Category Archives: moral leadership

Good news, and a beacon of progress, with hope for more to come

That’s Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google and Alphabet. Ørsted : “Love your home”

Posted in afforestation, agrivoltaics, Alphabet, argoecology, Ørsted, being carbon dioxide, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, carbon dioxide sequestration, climate change, climate disruption, climate education, climate mitigation, climate policy, ecocapitalism, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, electricity, emissions, engineering, fossil fuel divestment, Global Carbon Project, global warming, global weirding, Green New Deal, greenhouse gases, keep fossil fuels in ground, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Mark Jacobson, moral leadership, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, solar revolution, Sundar Pichai, sustainability, technology, the green century, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news

In case you wondered if Carbon Dioxide (also called, carbonic acid, CO2) increases caused climate change, here’s the latest news … from 1856-1896:

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Chemical Society, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, Anthropocene, atmosphere, being carbon dioxide, Blackbody radiation, Boltzmann, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate grief, climate models, ClimateAdam, Cult of Carbon, Eaarth, earth, Earth Day, ecological disruption, ecomodernism, ecopragmatism, evidence, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, global warming, Green New Deal, Greta Thunberg, Humans have a lot to answer for, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, investments, Karl Ragabo, klaus lackner, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, local self reliance, moral leadership, new forms of scientific peer review, philosophy of science, physical materialism, physics, Principles of Planetary Climate, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, radiative forcing, rhetorical science, science, scientific publishing, stranded assets, supply chains, support of black boxes, Talk Solar, Tony Seba | 1 Comment

Press conference from Global Climate Action Summit, by the U.S. Climate Alliance

Executive Summary report: FightingForOurFuture–GrowingOurEconomiesAndProtectingOurCommunitiesThroughClimateLeadership–UnitedStatesClimateAlliance2018–ExecutiveSummary Full Report: FightingForOurFuture–GrowingOurEconomiesAndProtectingOurCommunitiesThroughClimateLeadership–UnitedStatesClimateAlliance2018 Precis: Climate-Alliance-FactSheet-June_2018

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, Anthropocene, Arnold Schwarzennegger, Bloomberg, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, carbon dioxide, climate, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, decentralized electric power generation, fossil fuel divestment, Hyper Anthropocene, Jerry Brown, Michael Bloomberg, mitigation, moral leadership | 2 Comments

Leaders (say they) Don’t Know About Lags

Maybe they don’t. Most people don’t. On the other hand, there’s little more to them than understanding skeet, realizing aiming where the clay pigeon is now is a useless tactic for hitting it. Aim where the pigeon will be is … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, atmosphere, attribution, Boston Ethical Society, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Cult of Carbon, dynamical systems, environment, ethics, evidence, forecasting, geophysics, global warming, Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Climate Action, moral leadership, Our Children's Trust, Principles of Planetary Climate, rights of the inhabitants of the Commonwealth, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, tragedy of the horizon, unreason, UU, UU Humanists | Leave a comment

CO2 efficiency as a policy concept

I listened to the following talk, featuring Professor Kevin Anderson, who I have mentioned many times here before: While I continue to be hugely supportive of distributed PV as an energetic and democratic solution, as inspired by John Farrell at … Continue reading

Posted in Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Boston Ethical Society, climate disruption, ILSR, John Farrell, Kevin Anderson, lifestyle changes, local self reliance, moral leadership, naturalism, personal discipline, Spaceship Earth, Unitarian Universalism, UU, UU Humanists | Leave a comment

These are ethical “AI Principles” from Google, but they might as well be `technological principles’

This is entirely adapted from this link, courtesy of Google and Alphabet. Objectives Be socially beneficial. Avoid creating or reinforcing unfair bias. Be built and tested for safety. Be accountable to people. Incorporate privacy design principles. Uphold high standards of … Continue reading

Posted in American Statistical Association, artificial intelligence, basic research, Bayesian, Boston Ethical Society, complex systems, computation, corporate citizenship, corporate responsibility, deep recurrent neural networks, emergent organization, ethical ideals, ethics, extended producer responsibility, friends and colleagues, Google, Google Pixel 2, humanism, investments, machine learning, mathematics, moral leadership, natural philosophy, politics, risk, science, secularism, technology, The Demon Haunted World, the right to know, Unitarian Universalism, UU, UU Humanists | Leave a comment

National Academies Statement on Harmful Consequences of Separating Families at the U.S. Border

(Updated.) “We urge the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to immediately stop separating migrant children from their families, based on the body of scientific evidence that underscores the potential for lifelong, harmful consequences for these children and based on human … Continue reading

Posted in an ignorant American public, an uncaring American public, anti-intellectualism, anti-science, children as political casualties, compassion, Donald Trump, humanism, Humans have a lot to answer for, immigration, military inferiority, moral leadership, sadism, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, torture, Unitarian Universalism, United States Government | Leave a comment

`Insurance companies should collect a carbon levy`

From Anthony J Webster and Richard H Clarke in Nature, “Insurance companies should collect a carbon levy”: Governments juggle too many interests to drive global action on climate change. But the insurance industry is ideally placed. With annual premiums amounting … Continue reading

Posted in American Statistical Association, Anthropocene, attribution, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, business, capitalism, Carbon Tax, climate business, climate economics, corporate litigation on damage from fossil fuel emissions, corporations, Cult of Carbon, economics, energy levy, finance, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, insurance, investments, Joseph Schumpeter, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, moral leadership, statistics, stranded assets, sustainability, the right to know, the value of financial assets, tragedy of the horizon, transparency, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Is the answer to the democratization of Science doing more Citizen Science?

