Conversations-on-Innovations: Sandbag Climate Game_Set Your Own Emissions Targets and See The Implications, Policy Assitant#links#links#links#links

Conversations-on-Innovations: Sandbag Climate Game_Set Your Own Emissions Targets and See The Implications, Policy Assitant#links#links#links#links

FT-Financial Times presents "Wind Power and Alternative Energies and Uses" - Video Series-COP15 Timely.

COP15 Timely video series from Financial Times on the Economics of Offshore Wind-Power, (with Joe Hogan, ABB CEO.) Fledgling industry plagued by cost concerns There are even a couple of remarks on material failures and their consequences for Materials Science and Engineering Professionals. The series continues with an impressive number of videos covering a comprehensive range of related policy issues. Influence of the coming elections in UK are
remarked upon. Other videos in the series of note are an Interview with Lord Browne ex-Chairman of BP and currently President of the Royal Institute of Engineering (UK), Sir Stuart Rose Chairman of M&S, Start and stopping the series is easy and robust. For example, I am listening to the Video Series and writing this blog post simultaneously.

An easy reference link has been added to my Video Dedicated Pages and may be found in the vertical LHS menu bar

Click this link on the current page.
1. Fledgling industry plagued by cost concerns. with Joe Hogan ABB CEO.

2. Business has an essential role to play in the Climate Debate.

3. Less 'greenwash' and more action. with Richard Brown CEO Eurostar.

4. Lord Browne, President RAE"

Some main conclusions are:
1. that energy efficiency must be a major aim. (Joe Hogan ABB)
2. that even this will eventually be insufficient and alternatives will be required. (Richard Brown).
3. COP15 must produce a road map to tackle CC understanding fully the differing situations faced by different nations. (Lord Browne)

"Climate Gate"

There have been noises to similar unnamed unspecified mail(email?) exchanges between scientist on French News. It is extremely easy to quote and, if unethical, abuse a standard good working practise among scientists. Another good practise in scientific research is to publish with references .

Media and polemicists could help advance solutions to what many consider the main problem facing humanity today, namely "energy-climate change" by being equally ethical.

en référence à : The ‘climategate’ (afficher sur Google Sidewiki)

Chemical Sensing and Imaging Technology (hyperspectral imaging) to monitor (and model) vegetation globally will certainly help improve strategies to mitate CO2 emission behaviour and help measure the effects of Climate Change

The game's up - No weed, hopefully will go un-noticed by this most powerful COP (slang for policeman).

As the world, "once again" will meet to discuss GWG-global warming gases notebly CO2 emissions and Climate Change in Copenhagen (COP15) David Bannon CEO of Headwell Photonics reports in Nature Photonics Nov.09 Vol 3 p629 and acknowledges this Hyperspectral chemical sensing and imaging contribution from in two important US Space Agencies Sigma Space Centre and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre's Dr. Elizabeth Middleton.

Read the full story at the links provided. This extract focuses on Box 1 of the article but the principles of hyperspectral chemical sensing and imagery are delt with in D.Bannon's article.

Acknowledgement: My Complimentary-Trial paper edition of Nature Photonics.

in reference to: http://www.headwallphotonics.com/downloads/Hyperspectral-Nature-Photonics-Nov09.pdf (view on Google Sidewiki)

When Charles Darwin, FRS,(12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) dared not publish: "On the Origins of Species "(1859) until after his death

Science and scientists in Victorian and Edwardian literary novels: insights into the emergence of a new profession, Public Understand. Sci. 16 (2007) 205–222 comes as good reminder of, who the authors of the time were, and, of their efforts and those of the literary world to bring Science to the wider Public.

This and much else is perhaps very much taken for granted today so a word "In Memoriam" for these early writers is surely merited. What is the situation in USA on evolution ...Sage Publications most probably do not readily reach the wider public unless comments appear via the press and internet news. Hint Hint.

This paper is due to Nicolas Russell, who Acknowledges "Members of the Humanities Programme at Imperial College London commented on earlier drafts of this paper, and several anonymous reviewers have looked at drafts carefully. Responding to their comments has greatly improved this paper, and I thank everyone involved for their critiques.

Comments welcome cf also my blogs

en référence à : Science and scientists in Victorian and Edwardian literary novels: insights into the emergence of a new profession -- Russell 16 (2): 205 -- Public Understanding of Science (afficher sur Google Sidewiki)

Public harassement of Science and what of global environmental warnings ?

I came across this paper refering to post WWII relationships between Government and Science and thought I would give it a mention, a recommendation, if such is required.

If readers have comments to add this and all sage catelogue is freely available for three or four more days, to 31Oct. 2009 ,

Malthus at mid-century: neo-Malthusianism as bio-political governance in the post-WWII
United States

Abstract:
"The paper provides a discursive history of neo-Malthusianism in the United States, focusing primarily on the mid-20th century. In the process, the author, K. Schlosser of the Dept. of Geography and Geology, West Kentucky Univ., critically examines texts invoking Malthusian arguments in relation to the politics of sex and birth control, class and eugenics, and race and geopolitics, focusing on how they rendered human population growth intelligible in particularly reductive and naturalistic ways. The purpose is to show how this history impinges upon the construction of population-resource theory after WWII, focusing specifically on William Vogt’s book, "Road to survival" and Fairfield Osborn’s book, "Our plundered planet." (both published in 1948)

Schlosser argues that the production and circulation of generalized models of population-induced conflict in the post-war United States was an important part of the nationalization and government harnessing of science in the name of national security, and relevant to post-war developmentalism and early Cold War containment doctrine. This helps us understand how neo-Malthusian discourse has been deployed as a form of bio-political governance.

en référence à : Malthus at mid-century: neo-Malthusianism as bio-political governance in the post-WWII United States -- Schlosser 16 (4): 465 -- Cultural Geographies (afficher sur Google Sidewiki)

More comments and refs.
I. "Faifield Osborn (President of the New York Zoological Society) has written out of his conviction that unless public opinion is aroused, and the proper conservation of the natural and human resources of every country regarded as a moral duty, then the Earth's fertility cannot continue to sustain her rising population. No nation in the long history of civilisation has been more violently destructive of its life-supporting resources than the United States of America - that "country of the great illusion", the country that "can feed the world"! But the problem is worldwide. Fundamental to the troubles not only of nations like China and India, but of all nations, is the misuse of the land by their people; in parts of Russia, in the British Commonwealth, in South America, Mexico, the process is taking place which has made the deserts of Central Asia and Mesopotamia.

