I gave a talk on climate change at the Claremont University Club. A friend made a video of most of the presentation. The link below gives you a chance to watch it. For me, climate change is not merely ominous, but it is the giant of giants in the history of civilization and Earth history. Either people unite and protect themselves, or they are doomed.  Click on the link.  https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=D7mlehiYafc

German pellet factory on fire, Easter 2017, Port Arthur, Texas. Courtesy Annette Mitchell and John Beard.   The scientist and politician in Pope Francis   A few years ago, in 2015, Pope Francis issued an encyclical that sided with the environmentalists fighting polluters. In his  “ LAUDATO SI’ , mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord,”   Pope Francis imitated  Saint Francis of Assisi in praising “our common home,” Mother Earth. In his latest political foray into the controversial climate change / crisis / emergency/ global warming, the Pope is more straightforward and science-based than ever before. He named his October 4, 2023 letter, “ Laudate Deum /  Praise God. ” He addressed this 7,000-word letter to “all people of good will” and he defined the purpose of his apostolic exhortation to highlighting the political and technological complexity of the climate crisis.   With the exception of a few sections at the end dealing with spiritual / Biblical sayings about the Earth, most of t

  Monarch butterfly, Claremont, California. Photo: Evaggelos Vallianatos EPA regulation by court orders   The New York Times  reported  that a judge ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency to do something about its failure to protect the endangered species from the toxic and lethal touch of an unbelievable number of petrochemicals in the armory of farmers. These poisons have been falsely called pesticides. They are synthetic chemicals designed to kill all forms of life. They are biocides.    The New York Times interviewed a senior EPA official who, like a public relations expert, explained the role of pesticides:    “When you think about what a pesticide is, it’s supposed to kill pests,” said Michal Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the agency’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. “It is difficult to design a process where it kills only the things it is supposed to kill.”   Of course, this is beside the point. It’s impossible to design the perfect weapon. Al