Category Archives: Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security

Squaring the genetically modified crop circle – opinion – 24 May 2012 – New Scientist

Matthew Nisbet has this right: If researchers want to make progress with genetically modified crops, they must join their opponents in examining regulation. Squaring the genetically modified crop circle – opinion – 24 May 2012 – New Scientist.

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Philosophy Matters — Examining the Value of Knowledge | Office of Research and Economic Development

Bob and I discuss the value of philosophy. Philosophy Matters — Examining the Value of Knowledge | Office of Research and Economic Development.

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New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years

“Simply put, [the rock layers] are not impermeable,” said the study’s author, Tom Myers, an independent hydrogeologist whose clients include the federal government and environmental groups. “The Marcellus shale is being fracked into a very high permeability,” he said. “Fluids could move … Continue reading

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‘Huge’ Water Resource Discovered Under Africa – Cui Bono?

Scientists say the notoriously dry continent of Africa is sitting on a vast reservoir of groundwater. They argue that the total volume of water in aquifers underground is 100 times the amount found on the surface. The team have produced … Continue reading

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Arup | Designing the new normal

Our world is changing; it always has and it always will. Our greatest challenge is often not how to recognize change, but what to do about it. What responsibility does it place upon designers? I believe that a big part … Continue reading

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More Americans Linking Global Warming to Extreme Weather

A poll due for release on Wednesday shows that a large majority of Americans believe that this year’s unusually warm winter, last year’s blistering summer and some other weather disasters were probably made worse by global warming. And by a 2-to-1 … Continue reading

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George P. Mitchell, fracking, and scientific innovation. – Slate Magazine

CSID Fellow Adam Briggle argues that it’s time to frack the innovation system. We need to frack the innovation system—create fissures to let in more people and more perspectives. Researchers must obtain the informed consent of individuals participating in trials … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, CSID Publications, Environmental policy, Gas Fracking, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security, Transformative Research | 1 Comment

Republican Meteorologist: Conservatism and Conservation Aren’t Mutually Exclusive

ThinkProgress posts a message from a critically endangered species: a Republican who believes climate change is occurring: I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real. I am a … Continue reading

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What Isn’t for Sale?

In this essay for The Atlantic, Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel (whose course on Justice is available for free online) asks a much-needed question: what are the hidden social costs of free market triumphalism? While it is certainly true that … Continue reading

Posted in Accountability, Degrowth Economics, Occupy Wall Street, Open Access, Public Philosophizing, Sustainability, Risk Management, & Long-Term Security | 1 Comment

Amazon vs. Apple: Competing Ecosystem Strategies

This shift from products to solutions matters to everyone. In industries ranging from consumer electronics to construction and from media to mining, the firms seizing the lead are those that can best align ecosystems of offers and partners. An interesting … Continue reading

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Syria: Climate Change, Drought and Social Unrest

Syria’s current social unrest is, in the most direct sense, a reaction to a brutal and out-of-touch regime and a response to the political wave of change that began in Tunisia early last year. However, that’s not the whole story. … Continue reading

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NSF: Oceans Acidifying Faster Today Than in Past 300 Million Years

The oceans may be acidifying faster today than they did in the last 300 million years, according to scientists publishing a paper this week in the journal Science. “What we’re doing today really stands out in the geologic record,” says lead … Continue reading

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Low-carbon technologies ‘no quick-fix’, say researchers

A drastic switch to low carbon-emitting technologies, such as wind and hydroelectric power, may not yield a reduction in global warming until the latter part of this century, research published today suggests. Furthermore, it states that technologies that offer only … Continue reading

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Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Don’t be too worried about the environment – it’s bad for your health. Or so goes the sophistical argument presented in this analysis of risk perception: Even today, when media warnings about the latest health or safety risk are commonplace, … Continue reading

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Civilisation faces ‘perfect storm of ecological and social problems’ | Environment | guardian.co.uk

The perpetual growth myth … promotes the impossible idea that indiscriminate economic growth is the cure for all the world’s problems, while it is actually the disease that is at the root cause of our unsustainable global practices. via Civilisation … Continue reading

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A Call to Reform Student Debt Laws

The National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys has issued a report cautioning that the growing social strain of student loan debt could culminate in a financial crisis akin to the bursting of the mortgage debt bubble. Their primary policy recommendation … Continue reading

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Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials

Tighten fracking regulations, scientists urge US officials | Environment | The Guardian.

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A Dangerous Shift in Obama’s ‘Climate Change’ Rhetoric

Maxwell Boykoff, assistant professor at the Center for Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Colorado at Boulder, gives a trenchant critique of the Obama administration’s strategy to address climate change solely in terms of clean energy: A … Continue reading

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Who Wins if We All Lose?

As he belligerently wades into the debate around the Keystone XL pipeline, NY Times op-ed columnist Joe Nocera seems unaware that the tragedy of the commons is, in fact, a tragedy: Over the past two decades, energy companies have invested tens of … Continue reading

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Finding the true value of US climate science : Nature News & Comment

Ryan Meyer, a friend of CSID, has a nice column in Nature: Finding the true value of US climate science : Nature News & Comment.

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No Need to Panic About Anti-Regulatory Propaganda

Not that you didn’t know that Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal carries its fair share of anti-regulatory propaganda, but here’s a refresher in the form of an op-ed co-authored by 16 “concerned” scientists: “No Need to Panic About Global Warming.” The … Continue reading

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The unethical iPhone

These days, almost everybody has an iPhone – they are practical, handsome, sexy, cool. They pretty much are everything we always dreamed of. However, maybe we don’t realize what our dreams are costing to another human beings… in a land … Continue reading

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Urban gardens: The future of food?

I’m not so sure urban agriculture is going to develop along the lines of the “hipster boutique” model described below. Not only is it far too energy and capital intensive, it’s easily criticized as culturally elitist (with some justification), which … Continue reading

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Communities can drive corporations away

Maybe we are entering into a new age – a time where we can no longer rely solely in the government to protect us from the big corporations (and perhaps other obstacles). But is this a good or a bad … Continue reading

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NOAA’s proposed move raises questions about its role

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a slogan that captures its odd position in the federal hierarchy: “NOAA may be the most important agency you’ve never heard of.” That contradiction was on full display earlier this month, when President … Continue reading

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