Editor’s Note: It is Day 142 of the Great Con II. Failing upwards continues. Food was purposely destroyed rather than getting it to food banks (ironically, while Gazans are being killed by our allies while trying to get to food). Public media like NPR and PBS have been publicly defunded. And CBS chose to pay the ransom.
An additional note: I would love to see MacKenzie Scott step up and support NPR and PBS. It would send the right message about the responsibility of American wealth and public service. Yet more than that, I would like to see her publicly offer to buy the Washington Post from her former husband and stock it with the journalists who have lost their place over the past year. It would send the proper shockwave through mass media, put journalism back up top, and double the number of subscribers. It is a win-win in this age of lies and profit at any cost.
If you’re like me, you grew up in an America that talked about the future of tomorrow. I can still recall my first trip to Disney World as a single-digit human and the thrill of Space Mountain and the songs in Tomorrowland.
The 1970s saw an explosion of science in literature, education, and film. From Cosmos to Star Wars to the building of the Space Shuttle, we had our heads in the stars. President Carter put something called solar panels on the White House.
We are in the world of tomorrow today.
Most of the things we take for granted, like microwaves, computers, smartphones, video calling, solar panels, electric cars, self-driving cars, earbuds, smart watches, AI, and robots, are here now.
We’ve done it. We’ve arrived to the future.
So, why would we travel backwards?
The recently passed “big, beautiful bill” dismantled what I would call a sustainable energy future. They took the smart out of it. By slashing tax credits for wind, solar, and electric vehicles, while opening federal lands to expanded oil, gas, and coal extraction, this administration is actively rewinding our progress. This legislative pivot signals a profound shift from a “new economy” built on innovation and sustainability, back toward the “old economy” of fossil fuels, with consequences that reach far beyond the energy sector.
There was a day when if you talked about wind energy, you’d think of Holland. With solar, you thought of experiments with a magnifying glass. With electric vehicles, that was still in the world of make-believe.
We’ve been a burning-based gas, coal, and oil culture for hundreds of years, and we did a lot of it with public subsidy. The bill’s most immediate effect is the abrupt end to these subsidies for new energy through tax credits and incentives that fueled the explosive growth of wind, solar, and electric vehicle (EV) industries.
EV credits are not just about cleaner cars. They are a strategic investment in American manufacturing, jobs, and health. In just a few years, electric vehicles are now common on the road. The $7,500 tax credit has spurred over $41 billion in new investment and created more than 72,000 jobs, with further growth planned. It helps consumers overcome the higher upfront cost of new technology, accelerates the shift away from gasoline, and reduces pollution that costs all Americans in shortened lives and higher healthcare bills. Research shows that every dollar spent on EV credits generates up to $1.87 in U.S. benefits, including cleaner air, lower emissions, and stronger domestic supply chains. You know who has the biggest selling electric car right now? China.
Simultaneously, the law opens the spigot for fossil fuel production, granting new leases on federal lands and waters, and rolling back environmental regulations, a deliberate retreat from industries of the future. The rationale is not future focused. It is rooted in a blend of political ideology and short-term economic calculation that believes energy independence requires maximizing domestic fossil fuel production.
This drill baby drill logic is deeply flawed.
Energy independence does not require a return to digging and burning on home turf; in fact, it is increasingly defined by the ability to generate, store, and manage energy from diverse, resilient sources. By doubling down on fossil fuels, the U.S. is not insulating itself from global shocks. It is tethering its fate to volatile markets and the hidden health and environmental costs of pollution.
The great irony here is consumers will suffer the most. The outcomes will be measurable, immediate, and long-term:
Higher Energy Bills: The rollback of clean energy incentives is projected to raise average household electricity costs. This comes as demand for electricity surges due to the proliferation of AI-powered data centers and the electrification of homes and vehicles.
Lost Jobs and Investment: Since the start of the year, $15.5 billion in clean energy projects have been canceled or paused, costing roughly 12,000 jobs. The end of EV credits alone threatens 130,000 direct and 310,000 indirect jobs by 2030.
Grid Instability: By making it harder to build new wind and solar projects, the bill risks grid reliability at a time when extreme weather and peak demand are already straining infrastructure. Instead of concentrating sources and providers, we need multiple connected paths.
Health and Climate Vulnerabilities The part most studied and researched is the last considered. Burning more fossil fuels increases air pollution, which is linked to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, premature deaths, and higher healthcare expenditures. It also undermines efforts to mitigate climate change, exposing Americans to more frequent and severe heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. These disasters carry staggering costs: the U.S. suffered over $165 billion in climate-related damages in 2022 alone, a figure expected to rise as emissions increase. We are already seeing natural disasters becoming much more routine.
Technological Retreat: The bill’s chilling effect on clean tech investment threatens America’s global competitiveness. While China and Europe invest aggressively in renewables and EVs, the U.S. risks ceding leadership in industries that will define our children’s futures. China now invests 4.4% of its GDP in the energy transition. We invest 1.3%. The European Union, despite higher energy prices, continues to expand wind, solar, and storage capacity, betting on long-term savings, cleaner air, and technological leadership. They don’t want dependence on Putin or pollution.
