relianceschool

Colorado had a crazy rebate deal that allowed people to lease a Leaf for $20/month (after $2,400 upfront).

I don't believe that we should be pursuing growth in an era of global overshoot, but I do believe that this kind of messaging has a better chance of getting through to people who care more about the economy than the biosphere.

The difficulty in regulating mining in international waters are precisely why companies are rushing into this market. It's much harder to stop something that's already been started, and regulatory agencies are notoriously slow.

What we do know of seabed mining is that it's incredibly destructive to marine ecosystems. As Peter Watts writes,

Very little research has been done on the environmental impacts of deep-sea mining. The only real study was undertaken thirty years ago, led by a dude called Hjalmar Thielon. It was a pretty simple experiment. They basically dragged a giant rake across 2.5 km2 of seabed, a physical disturbance which— while devastating enough— was certainly less disruptive than commercial mining operations are likely to be. Today, thirty years later, the seabed still hasn’t recovered.

But what's more concerning is what we don't know, as very little research has been conducted on its impact. Moreover, many of these ecosystems are largely uncharted. We could very well destroy something before we have the chance to understand it.

On a higher level, this is what happens when you attempt to solve for one variable (climate change, in this case the transition to renewables and its associated mineral demand) instead of looking at an issue holistically (i.e. the total integrity of our biosphere).

I'm not a fan of manufacturers continually foisting larger vehicles on us. Improvements in range and charging are always welcome, but the Nissan Leaf was the perfect size for its niche (an affordable urban vehicle). Our local CarShare has a Gen2 Leaf, and I never had an issue hauling work equipment with the seats down. You can't fit sheet plywood or lumber in there, but that was never its intended purpose.

With increases in size come increases in cost (and decreases in MPGe). The Chevy Bolt was another great pocket rocket that recently fell victim to the oversizing trend (in this case being canceled entirely to manufacture e-pickups).

Beautiful! I'm hoping I can get some established as well.

Ignorance, petulance, and a willful dismissal of the truth are the new norms for this "administration." But information wants to be free, and this is a good example of how the internet can be a force for good.

Thank you to Fulton Ring for making the raw data publicly available on their Github. I'll be downloading this data and hosting the risk maps on my website as well; the more copies of this information out there, the better.

The level of obstinacy and stupidity in this administration never ceases to amaze me.

Each year the WEF publishes a Global Risk Report, surveying over 300 global experts and leaders from business, government, and academia on what they believe are the most pressing threats facing the world. For the past 3 years, climate change and its associated impacts have consistently ranked #1, #2, and #3 among all quantified threats.

To not only downrank this threat, but pretend that it presents no risk entirely implies that the US doesn't even have object permanence at this point.

Dishwashers, fridges, laundry machines, vacuums and other basic home appliances are mostly mature technologies; their basic design & function solidified over 70 years ago and there's not much left to improve on now (other than efficiency).

This isn't an issue for consumers or private companies, but public companies need to deliver increasing profits (not just steady profits) year over year. One solution to this is planned obsolescence, but adding a bunch of unnecessary tech "features" kills two birds with one stone by allowing manufacturers to justify higher prices while also building in additional points of failure. It's also a means of harvesting consumer data which can then be sold for additional profit.

Good for shareholders, bad for everyone else.

I'm on my 4th year with my pollinator garden (Colorado), and the goal from here is filling in every square inch of uncovered earth with ground cover and spreading plants. I love Western Sunflower for that purpose, and I've been trying unsuccessfully to get Violets established (I know, right? They're considered a weed in most places) so I'm going to give that another go.

Trying out Blue Flax, Wild Strawberry, Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Wild Garlic, Wild Geranium, and Wild Phlox this year as well. Learned about Figwort's amazing pollinator benefits last year, so going to plant out more of that in the side yard!

Right, but it's the same part of the year that you're able to hike, bike, and garden.

That might depend on where you call home. I used to live in VT where you couldn't step outside without something (blackflies, mosquitos, midges, deerflies, horseflies) trying to take a bite out of you. But now I live in CO, and generally speaking most of the American West is an absolute joy to be outside in. You can just sit down on the ground in a forest and be at peace.

I think it's important to spend time in wild spaces (backpacking is great for this), but since home is where we spend most of our time, bringing nature into the backyard is huge for daily exposure. I work from home, so whenever I feel like I've been staring at screens for too long, I head out to the pollinator garden for a reset.