Ron, I just happen to be grading papers from my Political Economy of the Global Environment class when your message popped up. The assignment was to find a recent, non-academic article touting a technology or process (new or old) that makes credible claims to mitigating an environmental problem and then examine the technologies' viability from a political-economy perspective, to suggest if it could or would actually be implemented. The assignment produces an interesting list of potentially good-news stories about addressing climate change and related challenges. Here are a few citations copied from my students' papers that could be taken as hopeful:
Rose, B. (2012, Sep 13). *The Next Industrial Revolution Starts in this 20-foot Shipping Container*. Retrieved Sep 14, 2012, from Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5942294/the-next-industrial-revolution-starts-in-a-20+foot-shipping-container CWT. *Thermal Conversion Process*. Changing World Technologies, 2012. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. <http://www.changingworldtech.com/index.asp>. Trounson, Jim. "Thermal Depolymerization: Energy-Crisis Solution." *Energy-Crisis Solution*. N.p., 31 Mar. 2004. Web. 17 Nov. 2012. < http://www.thermaldepolymerization.org/>. MIT News. 2012. *Fly the eco-friendly skies: MIT-led team designs airplanes that would use 70 percent less fuel than current models* 2012 [cited November 12 2012]. Available from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/nplus3-0517.html. “2013 Motor Trend Car of the Year: Tesla Model S.” Motor Trend, Accessed November 20, 2012, http://www.motortrend.com/oftheyear/car/1301_2013_motor_trend_car_of_the_year_tesla_model_s/ . Donald Sadoway: *The missing link to renewable energy.* March 2012. http://www.ted.com/talks/donald_sadoway_the_missing_link_to_renewable_energy.html I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I was so pleased with the way this assignment turned out that I just had to share. Happy holidays, Jonathan On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 3:14 PM, Ronald Mitchell <[email protected]>wrote: > All,**** > > I am teaching a course on the “science and politics of climate change” > this term. As the term comes to a close, I would like to leave them with > some notes of optimism. If anyone was willing to send on articles, news > items, or simply “blurbs” of success stories in the realm of climate > change, or reasons for optimism, that would be much appreciated. Since the > last class is Tuesday, less good answers sooner will be more beneficial.** > ** > > Please do this privately and I will send the (one or two) success stories > I receive to the list.**** > > Thanks (and happy thanksgiving to my American colleagues),**** > > Ron**** > > > Ronald Mitchell, Professor > Department of Political Science and Program in Environmental Studies > University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403-1284 > [email protected] > http://pages.uoregon.edu/rmitchel/ > Lead PI, DISCCRS: http://disccrs.org/**** > -- Jonathan Rosenberg, PhD Professor of Political Science University of Alaska Fairbanks Fairbanks, AK 99775-6420 tel. 907-474-6502
