Iceland Erupts … Again — Years ago, I had the unique experience of standing with my right foot in Europe and my left foot in North America. Technically I was straddling the tectonic join between the Eurasian Plate and the North American Plate. I stood facing roughly northward in one of the few places on…

Vatican on the Potomac — A recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Jess Bravin ran under the headline Justice Alito Warns of Secular Threats to Religious Liberty. In the interest of separation between church and state, Justice Alito recently spoke to a largely Catholic audience at an invitation-only event in Rome, home to…

The Warm, Wet World of Climate Change — Headlines bemoan how the US is baking, England swelters, and Southern Europe is on fire (just like California). Let’s not forget the American SW, which is turning into dust as the Colorado River dries up and forty million people argue over its water. A person could be forgiven for thinking…

A Melting Planet — Published in the EarthSphere Blog I read the news about Greenland. It left a hollowness, like some part of me had gone missing. But the news wasn’t new at all. Anyone paying attention over the past decade has watched the decline of the Greenland ice sheet — a sad drama…

An American Version of the Crisis — Heat and drought have engulfed large parts of the American West for the past two decades. This particular disaster started slowly creeping forward about the year 2000 and went unnoticed for many years before people awoke to a harsh reality — ‘water is life, and suddenly there isn’t enough to…

Cruising the Texas Highways — Brandy was incensed when a Texas officer issued her a citation for traveling in the HOV lane. Regulations require at least two people to be in a vehicle using the HOV lane. Brandy’s interpretation of the regulation was that she and her child constituted the two necessary people. The officer…