Now, before the stupid conservatives begin sneering and laughing AGAIN about climate change and a massive snowstorm, one more time trying to educate:

A warming climate causes extreme weather events, *including* huge snow and plunging temps. 1 example why: (Note: I realize.../1

It's infuriating to watch conservatives continue to misrepresent/misunderstand basic scientific findings for the purpose of portraying Trump as a genius. Once again, they're misrepresenting the findings of a study on hydroxychloroquine, putting out disinformation that harms.../1

...those who actually need the drug - people with autoimmune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis -by creating a run on the drug with their disinformation. Nothing has *ever* even suggested that hydroxy is a prophylactic that prevents COVID, that it keeps infected.../2

...people who are not hospitalized from getting worse or that any possible benefits outweigh the risks except for very severe situations where doctors do not need an uneducated reality TV star to tell them how to treat. The first, since retracted, study showed that with.../3

...people who were severely ill & hospitalized from COVID, with hydro and an antibiotic used in tandem, saw a decrease in the viral load. That was it. The meaning was next to nothing. It was based on a handful of people, observational. Trump took that, based on an tweet he.../4

...saw, and declared hydro to be a miracle cure, causing a mass rush from people who wanted to use it to prevent infection. Trump did not understand the difference between preventative (like a vaccine), treatment for bad cases (steroids, blood thinners) and remdesivir.../5

For those of us suffering & dying in Texas, the sociopathy of @GOP that leads to an astonishing lack of concern about our lives by evil folk like @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @TuckerCarlson @DanCrenshawTX et al who blatantly lie about what’s happening...1

...just to score political points - and protect the profits of energy companies - is almost incomprehensible. These are people who would claim Social Security caused 9/11 if it was convenient. What caused this catastrophe is vast vast majority from gas, then coal/nuclear...2

...then wind. The ONLY source of power that is delivering more than expected in budgeting is wind. But that’s not convenient to say for the oil/gas/coal industry, so the @GregAbbott_TX @GovernorPerry @DanCrenshawTX stand atop our dead bodies lying to protect the companies...2

...shockingly, the ONLY people in a position of state/national strength are the executives with the company that manages electricity in the state, @ERCOT_ISO. But they can’t tell the whole truth, because that would entail revealing how much stupidity was done here for profit...3

...of industry by Texas @GOP. If gas/nuke/nuclear/wind had been winterized - as they are everywhere else in the country - this would have largely been prevented. But it would have cost companies money, and that would cut into profits. If the gas lines has been buried deeper...3

Why I was constantly urging caution about being too confident:
* People underestimate how much Fox-induced hate of democrats drives decisions now. (Look at @RichLowry who argued - even with NATO near collapse and Covid exploding - to vote Trump to give dems "the finger")...

...literally, to so much of this country, including people who are supposed to be smarter than this like @RichLowry, politics is a game of self-affirmation, having to do with imprinting fantasies of democrats without a care about the real world. This "team" mentality is what...

...is destroying us. It is why, no matter how terrible everything Trump did was, his numbers never budged. The more upset those who opposed Trump became because of his abject incompetence and stupidity, some on the right saw the dem upset at objective reality of chaos as an...

...affirmation that Trump is "great." If you put a chimp into the White House, running under R, and he started wrecking the place, if dems got upset, too many republicans would support it. They hate half the country.

*The multi-billion dollar effort by wealthy conservatives...

...to create a media bubble of an alternative reality to deceive viewers that tax increases for the rich are tax increases for everyone, and that the money raised would go to "undeserving" poor people. Then they harp on all the other lies, solely to secure tax cuts and judges...

How to not run/and run a business:

In 1976, my family was Big Thompson River flood. 2 hotels survived -locally owned one we were in, which let people stay free & doubled up rooms, & Holiday Inn, which tripled rates. I’ve never again stayed in HI for 45 years because of that..1

...we’ve seen the opposite in Texas disaster - a community minded business that wins public affection & is better managed than the state. @HEB is beloved in TX, more so since the recent crisis. In a town where people were in financial trouble, HEB gave away groceries for free...2

...literally, you would walk into the store, head to the cashier, and they would thank you and send you on your way. They were prepared for a disaster. Why? Because at the beginning of the pandemic, this grocery store chain -GROCERY STORES! - commissioned John’s Hopkins to do...3

...a pandemic report that correctly predicted how things would go (badly), consulted experts on how best to keep their workers and customers safe, and then spent the money required to get it done. They shared all of their information with mass killer Governor @GregAbbott_TX.../4

....a man they did not know how already deep-sixes a report put together specifically for the state to show how to open up safely. Just like his ignoring the 2011 warnings about an electricity collapse and the need for Abbott’s bagmen at the energy companies to spend money to...5

When liars like @HawleyMO scream "Cancel Culture!" and "WOKE!" because they are discovering liars and those who attack democracy are in a Consequences Culture, remind them of all the people they tried to cancel for opinions or mistakes, not lying or attacking democracy:.../1

