Erik Schlenker-Goodrich

Donald Trump is moving too quickly to embrace Zohran Mamdani.

by Chuck Schumer

First snow in Taos (other than the mountains)!

There is an assumption that the moment's climate rules—generously understood—are an organic reaction to the events & politics of the past several years.

They are not. They are an engineered response by hyper-wealthy/powerful elites recognizing that true climate action risks their dominance.

Not clear to me whether these rules are designed by the fossil fuel industry, tech industry, Russia/Saudi Arabia, "Abundance" centrists, DC consultants, or virtually all Republicans & far too many Democrats.

But they are this moment's conventional wisdom.

And they are a doomed, reckless farce.

1. Do not speak of climate change.

2. Do not antagonize fossil fuels. Embrace fossil fuels via "all of the above" & "technology neutral."

3. Fixate on energy & economics to exclusion of ecology & equity.

4. Speak often of reducing costs. Sometimes emissions.

5. Hobble bedrock environmental laws.

She much of our politics is divorced from the core beauty and wonder of the world we that is our home.

Bro, you've lost the plot. You're shadowboxing.

Billionaires are obscene and incompatible with democracy. We need a wealth cap.

A climate deal without explicit language calling for a fossil fuel phaseout is like a ceasefire without explicit language calling for a suspension of hostilities.
#COP30

Federal "permitting reform" (e.g., The SPEED Act, HR 4776) is the Billionaire's version of climate action.

People, land and water, wildlife are little but: (1) Commodities for extraction; or (2) Barriers to wealth and power accumulation.

It's a giant grift.

Something this cursed post has revealed is that many liberals believe that cheap renewables have effectively solved climate change, and now it's just a waiting game.

What do you think, for many, inspires bigotry & racism?

Resource scarcity. Catastrophic weather & wildfire. Worry for the future. Less snow. Earlier runoff. Hotter summers. These things can induce you to build expansive community. Or fortresses to try & protect "your own."

Identity is complex.

What "people in Washington" are openly talking about: permitting reform. Exxon, Meta & the rest of the AI Infrastructure Coalition are making clear what they hope to gain, and for communities to lose, in the battle for control over water & other natural resources.

YouTube video by Rep. Melanie Stansbury Rep. Stansbury: The GOP is trying to strip Tribal communities of their rights

ICYMI: The GOP is trying to pass Permitting Reform legislation that would gut protections for Tribes and communities to oppose strip mining and oil and gas drilling.

These lands have been protected by Tribal treaty rights since the 19th Century. How is this America First?

House votes on dumbass resolution condemning socialism, meanwhile the DSA's Lisan al-Gaib rolls the truculent child brain president like a pair of socks

Opinion | The Thucydides Trap Is Coming for America

"With its litany of chaos, [Trump] has pursued all on [his] own a root-and-branch destruction of the global order America made — threatening invasions, deploying punitive tariffs indiscriminately & all but abandoning longstanding alliances...[A]t the world’s summit, America is overthrowing America."

In an era filled with tech dipshits who never developed emotionally past the age of 13 & use their wealth to become odious monsters ...

... listen to Steve Wozniak.

As I argue in The Language of Climate Politics: we are stuck not because climate politics are polarized, but because they’re UNIFIED (across the right and center-left) on the lie that we can keep using oil and gas but still deal with climate change anyway.

Here’s a good example of that discourse.

Orthodoxy is a fancy word to mask @nytimes.com cowardice. They’re complicit in an information environment that feeds a “both sides” narrative imperiling lives and our democracy.

Conservationists to House Natural Resources Committee: Permitting reform under Trump would spell disaster - Western Environmental Law Center A coalition of 27 western conservation groups sent a letter to Rep. Huffman and the members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources advising all to exercise extreme caution on permitting refo...

It's time to play a different game.

a group of people looking at a screen that says cpe1704tks on it Alt: GIF from 1983 movie Wargames demonstrating the futility of nuclear war and the game tic-tac-toe.

The Abundance & fossil fuel-driven federal "permitting reform" debate is predicated on a poverty of systems thinking that empowers Trump 2.0 & congressional allies to dictate the rules of the game.

It's a game we cannot win.

It is reckless to boil "permitting reform good/bad?" down to "does it maybe allow for the construction of the energy projects I want?"

In that direction there be dragons.

"Permitting reform" has vast implications to every facet of human relationship with ecological systems--from conservation "uses" like public lands, river, and wildlife protection to the development of infrastructure that necessarily takes place and affects ecological systems.

House Permitting Bill Would Block Trump From Pulling Permits It was approved by the House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday by a vote of 25 to 18.

It is deeply problematic that political leadership & media coverage has employed a reductionist approach to "permitting reform" that fixates on removing any perceived (even if wrong on the facts) obstacle (here, the National Environmental Policy Act) on energy development as a good thing.

🎯

Book Review: Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild - LSE Review of Books In Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, Arlie Russell Hochschild explores the 'deep story' behind the rise of the Tea Party and Donald Trump in the USA, drawing on cl...

Stop arguing and reflexively denying everything I'm saying and linking to without actually reading and processing the implications of those links and start thinking.

You have, notably, provided no evidence beyond your own reflexive priors and speculation. I'm frankly done arguing with you.

New American Climate Perspectives Survey A new ecoAmerica poll finds Americans deeply concerned about extreme heat, climate change, health risks, and proposed cuts to FEMA and NOAA.

"More than 8 in 10 Americans say extreme heat has increased their concern about climate change. Nearly 9 in 10 recognize that extreme heat impacts people’s health. More Americans — especially Republicans — are also making the connection between extreme weather and climate change."