Media & Communications

Rise of commons transforms a rust belt city — Report from the future: South Bend, Indiana, in 2035

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As much as anywhere in the United States, South Bend has prospered by capitalizing on the promise of the commons — which means assets belonging to all of us, from water and wilderness to the Internet and cultural treasures. The commons also refers to a new ethic of sharing and cooperation that can help solve pressing problems of the 21st century, advocates say. This ethic has come to influence decision making at all levels in South Bend, bringing big changes to city hall, businesses and neighborhoods.

Can renewable energy outshine fossil fuels?

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I’m not popular with environmentalists when I tell them that renewables can only provide a small fraction of the energy that fossil fuels do in powering industrial civilization. In fact, I was recently called a liar at the screening of an anti-nuke film for suggesting so.

Food & agriculture – June 6 (updated June 7)

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-Analysis: E.coli outbreak poses questions for organic farming
-Are Bean Sprouts the End of Organic Farming? Nah.
-Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies into Survivalists
-Mom-and-pop vs. big-box stores in the food desert
-Organic farming – India’s future perfect?
-Challenges of a Colorado Local Food Initiative

New book to inspire a redesigned, fair food system

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But Fair Food… is not a book primarily about the problems of our broken food system,” says Hesterman. “It is a book primarily about the solutions.” It serves as a guide to changing not only what we eat, but also how our food is grown, packaged, delivered, marketed, and sold. The book starts by outlining the nuances of our food system, how it evolved the way it did, and why it is failing us.

Post Carbon Institute Natural Gas Report Supplements: Public Health, Agriculture, & Transportation

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The challenges posed by shale gas production have serious implications for the future of agriculture, transportation, and health in the United States. In this collection of articles, PCI Fellows explore what the Hughes Report means for these sectors.

 

There is no wealth but life

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Finally, in a move that became inevitable once bogus methods of valuing nature were invented by economists with the very same mental framework that produced sub-prime lending and credit-default swaps, a price has been put on the natural beauty of our land. Our country has been degraded into an accounting unit; our beautiful land has been marketised.

From King Coal to carbon tax: A historical perspective on the energy and climate-change debate

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Current climate and energy policy debates in the United States rarely involve historians. If you search the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s 2007 synthesis report, you will not find the words history or historical. Even so, history pervades climate and energy policy discussions. History guides policy choices, inspires proposals for action, and structures institutional development.