That is the title of the editorial (linked above) in the September 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review.
So, get the to a news stand...
Two of the articles in it:
On the Horizon: Six Sources of Limitless Energy? Gardiner Morse
Why Sustainability Is Now the Key Driver of Innovation
Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad, and M.R. Rangaswami
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wal-Mart Sustainable Product Index
Wal-Mart's Sustainable Product Index page
Be sure to check out the documents under Related Resources at the above linked pages.
Harvard Business School piece on the same
Be sure to check out the documents under Related Resources at the above linked pages.
Harvard Business School piece on the same
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Northern Exposure
From Edge.org .
"The rapidity and severity of Arctic warming is truly dramatic. However, the Arctic, a relatively small, thinly populated region, will always be marginal in terms of its raw social and economic impact on the rest of us. The greater story lies to the south, penetrating deeply into the "Northern Rim," a vast zone of economically significant territory and adjacent ocean owned by the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. As in the Arctic, climate change there has already begun. This zone — which constitutes almost 30 percent of the Earth’s land area and is home to its largest remaining forests, its greatest untouched mineral, water, and energy reserves, and a (growing) population of almost 100 million people — will undergo one of the most profound biophysical and social expansions of this century." Read more...
"The rapidity and severity of Arctic warming is truly dramatic. However, the Arctic, a relatively small, thinly populated region, will always be marginal in terms of its raw social and economic impact on the rest of us. The greater story lies to the south, penetrating deeply into the "Northern Rim," a vast zone of economically significant territory and adjacent ocean owned by the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. As in the Arctic, climate change there has already begun. This zone — which constitutes almost 30 percent of the Earth’s land area and is home to its largest remaining forests, its greatest untouched mineral, water, and energy reserves, and a (growing) population of almost 100 million people — will undergo one of the most profound biophysical and social expansions of this century." Read more...
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Where to put the lever
New York Times Magazine section today examines how Women's Rights around the world is one of the great issues of our time.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Stewart Brand on the EDGE
Stewart Brand video on the Third Culture site Edge, about his up coming book.
From the video/site:
"Forty years ago, I could say in the Whole Earth Catalog, "we are as gods, we might as well get good at it". Photographs of earth from space had that god-like perspective....
What I'm saying now is we are as gods and have to get good at it. Necessity comes from climate change, potentially disastrous for civilization. The planet will be okay, life will be okay. We will lose vast quantities of species, probably lose the rain forests if the climate keeps heating up. So it's a global issue, a global phenomenon. It doesn't happen in just one area. The planetary perspective now is not just aesthetic. It's not just perspective. It's actually a world-sized problem that will take world sized solutions that involves forms of governance we don't have yet. It involves technologies we are just glimpsing. It involves what ecologists call ecosystem engineering. Beavers do it, earthworms do it. They don't usually do it at a planetary scale. We have to do it at a planetary scale. A lot of sentiments and aesthetics of the environmental movement stand in the way of that.
On the other hand a lot of the experience in the environment movement of doing some things right like being worried about climate very early is part and parcel of what it will take to fix the problem. But it's going to take engineering. But environmentalists don't like engineering. It's going to take a lot more science that environmentalists have to learn to be non-selective about. They like climate science but they are not interested in nuclear science. They like climate science but they are not interested in genetic engineering science. That's what needs to change."
From the video/site:
"Forty years ago, I could say in the Whole Earth Catalog, "we are as gods, we might as well get good at it". Photographs of earth from space had that god-like perspective....
What I'm saying now is we are as gods and have to get good at it. Necessity comes from climate change, potentially disastrous for civilization. The planet will be okay, life will be okay. We will lose vast quantities of species, probably lose the rain forests if the climate keeps heating up. So it's a global issue, a global phenomenon. It doesn't happen in just one area. The planetary perspective now is not just aesthetic. It's not just perspective. It's actually a world-sized problem that will take world sized solutions that involves forms of governance we don't have yet. It involves technologies we are just glimpsing. It involves what ecologists call ecosystem engineering. Beavers do it, earthworms do it. They don't usually do it at a planetary scale. We have to do it at a planetary scale. A lot of sentiments and aesthetics of the environmental movement stand in the way of that.
On the other hand a lot of the experience in the environment movement of doing some things right like being worried about climate very early is part and parcel of what it will take to fix the problem. But it's going to take engineering. But environmentalists don't like engineering. It's going to take a lot more science that environmentalists have to learn to be non-selective about. They like climate science but they are not interested in nuclear science. They like climate science but they are not interested in genetic engineering science. That's what needs to change."
Toolkit Resources
"The Toolkit Resources section of the Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands Toolkit for Formal and Informal Educators provides a dynamic list of the top resources developed and recommended by the partner agencies. Please check back regularly as this list will continue to grow."
