Nov 7, 09
The Revolution Will Not Be Hand-Made: A Quick Sunday-Morning Rant
(A first stab at articulating some ideas. Thoughtful feedback welcome.) We're nearing an inflection point in our discussions about sustainability and building a bright green future. Mainly, this is because we're realizing that our task is larger and more pressing than we thought even a few years ago. It's not enough to be less destructive, to be more sustainable. We need to actually start being non-destructive, being as close to sustainable as we understand how to get. And we need to do it...
Green Collar Jobs Start With Basic Skills
By Roger Valdez Recent study reviews challenges and opportunites in renewable energy jobs.
Stiglitz and Sen's Manifesto on Measuring Economic Performance and Social Progress
A recent report commissioned by the French government (mentioned previously on WorldChanging) foreshadows why and how GDP should be supplemented as the de facto measure of progress. The authors are world-class - Joseph Stiglitz was the chair, advised by Amartya Sen. Commission members included Nobelists and creative thinkers Kenneth Arrow and Daniel Kahneman, Nick Stern of Stern Review fame, and Robert D. Putnam. We went through a phase transition a few years back, when the...
Iraq Approves Plan to Convert Rotting Dates to Bioethanol
Iraqi officials have endorsed a plan to convert dates into biofuel, an innovative project they hope will boost a once-thriving agriculture economy burdened by years of drought, government sanctions and war. A United Arab Emirates-based company will produce bioethanol from the dates that farmers can no longer use because they are rotting, said Faroun Ahmed Hussein, head of Iraq’s date palm board. The nation produces about 350,000 tons of dates annually, but consumes only about 150,000 tons....
When the Global Ponzi Scheme Collapses, the Only Jobs Left Will Be Green
I’m spending a few days in Elizabethtown College next week as a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow. One of the talks I’ve proposed is “Job Security in a Globally Warmed World: What you need to study to be employable in 2020 and 2040.” Perhaps the talk title should be “What Color is Your Parachute? It better be some shade of green.”I’d welcome your thoughts, since this is a tricky issue. For instance, will we be desperate for more marine biologists — or...
Is the U.S. consumption binge over? NYT reports "Sales of vegetable plants swelled fivefold in March over past years."
I noted a while back that the U.S. savings rate was on the rise, that it looks like U.S. carbon dioxide emissions peaked in 2007, that President Obama was making a big push toward making America a nation of creators as opposed to consumers, and asked in May, “Is the U.S. consumption binge over?” Well, I’m asking again: Have you personally seen evidence of permanent behavior shifts or is this is just a small speed bump on the Autobahn to oblivion. On Friday, a NYT piece,...
Money (And Jobs) On The Table
by Roger Valdez Millions for energy efficiencies available for Northwest states and local governments. When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus bill) passed in April it included $3.2 billion in bonding authority for states in Qualified Energy Efficiency Bonds (QECBs). The QECB program was actually increased from the $800 million that was passed in October of last year. Most states and local governments in the Northwest haven’t yet figured out exactly how they are...
The GSBI Video Blog, Part 3: Yugandhar Mandavkar from the State of Gujarat, India
by Francisco Noguera Through his organization, GRASP, Yugandhar Mandavkar is providing an alternative and sustainable solution for environmentally degraded areas where wood logs are the main fuel used for cooking purposes.Learn more about his model in this third installment of The GSBI Video Blog. This piece originally appeared on nextbillion.net Related posts: KickStart: Solving Poverty with Business Opportunity Ending Poverty Conservation Agriculture and Global Warming in Africa
Even With Economic Headwind, U.S. Still Adds 4,000 MW Of New Wind & And A Dozen New Factories
The U.S. wind energy industry installed 1,210 megawatts (MW) of new power generating capacity in the second quarter, bringing the total added this year to just over 4,000 MW – an amount larger than the 2,900 MW added in the first six months of 2008, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said today in its second quarter (Q2) market report [click here]. And this is after a record 2008 (see “U.S. wind energy grows by record 8,300 MW“), which in turn made this country the global...
IPCC Chief: Benefits of Tackling Climate Change Will Balance Cost of Action
by Damian Carrington The cost of tackling climate change will be paid for by benefits that would come from better energy security, employment and health, Rajendra Pachauri says ahead of major announcement on 2013 reports.Measures needed to tackle global warming could save economies more money than they cost, the world's top climate change expert said today.Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the Guardian: "The cost could undoubtedly be...
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