If we continue our highly inefficient, dangerous energy usage, we’re headed for both economic and environmental catastrophe. However, the hard truth is that alternative fuels can’t fully replace fossil fuels for decades. What’s more, new research indicates that energy inefficiencies are retarding economic growth even more than most experts ever realized. Crossing the Energy Divide is about solving all these problems at once. The authors, two leading experts in energy and environmental economics, show how massive improvements in energy efficiency can bridge the global economy until clean renewables can fully replace fossil fuels. Robert and Edward Ayres demonstrate how we can radically reform the way we manage our existing energy systems to double the amount of “energy service” we get from every drop of fossil fuel we use. These techniques require no scientific breakthroughs: Many companies and institutions are applying them right now, but tens of thousands more could. This book offers a strategic guide for using them to solve the energy crisis once and for all—reducing carbon emissions, achieving true energy security, and reigniting economic growth for decades to come. More energy, without more emissions Recapturing lost energy from today’s fossil fuels There is such a thing as a free lunch Mitigating climate disaster and improving prosperity at the same time The future of electricity Reforming tomorrow’s electrical system: smarter, more productive, and more reliable The implications for cities, transportation, business, and government Making the decisions that prepare you for a high-cost energy future

In this eloquent guide to the meanings of the postmodern era, Albert Borgmann charts the options before us as we seek alternatives to the joyless and artificial culture of consumption. Borgmann connects the fundamental ideas driving his understanding of society's ills to every sphere of contemporary social life, and goes beyond the language of postmodern discourse to offer a powerfully articulated vision of what this new era, at its best, has in store. "[This] thoughtful book is the first remotely realistic map out of the post modern labyrinth."—Joseph Coates, The Chicago Tribune "Rather astoundingly large-minded vision of the nature of humanity, civilization and science."—Kirkus Reviews

In 2006 “outdoor philosopher” Kate Rawles cycled 4553 miles from Texas to Alaska, following the spine of the Rocky Mountains as closely as possible. Cycling across unforgiving but starkly beautiful landscapes in both the United States and Canada – deserts, high mountain passes, glaciers and eventually down to the sea – she encountered bears, wolves, moose, cliff-swallows, aspens and a single, astonishing lynx. Along the way, she talked to North Americans about climate change – from truck drivers to politicians – to find out what they knew about it, whether they cared, and if they did, what they thought they could do. Kate tells the story of a trip in which she has to deal with the rigours of cycling for ten hours a day in temperatures often in excess of 100° F, fighting punctures, endless repairs and inescapable, grinding fatigue. But in recounting the physical struggle of such a journey, she also does constant battle with her own ideas and assumptions, helping us to cross the great divide between where we are on climate change and where we need to be. Can we tackle climate change while still keeping our modern Western lifestyles intact? Should we put biofuel in our camper vans and RVs? Or do we need much deeper shifts in lifestyles, values and worldviews?

The financial crisis of 2008 devastated the American economy and caused U.S. policymakers to rethink their approaches to major financial crises. More than five years have passed since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, but questions still persist about the best ways to avoid and respond to future financial crises. In Across the Great Divide, a co-publication with Brookings Institution, contributing economic and legal scholars from academia, industry, and government analyze the financial crisis of 2008, from its causes and effects on the U.S. economy to the way ahead. The expert contributors consider post-crisis regulatory policy reforms and emerging financial and economic trends, including the roles played by highly accommodative monetary policy, securitization run amok, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), large asset bubbles, excessive leverage, and the Federal funds rate, among other potential causes. They discuss the role played by the Federal Reserve and examine the concept of "too big to fail." And they review and assess resolution frameworks, considering experiences with Lehman Bros. and other firms in the crisis, Title II of the Dodd-Frank Act, and the Chapter 14 bankruptcy code proposal.

Artfully blending Scott Bischke and his wife Katie Gibson's agonizing struggle against Kate's advanced, recurrent, "terminal" cancer, this is the story of their three month, 800+ mile hike along the Continental Divide Trail across Montana. Numerous themes and parallels weave through the book: several encounters with grizzly bears, for example, provide an avenue for metaphorical comparisons between the fear of grizzlies and the fear of cancer. Similarly, Kate's ability to persevere through the toils of a long-distance hike provides a constant parallel to her ability to persevere against cancer. Other themes include the importance of a dogged spirit in battling cancer and the importance of wild country in revitalizing the soul.

3Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide is for people who are sad, angry, and apprehensive about important relationships being sucked into the vortex of the difference divide. It's a book for people who aren't ready to accept this as our new normal -- where we have no choice but to write off relationships that mean a great deal to us.Americans are distancing themselves from loved ones, avoiding family gatherings, dropping out of religious congregations, parting ways over social norms, breaking up over politics. It doesn't have to be this way, but at the moment this is exactly how it is. And, if we don't change directions, it's exactly how things will remain. Jim Henderson and Jim Hancock spent a lot of energy learning to create spaces where folks come to understand each other without being obliged to agree. They're convinced that anyone with a hunger for renewing and strengthening human connections can set the table for others who want that too.And, of course, they're not alone. The 2018 Hidden Tribes Report -- Hidden Tribes: A Study of America's Polarized Landscape -- found that "77 percent of Americans believe our differences are not so great that we cannot come together." The unanswered question is "How do we do that?"The 3Practices are a map across the difference divide. -- Practice One: I'll be Unusually Interested in others -- Practice Two: I'll stay in the room with difference -- Practice Three: I'll stop comparing my best with your worst.3Practice Circles are how we find people who are willing to go the distance.This book is about practicing the Practices in the safety of a controlled environment so people can take them home -- and to work, school, and anywhere they're likely to encounter people who hate what they love and love what they hate.The 3Practices are not about waving the white flag. They're not about compromising principled convictions. They don't even depend on finding agreement.3Practice Circles are about reaching clarity and understanding and choosing to connect or protect, depending on what's warranted.The future is not in the rearview mirror. Henderson and Hancock have no interest in returning to a time when things seemed harmonious, but only at the cost of so many voices ignored, excluded, or silenced. "The world is complicated," they write. "We share space with neighbors who may never agree on things that matter a great deal. But how about creating a collaborative future with those folks anyway? How about learning to work alongside people of good will who can disagree, loud and late into the night, without wishing each other dead or incapacitated?"If the notion of working to create that sort of future strikes a chord in you, let's do it together."3Practices for Crossing the Difference Divide . Jim Henderson + Jim Hancock .

Understanding China's world role has become one of the crucial intellectual challenges of the 21st Century. This book explores this topic through the adoption of three conceptual approaches that help to uncover some of the complex and simultaneous interactions between the global and domestic forces that determine China's external behavior.