Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

This is how the idea is introduced: Donald Sadoway is working on a battery miracle — an inexpensive, incredibly efficient, three-layered battery using “liquid metal.” Professor Sadoway explains that his angle has been to design around the oil price point, not around some wild and cool technology that can never compete economically. He goes on [...]

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Labs have announced the completion of an ARPA-E sponsored  study comparing the relative gasification efficiencies of key scriptures from the world’s major religions as biomass feedstocks. The researchers gasified typical exemplars of the Bhagavadgita, the Analects of Confucius and the Tao (in one reversible volume), the Torah (with and [...]

In Michael Crichton’s last novel, Micro, the following exchange takes place between the character Danny, a philosopher of science , and Erika a coleopterist, “…I have not adopted the scientific worldview of verities and immutable truths.” “Neither have we,” Erika said. “But some things are repeatedly verifiable and therefore justify our belief in them.”    [...]

Hydrogen sulfide is one of those often overlooked industrial emissions from the point of view of symbiotic, reuse technologies. Much effort has been addressed, for instance, at using CO2 emissions for beneficial purposes, but not that much, at least as far as I am aware, of using H2S in the same way. H2S is a [...]

In the US there seems to be a perennial battle over taxation. Who should be taxed? What should be taxed? How much? Every point of view on this subject is tinged with a heavy self-interested bias. I now ask the question, ‘what is the ecological approach to taxation?’ I propose that the emphasis of taxation [...]

I saw this question asked recently on a scientific discussion forum and here is the answer I posted there: ‘Please permit to rephrase your question and add two premises. The first premise is that climate change will cause an increase in human suffering and hardship and that climate change is, at least partially, caused by [...]

Recent discoveries of the various other human species that have recently walked the earth, raises an interesting question. Scientists are finding that our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans so it would seem technologically possible to transfer some of their DNA to human embryos and raise them as our own. The question is, should we? [...]