Henry Fairfield Osborn,Jr


II. Originally in French then translated to English with Google Assited Translator:

a) About this book, Albert Einstein is quoted as saying : " While reading this book, the futility of most of our political quarrels compared with the deeper realities of life, is acutely felt."

b)For Jacques Grinevald, (1948- ) Bio in FR. [Interdisciplinary Science and Ecology] this is "A book which shows an epoch: it is the beginning of the new age of ecology throughout the world. A cry of alarm, after the Second World War, too quickly forgotten. F. Osborn cites the idea that man has become a new geological force. (...) This is the first generation of ecological disaster, after Hiroshima. "

(In The Biosphere of the Anthropocene, Geneva, 2008, p.101.)

De ce livre, Albert Einstein dit : « On sent d’une façon aiguë en lisant ce livre la futilité de la plupart de nos querelles politiques comparées avec les réalités profondes de la vie ». Pour Jacques Grinevald, c'est "Un livre-manifeste qui fait époque : c’est le début du nouvel âge de l’écologie à l’échelle du monde. Un cri d’alarme, au lendemain de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, trop vite oublié. F. Osborn cite l’idée que l’homme est devenu une nouvelle force géologique. (...) C’est la première génération du catastrophisme écologique, après Hiroshima." (In La Biosphère de l'Anthropocène, Genève, 2008, p.101.)

Workaholism in Cross-Cultural Research from Sage Publications_more reading free to 31 OctO9

This note brings more work-related problem themes to the readers attention, this time from Cross-Cultural Research Journal, one among many helpful journals on science management, business, medicine, society...of apparently increasing relevence in recent times of crises.

This wiki post follows my two previous blog entries on my "This-Above-All" pages ( ref. Advances in Development of "Human Resources") my rapid review of management themes via Sage's Global online free acess to 31 Oct2009 aided greatly by Googles Toolbar new Sidewiki widget.

Join me as a reader and reviewer of your prefered Sage Journal. There is a serious journal here for every one's preoccupation whatever that may be.

Link
http://ccr.sagepub.com/current.dtl

in reference to: Cross-Cultural Research -- Table of Contents (November 2009, 43 [4]) (view on Google Sidewiki)

Insights on Emerging Trends and the Future of Human Resource Development

Hot on my rapid reviews of Advances in Developing Human Resources (a change from my professional origines in Materials, Minerals and Mining). The foresight focus of my management and MBA blog can hardly ignore this paper, Abstract and link below. Hopefully the DRH's et al will recover from the 2008 financial crises and 2009 considered by The Economist to be the year of the CFO-Chief Financial Officer.

Normally managers who share my professional discipline as a metallurgist and materials scienctist and engineer do not mistake natural physical resources, dead matter as opposed to the human-kind. Could using hard science concepts for the very much softer shorter-life variety be at the problem at heart?
Abstract:
The problem and the solution. The future holds countless challenges. The future cannot be known, and it must not be ignored. Understanding trends and indicators emerging today helps us to proactively think about potential future developments and positions us to constructively shape them. This article reports on a survey of 55 human resource development (HRD) and HRD-related practitioners and academics who identified trends, variables, and challenges that they believe are affecting and will affect the profession during the next 15 to 20 years. by

Refs:
Ruona, W. E. A., Lynham, S. A., & Chermack, T. J. (2003). Insights on emerging
trends and the future of human resource development. Advances in Developing
Human Resources, 5(3), 272-282
Univ. of Georgia, Texas A&M Univ., Univ. of Minnesota resp.

Abstract:
The problem and the solution. The future holds countless challenges. The future cannot be known, and it must not be ignored. Understanding trends and indicators emerging today helps us to proactively think about potential future developments and positions us to constructively shape them. This article reports on a survey of 55 human resource development (HRD) and HRD-related practitioners and academics who identified trends, variables, and challenges that they believe are affecting and will affect the profession during the next 15 to 20 years.

Ref:
Link to Sage Publications
Key words:emerging trends; HRD future role; HRD challenges

in reference to: Sidewiki - Toolbar Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Advances in Developing Human Resources_Sage Free Online to 31 Oct09

Here in France one cannot avoid being moved by unusually high levels of work-related suicides. The current record is apparently held by France Telecom following previously notorious results at Renault-Techno Centre and Peugot Car manufacturers. Sage free access gives acces to many peer reviewed journals on management... more than I can ever hope to read. But on my first glance at Advances in Developing Human Resources let me bring your attention to the importance of the back to basics approach, freely available paper by Richard A. Swanson, intitled "The Foundations of Performance
Improvement and Implications
for Practice" written in 1999.
cf. link

Abstract:
The Problem and the Solution . A problem faced by almost all organizations,
and by those who work in them, is in meeting the constant demand for high
performance The demand for high performance affects everything, from assunng
sustainable financial growth of the organization to satisfying the next customer
standing at the front counter But without a holistic mental model of performance
and the theoretical elements that drive it, practitioners are left with the task of
dissecting and interpreting each situation they face Or even worse, they simply
charge ahead in a trial-and-error mode Performance improvement theory results
in powerful and practical principles and models to help practitioners identify and
solve performance problems.

in reference to: Sidewiki - Toolbar Help (view on Google Sidewiki)

Guns germs and steel->Guns, gems, and steel, Guns Minerals-Gems "coal iron and steel" : The Fate(s) of Human Societies_ One Year on

Comments from "marry" leaving links to their student and MBA Dissertation led me to rapidly pull together several posts related to thesis on Coal: power generation, climate change-energy, and recent seminal work by Profs. Jarod Diamond of USA and his the lessor known constructive critic the Dutch Prof. Barendse on the "Fate(s) of Human Societies".

