Can today’s technology tackle climate change? Who cares? | Grist

Can today’s technology tackle climate change? Who cares? | Grist: The latest outbreak has come in the wake of a report from a panel of energy analysts in California that spent the last two years digging in to what it would take for the state to meet its ambitious climate goal (reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, even as its population grows from 37 million to 55 million and demand for energy doubles). It released its report earlier this year: California's Energy Future—The View to 2050. It's a fascinating read with some important insights; for instance, it totally rejects the use of biofuels for passenger vehicles (we need to save them for hard-to-electrify stuff like freight trucks and planes).

Societies with class structure expand faster than egalitarian ones, Stanford researchers say

Societies with class structure expand faster than egalitarian ones, Stanford researchers say: In environments where the availability of resources fluctuated from year to year, stratified societies were better able to survive the temporary shortages because the bulk of the deprivation was absorbed by the lower classes, leaving the ruling class – and the overall social structure – intact. That stability enabled them to expand more readily than egalitarian societies, which weren't able to adapt to changing conditions as quickly.

Global carbon intensity on the rise for first time in a decade - 07 Nov 2011 - News from BusinessGreen

Global carbon intensity on the rise for first time in a decade - 07 Nov 2011 - News from BusinessGreen: The combination of strong growth in the emerging economies of China, Brazil and South Korea, unusually cold winters in the northern hemisphere, a drop in the price of coal relative to gas, and a slowdown in renewable energy deployment was credited with driving the increase in emissions.