The U.S. is ceding its leadership for nothing.
It is trading short-term comfort in false slogans for long-term pain.
America has chosen hot air, literally and figuratively, over innovation.
The true cost of that choice will be measured not just in dollars, but in pain and embarrassment over lost opportunity, diminished health, and a world left more dangerous for generations of Americans to come.
CURIOUS CLICKS THAT MADE ME THINK
Who remembers this visitor from outer space? Could it have been a ship? Sometimes I think a sign of intelligence from “out there” might help to increase our intelligence down here.
If you ever think life’s tough, keep at it. Love this story from a fellow alum.
With rising inflation and Trump tariffs, revisit this article before the holidays get here.
This is exactly what we need to do. All across America, there are cities and towns left behind by progress. Not even immigration has saved them. Many times, the infrastructure of roads, buildings, electricity, and a ready labor force is still there, empty and waiting.
America simply will…not…work if we have pockets of great wealth and great poverty.
An initiative to reinvest in these areas will benefit us all. Consider old coal mining regions, where land was stripped and left polluted. Great wealth was made, but not shared with the locals. Good public policy would have us reclaim these areas in ways that benefit both the land and the people. AI would be the perfect focus. As a culmination of our intelligence and the peak of humanity’s energy and talents, it’s a reparation for damages done.
We need to act now so everyone can gain from AI, but let's begin with these overlooked areas.
The issue of drinking water for everyone is going to present a problem. There is research that shows a correlation between regional conflicts and declining water sources. While first-world countries usually have plenty of water or the financial resources to find alternative sources, others do not. Technologies like this are what we need to see more of—continued innovation building on existing ideas. It’s about the classic concept of building a better mousetrap. If we can conceive it, we can achieve it, but we must allow room for growth and evolution. This is science to be proud of, especially on a world made of water.
In the tapestry of modern life, the invention of plastic stands as quite an achievement, weaving comfort and convenience into our daily routines. We can hardly do anything without it. Yet, we are in an age where the innovations that have supercharged our lives need an equal dose of responsibility.
This can can’t be kicked.
The quest for a new kind of plastic, one that offers the ease we cherish without burdening our planet with waste, is more urgent than ever.
Our world is awash with evidence of the toll our consumer habits have taken: microplastics have infiltrated the most intimate and remote corners of our existence, from mother's milk to the sands of distant beaches, and even the icy reaches of the Arctic. In response, companies are rallying to cleanse the oceans, which have long served as a convenient place to dump trash out of sight, out of mind.
The article doesn't cover the specifics of developing this new plastic, such as the energy it takes. However, a sustainable cradle-to-grave solution is essential. That goes with anything we produce, whether chemical or nuclear. Materials that fulfill their role before gracefully returning to the cycle of nature, or being reborn through recycling, are the right models, the only models, we should aspire toward.
In all the times I’ve been on the beach, I have yet to find a single shark tooth. I have friends who have found many. I don’t get it.
Anyway, when you reach the nexus of studying history and appreciating the power of science, you arrive at stories like this. People who can parcel out a scenario on why a great creature goes extinct. This opens up other lines of thought on how we, too, might go extinct someday.
In the case of the monster sharks, a change in the water temperature, an indicator of climate science, coupled with other, faster competitors, may have done them in.
Life is a magical mystery. I mean it. We are fortunate to have science and math to tell us there is some order in the mysteries.
Exploring a species like this that we only know from the leftover teeth and a few bones, and coming to a consensus on why it disappeared, that is great stuff. That’s adding to the body of human intelligence and work. Not only is it about caring for why the Earth we live on exists as it does, but it will also elevate the curiosity of millions of kids interested in history.
I’ll keep looking for shark teeth.
Keep an eye on this one as a huge boondoggle for public funds.
The future is not in these large, easy-to-target, centralized sources of energy. Wind and solar, along with other local energies, will be in the future. The real issue is storage and transmission, such as batteries and lines. These are the two things to work on before pouring billions of dollars into a project that we just bombed in another country.
The safety record and the waste byproduct are not good. This is much more about supporting big-money investments.
Always consider what the competition is doing. According to Yusuf Khan with the Wall Street Journal, here’s what Gurin Energy CEO Assaad W. Razzouk mentioned is going on with China:
“Right now if you actually look at the total manufacturing capacity of only solar panels and batteries in China and what the manufacturers in China have already announced, you’ll see from 2030 China is going to add every year an entire U.S. worth of electricity. That means there is going to be an overabundance of energy. The opportunities are infinite. This is like when we were buying from Blockbuster video and had no concept Netflix was coming. We are going to a scale which is perhaps unimaginable.”
Thank you for reading this week. Stay active and stay heard. The greatest weapon being used is fear. It cheapens life. It makes a travesty of our Constitution. Don’t give in to it.
Be a good human.