Judging by my previous post, ref. below, giving more weight if necessary to the obvious, ie. that coal as a fuel source is here to stay, as long as reserves last, approximately an estimated 400 years ...

As yet I have not been able to read the paper in Science, ref. previous post, but trust that while I and most EU experts, fully agree with Steven Chu on CCS, carbon capture and sequestration- it's part of a Socolow-Pacala Wedge strategy, n'est ce pas, ie. PRACTISE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY however even this is considered insufficient since the likely numbers of qualified sequestration sites is well below the volumes required to sink the massive amounts of CO2 involved. (references and figures, volumes, numbers, may be found throught my interlinked blog posts.) So other innovative strategies to sequester the huge volumes CO2 equally or more efficiently are required, including obviously, protection of existing and increasing areas of Rainforests in the future (a subprimes problem?).

NB. Remember that today's European Community at peace, still, was underpinned by The European Coal and Steel Community.

Thanks for the prompt, marry.

RELATED POSTS.

Coal_Carbon Capture and Sequestration by Steven Chu U.S. Secretary of Energy and a Nobel Laureate in physics, G20?

Guns, gems and steel: The Fate(s) of Human Societies, 24 September 2008

Video capture widget trials and start of a Forsight-Hindsight Video Series 26 March 2009.

Jared Diamond's 5 point Framework to decipher why Societies Collapse, spot the advanced warning signs_ why and how Societies Survive past and present. Sunday, 29 March 2009.

Record Breaking Pittsburg Steelers of well-named US Coal Mining and Steel Town win US-Football’s Super Bowl_Bigger CCS Records need Breaking!

Roadmap - The Most Urgent Issue Facing Mankind - Climate Change and Energy from The Financial Times, 18 November 2008

SOLUTIONS

Creating Tomorrow - Never so necessary, never so urgent? - Organisational Change Processes & Strategy, 13 November 2008

References.

Dissertation.co.uk_MBA

Dissertation.co.uk

Coal_Carbon Capture and Sequestration by Steven Chu U.S. Secretary of Energy and a Nobel Laureate in physics, G20?

Carbon Capture and Sequestration

Steven Chu

Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that CO₂ emissions from fossil fuels have caused the climate to change, and a dramatic reduction of these emissions is essential to reduce the risk of future devastating effects. On the other hand, access to energy is the basis of much of the current and future prosperity of the world. Eighty percent of this energy is derived from fossil fuel. The world has abundant fossil fuel reserves, particularly coal. The United States possesses one-quarter of the known coal supply, and the United States, Russia, China, and India account for two-thirds of the reserves. Coal accounts for roughly 25% of the world energy supply and 40% of the carbon emissions.^* It is highly unlikely that any of these countries will turn their back on coal any time soon, and for this reason, the capture and storage of CO₂ emissions from fossil fuel power plants must be aggressively pursued.

Steven Chu is the U.S. Secretary of Energy and a Nobel Laureate in physics.

Source:
Science, 25 September 2009 (Volume 325, Issue 5948), free alerts

Public-transport prices_The road to green transportation?

The road to green transport certainly depends on the source of energy but price (ref1) tells us which citizens are most likely to use the greenest transportation means.., mass public transportation, especially rail.(ref2)

Sources

1. The Economist
2. Prof David JC MacKAY in Without Hot Air

All my posts accessible via Twitter

After a fairly long trial period, readers will be able to follow all my blog posts with more leads via twitter hence the inclusion and addition of Twitter to my social network and "neighbourhood".

More of my bookmarks may be found on Del.ici.ous. I shall maintain Delicious bookmark as far as possible...time willing.

Create your own twitter logo

Maybe Money Does Buy Happiness After All _NY Times following Wharton's Stevenson and Wolfers et al.

Was the title of an article by David Leonhardt in The New York Times.April 2008. It brings our attention to a peer reviewed academic paper on money and happiness by Wharton-Univ of Pennsylvania academics, Stevenson and Wolfers (ref. below), putting figures to what many, if not most, already consider from experience, to be one primary common denominator in human affairs, underpinning much of human behaviour, namely money.

Without further a do, here is the overview figure taken from The NY Times:

From the academic study impressive correlations whereby coefficients around 0.7 -0.8 compared to certitude, the perfect correlation value of 1.0 (100%) are given for various poll surveys.

Stevenson and Wolfers academic work is an econometric study based on poll data and statistic treatment.





This re-opens this long debated issue and offers a window to several freely available peer reviewed academic papers and general press articles from major news papers on themes so fundamental to human existence.



When I come across work on theses themes I cannot help thinking of Dale Carnegie's old list of human desires for memory:

1. Health and the preservation of life.
2.Food.
3.Sleep.
4.Money and the things money can buy.
5. Life in the hereafter.
6 Sexual gratification
7 The Well Being of our children
and last but not least
8.A feeling of importance, a desire to be important

or again Maslows triangle


More... cf. refs....

1. David Leonhardt NY Times 16 April 2008.
NB.The NY Times article won 435 comments before it’s closure.

2. Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox by STEVENSON WOLFERS University of Pennsylvania[Pdf]
NB. 102 page review,3pages of refs., 23 Figures…
Pub. In Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Spring 2008

3. Easterlin Paradox via Wikipedia
NB. serveral worthwhile refs on Wikipedia.

4. Easterlin’s seminal academic paper

5. Other sources Pew study.

6. Dale Carnegie "How to win friends and influence people.

Main data sources:

7. World Values Survey

8. Gallup International

9. Gallup World Poll Research Design

Link_Political Solution to combat Climate Change effectively_One and only one indispensible measure required to substantially reduce CO2-GHG emissions

Political Solution to combat Climate Change effectively_One and only one indispensible measure required to substantially reduce CO2-GHG emissions

Jean-Marc Jancovici, from the prestigeous applied mathematics and engineering school in France, Polytechnique, is one of the most prominent teachers, consulant experts engaged in the energy and climate change issues. He is a strong advocate for urgent action to fight the now widely known adverse effects of fossil fuel consumption, on greenhouse gases (GHG) levels and global warming (GW).

