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Articles by John Mott-Smith
Per Capita: A tale of a columnist’s journey
Not infrequently, people have asked what motivated me to write Per Capita Davis. This is my last column. I’ll tell you why in a minute or two. It’s kind of hard for me to believe but I’ve been writing these columns twice a month for 20 years: about 500 columns. I began late in 2006.
Per Capita: Poking holes in the planet
I was in grade school when I first heard the word “extraction.” It was used when people asked where your ancestors came from. “What’s your ethnic background?” My family came mostly from England, but some via Hawaii. Dentists also used it when “extracting” a tooth.
Per Capita: Now time for some bad news
My last column was fun to write. It was full of good news and optimism from the closest thing we have to a climate guru, Bill McKibben. There is more good news to report but before I get too happy, I want to acknowledge some pretty bad stuff. How’s this for a starter; a recent article titled “Ticking Closer Toward Doom”?
Per Capita: And now for some good news
Back in July friend and climate expert Dallas sent me an article from The New Yorker with the title “4.6 Billion Years On, the Sun Is Having a Moment,” with his estimation that the article contains “the best news of 2025.” I should have read it right away, but I was working through a list of topics I wanted to write about.
Per Capita: The confusion over fusion
This is the fourth, and final, for now, column on nuclear power. This remains a fraught topic for me, a citizen-scientist with only a glancing background in physics. Prior articles have generated appropriate corrections from people who know a whole lot more about this than I do. I appreciate their taking the time to enlighten me. Their comments are substantive and mostly way over my head. But there were a couple which, while also important, could be considered relatively minor errors of imprecision.
Per Capita: The race is on for fusion
This is column No. 3 on nuclear energy. The first was about the nuclear industry as it exists now. The second was about small modular reactors (SMRs). Both big and little depend on fission (splitting atoms) in a process to produce electricity. This column is about fusion (forcing atoms to meld together), a whole different can of worms. I may need a fourth column; this is a big, complicated topic. There’s just a huge portion of the topic that is way over my pay grade in terms of the physics.
Per Capita: Small modular reactors, the new big thing
The last column was about nuclear plants seeing a resurgence all around the world. All these plants rely on fission as the process to generate electricity, fission being the splitting of (usually) a uranium atom, thereby releasing a huge amount of energy and creating s self-sustaining chain reaction that nuclear plants use to generate electricity.
Per Capita: Right now, fission is the vision
This column, as well as the next two, will focus on where we are and where we might be going in terms of nuclear energy. I want to get to fusion, but to set the scene, here is an overview of where we are now.
Per Capita: Petrochemicals here to save fossil fuels
The previous column was about plastics and how they connect to the climate crisis. Most of the information came from the December 2025 edition of Scientific American. In response to the climate crisis and their major role in greenhouse gas emissions the fossil fuel industry and governments that rely on oil and gas have dug in and cultivated a culture of denial that has frustrated efforts to transition to renewable resources.
Per Capita: What’s next for fossil fuels?
The previous article was about the failure to reach consensus at the recent Conference of Partners (COP 30) to move the ball down the field in terms of promises made in the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Importantly, all policies that make their way into the final report are required to have unanimous support.
Per Capita: Whatever happened to the 2015 Climate Accords?
In 2015 the world assembled in Paris to confront the growing climate crisis and 200 countries signed the 2015 Paris Agreement to do something about it. Optimism and hope joined hands and participants returned to their countries to do their part. It looked as if the long battle against denial, the attacks on science and scientists, was finally over, and we won.
Per Capita: With friends like us, who needs enemies?
The COP 30 (Conference of Partners 30) Is taking place in Brazil. Not much progress in 30 years. Looks a bit more like the COP OUT of partners with buckets of discussion but little action taken, unless we charitably count kicking the bucket down the road. Conferees have taken note that CO2 in the atmosphere is set to reach a record high, and this mostly from burning fossil fuels.
Per Capita: Climate crisis everywhere, all at once
So much is happening relating to the climate crisis. Some positive, but mostly negative. The onslaught of news sometimes feels overwhelming. I create piles on my desk of news clippings from a variety of sources, buckets if you will, and try to knit together a narrative that makes a point or paints a picture. A category that is rapidly growing as a pile on my desk I have labeled as “Planet Killers” and that will be the story today. Obviously, no one is holding a gun to the planet.
