Category: Culture
In Show of Bipartisanship, House Approves a Sweeping Land Conservation Bill
The House passage of the bill, on a vote of 363-62, sends the measure, which was passed by the Senate this month, to the desk of President Trump. The vote Tuesday offered a rare moment of bipartisanship in a divided chamber and a rare victory for environmentalists at a time when the Trump administration is working aggressively to strip away protections on public lands and open them to mining and drilling.
Nonetheless, Mr. Trump was expected to sign the bill into law. But the one million acres of wilderness that would be protected by the bill stand in contrast to the administration’s plans to open up for drilling nine million acres of protected habitat for the sage grouse, two million acres of protected land in Utah, parts of the vast Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and most United States coastal waters.
New York Times
The bold print speaks for itself.
Mushroom Surfboards
I want one
The Secret Language of Trees
(To The Best Of Our Knowledge)
Outdoor recreation is a large and growing percentage of U.S. economy
“OIA’s analysis shows that Americans spend $887 billion annually recreating outside,” Roberts said in a news release. “All of this data underscores that outdoor recreation is a significant and growing contributor to the U.S. economy—we strongly encourage members of Congress to invest in public lands as these numbers demonstrate the return on investment.”
The figure places the outdoor industry on the same level as other industries, if not larger. It’s heftier than oil and gas extraction (1.4 percent) and agriculture (1 percent).
Let’s go over that last point again: “It’s heftier than oil and gas extraction (1.4 percent) and agriculture (1 percent).”
Saturday is National Public Lands Day!
There are many ways to participate in National Public Lands Day.
- You can visit a national park for free
- You can take part in a volunteer work project.If you volunteer on this day, you will receive a fee-free day coupon to be used on a future date.
- You can share your favorite outdoor activity on social media channel with the hashtag #NPSVolunteer, #FindYourPark and #NPLD!
Go outside and play!
Utilities have a problem: the public wants 100% renewable energy, and quick
A majority of those surveyed (51 percent) believe that 100 percent renewables is a good idea even if it raises their energy bills by 30 percent.
That is wild. As anyone who’s been in politics a while knows, Americans don’t generally like people raising their bills, much less by a third. A majority that still favors it? That is political dynamite.
Insofar as utilities were in a public relations war over renewables, they’ve lost. They face a tidal wave.
Power To The People!!!!
Universal Broadband Won’t Save Us
All of this isn’t to say that we don’t need universal broadband access; we unequivocally do. The problem isn’t that centrist technocrats seek to broaden Internet access; it’s how they seek to broaden it. As others have argued, leaders should embrace the conceit of Internet access for all, but instead of funneling millions of additional dollars to telecom giants, dedicate broadband policy to serving the public, like any other public utility. At the local level, this prospect has already proven feasible and popular—perhaps a glimpse into how a piecemeal, inchoate series of projects might mature into a robust nationwide public infrastructure.
Connect Local? Think Local, Connect Global? Local/Global to Table? Free Range Access? It needs a chatchphrase and the catchphrase needs a movment. A national policy with lots of little local hubs. Done right this makes the American portion of the global Internet more secure on multipule levels.
More people are taking Facebook breaks and deleting the app from their phones
According to new data from Pew Research Center that sampled US Facebook users aged 18 and up, 4 in 10 (42 percent) of those surveyed have taken a break from the social network for “several weeks or more” in the last year; a quarter of respondents said they’ve deleted the mobile app entirely from their smartphones.
I was always stunned adults put that app on their phone. I have serious regrets about ever advocating the use of Facebook.
Still, In the City: Creating Peace of Mind in the Midst of Urban Chaos
This is the first noble truth of living in LA: There is suffering, and there is traffic.
Ommmmmmmm
Dean’s List 