On Progress, Decline and the need for active hope Reading time: ca. 18–28 minutes By Levien van Zon We are so often presented with predictions for our future, that it’s easy to forget that the future hasn’t happened yet . By definition, all stories about the future are …
How stories and feelings dominate over facts Reading time: ca. 17–25 minutes. By Levien van Zon When talking about sustainability, we often assume that people behave “irrationally” because they are badly informed. Or perhaps they are selfish, or incapable of thinking about long-term consequences. Some or all of these …
Why understanding the real world is important (but not easy) Reading time: ca. 15-25 minutes. By Levien van Zon Stories are important for how we see the world. In my first article , I argued that stories act as internal models of the world, supercharged by our ability to share them …
Reading time: ca. 15-25 minutes. Too long? Read the 8 minute summary instead! This article has been published on https://lvzon.substack.com , and is also available as PDF or ebook ( EPUB and Kindle ) for offline reading. You can also listen to a narrated version: This article and the next …
Looking for Better Stories on Sustainability Reading time: ca. 18-25 minutes. Too long? Read the 5 minute summary instead! This article has been be published on https://lvzon.substack.com and Medium , and is also available as PDF or ebook ( EPUB and Kindle ) for offline reading. You can also listen …
By Levien van Zon Reading time: 5-10 minutes We live in interesting times. Humanity has never had as much energy at its disposal as we have had over the last half century or so. Given this abundance, our complex societies have flourished, yet they have also become increasingly dependent on …
By Levien van Zon Reading time: 10 minutes This is the second of two articles in which I try to shed some light on our current use of energy. In the previous article I introduce the kilowatt-hour (kWh), and looked at how much energy we use on average. We observed …
By Levien van Zon This article is also available in Dutch , and as PDF or ebook ( EPUB and Kindle ) for offline reading. Today, on Earth day, countries will start signing the Paris climate treaty that was reached last December by the representatives of 195 countries. A lot has already been …
By Levien van Zon This article is also available in Dutch , and as PDF or ebook ( EPUB and Kindle ) for offline reading. The footnotes provide additional background information, and can safely be skipped or read separately. I had originally planned to write my first article on a different subject, the …