Per Capita: The collapse of capitalism, revisited
My July 2 column was mainly about how fraught it is to predict the future direction and impact of the climate crisis.
Per Capita: Balancing population and extraction
Our planet has finite resources. It also has a whopping big problem, something I think of as “another inconvenient truth.” The number of humans on the planet is increasing and whole countries, regardless of the organization of their society or economy, capitalist, democratic, authoritarian, communist, socialist, religious and everything in between are reliant on extraction of those resources. How many humans are there?
Per Capita: A not-so-deep dive into Utility Dive
Sometimes when I write a column, I have to leave out information that I think is important, but which just doesn’t lend itself to the 900-word limit. So, some of the below includes kernels of prior writings but offers a little more depth.
Per Capita: Positive examples, including one right here
In a prior column, I highlighted the life and work of Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, who gave away that multi-billion-dollar company to organizations working on the environment, including the climate crisis. His huge contribution to the planet’s future is pretty unique, but the National Geographic magazine that features his story also included profiles of other individuals and their efforts. After all, not all of us have billions to give away.
Per Capita: Predicting the future of climate
Predicting the future is a fraught exercise. Notwithstanding, almost every day the news offers a new study or report taking a shot at it. Here’s a couple recent examples. First, an article from the Guardian with the title, “Climate crisis on track to destroy capitalism.” This isn’t a shepherd crying wolf kind of thing. It’s the opinion of Gunther Thallinger, board member of Allianz SE, “one of the world’s biggest insurance companies” and former CEO of Allianz Investment Management.
Per Capita: Around the world and back in Yolo County
Three short pieces of news taken from friend Richard’s Environment and Climate News — May 2025, and then a couple from other sources. Notwithstanding the current administration’s efforts, according to a Yahoo!News item, a” historic milestone was reached in the United States in March.
Per Capita: Nuclear power, high-speed rail and the Little Country that Could
In 1965, President Lyndon B.
Per Capita: The fifth risk - knowing what you’re doing
I’ve taken a break from focusing on what the current president is doing to undermine responses to the climate crisis, and, given the breadth of this undoing, I’ve been using these columns to give a worldwide perspective. I intend to continue to do so, but sometimes something comes along that I think sums up much of the chaos and danger of current administration actions. Michael Lewis has written many books about many things.
Per Capita: More news from around the world
The last column featured several climate-related goings on from various parts of the world to point out some good news and, some not so good news that taken together assemble into “news of the world.” So, here we go again. From EcoWatch, guess what’s happening on the small island of Arran in Scotland.
Per Capita: News from around the world
The news about climate and the environment is pretty much saturated by the president’s daily, sometimes hourly, onslaught. I’ve tried, for the last couple/few columns to find positive, good news, or at least, light-hearted. Today’s column continues that to a certain extent; some good news, some really terrible. In any case, these headlines paint a picture. Starting off with something that should be neither good news nor bad.
Per Capita: Tracking what's happening in Washington
There’s more happening in Washington than a body can reasonably track. Fortunately, reader Richard has forwarded what might be the best tool I’ve seen for making sense of it all. But first, before we get to the “dizzying flurry of actions and reactions” a few good news articles. So, first, a lighthearted story. The lightbulb that’s never gone off. Have you ever been to Livermore? It’s 100 miles south of us if you take I-5, but only 83 if you drive down I-80 instead. Why go there?
Per Capita: But wait, there's more
Maybe I watch too much late night TV but as interesting as some of the shows, particularly the comedy shows, can be, I confess a weakness for all the miracle products that get advertised. Many are in the kitchen. The ads usually start with a person struggling with a task, wiping the sweat off his or her forehead or looking but not finding a sharp right knife or a right sized container. Then, like magic, a huckster appears with a solution. “Never worry about a sharp knife again.
Per Capita: What we throw away goes somewhere
There’s an expression, everyone talks about the weather but hardly anyone does anything about it. Much is also true for waste. It’s something we, all of us, more or less take, for granted.
Per Capita: The climate-change beat goes on
The climate crisis is a global crisis. Although the U.S. is poised to become much more a part of the problem than the solution, much good stuff is nonetheless taking place right here in our backyard, under the radar, largely neglected by the national media. Additionally, other countries are charging ahead, leaving us behind in the race towards the inevitable fossil free future. The news lately is depressing, I’d say even embarrassing.
