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The head of a pilots union says he no longer trusts that Boeing is following the quality practices it has followed for three decades that have made Boeing planes safe. Serious concerns about quality issues under management that comes from the financial sector without the extensive experience in the manufacturing or other related areas, about how workers put together the planes. A senior manager is cited in this BBC report that the culture at Boeing has been toxic to trust for over ten years so that even if new safety steps are introduced and new procedures added the lack of trust makes them nearly ineffective.

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It's just common sense. Larger more heftier vehicles the car companies are making like the big pickup trucks are losing on emissions per mile, as they come close to smaller gasoline fueled cars. The climate impact is there. Without lifestyle and cultural changes the needed change can be missed.

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Thirty years of neglect it all began in 1998 with Tim Cook from Alabama was hired to ship manufacturing to China- Apple now takes WSJ reporters to its "nascent effort" in building new supply chain for chips manufacturing in 2026. Steve Jobs was hired in 1998 when Steve Jobs returned to run Apple a second time. By this time the company was failing and manufacturing plants had huge quality control issues, morale was low. Instead of fixing these problems at US factories, Jobs and Cook came up with a new strategy- Make in China, invent and price at a premium in PC's for large margins with low cost Chinese manufacturing using tightly controlled US design, reinvest the profits in a virtuous cycle, invent and design to compete with Microsoft. It succeeded for Apple share owners, and it failed for American workers and people- succeeded by creating a $3 trillion valuation, it failed for the American people by leaving American workers to go unemployed and setting the trend to destroy the manufacturing capabilities and structures that had led to the US following Britain with 300 years of dominance in standards of living for its people and its industrial stength since 1750. (1750-1900 Britain's dominance 1900-2000 US dominance). It also created Asian competitors in China/Taiwan, and South Korea to whom the US business had in reckless manner based on textbook theory of economists for four administrations (Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama) had shipped American manufacturing and knowhow to China. ...

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Three young labor activists outside the UAW union helped UAW leader Shawn Fain orchestrate the strategy of selective walkouts, putting the worker demands in the public consciousness, and influencing public opinion. one has helped organize workers at VW plants, another is a lawyer who has put questions to Mr. Trump, and and the third is a journalist who has covered the strike and advised the UAW. These strategies presented the facts that labor was suffering low wages during a cost of living crisis. Today about 146,000 workers in the US are covered by UAW out of one million employed in automobile plants, a small fraction.

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This report in the New Yorker provides a good glimpse at the problems of global warming and limiting climate change goal of 1.5 degrees centigrade. Sally Ann Ranney co-founder of the American Renewable Energy Institute answers questions from the New Yorker magazine. Limiting climate change warming of the planet to 1.5 degrees centigrade by 2100 is a goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement. In the absence of this the global warming would be 2.7 degrees centigrade by 2100. For this 1.5 degrees centigrade goal to be reached fossil fuel use and carbon emissions have to be cut by 50% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. 

The ice pack in the Arctic is part of a planetary cooling system and its accelerated melting is a good sign of the danger the planet faces. Ranney answers a number of these questions.

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Solar energy is now the better option versus coal as costs are going down at rapid pace. In 2010 cost was about $100 per megawatt hour, This is down to about $35 per megawatt hour in many countries including India by 2020 as cost for the lifetime of new plants. New solar farm plans cost less for renewable energy than coal fired plants. The Modi administration hopes to double then triple production of solar energy to meet India's growing needs. This makes it possible for the European Union to set targets of 32% for renewable energy in the total energy production by 2030. 

The cost of coal has not changed much costing about $55 to $150 per megawatt hour for new plants.

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Entergy is still short of the over half a billion dollars needed to close each of the aging nuclear plants in Vermont and at Indian Point in New York.

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Amazing pictures of the planet Mars from the Mars rover Perseverance.

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As the European leaders Starmer, Macron, Merz gather together, huddle together at meetings in London, Paris and Brussels, as the US under DJT and Rubio disengage from NATO and perceived expansion, Ariane Chemin gives this report and video in Le Monde on the situation in classrooms, around Square in the centrer of Kviv, at destroyed power plants, and at destroyed buildings in Kviv. Russian drone attacks on Kviv are leaving residents without electricity and without sleep. This is also what Europeans in France and Germany, and Britain, are seeing on news, video and on television.  The last peace initiative stalled after the hopes raised from the Alaska meeting of Putin and the US president. Efforts to get the Russians on board with US envoys in Moscow fail when the European leaders are absent in the talks, and when Russia insists on the 20% of the Donbass and eastern regions it does not control, and limits on Ukraine defense. Ukraine modifies the proposals and Russia insists on territorial concessions. A report in Germany's DW.com from Ukraine calls this "absurd." A new element emerges in this conflict in December 2025 when one sees this in the context of European history where such struggles between European powers happened repeatedly since 1500, with some of them in the period after 1700 involving Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Britain, France, Spain, Prussia and rest of Germany split into many states. That pattern has relevance today because when one power whether France, Austria-Hungary or Russia became dominant the other European powers acted together to keep the balance in Europe.  ...