California Dreaming
California's adaptation strategy draft posted for public comment. PDF, 161 pages.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Stewart Brand's New Book
The title above links to a talk by Stewart Brand. It covers some of the stuff in his new book, coming out in October 2009.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Wargaming Climate Change
If you missed "On Point" last night, click the title above. One of the best things on climate change & the Pentagon/CIA I have run into of late.
Guests (from the On Point Site):
Andrew Revkin, environment reporter for The New York Times and author of “The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World.” He writes the Dot Earth blog.
Amanda Dory, deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. She is lead the drafter of the next Quadrennial Defense Review, which is due in February 2010.
Sharon Burke, vice president for natural security at the Center for a New American Security. She has directed an international climate change war game and other energy security projects in conjunction with experts in and out of the military.
Gen. Paul Kern, a retired four-star Army general. He now on the military advisory board of CNA, a non-profit research organization which operates the Institute for Public Research and the Center for Naval Analyses. In the last two years, CNA has issued two seminal reports on climate change, energy and national security. He is president and chief operating officer of AM General, which supplies the military with Humvee vehicles.
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2009/08/11/climate-change-and-national-security
And, in case you missed it, the CNA report National Security & the Threat of Climate Change
And, in true DOD style, the briefing on the report.
Guests (from the On Point Site):
Andrew Revkin, environment reporter for The New York Times and author of “The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World.” He writes the Dot Earth blog.
Amanda Dory, deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. She is lead the drafter of the next Quadrennial Defense Review, which is due in February 2010.
Sharon Burke, vice president for natural security at the Center for a New American Security. She has directed an international climate change war game and other energy security projects in conjunction with experts in and out of the military.
Gen. Paul Kern, a retired four-star Army general. He now on the military advisory board of CNA, a non-profit research organization which operates the Institute for Public Research and the Center for Naval Analyses. In the last two years, CNA has issued two seminal reports on climate change, energy and national security. He is president and chief operating officer of AM General, which supplies the military with Humvee vehicles.
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2009/08/11/climate-change-and-national-security
And, in case you missed it, the CNA report National Security & the Threat of Climate Change
And, in true DOD style, the briefing on the report.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Fun Stuff
Paleoclimatology is the study of Earth's climate, and the changes therein, through out the planet's history.
Given the leaps in method and technology over the last few decades in this area, it is getting very interesting.
NOAA Paleoclimatology
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html
Google Search for Paleoclimatology
"Historical climatology" is the study of historical changes in climate and their effect on human history and development.
start with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_climatology
Goggle Search on the same
Given the leaps in method and technology over the last few decades in this area, it is getting very interesting.
NOAA Paleoclimatology
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleo.html
Google Search for Paleoclimatology
"Historical climatology" is the study of historical changes in climate and their effect on human history and development.
start with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_climatology
Goggle Search on the same
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Roadmap to Sustainable Government Buildings
From United States Green Building Council (LEED)
Roadmap to Sustainable Government Buildings
"The Roadmap to Sustainable Government Buildings is a collection of resources developed by governments with established and emerging green building programs. The Roadmap draws on these resources to suggest strategies for developing a green building program within a typical government entity framework. The USGBC Government Sector will work to refine and update this information with the experiences from government green building programs across the country.
The Roadmap includes:
An introduction to Sustainability Goals and an overview of LEED Certification LEED Training opportunities for staff and project teams.
Pre-project Planning support for early stages of project planning, including budgeting, contracting, procurement, and compliance.
Resources for project management of New Construction and Existing Buildings projects.
Program Administration and Green Building Program guidance for increasing the scope and scale of a green building program and suggested resources for satisfying reporting requirements.
Additional Resources list of templates, guides, and other resources created by governments to assist staff working on green building projects."
PDF copy of Roadmap document: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=5486
Roadmap to Sustainable Government Buildings
"The Roadmap to Sustainable Government Buildings is a collection of resources developed by governments with established and emerging green building programs. The Roadmap draws on these resources to suggest strategies for developing a green building program within a typical government entity framework. The USGBC Government Sector will work to refine and update this information with the experiences from government green building programs across the country.
The Roadmap includes:
An introduction to Sustainability Goals and an overview of LEED Certification LEED Training opportunities for staff and project teams.
Pre-project Planning support for early stages of project planning, including budgeting, contracting, procurement, and compliance.
Resources for project management of New Construction and Existing Buildings projects.
Program Administration and Green Building Program guidance for increasing the scope and scale of a green building program and suggested resources for satisfying reporting requirements.
Additional Resources list of templates, guides, and other resources created by governments to assist staff working on green building projects."
PDF copy of Roadmap document: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=5486
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