Search Results for: fracking

You’re familiar with fracking…the technique of extracting natural gas from shales by using high-pressure fluids injected (typically, at great depths) underground to fracture the rock and release the gas. I’m a little behind on my reading of The Economist, but … Continue reading →

Recent LOTRW posts noted that the real world punishes us if we fail to face hazards realistically. What does realism demand? That we do better than merely redistribute risk; that instead we actually reduce it. We need to go beyond … Continue reading →

Got up early enough this morning (at that time those in the military refer to as “oh-dark hundred”) to collect a daily bit of meteorological data. Here to report: The sun rose in the east. Looks as if we’re headed … Continue reading →

A vignette: in the 1990’s, I did a fair bit of government-related travel. Too many sleepless nights in distant hotel rooms, too tired to read, biological clock messed up, but there would be TV. Would tune around looking for sports … Continue reading →

Last Saturday (April 27th), at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society, Ernest Moniz, former Energy Secretary for President Barack Obama, and Daniel Nocera, Harvard chemistry professor (and inventor of the artificial leaf and the bionic leaf) – longtime friends … Continue reading →

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! Age-old investment advice dating at least to the 17th century. Do put all your eggs in one basket – but then watch the basket. – attributed, variously, to Mark Twain and Andrew … Continue reading →

Start with this: environmental intelligence[1] faces two big challenges in the 21st century. The first is scientific/technical. The second is social. Both are profound[2]. The scientific challenge: Do we want a safer, more prosperous, more secure future that will endure … Continue reading →

“In the end, more than they wanted freedom, they wanted security. They wanted a comfortable life and they lost it all, security, comfort, and freedom. When the Athenians finally wanted not to give to society, but for society to give … Continue reading →

The news these days constantly reminds us that Earth scientists, however reluctantly, are finding themselves drawn into the legal arena. This week, Washington Post articles included stories on the following: Va. Supreme Court rules for U-Va in global warming FOIA … Continue reading →

In case you needed any reminding, yesterday was the first day of spring. The poet Tennyson nicely articulated spring’s iconic signs: …In the spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin’s breast In the spring the wanton lapwing gets himself … Continue reading →