I have added the permalink to J-M Jancovici's Dailey Motion video giving his analysis and strongly argumented plea on what he and several of his more courageous colleagues consider to be the one and only one most important measure required to combat effectively, CO2-GHG emissions: namely to increase the price of fossil fuels.

Talent makes capital-money dance: Lessons, Secrets and Hype in the Book on Management, Funky Business, by Ridderstrale, Nordstrom, Interview

From the Book Funky Business Forever: How to Enjoy Capitalism by Jonas Ridderstrale and Kjell Nordstrom, review and interview by Idea Connection.

Part I.

Soliloquay:
This post is in many ways, more of a soliloquay – “A talking to oneself”, than a criticism, I hope.,
because:

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain-and most fools do.
But it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving” from
Dale Carnegie_Wikipedia translating quotes from Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Carlyle, and Dr. Samuel Johnson.

I will have to struggle to respect this excellent advice from a golden oldie.

'Being funky is ultimately about “being true to yourself”. Authenticity is key.' This quote by Ridderstrale caught my attention

Being “true to one’s self,” now with such a quote, how can I avoid making a few comments in my “This-Above-All” pages? How’s that for foresight-Insight and Hindsight? Shakespeare in the late 16th century had this down to a tee. (I bite my lip!)

Hype:
I don’t like the word Funky, it screams of Hype. (fortunately there is another book review-interview from Idea Connection entitled Mastering the Hype Cycle.

Between you and me, I do not think of myself as Funky and even after reading the interview, I still don’t.

Personally, I believe there is more Insight, Foresight and most especially A Brighter Future in the expression “Cool”, in being cool, in planet cooling…
(He or she’s a cool person. A cool attitude. It has been totally adopted in spoken French
“pas cool”= disapproval or even a bad luck event. Porcine flue is certainly “pas cool”).


'At the end of the day you can only be the best person in the world or the best company in the world if you're a first rate version of yourself. Not a second rate copy of someone else.' [As a Scot weaned on “Scotland the Brave described as “the land of high endeavour”…
and again living in the well-known very elitist France. This attitude is a source of self-motivation, what Senge would call the power or pull of vision, a perception. ]

'I can I wipe the floor with all my competitors in the business world [for amateurs otherwise inclined to warfare, but not exactly my definition of being "cool"] as long as I remain true to myself.”'


Things to think about - Useful Lessons? (In fact in this rather lengthy review-interview their are a great many issues raised)

I chose to debate the following issue raised:
Talent vs Knowledge Economy and Intellectual Capital
'Talent is the only thing the western world – U.S., Canada, and Western Europe – is left to compete with. I've changed my mind, and now use the term talent instead of knowledge because talent is a much wider concept. ' Flattering but Highly questionable, ex-Eastern Block approach to human as opposed to motorised sport, Communist Russia and Chinese performance in gymnastics… Russian… Mathematicians and Engineers. But we have seen that “being true to one’s self” underlines the motivation to develop one’s own (almost) unique talents. We also know that this is not new and that professional -great educators-teachers, (trainers, coaches) know how to balance the liberating factors of creativity and the discipline and even abnegation often required to develop a particular in born ability or talent…

[Later in the interview, Ridderstrale also recognises this value of my independent critical comment(s) by quoting; 'If I recall correctly, in his latest book Outliers: The Story of Success, based on studies of highly successful people and groups like the Beatles, Malcolm Gladwell suggests it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to become great at something; to become exceptionally world-class fantastic.'

And the lesson or secret is:
'You better love what you do if you aspire to be great!' – [One 100% ]

'We all know that you can't compete on cost with 1.2 billion Chinese and 900 million Indians, many [many] of whom are [very] well educated. But these days, it is also increasingly difficult to beat them on the basis of having a superior intellectual capital. Talent is a little bit more complex as a concept than knowledge, because talent includes more than the intellectual capital that used to make and still makes some organizations competitive. At the end of the day if you have an MBA or an engineering degree you will have access to the same knowledge whether you study in Beijing, Boston, Bangalore, or Birmingham. [with more or less difficulty depending on your relationship with maths and science] This knowledge from university studies is not as much of a differentiator as it was 10 years ago, for example, because it's available to everyone. [Indeed all the basics and more, are freely available via The Internet where the notion of democracy and in-built common good sense and good will of large free-thinking numbers is the bet placed by the founding generations. (one very good example is Wikipedia)] You still need it, but this know-how will not provide you with a competitive edge. '

'Talent also captures the psychological elements – the importance of having a can-do attitude; and the social capital – the know-who factor – that is increasingly important.' [ie. “Not what you know but who you know”, a common folk culture expression from the old school boys network approach, today emulated by Alumni associations, in particular but not exclusively in business circles and other groups or lobbies, Lions, Rotary, Masonics to mention the most well known in Western Society]
[Suggestion: Arguably, talent to develop requires an advanced state of development with accompanying means. It also requires the experience accumulated in developed societies, and if possible Déja Vu, to put talent to good use – eg. Highly developed planetary observation systems and provisional models eg. such as anthropodic-human induced climate change (CC)]

On the upside,
I admire anyone who can write a book in their a language, other than their mother tongue.

The book is a welcomed attempt from the "European School'.

I recognise the provocative approach firstly because it lead me to read the interview, secondly it the interview and probably the book lends it’s-self to critical “class room” study and thirdly and perhaps most importantly it describes capitalism in an easily understandable form as a machine [easier to understand than system] that can break down and more importantly can be mended. [NB. all human systems have an aim, a purpose, a function. Care not to be overly reductionist summing up the greed for money of efficiency (no human being can be compared to a machine and must remain This-Above-All in his own interest; health, wealth, and happiness "True to oneself", I believe?]

