Tag Archives: Power Plants

The Politics of the Anthropocene Part 1: The Triggers.

Last week I listed three articles that prompted me to shift my focus from the ongoing 2016 presidential campaigns to the more abstract aspects of politicizing the Anthropocene, but I did not have time to speak about the articles in … Continue reading

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State Destruction and the Cuban Embargo

My small series of blogs regarding Cuba cannot possibly have a global impact on these issues, so what am I doing writing it? In last week’s blog I warned about the dangers of a country (or group of countries) trying … Continue reading

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COP21: Industry Commitments to Sustainability and Using Consumer Pressure to Keep Promises

Last week’s blog looked at Unilever’s CEO’s attempts to make his company sustainable. Unilever is not alone in promising to be more environmentally friendly in the long term. One of the less discussed achievements of COP21 was the mobilization of … Continue reading

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Assessment: Shenzhen’s Mudslide and a Prognosis for the Planet?

Figure 1– Shenzhen Mudslide New Year’s Eve is around the corner, which makes this a great time to reflect on the last three months and follow up on my Fall Assessment (September 22, 2015). As far as global focus on … Continue reading

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COP21- Anticipations

The COP21 meeting is over, as is my student’s final exam, 60% of which depended on an evaluation of the conference. What’s next for my students and the world at large? My class material for next semester will answer the … Continue reading

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The Extended Golden Rule

Last week I looked at how Pope Francis used the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12) as an anchor for his call for global change. I ended with an attempt to … Continue reading

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The Drop in Oil Price and What it Means

The test of any major transition is in its response to a sharp perturbation. Often such disturbances come in the form of a major war. Fortunately, the present global energy transition is being tested in a much more peaceful manner. … Continue reading

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Predicting the Future and its Impacts

In the last blog (June 30th) I started to investigate the impact of the recent large drop in global oil prices on the global energy transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources. The sharp decline in oil prices has … Continue reading

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NIMBY as a Business Strategy

The June 9, 2015 blog focused on traditional NIMBY arguments in the context of attitudes toward wind farms. The main issue I raised was that if we are making the statement that we object to wind farms because they are … Continue reading

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NIMBY: Wind vs. Fossil Fuels

Last week I focused on Texas. In spite of its strong inclination toward state autonomy, reluctance to implement new taxes, and its heavy dependence on fossil fuels, it is playing a vital role in the energy transition: The state is … Continue reading

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