Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, tagged A380, airliner, Americans spend less, baby formula, barriers, bioregionalism, car, Carnival, China, CNN, consumers, contractor, cost cutting, crankcase, Credit Suisse, cruise, currency war, defects, devaluation, doctrine, dogma, Dollar, Dong Tao, drugs, eco-friendly, economic engine, ecoregionalism, electronics, emergency, emerging power, engine, failure, fakes, FDA, Federal Reserve, fire, flimsy, food, G-20, G20, globalisation, globalization, going broke, Green Revolution, grounded, hazards, imitation, improved, jet, job losses, knockoff, landing, leading economy by 2012, leveling the playing field, liberalization, lifestyle realignment, lost income, lower, manufacturers, market, medications, melamine, military gear, mineral, natural resources, news, out of luck, parts, passenger, pets, port, post-American, production, productivity, protectionism, protectionist, protest, Qantas, quality assurance, quantitative easing, rebalance, recalls, recession, recession here to stay, replicas, responsibility, risk, Rolls-Royce, runs out, safety, salaries, scarcity, shady, ship, shocking, shoddy, shortage, Splendor, supplier, sustainability movement, tariffs, tensions, track record, trade liberalization, trade war, treason, treasury bills, troops, turnover, U.S., unemployment, Veteran's Day, wages, way of life, who is to blame for, workmanship, world economy on November 12, 2010|
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Last week: A late-model Qantas A380 jet engine disintegrates mid-air, with passengers lucky to have survived the ensuing in-flight trauma. This week: A two-year-old Carnival cruise ship is towed into a San Diego, California port after an engine crankcase spontaneously splits open, erupting in fire. Passengers in this case, too, were lucky that the worst they suffered was cold food, limited electrical power and non-operable toilets. And in what would have been shocking 10 years ago, news of contaminated meat, recalled produce and unsafe drugs are now so routine that most of us shrug it off.
In such situations, the finger-pointing tends to be brand, manufacturer or supplier-specific. Indeed, it is tempting to chalk up such news to a series of unfortunate flukes. But is that the best and brightest lesson we can draw — or does our mainstream news media tend to downplay or disregard the Big Picture?
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Posted in Economics & Globalization, Politics & Public Policy, Technology & Science, tagged adjustment, ahead, alternative energy, alternatives, Amazon, American Dream, Baby Boomers, bailouts, banks, big box, Big Coal, Bowling Alone, budget, buy local, buying, buying decisions, cap and trade, careers, cars, Cash for Clunkers, chain stores, challengers, change, climate, commodity, communitarianism, communities, community, community centers, community purse, companies, compete, computers, concentration, consequences, constrain, consumer confidence, consumers, cookie cutter, crude, Dark Age, debt, debtor, demand, demographics, desertification, destinations, developments, digital, discontinued, discounters, diversity, domain, double dip recession, downsizing, e-commerce, e-tailers, ecommerce, economists, education, efficiency, Ellen Ruppel Shell, energy, entitlements, evolution, Federal, financial, forecast, fossil fuels, free shipping, frugal, fund, future, gains, gasoline, globalization, GNP, governments, Green, Greening, growth, hardware, here to stay, heritage, hikes, hindsight, horizon, income, increases, independence, inflation, infrastructure, innovation, internet shopping, Jane Jacobs, Jeff Goodell, jobless recovery, jobs, landscape, lifestyle, lingering, local, local color, long term, loss, losses, market forces, marketplace, Marshalls, money, moneysaver, mouse, myth, necessity, new normal, oases, oil, oil refineries, outlook, overstock, Perfect Storm, petro, pitfalls, population, postal service, prediction, price wars, prices, production, projection, public safety, purchases, question, rates, reality, red tag, refining, regulation, retail, retailers, revolution, risks, Robert B. Putnam, Ross, sales, scale back, sell, shift, shipping, shop, shop locally, shoppers, shopping, signs of life, Social Security, society, spend, stagnation, standard of living, state, suburbia, SUVs, TARP, tax base, tax revenues, tax-free, taxation, thrift, time, TJ Maxx, toll, too little too late, towns, trade, transport, travel, trends, unintended, United States, urban, vacuum, wages, web, web bargains, websites, welfare, workforce on March 22, 2010|
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For years “energy independence” has been the catch-all solution promoted by politicians, talk radio hosts, newspaper columnists and others who point out that the U.S. is short on oil refining capacity. Nonetheless, petroleum production facilities are not only in the process of downsizing in response to a weak economy, but permanently so the Los Angeles Times reports in “Oil companies look at permanent refinery cutbacks” [March 11, 2010].