Part II.
As stated above a great many issues are raised in this rather lengthy review-interview.
I have listed a few in what follows.

Motivation from Looking at the most difficult critics:

“Musicians, artists, actors, and painters who were convinced that business was boring” [Today the whole public is critical following the salary divide whereby Keynes considered a differential of 1:40 supportable compared to today’s 1:400.]

Gurus:
'Most business gurus become well known for
-a particular idea,
-a particular concept, which is almost vertical in nature, a core idea, then they dig deeper and deeper into that idea. '

Cross-Disciplinary vs Interdisciplinary: 'The Horizontal approaches'

Consulting Approaches
'Instead of telling people what to do, we invite them to think. Most people regardless of age, gender, occupation, or educational background are interested in being invited to think.'
[People appreciate being considered intelligent or as listed by Dale Carnegie in his last but not least of eight most important human needs and desires “The feeling of importance, self-esteem, consideration. Maslow. ]

'Make money in a well functioning market economy (Only one way) '

Talent vs Knowledge (Economy)

Innovation
'Behind every monopoly there is always an innovation of some kind. The argument we are making in Funky Business is that historically most of those innovations were of a technological kind. '

Innovations new insights
'In general, I don't think the greatest innovation challenges have a lot to do with technology. '

'I think the big challenges are organizational, managerial, leadership-oriented, perhaps even cultural and psychological. Some are even biological because it boils down to the nature of man – we are uncertainty-reducing creatures. We have been designed to avoid uncertainty and risk, because that's how to stay alive. It's probably a good set of design principles from the point of view of staying alive in an uncivilized society, but in business we're talking about how to move beyond the status quo, to create a good life. In a number of ways human nature prevents us from taking enough risks, being creative, and spending enough time and resources on creation of new ideas. Instead, exploitation of existing innovations tends to crowd out creation and experimentation in most organizations.' [Thoughtful, a worth-while debate?]

A simple model of a market economy:
'At the end of the day you have to realize that a market economy is not an ideology. A market economy is a machine. And it is a machine with only one task. As I said, it's a machine that sorts things, people, companies, and countries, on one principle – is it efficient or inefficient. That's what a market does. It's a sorting mechanism, efficient, inefficient, efficient, inefficient.'

A Short History of Competitive Strategy:
'Once upon a time competition was all about access to physical capital, cheap raw material, and cheap labour. Then competition was related to access to financial capital.
-Later, the competitive edge was based on intellectual capital, and
-now it's also a question of psychological and social capital.
Access to the old stuff has now become necessary, but no longer sufficient, in the race for business leadership. That's the way the market economy works.'

[Could this be it’s evolution be it’s down-fall?
“ Human economies are built on the use of energy to transform natural resources into useful products and services.” That should create a bit of e-motion! ] ref. Jancovici and Grandjean in their book in french entitled "C'est Maintenant"

To be fair Jonas Ridderstrale says much more
'Some recent research indicates that competitive intellectual capital still explains a lot of the variation in performance of individuals.

In some of these studies education was found to explain about 28% of the variation in work-related performance. If you consider just one psychological factor, confidence and self-sufficiency explain 38% of the variation in individual performance.

If you add the positive impact of hope, optimism, and resilience to bounce back when difficulties have been encountered, the psychological factors today are critically important. '

The mega challenge
'is to restore faith in the entire system. Trust in the financial system. Trust that capitalism and the marketplace still works.' [Indeed]
Ridderstråle’s recommended reading

Dr. Jonas Ridderstråle's impressive Biography

Full Interview by Vern Burkhardt for Ideaconnection

More...
All Innovation Book Author Interviews

Ideaconnection

Free Acess 2009- Service to Reader in Science, Engineering and Medcine from Wiley-Blackwell

Out in 2009, almost 20 new titles, to choose from Wiley-Blackwell's Journals list.

Although I am curious to read on a number of subjects such as Shoulder and Elbow(luckily out in 2009) Sports Technology (2007), Laser Photonics Reviews (2007), Climate Change, Cognitive Science (Wires 2010) it looks as though I am personally out of luck (not 2009). However the list of freely available materials throughout 2009 is attractive and all qualifying institutions and librarians will certainly find a rich source of new research materials and matter.

Full List and Log on

Tell your colleagues, institutions, companies and librarians

Jared Diamond's 5 point Framework to decipher why Societies Collapse, spot the advanced warning signs_ why and how Societies Survive past and present.

This short summary is intended for readers who may otherwise not take a few minutes to watch the full video.

Jared Diamond auther of "Guns Germs and Steel_ the fate of human societies" and of "How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" has drawn-up a five point framework-a check-list- to decipher why some Societies Collapse and others survive.

He pin-points main advanced warning signs from human societies histories and why today's leaders and general public must be made aware of these around an easy to remember, manageble 5 major themes and what the consequences are most likely to be, if we make the wrong choices, if we choose "not to see them, to ignore them!

He does not underestimate the complexities of such analyses.

THE 4-FOLD CHALLENGE:
The reasons Jared Diamond has chosen to address theses difficult questions are four-fold:
- the very importance and seriousness of the possible catastrophnic out-comes,
- the difficulties involved in their analyses,
- the courage required to face up-to the results and to act upon them and
- to encourage a wide recognition of these factors as part of a democratic solution.

In the last post I presented Jared Diamonds video, the first selected for my intended series entitled "Foresight-Hindsight" It is chosen for the timely relevance to one of our current day issues the "Climate - Energy." relationship in a wold of finite resources.

My post could also be entitled, "Lessons form the past ever so relevent today".

Jared Diamond's 5 point Framework-Check list.

1. Human impact the environment with an example of using all available non-renewable (limited) natural resources. This should ring a bell -Petrol Production Peak.

2.Climate Change. (not necessarily fatal.)

3.Relationship with friendly neighbours.

4.Relationship with hostile neighbours.

5. Social and cultural factors in societies which help or hinder solving their problems.


I inadvertantly made a "creative error" in my last post title. I wrote Forsight in stead of Foresight.I could just well be a better statement and rejoins J.Diamonds complaint "that if only we could see" or admit the reality behind "The Signs", The warning signals.

