The Joust and The Potlatch as Social Alternatives
The Joust, founded on substitution and economic conflict of interest, stresses material gain. The Potlatch thrives on nonphysical values, seeking complementarities in learning and social designs.
Frederic Jennings
Shaping a Safe and Sustainable Planetary Water Policy – A MAHB Dialogue with Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project
We talk about water as a “right,” but it is really the planet’s greatest gift. A gift to be shared with all of life.
Cognitive Bias and Global Warming, or… the Story of Cattle Prods and Ice Cream Shops (Episode 32 of Crazy Town)
Jason, Rob, and Asher take a tour of ice cream shops, Scandanavian DMVs, and the chess team to explain such cognitive biases as the Dunning-Kruger effect, confirmation bias, default effect, and sunk cost bias.
Pharaoh Horgan and His $16-Billion Monument to Folly
A completely unnecessary and high-risk dam once budgeted at $8 billion in 2014 will now cost more than $16 billion due to geotechnical problems tied to trying to build on shifting shales with no bedrock.
First impressions of Camp Habiba in Egypt
Habiba Farm is also partnering with Ecosystem Restoration Camps and The Weather Makers in an ambitious plan to regreen and regenerate the entire Sinai peninsula.
Novel Overtures to the More-than-Human World
In recent weeks, I’ve noticed a big uptick in the number of creative overtures to the realm previously known as nature (a term that implies that humanity and nature are separate). I decided to bring together some of the more imaginative gambits that I’ve encountered.
How my late grandmother, Veronica Isieke, defended the rights of rural women to own land and feed families
Growing under the watch of a focused, fearless, and nature-friendly grandmother contributed largely to my love for nature and belief that women have a right that should be preserved and respected.
Change the Dominant Idea
As the previous big idea of freedom rested on the foundation of Enlightenment physical science, so the new big idea of Life is backed by today’s life science.
Beyond the green frog-skin world
How can a civilization last, when its governing force is something so fleeting and artificial as money?
A Blue Dog Night: What It Might Mean for a Green New Deal
A year more of gridlock on climate matters, including green infrastructure, would not only bring the nation closer to crossing the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold scientists warn of, but it could well fracture the Democratic Party.
Intensive Fishing and the Birth of Capitalism, Part 2
While treasure fleets carried silver to Spain, far more ships were carrying men, fish and whale oil across the North Atlantic.
The Problem of the Shipwrecked Sailor: When Money Becomes Useless
The Covid crisis highlighted an already existing problem: that money is useless if you can’t buy anything useful with it. It is the problem of the shipwrecked sailor on a deserted island.