The oil industry, which as recently as 2007 broke so many profit records that allegations of collusion and price-gouging surfaced, is singing a different tune: Limiting supply to increase sagging profit margins is the solution, analysts say, for losses induced by everything from fuel efficient cars to retiring baby boomers who no longer commute to and from work.
And to think: Just a few years ago SUVs, with their paltry ~13 mpg, were the rage from Coast to Coast. Could it be that Cash for Clunkers, unintentionally so, was a little too effective — or are oil industry insiders selling Americans up the river when they can least afford it? Whatever the case may be, nothing says Green like fuel-efficient automobiles and the beginnings of an alternative energy infrastructure. Even so, the picture the LAT paints is far from complete. The Perfect Storm of tightening supply, increasing commodity prices, rising taxes and further job losses looms on the horizon.
Hang on to your hat! The price of life is going up.
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Posted in Health & Environment, Technology & Science, tagged agriculture, Amazon, biodegradable, boards, book vs. Kindle, books, breaking point, byproducts, carbon footprint, carcinogenic, centralization, chemicals, children, clean, coal power, computers, computing, conscious, conservancy, contaminated, costs, dangers, data centers, degradable, demand, disposable, e-readers, e-waste, Earth, eco-conscious, electricity, electronic frontier, electronics, Elinor Abreau, energy, energy vampires, environmental, environmental awareness quotient, exposure, factories, First World, footprint, forested, free lunch, gadgets, Gaia, gasses, gear, geek, globe, Google, gray, gray side to green, Green, green is gray, green side, grid, growing, harm, hazardous, heavy metals, high-tech, human health, hypocrisy, IBM, impact, industrialization, Industry Standard, infrastructure, integrated circuit, Internet, IT/IS, Jeff Monroe, Kindle, land, lead, library vs. Internet, limit, love affair, manufacturing, megawatts, MEMEX, Microsoft, minimal, misinformation, modernity, myths, nature, nerd, net, network, newspapers, obsession, online, overuse, paper vs. digital, paperless, PCs, petro, petroleum products, planet, plants, plastics, politics of green, population, power, power grid, price, print, production, public, public health, quantify, question, reader, reading, reality check, recyclable, recycling, renewable, reproductive, researchers, resources, scrap, semi-conductor, server farm, Silicon Valley, simple, sites, smart, smokestacks, solution, steward, tech, Technology & Science, territory, Third World, threat, toxicity, toxins, trade, trees, trendy, USA Weekend, Vicki Kriz, waste, web, woodland, workers, world wide web, Yahoo on July 14, 2009|
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Trees: 181,000 of them to be exact. That’s the number of leafy green lives we will save if we pay our bills online, writes Vicki Kriz, author of GreenSmart: Save trees, pay bills online in a July 5, 2009 USA WEEKEND Magazine column. A wise idea, right? “To find out the impact your household could make, use the ‘Green Calculator’ at payitgreen.org,” the article concludes.
That’s all well and good, but who’s asking the even bigger question: How many trees are we trading for coal-burning smokestacks vis-à-vis the increasing load our proliferating gadgets place on the electric grid?
Consider the carbon footprint of the Internet itself. The electrical requirements are astounding, yet as long as the public perceives all things Internet and electronic as a “free Green lunch”, no end to this grand, green e-lusion lies in sight.
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