The International Conference on Conferences

December 22, 2023

The most important annual meeting in the world wrapped up this week in Dubai after two weeks of keynote speeches, committee sessions, photo ops, press conferences, royalty, fancy dinners, VIP tours, and glitzy exhibitions. It is referred to officially as the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or […]

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What The World Really Needs

December 18, 2023

One of the more famous anecdotes in U.S. Senate history dates from early 1914 when a protracted debate centered on unrest in the country during the progressive era. Kansas Senator Joseph Bristow had bellowed through a repetitive speech in which he said at least ten times, “What this country needs…” finishing each line with a […]

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Protecting Valuable Resources – Again and Again

December 5, 2023

When Americans hear about a crisis, their instinct is to spring into action, to do something right away. Do whatever it takes, as Mayor Shinn in the Music Man says, “to prevent this dire happening from… uhm… happening.” What they don’t do first, as a rule, is pause to ask exactly what the crisis is, […]

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How About Recycling Columns and Blogs

November 29, 2023

Co-workers were standing around the water cooler when the boss came in and asked everyone, “What are you all doing to celebrate Earth Day this year?” One employee answered, “Already done – I sent all my work-related e-mails to the recycle bin.” There are a thousand recycling jokes, which is ironic because most Americans don’t […]

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Your Front Yard is Non-Functional

November 22, 2023

A popular website called LifeHack lists 25 things it calls “unnecessary wastes of money.” Wasteful items include dryer sheets, coffee k-cups, sliced cheese, cable TV, and buying a snack “every now and then.” One could endlessly debate the wisdom of slicing one’s own cheese or paying a bit more for pre-sliced. K-cups cost more than […]

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Stop the Sodbusters – Save the Grasslands!

November 17, 2023

Headlines across the Midwest are blaring: “Great Plains lost 1.6 million acres of grasslands in 2021.” The story is based on a report from the World Wildlife Fund, supposedly tracking the conversion of grasslands to row crops. It says over the past decade grassland conversion totaled 32 million acres. In 2021 alone, the loss is […]

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Bring Back Our Dinosaurs

November 10, 2023

Four people have been indicted for allegedly purchasing and selling 150,000 pounds of “paleontological resources,” meaning dinosaur bones, taken from public lands in southeastern Utah. They are accused of exporting over $1 million worth of fossil bones, committing several felonies violating the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act. That law prohibits removing paleontological resources without a permit, […]

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No More Flights to Grand Junction

November 3, 2023

New York banning gas stoves and furnaces in all new construction has not produced any reductions in global carbon emissions. More federal regulation of dishwashers and air conditioners has not done the trick. Seventeen states banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035 is apparently not enough, either. Nothing climate activists have proposed so far […]

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Walk This Way, But Not Today

October 27, 2023

Most of us are unaware of the caliber of disaster caused by some member of the U.S. Popcorn Board revealing how another member voted in a popcorn referendum. But no worries. The Department of Agriculture is keenly aware of the danger and has made such disclosures a federal crime to protect us from any future […]

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Nuclear Power: Good Business or Good Politics?

October 18, 2023

The drive to reduce carbon emissions has changed the worldwide discussion of energy in recent years, no longer focused mainly on the politics of oil, but on various forms of “renewable” energy. I’ve always thought that term somewhat ironic because all energy is renewable. We can use the sun, wind, and water without using them […]

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