Left Wing Science

Just hearing a caller on CSpan expressing his astonishment at hearing an elected member of Congress testifying against global warming on the floor yesterday, using the terminology "left wing science". No, there isn't such an animal except in the deranged minds that seem to crop up in politicized debate like we have on this issue. The melting ice caps? These must sound to the radical right either fictitious and invisible.

Want to see some right wingers with steam coming out of their ears? Then I found something just perfect for that purpose this morning.

...sociologist Jane Jacobs struts into the ring and jabs back: "It may be romantic to search for the salves of society's ill in slow-moving rustic surroundings, but it is a waste of time." Human beings are part of nature, not some alien species—so "the cities of human beings are as natural … as are the colonies of prairie dogs or the beds of oysters." Far from being free and somehow mystically complete, "in real life, peasants are the least free of men—bound by tradition, ridden by caste, fettered by superstitions, riddled by suspicion and foreboding of whatever is strange."

So for Jacobs, cities are ineradicable and set you free—and, crucially, they are the greenest way to live. The area with the lowest carbon emissions per person in the United States is not rural Alabama or icy Alaska. It is New York City, with its mass transit system and easy walking. If we are to deal with global warming, there need to be more densely populated cities and far fewer tree-lined suburbs.
(snip)
Rationalist environmentalists are close to finding a language that can rouse people to the great global game of Russian roulette we are playing without descending into cause-discrediting voodoo. You can glimpse this voice in the writings of the best environmentalists: people like George Monbiot and Mark Lynas and Jared Diamond. It locates its rock-solid facts in a compelling narrative about our species: where we can from and what we can still be if our best instincts prevail.

Yet rationalist environmentalism doesn't have a lot of time to prevail. (Emphasis added.)

While I do enjoy gardening and like the green scenery of a rather large, treed, yard, so that gives me pause.

I have seen lately that construction in my area has started offering green building, use of recycled materials and wind energy, lighting that uses our abundant sunshine. I had always expected I would need to go looking for sound green construction when I renovate here. Instead, it's coming to me.

I found several construction sites for green building, by googling. That also showed me offers of training in green energy use, in construction. Things are looking better to me now. Frankly, after watching the cretin in chief mince away in his 'presser' yesterday, I needed the fresh air. Try as he did to destroy the environment and keep its advocates from any achievements, he failed in that, too.

That a failure of anti-environmentalism, like the efforts to strip us of social security, constitute some of the few bright spots in the past eight years, says everything I can see that was good about it. The Freedom Institute, planned to hide w's records from public scrutiny, may have something good about it, too. At least credentials that include any connection will be an easy guide to failure made visible, and avoidable.

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Found this gem at monkeyfister;

Note: The Ark Institute is going to roll out an "Apartment Dwellers" non-hybrid/non-GMO seed pack in the coming week or so. Check that link, above (I incorporated it here for you - ed.) for updates. I'm not pimpin' them, I don't even know what the pack will contain, but, they are great people to do business with. They are honest, their seeds grow, and you can save and plant the seeds from last year's harvest next year-- AND they are willing to swap seeds within a package to fit your needs. For "clean" seeds, I bet the price will be pretty good.