Two stellar production companies, Vulcan Productions (Paul and Jody Allen's company) and Cinelan (Morgan Spurlock's collective) approached SHFT to create a short film as part of their ambitious series, We the Economy. The project features 20 short films by 20 world-class directors, in an effort to demystify 20 economic concepts. Obviously, we said yes. We proposed a film about the hidden value of......read more
Are natural resources vital to the economy? Why should nature be taken into account when looking at the economy as a whole? A Bee's Invoice uncovers and incorporates the hidden value of natural capital in the measurement of our economy. Directed by Adrian Grenier Produced by Peter Glatzer and Robin Garvick A SHFT Production In association with Reckless Productions Animation by......read more
A photographer in New Jersey captured the post-Christmas blizzard by taking a single picture every five minutes starting when the snow first began to fall and ending after the last flake. (via Kottke)...read more
Say it ain't so. It appears that the latest victim of climate change could be a magical bean we enjoy everyday — coffee. Colombia, one of the world's largest coffee producers, produced three million fewer 132-pound bags of coffee last year than in 2006, and people are starting to wonder if peak production of the Arabica coffee bean is already behind us. Across the planet, climate change is......read more
With climate change causing not only higher temperatures but also increasingly severe and unpredictable weather events, it's not an easy time for farmers. Around 90% of crops losses are directly related to unexpected weather. Scientists say we can expect plenty more of that "unexpected" in the future — and a group of Silicon Valley investors are banking on it. The investment group, which......read more
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, which left a devastating trail of destruction, power failures and flooding in its wake, people all over are wondering whether the "Frankenstorm" is related in any way to climate change. Has global warming helped create the conditions that make freak storms like Sandy happen? Writing for Climate Desk, Chris Mooney asked a handful of climate scientists this......read more
From Climate Central's Andrew Freedman: Hurricanes are Mother Nature’s largest and most destructive storms. Fed by warm ocean waters and moist atmospheric conditions, about 90 such storms — also known as tropical cyclones — form worldwide each year. With the population of coastal areas growing daily and sea level on the rise, how these monster storms may change as the climate......read more
In 2003, John Edward Huth was kayaking off the coast of Maine when a thick fog rolled in and obliterated all sight of land. With no compass, he was forced to use natural clues--wind direction, the sound of waves hitting the shore--to guide himself back to safety. A few months later, he had a similar experience kayaking through fog in Nantucket Sound. The next day, news broke of a......read more
Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, for The Huffington Post: In December 1874, a lean, bearded 36-year-old Scotsman clambered to the top of a towering Douglas fir tree in the Sierra Nevada as a powerful storm swept through the mountains. There John Muir clung for hours, swaying in the wind and delighting in "the profound bass of the naked branches and boles booming like......read more
Bill Chameides for The Huffington Post Whenever an extreme weather event occurs these days, the question almost inevitably asked is: Was it caused by global warming? For years, the less-than-satisfying scientific response went something like this: We don't know; even though global warming will increase the likelihood of extreme events, directly linking a specific event to global warming is......read more