...
1. Dixie Chicks
2. @kathygriffin
3. @Toure
4. Chis Matthews
5. Graydon Carter
6. Bill Maher
7. New York Magazine
8. New York Times
9. Washington Post
10. CNN
11. MSNBC
12. CNBC
13. Dallas Morning News
14. Arizona Republic
15. Univision
16. Apple
17. WSJ editorial board.../2

...
18. Jonah Goldberg
19. NFL players who kneel
20. Harley Davidson
21. Paul Krugman
22. Chuck Todd
23. Facebook
24. Twitter
25. Nordstrom
26. Bed Bath and Beyond
27. TJ Maxx
28. Estee Lauder
29. AT&T
30. Bloomingdale's
31. Rep Tim Rice
32. Cindy McCain
33. Jeff Flake.../3

...
34. Doug Ducey
35. Simon & Schuster
36. French Fries (yes. French fries.)

...the majority of these "cancels" arent because the targets engaged in lying or attacks on Democracy. Many are because they had a political opinion that didn't express fealty to GOP's God King.../4

...or because they expressed an opinion that proved right (France didn't want to be part of the Iraq War, Dixie Chicks criticized Bush for engaging in Iraq War) - a war that the GOP NOW agrees with France and the Dixie Chicks about (And do their best to blame dems for it).../5

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT: Some 70% of people, depends how you ask, accept the global emergency. Climate system destabilisation is one aspect, declining biodiversity and increasing pollution is another. I ask: what would actually *break* if humanity responded decisively? 1/

Climate: a decisive response = cap on fossil fuel extraction and planned phase out. Fewer private car journeys, less electricity. Nothing would *break*. We still live and eat. There are alternatives and we can all cut back and share more. So what are we afraid of breaking? 2/

Pollution: reducing the above helps all that, cracking down on pollution and biodiversity loss will reduce materials consumption but changing and sharing we can still live on the planet. What would break? 3/

Most pollution and resource consumption is done by rich people. Billions of poor people live and thrive so the rich can too. Nothing will *break* there? 4/

Of course, a rapid reduction in resource consumption, less of most things and enough of the essentials for everyone will *break*something. Economic growth for one thing. But if that broke, what would *break*with it? 5/

As 2020 comes to a close, we're taking a look back at some of our best reporting on the environment.

The American landscape has become 48 times more toxic to insects since the 1990s, a shift largely fueled by rising use of neonicotinoid insecticides.

Banned in the EU, a sophisticated information war has kept these insecticides on the U.S. market.

Amid California's severe wildfires, grape growers in Sonoma County got exemptions to send in farmworkers who have few alternatives or options for support into fire evacuation zones.

With Trump's election, a small and previously marginalized group of toxics apologists suddenly took control over health and environmental regulations, ushering in higher profits for polluters and higher cancer rates for the American people.

Steven Donziger won a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron in Ecuador. The company sued him in New York — as of December, he has been under house arrest for over 500 days.

Lately, I have been very disturbed with the whole #climatecrisis. Every day some new naturally unnatural calamity looms over our head.
The ice caps are turning in cold rocks and I end up in a rabbit hole feeling helpless.
1/n

It just sucks to imagine a #future where the only way people can enjoy nature as you and I did via #hiking etc is to read blogs and watch videos.
That sucks on so many levels.
2/n

And when I think about the reasons for this situation. I can't seem to go any further but to pin it on #consumption.
Not just fashion or lifestyle consumption. But any damn product.
From the smallest sewing pin to the giant #spaceships.
3/n

Because let's get real. Everything is one or the other form of a natural resource. Even synthetic product like plastic needs cellulose, coal etc. And so far, the only legit source of natural resources is digging deep into the Earth.
4/n

So you dig up these resources and turn them into the products we consume. The shirts, jeans, bike, laptop, phone etc. Everything is made from nature. Along the way creating jobs and the so-called development.
But how good is this #development?
Moreover is this #Sustainable?
5/n

New paper: Review and Analysis of Strategies for Reducing Life Cycle GHG Emissions of Residential Buildings in Humid
Subtropical and Tropical Climates by Daniel Satola et al. 2021 - A Thread (1/9)

We reviewed more than 70 building LCA studies in climate regions common in the Global South, studying building cases from Asia, Oceania, South America and North America. We conduct detailed analyses ...
(2/9)

...based on a final sample of 36 building cases which were fit for harmonization of results. Therein, life cycle GHG emissions show a wide range of 491 to 4811 kgCO2eq/m2. To understand more: First, how structural material choice is influencing emissions...
(3/9)

...we study both embodied and life cycle GHG emission in relation to primary materials used in the building structure. This shows lowest embodied emissions with wood as structural material, and potentially low emissions from use of concrete (non-reinforced). Second,... (4/9)

...we investigate specific design strategies applied in the different cases to analyse their potential for reducing operational and/or embodied GHG emissions. Substantial embodied GHG emissions reduction can be achieved by use of local materials, ... (5/9)