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Our Fellows, Advisors, Board and staff weigh in on the top issues of the day on the Post Carbon Institute blog.

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Five Years After Katrina, An Important Lesson Goes Unlearned

Sandra Postel    Aug 30, 2010   

[Excerpt] It's getting harder and harder to blame Mother Nature for the disasters that befall humanity. While hurricanes, floods, droughts and storm surges are natural events, to be sure, the … >>

Veils, Boomerangs, and Goldilocks

Asher Miller    Aug 28, 2010   3 comments

There's a lot to digest in Michael Lewis' The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine but I was particularly struck by a passage at the very end of the book, which I think aptly describes one of … >>

Beyond Oil: Activism and Politics

Bill McKibben    Aug 26, 2010   

[Excerpt] On May 6, a little more than two weeks after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, the first oil washed ashore. It was found on the beaches of the Chandeleur Islands … >>

Community Economic Laboratories (CELs)

Richard Heinberg    Aug 23, 2010   4 comments

As America adjusts to the New Reality of tight credit, chronically less-affordable energy, high unemployment rates, rising levels of homelessness, and steeply declining tax revenues, new … >>

American Lifestyle Costs Nearly 2000 Gallons of Water Each Day

Sandra Postel    Aug 18, 2010   

[Excerpt] If there's going to be sufficient water to meet everyone's needs--and those of rivers and fish and birds and mussels, too--we're going to need to shrink our footprints and share … >>

UN-Shanghai Expo Megacities Sustainability Study: My Role

Warren Karlenzig    Aug 9, 2010   

Urban sustainability is the challenge of the century as more of the world's population becomes urbanized (50 percent in 2008, 60 percent by 2030), at an ever-faster rate. Global climate change … >>

We’re hot as hell and we’re not going to take it any more

Bill McKibben    Aug 4, 2010   5 comments

Try to fit these facts together: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the … >>

What Now? Redux

Asher Miller    Jul 27, 2010   6 comments

Back in December in blisteringly cold Copenhagen, tens of thousands of activists, government workers, lobbyists, and world leaders came together for what many hoped would be a diplomatic … >>

What's it Going to Take to Tackle Climate? 537 Spines.

Asher Miller    Jul 22, 2010   17 comments

You'd think that after the Gulf Oil Spill our nation's leaders would realize it was time to get serious about our addiction to fossil fuels. Today's decision reminds us that they still don't get it. For every donation of $10 we will send President Obama or a member of Congress a spine with your name on it. ... >>

Dems Roll Over, Abandon Climate Bill. Will Citizenry Follow Suit?

Tod Brilliant    Jul 22, 2010   6 comments

We can point  fingers at Washington, DC, but we should be pointing them at ourselves. We allow our votes to be taken for granted. We equate online activism with real-world pressure. We talk smart of responsible consumption and equitable resource distribution...while waiting in line to purchase new iPhones. ... >>