Per Capita: Ignoring risk is risky business
Suffice to say Day 1 was a doozy and the days following have been no different. There was a raft of executive orders on everything, many of which directly affect energy and climate. It’s hard to say which will survive the inevitable flood of court decisions but the official policy of the federal government will not be to promote renewables, energy efficiency of any sort, or reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Per Capita: This is going to be a very good year
Today is Jan. 8, 2025, a new year and I’ve been trying to figure out my way forward. There’s a huge temptation to focus on the negative; Lord knows there’s certainly a place for that, but that’s not where I want to start.After a lot of thought, I’m going with “I think this could be a very good year, wherein the steps forward are greater than the steps backwards.” And I do mean “greater.” We can’t afford to stand still, idling in neutral.
Per Capita: A collection of facts of interest
Page 3 of the New York Times has a “Facts of Interest” section that, unsurprisingly, I find interesting. The facts are taken from an article in that day’s paper. I collect them. Each is, in one way or another relatable to the climate crisis. Seeing them together is, for me, like seeing the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each piece important in and of itself but when seen together they form a picture that communicates more than 1,000 words, or, the 900 words that go into a Per Capita Davis article.
Per Capita: Giant steps, baby steps or no steps
In my last column I wrote that it was my belief it wasn’t just the future of democracy on the ballot on Nov. 5. The results would also go a long way toward indicating whether or not efforts to address the climate crisis would continue to be high on the political agenda in Washington. Well, Nov. 5 came and went, leaving behind a wreckage of hope that we could be sure America’s efforts to confront the climate crisis would continue.
Per Capita: The rain in Spain is not mainly on the plain
I’m writing this on Nov. 1, four days before what will easily be the most consequential election in my lifetime. Many people have gauged this to be a referendum on democracy; will we continue to have one or not. I add to this that it will be a referendum on whether we will continue to have a livable planet or not. This may sound hyperbolic. I judge it to just be a straightforward extrapolation of facts. The data is everywhere, and much too much to put into a 900-word column.
Per Capita: A few stories you might have missed
One thing about being a climate-crisis columnist is that there’s a seemingly endless number of events or developments to write about. This is a bit of a problem; more topics than I can keep up with. I try to focus on the big things, both hopeful and depressing, but that leaves out a whole lot of important and interesting stories.
Per Capita: Per Capita: More about ‘adaptation’ and what it entails
I hope you are not sick of this stuff (the two most recent past columns) about how we are adapting now and what, if we are wise, we will have to do in the future to make global heating something we can live with. I just keep finding examples. Some very big, some very small. Starting with small, the last column included information about how streets, sidewalks, and asphalt anywhere can absorb the sun’s heat and achieve temperatures way above ambient air temperature.
Per Capita: Vegans, CO2 butter and battery-powered stoves
My last column was about Climate Action and Adaptation Plans, with particular focus on “adaptation.” If I’m any indicator, few know with any precision what “adaptation” means and why it has been appended to probably every Climate Action Plan. The column was Part One, and this column was supposed to be Part Two, with examples, the breadth of which would stimulate some understanding of what we are in for as the climate crisis becomes more and more real.
Per Capita: Climate adaptation, Part 1 - what does it mean?
We are fortunate to live in a city and county that are both very forward-looking in terms of the climate crisis. Both are leaders in their jurisdictions and one emblem of that leadership is the creation, by both the city and county, of comprehensive Climate Action and Adaptation Plans (CAAP). It’s fair to say that more attention has been given to the “action” portion of the plans than to “adaptation.” This is not a criticism.
Per Capita: Clams and the Morris Model
This column is about two articles recently forwarded to me by friends. The first concerns clams; more specifically, giant clams. The second is about a potential model for rural sustainability. All good news. First, the clams. When I was quite young, my family spent about eight months on Kwajalein, in the Marshall Islands.
Per Capita: What can we learn from the weather
Bill McGuire, professor emeritus of geophysical and climate hazards at University College in London, began his book ”Hothouse Earth, An Inhabitant’s Guide” with a history of humanity’s awareness of global heating, its causes and its consequences. That was the subject of the column just prior to this one. To sum up, the role of fossil fuels in global heating has been known for decades.
