sustainability
Whether human wellbeing and environmental impact still have to trade off against each other.
FilterEveryone, all time59 from 24 people
- DD
Daniel W. Drezner quoted
Political scientist writing Drezner’s World on international relations
Their wordsOf course, pledges and plans do not always bear fruit. And Canada’s geography cannot be changed; no matter how much Carney tries to diversify Canada’s economy away from the United States, there will always be some asymmetric dependence.
- 2 days earlier
- DH
David Heinemeier Hansson quoted
Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals
Our readingLovely computers can have much more life in them if they are run on an efficient operating system.
Their wordsBut these are lovely computers that have so much more life in them if we only feed them an efficient OS.
- 7 weeks earlier
- TM
Tom MacWright quoted
Software engineer and writer
Our readingLonger device upgrade cycles are beneficial because they reduce e-waste, pollution, and churn.
Their wordsBut either way, it's good that upgrade cycles are longer: it means less e-waste, less pollution, less churn overall.
↗Technology optimism hourmacwright.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 9 days earlier
- ZH
Zeke Hausfather quoted
Climate scientist and energy systems analyst
Their wordsThis is the Jevons paradox in action: making compute cheaper per token in turn tends to lead to greater levels of AI use.
↗The real energy use of agentic AItheclimatebrink.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- 5 weeks earlier
- CS
Chris Smaje quoted
Social scientist turned smallholder
Our reading · no longer heldEcomodernism is concerned with secondary managerial goals like efficiency and says nothing to the mysteries and passions that animate a life.
Recalls holdingIn this sense, I think I was wrong to imply in Saying NO… that ecomodernism focuses on secondary managerialist goals like the efficiency of feedlots without speaking to the mysteries and passions of what animates life.
SaidIn this sense, I think I was wrong to imply in Saying NO… that ecomodernism focuses on secondary managerialist goals like the efficiency of feedlots without speaking to the mysteries and passions of what animates life.
↗Saving the world from bad ideas: the continuing failure of food ecomodernismchrissmaje.com 7th of 7 in this piece
- 7 months earlier
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Data scientist at Our World in Data and author of Not the End of the World
Their wordsMy argument is simple: for the first time in history, we can improve human wellbeing while reducing our environmental impact.
↗Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 1st of 4 in this piece
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Their wordsBy this broader definition, humans have never been truly sustainable.
↗Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 2nd of 4 in this piece
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Their wordsThe rapid drop in renewable energy costs in the last decade (alongside huge improvements in battery technologies) has started to break this deadlock.
↗Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 3rd of 4 in this piece
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Their wordsHere, I always emphasise that it is an opportunity, not an inevitability. There’s no law that says this will happen.
↗Can we break the human development-environment trade-off?sustainabilitybynumbers.com 4th of 4 in this piece
- 2 months earlier
- MM
Mr. Money Mustache quoted
Pen name of the writer behind mrmoneymustache.com
Their wordsThere will always be LOTS of environmental destruction with any large commercial enterprise, but on a per-dollar basis Amazon is a pretty clean company - mainly again because of their efficiency.
↗How Unlimited Free Stuff from Amazon Almost Ruined My Retirementmrmoneymustache.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- 2 months earlier
- OK
Oliver Kim quoted
Development economist and economic historian who writes…
Their wordsIt’s one thing if residents of Sulawesi like Mr. Jamal and his family have had to risk exposure to toxic pollutants in a successful escape from poverty. It’s another thing entirely if those bearing most of the burden see few of the benefits.
↗Indonesia Climbs the Chainglobal-developments.org 5th of 5 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
- GM
George Monbiot quoted
Guardian columnist and environmental writer
Their wordsIn reality, beef and lamb are the most land-hungry and climate-damaging of all farm products.
- 5 months earlier
- AF
Adam Frank quoted
Professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester
Their wordsThe biosphere is not going away. There's nothing we could do. The idea that we have to save the Earth is a little ridiculous. The Earth is not a furry little bunny that we need to protect. But it's the conditions for us.
↗Adam Frank: Alien Civilizations and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life | Lex Fridman Podcast #455youtube.com 4th of 24 in this recording
- 9 months earlier
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Environmental economist at the UC Santa Barbara Bren…
Their wordsClaims to the contrary could lead to a misallocation of investments and, consequently, worse environmental (and social) outcomes.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 1st of 8 in this piece
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Their wordsTherefore, land sparing is more likely to take place, even at the local level, when yields of staples go up. The situation is different for some internationally traded products like soy and palm oil.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 2nd of 8 in this piece
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Our readingRaising yields on land already farmed is what keeps farming from taking more of the wild world.
