Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

UCS “Cooler Smarter” footprint calculator promotes lower carbon behaviors

Posted 15 May 2012 / 0

Union of Concerned Scientists Cooler Smarter This is a much more simple footprint calculator than the ones I use in my classes, but it might be useful for people who want a quick snapshot of the carbon impacts of their behavioral choices.

A Minor Post, Activism, Ecological Footprinting, Sustainable Energy, Web

The Union of Concerned Scientists illuminates Monsanto’s role in maintaining unsustainable agricultural practices

Posted 15 May 2012 / 0

Union of Concerned Scientists “Eight Ways Monsanto Fails at Sustainable Agriculture“

A Minor Post, Activism, Sustainable Agriculture

An argument for better Frankensteins (and thus more prudent use of technology)

Posted 14 May 2012 / 0

Breakthrough Journal “Love Your Monsters” Interesting concept here of “political ecology”. I have never heard of this term, but it provides a pretty nice distinction between the science of ecology and those social and political movements that seek to make us more respectful of the ecological systems on which we depend. What is a little Read More

A Minor Post, Articles, Ecology, Political Science, Sustainability

Molly H. Adams earns top honors from the Critical and Visual Studies program

Posted 11 May 2012 / 0

Me with Molly and B. Ricardo Brown (coordinator of the Critical and Visual Studies program) at Pratt’s Honors Convocation I am proud to report that a student who I have both taught and mentored, Molly H. Adams, has won top honors for both her exceptional academic work and the production of an exemplary thesis. Along Read More

Anthropogenic Change, Biomes, Conservation Biology, Critical and Visual Studies program, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Mentoring, Pratt Institute

Richard Sennett’s “Together” explores the history of cooperative rituals

Posted 10 May 2012 / 0

Yale University Press “Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation“

A Minor Post, Articles, Behavior, Cooperation, Political Science

James K. Galbraith makes the connection between debt policy and social stability

Posted 09 May 2012 / 0

The Brian Lehrer Show “Inequality and Stability” As I have suggested in previous posts, debt has the potential to destabilize societies.

A Minor Post, Ethics, Political Science, Public Policy, Radio & Podcasts, System Stability, System Stability

2012 Sustainability Crash Course at Pratt Institute

Posted 25 Mar 2012 / 1

For the second year in a row I participated in Pratt Institute’s Crash Course in sustainability, sponsored by the Center for Sustainable Design Studies. I once again gave my talk entitled “Ecosystems: Where they came from, how they work, and why they stick around“. Beyond speaking, I also got to attend a variety of interesting Read More

Art & Design, Biomes, Center for Sustainable Design Studies, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Green Design, Greenwashing, Life Cycle Analysis, Population Growth, Pratt Institute, Public Policy, Quantitative Analysis, Sustainability, Sustainable Pratt

What kind of in-group does Facebook represent?

Posted 05 Feb 2012 / 0

On the Media “Life in Facebookistan” I am fascinated by the idea that we all belong to many overlapping social groups, and I wonder how these groups might be subject to multilevel selection. “Facebookistan” is an interesting conceptualization of a large international group: Facebook users. With characteristic incisive questioning, On The Media suggests that this might Read More

A Minor Post, Multilevel Selection, Psychology, Radio & Podcasts

Is the European Union going rogue or playing altruist on airline emissions?

Posted 07 Jan 2012 / 0

Contrails captured by NASA scientist Louis Ngyyen Global carbon emissions continue to increase, threatening future generations with catastrophic climate change. And while most of the world agrees that something needs to be done to curb our carbon emissions, several decades of international talks have provided little progress at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Most famously, the Read More

Altruism, Articles, Climate Change, Cooperation, Economics, Environmental Justice, Ethics, Pollution, Public Policy, Punishment, Radio & Podcasts, Sustainability, Web

Martin Nowak and Roger Highfield’s “SuperCooperators”

Posted 03 Nov 2011 / 0

Martin Nowak has accomplished a lot for a mid-career scientist. His theoretical work exploring how cooperation evolves has illuminated the importance of a great number of evolutionary mechanisms. He has also been unafraid to tackle real-life problems of cooperation, including questions like “why do we get cancer?” and “how did language evolve?”. Nowak likes to Read More

Altruism, Books, Cooperation, Cultural Evolution, Ethics, Evolutionary Modeling, Game Theory, Group Selection, History, Human Evolution, Human Nature, Kin Selection, Language Evolution, Multilevel Selection, Mutualism, Punishment, Reciprocity, Religion, Superorganisms, Sustainability