Archives
What If All U.S. Coal Workers Were Retrained to Work in Solar?
The global economy is in a massive transition from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to one using sophisticated renewable energy technologies. For tens of thousands of fossil fuel workers, though, the energy industry outlook is not promising. For coal industry workers, the future looks particularly bleak. However, research I conducted with Edward Louie of Oregon State University offers hope for a better future based on retraining workers. Our study (published in the journal Energy Economics) quantified the costs and benefits of retraining coal workers for employment in the rapidly expanding solar photovoltaic industry—and it explores different ways to pay for this retraining.
Self-sufficient, floating off-grid island
From no-waste, no-impact, buy-nothing, no-money to living tiny, there are a multitude of saner and more courageous alternatives to the unthinking, zombie wastefulness of mainstream living. For Canadian couple Wayne Adams and Catherine King, living self-sufficiently meant building their own floating island near Tofino, British Columbia, consisting of twelve interconnected platforms that support their home, greenhouse, lighthouse and a dance studio.
WATCH: Racing Extinction
Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, Oscar®-winner Louie Psihoyos (The Cove) assembles a team of artists and activists intent on showing the world never-before-seen images that expose issues of endangered species and mass extinction.
The Link Between Armed Conflict and Climate Change
When one of the strongest El Niños ever recorded hit the South American country of Peru in 1982, the abnormal warming it brought to the Pacific Ocean was a catastrophic blow to the already economically fragile nation. The fishing industry quickly suffered massive losses as the anchovy harvest collapsed and the sardines suddenly migrated south into Chilean waters.
We Have Used Up This Year’s Supply Of Natural Resources
Today is a bad day for planet Earth. We’ve just reached Earth Overshoot Day, the date by which humanity has used up its yearly “allowance” of Earth’s natural resources – and it’s earlier than it has ever been before. Global Footprint Network (GFN) is the think tank behind Earth Overshoot Day. Each year, they work out the day in the year where humanity’s demand on nature exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year. It’s all worked out with 15,000 data points per country from datasets from the United Nations and recent scientific literature.
Mushrooms
You probably didn’t know mushrooms could be used to construct buildings and cure diseases. Mushrooms are being tested in innovative and imaginative ways to help society. Engineers, medical researchers, and designers are utilizing the natural abilities of various fungi for antibiotics, building materials, water filtration, toxic waste cleanup, pest abatement, textiles, and other purposes.
Earth, 250 Million Years From Now
Science calls it “Pangaea Proxima”. You might prefer to call it the Next Big Thing. A supercontinent is on its way that incorporates all of Earth’s major landmasses, meaning you could walk from Australia to Alaska, or Patagonia to Scandinavia. But it will be about 250 million years in the making.
City of London Bans Purchase of New Diesel Vehicles
The City of London Corporation has banned the purchase or hire of diesel vehicles for its business. The public authority, which has a fleet of more than 300 vehicles, announced on Friday it will now no longer lease or purchase diesel models when older models need replacing.
Plastic Chair Made From Our Air Pollution
Plastic surrounds us. From grocery bags and water bottles to gas caps and furniture, the petroleum-based products are ubiquitous, but the planet-warming emissions from their creation doesn’t have to be. Our chairs, bottle caps, and even laptop computer cases could all be part of the carbon emissions solution, capturing greenhouse gases within the plastic they’re made out of.
Kurt Vonnegut’s 1988 Letter to the Future
Ladies & Gentlemen of A.D. 2088:
It has been suggested that you might welcome words of wisdom from the past, and that several of us in the twentieth century should send you some. Do you know this advice from Polonius in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: ‘This above all: to thine own self be true’? Or what about these instructions from St. John the Divine: ‘Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment has come’? The best advice from my own era for you or for just about anybody anytime, I guess, is a prayer first used by alcoholics who hoped to never take a drink again: ‘God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.’