Per Capita: How we got to where we are
My friend Michael gifted me a copy of “Hothouse Earth”, a small, short, succinct book that walks the reader through what the author, Bill McGuire, considers where we are now in terms of the climate crisis and where we are, in his view, likely to be in the near future. So, two things to begin with. First, terminology.
Per Capita: A(nother) cautionary tale
Some time ago (2020) our own Davis-based famous author, Kim Stanley Robinson wrote a “science fiction-not fiction book,” It received rave reviews. From Ezra Klein: “If I could get policymakers, and citizens everywhere to read just one book this year … it would be “The Ministry for the Future”. From Axios: “Perhaps no subject as important as climate change has proven so difficult to effectively and accurately dramatize.
Per Capita: We’ll just have to wait and see
The last column was about a proposal for the utilities, in our case PG&E, to change the rate structure from a “volumetric” system wherein what we are billed depends mostly on how much electricity we use. I say mostly, because much of the point of that last article was that utility bills are not as simple and straightforward as that. There are other charges that are added on, maybe I should say piled on, which together with the volumetric charge has resulted in skyrocketing electricity bills.
Per Capita: A few updates on past columns
Update No. 1: Way in the distant past, I wrote an article that included my thought that we didn’t have to worry too much about the climate crisis because banks, insurance companies, and businesses in general would calculate the risks, increase costs for loans, policies, or products. Couple that to increasingly severe disasters such as fires, floods, hurricanes and drought and everyone would change behavior for economic reasons.
Per Capita: Action through the ages
It’s said that young people are the key to containing the climate to a livable future. Others make a different argument, placing a large part of the responsibility on older people. I have to believe it’s not an either-or, that in the long run we need both. So, this column is about that.
Per Capita: The greenest car and California's progress
One good thing about the Internet, apologies to Davis’s own Newsbeat, is that it gives virtually unlimited access to publications and newsletters. I subscribe to a bunch of them, and readers send me stuff from others. Of course, the bad thing about this, at least for me, is I can get trapped at my computer for hours and hours trying to keep up with only a small bit of what is out there. Here’s a couple articles that came in this week.
Per Capita: In case you missed it, climate in the news
There are so many threads in the subject of the climate crisis. Some are big, woven into everything. You can’t miss ‘em. Others are relatively small, appearing not randomly but a bit haphazardly as facts, numbers, quotes that are easy to miss. I collect such jewels that provoke interest and provide reinforcement to some of the larger themes. I periodically pass them on, as you will see if you continue reading below. Most are stand-alone, with no further explanation, context or connection.
Per Capita: The climate-crisis dilemma
The New York Times published a list of their “72” favorite facts from 2023” and number 62 got me to thinking. It read, “Those who commute by public transit spend roughly twice as much time traveling to and from work as people who drive.” On the list of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, getting people out of gas-guzzling cars is right up near the top. Take a bus, ride a train, climb on a bike.
Per Capita: World takes a ride on tiny bikes
Davis, recently, seems to have experienced a major transportation shift. The change is fueled mostly, but not entirely, by students in a hurry to get to their education. Electric scooters and bikes mean fewer cars, but also fewer human-powered bikes. What some are calling “tiny vehicles” are everywhere. They range from the simple ones that look just like the old-timey scooters that young kids still use, to models with baskets, a place to sit, and lighting systems.
Per Capita: Hope and the climate crisis
This column marks the beginning of the 18th year I‘ve been writing about energy, climate, and sustainability. 2007 seems like a long time ago. Much has changed, and certainly the topic of climate has been a part of that change. Writing about it has been an education for me, as evidenced from the titles given to some of the early columns. “What are greenhouse gases?” defining the greenhouse effect and the role of carbon dioxide.
Per Capita: Gliding to our energy future
Nations around the world are summoned annually to a Conference of Parties (COP) to talk a lot, make big promises, then go home and do little, or at least not near enough, to actually address the climate crisis. This is year 28 for the COP, and this year’s meeting includes a high level of skepticism and disillusionment from the science and environmental communities.
Per Capita: Wacky 2023 winding to a close
It’s been a strange year, not that it is over yet, but the news just keeps coming. Nations around the world are summoned annually to a Conference of Parties (COP) to talk a lot, make big promises, then go home and do little, or at least not near enough, to actually address the climate crisis. This is year 28, and this year’s meeting has a high level of skepticism and disillusionment from the environmental community, accumulated over those 28 years.
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