Good Energy

Though the virus is still very much in the air, we can celebrate the end of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and the beginning of a national climate plan in the US House. Also, a couple tips on how to keep your air healthy at home these days. Then, we turn to “The Honorable Art of … Continue reading Love Is In The Air →

New voter polls on the environment, an Arctic update, The Nature Conservancy’s Family Forest initiative, and soil scientist Rattan Lal’s World Food Prize. Friedrich Nietzsche’s “Birth of Tragedy”, the Apollonian-Dionysian duality, and a new poem, “My Closest Neighbors”.

Reason and freedom in the opening lines of Epictetus’s “Discourses”. / Sizzling summer energy tips. / Poem “How Do You Sound?” / Art and moral education (e.g. “The Wreck of the Old 97”). / In the news: the EIA releases numbers to support the milestone announced last year – renewables surpass coal in electricity generation … Continue reading Summer With Epictetus →

Good to be back after a two-month quarantine from the coronavirus pandemic. In addition to some news, we look at dying in America, the “Man of Empty Words”, and the difficulty in understanding human motivation. Also, a reading of the opening lines of Pope Francis’ 2015 Laudato Si’, “On Care For Our Common Home.” Finally, … Continue reading Virulence →

Special edition on the nature of courage. So, take heart and let’s start thinking. We also say goodbye to “winter” and hello to “shoulder season”. Also, test your word game skill on our featured word “brave”.

Virginia is about to pass moderate, but historic and long-overdue, climate and energy legislation. “Maude the Moderate” is someone the Democratic party knows well. Insect populations are dropping as groups struggle to respond to E.O. Wilson’s call for us to save half the earth for … life. Bristol, England (different from Bristol, Virginia in almost … Continue reading Maude the Moderate →

The now infamous Jim Molan kicks off the show by kicking his fellow Australians when they’re down. On the upside, jobs in the energy storage industry are expected to boom, the “worst case scenario” has probably (slightly) improved, renewables are about to surpass coal and nuclear on US grids, and some hybrids get a big … Continue reading “I’m not relying on evidence!” →

An incredible opportunity to help remote Equadorian villagers protect their corner of the Amazon from oil drilling … by teaching their kids English. The WEF’s recent global risk report is all about the environment. Financial giant, Blackrock, fires a warning shot to businesses and investors. 2020 brings an uptick in renewables, along with a jump … Continue reading Dreams, Resolutions, Opportunities and Risks →

Rural America’s political guru talks about the economics of the Green New Deal initiative, and how tackling issues of wealth inequality also solves environmental problems. Anthony and his organization S.C.A.L.E. (Sequestering Carbon, Accelerating Local Economies) are currently working with other state leaders on a blueprint for Virginia’s version of the G.N.D. – with the expectation … Continue reading Anthony Flaccavento on the Green New Deal →

This was the year of Greta, so let’s enjoy a smorgasbord of topics – thankfulness, wind power in Wyoming, the new MarinaTex plastic-substitute material invented by Lucy Hughes, the importance of music and the muses, the electrical nature of the human nervous system, and how we can save energy over the holidays.

Edgar Allan Poe’s “Shadow – A Parable”, published in 1833 and set in the ancient past, is nonetheless frightfully relevant to the specter of our modern climate crisis. Some of us may feel shielded. But, the more we try to look away and distract ourselves, the more surely we’ll be visited by the shadow of … Continue reading Poe’s “Shadow – A Parable” →

Adam Wells, Regional Director of Community & Economic Development for Appalachian Voices, is working to bring new energy to the local economies of Southwest Virginia, a region once sustained by the coal industry. There are now promising opportunities for solar power to be a catalyst for growth, attracting 21st Century business looking for low-cost, locally-generated … Continue reading Old Mountains, New Economies – Adam Wells of Appalachian Voices →

In “What If We Stopped Pretending” Jonathan Franzen tells us that we need to get real: we’re doomed. It’s worth thinking through the reasons he’s wrong. We also look at the new temperature trends, illustrated by the heatwave last week. Finally, some things we can do for the birds, whose populations are plummeting. Word of … Continue reading Against Franzen – For the Birds – In the heat →

When it comes to clean energy, Virginia is a hard regulatory and financial environment. But, Karla Loeb has been chipping away at it, and getting results.

On Friday, September 20, some 4 million people in 163 countries joined the global climate strike led by Greta Thunberg. Students at Emory & Henry College in rural Southwest Virginia held a coordinated rally to add their voices to the growing chorus of protest against the inaction of our leaders.

Tom discusses the Virginia Energy Reform Coalition, and why people from across the ideological spectrum support the effort to replace the old utility monopoly system with an energy market. Competition and consumer choice encourage efficiencies on the production side that translate into substantial economic and environmental benefits for the whole community. Later in the show, … Continue reading Vox Populi – Tom Cormons of Appalachian Voices →

Katherine Hamilton, a leading voice on energy and climate solutions, talks about the change of climate in Congress, a national green bank, grid readiness, eco-depression, and more. — Also, a thought-experiment about why the willful destruction of great art would be morally wrong, even if it violated no laws and infringed on no rights. Is … Continue reading Katherine Hamilton on the Political and the Personal →

As part of our series on Leaders in Energy and Climate Solutions, we talk to architect and building scientist Monica Rokicki-Guajardo, founder and CEO of Better Building Works. Later in the show, we think about beauty and goodness, and how they’re related. Perhaps some evil things are also attractive, but are they beautiful?

The USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program announces the recipients of this year’s awards – seeds well sown in this case. Chesterfield County, Virginia wants to build a 30 MW solar farm. But, the dead zone of toxic algae along the Gulf Coast keeps growing – while back East refineries explode and coal trains wreck. … Continue reading REAP-ing What We Sow →

A single individual is a multiplicity of types and relations. I am one thing and many things. How I understand my sameness and difference in regard to other beings in the biosphere has profound moral implications – just as a society’s understanding of its unity and diversity has deep political implications. News: the American medical … Continue reading Who We Really Are – Sameness and Difference →

Life puts a constant demand on us to make decisions about control. It’s sometimes good to control things and sometimes bad. When it comes to other people, our respect for their autonomy requires “persuasion” rather than coercion, threat, or force. But, persuasion might still be a form of control, if it’s pushing buttons inside people … Continue reading The In’s and Out’s of “Control” →

Moral mistakes can happen when we let an emotion slide from one object to another. How close is our enjoyment of cruelty in fiction to our acceptance of it in reality? Pride too can slip from a love of good things to a desire for superiority. Rick Steves hopes to make his high-impact travel business … Continue reading The Cruelty Aesthetic, Pride, and Solar in Danville →

Boaty McBoatface – the unmanned submersible research vessel – makes his first big contribution to climate science, while the Stoics teach us about the emotions. Also, some info on wave energy and the vampire power wasted by your electronics. Our cardinal friends, Fern & Meredith, deal with a mystery and solve it badly.

Socrates once said he loved going to the market – to see all the stuff he did NOT need to buy. Reducing our consumption is one of the greenest things we can do. Of course, the main lesson he taught was that we go wrong and do harm when we presume to understand something we … Continue reading Socrates: Reduce, Reuse, Reflect →

People tend to be more moved by magic than by knowledge. Why does non-rational prophecy ever win out over rational prediction? One reason: knowledge is hard, and individuals have only bits and pieces of it. Another reason: success in our actions is not guaranteed by knowledge. Chance and randomness play a role in life. There’s … Continue reading Prediction & Prophecy →

Saying “Yes” to life gives it meaning and value. Being a naysayer to your own choices and experiences makes it all futile. In our story, Harvey the pigeon dies doing what he loves the most – eating peanuts and crackerjacks at the baseball game. He “seizes the day” up to his last moment. We also … Continue reading Carpe Diem, Carpe Anthropocene →

Big data from Denmark proves that growing up in green spaces makes you mentally healthier the rest of your life. The decimation of the native North American populations in the 15th-16th century contributed to the Little Ice Age in Europe, but at least there’s a green lining to this colonial cloud: reforestation rapidly reverses warming. … Continue reading Authenticity and the Great Outdoors →

The intergovernmental biodiversity & ecosystems report says what Aldo Leopold said 70 years ago – but phrased in the form of a loud alarm bell: our economics and our idea of the good life are killing us. In our story, Meredith loses her inhibitions at a summer concert, after eating some fermented berries. We discuss … Continue reading The “Unexamined Life” of Extinction →

Tough Beak was a bird like no other – or maybe like one other. Plus a discussion of how good societies go bad, the new parent-child climate dilemma, Anya Kamenetz on k-12 climate education, and solar in Appalachia.

Climate Central reports on fastest-warming U.S. cities and states, Bloomberg Finance projects EV’s to be cost-competitive by 2022, and researchers in Finland show exactly how the world gets to zero emissions by 2050. In our story, Fern and Meredith’s friendship is strained by the publication of a scientific study. And, a discussion of jealousy, envy … Continue reading Hot in America, Good study from Finland, Jealousy & Envy →

Maria Saxton (VA Tech) studies the impact of tiny houses, the Dept of Defense reports on climate threats to military facilities, Arkansas steps up to solar development, and the old Nanticoke coal plant is transformed to solar. A story about racism and a discussion of citizenship as the goal of education. Some lightbulb facts, and … Continue reading Citizenship & Education, Tiny Houses, Nanticoke Solar →

How Antarctica looked in the pliocene age, the sinking of our Capital’s National Mall, and Dutchman Wiebe Wakker completes his 3-year adventure in his converted VW Golf electric vehicle, the Blue Bandit. A story and discussion of the Copper Rule, which governs our decisions all too often.

Earth Day is a good time to form new habits.  Orkney, Scotland is producing hydrogen with their surplus clean energy, and seeking to develop a hydrogen-powered sea vessel. Our City Bird – Country Bird story is about “An Angry Bird”, and we discuss when anger is rational and when irrational.

Renewables in Puerto Rico, biofuels vs. biomass, and Rebecca Stolnit on white hate vs. climate action. Our City Bird-Country Bird story is on the Cost of Freedom. We take thought on acting against our best judgment, and explore the word “April”.