Entries Tagged as 'environment'

Wall Street Journal: How to Get the Biggest Bang for 10 Billion Bucks

July 27th, 2008 at 10:28 pm [ # ] · View Comments · economics · environment · finds · science / medicine · world

If you had a spare $10 billion over the next four years, how would you spend it to achieve the most for humanity?
This is a small amount compared to rich-government budgets. But if we could set aside an extra $10 billion, we could achieve an awful lot.
Would you spend your money tackling diseases like malaria, [...]

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Los Angeles Times: It’s so lazy being green

July 24th, 2008 at 10:30 am [ # ] · View Comments · Humor · environment · finds

“We’re so green,” my youngest said, kind of smug because we were eating eggs from our chickens and blackberries from our yard, and we weren’t filling up a landfill.
But I realized suddenly why our carbon footprint is so small: “That’s because I’m way too lazy to renovate,” I said.
“We are incredible slackers,” my eldest agreed. [...]

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Wall Street Journal: The Insanity of Drive-55 Laws

July 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm [ # ] · View Comments · US · environment · finds · ideas · politics

The original 55 mph speed-limit law, enacted in October 1974 after the OPEC oil embargo as a way to save energy, was probably the most despised and universally disobeyed law in America since Prohibition. In wide-open western states, driving at 70 mph or even 80 mph on miles upon miles of straight, flat, uncongested freeways [...]

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Economist: Let them eat bugs

July 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 am [ # ] · View Comments · economics · environment · finds · science / medicine · world

Environmentally and nutritionally, insects are more appealing than meat: you get more for less. But persuading flesh-loving, ento-phobic westerners of this is going to be tricky. “We’re not going to convince Europeans and Americans to go out in big numbers and start eating insects,” Mr Durst concedes. The trick might be to slip them into [...]

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Los Angelos Times: The joy of $8 gas

July 17th, 2008 at 2:12 pm [ # ] · View Comments · economics · environment · finds · ideas · interesting

I love $4 gas. It makes me appreciate freedom. I watch as the dollars spin and think, “You, Triceratops, did not get squished by an asteroid in vain. You got squished for a $60 drive to Vegas.”
Considering that people in europe have been paying gas prices higher than ours for who knows how long, we [...]

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Washington Post: Iran and Brazil Can Do It. So Can We.

July 15th, 2008 at 12:47 am [ # ] · View Comments · environment · finds · technology · world

For each of the four countries, knocking oil off its pedestal is no longer a theoretical proposition but a reality in the making. But despite the lip service our own politicians pay to the need to reduce our oil dependence, none of the solutions offered by Iran, Brazil, China and Israel are even under consideration [...]

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Going to the bathroom = making money?

July 14th, 2008 at 5:09 pm [ # ] · View Comments · environment · finds · ideas

I’ve read two articles recently that discuss “nature’s call” and how we need to be more progressive.
⇒ Why Public toilets should pay you (Slate.com) discusses ad selling in bathrooms, charing for toilet us, not charging for toilet use, and even paying for toilet use. A little bit on the light side, but engaging nonetheless.
⇒ [...]

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