End the University as We Know It

Seeded on Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:11 PM EDT (The New York Times)

Prof. of Religion Mark Taylor calls for an overhaul of the modern American university. His diagnosis of the ails of the university is spot on.

education, university, graduate-school

Dismal scientists: how the crash is reshaping economics

Seeded on Tue Feb 17, 2009 10:40 AM EST (The Atlantic — News and analysis on politics, business, culture, technology, national, international, and food – TheAtlantic.com)

An incisive and self-critical look at the profession of academic economics as revealed by the inadequacy of its response to the current global financial crisis.

business, economics, great-depression, business-cycle, financial-crisis, global-meltdown

The Top 5 Green Technology Breakthroughs

Seeded on Fri Nov 21, 2008 12:23 AM EST (greenopolis.com)

Five dream technologies--perhaps not as fantastic as they might seem at first glance--based on the principle of "biomimicry."

technology, green, skyscrapers, biomimicry, tubercle, micro-algae

The Hardest Vote

Seeded on Thu Oct 9, 2008 3:26 PM EDT (New Yorker)

George Packer visits the most coveted voting demographic in America--white, middle class voters, and all he does is let them speak for themselves.

white, election, politics, health-care, presidential, votes, racism, economic, obama, voters

How Design Can Save Democracy

Seeded on Fri Sep 5, 2008 9:09 AM EDT (The New York Times)

Good ballot design--how information and choices are arranged graphically--matters. Fairness in an election isn't automatic; it has to de designed into the entire process and then defended.

election, chad, politics, mccain, design, obama, ballots, graphic-design

U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants - NYTimes.com

Seeded on Fri Jul 11, 2008 6:05 PM EDT (The New York Times)

The U.S. government is trying to decide whether or not to send Freddie Mac and Fannie May into conservatorship--fancy government talk for a taxpayer-funded bailout.

business, middle-east, freddie-mac, crisis, housing, politics, fannie-mae, obama, barack-obama, trip

Fuel Prices Shift Math for Life in Far Suburbs

Seeded on Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:00 PM EDT (The New York Times)

This story reveals how backwards US thinking is on both oil and economics. When one describes exurbs as "unsustainable," the claim is fundamentally _not— that exurbians are immoral--it's that they're _foolish_.

green, us-news, suburbs, sustainability, peak-oil, sustainable-development, suburbia, rising-gas-prices, exurbs

Is America's suburban dream collapsing into a nightmare?

Seeded on Mon Jun 23, 2008 11:26 AM EDT (CNN)

CNN reports that commuter suburbs in California are beginning to resemble some of the nastier banlieu of Paris.

crisis, mortgage, green, us-news, sustainability, american-dream, new-urbanism, suburbia, subprime

Oil Falls More Than $4 as China Announces Fuel Price Increase

Seeded on Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:49 PM EDT (Bloomberg.com)

That's a tax they've levying folks, and seriously, it's hard to see how this hurts China in the long run. Although I'm sure other motives are in play, it's impossible to interpret this move as anything but a direct stab at U.S. economic dominance.

oil, china, green, gas-tax, world-news, transportation, sustainability, peak-oil

Americans Driving Less

Seeded on Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:42 PM EDT (U.S. Dept. of Transportation (DOT))

"Americans drove 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April of 2008 than in April 2007 while fuel prices and transit ridership are both on the rise."

oil, green, us-news, transportation, dot, sustainability, public-transportation, peak-oil, public-transit

School asks to opt out of new religion course

Seeded on Thu May 8, 2008 6:44 PM EDT (Canada.com)

A Catholic boys school in Quebec is asking the provincial government to be exempt from a recent law, taking effect this fall, which requires all Quebec schools to teach a new, uniform ethics and religious-culture course.

education, quebec, loyola, liberalism, catholic-school, church-and-state, secularity, parochial-school, notre-dame-de-gr-ce, ndg

A match made in heaven

Seeded on Tue May 6, 2008 12:17 PM EDT (Canada.com)

