The inevitable collision of wildfires and COVID-19 keeps me up at night. Not in an abstract sense, but more in a requires-allergy-meds-to-sleep type of way. Too many people are suffering already due to COVID-19, and the quickly approaching wildfire season, worsened by climate change, is going to make things so much worse.
For the first time since 1982, India’s CO2 emissions have fallen. According to the BBC, the lockdown from the coronavirus pandemic was the tipping point of something already happening.
Up until quite recently, perhaps even the last few days, there had been two main factions in the fight against Covid-19, conservatives who preach reality denial and justifiable murder vs. the non-reality deniers, those who understand that this virus is deadly and the need to use public policy to prevent infections until we can at least control if not eradicate Covid-19.
At the moment, we have had over a quarter million deaths due to covid-19. This death toll will continue to rise until the virus infects everyone and causes millions of deaths, or until we defeat it, either by social distancing and contact tracing, a vaccine, a treatment, or whatever tools we employ, including new technologies. I am personally fascinated by the potential of covid-sniffing dogs.
I appears that Alameda County has started a needless war with one of its major job providers, and the winners won’t be Tesla or Alameda County. The winner will be whichever new state ends up being Tesla’s new headquarters.
Tesla says 30% of its workforce at the factory in Fremont will be back to work this weekend. County officials say Tesla does not have permission to restart production.
Clean trucks such as the Tesla Semi are needed now more than ever. According to Popular Mechanics, in 2016, there were at least 2.8 million semi trucks registered in the US. Paul Billings from the American Lung Association told The New York Times, “Trucks remain a major source of pollution that creates smog, and smog is linked with coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, and can cause asthma and premature death.”
What we’re witnessing is the spread of conspiracy ideation among a population which has had its mental inoculation stripped away by decades of anti-science lobbying and propaganda.
As America spins out of control and into a virus induced coma, laughter may be the best antidote.
There have been plenty of predictions of late about how quickly the US economy will recover from a pandemic-induced recession that has shut down most business activity and put millions of people out of work.
