Alarm bell on decline of nuclear power way too late
There was a time when a nuclear-powered future seemed inevitable. Now, it is the decline of nuclear power that seems inevitable.
Kurt Cobb
Bicyclopolis
Doomer porn has limited appeal and shelf life; you can only get so miserable before there’s nowhere to go and no point. One of the most appealing subsets of speculative fiction, then, is what we might call the “good old future,” where our descendants have come through a crisis and created a better world that looks a lot like the past.
Is there a way to counter the Chinese stranglehold on rare earth metals?
Rare earth metals which are crucial to modern electronics are in the news because the Chinese, the dominate world supplier, are threatening to cut off exports in retaliation for tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by the Trump administration. Is there any way to counter Chinese control of these crucial metals?
CO2 emissions: The trend is not your friend
While the dominate public narrative has been that we are making great leaps toward a low-carbon economy through the rapid deployment of renewable energy, the IEA report in late March showed a civilization moving inexorably toward climate catastrophe.
Helium is a finite resource—who knew?
Helium makes for fun at parties with balloons that float around the room. But a growing shortage is becoming deadly serious for those who need helium for critical applications. And, the shortage suggests that other rare, but critical materials needed for our modern infrastructure might not be so easy to replace.
Does Chevron know exactly what shale oil and gas are worth?
A bidding war that didn’t happen over shale oil and gas may say something we all should know about those deposits.
Risk ‘misunderestimated’: War, sleeping pills, and the Extinction Rebellion
We remain blind to existential risks embedded in our daily lives and in our broader society. Why is that?
Is matter conscious? If so, does it matter?
The question of consciousness continues to devil us. If consciousness is distributed throughout the universe, then its appearance in humans is just one manifestation. Does it matter one way or the other how we think about this question? I think it does profoundly.
Green New Deal – 20 April 2019
A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (video) //
Could a GND Make Us Happier People? //
Meet Rhiana Gunn-Wright, An (African-American) Architect Behind the GND //
Degrowth: a theory of radical abundance
Life imitates art: Norway rejects oil prospecting in sensitive Arctic islands
The strange truth about one of the world’s largest oil exporters is that it has been planning for a post-oil society since the discovery of its oil resources. Norway’s move to protect sensitive arctic areas is just the latest example of how Norwegians think about our energy future.
Carbon emissions reach record: How can we build solidarity to fight climate change?
The task of addressing climate change is so large that the only way in which it can be addressed with any success is if everyone is involved. As long as so many people are focused every day on just getting what they need to live, such broad involvement will be impossible. Are there ways to build the solidarity and involvement we need to fight climate change?
Review: “The Day the Gulf Stream Stopped” by Anthony Owen
The novel has essentially the same premise as the hit disaster movie from five years earlier, The Day After Tomorrow. The Gulf Stream ocean current, which has long played a crucial role in our planet’s climate system, undergoes a sudden collapse driven primarily by human-caused global warming. Ice caps rapidly spread across the northern hemisphere, rendering places like New York City and western and northern Europe uninhabitable to all but the most rugged survivalists.
