Environmental Economics

SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Academia Obscura: Dear Sir, Madame, or Other: Enclosed is our latest version of Ms # 85-02-22-RRRRR, that is, the re-re-re-revised revision of our paper. Choke on it. We have again rewritten the entire manuscript from start to finish. We even changed the goddamn running head! Hopefully we have suffered enough by now to satisfy even you and your bloodthirsty reviewers. I shall skip the usual point-by-point description of every single change we made in response to the critiques.

2016 172

2016 Review War Vegetables 172

Green (Living) Review

MAY 17, 2016

by Michael Smith (Veshengro) This one or similar headlines are being used time and again trying to prove something as regards to Aspartame. Yes, Aspartame is not good for us at all and probably an accumulative poison but ants don't avoid because they know it to be poison. They avoid it because it is not sugar, refined or otherwise, and because therefore it has no value for them.

2016 159

2016 Health Consumer Food 159

Green Traveler Guides

MARCH 10, 2016

| Awesome Eco Scene | In the past few years, Lima’s renowned food scene has grown to include an ever-increasing array of organic, vegetarian and artisan restaurants, cafés and craftsmen. There’s even a new Lima Bio Mapa (Green Map) that calls out venues for organic fairs and farmers markets, “conscious shopping,” and wellness offerings. But for the […].

Peru 159

Peru 2016 Organic Vegan 159

The Alien Next Door

JANUARY 1, 2016

“ Do I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.”—Walt Walt Whitman Leslie Wu of Forbes Magazine beat my tagline today in wishing you a Happy New Year: Says Wu: “ Although we’ll be ringing in the year of the fire monkey for Chinese New Year in February, it could be said that 2016 will be the year of the cat…Cat cafes are springing up across Canada, where those lacking feline companionship can reserve time with these most reserved of creatures.

2016 154

2016 Egypt Japan Mouse 154

The Green Samaritan

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016

This beautiful basil plant has served us well over the summer growing season, and we enjoyed several homemade and fresh “farewell” Margherita pizzas over the weekend. Now with the. See the full post and more at www.TheGreenSamaritan.com. Green Living

2016 144

2016 Homemade Planting Plants 144

Blue Earth

DECEMBER 29, 2016

2017 Trends Word is that these Virtual Assistant speakers from Amazon “Echo” and Google “Home” were big sellers over the 2016 holiday season. This is just the start of a big move towards having computers understand what humans want - and this time it will be through asking and answering questions. Right now these devices do not ask clarifying questions, but that is just a matter of a few years. I predict that will be in 2020

2017 100

2017 2016 2020 Home 100

Green Furniture Home Design

NOVEMBER 10, 2016

As a collector of all things readable, I’m always looking for new and innovative ways to show off my favorite books. One of the issues I have (I guess its not really a bad issue, but it makes getting the perfect bookcases a chore!) is that I have very high ceilings in my office, which is where I keep a lot of my book collection. So as you can imagine, I was thrilled to come across these new wooden shelves from Huxley’s. The true genius of this bookshelf? YOU CAN CLIMB IT. I’m in love.

2016 139

2016 Furniture Functional Planting 139

Environmental Economics

OCTOBER 5, 2016

Tyler Cowen: I’ve never once nailed the timing, but I have two predictions. The first is William Baumol, who is I believe ninety-four years old.    His cost-disease hypothesis is very important for understanding the productivity slowdown, see this recent empirical update.    Oddly, the hypothesis is most likely false for the sector where Baumol pushed it hardest — music and the arts.

2016 172

2016 Economic Economical Economics 172

Environmental Economics

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Michael Greenstone in the NY Times : Respondents were asked if they would support a fee on their monthly electricity bill to combat climate change, and they were offered fees at various levels: $1, $10, $20, $30, $40 and $50. Each household was asked about only one of these levels.) The responses were that 57 percent would pay at least $1; 39 percent would pay at least $10; 29 percent would pay $20; 24 percent would pay $30; 17 percent would pay $40; and 20 percent would pay $50.

2016 171

2016 Climate Change Climate Household 171

Environmental Economics

DECEMBER 13, 2016

A pretty cool graphic of one person's views of credible vs incredible news sources : HT: Craig Landry via FB (Craig didn't create the graphic, just reposted). A few thoughts: I'm sure everyone can quibble about placement of some of these, but that kind of misses the point. I'm going to quibble. I venture to guess that liberal thinkers think the graphic is too conservative and conservative thinkers think it is too liberal.  Which probably means it's just about right.

2016 159

2016 Social networking Conserve Conservation 159

Environmental Economics

MARCH 14, 2016

No matter how tempting it might be: Jim Vander Putten suspected that some education conferences accepted any study pitched by someone willing to pay a registration fee. He worried that the gatherings enabled scholars to pad their publishing records while tainting research in the field. To test his hypothesis, he sent fake research-paper summaries larded with unforgivable methodological errors to the organizers of 15 conferences he believed to have lax standards.

