[slightly edited] I welcome, Mr Dudley (Bob Dudley, CEO of BP), your acknowledgement that, in the Athabasca Basin, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) of bitumen from tar sands will produce "slightly" higher greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional oil production. We might quibble over the "slightly", but you acknowledge that it WILL be more. So … Continue reading My question put to the #BPAGM today. Climate change discounted 100% in the risk register

In the frigid language of economics, systemic death (population collapse) is the ultimate form of demand destruction.It is difficult, if not impossible, to predict whether a supply collapse will outrun demand destruction during this crucial time frame, or how the two will interact with each other. via theautomaticearth.blogspot.com The grim reality. Business as usual is … Continue reading via Automatic Earth: Devastating Demand Destruction < @paulkingsnorth Dk Mtn back story?

Due to the constantly evolving nature of Web-based Education (WBE) it is often difficult for educators to understand the issues, challenges, impact, and effort required to introduce WBE innovations. This lack of knowledge can contribute to the limited adoption and less than successful implementation of WBE innovations. via davidtjones.wordpress.com A useful read both for the … Continue reading via @dlplaner A Model for Evaluating Potential Web-Based Education Innovations

whether we can have a society worth living in for the 21st century will depend on the rise of new forms of social production, outside of the domains of both state and market. In other words, people meeting their own and each other’s needs under circumstances not primarily driven by money or coercion. via newpublicthinkers.org … Continue reading via @dougald “It’s not how big your society is, it’s what you do with it” http://newpublicthinkers.org/?p=44

How drinks giants spirited away Johnnie Walker label from UK tax liabilities by a technique known as outward domestication via guardian.co.uk Despite my attention to occupational identity, we are still to a large extent what we consume - not just molecularly but also politically and economically. If you must (and why not?) drink whisky, stick … Continue reading It matters what you drink: Diageo took scotch out of Scotland & tax out of our pocket

So for every dollar you spend on nuclear, you could have saved five or six times as much carbon with efficiency, or wind farms,” Nuclear energy, assessing the emissions, Nature, 24 September 2008. via bjelkeman.wordpress.com A long and balanced analysis of the nuclear energy potential. Posted via email from George's posterous

In my view, nuclear power represents an unjustified faith in the power of human societies to control extremely complex technologies over the very long term. Any activity requiring a great deal of complex and cooperative control will do badly in difficult economic times. Also, no human society has ever lasted for as long as nuclear … Continue reading Excellent, in-depth critique of nuclear power in light of Fukushima via The Automatic Earth

I used, occasionally, to travel in Russia during the 1990s. I had a few good friends there. Acquired a taste for spirits and saunas, but that is a later part of the story. In Russia in the 1990s it became clear to me that in Soviet times, access to middle class comforts must have depended … Continue reading Is an evidence-based knowledge economy such a good thing?

The Social Science Centre will offer credit bearing courses in Sociology, Politics and Philosophy, programmes not currently available as part of the University of Lincoln’s portfolio. A key aspect of the Centre is that students would not pay any tuition fees. The Centre would be community based, utilising already existing public spaces in Lincoln, e.g., … Continue reading The Social Science Centre description #pcthe

"There is no difference between academic skills and employment skills," via guardian.co.uk Oh my sainted aunt. Where do we start? Posted via email from George's posterous