Category: Culture
Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change
Editor’s Note
This narrative by Nathaniel Rich is a work of history, addressing the 10-year period from 1979 to 1989: the decisive decade when humankind first came to a broad understanding of the causes and dangers of climate change. Complementing the text is a series of aerial photographs and videos, all shot over the past year by George Steinmetz. With support from the Pulitzer Center, this two-part article is based on 18 months of reporting and well over a hundred interviews. It tracks the efforts of a small group of American scientists, activists and politicians to raise the alarm and stave off catastrophe. It will come as a revelation to many readers — an agonizing revelation — to understand how thoroughly they grasped the problem and how close they came to solving it. Jake Silverstein
Dean’s Note
This is heartbreaking
The Quietest Place in America Is Becoming a Warzone
(Gizmodo)
After years of painstaking acoustic measurements, Hempton identified this spot on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula as the quietest place in the U.S.—the spot most free of our man-made noise pollution. He has nurtured this square inch, guided people to it, and protected it from encroaching cacophony of our modern world. But now it faces its biggest threat yet.
Where Silicon Valley Is Going to Get in Touch With Its Soul
(New York Times)
BIG SUR, Calif. — Silicon Valley, facing a crisis of the soul, has found a retreat center.
It has been a hard year for the tech industry. Prominent figures like Sean Parker and Justin Rosenstein, horrified by what technology has become, have begun to publicly denounce companies like Facebook that made them rich.
And so Silicon Valley has come to the Esalen Institute, a storied hippie hotel here on the Pacific coast south of Carmel, Calif. After storm damage in the spring and a skeleton crew in the summer, the institute was fully reopened in October with a new director and a new mission: It will be a home for technologists to reckon with what they have built.
How A Handful Of Tech Companies Control Billions Of Minds Every Day
80-year Harvard study claims to have found the secret to health and happiness
(MarketWatch)
There are some things that money can’t buy. True friends and happiness are among them. In fact, an 80-year-long study at Harvard University claims good pals are the key to a happy life.Scientists began tracking the health of 268 Harvard sophomores in 1938, and have continued the study over the past eight decades. The original participants included President John F. Kennedy and longtime Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, according to the Harvard Gazette. The study originally only included men, as Harvard didn’t admit women at that time, but the ongoing research has expanded, and now includes 1,300 of the original participants’ offspring. In the 1970s, 456 Boston inner-city residents were added to the study.
“The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health,” Robert Waldinger, director of the study and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, told the Harvard Gazette. “Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation.” That, he said, is more important than money or fame. “Loneliness kills,” he added. “It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
Young People In England Are At The Epicenter Of Britain’s Loneliness Epidemic
Britain, alongside other wealthy nations, has a loneliness epidemic and it’s killing people. The UK government even appointed a loneliness minister to tackle the problem.
And contrary to assumptions about the problem being a consequence of aging, it seems that young people are at the heart of the crisis.
Data released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) this week show that adults aged 16 to 24 years in England reported feeling lonely more often than those over 65.
How Compassion Can Make You More Successful
You don’t have to be a jerk to get ahead — in business and in life, according to David DeSteno, a Northeastern University psychology professor. Instead, positive emotions lead to bigger wins. He spoke with Knowledge@Wharton about this concept, which he wrote about in his book — Emotional Success: The Power of Gratitude, Compassion, and Pride.
Podcast and Transcript at the source above.
Danah Boyd SXSW EDU Keynote | What Hath We Wrought?
Danah Boyd’s SXSW EDU keynote, What Hath We Wrought?, takes a powerful look at media literacy, the widespread consumption of fake news and the cultural implications of media manipulation.
Is The Future Of Work Necessarily Glamorous? Digital Nomads And ‘Van Life’
Digital nomadism continues its steady rise in most western countries. It consists of a mobile lifestyle that encompasses corporate remote workers, freelancers and entrepreneurs. Laptops, smartphones, wi-fi connections, coworking spaces, coffee shops and public libraries are some of the key components of this new work culture.
Dean’s List 