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India makes the largest deal for commercial aircraft in aviation history by buying 470 planes from Airbus and Boeing. 250 Airbus jets and 220 Boeing airplanes. American Airlines ordered 460 planes in 2011. WSJ says based on list prices the Boeing orders is for $45.9 billion and the total order is for $85 billion. The White House announced the Boeing deal. The Airbus deal was announced by pm Modi and France's president Macron. The purchase was made by Air India. India is now the fastest growing aviation market in the world.

Airbus increased deliveries by 6%, and Boeing by 41% in 2022, as air travel and aircraft sales increased following the pandemic.

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More efficient production of nickel in Indonesia by Chinese plants is causing problems for France in New Caledonia. New Caledonia is a Pacific island with large nickel deposits that are needed for French and European electric car production. Glencore is planning to sell one of its nickel processing plants in New Caledonia. This affects employment in the island which depends on nickel for 25% of jobs. France has encouraged immigration to the island and this has created tensions with the native Kayak people. The result was riots in the island and French efforts to find solutions to develop the island's nickel industry and improve lives of local people.

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Scott McCartney retires from the WSJ after 29 years. Since 2001 he writes the Middle Seat column in the WSJ to give readers better ideas on how to travel. Looking back he says things have not become that much better these days, even a bit worse with crowded planes and costly flights.

International business class is one of the things that are better with lie flat seats. Planes are safer today. Trusted traveller has taken the tedious aspect of security checks and made it less burdensome. Some of the credit and our thanks for the positive changes, letting airlines and airports know when they needed to listen, that credit goes to Scott McCartney's column. 

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NYT video of the first flight on planet Mars by the Ingenuity helicopter.

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President Biden meets newly elected South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol on his visit to South Korea. During the visit Biden also promoted South Korean investments in Texas and Georgia. He visited a Samsung semiconductor plant with the president of Samsung. Samsung is investing billions of dollars $10 billion for a new electric vehicle plant in Savannah, Georgia. By getting American semiconductor and electric car manufacturers to invest heavily in the US president Biden is changing how America invests for regaining technological leadership by 2030. In an effort to get plants to support unions president Biden called for the plants to hire union workers. Biden called by name two Senate contestants in upcoming Georgia elections for their efforts in getting the Hyundai plant that will hire 8000 workers. In contrast to Mr. Trump who lacked a plan or vision for the future Mr. Biden is keenly focused on getting South Korea, Japan and Germany to invest heavily in the US and help restructure the whole supply chain. Where Mr. Trump called for South Korea and other partners to share the defense burden, Mr. Biden is focused on getting American allies to have their large companies invest in American plants and jobs and a new supply chain. ...

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspector general points to significant flaws in reporting of equipment problems at U.S. nuclear plants. There is ambiguity in the reporting requirements, with one section Part 21 of the reporting law requiring reporting defects that can cause a loss of safety functions, and another section requiring reporting only the actual loss of safety functions. As a result 28% of the nuclear plants are not reporting safety defects in equipmment unless this leads to an actual breakdown. This represents an unacceptable level of risk for nuclear plant operations, and the inspector general calls for increasing the margin of safety. In fact the NRC is aware of these lapses in reporting since 2009. NRC has identified 24 such instances between Dec 2009 and Sept 2010, and yet no penalties have been assessed or corrective action taken to make the law clear about the reporting requirements. The lack of a good reporting system complicates things further, because early indentification of defects and defect resolution for equipment problems is critical to effective quality assurance for nuclear operators. Safety defect spotted at one plant could come up in other plants. For this reason the Inspector General's report calls this "a substantial safety hazard."...

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About $33 billion new investment in new EV related auto manufacturing in the US in 2023. This follows $37 billion invested in 2022. Many of these plants are in the South from Kentucky to Tennessee.

