So, the IPCC has concluded that averting climate change catastrophe is ’eminently affordable’. Of course it is — it always was. Quibbles about the ‘cost’ of averting climate change have always been spurious, partly because the cost of not taking action will always be greater (ie death), and partly because any ‘cost’ will always show …
Continue reading “IPCC and renewable energy — the view from Texas”
When the going gets tough it can often seem that the future must be worse than the past. But here is a story about one new company that is already turning over several million dollars a year, growing at 120% a year, and achieving all this by working a four day week. Yes, a four …
and some example solutions:
Charles Eisenstein writes: “If everyone on Earth lived the lifestyle of a traditional Indian villager, it is arguable that even 12 billion would be a sustainable world population. If everyone lives like an upper-middle-class North American (a status to which much of the world seems to aspire), then even two billion is unsustainable. “This means …
Even the British Medical Journal is talking about climate change. “The IPCC has already concluded that it is ‘virtually certain that human influence has warmed the global climate system’ and … its new report outlines the future threats of… increased scarcity of food and fresh water; extreme weather events; rise in sea level; loss of …
Better living doesn’t have to be high-tech or expensive. Residents of a new housing development in Yorkshire are paying only a tenth of their previous energy bills, by living in homes built from straw. The pre-fabricated panels used to construct the buildings were developed at Bath university.
Two stories here, one describing the problem, one addressing part of the solution. First, a new study by Nasa shows yet again that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades, just as many previous empires and civilisations have done. Echoing Jared Diamond (TED talk here, synopsis here) they find the key factors driving the risk of …
To thrive in a changing world we will have to find new ways of leading. Adam Cutler, design studio director of global giants IBM, calls one such way “guided serendipity.” It is working for him. Guided serendipity involves letting go of trying to control everything, and focusing instead on the key elements that create the conditions for success. …
An interesting interview here with Brussels-based agriculture expert, Patrick Worms. “Ensuring food security for the 10 or 11 billion people that will soon live on a planet buffeted by climate change,” he says, “is a challenge which no single technological breakthrough will be able to meet on its own. We’re going to need everything.” For …
James Lovelock has been warning us that the weather is going to get bad for about as long as I’ve been alive. About 50 years. His predictions, far-sighted though they were, have come true. He even invented the ‘Gaia hypothesis’ that, although poo-pooed and bah-humbugged at the time, has come to form the basis of …
Continue reading “A rather depressing interview with James Lovelock”