I had no idea that NYC was taking such a pro-active approach to climate adaptation. When I read stories like this, which also discusses how other major cities in the world are making similar plans for a hotter, more turbulent climate, I can’t help but wonder if climate change debate has broken off into two…Continue Reading…
Can anyone dispute that climate change trumps all other ecological concerns in the public discourse? In so far as any environmental issue commands the world’s sustained attention, many would argue that this is a good thing. Climate scientists and climate advocates obviously take this view. But that does not seem to be the position of…Continue Reading…
That’s how Oxford economist Dieter Helm describes global efforts to stem greenhouse gas emissions, in a brutally candid interview with Nature. Warning! The contents of his interview are for mature audiences only. For example, wind power advocates might want to close their eyes during this part: What exactly will windmills across Europe do to address…Continue Reading…
Who knew (or remembers) that George Kennan, the father of U.S. containment policy, once argued for a world environmental organization? Will Rogers over at Natural Security has a nice retrospective post on Kennan’s 1970s clarion call, which appeared in the pages of Foreign Policy. As Rogers summarizes, Kennan notably advanced the international environmental governance debate…Continue Reading…
Humans have taken over the earth. Evidently there’s a new concept that confirms this, called anthropogenic biomes. Then there’s the recent push by scientists to declare a new era, called the anthropocene. I jest, only because this is not new territory. Environmental historians have built a whole discipline from this fertile ground. And geographers dug…Continue Reading…
About that paper in Nature that I had wished made a bigger media splash: well, it did, in fact, receive some prominent coverage, such as here, here, and here. ( I still maintain it should have received more play.) The Time Magazine story carries this great quote from Steve Carpenter: Managing the environment is like…Continue Reading…
That’s the vibe I’m getting from both David Brooks and Thomas Friedman lately. Yesterday, Brooks, who expressed little concern with GOP governance or the intellect of American voters during W’s Administration, suddenly sees a Republic on the rocks: If we can’t trust the people and we can’t trust the elites, who can we trust? Today,…Continue Reading…
That’s probably the best we can do, says Joseph Tainter, in a forthcoming paper. Here’s the passage that will make environmentalists bark at their computer screens: Contrary to what is typically advocated as the route to sustainability, it is usually not possible for a society to reduce its consumption of resources voluntarily over the long…Continue Reading…
Yesterday, in response to a story in the NY Times, entitled “Sudan Court Fines Woman for Wearing Trousers,” Andy Revkin posted this meta thought at Dot Earth about the future of women in the developing world and how that ties into humanity’s prospects for sustainability: In a broader sense, then, there appears to be simmering…Continue Reading…
There’s no doubt that I live a “greener” life in Brooklyn than I did while living in crunchy granola Boulder the previous year. Of course, I already miss Colorado’s vistas, the fox bounding past our spacious abode in the glorious foothills, and most of all, the house’s washer/dryer. But the one thing I don’t miss…Continue Reading…