyron and am still fond of les pays d'Occitanie, though unable to say it in Occitan.
In the first Gal Gadot "Wonder Woman," Ares the god of war is revealed to be Erich Ludendorff (of Beer Hall Putsch infamy). So appropriate! It was a letdown when the true Ares turned out to be an obscure British bureaucrat.
NB, digressions are part of the fun of LFAA.
Well geez, 12 years of catholic education & I didn't know there were 2 John XXIII!
Yes Betsy, but I bet you have lovely handwriting, once the nuns stopped rapping your knuckles.
Thanks for the heads up on the other John XXIII. And you make a good point, and perhaps Francis should go out on a limb and see what happens. He's still young (for a Pope), let's give him a break for a few more years. God knows who might replace him.
I agree. I think Francis, like John XXIII, is doing the best he can. His situation reminds me of the comment above by Robert Atac describing change agents in an organization as a virus that is attacked by the antibodies, the vested interests, that are part of the organization. Considering how long the Catholic church has been around, these vested interests are so calcified that real change is almost impossible.
Thank you for saying what needs to be said. Nothing has changed, regardless of who the Pooe is.
The Pope set the LBQT movement back with his pronouncement and I was disappointed but not that surprised
Biden could have nominated Mother Theresa for the post and 41 Republicans would still have voted against her...........
Dr Seuss might get even more votes.
49
Not if they thought she would stay in Calcutta......or they realized that she had died.
Republicans would love to have a Secretary of the Interior who stayed in Calcutta. Or was dead.
Dear Heather, I wish I could give this letter 10 hearts.
I will share it with everyone I know.
FINALLY, a strong, appropriate voice for our lands.
Hope springs eternal.
Thank you!
Yes, multiple hearts!!