With the spotlight on the COVID-19 virus and the social and economic devastation it is causing, it’s easy to overlook the many other challenges that are still ahead. One such challenge is our response to climate change. In the interest of diverting attention from the present troubles, the Climate Deniers Awards have been created. While […]
Author: Bruce Hyde
Butts on the Beach
Butts on the Beach This past weekend, while stuck in traffic for 20 minutes, I noticed four different people throw 6 cigarette butts out the widow and onto the highway. That, and the fact that I am lazy, moved me to re-post something I wrote several years ago. Recently a columnist in a local Southeastern […]
Deny the Deniers
Last fall I thought about using this title to write about denying federal aid for climate change related disasters to states with administrations that deny climate change. To those governors and legislatures who take no or little action to prepare for sea level rise, increased precipitation events, more intense storms, droughts, etc. that science tells […]
The Climate Adaptation Academy is looking for Input
The Climate Adaptation Academy (CAA) is developing a list of challenges that municipalities and residents are facing as a result of climate change, and we need your help. CAA is a partnership between Connecticut Sea Grant and UConn’s Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and was developed after talking to a variety of […]
TAX ON THE RICH TO PAY FOR CLEAN ENERGY RESEARCH
April 1, 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a stunning display of bipartisanship, an overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted with their Democratic counterparts to pass a bill taxing the wealthiest Americans to fund clean energy research. Speaker of the House John Boehner explained this seismic shift in policy saying, “So we take a little money […]
Climate Change: Beyond Dispute or an Attempt to Redistribute Wealth?
On Friday Governor Dannel Malloy and UConn President Susan Herbst, along with a host of federal and state officials, announced the creation of the Institute for Community Resiliency and Climate Adaptation. Located at UConn’s Avery Point Campus, the Institute is a collaboration between UConn and CTDEEP and its mission, in broad terms, is to coordinate […]
Keep Your Butts Off Our Beaches
Recently a columnist in a local Southeastern Connecticut newspaper wrote about the things that bug him when driving. It included the usual gripes that we all have—people driving slowly in the passing lane, failure to use turn signals, merging on the highway with little consideration of the traffic already on the highway, able-bodied people parking […]
What We Don’t Know We Don’t Know About Climate Change
With a Shout out to Donald Rumsfeld “There are known knowns; there are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns; that is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns – there are things we do not know we don’t know. ” […]
When it comes to Climate Change— Money Talks
It is generally accepted by climate scientists that New England will experience a trend of increasing intensity and frequency of storms resulting in an increase in flooding and coastal erosion. Recent storms have raised our collective awareness of the damage, both fiscal and physical, that these storms can cause. Consider that Sandy wasn’t even a […]
This is Not Your Dog’s Clicker Training
When you say the word “clicker” the first thing many people think of is training a dog. But clickers can also refer to the devices used to engage an audience in group decision-making. When a contestant in a game show decides to “ask the audience,” an audience response system (aka clicker) is used. Recently, clickers […]
What the Heck is the Land Use Academy?
As a local land use commissioner you are faced with making decisions about how your community will grow, reviewing and approving applications for a variety of projects and balancing growth with natural resource protection. Sometimes court decisions change the rules, you receive conflicting advice, the information you have to work with is incomplete or you […]