The Florida condo collapse may be the tip of a very large iceberg. All over the country, aging high-rise buildings are run by unsophisticated homeowner associations who want to spend as little maintenance money as possible. 1/10 If big maintenance problems are found, hefty "special assessments" may be required of residents, and they fight them savagely. These boards are elected, and elections often turn on promises to minimize assessments. 2/10

If big maintenance problems are found, hefty "special assessments" may be required of residents, and they fight them savagely. These boards are elected, and elections often turn on promises to minimize assessments. 2/9 You can see how all the short-term incentives are lined up toward not maintaining a building properly. That's how you get accumulating damage like that of Champlain Towers South, which was noticed years ago but not fixed. 3/9

We walk into buildings assuming they will not collapse. But they do sometimes, even brand-new ones. One of the bizarre German metal + noise bands of the 1980s named itself after the phenomenon. That, of course, was Einstürzende Neubauten — "Collapsing New Buildings." Many, many structures have collapsed over time. The most remarkable example in recent memory was an entire terminal at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris that fell down in 2004, killing several people. Mistakes had been made.

Much as I admire @russellgold and many other WSJ news reporters, I am sick of the lies of @WSJopinion. They came out of the gate blaming green energy for Texas problem on basis of no facts. Let's look at some facts, shall we? 1/13 As Arctic blast descended on Texas, power grid peaked late the evening of 2/14, pumping out 68 gigawatts of power. But then equipment started to fail. Generation dropped drastically over course of 2/15, and blackouts began. 2/13

The dramatic situation in Texas was exactly prefigured in 2011, during a similar but less severe cold snap. That disaster involved freeze-ups in gas and power supply, just like this one. It produced a 357-page report on what ought to be done to prevent a recurrence. 1/5 The report specifically advised: "Lawmakers ... should determine whether production shortages during extreme cold weather events can be effectively and economically mitigated..." 2/5

Climate science has a term – “carbon-cycle feedbacks” – that is sufficiently dry as to hide its terrible import. Let me render it into different language in a THREAD. 1/10 Feedbacks in the carbon cycle means: koalas and kangaroos roasting alive in Australia, human beings fleeing into the ocean as the land behind them burns to the water's edge, Californians running in terror ahead of fast-moving fires. 2/10

In thinking about the climate crisis, we have all been overlooking the pernicious role of the railroads. New reporting in @TheAtlantic by @yayitsrob begins to shine a spotlight. Will link to piece in a moment. 1/6 But first: here is the report, by students at @BrownUniversity, on which the journalism is partially based. Just digging in myself but seems like essential reading for all climate advocates. 2/6 climatedevlab.brown.edu/uploads/2/8/4/…

1. In response to my @nytopinion piece with @jamesonmcb advocating a national clean energy standard, I got multiple questions on why it might be more likely to pass Congress than a carbon tax. Herewith, a theory: 2. Fossils are increasingly worried about climate lawsuits, so much they are spending money to gin up an Astroturfy campaign pushing Congress to exempt them from liability. They are willing to trade a low carbon price for relief, but getting few takers among Rs on Hill.