The Problem, in a Nutshell
Humankind doesn’t innovate in really profound ways that change whole societies until they are in a situation of emergency. Thomas Homer-Dixon, speaking last week at this conference.
Author Archive
She's Off to See Her Guru
I somehow wound up on the email list of a New Age promoter (was it the Universe’s doing?) who sent a message to all her fellow seekers this morning: I’m off to see my guru. It’s been four years since I visited the holy site in Brazil where my guru practices his miraculous healing. I’m…Continue Reading…
Why Climate Change Loses Out to Sex and Scandal
From a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist:
Romenesko Chum
He’s a talented provocateur who sometimes smokes his own exhaust. That artful putdown of Jeff Jarvis is sure to be sniffed out by journalism’s eminent aggregator. In his response, Jarvis seems reflexively defensive, but I agree with him here: I dare to question the assumptions about the forms of news and journalism…I believe it is…Continue Reading…
You'll Never Guess His Occupation
He now spends his days in church basements, government meeting rooms, street corners and scrubby city parks. He is involved in projects to build playgrounds, install urban gardens, reinvent schools, create neighbourhood associations and document the religious life of the city, among others. A fascinating story of a fascinating project.
Beware of Green Tyranny
That’s the theme of this bizarre confab soon to roll into Los Angeles. Featured speakers include numerous climate skeptics, such as Lord Monckton, Benny Peiser, and Richard Lindzen. The organization sponsoring the conference, the American Freedom Alliance, has a few other other notable obsessions. Leo Hickman at the Guardian reports that the group has promoted…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 Love Affair with Climate Disasters
In recent weeks, disaster porn has mutated with concerns about climate change to produce an orgy of writhing, conflated arguments. People, I know you have a lot of pent-up frustration. It’s been a rough couple of years: a global recession, climategate, the failed promise of Copenhagen and Obama. I know how you’ve been yearning for years…Continue Reading…
True Skeptics
Can people who doubt the phenomena of biological evolution be persuaded by a better demonstration of the evidence? Alan Rogers, an anthropologist at the University of Utah, thinks so. He has authored a newly published book called, “The Evidence for Evolution.” Rogers discusses what motivated him to write the book in this release by Lee…Continue Reading…
Game Over?
Over the weekend, NASA climate scientist James Hansen wrote on his website (my emphasis): The U.S. Department of State seems likely to approve a huge pipeline to carry tar sands oil (about 830,000 barrels per day) to Texas refineries unless sufficient objections are raised. The scientific community needs to get involved in this fray now. If this…Continue Reading…