Author: Michael McGuire (Page 2 of 2)

This crisis is still unfolding. The dam was constructed to combat drought-related water shortages. Flooding caused by recent heavy rains has seriously damaged the partially constructed dam. Families are being evacuated and there is a chance that the dam will completely fail. This illustrates that there are risks associated with engineering solutions to manage scarce resources.

Pictures of the situation: http://www.bulawayo24.com/index-id-news-sc-national-byo-42695.html

Technical explanation of the damage to the dam: http://victoriafalls24.com/blog/2014/02/13/update-on-tokwe-mukosi-crisis/

First the Freedom Industries spill, now Patriot Coal spills coal waste: http://thecontributor.com/want-see-what-100000-gallons-spilled-coal-waste-looks

As Keystone XL moves past political hurdles, we are left with practical questions as well as moral ones. If exploiting the oil sands is inevitable, is the pipeline the lesser of two evils?

The Week 1-29-14

I think this short opinion piece fits in well with the Easter Island reading. It is interesting to consider that our instincts are optimized to react to threats that present a clear and immediate danger (e.g being chased by a tiger).  The piece suggests that relying on people to make sustainable choices is not an effective way to address climate change because there isn’t sufficient pressure of an immediate danger.