Revolving DoorsRevolving DoorsA blog mainly dedicated to the concern of our madly accelerating world, destined to crumble if we don't slow down. A lot abaout global warming. Articles
Losing sense of proper judgment
2008-04-24 21:21:00 This evening a car forced itself through a wall of climate protesters blocking off a street, leaving two persons injured. The idiot driver got away but he was filmed and the registration plate was identified. The demonstration arranged by Klimax was legal and approved of beforehand by the police.When I drive, which I do as little as possible, I feel encapsulated, and my sense of attachment to the world outside diminishes greatly. I guess this numbness grows thicker the more you drive. From the outside you can see this stupor in the faces of people driving. I guess this false shell of security makes some people lose sense of proper judgment. Some drive faster than they should and others penetrate crowds of people.I think the cocoonish numbness that many car drivers get makes them negligent of what they are doing to themselves, to others and the climate. The perspective of things can change quite dramatically if you step out of the car and instead take the bicycle. To me it is like r... More About: Sense , Judgment
A sick world
2008-04-21 23:13:00 How many corporate logos can you name? How many birds or trees in your local habitat can you name? More About: World , Sick
A convergence of crisis: The 11th Hour:
2008-04-21 21:31:00 clipped from movies.nytimes.comYeah, yeah, yeah, the environment, blah, blah, blah, melting ice caps. To judge from all the gas-guzzlers still fouling the air and the plastic bottles clogging the dumps, it appears that the news that we are killing ourselves and the world with our greed and garbage hasn?t sunk in. That?s one reason ?The 11th Hour ,? an unnerving, surprisingly affecting documentary about our environmental calamity, is such essential viewing. It may not change your life, but it may inspire you to recycle that old slogan-button your folks pinned on their dashikis back in the day: If you?re not part of the solution, you?re part of the problem. More About: Convergence , Crisis , The 11th Hour
We Feed the World
2008-04-20 08:52:00 In We Feed the World , Austrian filmmaker Erwin Wagenhofer traces the origins of the food we eat. His journey takes him to France, Spain, Romania, Switzerland, Brazil and back to Austria.We Feed the World is a film about food and globalisation, fishermen and farmers, long-distance lorry drivers and high-powered corporate executives, the flow of goods and cash flow?a film about scarcity amid plenty. With its unforgettable images, the film provides insight into the production of our food and answers the question what world hunger has to do with us. More About: The World
Policy Dialogue
2008-04-18 23:01:00 Concluding panel discussion at Resilience 2008 with Anders Wijkman, Maria Wetterstrand, Johan Rockström, Siv Näslund and Bo Ekman. More About: Policy , Dialogue
Marten Scheffer: Critical transitions
2008-04-18 21:24:00 From Resilience 2008. FreeVideoCoding.com More About: Transitions , Critical
Will Steffen: The earth as a social-ecological system?
2008-04-18 21:15:00 From Resilience 2008.Slide show with some of the graphs appearing in the video. See more clips from the conference here. More About: Social , System , Earth
Living in the age of stupid
2008-04-16 21:09:00 On my way to work I was met by this ugly and disturbing ad from SAS: "Do you remember last summer?"I remember that we had a very hot June here in Sweden with temperatures as high as 38 degrees C. I remember that there were a lot of floods in England and in some parts of Sweden as well. The biblical fires in Greece and western USA also linger in my mind. With these memories I find it hard to feel an urge to book a flight to some distant resort. We live in the age of stupid.The very same ad was posted over and over again on almost all the ad signs of this street. Very ugly indeed. I wish I could sew them for this visual pollution.Another attribute of our bizarre age: More About: Living , Aviation , Stupid
The Age of Stupid
2008-04-15 23:04:00 What will future generations think of us? Perhaps they will refer to us as the ones who lived in the age of stupid. There is a new climate change documentary called just that: The Age of Stupid . Synopsis: This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world of 2055, watching "archive" footage from 2007 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change while we had the chance?The Age of Stupid in the news.A preview clip
Big Eyed Beans From Venus
2008-04-15 21:28:00 Beef cattle eat about 8kg of grain or meal for every kg of flesh they produce and the FAO calculates that animal keeping is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions. These facts have motivated me to eat less meat.It is quite a challenge to alter and modify your diet just like that but it is a rather fun process, a new culinary world opens up to you. I have discovered that the stabmixer is a very useful tool in this world of beans and greens. It is perfect for preparing the ingredients for various burgers. Today I tossed in chickpeas, kidney beans, garlic, onions, spinach, carrots and peas. A few stabs with the mixer and the batter was ready for the shaping of small balls to roll in potato starch flower and then off to the hot frying pan- easy. The difficult part is to make the kids eat it, especially the four-year-old. Captain Beefheart - Big Eyed Beans From Venus
Paul Ehrlich
2008-04-14 21:49:00 Here is an energetic talk by professor Paul Ehrlich, a pioneer of modern environmentalism, discussing a wide range of interesting topics.
