Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
•Horror story •Gattopardo economics: The crisis and the mainstream response of change that keeps things the same •The Wrath of Capital: Neoliberalism and Climate Change Politics •"Twenty-Something" Entrepreneurs Return To Northern Michigan •The Economy Of Tomorrow Project
Here’s a politician who thinks his constituents can handle an honest dialogue about climate change. Andrew Weaver doesn’t hide the facts or pander to the wishful thinking of infinite growth. His refreshing candidness might have something to do with his background as one of the world’s preeminent climate scientists.
•China agrees to impose carbon targets by 2016 •Warming to hit half of plants, a third of animals •Geoengineering: Can We Save the Planet by Messing with Nature? •Climate Denial’s Death Knell: 97 Percent of Peer-Reviewed Science Confirms Manmade Global Warming, Consensus Overwhelming •Climate disasters displace millions of people worldwide •For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change
For all who love a conspiracy, geoengineering has it all. The oil companies, far-right think-tanks, nuclear weapons scientists, and even Bill Gates.
The big tornado outbreak, including a monster Oklahoma twister, have people asking again about a possible link to climate change. I’ll review the science in this post.
We have a race between peak oil and global warming. Symptoms of these complex processes pop up every now and then.
During the Pleistocene evolution favored those humans who left the most descendants so our evolved instincts encourage us to procreate, seek status and consume resources. Now sustainability is an existential issue and these instincts and our invention of technology are threatening our future.
• Some of My Best Friends Are Germs
• Bye-Bye Baby Boomers
• The repentant environmentalist: Part 3
• Thanks for coming
• Needed: An ecosocialist cosmovision
Ten years ago, as a contrarian and a person who prefers not to see others suffer, I tried to undermine despair with the case for hope.
The famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr once humorously observed, "Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future." And so, as the world considers yet another rosy oil supply forecast, this time from the Paris-based International Energy Agency, it is worth reviewing the agency’s record.
We’ve arrived at a dangerous milestone. For the first time in human history, as Amy Goodman reported this week, "the amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has topped 400 parts per million."
Humans have evolved to feel a single sense of self, but our emotional brain is encouraging us to pursue perceived self-interest even if it means trashing the planet, leaving our rational brain to try and justify our actions. Why are our intuitions so poor, and how might we engage rational thinking?
