The Rehfeld Report

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...

Droughts are becoming increasingly common as the globe warms up. We often have less water than we would like for drinking, agriculture and producing power. Some places have less than others, but we all to stand to lose. Listen to hear what the problems are and what we can do about it.  barry.rehfeld@gmail.com