Seeds of change
2008-04-13 23:36:00 It's about time that we wake up and open up our consciousness to what is going on. More About: Change , Seeds
Environmental wisdom
2008-04-13 22:50:00 David Suzuki gives us an almost spiritual perspective on the environmental matters in his film Suzuki Speaks. Interconnectedness...Part1See the rest of the film here. More About: Environmental , Wisdom
Zero-emission warfare
2008-04-13 21:09:00 In The Know: How Can We Make The War In Iraq More Eco-Friendly? More About: Emission , Warfare
Ecological accounting
2008-04-12 23:49:00 clipped from www.footprintnetwork.orgIn order to live, we consume what nature offers. Every action impacts the planet's ecosystems. This is of little concern as long as human use of resources does not exceed what the Earth can renew. But are we taking more? Today, humanity's Ecological Footprint is over 23% larger than what the planet can regenerate. In other words, it now takes more than one year and two months for the Earth to regenerate what we use in a single year. We maintain this overshoot by liquidating the planet's ecological resources. This is a vastly underestimated threat and one that is not adequately addressed.By measuring the Ecological Footprint of a population (an individual, a city, a nation, or all of humanity) we can assess our overshoot, which helps us manage our ecological assets more carefully. Ecological Footprints enable people to take personal and collective actions in support of a world where humanity lives within the means of one planet.In this film Dr.... More About: Accounting
A dysfunctional relationship
2008-04-11 23:18:00 The human enterprise has been expanding at an alarming rate and now the seams are about to burst. The mad race for growth has pushed us to an ecological overshoot. Resources are being consumed at a faster rate than what nature can produce, a dangerously dysfunctional relationship.Professor William ReesMore videos with Rees here. More About: Relationship
Green ad from Uppsala air
2008-04-10 20:49:00 Here is an ad from Uppsala Air, a company planning to transform a former airbase ground into a commercial airport for low cost aviation. The runways are only 5 km from downtown Uppsala.The ad was recently published in a local freely distributed newspaper, strategically embeded in a theme section about the environment. It reads "Are you dreaming of flying greener? Choose a cheaper ticket."Below the rapturous lady they say that they are in the process of building Europe's greenest airport, but they haven't yet attained any permission from the local authorities to proceed. They claim that there will be no congestion on the ground or in the sky. Considering the current oil situation this may very well be a likely scenario. They say low cost aviation is cleaner than conventional aviation because of newer planes and more efficient use. Even though they can be less pollutive the fact remains that aviation is the dirtiest means of transportation and it is steadily increasing year by year.... More About: Green , Aviation
Alternative aviation
2008-04-09 22:55:00 As conventional fossil powered heavier than air aviation is going down for a count with soaring fuel prices and a raising concern for climate change, what kind of air travel will emerge to replace it? Airships? It sounds like some futuristic dream, but why not? Aeroscraft ML866clipped from www.gizmag.comApril 8, 2008 A spectacular new type of aircraft is one step closer to take-off with the announcement that the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has accepted the type certification application for the Aeroscraft model Aeros ML866.?The Aeroscraft will be type certified as a new type of aircraft. This is a monumental step forward in the aerospace industry. It is a new dimension of flight ? an aircraft that utilizes adjustable buoyant and dynamic lift, creating unique capabilitiesbeyond what is available from any other air platform today,? said Aeros president and CEO Igor Pasternak. ?This is a significant milestone in an overall Aeroscraft developmen... More About: Alternative
American Airlines canceled 1000 + 460 flights
2008-04-09 21:04:00 Two days of mass cancellations for American Airlines due to safety inspections...clipped from money.cnn.com American Airlines (NYSE:AMR) canceled more than 1,000 flights Wednesday, more than one-third of its schedule, as it spent a second straight day inspecting the wiring on some of its jets -- the same issue that caused it to scrub hundreds of flights two weeks ago. The nation's biggest airline had already canceled 460 flights on Tuesday, stranding thousands of travelers. Federal inspectors found problems with wiring work done two weeks ago, although the airline says passenger safety was never jeopardized....making them less resilient in the tough times ahead.clipped from money.cnn.com The cancellations and resulting loss of revenue could hardly come at a worse time for American, which is facing high fuel prices and a weakening economy that could hurt demand for travel. AMR is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings in two weeks, and analysts are forecasting a loss of... More About: Flights , Aviation
