Thomas Friedman: ‘The Modern History of Climate and Clean Energy’
From Climate Progress via YouTube:
Speaking at Greenbuild 2011 in Toronto, Author and New York Times Columnist Tom Friedman talks about the period of 2008 and 2011 for climate and clean energy issues. This speech has been heavily edited for length. (We used 8 minutes from a 30 minute speech.)
You can read more about Friedman’s speech here and here.
via plantedcity
When Wikipedia No Longer Matters — When the disruptors become the disrupted
Full Story: FuturistSpeaker via emergentfutures
Check out e^CNC if you’re interested in home-based fabrication / open source distributed fabrication technology.
Some companies fail, some kill off product lines that are not profitable, but in the end, where does all the knowledge go? Nowhere, usually. In a world of disposable everything, is it time that we demand companies do what’s good for humankind in addition to the bottom line?
A One-Way Ticket to Mars, Paul C. W. Davies
Theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist, Arizona State University; author of The Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right For Life.
Sometime before the end of the century, there will be a human colony on Mars. It will happen when people finally wake up to the fact that two-way trips to the red planet are unnecessary. By cutting out the return journey, huge savings can be made and the way will then be open to establishing a permanent human presence on another world.
A one-way ticket to Mars is not an invitation to a suicide mission. Adequate supplies, including a nuclear power source, can be sent on ahead, and every two years more supplies, and more astronauts, will be dispatched to the new colony. Mars is relatively inhospitable, but it is far more congenial than outer space. It has all the raw materials needed for a coolant to eventually become self-sufficient. To be sure, life would be cramped and uncomfortable for the trailblazers, but so it was for Antarctic explorers a century ago.
What about the risks of leaving people stranded on Mars?
Most of the danger of space flight is in the launches and landings, as the two shuttle disasters horrifically demonstrated. Eliminating the trip home would therefore halve the overall risk of accidents. The harsh Martian environment would undoubtedly reduce the life expectancy of the colonists, but astronauts on a round-trip would be exposed to comparable health hazards from months of space radiation and zero gravity.
Why would people go to Mars, never to return? There are many reasons: an innate sense of adventure and curiosity, the lure of being the first humans to open up an entirely new world, the desire to explore an exotic and unique environment, the expectation of fame and glory. For scientists there are added reasons. A geologist on Mars would be like a kid in a candy store and would soon chalk up a sensational publications record. The crowning achievement would be evidence for life, a discovery likely to transform our view of nature and our place in the cosmos. A straw poll among my colleagues convinces me there would be no lack of volunteers.
When might the first colonists set out? Within a few years, if politics doesn’t stand in the way. NASA could send a crew of four to Mars with existing technology, but the agency lacks the nerve and imagination for such an adventurous mission. However, I am optimistic that the new players in space — China and India — will not suffer from Western timidity. A joint Indian-Chinese colony on Mars by 2100 is not only technologically feasible, it is also politically realistic.
(via areyouoptimistic)
