Archive: 2011

September 16th, 2011 | By Glen Hiemstra | Posted in Environment & Energy, Science & Technology | Comments Off

Future of transportation – driverless pods at Heathrow

Personal Rapid Transit systems have been on the drawing boards for ages. Call up a small, personal, driverless, autonomous vehicle, program your destination, get in and off you go. Prototypes have been built but such systems have generally not gotten off the drawing board. Until now at Heathrow airport in the UK. Yes, the destinations are limited but watch how cool this is, and note how many buses and the level of emissions avoided. Nice to see a country taking the lead in infrastructure.

Hat tip to Gerd Leonhard for flagging this on Facebook.

Have a great weekend !

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September 16th, 2011 | By Glen Hiemstra | Posted in Current Choices for a Better Future, Environment & Energy | Comments Off

Climate and 24 Hours of Reality

I missed the 24 Hours of Reality programming from the Climate Project yesterday. They went round the world to 24 locations, with a show in each location describing local climate issues, and “what you can do.” If you are interested visit their website where you can view a video on each of the 24 cities or global areas, and see what the locals hope will be effective local actions.

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September 15th, 2011 | By Glen Hiemstra | Posted in Society & Culture | Comments Off

Future of Money in American Politics

This is really interesting, did not know this. In 1976 and in 1980, when Jimmy Carter ran against Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, respectively, for President, the presidential campaigns raised… 0 dollars. That is, both Carter, and Ford and Reagan, took no campaign contributions. Instead, all the campaigns were paid for only by public financing through the $1 or $2 check-off box on annual tax returns. Amazing. The next elections will raise money in the billions. Not hard to figure out which system is better for the future.

It is good to learn from history.

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September 15th, 2011 | By Mallory Smith | Posted in Society & Culture | Comments Off

Keeping up with Carbon Nation

August 1st, 2011 was the DVD release of Peter Byck’s film Carbon Nation, a climate change solutions movie [that doesn't even care if you believe in climate change]. Now Carbon Nation is a nominee for the 21st annual Environmental Media Awards (EMA) in the documentary category! “The annual EMA Awards honor film and television personalities, productions, musicians and musical tours that convey environmental messages in the most creative and influential ways.” The awards ceremony is on October 15, 2011 at Warner Bros Studios. After having seen this fantastic film, I have no doubt that it will do extremely well at the EMA.

Check out the trailer and learn more about the film here!

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September 15th, 2011 | By Glen Hiemstra | Posted in Business & Economy | Comments Off

The future of jobs in a Changing Economy

It seems today that we are entering a permanently different, and maybe more frugal, approach to economy. In this video I pose questions about the future status of national and global economy, and also about the changing nature of jobs in terms of availability and longevity. I have lived through enough recessions now, and enough warnings that this time we will see a “jobless recover” to be careful about making that forecast again. But, as with many forecasts, at some point they often become correct. Replacement of work with technology along with the continuing integration of the global, as compared to local, workforce are causing chaos in regular assumptions about jobs. Of course, the flood of cutting government jobs at this time is part of the picture as well. But, ultimately when the economy finally returns to “normal” whatever that is, I do think we will be in a different job’s landscape than we’ve seen before.

Writers at the Economist and CNN are wondering about the future of jobs as well.