An economist's 'answer to everything.' Hint: It takes nature

Economist Partha Dasgupta takes issue with our failure to account for the cost of Earth's destruction

Partha Dasgupta is a Cambridge University economist who has criticized politicians and economists for not including the cost of Earth's destruction when tallying things like economic growth.

This engaging video featuring Dasgupta and Danish actor Alexander Skarsgård boils his 600-page treatise down to five minutes.

Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich says "watching this is likely your mind's best use of five minutes this week."

The bottom line: We have to start accounting for Nature.

Not doing so, Skarsgård notes in the video, is like using only the goals your team scores to assess a soccer game. You might have an impressive number, but you have no idea if your team is winning or losing.

Worth your time....

www.nytimes.com

China renewable energy, wind and solar energy concept. Chinese flag superimposed with wind turbines and solar panels

Credit: Anton_Medvedev/BigStock Photo ID: 431444246

China has been preparing for a global energy crisis for years. It is paying off now

As other Asian economies race to conserve energy, China has huge reserves of oil and gas as well as alternative energy sources like wind and solar.

Read the Full Article on

www.theguardian.com

Large scale dairy operation: Open stall barn with dairy cows being fed from a tractor.

Credit: Getty Images/Unsplash+

Manure-to-energy project touted as climate fix emits thousands of tons of methane

A Wisconsin project dubbed the “world’s largest manure biogas project” emits nearly 5,000 metric tons of climate-warming methane annually, roughly equivalent to emissions from 30,000 gasoline-powered vehicles, according to state data that adds to concerns about the impacts of large-scale manure digesters.

Read the Full Article on

www.thenewlede.org

An economist's 'answer to everything.' Hint: It takes nature

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