FastCompany: “In the life of a Very Busy Person, every saved second can seem like an eternity. It may sound silly, but if you find yourself running out of minutes in the day as often as I do, you probably know what I mean. Shaving seconds off time-consuming tasks can stack up fast, and there… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: October 2021
Meet the Instanbul street dog who’s become a sensation
Washington Post photo essay: “Boji spends his days traveling Istanbul’s subway trains, ferries, buses, and historic trams. His calming presence is infectuous. “Boji sometimes travels 30 kilometers a day. Most days he passes through at least 29 Metro stations and take at least two ferry rides. He has learned how and where to get on… Continue Reading
This Map Lets You Plug in Your Address to See How It’s Changed Over the Past 750 Million Years
Smithsonian Magazine – “Some 240 million years ago, the patch of land that would one day become the National Mall was part of an enormous supercontinent known as Pangea. Encompassing nearly all of Earth’s extant land mass, Pangea bore little resemblance to our contemporary planet. Thanks to a recently released interactive map, however, interested parties… Continue Reading
People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much
Ian Bogost in The Atlantic: People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much. “A lot is wrong with the internet, but much of it boils down to this one problem: We are all constantly talking to one another. Take that in every sense. Before online tools, we talked less frequently, and with fewer people. The average… Continue Reading
Which is more expensive: charging an electric vehicle or fueling a car with gas?
USA Today – “Last year, Patrick Anderson went electric: He got a Porsche Taycan EV in dark blue. Anderson, who is CEO of East Lansing-based economic consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, loves the zippy acceleration and “exciting” features the car offers. He also gets satisfaction in knowing that driving an EV benefits the environment, he said. But Anderson’s joy comes with a dark side. “They… Continue Reading
UK Gov – Net Zero: principles for successful behaviour change initiatives
Net Zero: principles for successful behaviour change initiatives. Key principles from past government-led behaviour change and public engagement initiatives, BEIS Research Paper Number 2021/063 October 2021. “The Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) was commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to undertake a rapid review and synthesis of successful (and to a… Continue Reading
Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis October 2021
“Climate change is reshaping the geostrategic, operational, and tactical environments with significant implications for U.S. national security and defense. Increasing temperatures; changing precipitation patterns; and more frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are exacerbating existing risks and creating new security challenges for U.S. interests. The risks of climate change to… Continue Reading
Financial Stability Oversight Council Identifies Climate Change as an Emerging and Increasing Threat to Financial Stability
Treasury Press Release: “The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) has released a new report in response to President Biden’s Executive Order 14030, Climate-related Financial Risk. For the first time, FSOC has identified climate change as an emerging and increasing threat to U.S. financial stability. The report and accompanying recommendations demonstrate FSOC’s commitment to building on… Continue Reading
How Old are the Oldest Trees?
In Defense of Plants – Podcast, October 10, 2121 – “How long can a tree live? How old are the oldest trees? The answers to questions like these are more nuanced that some might think. We sit down with curator of The Gymnosperm Database, Dr. Chris Earle, for some insights on tree longevity.” [h/t Barclay… Continue Reading
Report – Plastics To Outpace Coal In Driving Climate Change
Beyond Plastics – Plastics are the New Coal: “Plastics are on track to contribute more climate change emissions than coal plants by 2030, a new report finds. As fossil fuel companies seek to recoup falling profits, they are increasing plastics production and cancelling out greenhouse gas reductions gained from the recent closures of 65 percent… Continue Reading
The complete A-to-Z guide to how Amazon is taking over everything
Fast Company: “It doesn’t matter that Jeff Bezos has stepped down: No industry is safe from the company’s relentless ambition. A complete guide to Amazon’s staggeringly large and ever-mutating domain, most of which you can’t even see…” Continue Reading
Review – ‘The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity’
The Atlantic – Human History Gets a Rewrite A brilliant new account upends bedrock assumptions about 30,000 years of change. By William Deresiewicz. “…The Dawn of Everything is written against the conventional account of human social history as first developed by Hobbes and Rousseau; elaborated by subsequent thinkers; popularized today by the likes of Jared… Continue Reading
