Climate change is a huge problem on multiple dimensions. It is also a problem shrouded in uncertainty. What causes global warming? What proportion is anthropogenic? With what speed, and to what degree will the effects be felt? Will the worldwide benefits to agriculture be greater or less than the losses? Can anything be done to […]
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In 1966, on a rainy summer day in the French Alps, Yvon Chouinard tested over a dozen ice axes to see if he could improve on the traditional design. He did, and with this innovation and dozens of others he transformed the outdoor recreation industry. If you own a pile coat, thank Yvon: he brought […]
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Here’s another observation from my recent visit to Nicaragua: poverty is the worst polluter. In a country where one half of the population lives in poverty and 25 percent of its 5.5 million people struggle to survive on less than one dollar per day, environmental protection is not a high priority. I wonder how Roger, […]
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If you believe global warming is occurring, and the great majority of Americans do, you may be asking yourself, “What do I do?” Here are a few suggestions for coping. First, I urge you to do those energy saving things that bring the most psychic unguent at the least cost to you: replace an incandescent […]
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A climate change crusade is underway. We are all being called upon to stop Global Warming’s (GW) assault on Gaia. It’s the biggest Green movement since the first Earth Day in April of 1970. Earth Day has garnered widespread support by incorporating a full spectrum of causes. In Boston, they may rally around “sludge,” dioxins […]
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In a few days, my mother celebrates her 95th birthday. She was born in the Midwest, went to a small Lutheran college near her parents’ farm, and began teaching in a Lutheran elementary school in 1934. She taught fourth grade for over 40 years before retiring to Holland, Michigan, where she still lives today. Throughout […]
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The threat of global warming arises on three dimensions: ecological, political, and ideological. Physical changes to ecosystems have adverse impacts, while public policies dictated by politics rather than sound scientific and economic analysis have perverse and regressive consequences. The biggest threat of all, though, may come from ideological fundamentalists who constrain public discourse. We’ve seen […]
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A Climate Change Caucus in the Montana legislature has been formed by Bozeman Representative Mike Phillips and his colleagues. One of their goals is to explore policy options to address global warming. The Caucus has consulted with local experts, including MSU’s Susan Capalbo, an economist who directs the Big Sky Carbon Sequestration Project. This effort […]
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Those pressing for immediate reductions in carbon dioxide emissions face big problems. Here’s one; the prospect of cooling the planet through geoengineering. The people working on this are serious scientists and analysts, not lackeys of Senator Robert Byrd’s (D-WVA) mountain-top removing, coal industry cronies. Rather, they include Paul Crutzen, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize […]
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It’s easy to be modest when our neighbor is Ted Turner, owner of the historic Flying D Ranch. The ranch spreads from the Gallatin to the Madison Rivers covering some 113,000 acres, and carries a variety of wildlife, including about 3,500 buffalo. For several years I told Ramona we too needed buffalo. After all, they […]
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