Author Archives: Norm Benson

Rational Optimism versus locavorism

Over at Cafe Hayek, George Mason University professor Don Boudreaux posted a letter he wrote to the NY Times. David Sassoon of Harlemville, NY, is a locovore because, in his words, he’s “interested in restoring community through the act of eating, rather than swallowing the cold logic of global economics” (Letters, Aug. 28). So BoudreauxContinue reading “Rational Optimism versus locavorism”

iPads and Kindles are better for the environment than books? Come again?

Brian Palmer (aka Slate’s Green Lantern) writes that “iPads and Kindles are better for the environment than books.” If the Lantern has taught you anything, it’s that most consumer products make their biggest scar on the Earth during manufacture and transport, before they ever get into your greedy little hands. He then papers glosses overContinue reading “iPads and Kindles are better for the environment than books? Come again?”

Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion? – iPat edition redux

Steven Earl Salmony of the AWAREness Campaign on The Human Population, commented on Dot Earth’s, “Do the Top Billion Need New Goals?” Dear Timberati, Do you think there is any chance at all that Paul Ehrlich, despite his poor showing as prognosticator and gambler, will be shown to be one of the greatest scientists ofContinue reading “Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion? – iPat edition redux”

Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion? – The iPat edition

Andrew Revkin asks on his blog, Dot Earth, ‘Would the world benefit from a set of millennium development goals for the “top billion”?’ Michael Schesinger, a climatologist at the University of Illinois, among other things, wrote, “Perhaps humanity and the Earth can survive with 9 billion people in 2050, but what type of world willContinue reading “Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion? – The iPat edition”

Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion?

Andrew Revkin asks on his blog, Dot Earth: “Would the world benefit from a set of millennium development goals for the ‘top billion’?” He notes: There’s a set of Millennium Development Goals for the poorest of the poor — a cohort of humanity sometimes described as the “ bottom billion.” But, as yet, there’s noContinue reading “Should there be a new way of living for the top one billion?”

Gapminder

If you’ve not discovered Gapminder, try it. It’s amazing. It shows demographic trends. Graphically. Click here and see how life expectancy at birth and number of children born per woman changes. http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf Here, Hans Rosling explains his reasons for developing Gapminder and how it helps to debunk myths about the developed and developing world. FromContinue reading “Gapminder”

Book Review: The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

Let me recommend a startling book to you, because whether you read a book a week or you haven’t picked one up since you discovered the wonders of the internet, this one deserves your attention. The book is The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves (438 pages) written by Matt Ridley and published by HarperCollins ($26.99).Continue reading “Book Review: The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves”

Postcards from 1938-1939

In 1938, Walter C. Lowdermilk, Vice-Director of the Soil Conservation Service, was dispatched by then Secretary of Agriculture, Henry Wallace, on a world tour to learn of soil conservation successes and failures. Lowdermilk called the enterprise, “agricultural archaeology.” Lowdermilk packed the family Buick with provisions and his wife, son and daughter, niece, and his ownContinue reading “Postcards from 1938-1939”