Conspicuous conservation is the theme of our latest podcast, called “Hey Baby, Is That a Prius You’re Driving?” It centers around a paper by Alison and Steve Sexton, a pair of Ph.D. economics candidates (who happen to be twins, and who happen to have economist parents), called “Conspicuous Conservation: The Prius Effect and Willingness to Pay for Environmental Bona Fides.”
Includes an appearance by Tim Harford.
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Chandran Nair argues that the Western model of consumption-led economic growth cannot be replicated in Asia. This statement is not new, but Chandran Nair offers a new perspective from the Asian point of view.
If the global community is serious about lessening the impact of global capitalism on the world’s resources, then the role of the region with the largest populations on Earth must take centre stage.
In his new book, Consumptionomics: Asia’s role in reshaping capitalism and saving the planet, Chandran Nair argues that economic policy must change. The alternative is a catastrophic outcome arising from relentless promotion of a consumption-led growth model in the world’s most populous regions, at a time where resource constraints are a major issue.
Join Chandran Nair at the RSA as he calls for bans in key areas of consumption, the repricing of resources, and argues that the state must play a major role in achieving this.
Chair: Sir Crispin Tickell, director of the policy foresight programme, James Martin Institute, University of Oxford and former chair of The British Government Panel on Sustainable Development.
http://www.thersa.org/events/audio-and-past-events/2011/constraining-consumption
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Mark Bittman is one of the country’s foremost food writers, author of "The Minimalist" food column for The New York Times and of multiple James Beard Award and IACP/Julia Child Award-winning cookbooks, including How to Cook Everything. Selling more than a million copies, the book was described by a Washington Post reviewer as "the new, hip Joy of Cooking." Bittman also appears regularly on NBC’s Today Show and NPR’s All Things Considered, and has hosted three public television series. His latest cookbook is a follow-up to the New York Times bestseller Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, offering recipes that are both healthier for you and for the environment.
With cities contributing upwards of 75 per cent of global carbon emissions, urban design is increasingly important when planning for climate change. This discussion examines the creative urban design solutions coming out of the world’s cities. Saskia Sassen is Robert S Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. Richard Sennett is professor of sociology at LSE and NYU. Jonathon Porritti s the chair of the sustainable development commission and founder and director of Forum for the Future.
Bruce Sterling - reboot 11 closing talk On Favela Chic, Gothic High Tech and where we are heading
http://video.reboot.dk/video/486788/bruce-sterling-reboot-11
The U.S. stock market took a big jump yesterday, and everyone cheered.
Almost everyone.
There is a big school of thought out there that says we must not just bounce back from this downturn. We must come back changed. This isn’t just a great recession we’re in, they say. It’s “The Great Disruption” — nature and the economy hitting the wall, collapsing, at the same time.
Australian environmentalist Paul Gilding invented the phrase. American climate expert Joseph Romm says the free ride is over.
http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2009/03/creative-disruption/
Subdivisions. Industrial Parks. Strip Malls. Gridlock. Sprawl is socially unequal, environmentally irresponsible, and aesthetically ugly. Right? In this hour of To the Best Of Our Knowledge, we’ll look at the costs and – YES – the benefits of suburban sprawl. Because maybe, just maybe, sprawl is a good thing.
Joel Hirschhorn is a critic of sprawl. Robert Bruegmann thinks sprawl is very American way to live. Photographer Edward Burtynsky documented Chinese industrial zones, and film maker Jennifer Baichwal documented the trip. Tom Perrotta’s novels feature life in the suburbs.
In this talk, New York Time columnist and author Tom Friedman exposes the irrationality of U.S. policies that promote consumption of vast quantities of oil.
Friedman stresses that the United States must lead efforts to develop energy alternatives that would 1) free us from our dependence on petro-dictatorships and 2) help preserve the earth, oceans, and biodiversity.