Diamond illustrates all his claims with numerous example.

The reader would be well advised to take 10 to 15 mns, the time to watch any one of Jared Diamand's the videos.

Video capture widget trials and start of a Forsight-Hindsight Video Series

For those who follow my "This-Above-All" series of 3 blogs, you may have noticed that I have been trial running different layouts, hence a certain duplication of materials presented.

The original widget-tool idea came from an example found in nanotechnology field, more in line with my other blogs in Materials Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering or again in Innovation. They are not really directly related to the Strategic Foresight Focus that I intend to bring to the "This-Above-All" series. A better choice are the trials which I shall tag as "Foresight-Hindsight" of my video series capture. The first example is a video of Jared Diamond talk on "how to detect serious crises and how to prevent them." Jared studies the Rise and fall of Societies, Civilisation.

You may remember an earlier post "Conversations" based on Jared Diamond's book “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” discussed by a number academics from the fields of History, Geography, Economics and Sociology who correspond regularly notably Brad Delong, a Berkeley Univ., Top Economist and the moderator with a substantial highly pertinent contribution by R. J. Barendse, of the University of Leiden in Holland.

My conversation post was entitled:

Guns, gems and steel: The Fate(s) of Human Societies

Energy Autonomy, Renewable Energies in France _ Get your projects in France going. Seeking a French partner or building a Consortium?

Following a request from a colleague, here is the list of companies, all sizes, involved in furthering the development and use of Renewable Energies and registered in France.

Google translator does a good job. Company names do not usually change in translation. I shall list only the translations of Category Titles as follows:

Bilingual Renewable Energy Categories - Translated from French via Google Translator.

BIOCARBURANTS - BIOFUELS
BOIS/BIOMASSE - WOOD / BIOMASS
EOLIEN - WIND
GéOTHERMIE - GEOTHERMAL
HYDRAULIQUE - HYDRAULIC
PHOTOVOLTAïQUE- PHOTOVOLTAIC
ENERGIES MARINES - Ocean Energy (Marine Energy)
SOLAIRE THERMIQUE - SOLAR THERMAL
POMPE à CHALEUR - HEAT PUMP .

Discuss by all means and please give this a wide Echo - it deserves much co-ordinated "low carbon foot" effort and determination. Since currently most in situ electric energy production is via Coal, and Nuclear, the renewable path is already traced, is it not? (n'est ce pas?).
(Fuel and Gas are used either directly for heat or transportation)

Suite à une demande d'un collègue, voici la liste de Societes en France, qui se sont investies dans les énergies renouvelables. cf. also Scotland as your renewables Model.

Link choose Adhèrants in the top bar menu - Liens choisir Adhérants dans le menu.

Refs:
My Energy Executive Choices 2008-2009
Two very good back ground books to read and to use.
1. Energy Basics - Energy Balance _ Production capacity (hard work and Jobs?) vs Consumption (Too easy for human and planetary good?)
Title Without Hot Air by David J.C. MacKay free online or buy the print edition.

2. Energy and Economy policy for "Human Economy is essentially about how mankind transforms limited natural resources to make useful desirable products and services." quoted from the authers of:
"C'est maintenant, 3 ans pour sauver le monde," by Jean-Mark Jancovici et Alain Grandjean

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

No work or blog on Foresight today can afford not to take into account the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change .

The site is too rich to do justice to their work in the time I have alloted to my post.

Lets say that my post is timely in respect to "The next major round of negotiations will be held in Bonn, 29 March-8 April. It will be preceded by pre-sessional events, directly related to the work of the sessions, which will start on 26 March. Additional information on these events is available here (pdf 160 kB) .

More...

The site is also the main base reference for official data (the reviewed facts) together with the methodology and science under pinning the data.

More...

An anchor link is provided on the right-hand side bar "Major Foresight Issues"

Is Kaspersky fighting the wrong fight? _Kaspersky Internet Security removes AdSense advertisements

Is Kaspersky fighting the wrong fight?

Kaspersky Internet Security removes adsense advertisements from user’s browser. Google’s adsense is harmless and it is not annoying like popups. Kaspersky is preventing webmasters to earn money from their website, I am protesting Kaspersky. Google and Webmasters must take an action to this. Protest Kaspersky !

Source 2007 still encountered March 2009!
AdSense Blocker Protest Link

My comment: AdSense, with the "No Adult Content" checked, is the most harmless non-invasive advertising I know. That is why I tested it and I passed my first blog in 2005. As a scientist, like all scientists are wary of the effects of advertising and I have "enough experience" to remember the time when it was forbidden for advertisers to target children ... Nevertheless, we all have to eat!

En Français:
Kaspersky Internet Security supprime les publicités AdSense de navigateur de l'utilisateur. Google adsense est inoffensif et il n'est pas ennuyeux, comme les fenêtres pop-up. Kaspersky empêche les webmasters de gagner de l'argent pour leur efforts à partir de leur site web et blogs. Je protest contre Kaspersky's agissements. Google et les webmasters doivent prendre des mesures à cet égard. Protest Kaspersky!

Mon commentaire: AdSense, avec le "No Adult Content" coché, est le plus inoffensif non-invasive, publicité que je connais. C'est pourquoi je l'ai testé et je l'ai adopté des mes premiers blogs en 2005. En tant que scientifique, comme tous les scientifiques on se méfie des effets de la publicité et j'ai "assez d'expérience" pour se rappeler l'époque quand il a été formellement interdit aux annonceurs de cibler les enfants ... Néanmoins, nous devons tous manger!

NB.
Translation with the assistance of Google Translator English to French and French to English.


Source 2007 apporter à mon attention à nouveau en Mars 2009!
AdSense Blocker Protest Link in English

New_Video widget-gadget collects in one place. Here is Nanotech...? from CaptNano

Rapid up-date and some serendipity (follow that lead... global travel sleuth) from Smart Materials on Sage publications,(UK-USA_Stanford,CA) to energy harvesting and Azonano (Australia) and their Social Network.

