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“A Diſpute once aroſe betwixt the North-Wind and the Sun, about the ſuperiority of their power; and they agreed to try their ſtrength upon a traveller, which ſhould be able to get his cloak off firſt. The North-Wind began, and blew a very cold blaſt, accompanied with a ſharp driving ſhower: But this, and whatever elſe he could do, inſtead of making the man quit his cloak, obliged him to gird it about his body as cloſe as poſſible. Next came the Sun, who, breaking out from a thick watery cloud, drove away the cold vapours from the ſky, and darted his warm ſultry beams upon the head of the poor weather beaten traveller. The man growing faint with the heat, and unable to endure it any longer, firſt throws off his heavy cloak, and then flies for protection to the ſhade of a neighbouring grove.” (Page 68, FABLE XLI. The WIND and the SUN, The Fables of Aesop and Others By Samuel Croxall, D. D.: London: Printed for A. Millar, W. Law, and R. Cater; and for Wilson, Spence, and Mawman, York, M, ...

The problem of trying to make science political is that a tortuous joining of facts and fantasy only works politically, until it’s exposed as boloney. Then it often creates terrible collateral damage. Social Darwinism and Lysenkoism are two examples where politically motivated pseudoscience crusades ended up in the trash bin of history. Rightly so because both were nonsense on stilts, quite immoral, and wreaked bloody havoc. Pruitt, the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been working furiously to get the EPA “ Back To Basics ”, which is to say turning our environmental protection agency upside down so that it views environmental problems through the lens of businesses’ priorities. This stance is ridiculous because most businesses want good stable environmental regulations from which to operate, not cherry-picked, politically-derived rules that simply remove obstacles to pollute. To accomplish his fantasy objectives, Pruitt seems hell-bent on gutting the EPA b...

Thanking Trump for pulling the US out of the Paris Accord because his administration’s anti-environmental policies have galvanized the US and the world to address Climate Change would be like wheel-chairing over to the guy who ran over you with his truck and giving him a bouquet of flowers because your being crippled by what he did spurred you to write the great American novel. Although the Trump administration’s anti-environmental actions, including ditching the Paris Accord , have crystalized the extremes these people will go to push their insensitive ideology upon the world, there’s absolutely no reason to believe we can, however exercised, overcome the blow of a crippled worldwide agreement. The players in the Trump administration have proven that they will plow through anything to hold on to their power and wealth created from an energy option now proven to be lethal to our life support system. What has not been proven (nor can it) is whether we can overcome the Trump administrati...

Friday’s (6/2/2017) rally in front of the Federal Building in Rochester to protest Trump pulling out the US from the Paris Accord was an expression of outrage, then determination, and then inspiration. Listen to  Linda  and Abby  describe the Rochester People’s Climate Coalition ’s reaction to Trump’s “ stupid and reckless ” move that has been condemned worldwide . Though thunderstruck by Trump’s recklessness that will have severe consequences to our environment, our economy, and our international relationships, we are more than Trump.  The nations of the world (all but two) that signed on to the Paris Accord must see us not Trump.   Because of Trump’s reckless decision, people from all walks of life are coming together to address Climate Change with more urgency and resolve than ever.  Despite negative actions of The Unwilling , most of humanity recognizes threat Climate Change presents to us and are willing to do what must be done to make our childre...

(This essay is a continuation of my essay “ Climate Change and the Butterfly Effect ”) This brave and comprehensive article from Rochester City Newspaper (see below) demonstrates the complexity of addressing Climate Change now—before things get impossible to solve. The water will win  A very wet spring means that bodies of water across Upstate New York are spilling over their banks. Wetlands and swamps are full. And so is Lake Ontario, which is what the other water would normally drain into. For the home and business owners on Lake Ontario's southern shore, the flooding has been a slow-moving nightmare. Water – pushed some days by high winds – has been clawing into beachfronts and lawns, shifting sand, flooding buildings, closing roads. Docks at marinas are under water. Businesses have been closed. Homeowners have been piling up sandbags, trying to stave off the lake. And many of the lakefront landowners and the elected officials who represent them are furious, blaming the loss of ...

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Rage! Blow! You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout Till you have drenched our teeples, drowned the cocks! You sulphurour and thought-executing fires, Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts, Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder, Strike flat the thick rotundity o' the world! Crack nature's molds, all germens spill at once That make ingrateful man!―  William Shakespeare, King Lear Most people tend to think of Climate Change as a slow and gradual climate disruption occurring sometime in the future. Even if that is true, and scientists have overestimated as to when the most dire consequences of this crisis may transpire, you should still consider what it is we are unleashing on our children. (Actually, most evidence seems to be leaning towards the conclusion that Climate Change is happening far more quickly than scientists predicted .) Anyone who has experienced a major storm must have had at least one moment when they wondered ...

“ And the way that I look at a lot of climate change things is, at a certain point, you have nice, friendly oscillations in the weather cycle, globally. And, at a certain point, the string on your pendulum breaks and things go flying off. Or another way to think of it is, things are pretty steady state, up until the point when you tip the system such that your state slides down .” Dr. Pamela Gay (January 10, 2017, Ep. 435: The Butterfly Effect , Astronomy Cast.)  If we understood Climate Change properly, we would appreciate that the time for emergency measures for protecting our infrastructures is now, if not sooner. The Butterfly Effect relates to Climate Change, resulting from the dramatic increase in greenhouse gas emissions starting with the industrial revolutions around 200 years ago, and having already led to many local consequences . Temperature increases and ocean acidification have already begun a chain of effects, some perhaps unstoppable. One of the local consequences is...