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This story in WSJ says China may have a lead in electric car battery sales in 2024 and beyond. China is investing heavily in battery plants and EV plants in Europe and the US. This would help China meet the restrictions on import of electric vehicles from China by the Biden administration. CATL increased its market share in Europe from 10% to 24%. Sales of EV vehicles in China went up by 37% in the first 9 months of 2023, and China is the top exporter of electric vehicles. CATL's electric battery sales in Europe doubled compared to 60% for LG. And in excluding China sales CATL has caught up with LG both having 28% of the market.

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Spirit Airlines, a no frills airline in the US, files for bankruptcy. It lost $2.2 billion since 2020, almost all the profit made since 2006. It was the result of a lot of things happening at once, problems with Pratt and Whitney engines grounding planes, failed $2.9 billion merger with Frontier another no frill airline, when Jet Blue made a $3.9 billion offer that had less chance to get by antitrust concerns. The 2020-2024 period was one in which people scrambled to travel and the bigger airlines Delta, United, Southwest were in a better position with their international networks, frequent flyer program and credit cards, and more routes and planes to capitalize on this leaving Spirit behind.

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The ruling in a 5-4 decision requires the EPA to consider cost when the agency makes environmental rules. It does not remove the regulations on mercury emissions and does not prohibit the EPA from setting rules. A lower court will have to rule on how the case should be handled. Its likely effect is for the EPA to consider the price for industry compliance in setting environmental rules. The majority decision wirtten by Justice Scalia says the EPA "must consider cost- including, most importantly, cost of compliance- before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary." The current EPA environmental rules were set in 2012, and were put into effect in early 2015. During the early part of the process of setting the rules the EPA did not consider cost. But in the later stages the agency estimated costs of compliance for utility sector at $9.6 billion and public health benefits of at least $37 billion. Justice Elena Kagan alluded to this in her dissenting opinion. Some utilities have received an extension on installing scrubbers to remove mercury pollutants, and these plants would now receive more time. Of the 600 power plants the EPA regulates as part of the rule, 450 are coal fired plants. Of these 35% were given a 1 year extension for compliance. About 21 states heavily dependent on coal and power companies brought this case before the court. ...

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Pictures and video from The Times on the historic flight of the Ingenuity helicopter on the planet Mars.

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The James Webb Space telescope reaches its final destination on Jan. 24, 2022 at Lagrange Point 2 or L2 on the other side of the moon, one million miles from earth. In an amazing feat of science one side of the telescope the instrument side will be cloaked in frigid darkness, and the other will defect temperatures of 230 degrees centigrade facing the sun. This keeps the telescope's sensors cool so that stray heat does not interfere with its infrared scans of ancient galaxies and planets orbiting other stars.

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The demand for electricity in US electricity power markets shows the demand growth for electricity doubled in 2024 forecasts compared to 2023 forecasts. Increased electricity demand was shown for Texas and the western US. The outlook for carbon emissions in 2024 is for higher energy demand and meeting of the extra demand by keeping coal plants running for longer and not retiring as many coal plants as predicted in 2023 outlook for carbon emissions. This is a major concern from the point of view of climate change action. According to the Department of energy since beginning of 2022 547 fossil fuel powered generators were predicted to be retiring. 36% of these had their retirement dates pushed back to keep the grid's reliability. 

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There can be some comfort with the loss of the usual social contact during the period of lockdown and working from home. There are is the opportunity to slow down, pause and reflect in prayer or meditation. There is also time to spend in gardens or parks, a patio or balcony to be outside. As Adrian Higgins of the Washington Post- who has two books on gardening and covered it since the 1980's- points out here we are not apart from nature or above it, we are nature, and plants and birds outside are fellow beings of a sort. Most of us live in tight urban environments and this is a great opportunity to break away from all the noise and bustle and experience some time with nature and with ourselves. A time for renewal and listening to our inner voices, as the gods may be reminding us about living a better and slower life. Higgins reminds us that sometimes it is an experience that is alive in memory as there is a word for it in Japanese and in German, and in other languages. In Japan shinrin-yoku is about forest bathing, by finding a woodland or park and experiencing the stillness. Germans call it a forest walk or waldspaziergang. Plant gardens or parks will do, even landscaped areas in urban settings. The shades in a garden with sunlight falling in different ways on leaves and plants. We develop a capacity to notice things we stopped noticing as we grew up. Just walk or sit quietly and look. Plants and trees also take away some of the isolation and loneliness as they are fellow travelers of a sort. As anyone who has planted will know we can look forward to the new flowering, and the growth into next year, and the next. We have got too intertwined with the short term and the immediate fulfillment, and this draws us out of this in ways that enrich and nourish our lives.     ...