2016 153

2016 Arkansas Denver Colorado 153

Green (Living) Review

JULY 25, 2016

by Michael Smith (Veshengro) Often the claim is being made that the search engine “Ecosia” has impeccable ecological credentials and then someone may add that it, however, may not always be as effective. So, does Ecosia really have those claimed “impeccable ecological credentials”? In short, the answer has to be, probably not. Fact is that “Ecosia” is basically just Bing (Microsoft's search engine, which is simply not as good, as search engines go, as Google).

2016 159

2016 Ecology GreenPeace 2007 159

Green Traveler Guides

JANUARY 11, 2016

| Green Travel News | It’s never too late to add this New Year’s resolution: travel sustainably. For most of us, the beginning of a new year inspires plans for a bigger adventure than the year before. A place more diverse, more thrilling (or relaxing!), more exotic. While these are great intentions, if we don’t travel […]. Green Travel News Xtras 12 tips for sustainable travel International Ecotourism Society

2016 150

2016 Sustain Sustainability Sustainable 150

The Alien Next Door

MAY 10, 2016

Nina and an interested "reader" of Water Is. That was the title John Stewart gave his interview article in the MississaugaNews last week on my book Water Is… In fact, as part of the interview, John and I did a meander over to the Credit River, featured in my recently released book about the myriad identities of water.

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Streams 2016 Ions Mississippi 139

The Green Samaritan

JUNE 17, 2016

School is officially out! A welcome relief from packing lunches, carpool, homework and overall hectic schedules. So while we take a little break from the traditional 3 Rs of school…let’s. See the full post and more at www.TheGreenSamaritan.com. Green Living

2016 126

2016 Green Living Green 126

Environmental Economics

APRIL 4, 2016

I found this debate between Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok (at Marginal Revolution University), on whether college education provides learning or signaling, interesting. 

2016 152

2016 Students Products 152

Green Furniture Home Design

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

EVERYBODY wants to live in a treehouse. Even if it’s just for a warm summer’s night or a lazy weekend in the autumn when the leaves around your house are changing. We collected 25 images of the most magical, fairytale treehouses we could find to tickle your imagination. Many of these are made from sustainably sourced materials, like reclaimed hardwood, corrugated steel reused from shipping containers, and many other unique materials that you could only use on projects like these ones.

2016 133

2016 Reclaim Reclaiming Reuse 133

Nature Conservancy - Science

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

The saola is the largest terrestrial mammal never seen alive in the wild by a biologist. This is not a Bigfoot story. The saola undeniably exists. It roams only in the Annamite Mountains of Laos and Vietnam. Biologists know very little about the saola. But one thing is clear: They are in big trouble. A poaching crisis in the Annamite Mountains is hammering wildlife, and a rare species like saola stands little chance in a landscape literally covered in snares. Related Articles.

2016 87

2016 Laos Vietnam Hunters 87

Environmental Economics

APRIL 15, 2016

When talking about outsourcing jobs, why don't politicians ever mention the less expensive goods we get in return? This from coverage of last night's Democratic debate : Sanders is no fan of General Electric. He and the iconic American company have been trading jabs   ever since Sanders attacked the firm in an interview with the New York Daily News earlier this month for sending jobs overseas. Let me start my rant here by stating the conclusion. 

2016 151

2016 Food Agriculture New York 151

Environmental Economics

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

2016 148

2016 148

Environmental Economics

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

2016 148

2016 148

Environmental Economics

MARCH 7, 2016

Via Retraction Watch: After reading too many papers that either are not reproducible or contain statistical errors (or both), the American Statistical Association (ASA) has been roused to action. Today the group released six principles for the use and interpretation of p values. P-values are used to search for differences between groups or treatments, to evaluate relationships between variables of interest, and for many other purposes.    But the ASA says they are widely misused.

2016 149

2016 Producing Produce 149

Green (Living) Review

MAY 8, 2016

COLORADO SPRINGS - It's becoming more common than ever to have chickens and even goats as your next door neighbors. As families become more focused on knowing where their food comes from, the practice of urban farming is a growing trend in Southern Colorado. "You know when you come up it looks like a regular neighborhood you don't really know that this is back here," said Leanne Nipp.

Colorado 149

Colorado 2016 Communities Local 149

Green Traveler Guides

MAY 27, 2016

| Greening Your Adventure | “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks,” said John Muir, the Scottish-American naturalist and tireless advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. He’s as right today as he was in the 19th century, maybe more so. As a society, we are now painfully […]. Community Wales Xtras eco friendly adventure travel

2016 141

2016 Eco Friendly Eco Preservation 141

The Alien Next Door

MAY 18, 2016

scotch on the Faculty Club patio It’s been a while since I drank scotch. The last time was more than several years ago in a dark bar at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. I had just come down the mountain, having barely reached the upper foothills. My friend Margaret and I had abandoned the taxing ascent in favor of a more pleasant and relaxing hike and more time at the local bar. The place was somewhat run down and smelled of burnt plantain and rotting fruit. All they had was scotch.

