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Cities come together to address climate change
On an optimistic note:
“Climate change is the biggest problem facing us, and cities have special issues such as the heat island effect and flash floods,” [London’s deputy mayor, Nicky Gavron] told the BBC news website.
It’s good to see spontaneous action on the part of cities, especially at an international level. Also interesting how some cities have adapted technologies to their local environment and topology to save energy or reduce emissions. Does the term “green city” have to be a contradiction?
Terence McKenna once related a dream he had of New York City covered in ivy — not because it was in ruins but because it had learned to coexist with the natural environment. A fanciful idea, no doubt, but as Bush would say we need to leave all options on the table.
Into the Unknown
Sometimes when things get rough or crazy, I find it useful to remind myself of the impossible hugeness of the universe we live in. Continue reading %s
Peer-to-Peer Energy
Microgrids as peer-to-peer energy
“Small networks of power generators in ‘microgrids’ could transform the electricity network in the way that the net changed distributed communication.
… “the microgrids could work like peer-to-peer file-sharing technologies, such as BitTorrents, where demand is split up and shared around the network of ‘users’.
…”Micro-CHP units work by turning heat which would normally escape through flues into electricity. Homeowners then sell any surplus electricity back to the national grid.
…”‘In a traditional system, you have the power station and electricity flows from power station to users – it is unidirectional. The whole network is constructed around that unidirectional power flow.’
What is History?
The sound of metal on metal.
The sound of metal on bone.
Goat-trails on Judean hills.
Crowds surging against a gate.
A grudge passed down from father to son.
Buzzing on the radio.
The struggle to cooperate.
A bite of camphor in the air.
Rolling fields of rice, endless rows of corn.
A sacred cow’s swaying fat.
Red wine at the victory feast.
Brown water sloshing from a bucket.
Rumors of the city.
The music of the desert.
Shanty towns and mausoleums.
Skyscrapers and pain medication.
A child playing in an orchard.
The wail of sirens.
A sigh of violins.
The splash at the bottom of the well.
Warehouses full of paper.
Neighbors screaming through the wall.
A bottle smashed on brick.
A broken promise.
Sweat on the parchment.
A gathering of friends.
A man dying in a valley.
A woman sobbing in an empty room.
Young woman campaigns in Afghanistan
BBC News has an interesting Photo Journal about Sabrina Sagheb, a 24-year-old woman running in Afghanistan’s parliamentary election.
The photos and associated text reveal a startling mix of currents within today’s Afghan society. I hope she survives until the election.
Sabrina is campaigning on a platform of liberal reform and gender equality.
She hopes to make the wearing of the burkha a matter of choice for all women and advocates an end to forced marriages.
Waking up to climate change
More U.S. companies weighing climate risks [Reuters]
Over the past three years the investors group, the London-based Carbon Disclosure Project, has sent questionnaires to the world’s largest companies by market capitalization, asking them to quantify the greenhouse gases they produce. It also asks them how they plan to manage their greenhouse risks.
This year 60 percent of more than 250 U.S. companies responded to the CDP, up from 42 percent last year. The results were revealed in New York on Wednesday.
You can view the responses from different companies here: https://www.cdp.net
I thought the General Electric response was interesting. But Apple declined to participate — c’mon guys!!
Tidbits via Bruce Sterling
Are you prepared for the Big Collapse? Peak Oil? Rural life? Can you pickle meat and eat bark?
Other good stuff at Virdian
A season of catastrophe
I am visiting Chicago. The plan is to rendezvous with my sister (who lives there) at a museum or restaurant or some other attraction.
At first I am driving a car: cramped, one-lane, one-way city streets. I am crossing an intersection, and just as I reach the far side traffic is stopped up ahead. After some confusion it comes out that a cop has been stabbed and killed on this block, and traffic is stopped completely for the crime scene. Continue reading %s
the threads are weaving together
oh, when we first met
you told me that the desert would reclaim us
and i laughed, because i didn’t believe you.
there was wind on the water then.
there were stars in the sky.
then, deep in your velvet box
you showed me the seeds
of what i would become.
and i cursed you for it.
i did not want to be chosen like that.
now the threads are weaving together
and i fear,
will it be a burial shroud
or a wedding dress?
there is work to be done, my lover
and many bodies need tending.
so i will follow you
as long as this dream
still trembles on your horizon.