Want to take the tour?
(Low Carbon Footpath guaranteed so feel free to leave your footprint
- carbon based nanotechnology aside. Lots of researchers to do their own wee C-carbon footprint calculations)

Sage and Energy Harvesting,
Energy Harvesting
I won't bore you further with my rapid up-date on "Smart Materials, Energy Harvesting, and several World Tours: "The 24 four hours tech news in 24 secs! "
Azonano Social Network

The Butter fly effect - L'Effet du papillion_Guadeloupe_Gwada an Island in turmoil calling for understanding and justice

What beauty, this volcanic Island in the form of a Butterfly-Papillion. Save your environment this patrimoine de l'UNESCO_ and the long suffering people called-upon to protect it, the inhabitants and those more than willing to co-operate towards such common goals: "Wedge-a-War" even a little one, a personal one, find interior and exterior peace, be responsible the one's to the other in all affaires.

There is every reason to hope; The Antillais are a valorous population of mixed origin, a dark shared past, to remember but who must now more than ever, look forward and choose the road their great sportsment have traced.

And rember, or note in passing the unofficial national anthem of a once warrior still up-right people, a warriors nation for more than almost 1 full millenium which says "For those days are gone now and in the past they must remain but..." and I translate that we-you, a free, democratic people, people who admiire the great good in french civilisation and language and reject the bad, for the common good and the better for all.

I shall dare translate to French - J'osera traduire en français.

Quelle beauté, cette île volcanique à la forme d'un papillon. Sauver votre environnement, ce patrimoine de l'UNESCO_ et soulager la longue souffrance des personnes appelées à le peuplé à la protéger, les habitants d'aujourd'hui et ceux qui sont plus que prêts à coopérer en vue de tels objectifs communs: "Wedge-a-War"© ™ (Logo personnel © ™ pour la protection de environnemental qui veut dire_caler pour ne pas tomber dans la guerre, l'abomination) un guerre de clans. Priviligé la lutte individuel, pour trouver la paix intérieure et extérieure, être responsable, solidaire l'un envers l'autre dans toutes les affaires.
Il y'a toutes les raisons d'espérer; Les Antillais sont un population courageux d'origine mixte, d'un sombre passé partagé. Il faut se souvenir, mais on se doit aujourd'hui plus que jamais, regarder vers l'avenir et de choisir la bonne route par exemple celle tracéé par leur grand sportifs et sportives, litteraires, scientifiques… Et se souvenir, ou noter, en passant ; l'hymne national non-officiel d'un peuple guerrier pour plus de près de 1 millénaire qui dit: "Par ce que ces jours sont dans le passés, maintenant et dans le passé, ils doivent y rester, mais .. ». Et je traduis- Vous et nous, des peuples libres, démocratiques, éduqués, des personnes qui admire bon dans la grande civilisation et la langue française et de rejeter le mauvais, pour le bien commun et pour la meilleure pour tous.

Link_Innovation and Creativity from a recent blog source via EntreCard

Innovation and Creativity from a recent blog source via EntreCard.

Taking one's self too seriously is not good policy for Creativity and Innovation.

I am most indebted to David Farrimond for his links and introduction to his non-vulgar humerous approach and work.

More on Davids work and links

My Serious Foresight Ommission -IPCC Climate Change Senario Work:Unfinished From ommissions to => O-missions and E-missions, JOBS

From GHG-CO2 Emissions and Climate Change, longstanding amnesia and ommissions to =>

O-missions and E-missions. ( ROI-Return on Innovation, fair distribution via Jobs cf. for example: Green Jobs - Good Jobs approach by Appollo Alliance of USA )

Be part of the solution not part of the problem.

I simple wish to record one of the most important foresight works to date, the practically incontestable uncovering of man's role in climate change and global warming by the excellant work in progress by the UN_ IPCC International Panel on Climate Change. I have added 2 links to my foresight links.
1. IPCC-online reports.
2. IPCC-report on Emission sources

More reports...

And since nothing is as simple as it appears, Quirin Schiermeier of Nature has launched a debat

along the lines entitled:

The "Claim that the challenge of cutting emissions has been underestimated is debated."[Link-html]

Most constructive informative comments may be viewed at the above link

3 Myths of Innovation from G. A. Moore

"To innovate forever…is a design specification. It is not a strategy; it is a requirement."

quoted from G. A. Moore in his book, "Dealing with Darwin: How Great Companies Innovate at Every Phase of their Evolution"

From the simple belief that one and all can, improve, do better, do one's very best -work for the better (cf my essay various posts or on ChemWeb archives) many of my blog posts are concerned with Innovations and to the belief that they contribute to good job creation, and lasting profit. Innovation to me is the essence of Durable Development (DD) - Sustainable Development (SusDev) Here I shall share some recent reflections and conversations on Innovation defined as "ROI" return on investments or conveniently, return on innovations brought to my attention by an associate Vern Burkhardt at Idea Connection, like my blog spot, an associative web platform concerned with innovation -new (and improved) solutions to real problems.

Innovation is valuable only if it helps a company attain economic advantage.

Myths about innovation:
· Innovation in and of itself is valuable.
· Innovation becomes less necessary and possible as a product or service matures.
· The essence of innovation is the same in all companies.

Poppy Design in steelmaking slag

There are many fairly good sense insights into Innovation: the aim (why) the object of innovation(what) the procesesses (how) taken from Moore's book. In short I shall close with this "reminder to myself" quote:

Innovation, to create a return, must focus on what the customer values.

and since

"To innovate forever…is a design specification. It is not a strategy; it is a requirement."

I am pleased to undeline that, initiated properly, my early premise that Innovations are surely an un-ending source of jobs and revenu still holds!

Focus for common good (4Good): Carbon Capture and Sequestration - CCS example of process analysis in the steelmaking industry.

