Zachary Shahan , - cleantechnica
Stephan: What makes this assessment important is less whether it is accurate, although much of it is, than that this subject is beginning to be seriously discussed at all. I pick up trends like this when I begin to see articles like this one popping up in specialty publications and websites. Then the topic will start showing up in larger publications and websites.
The Trump Administration is committed to carbon energy, but it is out of synch with the rest of the world, and much of America, so the effect of Trump's policies will not be to continue carbon, but to diminish the standing of the United States. The world is moving out of carbon; there is nothing more powerful than collective intention. We voted a psychopathic child into office and we are being left behind.
Credit: Tesla
The question is simple and stark, but there will be a gradient of effects, and side-effects, and after-effects. As the oil economy collapses, the world will change. And it will change a great deal.
Let’s start with some of the basics.
Oil company values — which are currently topping the charts — will collapse. That means that certain investors (many investors) will “lose money,” or see their net worth drop. To put this into a little more perspective, we highlighted recently that Tesla [TSLA] has passed the US “Big 3” automakers in market cap, currently sitting at $60.15 billion (compared to GM at $51.73 billion and Ford at $44.76 billion). Meanwhile, Exxon’s market cap sits at $354.59 billion, Chevron’s market cap is $204.76 billion, and Saudi Aramco’s expected to be valued at $1–10 trillion.
Some of our top commenters have made it clear — the oil bubble could collapse at any moment. What’s holding it together is the prospect of growth, but large portions of the investment community should soon realize that cost-competitive, more convenient, and more […]
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Stephan: Here is the Trump Administration at work on behalf of the carbon energy industry. In order to protect this industry -- read the small group of people who control the corporations in this sector -- Trump and the Republicans are willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of American jobs, Their loyalty is to the virtual corporate states, not any particular national country. Social wellbeing is a very secondary interest from that perspective.
Solar and wind farm
Credit: Stanford University
Energy Secretary Rick Perry is cooking up a case to stifle further federal support of renewable wind and solar energy. He’s ordered a dubiously sourced staff study that is aimed to paint renewables as an unreliable source for the nation’s electric grid.
The study, due June 23, seeks to determine whether federal tax and subsidy policies favoring renewable energy have burdened “baseload” coal-fired generation, putting power grid reliability at risk. It is being spearheaded by Energy Department political appointee Travis Fisher, who’s associated with a Washington policy group that opposes almost any government aid for renewable energy.
Fisher wrote a 2015 report for the Institute for Energy Research that called clean energy policies “the single greatest emerging threat” to the nation’s electric power grid, and a greater threat to electric reliability than cyber attacks, terrorism or extreme weather.
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Tara Culp-Ressler, - Think Progress
Stephan: I was thinking as I was walking in the woods with my wife today that the Kennedys were wealthy, Nelson Rockefeller was the son of iconic wealth. But try as I might I could not remember a single story of their using their offices to make a profit, let alone millions of dollars. There is a Shakespearean aspect to Donald Trump. Like Richard the 3rd he is the apotheosis of a social model. In Trump's case othe American one that holds profit to be the only priority. Here's where we stand in the story at this point.
After his primary victory, GOP nominee Donald Trump spoke to his supporters at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach.
Credit:: AP/Gerald Herbert
New financial disclosure forms provide insight into where and how Donald Trump has reaped profits since he launched his bid for the presidency.
The 98-page filing with the Office of Government Ethics, released on Friday afternoon, provides an incomplete snapshot of Trump’s financial picture. But since Trump has broken presidential precedent by refusing to release his taxes, it’s the closest look into his investments the public has gotten so far.
The documents provide financial information for the period of time between last January and this spring — encompassing the lead-up to the presidential election and Trump’s transition into the White House.
Trump’s sprawling business empire is difficult to definitively quantify. However, the filings do show that the properties Trump has visited frequently as president have seen […]
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, - The New York Times Sunday Review
Stephan: Here is the latest on the Homo Superior Trend. The game is getting ever more sophisticated and nuanced.
Credit: Andrew Benson
There’s a well-to-do couple thinking about having children. They order a battery of genetic tests to ensure that there’s nothing untoward lurking in their genomes. And they discover that they each carry one copy of the sickle cell gene.
If their children inherit two copies of the gene, they could develop anemia, which can cause joint pain, weakness and even death. So what should the couple do?
For the last two decades, they’ve had the option of artificially fertilizing embryos and selecting only those that lack the sickle cell trait. Now a new possibility is on the horizon: They may soon be able to edit the offending gene right out of their own sperm, eggs or embryos, erasing it from their bloodline forever.
The technology that will allow this is called Crispr-Cas9. It’s relatively cheap and it permits scientists to change DNA with an ease and precision that until now has been impossible. The […]
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Joe Romm, Founding Editor Climate Progress - Think Progrress
Stephan: This piece about Tangier Island in the Chesapeake perfectly encapsulates the truth of the United States, climate change, and Donald Trump. It's surreal.
Tangier cemetery
Credit: CNN
President Donald Trump’s supporters have been the subject of countless stories just since November on the fact that they seemingly “vote against their economic interests.” But few stories note that they voted against their existential interests as well.
Trump’s refusal to accept the scientific consensus on the reality and urgency of climate change poses a serious threat to communities across the U.S. currently grappling with its effects. The latest example involves a tiny island that voted overwhelmingly for the president and its mayor, a vocal Trump supporter.
Last week, CNN aired a story about Tangier, an island in the Chesapeake Bay so low-lying that a mere 83 acres can support its inhabitants.
The story had three key points: First, the island is vanishing so rapidly that “the Army Corps of Engineers tells CNN that erosion and sea level rise alone will make […]
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