The Danish Model
Thomas Friedman contrasts US energy policy and US behavior to the way Danes live and have structured their lives to be energy-efficient, and almost energy-independent.
Healthier Eating is also good for the environment!
A study from Cornell University demonstrates a correlation between junk/unhealthful food and energy costs. Artificial stuff, junk food and red meat all require more energy and natural resources to produce than fruits, nuts, veggies, etc. So by eating real foods, you are not just helping your health - you are also helping reduce greenhouse emissions.
The Valley of Peace
Some will criticize this as Shimon Peres’s much-discounted "New Middle East" vision, but I love it, and I am confident that if Israelis and Palestinians get their act together and accept the historical compromises necessary to a comprehensive permanent agreement, this will only be the beginning. Check out this vision for the future of the Arava, intersecting Israel, Jordan and Palestine. It fits nicely within OneVoice’s Imagine 2018 Project.
Rising Tide Against Bottled Water
The article below points to local opposition to water bottling facilities, but does not even highlight one of the biggest reasons why bottled water is causing such backlash: it’s plastic bottles overwhelming negative environmental impact…
The Danger of Plastic Bags
If you really want to understand the implications of our lifestyle, you should take a look at this scary presentation about the impact that plastic bags are having on the environment, and how this will come back and haunt us.
Better Primaries
A USA Today editorial provided a very smart suggestion on how US primaries could be conducted in a more democratic, environmentally-effective, organized way that is also more likely to yield the best candidates: regional block primaries.
Fueled by Trash
So I guess the Zaidmans are not the only ones running their van on vegetable oil. Greg Melville reports in the New York Times - Greased Lightning - about how he powers his station wagon with left-over waste oil from french fries. He makes the point - if $1,000 can help him refurbish his engine this way, shouldn’t the big car companies be able to get it together once and for all?
Can you blame "speculators"?
I was initially persuaded by media and pundit assertions that what is behind this meteoric rise in raw materials is at least connected to "speculation" - ie, hedge funds plowing in billions into commodity future contracts and other financial investments that make the goods artificially rise in cost.
But look at the Deutsche Bank chart (which my law school buddy Stanley Haar shared with me) below.
Non-Exchange traded commodities have risen more than those traded on exchanges. Unless hedge funds are also buying the physical goods in all these sectors, the more likely culprits are sheer global over-consumption and over-consumerism. For years the mantra was that we should only hope the rest of the world will have a standard of living that is closer to the Western world’s. Now that India and China are more than catching up, we are learning how this taxes our planet.
A better plan would be for all of us to learn to live just a little bit more modestly and less wastefully.
Just say it: we need to live more modestly
To handle the energy, the scarcity of natural resources from food to raw materials, the dangers of increasing waste and overflowing landfills, and to slow down the threats of climate change, a wide range of measures are being discussed, from tech and scientific progress to come up with cleaner renewable energies, to carbon-trading, resource-planning, energy conservation, etc. etc.
But what policy makers don’t talk about and which our world needs to come to terms with is that we need to learn to live more modestly! So much waste in every aspect of our lives. SUVs drive me nuts. The digital economy could not arrive soon enough - more consumption will increasingly be digital, which takes less space and energy, hopefully.
Is a slow-down in consumerism going to lead to "economic pain" from less economic growth? And if so, isn’t that a price we should need to accept as a condition to continue inhabiting this planet?
The Death of Bottled Water
The astronomical rise in plastic bottle consumption must be giving every thoughtful person some pause. Fox News, which nobody would confuse as a bastion of progressive causes, has been earnestly tackling this issue, with reporters visibly concerned - as citizens who think about the environmental hazards that come with such wasteful production.
Think about it: We are manufacturing a whole plastic container that will take well over 500 years to decompose (if at all), for just one fleeting serving of water that could be consumed from a faucet, a glass, or a carry-on container without creating that waste.
Bottled water is extremely convenient, so it won’t die all too soon. But it should become more of a social stigma as the landfills fill up. And eventually other solutions will help decrease over-consumption of these bottles.
-
Progressive Business Ventures
-
Enterpreneurial Social Ventures
