Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
We defy the gentle reader to discern from this vapid "opinion" offered in the McClatchy Chain's Merced outlet what a carbon offset is, what an auction of them is, what cap-and-trade might be, and above all, what these carbon-offset auctions mean for us.
First, we have California Air Resources Board chairwoman Mary D. Nichols quoted as saying the first such auction was a success.
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“In the end,” says Davidson, who spent a month in Germany studying the Energiewende, “it isn’t about making money. It’s about quality of life.” -- Thomas Hedges, Truthdig, Nov. 15, 2012
Serious warnings about global warming appeared about the time Republican Supreme Court judges gave Bush and Cheney the White House.We remember thinking in the tragic mode during that prolonged period of idiocy and denial that is still the norm in the House of Representatives that Bush's two terms probably were long to block any serious effort to reverse climate change. And the idiots still bo blithefully on down the trail of denial believing perhaps that they will be levitated Heavenward in the Rapture while the rest of us burn or drown.
Badlands Journal editorial board
Here is a cogent, succinct statement of the California Department of Water Resources and the Brown administration view of what must be done to render the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta "safe". It relies on the well known "expert" opinion on when the next great earthquakes are coming to destroy the Delta levees, endanger the drinking water supply for 25 million people and danage the state's "$2 trillion economy."
It's good to have a name for a political froce that has appeared large, irrational, wobbling and mean.-- ed.
11-3-12
Informed Comment
Election 2012
5 Disturbing Signs Romney Would Steer Us to Towards a Capitalist Dictatorship
The lies and activities of Mitt's campaign show a contempt for democracy itself.
Juan Cole
“It’s just an inconvenience. Half the world does not have electricity,” said Ralph Lopez, 73, as he shuffled slowly along the sidewalk outside the Red Hook Houses with his plump Chihuahua, Pepe. “I grew up in a cold-water flat with no heat at all. And this is just for a week. So boohoo.”--- Cara Buckley, Michael Wilson, New York Times, Nov. 2, 2012
11-1-12
BloombergBusinessweek
Opening Remarks
It's Global Warming, Stupid
By Paul M. Barrett
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-01/its-global-warming-stupi...
The effects of converting 20 percent of the state's rangeland, most of it to almonds and grapes irrigated by large pumps, will be to accelerate the overdraft of groundwater while worsening the quality of the goundwater. It will also reduce roughly 20 percent of the habitat for many of the endangered species associated with rangeland. Nor will most of these "ag-to-ag" conversions be discovered by state and federal agencies supposed to be charged with enforcing environmental laws and regulations.
There's more to come -- much more. The promise of bringing the university here was that it would forever alter the landscape of the region in a fundamental way: academically, economically, culturally and more. But those expectations are a blessing and a curse, especially in tough economic times.-- Merced Sun-Star, Oct. 27, 2012