New slideshow from Al Gore at TED talks
2008-04-09 17:00:00 In Al Gore 's brand-new slideshow, he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission" -- the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement -- to set it right. Gore's stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates' climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future. More About: Slideshow
How airlines tackle soaring fuel costs
2008-04-08 22:56:00 Airlines are going on a diet to survive.clipped from www.cnn.com With jet fuel prices so high, airlines have no choice but to scour their planes for ways to lighten the load. There's no room for even the smallest bits of dead weight, from redundant wing lights to extra wires in the walls. Manufacturers also are using lighter materials in plane construction.clipped from www.cnn.com "Reducing consumption is a certainty," Heimlich said. "You're always going to win by consuming less energy." To that end, carriers have pulled out unused ovens, magazine racks and trash compactors during the past few years. Some removed paper manuals in the cockpit and installed electronic maintenance logbooks. Last year, American replaced its silverware on business and first class with another set that was made from a lighter metal. Sherri Shamblin, US Airways vice president for InFlight Services, said management realized it could save fuel by simply replacing meal carts with ones that weigh 12 pounds l... More About: Airlines , Fuel , Aviation , Soaring , Costs
Flashforwards
2008-04-07 23:14:00 Having kids gives me a strong connection to the future. When I look at my two boys I often get flashforwards. I see them in the future. Mostly I envision hardship and it breaks my heart. These flashforwards combined with the knowledge that I have gained in the process of writing this blog, motivate me strongly to change. Thomas Homer-Dixon mentioned this parent-child-future-loop in a great speech previously posted here, and it sent shivers up my spine.
350 ppm
2008-04-07 21:59:00 clipped from www.businessgreen.comPressure on politicians to agree to far more demanding emission reduction targets than those currently being considered will increase today with the release of a new scientific study that claims the climate crisis is far more serious than currently thought.The study from James Hansen, head of the Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, and eight other climate scientists is posted today on the Archive website and argues that the EU target of stabilising the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere at 550 parts per million (ppm)is grossly inadequate.clipped from www.guardian.co.uk"If you leave us at 450ppm for long enough it will probably melt all the ice - that's a sea rise of 75 metres. What we have found is that the target we have all been aiming for is a disaster - a guaranteed disaster," Hansen told the Guardian.At levels as high as 550ppm, the world would warm by 6C, the paper finds. Previous estimates had suggested warming would be just 3...
Shaving
2008-04-07 21:15:00 In the mornings I feel bad about having warm water running wastefully while I shave.Yesterday I finally got myself a plastic bowl to clean the razor in. I once tried using one of the kitchen bowls but my wife didn't approve of it. Now that I have my own shaving bowl I hope my changed shaving habit will become a more permanent one. More About: Shaving
What on earth shall we have for dinner tonight?
2008-04-07 06:48:00 Changing habits can be difficult especially when it comes to food. As you probably know already, eating less meat is a necessary thing to do to reduce your carbon footprint. If you don't know what to cook, here are two good posts from The Urban Vegan that may give you some inspiration:Summer express: 101 Simple vegan meals ready in 10 Minutes or LessAutumn express: 101 Simple vegan meals ready in 10 Minutes or Less More About: Earth , Dinner , Tonight
Ecovaganza
2008-04-06 21:48:00 Normally when I do the grocery shopping I have to look rather carefully for the eco-products but today it was difficult to miss them. There were eco-stuff all over and they were flagged with big green clovers.
Disturbing ads from SAS
More articles from this author:2008-04-06 21:03:00 "Don't miss your important meetings.""The new domestic aviation 450 :-""Business aviation for private people"I don't like the way they use kids in their ads. The kids are the ones that will have to live with the consequences of these trips. More About: Aviation 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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