Frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes about the urgency with which I propose to tackle our environmental problems:
There are two methods of addressing any crisis:
1) Cry doom, despair, calamitous disaster! Rush out and fling yourself upon your horse and ride madly off in all directions at once. Or: (more…)
Here are legendary environmentalist Bill McKibben’s thoughts on the upcoming U.S. elections. Worth noting, along with his contempt for Donald Trump, is his relatively sanguine perspective on the Democratic platform.
Obviously, he was rooting for Bernie, but absent a Sanders’ presidency, he’s happy to report that the current approach to climate change mitigation is more positive and progressive than it’s ever been in the past. (more…)
Those interested in “following the money” when it comes to energy and the environment will be interested in this animated global map, which visualizes 20 years of US oil import data (in 20 seconds), collected import data from the US Energy Information Administration (1996-2015). And here’s an accompanying report on the subject.
Notice anything interesting about Russia?
When I was asked to speak at the MIT Enterprise Forum on “green business” a couple of months ago, I took my usual tack in such situations, i.e., getting my audience to examine its thinking on the larger issues associated with the sustainability of our civilization. I like to make this the ultimate whirlwind tour, blasting through dozens of different ways of viewing the problem and contemplating realistic solutions. Here are a few bullets:
• Given what we know about anthropology, is humankind up to the task of fashioning our society in such a way that future generations will not be born into a toxic, resource-depleted environment? (more…)
Two locations in the Middle East topped 129 degrees F today, setting a record, and reminding us of what’s in store for us if we don’t aggressively take action to reduce the concentration of greenhouse gasses.
My request: Look at the pic here and ask yourself: “Am I OK with this?”
I’ve been chatting with an old friend who, like me, had a long career in marketing; she became a VP at Grey Advertising. She told me about her experience at a practice round for the PGA Championship (that starts today at Baltusrol in New Jersey).
She writes: (more…)
Each year, I attend somewhere between 10 and 15 conferences on energy and the environment, sometimes as a speaker, but always as an active participant in meeting people and encountering new ideas and cleantech business plans. It’s also important to expand my understanding of the industry, and thus I choose some of the events principally because they focus on a subject area with which I really should have more fluency.
The annual California Carbon and Low Carbon Fuel Standard Summit, produced by Argus Media, is a great event to attend, this year as a “media sponsor,” in order to accomplish the goals named above. Here, I’ll be walking away with a complete understanding of some fairly arcane but extremely important issues: (more…)
As nature’s state is going worse by the day, the best thing that you can do is to do some things that may help in easing the increasing problem of the environment. Here are some go-green tips for you can follow to save your money and the environment as well. (more…)
Recently I was reconnected with a friend from college who asked me how I wound up majoring in physics and philosophy, given that they’re two radically different ways of understanding our physical and mental universes. I thought readers might be interested in my response:
I chose that pair because I liked them both, and, like you said, I appreciated that they are two different ways of examining the world and our role in it. But the interesting part to me came years later when I realized they are much more closely linked than I had thought when I was young. Here are a few examples: (more…)
It’s the birthday of Aldous Huxley, best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World. According to the Writer’s Almanac, “(This) was one of the first novels to predict the future existence of genetic engineering, test-tube babies, anti-depression medication, and virtual reality. When George Orwell’s 1984 came out a few years later, many critics compared the two novels, trying to decide which one was more likely to come true. Huxley argued that his imagined future was more likely, because it would be easier to control people by keeping them happy than it would be by threatening them with violence.” (more…)
