Add Verdurous to your feed reader. The “green ramblings of a thirty-something Australian” are just as good as ever and well worth your time. Among his recent posts are this video about clean coal technology — short and very engaging — and this smart, witty piece about economic growth.
Especially though I liked this fascinating hour-long [...]
Archive for the ‘economy’ Category
Verdurous
Posted in blogging, economy, sensemaking, sustainability on December 13, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The Republican party since 1980
Posted in economy, ethics, politics on October 11, 2008 | 7 Comments »
In a short and to the point essay, NYT columnist Bob Hebert says what I’ve been thinking for a long time. Since 1980 the USA has been leaning to the right for so long we have now fallen over.
Update: His conservative colleague David Brooks chimes in:
What had been a disdain for liberal intellectuals slipped into [...]
it needn’t be Dickensian
Posted in affluence, consumption, economy, energy, family planning, feminism, global warming, growth, human rights, politics, population, poverty, sustainability on March 30, 2008 | 8 Comments »
As I mentioned in the previous post, recently the Wall Street Journal published an article, New Limits to Growth Revive Malthusian Fears, with an interesting graphic at the bottom.
Here’s my redering of the WSJ data regarding how US commodity prices and world population have changed over time:
The CRB Spot Index is based on the [...]
environmental news heats up
Posted in communication, economy, global warming, growth, human rights, population, sustainability on March 28, 2008 | 7 Comments »
The Bangkok round of climate talks begins on Monday so I took a look at how climate change was fairing in the mainstream media. Here are some of the AP and AFP articles in just the last five days:
Warming affects trees, streams in West
Experts seek answers on water footprint
Climate change now a UN human [...]
inflation, oil, & sustainability
Posted in affluence, consumption, economy, sustainability on March 16, 2008 | 32 Comments »
In the last few weeks there has been a noticeable change in tone. Wall Street, which for the last 8 months has been seized by the mortgage and liquidity crises, has finally noticed that $100 oil and the prospects of $4 gasoline might just become a real problem. A growing number of economists are becoming [...]
The End of the Age of Friedman
Posted in economy, human rights, politics on March 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Some insightful commentary from Brad DeLong, Professor of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley and a former Assistant US Treasury Secretary:
…the distribution of economic welfare produced by the market economy does not fit anyone’s conception of the just or the best.
The market for labor compels people to move to where they can earn [...]
excuses, excuses, excuses
Posted in consumerism, consumption, economy, ethics, global warming, politics, sustainability on February 22, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Everyone who participates in a relationship whether it is parent/child, teacher/student, manager/employee, or something else hears excuses for bad behavior. Thankfully, people are nearly always self-regulating. When faced with a moral dilemma, we usually do the right thing if for no other reason than to avoid self-censure, that is, to avoid thinking, [...]
“we mustn’t kill our customers”
Posted in economy, global warming, growth, sustainability on February 5, 2008 | 5 Comments »
After engaging in a lengthy discussion about how bad a collapse might be, I felt the need to say something about why there is good reason to think the developed world might just respond more quickly and intelligently than one might expect.
At the end of last November the CBI (Confederation of British Industry, a not [...]
the thousand item triage
Posted in consumption, economy, global warming, growth, human rights, politics, population, sustainability on February 4, 2008 | 18 Comments »
…what could be done quickly to start mitigation of our total set of global problems would be for the western world to immediately reduce their consumption rates through a combination of achievable efficiency increases, conservation, and the three Rs [reduce, recycle, reuse], followed by abandonment of … luxury consumption. — George Mobus
The key word [...]
are we bacteria or primates?
Posted in biodiversity, consumption, economy, energy, family planning, feminism, global warming, growth, human rights, politics, population, sustainability on January 27, 2008 | 38 Comments »
Note: I do intend to continue the series on Charles Siegel’s work (he has a new book out) and reflect some more on what Paul Chefurka is doing, but I keep letting other things bubble up. Most recently the discussion that began here and continued with my last post has captured my [...]
a dark green future
Posted in consumption, economy, energy, family planning, global warming, growth, moonbats, politics, population, science, sustainability on January 22, 2008 | 44 Comments »
In Sowing the seeds of a future society, Ken Whitehead expresses not just a doomsday view of the future but a singularly dark prescription for what to do about it: concentrate on building remote communities that can seed the post-apocalyptic civilization. (In the comments on that post you’ll find my thoughts on Whitehead’s work.) [...]
the Philippines, a case study
Posted in economy, family planning, growth, politics, population, sustainability on January 12, 2008 | 17 Comments »
The Philippines, with per capita GDP (PPP) of about $5,000 (2006 estimate) and a land area smaller than California, has rapid population growth, low contraceptive use, high poverty, and a fast growing economy (5.4% annually). Of the 91 million Filipinos (July 2007 estimate), 40% live in poverty, 16% on less than a dollar [...]
sustainability requires justice
Posted in affluence, consumerism, consumption, economy, global warming, growth, human rights, politics, population, sustainability on January 5, 2008 | 22 Comments »
Every large corporation has a department named human resources. I never liked that term. The one it replaced, personnel, was more appropriate and dignified. Human resources sounds like we’re talking about things on par with raw materials like iron and coal — which is too often exactly how people are thought [...]
gasoline, bread, and the value of time
Posted in affluence, consumerism, consumption, economy, energy, growth, sustainability on January 4, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Recently two very different claims caught my attention:
In an interview, Matt Simmons remarked that even at $3.20/gallon gasoline was a great value. (The interview was one of the ones here but I’m not sure which.)
Two people commenting on my recent post, baking bread, a lesson in sustainability, thought that baking bread at home [...]
baking bread, a lesson in sustainability
Posted in consumerism, consumption, economy, sustainability on December 26, 2007 | 6 Comments »
Bread making is at least 10,000 years old, coinciding with the beginnings of agriculture in Neolithic times; it’s also one of the oldest trades. What we think of as “modern” bread made with finely ground flour (both wheat and white) and a leavening agent was developed in Egypt and Rome between 3,000 and 5,000 years [...]
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