Summer

Well, there's the immigration bill, President Obama's landmark speech trying to inject some sanity into the overreaction to terrorism, etc. etc. and I find myself without the motivation to pay much attention.  I'm not watching the same people say the same sorts of things on television, or offer the same opinions and "news judgment" in print media.

Right now I'm enjoying the weather, my corner of the planet as it is, and as I'm hoping it will mostly be for the rest of my life.  But it's changing and it's going to really change.  Maybe not as much right here, but everywhere.

It's summer here, defined as the time when the students are gone, Arcata becomes quieter, and although I have less income, I have less I must do.  So I turn to my long-range and so far never-ending projects.  And I watch baseball.

And I'm noting the news on what matters for the future, and spending more time (online and in print) with people who are serious about what is serious: de-carbonization.  Energy conservation.  Clean energy development.  Constructing the means to respond to problems that are coming because of climate disruption.

There's some political activity worth watching, like the fossil fuel disinvestment campaign. Disinvestment is what turned the corner on apartheid in South Africa.

  I note in passing (and with weariness) that people still must make the case for saving civilization.  Here's a detailed piece by an economist who concludes that even with uncertainties the sane thing to do is to de-carbonize, since the cost of not doing it may be so much greater than the cost of doing it.  He likens it to insurance.  

Whatever floats your boat.  That this society still considers this debatable is certainly depressing.  But that doesn't mean I have to humor them.  I don't have time.