Commonweal Institute Blog

People still buy real estate that will be underwater in a few decades. Think about that.

The reason we don't take global warming seriously in America is because ExxonMobil has been spending millions and millions of dollars funding a PR campaign designed to shift our attention away from the problem. This has been very good for business for them, but it has caused each and every one of us to behave in ways that are counter to our OWN - and society's - interests.

One day this will change. One day the consequences of global warming will become too serious to ignore. One day ExxonMobil will stop paying the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Center for Defense of Free Enterprise and Citizens for a Sound Economy and the American Enterprise Institute and the Frontiers of Freedom Institute and the Heritage Foundation and the Hoover Institution and the National Center for Policy Analysis and the hundreds of other right-wing "think tanks" they pay to tell us global warming is a hoax (read the report), and then the fog will start to lift and we will start to see the world as it is -- the "reality-based" world we live in rather than the one we see on TV.

Think about what will happen to real estate prices in coastal areas when we do start taking global warming seriously. How much will people pay for real estate that is going to be under water in a few decades?

American Enterprise Institute, one of the Right's "belief tanks", apparently believes that reputable scientists and economists will help them obfuscate the reality of global warming if they're paid enough. It's time for all honorable professionals to renew their personal pledges of membership in the reality-based community. How could anyone sell out their intellectual integrity and the future of the world for a suitcaseful of ExxonMobil cash?

Naomi Klein's new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, promises to become a major tool in the fight against rampant privatization and conservative decimation of the public sphere--but only if enough people read it and talk about its ideas. Those interested in progressive social change should consider the possibility that natural shocks or social disruptions might also provide opportunities to rectify system dysfunctions and inequities, and move communities or countries in directions that may be more positive for their well-being in the long term.

Blogging from Netroots Nation (NN) in Austin, sitting at a table in the first row waiting for speakers Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore to show up. Gore is going to be the mystery, unannounced guest, . Looks like just about all the seats in this cavernous hall are occupied and there’s a big rack of media folks toward the back with their cameras. There are a handful of costumed demonstrators, but mostly the bloggers are looking like themselves, casually dressed, but intensely engaged mentally despite the early hour and more than a few hangovers following the parties last night.

I want to write about something Al Gore said yesterday about energy prices, at the Netroots Nation conference.

Oil is limited. There is only so much, and the amount you can get it out of the ground and refine on any day is limited. That means that the more you depend on it and use it the more the more the price goes up. It just has to go up and eventually run out.

Solar power, on the other hand, is a new technology, so it is expensive today. But the more demand there is, the more factories are built. That means that the more we depend on it and use it, the more the price goes down.

Let me add that once you install solar your ongoing cost is very low.