Category Archives: Oil

Feeding Back

11/8/2007 – 11:10 am

For years climate scientists have warned rising temperatures will create “feedback loops” – self-perpetuating cycles in which cause and consequence take on lives of their own.  Warmer temperatures melt pack ice in the Arctic Ocean, dark water reflect less light than ice and snow, hastening the melting of the remaining ice, creating more surface water, […]

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Twelve Dollars a Year

11/1/2007 – 10:06 am

In the late winter of 2006, the citizens of Burlington, Vermont prepared to elect one of five candidates to a three-year term for an open mayor’s seat. At one forum, a citizen stood up and asked, “Within the next mayoral term, it’s likely the price of oil will hit $90 a barrel and gas will […]

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Victims of Oil

7/26/2007 – 10:24 am

The shop around the corner raised the price of sandwiches by a quarter this week. Although the housing meltdown is raising concerns that it may take the whole American economy down with it, prices are going up and the reason is the cost of oil. Oil, and therefore gas, prices remain at near-record levels. A […]

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Trouble in the Colonies

7/5/2007 – 11:53 am

The Fourth of July was cool and rainy in Vermont, as it seems to be with surprising regularity. I suppose that’s why my town sets off its fireworks on the evening of July 3rd, which was perfect for pyrotechnics this year. Fireworks finished, I had all day Wednesday to contemplate this year’s version of American […]

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Lessons From the Playground

6/21/2007 – 12:05 pm

Sunday was Father’s Day and a dad dropped by my front porch for a chat. He’s got a couple kids and like a good dad, he coaches some of their sports teams and shows up at games for the other sports. (It seems there are few single-sport athletes among the 8 and 10-year-old set in […]

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News From the (Warm) Front

5/31/2007 – 11:00 am

Dr. James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the nation’s leading expert on global warming, says we have less than 10 years to significantly decrease the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere. He made that statement last summer, the first anniversary is coming up, […]

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The Leaf and the Niagara

5/3/2007 – 9:37 am

This week I’ve been looking at satellite photos of the Niagara River and wondering about a hypothetical leaf floating on its surface. From the pictures, it seems the leaf would only be a few hundred yards from the renowned falls before it began to pick up speed. The leaf, of course, is a metaphor for […]

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