Oil dependence puts a glass ceiling on economic recovery
The era of cheap oil is rapidly coming to an end, ushering in ‘economic peak oil’ – the point at which the cost of incremental supply exceeds the price economies can pay without significantly disrupting economic activity at a given point in time.
It’s time to say ‘Nuclear? No Thanks’ once and for all.
In 1986, nuclear pioneer Alvin Weinberg wrote an article in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists where he reflected on the, then recent, disaster that guaranteed that the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant would go down in history. Nations abandoned plans for new nuclear, and public support crumbled. And here we are again.
Why I support The Times Bike Campaign
I am delighted to support The Times ‘Cities fit for cycling campaign‘. I hope this gets all the support it can, and brings about the changes that will make it safer for those two-wheeled folk who brave our roads every day.
Durban, a success? Only fools fight in a burning house
Calling Durban a success is the same logic as claiming a meeting to rearrange the deck chairs while the Titanic was sinking may have prevented the catastrophe.
Hamsters and Chessboards
Our Impossible Hamster animation has now been adapted into a fantastic BBC Radio 4 radio play by the very talented Boz Temple-Morris and playwright Anders Lustgarten. The play will be aired on to be aired on BBC Radio 4 on the 1st of December 2011 at 2.15pm. Tune in, let us know what you think…or be devoured by a rampaging rodent.
In celebration of the Luddites
The term Luddite has now become a defamatory term, synonymous with those who oppose technological progress. However, it is worth remembering that the Luddites were simply protesting against the unintended consequences of this new technology – their loss of autonomy, power and devaluation of their skills. The machines were symbolic of this change.
Brink of another economic crisis? Make jam
Chutney and jam are the two things that I thought were so complicated, only 60 year olds with a life time of cooking experience could possibly manage such a feat. Now the secret is out. Jam and chutney making are EASY. And, this comes from someone who can burn absolutely everything.
Under the Sea-Wind: The life and works of Rachel Carson
“To sense this world of waters known to the creatures of the sea we must shed our human perceptions of length and breadth and time and place, and enter vicariously into a universe of all-pervading water.”
The distribution of total greenhouse gas emissions by households in the UK
This paper, published by nef and the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the LSE, looks at greenhouse gas emissions from UK households and the impact of income on emissions.
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
“Every learner hath a deference more or less to authority, especially the young learners, few of that kind caring to dwell long upon principles, but inclining to take them upon trust: And things early admitted by repetition become familiar: And this familiarity at length passeth for evidence.”
