This last week I watched part of Niall Ferguson’s “Civilization: The West and the Rest” series, one of two video segments exploring aspects of Western culture that have set it apart from others. The show is visually rich, with splices of early 20th century footage and modern cityscapes, with Ferguson himself often on camera and […]
I’ve written about the need we have on this small planet for convergence, including in this post, “Galloping Consumption,” from just about three years back now. The following is a great little movie, succinctly illustrating the situation. Thanks to Germanwatch for this and for all the excellent work that they do. P.S. Further to this, […]
Amid all the doom and gloom that the media and some of the major environmental groups promulgated before, during and after Copenhagen last December, some voices pointed out that there were important breakthroughs. One important group, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), noted that “… for the first time, all major economies, including China, India, […]
The Danes have a lot to teach us. Samsø is a lab for the rest of the world on how to achieve carbon neutrality. Betsy Kolbert wrote a wonderful piece a couple of years ago: The Island in the Wind. And I’ve written here a few times about “convergence” and how we can have health […]
I’ve wondered out loud here several times about convergence – getting our galloping consumption down in the developed world while simultaneously raising the standard of living for the citizens of developing nations. You can do this a thousand different ways, most of which can “cool” the planet. One critical approach is for developing economies to […]
Tom Friedman, a High Panjandrum of the Cognoscenti, has a column today that indicates that his sense of the dire pass into which this civilization of ours has fallen is growing. I’ve written about Galloping Consumption and I’ve noted, here, that one important commentator, Bill McKibben, has taken Friedman to school on his Green Fantasia. […]
According to CoalSpeak, The Official CoalRegion Dictionary, the above term refers to “tuberculosis, or some virulent strain of TB. Consumption was a common word for tuberculosis many years ago (“consuming’ the lung tissue). “Galloping’ refers to the speed at which the disease progresses.” Ironic, perhaps, that I’m using this term to illustrate one of the […]