Sustainable Energy, without the Hot Air by David MacKay, is a book (available in its entirety online) looking at the sources of energy available, and the ways in which we use it today. There are lots of options, but any real discussion has to, at the very least, use numbers that add up.
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- Another City is Possible: Cars and Climate | Flat Iron Bike on Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air by David MacKay
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- High Plains Aquifer Dwindles
The fossil waters underlying the Great Plains, left over from the Pleistocene, are giving out. We done sucked 'em dry. Any hydrologist could have told you it was in the works. We'll see the end of fossil ground water pumping in the 21st century, whether we like it or not. - Communicating sustainability: lessons from public health
Some lessons from public health for sustainability and climate campaigners. Our choices are largely not our own -- context and norms are far more powerful forces for behavioral change than abstract attitudes. Most people just stick with the default settings. We need to change the default settings. - Every drone strike in Pakistan visualised
A simple but effective visualization of all the drone strikes in Pakistan, from 2004 to the present. 3100+ people dead, 1.5% of them "high value" targets. More than 75% alleged combatants (males of plausibly military age... 14+ years old) or "other". 5% children. 17% "civilians". - The Water Footprint of Crops
A fairly exhaustive accounting of the water embodied in various crop products in a 2011 paper by Mekonnen and Hoekstra. For each kg of rice, 14,000 liters of water. For each kg of beans, 5000 liters of water. Wow. - The NYT on Green Muni Utility Efforts
A piece largely referencing Boulder, talking about cities trying to wrest control of their electricity systems from major utilities. At this point I think I'll probably find any media coverage of this process hopelessly one dimensional, but still, it's nice to know they care.
- High Plains Aquifer Dwindles
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