Opinion

Opinion : should we really all eat insects ?

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Eating insectsWhile browsing the various sources I follow on Tumblr, I found an article that quite caught my attention : 7 insects you’ll be eating in the future. The article explains the nutritional values of bugs and how some experts believe we’ll have to resort to this.

While I am fully aware that people from several regions of the world do eat insects – caterpillars in Africa, grasshoppers in Mexico… – I am not quite sure that most people from the Western world would eat such kinds of food.

Neither am I sure that we actually would have to resort to this to feed ourselves. Solving some of our more urgent problems would have much bigger impact.

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Thomas Friedman on the necessity of the carbon tax

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Thomas L FriedmanI am a huge New York Times’ fan. I have been reading this newspaper for at least a decade. This is why I was particularly shocked when their management decided to stop their Green blog. Despite this, they keep on publishing great articles.

Like their editorial on why President Obama has to say no the Keystone Pipeline (another great opinion piece if you ask me) or Thomas Friedman’s articles. His latest one was just fantastic.

Friedman explains why we really need a carbon tax as it could solve literally all our main problems. The article also provides an interesting historical outlook.

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Can Japan, and the world, ever be nuclear free ?

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Nuclear power no thanks ?This is the question many are asking themselves as the Japanese government initially wanted to go nuclear free by 2040 but finally removed the specific deadline as the New York Times reported.

Nuclear plants can last decades provided they are operated and maintained carefully. Nuclear accounts for 18 percent of the electricity mix of the nation, renewables for 10 percent, the quasi totality from hydro power.

Japan is leading in energy efficiency and conservation and going without nuclear while decreasing carbon dioxide emissions – an imperative – will prove extremely difficult, whatever the deadline.

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Friday video : Petroleo

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I thought a short video might be interesting to end this week. It’s called Petroleo and it was done by two animation students at Gobelins, The French Ecole de l’Image. This was done during a Cartooning for Peace workshop.

An idea from famous French cartoonist Plantu, Cartooning for Peace offers higher levels of visibility to the many syndicated cartoonists fighting for peace and Human Rights around the world.

Petroleo offers a great reflection at our addiction to oil and its effect on us. You know my opinion on that matter : we need to get out of oil ASAP.

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A year after Fukushima, and the future of nuclear

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A year after the catastrophic events in Fukushima, Japan is planning to be nuclear free by May 5. It is I believe a good opportunity to focus on the future of the industry. Opinions diverge on this critical issue.

Some believe nuclear is bound to disappear as it has a negative learning curve and that it is increasingly expensive compared to renewables. It is true the latter are becoming cheaper and cheaper.

However, some believe that nuclear will keep on expanding globally (1,2,3 ) as it stays one of the best solutions to provide gigawatts of electricity without greenhouse gases.

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A real must-see and must-share video on climate

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While reading Climate Progress I came across a must-see speech from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, from Rhode Island. As the description on Youtube notes :

” There are some laws that Congress can change. The laws of nature aren’t among them. While lobbyists continue to call for more and more “second” opinions, Sheldon points out to his colleagues that the scientific community is solidly behind the fact that climate change is a real threat. “

This speech clearly contrasts with the environmental bashing of most Republicans and most Democrats keeping quiet on those very issues. Please watch this video, please share it !

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A must-read reflection on climate by The Onion

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To TreeHugger : ” Leave it to the nation’s premier fake newspaper to pen the best real article on climate change I’ve read in weeks.”. Similar opinions have come from Andrew Revkin in the New York Times and Grist. Having read the full article, I can say it is indeed a fantastic reflection showing that … Read more

My opinion about the German decision on nuclear

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Further to the decision Germany took on Monday about nuclear energy, I wrote an opinion piece for Cleantechies. I hope you will like and share it.  As you can imagine, I am not really approving. Here it goes : ” You may surely know it by now : Germany decided to phase out completely all … Read more

My thousandth post here : please answer the poll

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I am publishing today my thousandth post. Started in the first hours of 2007, this blog has received since then more and more visitors and more and more people subscribed. Thank you all !

I would like to take the opportunity to start a poll among you, visitors, readers and subscribers. Indeed, to increase this blog’s success I would like to know what you think about my humble blog.

So please, take one minute of your time to answer these few questions. This will enable me to better answer your needs and wants. Please receive all my thanks in advance !

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