technology & sustainability — #
John Thackara: Regarding The Pain Of The Planet
Do you simply love iPhones, wind turbines, cloud computing, and electric cars? Good, because the following may be of interest.
9 March 2012
13 December 2011
sustainability & technology — #
Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas
5 December 2011
food & sustainability — #
Waldo Jaquith: On the impracticality of a cheeseburger.
Further reflection revealed that it’s quite impractical—nearly impossible—to make a cheeseburger from scratch. Tomatoes are in season in the late summer. Lettuce is in season in the fall. Mammals are slaughtered in early winter. The process of making such a burger would take nearly a year, and would inherently involve omitting some core cheeseburger ingredients. It would be wildly expensive—requiring a trio of cows—and demand many acres of land. There’s just no sense in it.
A cheeseburger cannot exist outside of a highly developed, post-agrarian society. It requires a complex interaction between a handful of vendors—in all likelihood, a couple of dozen—and the ability to ship ingredients vast distances while keeping them fresh. The cheeseburger couldn’t have existed until nearly a century ago as, indeed, it did not.
2 November 2011
sustainability — #
Making Sense of 7 Billion People
Ants and krill and bacteria occupy an entirely different ecological level. A more appropriate comparison can be made between humans and other apex predators, which is precisely the ecological role humans evolved to play, and which — beneath our civilized veneer — we still are.
According to a back-of-the-envelope calculation, there are about 1.7 million other top-level, land-dwelling, mammalian predators on Earth. Put another way: For every non-human mammal sharing our niche, there are more than 4,000 of us.
In short, humans are Earth’s great omnivore, and our omnivorous nature can only be understood at global scales. Scientists estimate that 83 percent of the terrestrial biosphere is under direct human influence. Crops cover some 12 percent of Earth’s land surface, and account for more than one-third of terrestrial biomass. One-third of all available fresh water is diverted to human use.
21 September 2011
san-francisco & sustainability — #
This stinks: Hayes Valley Farm forced to uproot due to condo plan in San Francisco neighborhood
2 September 2011
food & sustainability — #
Back to the Start is one of the most fantastic ads you will have seen in awhile.
Also worth checking out: the behind-the-scenes photos of how they made it.
28 August 2011
sustainability & business — #
We Can Do Better Than Six Miles Per Gallon: Redesigning America’s Truck Fleet
21 August 2011
sustainability & technology — #
13-Year-Old Designs Efficient Solar Array Inspired By Oak Trees
14 August 2011
science & sustainability — #
The Financial Times weighs in on recent trends in biomimicry
In a truly sustainable world, we would build our homes using only recyclable materials, renewable energy and without any waste. It seems impossible – and yet that is how the rest of nature operates.
9 August 2011
sustainability & business — #
Ray Anderson, sustainable business pioneer, dies aged 77
7 August 2011
sustainability & design — #
Dara O’Rourke’s Seven Design Principles for Sustainable Design
sustainability & politics — #
The Link Between Peak Oil and Peak Debt and part 2 of the same article
6 July 2011
sustainability & north-america — #
New Report Details Threats to America’s National Parks
Many of them are in jeopardy, according to a new report from the National Parks Conservation Association, “in the face of pollution, invasive species, climate change, energy development, adjacent land development and chronic funding shortfalls.”