Most of my friends are apoplectic over actions taken by the current administration toward the environment. They can’t understand why anyone in their right mind would remove stream protections or “OK” the Dakota Access Pipeline. To them, that makes no sense. In my last post, I talked about frames [...]
In my last post I talked about failure of the environmental movement’s messaging. It’s no secret that the other side, the fossil fuel industry, is investing in think-tanks to shape public policy. Since energy policy and the environment are complex issues, you may not even be aware of the [...]
There’s an old adage that says you should never be the first one to tell someone their baby is ugly. Yet, someone has to be first. The messaging of the environmental movement is failing. There, I said it. It’s just an observation. I know it sounds like a criticism, [...]
The Trump administration is a disaster for Americans who want clean air and water and to reduce global warming. Under his onslaught, it is also easy to lose hope or become cynical. We should worry about Trump’s executive orders, but we should also be concerned with cynicism. If you [...]
Let’s call him Art (not his real name). Art drives a Buick Enclave, I would have guessed a Ford F150. He’s from a small town in southern Illinois, population 3,000. Art’s driving cross-country with his wife. We are trapped in a laundromat watching clothes tumble. He’s drinking a beer, [...]
I am in Donley County, Texas. The panhandle. As sparse as the spelling of its name. Flat, dry to the edge of the earth, and bucking a headwind. But something’s going on here. My eye catches a white wind turbine, then another and another. As I look, dozens fade [...]
Half of who we are is what we remember. The other half is what we forget. The first is made sweeter or more valuable when we remember what we forgot. I remember the crack of a branch. I am camped on the side of mountain near Lake Manyara. The [...]
Of course climate change is real. So what? Is this really helping? I’d say no. Part I: Given the appointment of climate deniers to key cabinet posts coupled with the rapid rollback of environmental regulations by the Trump Administration, it feels OK to be angry. Scott Pruitt, the new [...]
Are we above God? Sunrise on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, light reflecting in pinks and rust, purple clouds slanted to the west. My daughter and I are cold as we start down the South Kaibab Trail. But something stops us. Looking out across the canyon, our eyes [...]
I am not happy. My grandkids are. We are at the park after school. I am reading email on my cellphone, when I stop to look up. Teo and Eva pick up two large sticks and begin to play Star Wars with them. They are serious in their characters, but [...]
