Something's been troubling me ever since I listened to President Obama's first post-reëlection press conference. Perhaps as a result of Hurricane Sandy, the now two-term president was finally asked a question about global warming, a topic conveniently avoided by both sides throughout the seemingly interminable campaign. The question came from New York Times White House correspondent Mark Lander: … [Read more...] about Climate change: Obama needs to turn talk into action
emergencies
Ten low-tech responses to storms and emergencies
We live in a world dependent on electricity and we forget that being dependent on something — however wonderful that thing is — makes you vulnerable. Even getting a back-up generator isn't a painless solution for household resilience. A medium-size generator can cost $50 or more per day in fuel to run. And just hope that your local gas stations don't lose power or sell out to panic buyers … [Read more...] about Ten low-tech responses to storms and emergencies
Depression-era planning for today and tomorrow
The debt debate out of Washington exhibited many qualities. But sanity wasn't among them. In fact, the smart money says that enacting the spending cuts called for in the deal between President Obama and Congressional Republicans will pull money from the economy, kill jobs, stop orders for goods and otherwise hamstring an already flogged economy. At the same time, the deal's failure to call for … [Read more...] about Depression-era planning for today and tomorrow
In the eye of the storms
Like many Americans yesterday, I watched horrified as two storms took hold in our country. The first, a raging of thunderstorms, hail and almost 150 tornados across the south, represents a massive spike in April tornadoes in terms of yearly record keeping. But because there is some precedence for this — big tornado outbreaks in April of 1974 and 1957 — folks will likely disregard them as having … [Read more...] about In the eye of the storms
