Archive for December, 2009
The poverty conundrum
In: Uncategorized
13 Dec 2009Ravi Kanbur, a professor of economics at Cornell, tries to explain a contradiction in poverty statistics in an article in Finance & Development. Although the official statistics show that poverty is falling there is a widespread perception that the opposite is the case: “Setting aside the effects of the crises of the late 2000s and […]
- Tags: development, inequality
Against “rights” for the unborn
In: Uncategorized
12 Dec 2009A characteristically cranky article in The Ecologist but one that points to a dangerous trend. It seems that increasing credence is being given to the supposed rights of the unborn and the related concept of inter-generational justice. Of course the unborn are not in any position to exercise their rights. What this means in practice […]
- Tags: climate, environment, Malthus
Challenging climate change orthodoxy
In: Uncategorized
12 Dec 2009An interesting cover story by Martin Cohen, an environmental activist and the editor of The Philosopher, in Times Higher Education challenging climate change orthodoxy. I do not agree with all of his arguments but the piece makes many astute points.
- Tags: climate
False prophet
In: Uncategorized
10 Dec 2009Dennis Meadows, on of the authors of the landmark 1972 report on The Limits to Growth, tells Der Spiegel in an interview that personal sacrifice is the only way to tackle climate change: “I don’t ask for it but I say if we don’t change our behavior then we will be in serious trouble. People […]
- Tags: climate, consumption, environment, ethics, Malthus
Miserable movies
In: Uncategorized
9 Dec 2009The opening film to the Copenhagen summit, featuring a girl having a nightmare about catastrophic climate change, unwittingly reveals the pervasiveness of contemporary social pessimism. It assumes that our irresponsible actions today will cause devastating problems for our children in the future. The opposite possibility, that human action could improve our lives and those of […]
Redefining development
In: Uncategorized
9 Dec 2009A paper by Ha-Joon Chang (PDF), a development economist at Cambridge University, makes a valuable point about the redefinition of development: “the currently dominant discourse on ‘development’ really lacks any real notion of development in the sense of transformation of productive capabilities and structure (and the accompanying social changes”. However, to my mind he still […]
- Tags: development, inequality, sustainability
Redefining poverty
In: Uncategorized
8 Dec 2009Geoff Mulgan, the director of the Young Foundation and a former senior adviser to Tony Blair, has a comment piece in the Times (London) arguing that poverty should be redefined in psychological and psychosocial terms. In relation to the former he argues: “Most of the arguments about poverty in the past have focused on material […]
- Tags: affluenza, happiness, inequality
German magazine backtracks on Obama
In: Uncategorized
8 Dec 2009Der Spiegel, a leading German newsmagazine, has recanted three weeks after attacking Barack Obama’s record on climate change (see 17 November post). According to an editorial by Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff argues: “Obama has done all that a single person can possibly do. He has become the greenest president his country has ever seen.” However, it maintains […]
- Tags: America, climate, environment, Germany, Obama
Diamond embraces green business
In: Uncategorized
7 Dec 2009What’s happened to Jared Diamond? Back in 1987 the professor of geography at the University of California at Los Angeles wrote a notorious essay arguing that the agricultural revolution was the worst mistake in human history (see 1 August 2006 post). Yet in yesterday’s New York Times he wrote an op-ed piece saying that he […]
- Tags: corporations, environment
For scientific progress
In: Uncategorized
7 Dec 2009When I first came across Denialism by Michael Specter the title almost put me off. The term “denial” is often used by climate change alarmists to close down debate on the topic. But when I looked more closely at the content of the book I was pleasantly surprised. Specter, a staff writer on the New […]
- Tags: book, food, science, technology
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