Their wordsIn other words, land sparing almost always occurs—it is just a question of where.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 3rd of 8 in this piece
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Their wordsWithout yield improvements, therefore, we would have seen more than double the cropland expansion.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 4th of 8 in this piece
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Their wordsIn sum, land sparing is common at the local level and the norm at the global scale, in contrast to recent appeals to Jevons' paradox.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 6th of 8 in this piece
- LB
Linus Blomqvist quoted
Their wordsWhat this also tells us is that, at the end of the day, the argument for boosting yields—especially among smallholder farmers—is not just environmental: it is humanitarian.
↗Raising Agricultural Yields Spares Landthebreakthrough.org 8th of 8 in this piece
- 5 months earlier
- CH
Casey Handmer quoted
Physicist, formerly at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Their wordsCheap solar is the unlock that brings human progress and climate action from the realm of fundamental incompatibility to complimentary inevitability.
↗Radical Energy Abundancecaseyhandmer.wordpress.com 6th of 7 in this piece
- 7 days earlier
- GM
George Monbiot quoted
Our readingRaising yields on land already farmed is what keeps farming from taking more of the wild world.
Their wordsIt was achieved almost entirely through higher crop yields per hectare.
↗The Cruel Fantasies of Well-Fed Peoplemonbiot.com 2nd of 6 in this piece
- 4 weeks earlier
- HR
Hannah Ritchie quoted
Their wordsThe world’s croplands are still expanding. At a time when we should be using less land for farming, allocating high-quality farmland to grow food that we then put into cars is a mistake.
↗Biofuels: the US could switch to electric cars and solar power on just a fraction of the landhannahritchie.substack.com 5th of 5 in this piece
- 4 days earlier
- NO
Neri Oxman quoted
Designer, architect and scientist
Their wordsAnd the way of being in the physical world today is really not in tune with the time dimension of the natural world at all, and that needs to change.
↗Neri Oxman: Biology, Art, and Science of Design & Engineering with Nature | Lex Fridman Podcast #394youtube.com 11th of 16 in this recording
- NO
Neri Oxman quoted
Their wordsBut when you look into the fragrance and you understand that in order to get to this bio-derived fragrance, you blew through 10,000 bushes of rose to create 5 mL of a rose fragrance. And all these 10,000 bushes of rose, they take space, they take water management, and so much waste.
↗Neri Oxman: Biology, Art, and Science of Design & Engineering with Nature | Lex Fridman Podcast #394youtube.com 12th of 16 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- MG
Michael Grunwald quoted
Journalist and New York Times contributing writer
Their wordsThey suck! But they also feed the world. Half the people alive today would be very not alive if fertilizers manufactured from natural gas weren’t super-sizing our harvests.
↗Farming Needs to Suck Lessmichaelgrunwald.substack.com 1st of 2 in this piece
- 8 weeks earlier
- MG
Michael Grunwald quoted
Their wordsit’s going to be incredibly difficult, but also incredibly necessary, for the world to produce much more food with much less land.
↗The Food Problem Is Bigger Than Lettucemichaelgrunwald.substack.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- 5 weeks earlier
- GM
George Monbiot quoted
Their wordsTheir solutions, such as pasture-fed meat, with its massive land demand , are impossible to scale without destroying remaining wild ecosystems: there is simply not enough planet.
- GM
George Monbiot quoted
Their wordsBut it leads, if enacted, to hunger, ecological destruction or both, on a vast scale. Our arcadian fantasies devour the planet.
- GM
George Monbiot quoted
Their wordsThe answer is not more fields, which means destroying even more wild ecosystems. It is partly better, more compact, cruelty-free and pollution-free factories.
- 12 days earlier
- AS
Arnold Schwarzenegger quoted
Austrian-born American bodybuilder
Their wordsWe need a new environmentalism based on building and growing and common sense. Old environmentalism was afraid of growth. It hated building.
↗"Environmentalists are behind the times. And need to catch up fast." by Arnold Schwarzenegger, USA Today, 16 May 2023 (edited version of his Austrian World Summit speech that day)usatoday.com 2nd of 2 in this piece