In her book, Common Ground on Hostile Turf, Lucy Moore shows that resolution of conflict depends more on the sharing of personal stories than on the facts, legal arguments, or moral claims of the parties. Continue reading
Blog Posts and Writings Tagged: environment
Blog 71. The War on Science
The cover of the March 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine blazes with the title, “THE WAR ON SCIENCE.” Continue reading
Blog 68. Ball, the Crazy Prospector
It’s time for a lighthearted story—but one with a purpose, of course.
Back in the 1940’s, when I was growing up in a San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, a retired forest ranger named Darley occasionally took me into some of his favorite haunts, Continue reading
Blog 65. Ambiguities of Experience
My neighbor, James G. March, wrote a little book entitled The Ambiguities of Experience*. March is emeritus professor in the departments of business, political science, and sociology at Stanford University. Continue reading
Blog 60. Water flows uphill to money
Sometimes the inquiring technical mind cannot pass an opportunity to analyze what’s going on in the surrounding society. With me, that compulsion for analysis recently arose when the Forest Service announced it planned to approve a new pipeline to provide water for snowmaking on the local ski hill, some 2600 feet (more or less) above the town. As they say in the dry southwest, whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting. Continue reading
Blog 58. Hierarchy in Regulation
Society is a set of regulations—written and unwritten—that specify how a person, a social entity, or business should act. Continue reading
Blog 57. Energiewende – We should try it
Energiewende is the appellation for Germany’s transition toward a sustainable energy supply. George Maue, first secretary for energy and climate at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C., described the transition in his editorial published in the Nov-Dec 2013 issue of Solar Today magazine. Continue reading
Blog 56. Ravens and the rate of change
Most of these blogs have been concerned with the progress (or regress) of society, where most of us notice that our communications, demands, and obligations seem to be increasing. As noted by Gleick, society and daily living are changing, and the rate of change is increasing, too. That is, the rate of change of the rate of change is increasing. Continue reading