1. CREDO

    1. Nature. There is no (external) nature. All ecology is synthetic.

    2. Space. Geographic scale has been reified. The totality of flows of energy, matter, and information that shape socio-environmental processes cannot be captured by any artificial boundary. There are no closed systems.

    3. Energy. Energy is the master resource. Its availability is the main driver of historical change. Radical energy independence is crucial to the perpetuation of civilization.

    4. Sustainability. When not being used for the purposes of “greenwash,” sustainability has been co-opted by thermodynamic pessimism. Neither of these acceptations is useful.

    5. Economics. Scarcity is a human construct.

    6. Capitalism. Capitalism is not sustainable, but the perceived socio-environmental crises are still epiphenomena of capitalism. Dealing with capitalism’s contradictions does not guarantee ameliorating the crises.

    7. Boomsters. Technological optimists who declare themselves apolitical are tacit apologists of capitalism.

    8. Doomsters. Ecological economists critical of capitalism rely on the same technological apparatus as technological optimists to successfully take on their managerial program. Further, their energy reductionism constitutes a thermodynamic dead end.

    9. Critical theory. For all its analytical antisepticism, the left has not been successful in articulating a powerful anti-ideology of nature capable of capturing the general public’s imagination as effectively as the mainstream environmental discourse has.

    10. Ethics. All calls for change reliant on an ethics of self-restraint and contentedness will never be considered the best option.

  2. A Dream of Glowing Trees Is Assailed for Gene-Tinkering →

    A project to create a plant that glows in the dark, potentially leading the way for trees that can replace streetlamps, has been denounced for tinkering with genes.

  3. Arctic Ocean 'acidifying rapidly' →

  4. Bill Gates on energy: Innovating to zero!

    <iframe src=”http://embed.ted.com/talks/bill_gates.html” width=”560” height=”315” frameborder=”0” scrolling=”no” webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>

  5. Mars One opens applications for one-way ticket to Mars (Wired UK) →

    Two women and two men will be selected to make the journey, but questions remain about mission’s viability

  6. Genetically Modified E. Coli Bacteria Can Now Synthesize Diesel Fuel →

    By combining genes from different bacteria species, scientists created E. coli that can consume fat and excrete diesel fuel

  7. Obama: NASA should capture asteroid, place it in orbit | The Space Reporter →

  8. The Curse of Fertilizer →

    If we don’t watch out, agriculture could destroy our planet. Here’s how to grow all the food we need with fewer chemicals.

  9. 1st Shuttle Launch

    1st Shuttle Launch

  10. Biological computer that 'lives' inside the body comes one step closer as scientists make transistor out of DNA and RNA  →

    Scientists believe they are close to building the first truly biological computer made from the organic molecules of life and capable of working within the living cells of organisms ranging from microbes to man.