Longer Step: Ideas for Justice and Sustainability

  From an 'environmental stability' perspective, we'd like to see fossil fuel usage declining, while renewable energy use increases. Well, we have the 2nd part, but not the first one: Fossil fuel use continues to grow, as overall energy demand keeps increasing worldwide. Buckle up, everybody--the world will keep getting warmer and the storms worse. (Photo credit: The Guardian.com)

  I try to think like a Futurist. (That isn't to say that I ever do it well.) But the question churning in my mind is: At what point do we need to de-populate the coastal areas of Florida? I could imagine giving everything below, say, 50' elevation in Florida back to nature, and people would simply be moved to higher ground. Let Nature take over the coasts. People could go there for the day to play on the beach or marvel at the crumbling post-modern buildings as they rusted back to ground. That's short term thinking, however, as yet another hurricane forms to slam into Florida's west coast. Long-term thinking would be to anticipate 50' sea level rise, or even 200', when/if all the land ice melts. Might as well get started now in our preparations, instead of just rebuilding over and over in places where the new construction will only be destroyed again. That feels futile and misguided. And if Governor Desantis finds himself king of a smaller and smaller land, th...

  "Earthship" homes in northern New Mexico are beyond cool. Made partly of trash (old bottles, cans, tires, etc.), these homes don't need heating or cooling--in the cold/hot desert! They can maintain 70F all year round (or a bit cooler, if you like). Earth-sheltering and great insulation are the keys. On a more-local level, governments should insist on a basement or daylight basement in every home! Even above grade on a flat lot, a daylight basement home is practicable. And saves hugely on energy costs. The design can be traditional (as our winery/farmhouse was--it was European traditional but earth-sheltered in back and on the sides, and solar-powered), or as wacky as you can imagine. https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/06/24/earthships-sustainable-housing?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20240626&utm_term=9551098&utm_campaign=news&utm_id=54187699&orgid=135&utm_att1=

  Re: Sudden, dramatic growth in worldwide gov't support for modern (hybrid) winegrapes!   Friends, if you thought that modern grapes ("hybrids") play just a minor role, and are not relevant to your life or to this planet's future, then you need to think again. I have never seen such an outpouring, in just the past few months, of major news from wine regions all around the world, dropping their (stupid) prohibitions against modern grapes, and suddenly embracing them as their regions' salvation for the future. (I want to say "duh," but I need to be professional.) I include many of the latest news stories about this, below. What's the impetus for this? In many regions of the world, it is becoming impossible to grow traditional European winegrapes consistently successfully, due to climate change (higher high temps; unexpected late Spring and early Fall severe cold snaps; worsening droughts; early arrival of Fall, etc.). Sometimes the trigger is the loss...