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Linkstream
- Canadian Oil Sands Flyover
An aerial/telephoto exploration of the Canadian Oil Sands operations. Two trillion barrels of oil in the ground. Pyramids of sulfur and coke. Lakes of oil stretching to the horizon. At $200k/yr, it's easy to understand how one might get roped in, gold rush style. - 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.
- Canadian Oil Sands Flyover
Twitterfeed
- Incredible photo essay on the Athabasca Tar Sands operations: businessinsider.com/canadian-oil-s… 11 minutes ago
- At a great talk about individual cities as the right scale for renewable energy systems innovation at #wref2012 3 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
Incoming Memes
Tag Archives: public
Links for the week of September 17th, 2009
If you want to follow my shared links in real time instead of as a weekly digest, head over to Delicious. You can search them there easily too.
Posted in linkstream
Tagged architecture, cities, creativecommons, design, domestic, flickr, freeway, health, infrastructure, insurance, law, media, parks, public, sharing, space, sustainability, technology, urban, violence, wikipedia, women, zipcar
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The Tragedy of the Marine Commons
I’ve made this parody before: Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat until the fish are extinct. All indications are that our grandkids won’t be big fans of … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged capitalism, economics, finance, fish, food, public, sustainability
2 Comments
Does this look Freegan to you?
Why are labels so attractive? One word shortcuts for frugal thinkers. Am I a freegan? What would that mean exactly? Who curates the definitions of our cultural -isms? Reading through the Wikipedia article on Freeganism (which is as close to … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged capitalism, dumpster diving, economics, food, freegan, garbage, information, landfill, material, money, personal, public, society, sustainability, trash, waste
5 Comments
A Dumpster Diving Tally
We went dumpster diving by bicycle again and came home with $200 worth of Trader Joe’s fare. I’ve itemized the food we got, with actual or estimated costs below.
Posted in journal
Tagged agriculture, consumerism, food, freegan, public, society, sustainability, trader joe's, waste
17 Comments
Framing Embeds Values in Scientific Facts
At the Sustainability Symposium last night (which was nominally about water footprints (PDF) and this paper on the international trade in virtual water) we ended up “off topic” and talking about science communication, public outreach, and how policy gets made. … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged caltech, communication, education, framing, outreach, policy, propaganda, public, science, sustainability
3 Comments
A Letter to David Bodansky
Hello Prof. Bodansky, I’m a PhD student in geophysics, and I just finished reading your book, Nuclear Energy. I appreciate the trouble you went to in the book to remain effectively neutral as to whether we ought to be pursuing … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged energy, letters, nuclear, probability, public, sustainability, technology
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Nuclear Energy by David Bodansky
I just finished David Bodansky’s 600+ page tome Nuclear Energy. It’s almost a textbook, but not quite. I don’t know who the intended audience is really. Other than me. Similar genre, broadly, as The High Cost of Free Parking. A … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged books, climate, energy, engineering, green, nuclear, policy, politics, public, reviews, sustainability
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There’s no place like “away”
Most things we buy are trash before we even get to know them well. Paul Hawken estimates (Natural Capitalism, p. 81) that only about 1% of the mass which we mine, harvest, or otherwise extract is still playing a useful … Continue reading
Posted in journal
Tagged compost, green, material, personal, public, recycling, sustainability, waste
2 Comments
O Brave New World, Where Are You?
After coming across Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s TED talk recently, and already being familiar with his stunning aerial photography, I was excited to see his film Home, about the Earth, and its dwellers. It is probably the most beautiful film I have … Continue reading
China and Continuum Privatization
We watched a Long Now talk last night, by Orville Schell (currently a fellow of the Asia Society in New York) entitled “China thinks long term, but can it re-learn how to act long term?“ His main point was that … Continue reading