New Slideshow presentation on approaches to risk in Small to Medium Enterprises(SME_companies)

The new slide show(s), top left menu, come from my Linkedin professional network - a french source. If readers show interest, I shall be more than pleased to transmit to the authors and develop these themes for my wider english language based visitors. Naturally, I shall follow-up by building a few personal slide-shows (or better "slide-hows"?) from my own archives, time willing.

Comments not only welcome, but necessary, so feel free...

Record Breaking Pittsburg Steelers of well-named US Coal Mining and Steel Town win US-Football’s Super Bowl_Bigger CCS Records need Breaking!

Will Pittsburg be Bull's (New York) or Bears (Chicago) in CO2-CCS and not just Steal-Off into the shadows?

Pittsburg Steelers of the famous well-named and one time booming US Coal Mining and Steelmakers (Carnegie) Town win Super Bowl for a record 6th time.

Mind you, other more important record are at stake, global ones. Here as indicated above, I have chosen once again CO2-CCS and more precisely carbon storage and sequestration (CSS).

The following key words "Pittsburg", "Super Bowl", "Chicago Bull's supported by President Obama". To crown it all the headline Steel Curtain Call shed dread to many, if not all metallurgists provided the chemical spark to write.

I have tried to be humorous and conversationalist in this, and finally failed dismally, such is the perceived gravity of the situation facing the countries and industries involved.

Coal fuelled power generation is here to stay - bombing all polluting plants excepted!

The challenge as always is how can one arrive at peaceful solutions acceptable and happily embraced to all.

I guess underlining this CO2-CCS competition is the best I can do for the moment.

Where does the record stand to-day? (I know full well, that it's still very much on hold in spite of many strong speakers interviewed by Nature's Energy Supplement cf. "Putting the carbon back: The hundred billion tonne challenge :"
- D.G.Hawkins,(NDRC) Dir. National Resources Defense Council's Climate Centre, Washington DC. cf for example his paper CCS: Deployment Must Begin Now [Pdf] .
-Robert Socolow and Pacala (Princeton Univ.) whom I mention regularly in my blogs "Conversations" "Conversations" and "Materials Science and Engineering Defined" .
-Vassilios Kougionos EU Commissioner in charge of the so-called "clean-coal initiatives and international energy is quoted in Nature's as saying roughly "No CCS, No Fossil Fuels." Some background doc. cf. Co-op. Prog CCS-2005[pdf]

Records in these fields are slim to say the least:
- Germany leads 'clean-coal' pilot daily updates on achievements via link on my blog post: "6986 Tonnes CO2 sunk at Ketzin East Germany" Stretching my Franco- British(Scots), linguistic skill, albeit limited, let me suggest a good reading of the project name as a politico-financial-techical assistance in a much needed "Quest for Zen". (Explanation, "quête pronounced "ket" or Quest in english and Zin? well...)
-The Sleipner field (natural gas) – CO2 Treatment and Injection ... CO2 –2,5 mill tonnes/yr. 2012?


My rapid Google search turned-up a surprising number of disbanded, dedicated project-realisations news up-dates. Fortunately for us, I just blogged an excellent approach on my
"Conversations" blog-direct link to post I'll repeat

-Record you Pilot results and for record breaking put you Full-scale results on the MAP by the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh (thumb-nail image opposite)

To my great and pleasant surprise, since I blogged and linked this, there have been a huge jump in the number of sites pin-pointed on the map, congratulations to all concerned. My previous post -31Jan 2009, Friday last!) is entitled
Get your Carbon Sequestration Site on the Map - Reduce GHG emissions, Improve Company-Gov Image, Visibility, ROI...for fun Beat GeoSAT-Ubuki

If I must add one further reason on why I chose to write such a post? The answer is most certainly "in a last hope effort to belie the following Green Peace position statement "

Carbon Capture and Storage: A Corporate Boondoggle That Shortchanges Environment, Consumers, New Greenpeace Report from Pittsburg May 5, 2008

Have I succeeded, will we succeed? No we must succeed!

To repeat my in my rough interpretation of Vassilios Kougionas EU Commissioner for clean-coal and intl energy:

No CCS-carbon sink, No Fossil Fuel Use!

Post Scriptum

Or in the words often attributed to a main character in a Robert Ludlum novel (CIA, MI 45 or is it 6, Consular Ops... spies, James Bond style) one the would often say:

There is no other tenable global option.

Comments more then welcome.

More shared knowledge at co2net.eu...

Sustainability Science from PNAS-AAAS Advancing Science Serving Society

Following my PNAS reading, I have already posted on their new journal "Sustainability Science".
Here, I have bookmarked their online National Academies.Org website and FORUM: Science and Innovation for Sustainable Development. and present their RSS in the side bar menu (LHS left hand side).

NB. Projects = Jobs, and Solutions are what the World is waiting for.

PNAS are moving their office to Washington. Could USA be accelerating their consulting role and enlightenment as concerned scientists at the highest level? Let's hope so.

CogPrints, Cognitive Sciences_ Open Source Print Repository, Free Science Papers

I have just added CogPrints, Decision Theory, RSS to this blog cf. LHS Menu. CogPrints is an electronic archive for self-archive papers in any area of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Linguistics, and many areas of Computer Science (e.g., artificial intelligence, robotics, vison, learning, speech, neural networks), Philosophy (e.g., mind, language, knowledge, science, logic), Biology (e.g., ethology, behavioral ecology, sociobiology, behaviour genetics, evolutionary theory), Medicine (e.g., Psychiatry, Neurology, human genetics, Imaging), Anthropology (e.g., primatology, cognitive ethnology, archeology, paleontology), as well as any other portions of the physical, social and mathematical sciences that are pertinent to the study of cognition.

Cogprint Home Page

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

I just installed a nice little tool on this site called Snap Shots that enhances links with visual previews of the destination site, interactive excerpts of Wikipedia articles, MySpace profiles, IMDb profiles and Amazon products, display inline videos, RSS, MP3s, photos, stock charts and more.

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

However please do not hesitate to comment on this widget experience or on any other issue for that matter.