Energy Storage and our Unpredictable Future
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
Their new book Energy Storage and Civilization: A Systems Approach (Springer, February 2020) is an important contribution to biophysical economics – marvelously clear, deep and detailed where necessary, and remarkably thorough for a work of just over 150 pages.
Platforms for a Green New Deal
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
The Case for the Green New Deal (by Ann Pettifor), and A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen and Thea Riofrancos) each clock in at a little under 200 pages, and both books are written in accessible prose for a general audience. Surprisingly, there is remarkably little overlap in coverage and it’s well worth reading both volumes.
Make Room for the Bus: Review
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
While new light-rail systems, subways, inter-urban commuter trains all have their place, simply giving buses preference on existing roads could improve urban quality of life while bringing carbon emissions down – long before the planning and approval process for new train lines is complete.
Questions as Big as the Atmosphere
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
What is the best-case scenario for solar geoengineering? For author Holly Jean Buck and the scientists she interviews, the best-case scenario is that we manage to keep global warming below catastrophic levels, and the idea of geoengineering quietly fades away.
If the Insects Go, We All Go
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
Buzz, Sting, Bite is a breezy read with a sobering message: insects are so deeply woven into the web of life that the worldwide drop in insect populations threatens every other species.
The Fight for Right of Way
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
Why is car culture so dominant in North American life? Is it a matter of personal preference, or is it the result of extensive advertising?Those are important factors – but University of Iowa law professor Gregory H. Shill says that auto dominance has also been cemented by a myriad of laws that favour drivers and discriminate against non-drivers.
Plastic Swamp
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
The billions of pieces of plastic floating in ocean gyres begin their watery journeys in ditches and creeks in almost every location inhabited by people. Many are tossed into tributaries in the centre of continents, far upstream from any ocean, including the small watershed where I live.
Pulling the Plug on Fossil Fuel Production Subsidies
By Bart Hawkins Kreps, An Outside Chance
Ending subsidies to producers can play a key role in taking the fossil fuel economy off life support – or we can wait for the planet to take our civilization off life support.