Author: Emily

The State of Energy in Five Graphs

I think it’s important to know some basic facts about energy. Here are the five favorite figures I’ve collected for this, some made by me. 1: Global primary energy consumption by source[1] World energy consumption has increased dramatically in recent history, a trend that’s more exponential than linear. There’s an ~800% increase since 1950, mainly… Continue reading The State of Energy in Five Graphs

Mini-Review: All Possible Views…Are Wild by Holden Karnofsky

This is a response to “All Possible Views About Humanity’s Future Are Wild,” a blog post by Holden Karnofsky. In this post, Karnofsky explains why he thinks “all possible views about humanity’s future are wild.” The argument is a little winding. He says that it seems “wild” that humans will eventually colonize the galaxy, but… Continue reading Mini-Review: All Possible Views…Are Wild by Holden Karnofsky

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World Vegan Day 2021

I was polishing off the last bits of my dinner, scrolling on my phone, when I noticed that today was November 1st, World Vegan Day. I thought back to what I’d had today, and decided to write a quick post about it to show an easy day of vegan eating. This morning was off to… Continue reading World Vegan Day 2021

Review: Motivating Pro-Environmental Behavior with Self Determination Theory

Social change is necessary for a sustainable society. But how can we best make this social change? This is the question that the pro-environmental behavior (PEB) area of psychology tries to answer. This paper combines two types of psychological theories to propose a refreshed theory of PEB and strategies to go with it.

Review: The Magical Thinking of Degrowth

This is a review of the blog post Degrowth: Solving the Impasse by Magical Thinking by Branko Milanovic. An exciting new activity—my first blog post about another blog post. Am I a degrowther? Maybe. I don’t think I’m well-versed enough yet on these matters to label myself with a position. But from what I’ve written… Continue reading Review: The Magical Thinking of Degrowth

Review: OECD Decoupling Indicators and Decoupling for Ecological Sustainability

The OECD defines “decoupling” as ” breaking the link between ‘environmental bads’ and ‘economic goods.’”1 To put it more vividly, this is generally understood as having economic growth happen without increased resource use and its associated environmental damage. An economy could get more decoupled by selling a more fuel-efficient car instead of an inefficient one,… Continue reading Review: OECD Decoupling Indicators and Decoupling for Ecological Sustainability

Lessons from Ballet

I grew up dancing ballet from about eight to eighteen. Here are some lessons I learned. Never stretch cold In a ballet class, stretching generally occurs after the barre – the first ~30 minute of class that is basically a methodical workout that drills all the foundational movements with the assistance of the barre (railing… Continue reading Lessons from Ballet

Haber & Bosch: Heroes or Not?

The Haber-Bosch process is perhaps one of the most widely known industrial chemical processes. I won’t describe the history in too much detail (there’s Wikipedia for that), but in a nutshell, it’s a chemical process for making ammonia (NH3) from nitrogen (N2) and hydrogen (H2) invented in 1909. N2 + 3H2 → 2NH3 This doesn’t… Continue reading Haber & Bosch: Heroes or Not?

4 Values

On one hike this summer (which there’s a funny story behind, too) my sister brought up an interesting question. I call this proxy free counseling – a question from my sister’s friend’s counselor. What are your four most important values? I immediately questioned why it has to be four—it doesn’t, of course. Could be three… Continue reading 4 Values