Tag Archives: Mark Clipsham

Canceling Gandhi

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This week marks the 75th anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, who in recent years has joined the legions of leaders lesser minds love to cancel. 

Yes, move over George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abe Lincoln. Make room for the Indian who toppled the British Empire. Make sure you ignore the big picture and only focus on what you consider his shortcomings.

To be clear, there are politicians and celebrities who do dumb, hurtful, or even illegal things. They absolutely need to be called-out and held accountable.

But cancelling the dead because they don’t stand up to modern standards? Continue Reading →

Why Biden and the DNC killed the Caucuses

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Democrats across the US are celebrating the demise of the Iowa Caucuses. That’s unfortunate, because the passing of the Iowa Caucuses is a huge loss to democracy. And President Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are to blame.

Iowa has never gone well for Biden. In 1988, Biden polled poorly even before dropping out after he got caught plagiarizing Neil Kinnock. In 2008, Biden finished fifth in Iowa. In 2020, fourth. Ouch.

It’s no surprise that Biden would love to never have to campaign in Iowa again. He made that clear at a 2019 forum when he said to me and others in attendance, “All you guys in Iowa are pains in the neck, you know that?”

Continue Reading →

Marijuana: Legalize it!

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During my 38 years as a politician and activist, I’ve frequently been out of step with mainstream opinion on controversial issues. One of those is cannabis. After meeting Carl Olsen in 1992 during my first legislative campaign, I agreed to help push legislation to legalize marijuana.

Carl’s my guest on the first segment of this week’s program — and a veritable encyclopedia of weed wisdom. Carl has spent his adult life pushing to decriminalize marijuana. He understands the ins and outs of federal and state drug policy better than anyone I know.

With Carl’s guidance, in 1993 I was one of ten House members — nine Democrats and one Republican — who introduced HF 404. That bill would have authorized the lawful possession of marijuana for therapeutic purposes. Not surprisingly, in the Republican-controlled Iowa House, it went nowhere. Continue Reading →

Carbon sequestration done right

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My guest is June Sekera. She’s a public policy scholar and researcher whose most recent work focuses on carbon sequestration, including the discovery that subsidies for “mechanical” carbon removal emit more CO2 than they remove.

If you follow my blog, talk show, and podcast, you’re no doubt aware that CO2 pipelines are in the “wrong” category of carbon sequestration. As June points out, “such projects claim they will reduce CO2 emissions by 90 percent when in reality they capture as little as seven percent. In many cases, they actually increase CO2 emissions because of the extra energy required to power the machinery that captures and compresses the CO2. In addition, most of the CO2 currently captured is used for enhanced oil recovery, thereby defeating the purpose.”

The truth is there’s not a high-tech carbon-capture scheme that works, including the “Orca” direct-air carbon-capture plant in Iceland. That costly initiative — much heralded by businesses and governments — is prohibitively expensive, could take decades to operate at scale, and ironically was delayed due to poor weather conditions.

Oh, and the world would need eight million “Orcas” to accomplish the necessary CO2 removal! Continue Reading →

Learn to love and protect plankton

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Given the prominence this week of news stories about heat and wildfire, you might have missed another critical story: last week’s stunning discovery about the decline of plankton in the Atlantic Ocean. (I missed it until John Davis alerted me. Thanks, John.)

How big a decline? At the current rate of loss, 90% of plankton will be gone by 2045! That’s huge, imminent, and frightening.

Why frightening? Because plankton is the foundation of the oceans’ food chain. If 90% of it dies off, the majority of salt-water aquatic life won’t be far behind. And even those of us living in the middle of a continent can’t survive without viable oceans. Continue Reading →

A Philosophy Super Bowl?

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What’s not to like about trains, right? Well, apparently quite a bit if you live in a community where a big railroad company proposes a major expansion of train traffic. Joining me to discuss that concern is the mayor of Bettendorf, Iowa, Bob Gallagher. My first reaction was, “More trains equals less pollution and highway-safety concerns. Good thing, right?” After talking with Bob, well, let’s just say there are a bunch of other concerns to consider before jumping to a conclusion. …

Also, Kathy Byrnes joins me to discuss peas. Ok, that sounds even more boring than a Philosophy Super Bowl. But really, what do you know about peas? Are you afraid to know more, huh? Maybe Kathy’s a little off-base to call peas “the perfect produce,” but … well, you’ll just to have to listen and see if you agree or disagree. Continue Reading →

Earth Day, 2014: A Mediterranean meal in a Quonset hut

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On April 22, Earth Day, we arrive at the home of Mark Boyko and Karen Abbott near Concho. They graciously offer us a two-day break from wilderness camping. Like many people in eastern Arizona they live off the grid, their home powered entirely by solar and wind energy. We find ample space to pitch our tents, yet due to the howling wind and cold temperatures, Mark and Karen let marchers sleep in their spacious Quonset hut. They also invite us to use their shower.

Lala prepares the best meal of the March: a multi-course, Mediterranean-style dinner featuring ratatouille, baba ganoush, tabouleh, falafel, and hummus. Continue Reading →

Religion, politics, money, and the endless growth paradigm

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Money. Politics. Religion. Those are everyone’s top-three choices for Thanksgiving dinner conversation, right? Ok, not so much.

But maybe they should be, since each has a role to play in fueling the endless growth paradigm — which is neither physically, economically, nor spiritually sustainable.

On this week’s program, we tackle the confluence of those three forces. Mark Clipsham (architect, builder, DJ) is my in-studio guest. We’re joined by five callers who share differing and provocative perspectives. Continue Reading →

Summit is lying about its CO2 pipeline

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Summit’s refusal to provide assurance verbally or in writing that the CO2 will not be used for fracking is a clear indicator of its plans. Statements such as: “As we stand here today,” “We can’t make the promise long term,” and “Commercial options might be available that are different than storing it underground,” are all rock-solid indicators that CO2 from Iowa ethanol plants will be used for fracking — or what the industry calls “enhanced oil recovery.” Continue Reading →