"Rules of engagement" is a phrase familiar to military personnel engaged in almost any mission. Any vigorous learning enterprise has a characteristic in common with the military, a mission shared and hopefully understood by all. Military rules of engagement shift...
A couple of reports out this week from Sandia National Lab nicely illustrate the dilemmas of reducing resource use. They also illustrate that more and more thinkers are catching on that Compression is a real, looming challenge. The first report is on lighting. LEDs...
August 15, 2010 World grain prices are up sharply since June. U.S. prices rose for several days ahead of the USDA's much awaited projection of this year's global grain harvest, issued on August 12. Excess heat cut this year's harvest in Central Asia. Russia and the...
The case for Compression rests on no single, simple threat. We can't support the present human population level, seven billion, headed for nine, by going back to a primeval environment. However, our existence is symbiotic with that of our home, earth, so neither can...
How can a global population of 9 billion live well using no more resources than were consumed by only 4.5 billion (in 1980)? Not the way we live and work now. Methods to do this are well known: Re-use, re-purpose, remanufacture, recycle, redesign, substitute, restore...
Even if resources aren't limited, consuming them just to generate economic activity isn't smart. Lean thinking starts down this path, but is limited because the present system stresses labor productivity. Financial hackles rise when labor is paid, but does nothing....
July 28, 2010 Self-deceptive measurement was recognized in antiquity. As the New Testament notes, "they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Cor. 10:12). Measurements showing that we’re better than others...
July 14, 2010 Around the world, a lot of gulfs are in what The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration classifies as one of 64 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) based on ecological factors, not human ownership or political divisions. Collectively, LMEs account...