End of the World? Nah. End of the World as We Know It. Yah.
So the actual end of the world probably shouldn’t worry us overmuch just yet. But the end of the world as we know it probably should.
Year: 2012
Climate – Dec 19
•Leaked IPCC Draft Report: Recent Warming Is Manmade, Cloud Feedback Is Positive, Inaction Is Suicidal •What leaked IPCC report really says on climate change •Why Climate Change Denial Is Just Hot Air •States Threaten EPA Over Petroleum Industry Methane Emissions •Ask Bill McKibben Anything
Too big to flood? Megacities face future of major storm risk
As economic activity and populations continue to expand in coastal urban areas, particularly in Asia, hundreds of trillions of dollars of infrastructure, industrial and office buildings, and homes are increasingly at risk from intensifying storms and rising sea levels.
Hurricane Sandy relief turns to protest
The stakes are high for people in the Rockaways. More than month and a half after Superstorm Sandy, winter is setting in and many of the ten thousand residents of this Queens neighborhood still lack heat or electricity…Now, supported by Occupy Sandy volunteers, residents of the Rockaways are starting to fight back.
Young Reno activists demand bikeable streets – And get them
“I’ve never had my driver’s license,” Kevin Campbell says. A curly-headed 22-year-old with a Movember ‘stache, Kevin is the newest staff member at the groundbreaking Reno Bike Project. There’s a reason he’s never driven: A few years back, he was struck by a car while walking in a crosswalk.
Economics – Dec 18
•Against growth •How do you disruptively innovate a whole economy? •Where next for the circular economy? •Economists and the One-Percent
Real life, real incomes – creating social enterprises
Over the last few years, Transition Initiatives have been looking at how to get economically real. This is key in terms of formulating a response not only to climate change and the need to stop using oil, but equally to the financial crisis and the need to be able to articulate and show what an economic alternative would look like.
Aristotle in Connecticut
As I tried to comprehend the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, my thoughts were with the victims and their families. The horror I feel is nothing compared to what they have been required to experience and absorb. Understanding what happened seems impossible — but attempt to understand it we must, if we are to reduce the occurrence of these devastating shooting tragedies in the future. As I wondered along with the rest of America how this could happen, my thoughts turned to ancient philosophy — specifically, to the teachings of Aristotle and what he said about causation.
Conflict and Change in the Era of Economic Decline: Part 4 – Post-carbon governance
Are we headed toward a more autocratic or democratic future? There’s no hard and fast answer; the outcome may vary by region. However, recent history does offer some useful clues.
Book Review: Walkable City: How downtown can save America, one step at a time
Jeff Speck’s new book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, is worth a read for its acerbic wit, alone. The author fits a remarkable collection of data and anecdotal evidence from his long career in urban design (which included a four-year stint at the helm of the National Endowment for the Arts’ design department) into a mere 260 pages while maintaining a tone that is both punchy and urgent. It’s not often that I’ve found people who can make the discussion of parking minimums entertaining, but Speck has a way with words.
Renewables, efficiency and em-power-ment: Dec 17
•Coming soon: 100% renewable power – Chris Nelder •How Data and Social Pressure Can Reduce Home Energy •Use Fatih Birol: Energy efficiency is one of last options after Kyoto •Solar Mamas – movie trailer
Taking the ‘Burbs: Square Yard Gardening
Ellen LaConte, author of Life Rules: Nature’s Blueprint for Surviving Economic and Environmental Collapse,will be posting a series of essays on her blog that explore the small but cumulative steps we might take toward the conversion of 20th century suburbs into sustainable communities in which post-collapse humans might survive and thrive. Today’s post is the first in this series.
