Every Christmas since we opened in 2009, I’ve written a hopeful little holiday message in the spirit of the season and the expectation of a bright New Year.
At this point, however, I have to question the sanity, or at least the observational skills, of anyone who cares about environmental justice and world peace and carries an unequivocal optimism into 2017. (more…)
It’s so good to see that Dr. Robert Pollin, whom I interviewed five years ago for my second book (Is Renewable Really Doable?) is still hard at work at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. If you want to see a resume’ that’s as long as your arm, you may want to check this out. (more…)
For years, we’ve been discussing the impact of wireless (inductive) charging of electric vehicles. The most obvious use of such technology is in buses and other automobiles that make routine stops in predictable places, e.g., shuttle buses that deliver passengers from airports to hotels and vice versa. Each stop can be equipped with a charging plate, that delivers perhaps for instance 20 KW very efficiently, which, even if applied for only the few minutes required to load and unload passengers, is plenty to get that vehicle to the next stop.
Here’s a video on the subject from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, part of the (soon to be disemboweled) U.S. Department of Energy.
If your New Year’s resolution is about living a greener and more sustainable lifestyle in the coming year, now’s the time to consider looking around your house for ways to cut its carbon footprint. Wintertime, for most parts of the country, means burning additional fuel to heat your home and stay comfortable during the long, dark season. (more…)
Here are two stories whose ultimate point is that pollution doesn’t stay in the place from which it was generated; it tends to spread itself around the globe.
We start with the plight of Northern China, where the intensely thick and toxic exhaust from coal plants has forced the evacuation of more than 400 million people, about 5% of the entire world’s population. (more…)
The world is changing quickly, but it isn’t always for the better. A lot of the things that we’re doing right now are destroying the planet, and we’re going to have to alter our lifestyles dramatically if there’s any hope in reversing some of what we’ve done. There are plenty of people out there who want to do something to help the world, but they just aren’t sure how. Luckily, there are plenty of career paths that people can take to do their part to help save the planet. Here are four career paths that pay well and help save the world. (more…)
With each successive cabinet nomination, it becomes increasingly clear how much damage the incoming administration is going to inflict on government departments on which 330 million people depend to add various forms of value to their lives–justice, environmental safety, health, financial stability, education, etc. Albeit a disaster for our nation, and for the rest of humankind as well, I’ve often tried to poke fun at all this, because, if you discount the tragedy, it really is so absurd that it’s funny as the devil. (more…)
Some might question the relevance of a post on other worlds. Don’t we have enough problems here on Earth? The tie-in is that humankind may, if it survives the current mismanagement of its environment, will someday need to export itself (along with, unfortunately, its insanities) onto other planets.
Of course, Mars is the leading candidate. But it’s always interesting to look at what’s immediately around us. With that, I give you this piece from an extremely intelligent and cool women, Gioietta Kuo. (more…)
My colleague Jon LeSage writes in this Green Auto Digest:
Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to promote China-based BYD’s electric vehicles and zero emissions campaign.
Here’s something that will raise the hackles of the religious right: Pope Francis has declared that the theories of evolution and the Big Bang are consistent with the Catholic faith. “When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis said.
So the Church’s current position is that God created the Big Bang and the cycle by which life evolved on this planet. It’s not the first time I’ve heard that, but it’s most certainly the first inkling that anyone could have had that it would come from an infallible source like the Pope. Just when you thought you’d seen it all.
