While thinking idly about ways to tactfully pass money to people, I had an idea. A company could sell lottery tickets (probably of the scratch-and-win sort) that are guaranteed to pay out specific amounts. You would buy them for the face value plus a service fee. They could be issued in denominations running from $10 [...]

There is a catch-22 involved in some forms of resource planning. Take, for example, helium (as discussed recently). As of now, we only know of one place from which to get it - certain natural gas deposits. We have no idea where, or if, it might be found elsewhere.
One perspective is to say: “For all [...]

Emily Paddon, one of my friends and classmates from Oxford, is involved in a scheme to create green bonds in Canada. The initiative, which is part of the Action Canada Fellowship, aims to create a “government-backed financial instrument designed to engage the public by raising capital to accelerate renewable energy production.” The aim is to [...]

All the helium on Earth arose from natural fission of uranium and thorium in the planet’s crust and mantle. We can access it only through certain natural gas deposits - many of them in Texas - which contain enough of the gas to make it possible to isolate. This is the helium of every high-voiced [...]

Al Gore recently gave a highly interesting speech on the future of energy in the United States. None of the points made in it are especially new, but he does a good job of tying together a great many important themes.
Here are some key points:

Because of climate change, “the future of human civilization is [...]

The comic in the July 12th issue of The Economist is quite a good one. It shows an American eagle, mouth crammed with cigarettes and a cigarette package labelled ‘Greenhouse’ in its talon, telling a tiger labelled ‘India’ and a dragon labelled ‘China’ that it is: “Time to cut back.” Both the tiger and the [...]