Getting Hooked on Sustainability
Steve Jobs got us attached to our gadgets. Some suggest that a similar bond needs to happen with sustainability. I explore this theme over at the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media.
Posts Under ‘sustainability’ Category
The Population Scarecrow
One of these days, we’re going to have an adult, non-alarmist conversation about population. That would be a discussion that avoids Soylent Green imagery and talks, instead, about population in place-specific terms (which is how these guys do it). Most public debate on population, however, is conflated with a list of global concerns (peak oil,…Continue Reading…
Is Friedman No Longer in Love with His Lexus?
Is Thomas Friedman, the influential, globe-trotting NYT columnist, undergoing a metamorphosis? Because I think the guy who was a champion of economic globalization a decade ago is not the same guy who wrote this column earlier in the week, which is mostly a platform for Paul Gilding, author of a new book called, “The Great…Continue Reading…
The Sustainability Loop
Many have noted the repetitive loop of global climate change talks. I think the global sustainability debate is suffering from the same Groundhog Day syndrome. Consider that 16 U.N.-sponsored climate summits have taken place since 1995. (The 17th is later this year in South Africa). This is rivaled by 19 annual sessions of the U.N. Committee on Sustainable…Continue Reading…
Humanity on Trial, Sustainability Gets a Hearing
One of these days, I’m going to figure out a way to talk about “global change,” not just climate change. You know, because it’s such a catchy term that rolls off the tongue. Sarcasm aside, to lots of smart people, “global change” is where the serious action is at. Right now. As Jonathan Foley wrote…Continue Reading…
The Greening of Walmart
I am no fan of the mega-monster retailer, but this is a story hard to ignore.
Painting the Desert Green
Over at Frontier Earth, some riffing on a classic essay in Science, painted lawns in the desert, and a tiny step towards sustainability in Phoenix, Arizona.
A Seaworthy Solution?
Libertarians may be dubious about global warming, but they seem to be in agreement that ocean fisheries are nearing collapse. The mothership is not one to sound the foghorn on anything related to the environment, so this passage over at Hit & Run caught my eye: Overfishing threatens to destroy most of the world’s fisheries…Continue Reading…
Rewiring the Mind or the Planet?
I have a modest proposal: let’s get Paul Ehrlich and Stewart Brand on tour. If we want to have a real debate on how to address climate change, decarbonize energy, feed the world, etc., let’s get these two icons of environmentalism together, on the same stage, at college campuses, town halls, and YMCA’s. Because Ehrlich…Continue Reading…
Sustainability Dilemmas
The social/ecological relationship is one that fascinates me. It seems to have been the theme of this year’s annual Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) symposium, which Piper Corp reports on at the Ecological Society of America (ESA) blog. For those unfamiliar with LTER’s, this gem of a program is in its third decade and is…Continue Reading…