Published on Aug 16, 2016
Thom speaks with attorney/freelance writer Sharon Kelly about the new Koch-funded group “Fueling Us Forward” – which is promoting fossil fuels and fighting electric vehicles.
Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
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Published on Aug 16, 2016
More than 100 structures have been destroyed and more than 1,000 people forced from their homes by wildfires in northern and central California. A severe fire season is under way in the state, and as Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, firefighters expect that the worst is yet to come.
Originally published at – http://www.voanews.com/a/3468456.html
Global Climate Change
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Credit: shutterstock.com/Rice University
Burning coal, oil and natural gas is responsible for two-thirds of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Yet these same fuels are also the economic mainstay of resource-rich countries and the world’s largest companies. According to a new working paper from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, this means that climate-change relief actions represent danger for the fossil fuel business.
“Climate Risk and the Fossil Fuel Industry: Two Feet High and Rising” was authored by Jim Krane, the Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies at the Baker Institute. The paper compiles and describes the types of risk the fossil fuel industry faces as a result of climate-mitigation strategies.
“As climate-change effects grow more pronounced, there can be little doubt that an industry that produces 68 percent of human greenhouse gas emissions will find itself under increasing pressure,” Krane wrote. “The risks to the industry correlate with progress on climate goals. Unless a technological breakthrough can restrict carbon releases, the fortunes of the fossil fuel industry and the stability of Earth’s climate will be locked in a zero-sum game. Climate’s gain is the industry’s loss and vice versa.”
There are four main categories of climate risk for the fossil fuel industry, according to Krane:
Krane also outlines fuel-specific risks that are not shared equally among the three fossil fuel types—coal, oil and gas
…(read more).
See:
Global Climate Change
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Published on Aug 16, 2016
The first in a regular series of climate & extreme weather news updates. I will post them either weekly, fortnightly or monthly, depending on the level of craziness.
Global Climate Change
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Published on Aug 8, 2016
The production paradigm represented by the iPhone – designed in California, mass-produced in China – is changing. Increasingly the startups that succeed are the ones producing locally. Krystyn Van Vliet, Associate Professor at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the emerging production paradigm’s emphasis on speed, customization and digital integration.
Global Climate Change
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Published on Aug 8, 2016
It’s often assumed that nature must be sacrificed in order to create jobs and achieve economic growth. This couldn’t be further from the truth, says Tony Juniper, a campaigner, writer, sustainability advisor and leading British environmentalist. If we were to put an economic value on the services natural ecosystems provide, such as replenishing oxygen and irrigating crops, it would be about double global GDP. Looking after nature should be an economic no-brainer.
Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
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Published on Aug 16, 2016
Global Climate Change
Environment Ethics
Environment Justice
Posted in Uncategorized
Published on Aug 16, 2016
The United Kingdom is developing new insect-sized spy drones to fight terrorists. The so-called “Dragonfly Drone” can fit in the palm of a hand, fly into tight spaces and eavesdrop on its targets. RT correspondent Eisa Ali has the report.
Global Climate Change
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Food films can offer a short but insightful view of all manner of food-related topics.
iStock/ svetlkd
If you’re craving good films on the food system, Food Tank has put together a list of documentaries and films to inspire, educate, and give viewers some food for thought. Each film explores a different topic in food and agriculture, some with a dash of social equality or a splash of health awareness. Whether you’re a social activist, small farmer, or sustainability advocate, or you just enjoy food, we’re sure you’ll find a food film to further inform and interest you in all things food.
Here are 19 films to satisfy your food films palette:
American Meat: “American Meat” walks viewers through the evolution of animal agriculture and highlights alternative animal husbandry systems that protect the environment and animal welfare. The film features farmer and advocate Joel Salatin, who uses sustainable land management methods, such as rotational grazing, and emphasizes the importance of supporting one’s local foodshed. The film also highlights stories from other farmers nationwide who are raising cows, pigs, and chickens in environmentally sustainable and humane ways.
Dive! The Film: In “Dive! The Film,” Director Jeremy Seifert and his friends highlight food waste in America by dumpster diving in various grocery stores around Los Angeles. Every American wastes around 20 pounds of food every month, costing U.S. consumers an estimated US$165 billion each year, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. The narrators evidence these facts by finding massive amounts of edible food in the dumpsters and confront store managers on their food donation policies. This multi-award winning documentary not only reveals the wasteful practices of grocery stores but also urges individual consumers to change their habits by offering advice and practical home solutions to reduce household waste.
…(read more)
Food-Matters
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Air Date: August 13, 2016
Lila Tretikov, former executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, talks about learning in the digital age.
HEFFNER: I’m Alexander Heffner, your host on The Open Mind. Two years ago we hosted Sue Gardner, then executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, which governs the modern-day Encyclopedia Britannica of Wikipedia. For her Reflections of a Wikimaniac, let me repeat what I said then about the enormous educational value of Wikipedia. It’s the world’s most-used and increasingly most reliable source of information. Or I would say one of the seven wonders of the modern world. Lila Tretikov, Gardner’s successor, who until this year directed the foundation, joins me today for what I imagine will be another scintillating exchange on the future of our information society. A young global leader of the World Economic Forum, Tretikov is a Russian-American engineer, managing specialized open source software and technology infrastructure. And I first want to ask Lila, whom we’re delighted to have here today, that same question I began with Sue Gardner. Is she as bullish about the web’s potential for social advancement in the public interest as when she first was tapped to lead Wikipedia?
TRETIKOV: I am extremely bullish as you have put it in uh, in a sense that I think we are at the front edge, we’re at the dawn of a new age, an intelligence age if you will, if you will. And I think Wikipedia is an extreme example of the representation of uh, of that phenomenon, you know, uh, the ability of society to create and distribute knowledge but also build on top of that. Um, I think the kind of advancements and uh, the kind of changes that we’re about to see in the next ten, twenty, thirty years are going to be unprecedented and they’re all going to be driven by our ability to be smarter and to learn more and to make that process more ubiquitous.
HEFFNER: We want there to be an informed artificial intelligence if there ever is an artificial intelligence, right? And I know that you are thinking, you’re marinating in the promise of artificial, but your work with Wikipedia was so important because that is really the foundation of knowledge with which we can inform decisions about innovation and the technological future that lies ahead, right?
….
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Transition Studies 