2014-06-23 Monday
NY Times (21 JUNE 2014) The Coming
Climate Crash. Lessons for Climate
Change in the 2008 Recession
THERE is a time
for weighing evidence and a time for acting. And if there’s one thing I’ve
learned throughout my work in finance, government and conservation, it is to
act before problems become too big to manage.
For too many
years, we failed to rein in the excesses building up in the nation’s financial markets.
When the credit bubble burst in 2008, the damage was devastating. Millions
suffered. Many still do.
We’re making the
same mistake today with climate change. We’re staring down a climate
bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy.
The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked.
Climate Progress (23 JUNE 2014)
The future of solar technology could be as thin and flexible as a piece of
paper
The Atlantic, City Lab (15 APR
2014) Tunrs out, you can make solar panels work in cloudy cities
Science Daily (22 JUNE 2014) Regional
weather extremes linked to atmospheric variations
Climate Progress (23 JUNE 2014)
The Midwest receives two months of rainfall in one week
CBS News (10 JUNE 2014) Goldman
Sachs CEO: Income inequality is “destabilizing”
NY Times (21 JUNE 2014) So
similar, so different. For these 2
women, the lottery of birth decides opportunity
READERS often ask: Why do I travel to places
like Sudan or Myanmar when we Americans have so many challenges at home to
worry about?
As Janessa put it on my Facebook page:
“Shouldn’t we take care of the issues within our own borders BEFORE we try and
fix everyone else’s?”
It’s a fair question, and it comes up often
now. We’re weary with the world, and so many humanitarian problems seem
insoluble. We’re ready to turn inward.
Yet perhaps an encounter last month in
Myanmar on my annual “win-a-trip” journey, with a college student in tow, can
help answer the question.
The winner of my contest this year was
Nicole Sganga, a 20-year-old Notre Dame student. One day, we hiked into the
remote village of Yae Thay, far from any road, and we met a woman named Sajan,
also 20.
We stopped and chatted, meeting her children
and talking about her aspirations. Nicole and Sajan are both bright, hard-working
and fun-loving, and they got along well. But their lives could not be more
different — a reflection of the lottery of birth.
NY Times (4 DEC 2008) Raising the
world’s I.Q.
Travelers to Africa and Asia all have their
favorite forms of foreign aid to “make a difference.” One of mine is a miracle
substance that is cheap and actually makes people smarter.
Unfortunately, it has one appalling side
effect. No, it doesn’t make you sterile, but it is just about the least sexy
substance in the world. Indeed, because it’s so numbingly boring, few people
pay attention to it or invest in it. (Or dare write about it!)
It’s iodized salt.
Almost one-third of the world’s people don’t
get enough iodine from food and water. The result in extreme cases is large
goiters that swell their necks, or other obvious impairments such as dwarfism
or cretinism. But far more common is mental slowness.
UNICEF – Micronutrients – Iodine,
Iron and Vitamin A
Vancouver Sun (19 JUNE 2014)
Developers pay to avoid building affordable housing
Grist (23 JUNE 2014) A mapping
group at MIT wants to show us the way to greener cities.
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