2016 132

2016 Kentucky Tanzania Hydrogen 132

The Green Samaritan

APRIL 22, 2016

Happy Earth Day today, April 22! With these ideas you can appreciate, celebrate and honor this day…any day and every day. Spend a few minutes outside to decompress by taking three. See the full post and more at www.TheGreenSamaritan.com. Green Living

2016 126

2016 Earth Day Earth Green Living 126

Environmental Economics

JULY 19, 2016

Quotes from a co-author: While it may be beautiful in a home aquarium, the aggressive and fast-reproducing lionfish is wreaking havoc in the ocean ecosystem and endangering reef habitats. But there might be a way to keep the lionfish in check: by eating it. Researchers and restaurateurs in Northwest Florida are looking at ways to price and prepare lionfish dishes. In fact, the fish is already on the menu at some Pensacola restaurants.

2016 146

2016 Florida Extinct Extinction 146

Green Furniture Home Design

MARCH 31, 2016

Is there anything more beautifully terrifying than modern staircases which seem to be daring you to try and descend them without experiencing complete vertigo as your confused eyes and brain try to figure out where to put your foot next? We don’t think so, so we’ve gathered together a collection of elegantly designed modern and cool staircases that will delight your guests before they take an inevitable misstep and tumble towards certain injury and possible death.

2016 130

2016 Glass Clean Green 130

Nature Conservancy - Science

OCTOBER 31, 2016

Every report has a genesis, an initial conversation that sprouts an idea that grows into a research study. For me, one of those moments was a phone interview I had with a professor at King’s College in London, about the somewhat goofy idea of gluing pollution to roads. London, like a lot of cities, struggles with its air quality, especially having too much particulate matter (PM) in the air.

2016 87

2016 Trees Planting Plants 87

Environmental Economics

JULY 4, 2016

Greg Mankiw: I see you recently opened up a golf course in Scotland. I  I presume that part of your business plan is for some Americans to take vacations to play there. But this raises some thorny questions. You complain constantly about American firms moving jobs overseas. But  But couldn't you have opened up your golf course here in the United States?    Wouldn't that have created jobs for American caddies and groundskeepers? 

2016 144

2016 China United States President 144

Environmental Economics

OCTOBER 4, 2016

Adding new or higher import duties on products such as air conditioners, cars, and cookies — to encourage producers to make them in the US — would be a good idea. via www.igmchicago.org. I wonder what prompted this poll question

2016 144

2016 Producing Produce Products 144

Environmental Economics

MAY 25, 2016

From the back story of Tuesday's NY Times Morning Brief : Strains of Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” March No. 1 are echoing across the land this commencement season. For hundreds of thousands of undergraduates, higher education was made possible, in part, by the U.S. government’s two Morrill Acts. The legislation helped create our great public universities, with land grants.

2016 143

2016 Vermont Students Agriculture 143

Environmental Economics

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Retraction Watch: Top-ranking economists sometimes publish papers in open access journals deemed potentially “predatory,” according to a new analysis. The findings contradict previous results  that show that researchers who publish papers in “potential, possible, or probable” predatory journals (as defined by librarian Jeffrey Beall ) are largely inexperienced.

2016 141

2016 Denver North Carolina Kuwait 141

Green (Living) Review

OCTOBER 22, 2016

by Michael Smith (Veshengro) The idea of sustainable growth and sustainable consumption is about the same as having sex to preserve for virginity or having a war for peace. It does not work. You cannot have sustainable growth and neither can you have sustainable consumption. Yes, we all consume and will have to consume but we do not have to consume more, and more, and more, of the Planet's non-renewable resources just because someone is trying to sell us something.

2016 148

2016 Sustain Sustainability Sustainable 148

Green Traveler Guides

APRIL 28, 2016

| Green at Your Fingertips | There’s an app for everything these days, so why not for traveling greener? You have the power in your pocket to keep track of your carbon footprint and take steps to minimize it like never before. Here are five of the best mobile phone apps—all free or almost so—to get you […]. Community Xtras eco-friendly travel apps green travel apps mobile apps for eco travel mobile apps for ecological travel

2016 133

2016 Green Travel Carbon Footprint Footprint 133

Environmental Economics

JUNE 1, 2016

Mark Thoma on "the conservative bias in economics": I have a new column: Yes, Nick Kristof, There Is a Conservative Bias in Economics : Nicholas Kristof recent reignited  the debate over liberal bias in academia with his claim that “universities risk becoming liberal echo chambers and hostile environments for conservatives.”

2016 141

2016 Conserve Conservation Economic 141

Green Prophet

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Israel! You are so good at so many things. And food, as locals and tourists know is becoming Israel’s rising star. With cultured people and hyper-fresh production capabilities, Israelis from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem enjoy traditional Mediterranean food, hybridized with any international trend. It’s here for the tasting. It makes complete sense in a country that’s up and up for food, and in the know for startups and technology, that the two intersect in a new industry.

2016 86

2016 Food International Hybrid 86