ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson, nominated by President-elect Donald J. Trump to become Secretary of State, during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday, January 11, said clearly, concisely, and powerfully something that's been a key part of the Cornwall Alliance's message for years: Nothing lifts people out of poverty quicker than electricity. That’s just a fact. You give people light, and you give them the ability to refrigerate food, medicine, it … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2017
Snarky—But Right
Okay, so most of the time here at the Cornwall Alliance we try to keep our language entirely civil, to avoid both formal and informal fallacies, and just stick to true premises and valid inferences to support our conclusions. Rational, yes. Entertaining? Well, not always. And in today's America, lots of people---at least if their conduct reveals anything about their values---value entertainment a good deal more than reason. So for their enjoyment---and for the enjoyment of those who really do … [Read more...]
Global Warming Reduces Human Death Rates
No contest on this one. Cold weather leads directly or indirectly to 17 times as many excess human deaths as hot weather. What's surprising is that even the New York Times reported this, and prominently. In the December 19, 2016, issue, Jane Brody wrote: Most of the Northern Hemisphere is now in the throes of the deadliest time of the year. Cold kills, and I don’t mean just extreme cold and crippling blizzards. I mean ordinary winter cold, like that typically experienced, chronically or … [Read more...]