Dear Friends,                                                            … what going mad feels like

The goal is to restore confidence in science, in data, in rationalism. That’s what — that’s what enabled the creation of modern science. Then we slid back into sort of a cancel culture, Orwellian squelching of science and talking about the science, as opposed to the process that is science. So, at the Department of Energy, we released a report, which is sort of a critical overview of what do we know today about climate science, about climate data, and what impacts that might have on the American people. We need to restore some common sense around climate change and energy.

Ok, no games, who said this, etc. Chris Wright, Secretary of the Department of Energy, spoke these words on Fox, standing next to Lee Zeldin, the EPA Administrator, July 29, 2025. The “report” revises previous climate estimates. In addition, the two made clear that they intend to rescind the “Endangerment Finding” of 2009, the foundation of all subsequent environmental and climate legislation.

It just so happened that as they spoke, the chyron (I think that’s the word) at the bottom of the screen was recording extreme temperatures for the day in different places, including 126° in Kennett, MO.

This technical misadventure is very funny, and a wonderful occasion for Schadenfreude – and what on earth is Fox doing reporting extreme temperatures? Anyone could tell them that it would lead to trouble. We must laugh long and loud.

It’s also a very dark and very precise reminder of where we are now, today, exactly where we are July 29, 2025

YOU ARE HERE

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(not a very good place to be, by the way, just saying)

126° in Kennett, MO, Texas still reeling from floods that killed more than 130 people, what may be the first hurricane of the season (name of Erin) organizing itself west of the Cabo Verde Islands. And above the chyron, on the main screen, the two men who are in charge of the environment in the US, the top officials … when I heard Wright utter the words above for a moment I really didn’t know what to do. So many outrages of word and deed, but these words …

In the great tv show, Firefly, Simon, a brilliant but uptight doctor, says, with very good reason, “this must be what going mad feels like”, but then a little later, “no, this must be what going mad feels like” (Episode 7, “Jaynestown”, in case you’re interested). Isn’t this everyone’s feeling in these interesting times? Only it keeps on going, a new “no, this …” every day, sometimes twice.

What do you do when you feel like you’re going mad, and then suddenly going mad is even worse than that, and then  

Love and solidarity,

            Bobby