Category Archives: Environment, society, politics and economics
Brick wall policy
High energy prices could result in either recession or investment in cleantech. I imagined a car driving into a wall, say, in a film. In one film the car hits the wall and it’s written off. That’s the recession. In … Continue reading
Clash of the titans: Birol, Stern and Günther.
The front page of the Financial Times today says: “Soaring oil prices risk recession”. The chief economist of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, says that the high oil prices have the capacity to tip the global economy back into … Continue reading
What will we do with our money? Or: is clean-tech self-defeating?
Environmental policy is predicated on a certain vision of the world. It’s a clean version of today’s world. It’s got all the comfort and convenience and fulfilment of today’s world without the smells. To build the clean world policy-makers insist … Continue reading
Mad Men: hope for the planet
Of the two American TV shows we are currently watching at home, Mad Men and The Big Bang Theory, Mad Men is the more instructive in the matter of climate change policy. It portrays the life of high-octane advertising executives … Continue reading
Green Philosophy
The philosopher, Roger Scruton, has recently had published a book called “Green Philosophy” (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Philosophy-Think-Seriously-Planet/dp/1848870760). It sets out a right-wing or conservative philosophy for addressing environmental problems. His view is that large-scale, international schemes, infused with socialist values, are doomed to … Continue reading