I have been following, with keen interest, the post and comment thread pertaining to “Democratising science” at the blog I monitor daily, … and Then There’s Physics. I think the core subject being discussed is a little different from my … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, astronomy, astrophysics, biology, citizen data, citizen science, citizenship, data science, ecology, education, environment, evidence, life purpose, local self reliance, marine biology, mathematics, mathematics education, maths, moral leadership, new forms of scientific peer review, open source scientific software, science, science education, statistics, the green century, the right to know | Leave a comment

`Moving forward on climate change and sustainability`

From WGBH, and hat tip to Environmental Justice TV, includes Dr Gavin Schmidt speaking, who I was especially interested in, and whose talk begins here: Interesting that Dr Schmidt has some gentle criticism of the PBS program NOVA. Whole talk … Continue reading

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, bridge to nowhere, Buckminster Fuller, carbon dioxide, climate, climate change, climate data, climate disruption, Ecology Action, environment, Equiterre, fossil fuel divestment, Gavin Schmidt, geophysics, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, Kevin Anderson, moral leadership, NASA, physics, science, Spaceship Earth, sustainability, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, zero carbon | Leave a comment

On the rise of the Trumpistas …

Just a couple of things to write about The Obvious. I have written a couple of longer thoughts as Comments, here and here, at … And Then There’s Physics. I reiterate that I don’t believe any voter was hoodwinked, that … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, American Solar Energy Society, American Statistical Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, atheism, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, bridge to nowhere, Buckminster Fuller, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Carbon Worshipers, citizenship, civilization, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate zombies, coastal communities, consumption, corporate supply chains, cynicism, Daniel Kahneman, denial, disingenuity, Donald Trump, dynamical systems, Equiterre, exponential growth, extended supply chains, Exxon, fear uncertainty and doubt, forecasting, fossil fuels, geophysics, global warming, Hyper Anthropocene, ice sheet dynamics, ignorance, Joseph Schumpeter, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Climate Action, meteorology, Minsky moment, moral leadership, oceanography, organizational failures, physics, Principles of Planetary Climate, rationality, reason, reasonableness, risk, science, science denier, science education, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, solar democracy, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, Spaceship Earth, temporal myopia, the energy of the people, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, Tony Seba, wind energy, wind power, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | 2 Comments

Republican Governor Charles D. Baker, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts: On CLIMATE

An Executive Order, No. 569 ESTABLISHING AN INTEGRATED CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGY FOR THE COMMONWEALTH WHEREAS, climate change presents a serious threat to the environment and the Commonwealth’s residents, communities, and economy; WHEREAS, extreme weather events associated with climate change present … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Meteorological Association, AMETSOC, Anthropocene, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, climate business, climate change, climate disruption, climate economics, climate education, climate justice, coastal communities, engineering, environment, environmental law, evidence, forecasting, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, Gaylord Nelson, geophysics, global warming, green tech, hurricanes, Hyper Anthropocene, insurance, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Climate Action, meteorology, Minsky moment, mitigation, moral leadership, rate of return regulation, rationality, reason, reasonableness, risk, shorelines, stranded assets, sustainability, the right to know, transparency, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“Disrupt climate disruption”

From Science Music Videos … And if you have the time, a 52 minute movie … Power concedes nothing without a demand. “No leader is coming to save us [from climate disruption].”

Posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, bollocks, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, citizenship, civilization, climate, climate change, climate disruption, climate justice, Daniel Kahneman, denial, dynamical systems, Eaarth, ecology, Ecology Action, Gaylord Nelson, George Monbiot, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hermann Scheer, Hyper Anthropocene, Joseph Schumpeter, liberal climate deniers, moral leadership, Our Children's Trust, regime shifts, science, Spaceship Earth, stranded assets, sustainability, the energy of the people, the green century, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets, zero carbon | Leave a comment

“Holy crap – an actual book!”

Originally posted on mathbabe:
Yo, everyone! The final version of my book now exists, and I have exactly one copy! Here’s my editor, Amanda Cook, holding it yesterday when we met for beers: Here’s my son holding it: He’s offered…

Posted in American Association for the Advancement of Science, Buckminster Fuller, business, citizen science, citizenship, civilization, complex systems, confirmation bias, data science, data streams, deep recurrent neural networks, denial, economics, education, engineering, ethics, evidence, Internet, investing, life purpose, machine learning, mathematical publishing, mathematics, mathematics education, maths, moral leadership, multivariate statistics, numerical software, numerics, obfuscating data, organizational failures, politics, population biology, prediction, prediction markets, privacy, quantitative biology, quantitative ecology, rationality, reason, reasonableness, rhetoric, risk, Schnabel census, smart data, sociology, statistical dependence, statistics, the right to be and act stupid, the right to know, the value of financial assets, transparency, UU Humanists | Leave a comment

David Spiegelhalter on `how to spot a dodgy statistic’

In this political season, it’s useful to brush up on rhetorical skills, particularly ones involving numbers and statistics, or what John Allen Paulos called numeracy. Professor David Spiegelhalter has written a guide to some of these tricks. Read the whole … Continue reading

Posted in abstraction, anemic data, Bayes, Bayesian, chance, citizenship, civilization, corruption, Daniel Kahneman, disingenuity, Donald Trump, education, games of chance, ignorance, maths, moral leadership, obfuscating data, open data, perceptions, politics, rationality, reason, reasonableness, rhetoric, risk, sampling, science, sociology, statistics, the right to know | Leave a comment

Massachusetts Bill S.2372 (“An Act to promote energy diversity”), Amendment 1

Ms. Jehlen, Messrs. Keenan, Montigny, Timilty and Joyce, Ms. Creem, Mr. Brady, Ms. L’Italien, Ms. Gobi, Ms. O’Connor Ives, Ms. Chang-Diaz, Messrs. Lewis, Pacheco, Moore and Ross moved that the bill be amended by inserting the following section:- SECTION X. … Continue reading

Posted in Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, bridge to nowhere, bridge to somewhere, citizenship, clean disruption, decentralized electric power generation, destructive economic development, disruption, electricity, electricity markets, energy utilities, explosive methane, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, greenhouse gases, investment in wind and solar energy, Joseph Schumpeter, leaving fossil fuels in the ground, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Interfaith Coalition for Climate Action, methane, microgrids, moral leadership, natural gas, pipelines, public utility commissions, PUCs, rate of return regulation, rationality, reasonableness, regulatory capture, solar domination, solar energy, solar power, SolarPV.tv, Spaceship Earth, stranded assets, sustainability, the energy of the people, the green century, the value of financial assets, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon, ``The tide is risin'/And so are we'' | Leave a comment

Facebook, Alphabet, Walmart, General Motors, and others create corporate Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance

Major United States corporations form a renewable energy buyers alliance. Facebook, Alphabet (Google’s new name), Walmart, and General Motors, while the environmental groups include the Rocky Mountain Institute, the World Resources Institute and the World Wildlife Fund. Fed up with … Continue reading

Posted in adaptation, Anthropocene, Bloomberg, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, bridge to somewhere, Buckminster Fuller, causal diagrams, citizenship, clean disruption, climate change, climate disruption, decentralized electric power generation, decentralized energy, destructive economic development, disruption, distributed generation, Ecology Action, efficiency, energy, energy reduction, energy storage, energy utilities, engineering, environment, fossil fuel divestment, global warming, greenhouse gases, grid defection, Hermann Scheer, Hyper Anthropocene, investing, investment in wind and solar energy, local generation, Massachusetts, meteorology, microgrids, moral leadership, rate of return regulation, rationality, reasonableness, Sankey diagram, solar domination, solar energy, Solar Freakin' Roadways, solar power, SolarPV.tv, Spaceship Earth, Tony Seba, utility company death spiral, wind energy, wind power, zero carbon | Leave a comment

Responsibility

From China’s emissions glimpsing the peak: (Click graph for a larger figure. Use your browser Back Button to return to blog.) (Click graph for a larger figure. Use your browser Back Button to return to blog.)

Posted in Anthropocene, bridge to nowhere, carbon dioxide, Carbon Worshipers, climate change, climate disruption, climate justice, Eaarth, ecology, economics, energy, environment, environmental law, fossil fuels, games of chance, global warming, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, ISO-NE, moral leadership, resiliency, science, sustainability, T'kun Olam, temporal myopia, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets | Leave a comment

Mayor Robert Hedlund demonstrates awesome moral leadership

Mayor Robert Hedlund demonstrates awesome moral leadership Here’s Mayor Hedlund’s statement from his Facebook page: As State Senator, I fought and opposed Spectra’s proposed compressor station in North Weymouth. As Mayor, I took a hard and proactive stance in opposition … Continue reading

Posted in Anthropocene, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, BNEF, bridge to nowhere, Carbon Worshipers, citizenship, clean disruption, consumption, corruption, demand-side solutions, destructive economic development, electricity, electricity markets, energy, energy utilities, extended supply chains, FERC, fossil fuel divestment, fossil fuels, gas pipeline leaks, greenhouse gases, Hyper Anthropocene, investment in wind and solar energy, local generation, methane, moral leadership, natural gas, pipelines, rate of return regulation, rationality, reasonableness, regulatory capture, temporal myopia, the problem of evil, the right to be and act stupid, the tragedy of our present civilization, the value of financial assets | Leave a comment