"The Key to a Strong Downtown Is Smart Policy Changes, Not Big Projects" || by Tiffany Owens Reed June 4, 2024
"...But relying on the master-planned, “Big Project'' approach to revitalization is a risky way forward. Rather than growing the city’s wealth, these big projects often require significant public investment and incentives, which put cities in the risky financial position of making large, expensive bets in the present and hoping to recoup that money down the line.
Not only that, but these plans also lock cities into committing to a future they can’t possibly evaluate for profitability, relevance or resilience. It’s simply impossible to know if these plans will achieve their intended goals, and their large, centralized nature makes it hard to adapt to shifting market conditions or changes in regulation and funding.
The good news is that cities have alternatives..."
Private automobiles are not the future of anything, and it is a gross mis-allocation of funds to waste money on expanding roads.
The communities that were crushed and divided by highways can be repaired, though they will never have the same vibrancy as before, nor will the original displaced inhabitants benefit in any way.
But it's a start.
"...Decades ago, people decided to create the freeways. Now, we must decide if we will continue this path or reverse the damage to repair our communities..."
Singapore buying 2 new 600MW natural gas ("fossil gas," as @drvolts says) power plants by the end of the decade. Power demand is rising, "driven largely by electricity-intensive sectors such as advanced manufacturing, digital economy, and transport" and projected 3.7% annual growth.
In other words, policy needs to be designed not to pick sectors or #technologies as “winners”, but to pick the willing by providing support that is conditional on companies moving in the right directions.
From the law of the minimum to soil health By Gunnar Rundgren, originally published by Garden Earth May 29, 2024
"...Emergent properties are characteristics of systems that the individual parts of a system do not possess. It is thus not possible to study the individual components and understand how a system functions. The system can be a living creature such as a human, an organ (the brain) an ecosystem or life itself. The soil has a number of emergent properties which can’t be reduced to simple components, the soil is alive. It is no coincidence that one of the canonical books of the organic movement had the title The Living Soil (by Eve Balfour).
...We still don’t know more than a fraction of what is going on.
...As Grandy et al phrase it: “Plants are not just passive players in the N cycle but actively shape intricate three-way interactions with microbes & minerals..."
How extreme weather will affect the insurance and energy sectors - By Matthew Wright, Matthew Priestly, originally published by The Conversation May 29, 2024
"...Insurance companies evaluating risks must account for a combination of the most extreme weather systems, and those affecting built-up, developed areas. The most risk-prone areas are quantified by examining historical events and assessing other possible scenarios that are generated by models. Risk experts also consider what impact historical events would have today. Increases in risk may be due to increases in population, density of the built environment, or GDP. For example, Hurricane Katrina’s impact would be $40 billion higher if it occurred today..."
#Copyright#IP#CircularEconomy#Upcycling#Environment#Sustainability#HumanRights: "As the environmental crisis escalates due to overproduction and overconsumption, there is an increasing recognition of the urgent need for environmental consciousness and a shift towards a sustainable, circular economy (see, in the intellectual property context, Pihlajarinne & Ballardini (2020), Senftleben (2023), Calboli (2024)). Upcycling, notably, which involves reworking old items or their parts into new ones, has emerged as a tangible effort to address the negative impacts of this crisis. However, copyright protection may unexpectedly clash with this sustainable practice, as certain upcycled items could include copyrighted prints, ornaments, or design patterns from the original materials, such as new clothing items made out of old bed sheets, curtains, or tablecloths, or jewellery made from broken porcelain." https://copyrightblog.kluweriplaw.com/2024/05/30/copyright-upcycling-and-the-human-right-to-environmental-protection/
How working for place-based solutions can change the world By Patrick Mazza, originally published by The Raven May 28, 2024
"...We must anticipate & prepare for extremes while also doing all we can to mitigate them and reduce their intensity. The more stressed systems become, the more difficult it will be for them to respond to stress. It’s a vicious cycle, the kind of feedback loop that leads to collapse. That is why we must build strong and resilient communities in our places, in our cities, towns, rural areas and bioregions. If systems break down at larger levels, we will have to fall back on our own places..."
I have mentioned many times that we will need to be prepared to take in our friends & family who will be displaced here in the US by disasters and climate collapse. The govt is not going to help. Our neighborhoods and congregations will be the basis of our sustainability.
PODCAST: Levke Caesar: “Oceanic Slowdown: Decoding the AMOC”
By Nate Hagens, originally published by The Great Simplification May 24, 2024
"...Nate is joined by climate physicist Levke Caesar for a comprehensive overview of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and its connections to broader planetary systems. Amid a complex...interconnected climate system, the AMOC is a powerful force for regulating temps between the Northern & Southern Hemispheres along the Atlantic Ocean – yet it’s estimated to have slowed down by about 15% over the last few decades. What are the possible domino effects of this slowing oceanic powerhouse at a regional & global scale? How well do we understand what drives the AMOC, its cyclical patterns, and connections with other currents? ...how does the AMOC interact with other biospheric mechanisms that have shaped our stable, life-supporting planetary home?"
Switching to renewable energy could save trillions - study
New report says falling cost of renewable energy makes switch from fossil fuels cheapest option.
Mmm, snake meat. As a protein source it's even more efficient than harvesting crickets!
I suppose MAYBE ... conceivably ... a factory farm swarming with hundreds of thousands of pythons could pose some risk to the neighborhood. But: say bye-bye to your rat problem.
Credit to @clive 's latest Linkfest. I always learn something.