The scam & the skinny — it’s time to duck & cover
Some mornings I don’t have a prepared topic, I just let the winds take me wherever they will. There was a gale blowing today.
Media & Communications
Cool roofs save money, save energy, cut pollution and directly reduce warming!
What wildly underfunded climate solution can achieve all of these goals simultaneously:
- Slow global warming by increasing the reflectivity of the Earth (geo-engineering)
- Reduce local temperatures in the hottest cities (adaptation)
- Reduce fossil CO2 emissions (mitigation)
- Save U.S. consumers and businesses billions of dollars in energy costs
- Reduce urban smog and hence cardio-pulmonary disease
- Create more than 100,000 jobs in two years?
The answer is a major effort to make roofs (and pavements) whiter and/or more reflective, which should be coupled with a major urban tree-planting effort.
Deep thought – July 22
-Why do economists avoid talking about ethics?
-Our nature is nurture: Are shifts in child-rearing making modern kids mean?
-National Post shocker: Global warming deniers are a liability to the conservative cause
-Clean, Green, Safe and Smart
Economics – July 22
-Outpacing U.S., China now the world’s largest gorger of energy
-The Big Picture according to TAE: An updated primer guide
-The Food Bubble: How Wall Street Starved Millions and Got Away With It
-Interview: How Our Economy is Killing the Earth
-Part 5A. What Happens If Things Go Really Badly? $15 Trillion of Sovereign Debt in Default
Dems roll over, abandon climate bill. will citizenry follow suit?
And so we have it. At noon today (PST), we saw the predictable collapse of Democrat resolve to address the most serious crisis of our times…We can point fingers at Washington, DC, but we should be pointing them at ourselves.
Greek mythology: The real story of the European debt crisis
Cafés are full in Athens, and droves of tourists still visit the Parthenon and go island-hopping in the fabled Aegean. But beneath the summery surface, there is confusion, anger, and despair as this country plunges into its worst economic crisis in decades.
How to be maladaptive: Fourteen tips for mental activities guaranteed to enhance your misery during bad times
Those who learn about Peak Oil, climate change, and economic hard times show a series of short-lived symptoms of stress over several months, but these are normal and expected reactions to these stunning findings. Roughly 50-60% of adults in North America are exposed to traumatic events, but only 5% to 10% develop maladjusted PTSD and related problems. What sorts of beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors promote the development of longer-term traumatic reactions?
Peak oil, prices, and supplies – July 21
-The Impending Peak and Decline of Petroleum Production: an Underestimated Challenge for Conservation of Ecological Integrity
-How Much Does a Gallon of Gas Cost?
-Offshore Oil Drilling and Hurricane Risks
-BP’s Tony Hayward ‘set to step down’
China’s oil grab
An amazing thing has happened. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China has now surpassed the United States as the world’s biggest energy consumer.
Permaculture ethics: Why permaculture is different
I was originally attracted to permaculture because it was the only system that made sense—that could begin to reverse and repair the damage we are doing. Among many things, permaculture is a shortcut to older wisdom. Daniel Quinn calls this Leaver wisdom, the wisdom that enabled humanity to thrive in harmony with the earth for three million years up until the agricultural revolution where we lost our way.
A cooperative approach to renewing east Kentucky
Models of transition in eastern Kentucky must simultaneously address a host of interrelated regional challenges in order to bring sustainable success. The region’s economy is under-developed, with extremely high poverty and unemployment rates; housing stock is inadequate and energy-inefficient; and rural electric cooperatives are more than 90 percent dependent on coal, increasing the vulnerability of their customers in the face of rising prices.
A review of ‘Local Money’ by Peter North
I’ve really enjoyed the last three books to come out of the Transition Books stable, so I was pleased to see the latest instalment was out: Local Money – how to make it happen in your community. It’s another big square book, following Local Food, and it’s got the same practical, inspiring, can-do approach. This time, it’s all about creating local money networks.
