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Wildfires Here Now: We Have to Adapt as We Mitigate
NOTE: As I write this on a July weekend in Portland OR… here’s today’s headline in the New York Times: “Pacific Northwest Faces Critical Fire Risk as Wildfires Burn”. About 1.7 million people are under fire danger warnings on Sunday as a heat wave continues to bake the region and several large blazes burn in Oregon. […]
Deep Geothermal Drilling: Serious Hope
The world has shut down 1,631 coal-fired power plants since 2010. However, there are 2,433 coal-fired power plants still in operation as of mid-2023. China has almost half at 1,142. India has 282, and the U.S. has 210. Massive amounts of carbon-dioxide and other GHGs continue to be emitted into our atmosphere! How do you […]
Our Elders are Vulnerable to the Impacts of a Changing Climate
There are hundreds of millions of Baby Boomers all over Spaceship Earth. They are now in their 60s and 70s. They are our neighbors, friends, family… maybe even ourselves. Climate change is a public health emergency. Older adults are especially vulnerable to the impacts of our climate crisis. Adults 65 and over make up 16% […]
Potential Energies and the Environmental Risks They Represent
Engineering dynamics tells us to pay attention to “potential energy”. That’s the energy that will be released if some restraining condition is removed. A simple example would be a glass sitting on the edge of a table. If the glass is knocked off the table, the glass crashes to the floor – turning potential energy […]
Driving, EVs, Transportation and Community Design
I love to drive. Plain and simple – I love to drive. I like seeing the scenery. I like seeing the life of the community – the farms, the wild areas, the bird life, people walking and being outdoors. I like experiencing the weather and the seasons. I do have limits. Travel: yes. Traffic: […]
To Create Sustainability, Change How People Think
Any time we take the initiative to create sustainability, we are intervening in a system. Systems are messy and resistant to change. Think capitalism (aka greed), or our weather (e.g. Climate Change), or local government (government of any size), or my daily routine (how dare you mess with that!). What hubris, thinking that we as […]
Crew Members on Spaceship Earth Vote – Are You Crew?
Regular readers of this weekly Crew Commentary know that we at This Spaceship Earth consider “save the planet” as a pointless phrase. The planet will be fine. It has been around for three billion years and will continue until the Sun blows up several billion years from now. Instead, we believe the phrase we should […]
Right to Repair: the First Step in Solving eWaste
As businesses navigate the landscape of technological innovation, it’s crucial to explore the intricate connections between eWaste, business growth and the imperative of embracing the right to repair. It’s difficult to talk about topics like eWaste and sustainability from the corporate or IT perspective without sounding preachy on one hand or self-serving on the […]
The Most Potent Climate Action You Can Take – VOTE!
I’m not telling you to just show up at the polls and cast your ballot. Crew members do their homework. There are two sides to this coin. Not only do you need to learn about your politicians’ stances on climate issues, but crew members must also understand the issues. They are climate literate. They know […]
Interconnected and Interdependent – a New Normal
“If man chooses oblivion, he can go right on leaving his fate to his political leaders. If he chooses Utopia, he must initiate an enormous education program… immediately.” – R. Buckminster Fuller We have to stop focusing on artificial dualities and past battles and move forward at every level. How do we categorize ourselves? […]
