As You Consider New Year's Resolutions

Four very good posts on the likely do-ability of dealing with climate change here, here, here, and here. They’ll get you up to date (I hope you’re wearing your Depends) on what the thinking is right now. The key point for us here in corrections sentencing is, again, that no one in that field is spending any time at all thinking through the ramifications of the policy and fiscal changes that will occur on state and local government spending capacities. It’s not surprising that “hard” science guys would be clueless, but one of the reports referred to specifically looks at “social” impacts without apparently factoring things like corr sent. (Remember when reading the Romm piece that one of his solutions, mentioned a couple of months ago, was just for everyone to change out the cars they drive. Just like that.) It’s impossible to read the outlines of what’s expected and not see impressive change just down the road for all areas of social policy. It’s especially impossible when what’s down the road for corrections sentencing is scary for those who would see even if the status quo roughly holds. The people who insist we can keep blindly throwing money at our crime and victimization problems because it makes us feel better when we do are going to have the hardest time, but all of us will be swept up on this. It’s time we all started talking seriously about this, with the “hard” science guys and with ourselves.

[And when you’re done with them and have changed clothes, you might want to gander at this:

Why the era of cheap food is over

Think we should be putting some serious thought in those New Year's Resolutions???]