Monday, October 24, 2016

Oh Frack... Ain't no such thang clean oil n gas!

You've heard that there ain't no such thing as "Clean" Coal. Maybe scrubbing some of the sulpher and removing some of the heavly metals. But certainly not clean. And then there's the dirty little secret of Coal Ash!.

But this article sums up the current research related to fracking. Ouch. Evidense keeps mounting about the down-side of oil fracking. This article really sums it up. 

Link to the Ecologist article on Fracking.

Of course, our argument here at SustainZine, is focused around the sustainability nature of fossil fuels in general. It's okay, kinda, to use fossil fuels, but only do so when you have a long term plan that is sustainable, and this is the bridge to the future.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace. - The Washington Post

Google got it wrong. The open-office trend is destroying the workplace. - The Washington Post:

This is a great article about the "open air" cubicle farm for workers. Or "fish bowl" for employees.

Telecommuting would help this work better. If someone has a real deadline and real work that needs to be done, they could work at home. Try to schedule meetings priority days so people who need to meet can all be on campus on specific days of the week (or month).

Productivity will go up. Huge amounts of savings will occur for everyone, and employees will be a whole lot happier. Wait until we really hit full employment and watch the fish start to migrate to better working conditions. (Economists used to think that 6% was full employment, now 5%. Moving past full employment tends to produce wage inflation as the only available human resources can be obtained by enticing talent from a friendly competitor.)

Teleworking might save the fishbowl, but it seems likely that the fishbowl has cracks.

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