By Kieran Cooke / Climate News Network LONDON—It’s some time in the not too distant future. The American mid-west has turned into a dust bowl. Birds are dropping out of the sky. Cities are encapsulated in domes so that people can breathe clean, if recycled, air. Billions of refugees, victims of drought and famine, are […]
By Kaid Benfield, NRDC While my concern with sprawling growth patterns is rooted in their effect on the landscape, on the environment, and on severely compromised populations left behind, Chuck Marohn is all about the money. As his book Thoughts on Building Strong Towns makes quite clear, Chuck believes that sprawl is a Ponzi scheme and […]
By David Brin Journalist-author and entrepreneur Frank Catalano took advantage of my book tour for Existence, in order to pin me down with questions about everything from sci fi to human destiny, in this interview that first appeared on Geekwire. Frank Catalano (FC): What is right with Science Fiction Today? David Brin (DB): Science Fiction has so flooded into […]
By William deBuys (This is an excerpt from William deBuys‘ new book, A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest.) Dire fire conditions, like the inferno of heat, turbulence, and fuel that recently turned 346 homes in Colorado Springs to ash, are now common in the West. A lethal combination of drought, insect plagues, windstorms, and […]
By SCOTT COONEY Joseph E. Stiglitz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, is the bestselling author of Globalization and its Discontents,Making Globalization Work, and, with Linda Bilmes, The Three Trillion Dollar War. Most recently, Stiglitz authored Freefall, a book about America, free markets, and the sinking of the world economy. Stiglitz is a vocal critic not necessarily of […]
Epistle to the Ecotopians By Ernest Callenbach [This document was found on the computer of Ecotopia author Ernest Callenbach (1929-2012) after his death.] To all brothers and sisters who hold the dream in their hearts of a future world in which humans and all other beings live in harmony and mutual support — a world of sustainability, stability, […]
By David Brin Go read one of the most important books in the past twenty years, Robert Wright’s Nonzero. Our entire Enlightenment Experiment has been about positive sum games. Open-competitive Economic Markets, Science, Democracy… these are all examples of systems set up to harness competition and produce positive sum results for all.Alas, there are forces in […]
By David Brin . Increasingly, scientific consensus is failing to influence public policy. Facts, statistics and data appear insufficient to change highly politicized minds… and science has started scrutinizing why.Alas now, this topic inevitably devolves down to our screwy American politics. And while (as I avow repeatedly) every political wing has its anti-science flakes, growing mountains of evidence […]
By David Brin | Well, he survived the debate and we’re all breathlessly awaiting the results from Michigan and Arizona, to see if this marvelous theater will go on. (See my previous piece: Saving the Earth from the rising tide of Santorum.) My own fascination with Rick Santorum is partly rooted in the fell prediction […]
One for the Holiday… Eagle Poem By Joy Harjo To pray you open your whole self To sky, to earth, to sun, to moon To one whole voice that is you. And know there is more That you can’t see, can’t hear Can’t know except in moments Steadily growing, and in languages That aren’t always […]
By David Brin (Originally posted at Contrary Brin) A few days ago, the famous comic book writer and illustrator Frank Miller issued a howl of hatred toward the young people in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Well, all right, that’s a bowdlerization. After reading even one randomly-chosen paragraph, I’m sure you’ll agree that “howl” understates the red-hot fury […]
More than 2,000 writers have signed on to support Occupy Wall Street at the OccupyWriters website. Here is the contribution by Alice Walker, civil rights activist, poet, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, The Color Purple. “If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.” – Alice Walker the joyful […]