Low-cost lighting from used plastic bottles

As a general rule, bottled water is not particularly good for the environment. If I were the judgmental type, I might even chime in that buying bottled water is pretty dumb -- at least in the circles that I move in -- given that it is typically of no better quality than tap water. But each to their own.[*]

Regardless, this is very cool:

(via WIMP)

UPDATE: The GF points out that I perhaps shouldn't emphasise the bottled water angle so much, since any beverage bottle would do (fizzy drinks, etc).

[*] Okay, I'm being a bit facetious here. I actually agree with David Zetland that bottled water is probably best viewed as a consumer product much like any other.

Economics > Doing the right thing

Drowning in university work here, so no time for any blog posts. In the meantime, read this article by Gernot Wagner, who has a new book out explaining why economic forces and policies -- not individual acts of environmental goodwill or heroism -- are the only way to ensure meaningful action against climate change... and to resolve environmental problems generally.[*]

Cold, Hard Economics

Global warming is happening faster and with more intensity than anyone expected, yet the fossil-fueled right has succeeded in removing the issue almost entirely from the agenda through a false pretense of defending "free markets." In response, environmentalists have tended to retreat further into their own organically padded corners, when what's needed is to get back to economic basics: Markets cannot be free when benefits are privatized and enormous costs are being socialized. The only way out of this environmental crisis is to align citizens' economic self-interest with the planet's health.[...]

You can also watch a video of Gernot here.

[*] Lest it be unclear, economic policies also include "let prices and the market mechanism run their course". Environmental economics is not simply about knee-jerk, top-down regulation. Although, you already knew that. Right?