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Earth2Tech had a post: All Global Warming Is Local.

And there’s a different post: Kill a Bug, Spare the Planet

…SpringStar, a nine-year-old start-up based outside of Seattle, has developed an array of earth-friendly products for home and agricultural use that are built around natural insect attractants and adhesive traps instead of poisons. Specific traps are available for everything from cockroaches to mosquitoes to garden slugs….

Meanwhile digital divide network posts:How the USA Can Cut 28% of Greenhouse Gases
They don’t link to the report but a New York Times article does - it’s a McKinsey report located here (pdf).

And we begin by beginning. And hoping for building momentum quickly.

The Herald Tribune then posts Ban calls climate change ‘defining challenge of our age’

Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of the United Nations called climate change “the defining challenge of our age” Saturday and called on the United States and China, the greatest emitters of greenhouse gases, to be “playing a more constructive role” in coming negotiations for a new global climate treaty….

That’s simplicity step one.

The Herald Tribune posts on UN report describes risks of inaction on climate change

“In its final and most powerful report, a United Nations panel of scientists meeting here describes the mounting risks of climate change in language that is both more specific and forceful than its previous assessments, according to scientists here.”

While the New York Times posts Some Hunches About Intuition

Can people improve their intuition?

The question, of course, sounds oxymoronic on its face. People make decisions intuitively or they don’t….

[they proceed with a summary of various articles and research on intuition, then…]
“Like any good thing, a reliance on intuition can be taken to extremes. Executives should reflect on their intuitive decisions before they execute them.”…

New managers are typically told to keep their message to the basics so that employees can understand it.

But… “the point of simplicity is more fundamental.”

“Simplicity allows people to act.”

Research in numerous fields, they point out, shows that if decision makers are given too many choices they will either freeze and take no action or they will stick with their initial decision, even if one of the numerous other options would be objectively better. Sorting among the choices proves to be too confusing….

Notice the linkage… simplicity allows people to act.
The trick is to have effective simplicity.
Most cities have recycle programs. But the reality is that the basic separation of materials once done isn’t done now.
Why? Well two or three things at play
1. The range of materials in recyclable trash has exploded.
2. That makes the old classification to simple
And any new one complex.
So many cities don’t sort in the home at all now.
Rather they
1. sort at the dump, or
2. pretend to sort at the dump - they bury the recyclables with the idea it can be sorted later.

I’ve been a bit split personality writing about Global Warming. Most of my personal commentary is at RDSavage. For example, just yesterday I posted Global Warming? What, me worry? #2 which began to describe some positive steps to be taken. Beginning with a paradigm shift in thinking of global warming as a pollution issue.

In part I’m reacting to the commentary urging draconian steps. They may be necessary but let’s look at the whole system rather than one small part.

Climate Ark posts Deadly Climate Change Now Inevitable
Humanity is in for a nasty ride as the ecological fabric of being is deeply frayed. Yet the Earth and her humanity possess amazing regenerative and adaptive capabilities. We must trust in our ability to define and implement sufficient policies to pull back from the brink of destruction; starting with rigorous policies to reduce human population, end use of coal and other fossil fuels, preserve and restore ancient terrestrial ecosystems, and return to the land for a life of rich voluntary simplicity.

I bought some books recently. Yeah, been quiet on the blog front as I noodled through some ideas. Project management, global warming, making a difference - small stuff like that.

Today I picked up:

Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist’s Guide to Global Warming

He states:

The argument in this book is simple.
1. Global warming is real and man-made.….
2. Statements about the strong, ominous, and immediate consequences of global warming are often wildly exaggerated, and this is unlikely to result in good policy.
3. We need simpler, smarter, and more efficient solutions for global warming rather than excessive if well-intentioned efforts. Large and very expensive CO2 cuts made now will have only a rather small and insignificant impact far into the future.
4. Many other issues are much more important than global warming. We need to get our perspective back. There are many more pressing problems in the world, such as hunger, poverty, and disease. By addressing them, we can help more people, at lower cost, with a much higher chance of success than by pursuing drastic climate policies at a cost of trillions of dollars.

That’s where I read to before buying the book.

And this weekend I opened a stock brokerage trading account. Again. Online.
The idea being to save for retirement. But then I began reading a book I’d run across!
And picking out stocks to track!

The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth and Investment Opportunity
And the whole thing began to come together.

But it begins with a thought I ran across. Well… I read someone else’s thought and went aha!

Actually, what I read was on Steve Krug’s website - a sample chapter of his book.
While he’s talking about webdesign, its really about how we humans tend to work - tend to think.

Fact of life #1: We don’t read pages. We scan them.
Fact of life #2: We don’t make optimal choices. We satisfice.
Fact of life #3: We don’t figure out how things work. We muddle through.

Sounds a bit like how we “deal” with global warming doesn’t it?

As in, we satisfice, muddle through as we scan the scary headlines.
And accomplish next to nothing.
Well, maybe Bjorn Lomborg left breadcrumbs we can follow as we muddle through, satisficing.