This story is a summary of a new brief produced by the United Nations Environmental Programme. It is a single source story that describes the recommendations of the UN report. The report is interesting and a good contribution to thinking through priorities for an upcoming G20 meeting, so it is timely and informative. It just doesn't have the perspective and range of opinions and commentary about the report that would give more context.

This is an event driven story that also provides good background about the reasons that the newspaper industry finds itself in such difficulties. It infers that the Internet is a major cause for the failing business model and only mentions tangentially near the end of the article that the Hearst company took on a lot of debt just before the market started to fall. It appears that the troubles of newspapers are a "perfect storm" of technological change, demographic change, poor ... More »

Shirky summarizes many of the arguments that have been flying between bloggers, mainstream media, and Tweeters over the past few months (and longer). His analysis provides a broader context than most and helps reorient the conversation from "what is the Next Big Business Model" to a more productive "what might be" and "what can we try now" set of expectations.

This endorsement of Obama from the Economist provides a compelling case from an international perspective while at the same time identifying potential dangers ahead. Well written and thoughtful.

An interesting roundup of political pundits who discuss Congressional races as well as the presidency; the content of the story doesn't answer the question in the headline.

This story explains the purpose of the coming international economic summit and some of the tradeoffs the participants will need to consider.

The strength of this report is that it focuses on a difficult and contentious issue that takes a lot of scarce resources to do well. It provides statistics that would be difficult for an individual to find and visualize. The weaknesses are that it doesn't provide a clear or easily understood way to put all the facts in context; to do much beyond find the numbers that support our pre-conceived beliefs. The package itself is difficult to navigate and the stories aren't pulled ... More »

The journalist relies on two recent studies to make some sweeping statements about the UN carbon offset program. The studies may be very credible, but by starting with "leading academics and watchdog groups" and then only quoting two academics and one watchdog group, he makes it difficult to know just how widespread the concerns really are. The UN, of course, defends the program. The reader is left to wonder who is right. So the article is important in highlighting a large potential ... More »

Michael Pollan makes a strong moral and environmental case for individual responsibility in addressing global climate change. His recommended start: home grown food. My favorite passage: "to look to leaders and experts, to laws and money and grand schemes, to save us from our predicament represents precisely the sort of thinking — passive, delegated, dependent for solutions on specialists — that helped get us into this mess in the first place."

The strength of this story is that it doesn't just focus on one or two actions of the EPA, but on long term political trends at the agency. Given the source and the style however, it's a story that "preaches to the choir." People predisposed to believing the Bush administration has hogtied the EPA will love this story. Everyone else will stop after the first paragraph, irritated by vague charges made by "legions of critics." This is the kind of story that piles on example after ... More »

Yes. The story identifies an emerging argument regarding the best way to slow the human-caused dimension of global climate change.