Yearly Archives: 2012

Happy New Year: We are Now Part of Nature

My intention was for this to be a very positive blog, focusing on what I have learned during 2012 from my students and all the commentators that posted their comments on this blog, emailed me directly their comments or expressed … Continue reading

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A Stuttering Energy Transition

Figure 1 The EIA (Energy Information Administration) data (see October 15 blog) clearly shows that the US is in the midst of an energy transition. It may not be exactly the one needed to mitigate climate change – but we’re … Continue reading

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Vive La France

The Festival of Lights in Lyon, France, expresses gratitude to Mary, mother of Jesus, on December 8 every year. My French 2nd cousin who lives in Paris emailed me that this year, one central display, shown below, was being powered … Continue reading

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Two Shades of Audience

Over the last two weeks, I was invited to give two different talks. One was to take place as part of another school’s Physics Department’s seminar program, and the other as part of an Economics Student Club at my own … Continue reading

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Tackling Environmental Justice: Sovereign State against the Individual.

Last week, I started the discussion of how developing countries can contribute to alleviating anthropogenic (human caused) climate change.  The main goal is to mitigate climate change by achieving a global agreement to transition to more sustainable energy choices. I … Continue reading

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Tackling Environmental Justice: a Global Perspective.

In a previous blog (November 5) I wrote about Governor Romney’s response to a direct question from ScienceDebate about his thoughts on Climate Change. The elections are now over, but the issues are still with us. I want to discuss … Continue reading

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Tackling Environmental Justice: a Local Perspective.

About a week ago, I went to Stony Brook University, where I am collaborating with Prof. Lori Scarlatos from the Department of Technology and Society, in constructing a simulation/game. Its aim is to allow students (and everybody else) to find … Continue reading

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Man’s Power Versus Nature’s Power: the Wrong Distinction

I wrote this blog on Wednesday: immediately following the election, a full week after Sandy (I live in NYC – we’ve been trying to fix some of the damage) and in the middle of a new Northeaster that was dumping … Continue reading

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Global Warming and Energy Independence

I have no idea who will win the presidential election tomorrow. The fact is that climate change went almost unmentioned in both campaigns, and was not discussed at all in any of the three presidential debates. Some blame the moderators … Continue reading

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The Limit to Growth – The Two Shades

I was scanning the internet, trying to find other advocates for what I have recently started to call the 4th Industrial Revolution (October 22) — a revolution that will be fueled by sustainable energy sources, replacing the ones that pollute … Continue reading

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