Anup Shah has compiled statistics on wealth, health, equality, environmental quality and more. I perceive his aim to be common good and his method to be remarkably even-handed and scientific.
Social Equality Correlates With Well-being
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, authors of Spirit Level: Why Equality Is Better for Everyone (2009), make a compelling case based on a large number of peer-reviewed studies showing how income inequality in societies of material surfeit is correlated with everything from life expectancy to trust. On this site they present much of their research, and they rebut their critics.
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Unmasking Disinformation, From Tobacco to Climate
Science historians Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway describe how “scientists” paid by those who profit by unhealthful and environmentally destructive actions misinform the public to prevent or weaken regulation.
Such efforts are successful in part because so few people understand the difference between honest skepticism and prejudicial doubt, and because so few are practiced in evaluating evidence and reasoning for soundness.
Unmasking disinformation, from tobacco to climate – Capital Weather Gang
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Using Cognitive Psychology to Elicit Behavior Furthering Common Good
Robert Cialdini, author Influence, has turned his expertise to designing methods for persuading people to act for common good. Initial successes by utilities seeking to promote conservation are basis for imagining that similar gains may be attained across a broad spectrum of behavior.
Finding the ‘Weapons’ of Persuasion to Save Energy – NYTimes.com
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Straight Talk About the Deepwater Horizon Spill
An oil industry insider provides a carefully documented and clearly explained assessment of why the oil well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico may be unstoppable by any means except draining the billion(s) of barrels in the reserve. The well has apparently been damaged far below the surface, allowing oil to leak there and making any seal at or near the surface a diversion rather than a closure. We are privileged to be able to access this information on the web. Its absence from official government sources, from the companies party to the creating of the well and spill, or from mainstream media is testimony to the degree to which all three impede valuescience practice by withholding accurate, pertinent information.
The Oil Drum | Deepwater Oil Spill – A Longer Term Problem, Personnel – and Open Thread 2
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Staggering Recent Losses of Biodiversity Confirmed
The UN’s third and most recent Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) notes that one-third of all mammal, reptile, bird, and fish species that lived in 1970 became extinct by 2006. The human population doubled during that same period. With human population set to increase by an equal number during the next 36 years, one can only wonder whether another 1/3 of extant vertebrate biodiversity will be lost.
BBC – Richard Black’s Earth Watch: A financial trick in the familiar biodiversity tale
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IRS Suicide Pilot Statement
February 18th, 2010 a fifty-four year-old engineer flew his private plane into the building housing IRS offices in Austin, Texas. He left this statement in which he expressed strong feelings about unfairness in US society.
While I can see how people might view the author’s life as a reflection of his own failures, I also can empathize with his views. I think we’ve much to gain by questioning what we’ve been taught, and by considering perspectives inimical to our own, even when the possibility that we’ll find accurate information in them entails fundamental changes to our own lives.
I think this incident impetus to wonder how many feel as the author did, and how others will manifest these feelings in action. I wonder how to both respect such feelings and contribute to others’ acting in ways that further common good. I wonder in particular how to shape a society in which we treat each other more respectfully and feel more often appreciative towards, and less often fearful of each other.
http://www.t35.com/embeddedart.txt
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Sweeping Study Shows Chernobyl Toll Far Greater than Admitted
After examining more than 5,000 articles and studies, three Russian scientific researchers found more than 1,000,000 worldwide deaths attributable to the radiation that escaped from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986. Additional impacts of the catastrophe include large increases in the incidence of fetal death, birth defects, and a broad range of diseases, as well as increased morbidity and mortality of other species. While proponents of new nuclear power plants assure us that a disaster of the kind that began in Chernobyl is impossible with improved designs, the simple fact is that without legal limits on liability for damages and other public subsidies, no one will accept the risks of building and operating a nuclear power plant.
Chernobyl Radiation Killed Nearly One Million People: New Book
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More Evidence for Genetically Informed Moral Values
Paul Bloom, Yale psychology prof, reviews studies in which infants from a few months to two years old evidence qualities of empathy and fairness.
The Moral Life of Babies – NYTimes.com
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Prosperity and Trust
Oxytocin is a hormone associated with feelings of well-being and trust. Researchers have shown a correlation between the level of trust in a society and economic prosperity. While correlation is insufficient to establish causality, we might ask whether narrowing or widening the range of economic well-being in a society, including global society will cause greater or lesser trust and overall well-being.
When The ‘Trust Hormone’ Is Out Of Balance : NPR
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