The Rehfeld Report

Affordability. Immigration. Crime. Problems we can relate to. Ten of them. Number 11 is climate change.  Yet, with life on earth under pressure from droughts, storms, flooding and heat, we had better pay attention or we won't have the resources or the energy to anything about anything. In this episode, I go over all of the top ten. Listen in to hear what they are and why they all should fall...

Donald Trump is waging a war onwind energy and we are all the losers for it. As many projects are in federally controlled waters, he has the power to kill projects all along the U.S. coastlines where many wind turbines are or were secheduled to be located. It's a terrible setback for an absolutely essential source of energy if we are to have any chance of controlling global warming. Tune in t...

We are running out of drinking water. Repeat ten times and yet it is still hard to get anyone's attention, but that's the reality of life on earth and if we don't do something about it, many of us will perish. Some places are in worse shape then others. Tune to see where the problems are and what we might be able to do about it.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com

Wildfires are been around forever, particularly in the west, but now with global warming turning our forests into kindling, they are getting bigger and are showing up in places they haven't been known to attack before or at least with the intensity that they are doing now. Tune in see what is happening and what we can expect to happen in the years to come.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com

MAGA Nation says climate change is a hoax. We have hot and cold days. Always have. Always will. Nevertheless, it's Trump Red states that will suffer the most from the ever increasing climate disasters, from wildfires to floods to record heat. Tune in to hear how bad it is and getting more so.  You may even want to relocate if you are in one of the states where climate change will have the gre...

Cars, refrigerators and ovens are among our big ticket items and the more we spend on them, the more likely they are to use too much energy. There are alternatives. They will get you where you want to go, store and cook your food, all costing less for you to use and reducing our carbon emissions. Listen in.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com

Taking a walk down your supermarket aisle is little different than shopping in a drug, paint or hardware store. You run into many of the same chemicals in all four. Doubt it? Read the labels. All kind of grocery ingredients you wouldn't put into your mouth if you were handed a plateful, like ammonium sulfate,  l-cysteine and azodicaronamide.  So listen to this podcast and I hope you'll c...

If the world is ever to save itself from climate change, air-sourced electric heat pumps will probably be one of the less herald, but important reasons why. Nothing ten, fifteen years ago, they are the answer to many of our heating and cooling needs. The reason is simply. They have become much more efficient and affordable, becoming more so all the time and popping everywhere a/cs and boilers used...

Say the American Dream and most people will know you are talking about owning your own single-family home. In this podcast, you'll hear a radical rethinking of it that dream. Instead of four walls all your own, I'm suggesting you might find greater happiness living in an apartment that you own - or not. We already see how much more unaffordable owning a single-family home has become for...

Telling people we're burning up the world as all the wildfires rage on both sides of the Atlantic because we're using fossil fuels isn't going to stop even one twig from burning, but telling home owners that a switch to a highly energy efficient all-electric home will minimize their utilties bill might at least help because of its appeal to the pocketbook. At least, that's the...

If you are looking to invest in stocks that are socially responsible, as well as providing good returns at low costs, listen up. There are low cost index funds that screen out sin stocks like those of companies that make their money from  alcohol, tobacco and gambling.  They do nearly as well and cost nearly as little as the index funds that don't screen.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com

Zillions of words, written and spoken, have been used to get people to invest in this or that stock for well over a 100 years. It's a sucker's bet. It takes a lot of work to pick winners and even then it is a very difficult thing to do. We have lives to lead, bills to pay and just don't have the time to pick winners. Fortunately, for most of us, there is a better way. Pick that one...

Can solar power be used to get Republican leaning states to lean the other way and vote Democratic? That's the idea here. Six states that voted for Trump in 2024, but which by their actions don't share his belief that climate change is a hoax. They are sunny states with more solar power than most states and since solar is a democratic issue, maybe these states will give up on Republicans...

The U.S. cattle herd is shrinking as drought destroys grazing lands. It also takes more money to keep what animals there are alive. Not surprising, Americans are paying a lot more for beef and eating less of it. Also, to be expected, they are eating more of the alternatives like chicken and fish, much more environmentally friendly protein. Not that the steak or burger are about to disappear from t...

It has never been better for the rich. The stock market is near its high and upscale homes have never been worth more - or in such short supply to buy. The not so rich? They are struggling to get by as inflation hits them hard. But the real tragedy is the complicity of the way we run our world. There is credit card debt, mortgage debt, excise taxes and lottery rip-offs that helps stacks the deck a...

As slow as our utilities are moving away from fossil fuel, they are making progress. Solar and wind just passed coal and are solidly into the double digit. Would that our homes could say the same. We are going nowhere inside the house replacing furnaces with heat pumps, gas ranges with induction ovens and so much more. Making it worse, is that the more energy efficient equipment and appliances wor...

Fossil fuel rightly gets the blame for heating up the earth because of carbon emissions. Less discussed, though no less lethal is what it is doing to our water supply. Producing power and feeding methane-releasing machines, also known as cattle, take a lot of fresh water. Solar and wind don't take any. Veggies very little. If we don't make the switch to solar, wind and veggies or, at lea...

We are running out of fresh water. Indeed, some places have already run out and it will only get worse. Large cities have had to impose increasingly tough restrictions on water use. Small towns are seeing their population shrink to virtually nothing. There is a term for when a community runs out of water. It's called Day Zero. Tune in to see where this is happening and how soon Day Zero will...

No subject is too insignificant to rank ahead of climate change in the minds of what's important to Americans. Well, at least ten do, including immigrations, gun rights, the national debt and gas prices. Yet, nothing will matter if the earth melts, burns up, sinks beneath the waves or all of the above. We need to make the environment number one. Tune in to see why having our eyes focused on s...

Healthy activities - walking, eating vegetables, drinking water - doesn't sell, not the way wellness - supplements, yoga, pilates, vitamins, testosterone therapy and retreats - does. That's why the wellness trend is sweeping the nation. It's good business. It is also a waste of money for consumers. Hear why by tuning in.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com

Hurricanes! Wildfires! Flooding! That's what we generally think of when we think about climate change, if we think about it at all. But if the end comes, it could be something a lot simpler and quieter, though no less horrific. Drought. We are running out of water and unless we do something about it, there are going to be a lot of very thirsty people. Tune in to hear what is happening and wha...

Gas prices are up and heading higher. Food prices too. Almost everything is, so do what you can to get by financially, by actually improving your life. Switch from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles. Ride a train or a bike. Walk! Choose heat pumps over furnaces; chicken, turkey and vegetables over steaks and chops. It is all better for you, your wallet and the planet. Listen in and hear why. barry....

We've seen terrible destruction our aging electric grid can cause from the wildfires they've started. There has been much talk about doing something about it and that's good, but we also have a staggering increase in demand for electricity that is coming and if we don't plan for it,  the worst is yet to come. In short, homes will no longer use fossil fuel, but will become compl...

With gas and oil prices and electricity demand soaring, solar and wind power is looking promising. There are not a lot of companies that provide and the few that do, are showing some good movement after some rough times. Some of the more promising are NextEra, First Solar,  Brookfield Renewable Partners and Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure. There's more. Tune and find out. barry.re...

Trump has canceled a lot of wind projects, especially those located off the coasts of blue states, because he can. It has really hurt our efforts to kick the fossil fuel habit. Ironically, quite a few solidly red states are big on wind. They have the land and they have the wind. Might some Democrats get elected in those states, hopefully to promote wind power in blue states or wherever we can. We...