In 2012, a little—almost pocket-size—book appeared, entitled “Little Black Lies,” by Jeff Gailus, published in Canada by Rocky Mountain Books with support from several Canadian arts-related associations. Jeff Gailus is a writer, based in Missoula Montana, self-described as one “who has been writing about the collision of science, nature and politics for 15 years.” The book appears to be a diatribe against the manipulation of law and social rules by the industrial organizations behind development of the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta, the source of whatever might flow across the US through the politically famous (or infamous) Keystone pipeline. Continue reading
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Blog 26. Communication and Connectedness
Life is a conversation.
Among other things, life is a conversation. The boundary of your community is the limit beyond which you have no conversation, no connection. We want to feel connected. That’s connectedness. Continue reading
Blog 25. Climate Extremes or Political Extremes?
A little history
In 1986 I was at a technical conference where an invited speaker was presenting data on a little-known project—measuring atmospheric CO2 concentrations, day after day, year after year. The terms “global warming” and “global climate change” weren’t used—they weren’t in the general vocabulary at that time. Nonetheless, I watched the data on the screen in growing horror. I suspect the other participants had the same feeling, but nobody said so. Continue reading
Blog 24. Sustainability and the NRC
On June 28, 2013, the U.S. National Research Council (NRC) issued a report saying the White House should establish a national policy on sustainability by executive order. Now how can an order on paper generate sustainability?
Blog 22. Integrity
A public malaise?
I detect a public malaise. When the discussion turns to today’s politics or business or and government, the comments all sound similar. Continue reading
Blog 20. Citizens United: more dangerous than climate change
Sophisticated bribery?
In Blog 16 I described the money feedback loop, in which industrial profits that are invested to influence government form a positive feedback loop, enabling even more profits with which to purchase more of government. I called this a sophisticated bribery, corruption. The Citizens United court case opened the gates for a new flood of this monetary feedback. Many people have raised their opposition, but I find no journalists who have identified the underlying amplifier-the positive feedback that leads to destruction.
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Blog 17. The Anthropocene: Mankind Overwhelms Geology
Geological forces move mountains, but now people do bigger things faster. Bigger is not always better. Continue reading
Blog 13. Models and modeling
What’s modeling?
A model is an abstraction, a physical abstraction of an object or a conceptual abstraction of a situation. An architect might use a cardboard physical model to illustrate a proposed building. Conceptual models can represent complex systems like population dynamics, economics, or schooling fish. By “complex systems” I mean the things described in Blog 2 and Blog 3, situations with many independent agents governed by nonlinear rules of interaction among the agents and their surroundings. A conceptual model often takes the form of a set of equations with which the system can be simulated by computer, thereby becoming a “computer model.” Note I said simulated by computer, not solved by computer. Continue reading