Author: stephenhinton

OPINION: The overwhelming case for tax on carbon and climate dividend

 

surcharge rutaLet us start by agreeing that the fossil carbon economy presents some tricky issues: much of what we see around us, and the standard of living we enjoy, comes to us thanks to an economy driven by energy and chemicals extracted from fossil fuels. The best jobs are thanks to them and our pensions are invested in them; these largest companies in the world rely on fossil energy or are suppliers to those industries. That is hard to just give up, especially when no alternatives as agreeable are in sight. Continue reading “OPINION: The overwhelming case for tax on carbon and climate dividend”

Oil and the Economy: Where are We Headed in 2015-16?

Sharpest thinker and analyst of our time, Gail joins the dots between energy and economy. We should take her warnings seriously

Gail Tverberg's avatarOur Finite World

The price of oil is down. How should we expect the economy to perform in 2015 and 2016?

Newspapers in the United States seem to emphasize the positive aspects of the drop in prices. I have written Ten Reasons Why High Oil Prices are a Problem. If our only problem were high oil prices, then low oil prices would seem to be a solution. Unfortunately, the problem we are encountering now is extremely low prices. If prices continue at this low level, or go even lower, we are in deep trouble with respect to future oil extraction.

It seems to me that the situation is much more worrisome than most people would expect. Even if there are some temporary good effects, they will be more than offset by bad effects, some of which could be very bad indeed. We may be reaching limits of a finite world.

The Nature…

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Big data + Big networks= Big changes

AS THE WORLD BECOMES EVER MORE CONNECTED, AS PEOPLE NETWORK AND AS QUALITY OF DATA IMPROVES IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS OF HUMANITY WILL TAKE A STEP BACK AND START TO GRASP ANOTHER REALITY? THERE ARE SIGNALS THAT THIS MAY BE ABOUT TO HAPPEN.

Signals: from being seen as nothing more than an advanced adding machine, the computer and the digitization it makes possible have offered multi dimensions of new possibilities. But is the “killer app” yet to be invented? Are we just not still digitizing last-century business models? Is society only just waking up to the possibilities its wireless, networked, big data society offers? Signals show that mobile devices connected to big data can indeed mean significant changes to how we farm, and that just by looking at big data we can start to grasp insights previously out of reach. The consequences are huge, and present a real challenge to policy makers and leaders as well as opportunities to entrepreneurs.
 Continue reading “Big data + Big networks= Big changes”

Is big data and the big network helping humanity reach new heights?

Amid the signals that capitalism is failing and the climate collapsing I wonder if there is not something very positive happening, too.

Something to do with how all the data and the networking we are experiencing are raising our consciousness and understanding. Continue reading “Is big data and the big network helping humanity reach new heights?”

If climate change were a comet about to hit earth how would you plan?

Video of Professor Krumdieck answering the question “the largest challenge”

 

 

The Professor create the Global Association for Transition Engineering, an academic group to effectively manage the risks of un-sustainable resource use and environmental impacts by implementing changes and adaptations in existing engineered systems

Red warning lights

Great analysis from Micheal Robert’s blog on the economic situation in the EU.

michael roberts's avatarMichael Roberts Blog

Speaking at the close of the G20 summit of world leaders in Brisbane Australia, British Prime Minister David Cameron exclaimed that “red warning lights are flashing on the dashboard of the global economy”, threatening another recession.

Of course, Cameron was not talking about the UK economy, which is going great guns, according to the British government, with six months to go a general election. Instead, he was covering his back, so that if any downturn in the British economy took place it could be blamed on the rest of the world. You see, as Cameron put it in an article for the Guardian, don’t blame me, you lefty liberals. If things go wrong from here, it will be because of the Eurozone that you all like so much. “The Eurozone is teetering on the brink of a possible third recession, with high unemployment, falling growth and the real risk…

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