Nov 22, 09
What Will Tourism Be Like In The Twenties?
By Anna Simpson Is long and luxurious replacing the no-frills minibreak as the tourist trend of the future? Anna Simpson packs her bags. Two drifters, off to see the world. There's such a lot of world to see. (Johnny Mercer, 1961) There’s something gloriously slow about the sort of tourism evoked in Moon River. It’s impossible to sing the song at a lick, with its lyrics stretched out over long bars towards the distant dream of a stylish, ‘some day’ trip. You imagine the two...
Worldchanging Timeline: 2003-2009
We here at Worldchanging just celebrated our sixth anniversary! In addition to publishing a series of "101" posts, highlighting some of the iconic pieces we've published over the years, and a primer on blogs and other resources we lean heavily upon, we though that it might also be useful to share a timeline of the project so far, noting some representative events, to give the interested reader a sense of where we came from and how we got here; perhaps knowing something of the evolution of...
Pumping Up the Grid: Key Step to Green Energy
by Michael Noble The U.S can build all the wind turbines and solar arrays it wants, but until it does something about improving its outmoded electricity grid, renewable energy will never reach its potential. What we need is a new electricity transmission system, with the costs shared by all. As America gets serious about the twin crises of oil dependency and climate change, many analysts believe that wind power — and eventually solar power — will make the largest carbon-free...
The Chinese Dream
The Chinese Dream: A Society Under Construction by the Dynamic City Foundation, Neville Mars, Adrian Hornsby The result of several years of work by experts reflecting on possible scenarios for urbanization in China in 2020, the urban (near) future of China is analyzed in this book from every angle: economics, society, ecology, energy, architecture, urban planning and politics. The Chinese Dream presents a mirror to western societies, reflecting the crossroad where we are forced to stop...
Pioneer City 2030: What the Energy System of the Future Looks Like
The energy system of the future is being founded now. New energy systems and technologies are growing on an accelerating curve: • Buildings that are green, super-efficient and fully managed by digital technologies have become economically competitive. • Hybrid vehicles partly propelled by electricity have emerged in the market, with plug-in vehicles coming over the next several years. • Smart electric grids that employ digital technology to manage power supply and demand are...
Solar Plan Could Revolutionize India's Energy Sector
A leaked early version of the Indian Government's national solar energy plan indicates that India may be thinking more ambitiously about a "clean energy" road map than was previously anticipated. The draft strategy, first published in The Hindu, outlines plans for a national target of 200,000 megawatts of solar generation capacity by 2050. This is 1.3 times India's current installed power generation capacity of 150,000 megawatts across all energy sectors. Although the Prime Minister's...
Fifth Scenario Thinking
Heard this nice buzzphrase: "fifth scenario planning." In much conventional scenario planning, two essential questions are turned into axes on a graph, creating four sectors, each of which becomes a world or scenario. By finding strategies which perform well in each of these worlds and comparing them, planners can find the set of strategies which are most robust in all of the worlds, and thus, hopefully, most vigorous in real life. The idea of fifth scenario planning is to anticipate a...
Obama Tells Business Roundtable: “If You’re Giving Away Carbon Permits For Free … It Doesn’t Work” And “The Science Is Overwhelming”
Obama spoke to the CEO's from the world's biggest companies yesterday and, "offered his most extensive remarks on global warming policy since taking office yesterday," as E&E Daily (subs req’d) reports. At the Business Roundtable meeting, Obama reaffirmed that, "I said during the campaign we were looking at a hundred percent auction," and warned inaction was not an option because we face a return to $150 a barrel oil and serious climate impacts: The science is overwhelming. This is a...
Decolonizing Architecture - Scenarios for the Transformation of Israeli Settlements
While in Brussels a few days ago, I made a beeline for the Bozar to see an exhibition with a very promising title: Decolonizing Architecture. The show was way better and more subtle than I could have imagined from a superficial reading of its description. Military Camp of Oush Grab © Francesco Mattuzzi Decolonizing Architecture, a research undertaken by architects Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti and architect and theorist Eyal Weizman, throws architecture into the arms of burning social...
Jim Hansen's Letter to Obama
Jim Hansen, in his latest newsletter, shares the letter he'll be sending President-elect Obama (PDF). Much of it is quite in line with the Inaugurate Change letter (which you can sign here). Certainly both share the same sense of urgency and the need for a ringing call to action. Hansen is less convinced about energy efficiency and renewables, and pays less attention to urban planning and infrastructure, than many folks in the Worldchanging network (though to be fair, he spends most of his...
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