Accepting a substantial number of bids from German wind power contractors, Quebec sets its eyes on producing the cleanest power in Canada.

business, canada, germany, wind, green, quebec, green-power, enercom-gmbh, repower-systems-ag, quiterre

Rolling with the wind

Seeded on Tue May 6, 2008 12:29 AM EDT (The Denver Post)

Colorado attempts to marry rail transport and wind power... on purpose. And it seems to be working.

business, wind, rail, green, colorado, union-pacific, sustainability, green-energy, freight

Lesson on How Not to Build a Navy Ship

Seeded on Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:25 PM EDT (The New York Times)

An intriguing examination of how NOT to innovate. Also a case study in what's wrong with giving any government agency too much money.

business, navy, budget, pentagon, design, ship, government, gao, innovation, littoral

Lessons from Germany's energy renaissance

Seeded on Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:10 AM EDT (The Globe and Mail)

Although USian minds provided the scientific and technological breakthroughs which have created the renewable energy sector, it's Germany which is the world leader in the financing, manufacturing, and installing of renewable energy technologies. Why? One word: subsidies.

business, germany, wind, finance, government, solar, subsidies, subsidy, green-energy

Teaching Boys and Girls Separately

Seeded on Mon Mar 3, 2008 6:40 PM EST (The New York Times)

An interminable thinkpiece detailing yet another fad in K-12 education: single-sex classrooms. Author Elizabeth Weil finally gets to the point several paragraphs from the end:

education, school, boys, girls, single-sex-education, single-sex-classrooms, coeducation

Focal point for social innovators

Seeded on Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:47 PM EST (Toronto Star)

Social entrepreneurship benefits from having a physical focal point, exactly like Toronto's recently developed Centre for Social Innovation.

business, social-responsibility, csr, real-estate-development, social-entrepreneurship

Wall Street Shows Skepticism Over Coal

Seeded on Wed Feb 6, 2008 8:14 PM EST (Wall Street Journal)

Big Money looks Big Energy right in the eye and says, "Give me green, or I take my ball and go home."

business, energy, green, coal, power-plant, sustainability, greenhouse-gases, emissions-standards

Why campaign coverage sucks

Seeded on Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:41 AM EST (Salon.com)

An incisive indictment of the media practice of reporting political campaigns as though they were horse races, with bets, predictions, favorites, and fixes.

media, usa, politics, criticism, presidential-race, horse-race, favorities, horse-race-journalism

Swedes to Use Body Heat to Warm Offices

Seeded on Wed Jan 9, 2008 4:43 PM EST (The San Francisco Chronicle)

"A Swedish company plans to harness the body heat generated by thousands of commuters scrambling to catch their trains at Stockholm's main railway station and use it for heating a nearby office building."

business, sweden, heating, real-estate, green, sustainability, renewable-energy

'Green' education starts early

Seeded on Wed Jan 2, 2008 10:39 PM EST (CANOE -- CNEWS)

School administrators credit the burgeoning green school movement to Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth."

canada, global-warming, green, school, world-news, sustainability

The fuel on the hill

Seeded on Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:28 AM EST (Salon.com)

President Bush signed a new energy bill Wednesday, betting the farm that corn ethanol is the best alternative fuel for the future. It isn't.

energy, politics, alternative-energy, sustainability, green-energy, greenhouse-gasses, fossil-fuels

Green capitalism

Seeded on Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:31 PM EST (Salon.com)

A thoughtful examination of the problems confronting both investors and managers as they struggle to make US business "greener." Especially interesting for its argument that fiduciary investment vehicles (e.g., pension funds and mutual funds) need to broaden the scope of their c …

business, sri, green, finance, sustainability, capitalism, csr

The green philosophy of Dennis Kucinich

Seeded on Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:11 PM EST (Salon.com)

Money quote: "Sustainability is the path to peace. And I'm the only true peace candidate in this election. So peace means being in harmony with nature."

politics, green, nature, presidential-race, sustainability, dennis-kucinich