Global Challenges – – – >

Articles

State-Owned Banks: why just after a crisis?
,

State-Owned Banks: why just after a crisis?

In Colonial America, states issued their local currency so as to achieve independence from the banking and bankers of the Old World in Great Britain and Europe.  Today, the Bank of North Dakota formed in 1919  is all that remains of the state-owned bank tradition. In response to 2008’s Credit Crisis, U.S. taxpayers pumped $608 […]

Why Sustainable Banking Matters at Stanford
, ,

Why Sustainable Banking Matters at Stanford

At Stanford University, in the Engineering School, and in the d.school (Design School), and in the Law School’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy & Finance, in the Graduate School of Business, and nearly all parts of the campus, sustainability matters. Stanford is buzzing with students and faculty creating next-generation energy, construction, transportation, food, housing and other […]

Istanbul: before the next earthquake
, ,

Istanbul: before the next earthquake

Istanbul sits smack on top of some of the Earth’s most active seismic faults.  A city of nearly 14 million, the risks of repeating past earthquakes exceeding 7 in magnitude, threatens rich and poor alike.  Current USGS projections, show the vulnerability maps, with devastating clarity. The geology of how this region formed explains what is happening […]

Mapping What Matters Underneath Cities

Mapping What Matters Underneath Cities

All too often, city residents ignore what happens underneath their feet, realizing after an unexpected explosion or other incident, the sheer amount of design, construction and maintenance talent supporting energy and infrastructure layers that are the foundation of our above-ground lifestyles, businesses and environments. The engineering and navigation of sub-surface operations, rights-of-way and easements is […]

Monoculture Thinking is Unnatural & Unhealthy
, ,

Monoculture Thinking is Unnatural & Unhealthy

Biomimicry pioneer Janine Benyus has wisely observed that Nature is a design studio, where optimizing sustainability (of planetary lifeforms) and resiliency (navigating climate, species and extraterrestrial impacts) comes through millions of years of adaptability experiments. Nature Values Diversity Nature relies on multiple species to sequester carbon and improve nutrients for soils in vastly different climates […]

Tags

Categories

Our Thinking: We see options, allies, history, ideas, differently