Author Archives: Harry Katz
The EPA’s “Dagger to the Heart” of US Climate Regulation
On August 1, 2025, the US Environmental Protection Agency announced it was proposing to reconsider its 2009 endangerment finding about greenhouse gas emissions. “Reconsidering” here means rescind, revoke, roll back. In this post I look at why this action is a dagger to the heart of greenhouse gas regulation. Continue reading
The Coming Wave
AI and biotechnology could solve humanity’s toughest problems — or trigger chaos, collapse, and dystopia. Mustafa Suleyman’s The Coming Wave warns we’re not ready. Can we contain what we’ve unleashed? This thoughtful book explores the risks, contradictions, and urgent questions posed by tomorrow’s most powerful technologies. Continue reading
Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change
There was a small glimmer of good news on climate change last week: The International Court of Justice ruled that nation states have legal obligations under climate treaties and customary international law to protect “the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.” Continue reading
Nexus
Why are humans so good at acquiring information and power but not wisdom? In Nexus, Yuval Noah Harari explores how human information networks enable large numbers of people to cooperate over great distances and how those networks often prioritize order over truth and wisdom. AI could make matters even worse. Continue reading
The Trees Are Speaking
The Trees Are Speaking is a wonderful book about the old-growth salmon forests of Oregon, Washington, Vancouver Island and Maine and about the people trying save them. It explores the beautiful yet surprising connection between trees and salmon that sustains these forests and may very well help sustain us too. Continue reading
How the World Made the West
How the World Made the West tells the story of surprisingly complex relationships of contact, trade and competition among small city states around the Mediterranean and Middle East starting around 4,000 years ago. In doing so, Josephine Quinn challenges conventional ideas about how civilizations develop. Continue reading
The Carbon Footprint of Using ChatGPT
There’s a growing concern that our increasing use of artificial intelligence is putting a strain on electricity grids around the world. More use of AI means companies like Google, OpenAI, and Meta are building more data centers stuffed with more … Continue reading
Abundance
Ever since the November 2024 election, Democrats, liberals, progressives – whatever you want to call them – have been doing some deep soul searching, asking themselves, “How on Earth could we have lost to Donald Trump, again?” Abundance, by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, offers an inspiring framework for finding the answers. Continue reading
The Year Without Summer
The eruption of Mount Tambora in April 1815 is the largest known eruption of the last 2,000 years. It knocked weather patterns across Europe and the eastern US out of kilter. Crops failed. Unrest followed. The Year Without Summer details Tambora’s impact on people, economics, politics and climate. Continue reading
Medicine Wheel for the Planet
Medicine Wheel for the Planet is equal parts autobiography and ecology. Jennifer Grenz, an Indigenous ecologist and professor at the University of British Columbia, tells the deeply personal story of her struggle to bridge the worlds of her Indigenous ancestry and knowledge and her Western scientific training, Continue reading
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