Hello everyone,
Long time no post. It has been a rough couple of weeks for a long list of reasons. In the wake of Renee Nicole Good’s murder I decided to change gears and start putting my energy into a script which I hope can break some people out of the trance we appear to be in. That Connextras piece I barfed out a while ago on the logic of renewables and “spend more up front to save money later” is the basis of it, and I want to present a basic, straightforward, snark-free look at the technology of fossil fuels and how that contrasts with solar energy.
It’s probably going to be titled “you are being misled about renewable energy” or something like that and I’m putting the finishing touches on the script. And I will indeed be discussing who is misleading people.
And even people I agree with are being misled. Some folks who genuinely are environmentally minded are being told lies about what materials are in solar panels. They’re being told to ignore the fact that every single gallon of gasoline they’ve ever purchased is gone and focus on the materials inside the battery packs instead. And people are falling for that - yes, battery packs need a lot of material but we don’t set that material on fire and it is a lie by omission to ignore this. The logic has been so solidified in my mind that I never thought it would need to be explained, but apparently it does.
And now our government is lying to us about what our eyes see.
I am working through what in retrospect feels like cowardice on my part. And while I’ve been wearing my small p politics on my sleeve this whole time, too many people in my country don’t even understand what politics are. They conflate it with partisanship and assume all discussions of politics are team sports nonsense that only some folks have to pay attention to. Well whatever members of my audience who might think that way are going to get a matter-of-fact talking to from yours truly.
But that’s going to come after a fake-out ending. An ending designed to give an out to people who might want to share the basic, matter-of-fact explanation of the logic of renewables told through my Midwestern lens and with few embellishments with their family or friends who need to be woken up. Hopefully it is useful.
If I can’t risk my platform in this moment then I will not be able to live with myself.
I hope to have this video complete by the end of the week. Location shots have already taken place and there’s gonna be very little B-roll to shoot. But it’s a long and complex script and I don’t know how long it will take to edit. I am very behind on messages but I will not be trying to clear that backlog until I’ve got this off my chest.
Soon, I will also be letting you know how much money has been donated in 2025 through my surplus policy and where. I will be keeping that up through 2026 and making adjustments when needed.
I know this is a wall of text and it’s not exactly a cheery one. But it’s where I’m at and it’s where I’m going and you deserve to know what I’ve been up to. I can’t imagine very many of you here will be against my plans here but if you are, go ahead and cancel your membership before the next billing cycle.
Take care of each other.
-Alec