Climate-Colored Goggles

If, like me, you’ve spent too much time on the internet this week, you may be aware that lots of people are seriously entertaining the possibility that artificial intelligence will wipe out humanity in the next few years.

James P. Sullivan, aka Sulley (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) in the first episode of “Monsters at Work.” (Disney) The morning newscast is getting underway, and the hosts — a well-coiffed pair of centipede-esque creatures named Jack and Jill who bicker like an unhappy married couple — are kicking off the show with a controversial topic. “The citizens of Monstropolis remain bitterly divided over the future of this so-called laugh power,” Jill tells viewers.

Programming note: As promised, third newsletter this week! You may not hear from me next week, but don’t forget to register for the next CCG Book Club, Tuesday, September 15 at 12 p.m. PT. My guest will be all-star investigative climate journalist Amy Westervelt.

Programming note: Next month, Climate-Colored Goggles will celebrate its first birthday! I’m working hard to prove my value to you; this is newsletter No. 2 this week, with one more coming. I appreciate everyone supporting my work. If you have the financial means and haven’t already done so, I hope you’ll consider upgrading to a paid subscription. If that’s not possible, don’t worry about it! Thank you for reading. Two images of an Oatly carton promoting the 89 Percent Project.

“No one really knows how the game is played The art of the trade How the sausage gets made We just assume that it happens But no one else is in The room where it happens” — Aaron Burr, “Hamilton” Assemblymember Buffy Wicks prepares to testify before the Senate Local Government Committee. (Photo by Sammy Roth) The legislators seated around the dais looked and sounded tired — with good reason.

Next!, a 1904 magazine illustration by Udo Keppler that depicts Standard Oil as an octopus seizing the U.S. Capitol — and gunning for the White House. (Image via Library of Congress) “It was after those long days in the library and long nights reading Le Bon, with a sore back and bleary eyes, that the penny finally dropped for me. PR had only nominally ever been about building or protecting a company’s reputation or fighting off this or that policy, or building relationships with the media.

Brad Einstein performs at the Hollywood Climate Summit. (Photo courtesy of Hollywood Climate Summit / Lex Ryan) Brad Einstein was going for the comedy jugular.

Bright Saver co-founder Rupert Mayer demonstrates a plug-in solar panel. (Bright Saver) The California Legislature adjourns in 11 days, and lawmakers still haven’t passed a no-brainer bill — introduced back in January — that would make it easier for renters to spend a few hundred dollars on solar panels, plug them into a wall, drape them over a balcony and start saving money on electricity immediately. What happened to the affordability crisis? And also the climate crisis?

Me taking an awkward photo of a life-size Oscar statuette at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June. A few months ago, I asked everyone to send me their dream headlines from 2036. What would you want the world to look like a decade from now? After narrowing down the submissions to a dozen of my favorites, I made a poll and asked you to vote on the best headlines. Now we have our winners. Hundreds of people voted.

Mount Olympus, elevation 7,980 feet, seen from the High Divide Trail in Olympic National Park. (Photo by Sammy Roth) I’m back home in California after 11 days hiking and camping in Washington, mostly at Olympic National Park, with my wife and several friends. The landscapes were jaw-dropping, the weather perfect; I don’t know that temperatures surpassed 80 degrees or dropped below 40. We never caught a whiff of smoke from the fires burning on the far eastern end of the state in Spokane.