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- Clean energy will unfortunately be political
Conservative thinktanks step up attacks against Obama's clean energy strategy, as revealed by ALEC bills and other PR documents. This morning at the World Renewable Energy Forum, in response to a (long winded) question about how we might re-frame the energy discussion in light of the unfortunate hay which was made from Solyndra's failure, US Energy Secretary Stephen Chu re-iterated that clean energy should not be a political issue -- that it's just common sense. That may be true, but it doesn't mean it will remain apolitical. As Pericles once said... "Just because you do not take an interest in - The Dangerous World of Underground Chemistry
A look at the increasingly outsourced world of underground pharma. Domestic black-market chemists handle R&D and distribution, and the actual manufacturing is done in China. Seems that way with everything. - Google Street View for building energy efficiency
Essess is doing drive-by thermal imaging in high density urban areas across the US, hoping to target possible building energy efficiency opportunities. Another company is using urban satellite imagery to choose the best rooftops for solar energy siting. Big Brother may be watching you... but at least occasionally he's got the right idea. - The Neapolitan Mob’s Most Dangerous Family
A character sketch of Paolo di Lauro, one of the Neapolitan Camorra's former leaders. Southern Italy it seems, like some parts of Mexico, operates with more than one quasi-state organization governing in parallel. A tacit negotiation between the official and unofficial systems, which sometimes erupts into violence -- ironically, at those times when the so-called "criminal" organizations have become weak. - Underneath Paris
There's a secret society underneath Paris. Two thousand years worth of tunnels and passageways ready to explore.
- Clean energy will unfortunately be political
Twitterfeed
- At a great talk about individual cities as the right scale for renewable energy systems innovation at #wref2012 2 days ago
- Heard rural Wyoming folk talking local Chinese coal/gas investments, hacking of their SCADA water system. I live in a @GreatDismal future. 3 days ago
- The tar sands have to stay in the ground. Stop the pipeline… again. And again. And again, if necessary. act.350.org/sign/kxl/ 3 months ago
- Roughly 2/3 of all the humans who have ever reached the age of 65 are alive today. 3 months ago
- What I learned about coal industry finances this week: amateurearthling.org/2012/01/13/coa… 4 months ago
Incoming Memes
Tag Archives: books
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
I just finished reading Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins. It’s his personal account of working as an economic forecaster for an international infrastructure engineering and consulting company called Chas. T. Main during the 1970s (it’s since … Continue reading
Tagged books, debt, development, economics, imf, reviews, world bank
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The Evolution of Cooperation by Robert Axelrod
The Evolution of Cooperation was, somewhat surprisingly, a story about math. Math that actually describes a lot of things in life. It’s the story of The Prisoner’s Dilemma. What makes The Prisoner’s Dilemma interesting, is that the players in the … Continue reading
Tagged books, cooperation, evolution, politics, reviews, science
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The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
The World Without Us is an exploration of what the Earth would be like, and has been like, in the absence of H. sapiens. This book was as much a look at how we have changed the world as it … Continue reading
Tagged books, earth, environment, extinct, humans, intelligence, population, reviews, sustainability
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The Two Mile Time Machine by Richard B. Alley
It’s as if we are pointing a revolver to our collective head, and in order to figure out whether there are any bullets in the gun, we’ve decided to pull the trigger. It’s worse than Russian roulette, because we don’t even know how many rounds the gun holds. We also just keep pulling the trigger. Every additional 100ppm of CO2 we put into the atmosphere is another gentle squeeze with our finger. Continue reading