The Global Climate is a Common (Pool) Resource
Why It Is Important To Manage “Free” Resources The inclusion of the word ‘pool’ is apropos. Think of the Earth’s atmosphere and its life-giving property, Oxygen. This element is essential for giving us the ability to breathe and thus live. Like a public swimming pool, everyone has free access to it, and has the ability […]
Why is Clean Water Important Anyway?
Current Water Events There’s been so many “water” stories and in various forms in the news lately. Here are three more recent current event articles about water flooding, water scarcity, and the importance of maintaining water quality…all across the world. Water Scarcity due to Severe Drought: https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/24/africa/cape-town-water-crisis-trnd/index.html Water-logged Cities and attendant Water Contamination Issues: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42856634 Water Quality […]
An Equation, Multiplication, and Environmental Impact
A Positive Caveat? The title sounds a bit ominous to the discussion laid out below. It’s not. I’ll even try to make math fun, which it is, when it’s easy to understand. What is the IPAT Equation? I’m referring to the IPAT equation. It’s an equation developed in the 1970’s by the early environmentalist thinkers, […]
Oceans Full of Microplastics
Microplastics = Pollution In the May 27th issue of The Economist in the article titled, “Deep Trouble” (see article here) under the magazine’s Leadership section, the proliferation of microplastics in our oceans and by default into the very backbone of our ecological system is mind-boggling in its scope and potential damage (think: bioaccumulation and bioconcentration up our food […]
Does the Proliferation of Microplastic Pollution Concern You?
What are Microplastics Anyway? The effects of microplastic contamination in aquatic environments has received limited study historically and has become only a recent concern. Microplastics are plastic particles less than 5 mm in size, cover a spectrum of shapes, and are derived from a variety of sources including microbeads (found in cosmetics), manufacturing pellets and synthetic […]
The Skinny on Carbon Tax
What, another tax? Carbon Tax versus Cap-and-Trade: the quick on each. Borrowing phraseology from The Week Magazine, the below may be seen as ‘Boring but Important’ and also…critical at this moment in history. Perhaps, more relevant, given the momentum in Oregon to vote on some form of a Cap-and-Trade for Industry during the legislature’s short-session […]
Extreme Weather and Water Scarcity
The Summer of 2017 We are seeing quite a bit of extreme weather conditions here in the U.S. in just a short two-week period. I’m referring to Category 4 Hurricane Harvey that made landfall on August 25, devastating downtown and surrounding Houston, Texas; the scorching heatwaves that have been roiling parts of the U.S., most […]
The Fallacy of Endless Economic Growth
GDP as Standard-Bearer Countries and economies are all assessed on how much incremental growth has accrued over the last analyzed period – usually quarterly and annually – to determine if an economy is growing, getting better, doing well, progressing, and being “productive”. That incremental growth is encapsulated in the analytic metric of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP […]