All Entries in the "Development" Category
Happy Earth Day Humans
by Einar Du Rietz Only weeks after the peculiar, entirely symbolical and possibly dangerous Earth Hour gimmick, it’s now the 42′nd Earth Day. Hard to be against the Earth, but I’ve never understood the tendency to use these events to suggest an ongoing conflict between the earth and humanity. CFACT International President David Rothbard comments: “Celebrate them [...]
They Don’t Want To Hurt You – They Just Want Your Money
by Einar Du Rietz The heroic boy scouts collected money, went to a village in deepest Africa and helped develop a well. A few month later, excessive use had dried it up and the final result was an extension of the desert. Examples of unintended consequences (and sometimes plain stupidity) in development aid are numerous, some [...]
More Hot Innovations
by Einar Du Rietz Few things make me as happy as innovative solutions to environmental, and thus human, problems. The most recent innovation that caught my eye was the prototype for Ezystove, an an ultra simple stove, now being tried in Namibia. Production will probably take place in Namibia and Kenya, and the idea is [...]
Innovation Saves The World It Makes Go Round
by Einar Du Rietz I love a sunny story and the most recent one I stumbled upon, cherished in the environmental movement, is a recent innovation – still under development – of a new method to turn toxic textile.factory effluent into clean water. Go for it, Maria Jonstrup! One of the most disturbing ingredients of [...]
Crowded? Not really
by Einar Du Rietz Just found out that (according to BBC): “When you were born, you were the:3,453,632,094th person alive on Earth and 77,442,249,607thperson to have lived since history began” Go on, take the test. Don’t know what it’s really good for, but it’s a bit of fun, at least if you are easily amused. And [...]
Video: Why we need affordable Energy
Just follow the link: Halloween Light Show
No More Butter on the Fish
by Einar Du Rietz Yesterday, I watched that widely acclaimed movie by Nora Ephron about Julia Childs and her later follower. Marvelous. And somehow, all about butter. I seldom use butter, as I prefere olive oil, but for certain dishes it’s the best option. All sorts of fish, for example. How interesting then that there is [...]
New publication: NIPCC vs. IPCC
A new publication by S. Fred Singer, Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia, came out last week. Its title: NIPCC vs. IPCC – Adressing the Disparity between Climate Models and Observations: Testing the Hypothesis of Anthropogenic Global Warming. It is meant to be an interim science update of the 2008-NIPCC-report. The base of the [...]
Cause and Effect – and Positive Signs
by Einar Du Rietz Please tell me that we are beginning to see signs that otherwise alarmist journalists are beginning to both listen to science and to make the distinction between cause and effect. Even the crusader Susanna Baltscheffsky manages to write an interesting article (in Google translation) on weather phenomena. She points to why Tornadoes are more [...]
Is this a War, or What?
by Einar Du Rietz Apparently the UN climate meetings are not enough. Now, the Security Council will get involved. From our beloved Guardian, we learn that: “A special meeting of the United Nations security council is due to consider whether to expand its mission to keep the peace in an era of climate change.” We [...]
Sunglasses Wont Help
by Einar Du Rietz Just like Icarus, the UNFCCC and several NGO’s attempts at controlling the climate sometimes feels like the height of pretentiousness. When this permanent crowd is flying around the globe telling ordinary people to change their lifestyles and pay more for necessities, like electricity, it’s nice to find some other perspective. Madhulika [...]
Lighten Up – Again
by Einar Du Rietz The tradition of lighting a candle, or a fire, to guide travellers and visitors is probably as old as the tamed fire. With the invention of electricity and the light bulb, it also became more convenient and safer. Since some years back, another – imposed – tradition is the so called Earth Hour [...]
Is Nature Environmentally Friendly?
by Einar Du Rietz For anyone having been involved in serious environmental and financial reporting, the flashy ads for environmentally friendly products, or glossy brochures from minor companies bragging about environmentally sound processes (most often less paper consumption) is quite embarrassing. Industry, the EU institutions and financial analysts have since way back agreed to use the [...]
Who’s the Real Villain
by Einar Du Rietz There are real environmental problems. Not necessarily those threats lazy journalists and politicians demand you to solve, but more often caused by the government. One of the most blatant examples is found in the oceans, in particular those areas controlled by the EU. Millions of Euro are wasted in the incomprehensible [...]
The Climate Mystery
by Einar Du Rietz In the never ending debate on what really triggered WWI, an interesting observation is that August 1914 was one of the warmest months in Europe, during the last century. With no AC, politicians simply went bananas. Naturally, the underlying factors were multiple; trigger happy, sometimes very old, politicians and officers, negligence to [...]
