Shiny things 16/
subverting the dominant narrative is hard work
I haven’t read anything this good in a while. I went to Uni with Edna. She’s special
I learned very early that being Haitian meant having a memory of the country that contradicts the news. The rhetoric of chaos and terror is what most Americans are taught about Haitians and Haiti. Impoverishment is the avatar of how contemporary Haitians are perceived—which precludes reflection on anything else we offer.
Carbon / environmental market designers have struggled to make carbon markets truly functional. Why they don’t work well is a long argument, but some are looking at core institutions that make ‘markets’ viable — the case for Carbon Central Banks.
From the “hope is not a strategy” sustainability syllabus, I’ve been working through Vaclav Smil’s recent books. the TL;DR: there are four substances that underpin modern life: Steel, Ammonia, Cement and Plastics. Producing these are energy intensive and thus currently depend on hydrocarbons, and living without them is a recipe for complete collapse. A second book reminds us, in lugubrious detail, how much carbon is involved in the electric power supply chain. Makes sense to add Lithium to the list above.
A call to arms then — let’s start with Low Carbon Cement
Speaking of subverting dominant narratives, lets giggle. CROCS ARE FOR WINNERS