I’d like to participate in an ongoing on and off line brainstorm using Buckminster Fuller’s World Game design criteria, “How can we make the world work for 100 percent of humanity in the shortest possible time through spontaneous cooperation without ecological damage or disadvantage to anyone?” and one of Bill McDonough’s Ecological Design Principles, “Use only available solar income.”
Here are some free resources that are edging, gingerly, towards that possibility.
“Age of Sustainable Development (https://www.coursera.org/course/susdev ) gives students an understanding of the key challenges and pathways to sustainable development – that is, economic development that is also socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable.”
free 14 week course taught by Jeffrey Sachs
starting January 21
Turn Down the Heat: Why a 4°C Warmer World Must be Avoided (https://www.coursera.org/course/warmerworld )
“It is now becoming clear that without necessary climate action, the world may become 4°C warmer by the end of this century. As this threatens to roll back decades of development progress, this is a ‘make or break’ point. This course presents the most recent scientific evidence as well as some of the opportunities for urgent action.”
free World Bank MOOC [Massive Open Online Course] on climate change
starting January 27
e4Dev, Energy for Development, a student group at MIT is teaching a 4 day course this week (January 7-10, 2014) “Exploring the intersection of energy and human development, Racing Towards Universal Energy Access: Why the Next 2 Billion Users Matter (more than you think).” Eventually, they want to produce their own online course as well but their Fall lectures are already available as videos online:
Prospects for Grid-Connected PV in Kenya
http://techtv.mit.edu/collections/e4dev/videos/26727-amy-rose-esd_e4dev-9-26-13
Technical and Economic Analysis of PV DC Microgrids
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/26728-andrew-campanella-sdm-13-e4dev-10-3-13
Reliable Alternative Energy Options for Access: Lessons from China’s Countryside
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/26729-michael-davidson-tpp-e4dev-10-10-13
Power Africa
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/26730-power-africa-q-a-e4dev-10-17-13
Electrifying Rural India with Solar Microgrids: Adoption and Impact
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/26731-professor-johannes-urpelainen-columbia-univ-e4dev-10-31-13
Water Desalination: Prospects for Energy and Demand
http://techtv.mit.edu/videos/26732-david-cohen-tanugi-ms-e-e4dev-11-7-13
More on MIT e4Dev course at http://solarray.blogspot.com/2013/12/universal-energy-access-iap-at-mit-with.html
previously published at http://solarray.blogspot.com/2014/01/sustainable-development-and-climate.html