Thursdays are green radio days at Philadelphia University.
Last week, the university launched Ecoman and the Skeptic, airing from 3 to 4 p.m. and online as a podcast.
Ecoman is Rob Fleming, an architect, and the Skeptic is Chris Pastore, an engineer. Both are sustainability experts and co-directors of PhilaU’s Engineering and Design Institute, an interdisciplinary research center focusing on green materials and sustainable design. They also head the Pennsylvania Green Growth Partnership, funded by the Pa. Department of Economic and Community Development.
“Rob and I have been arguing about sustainability for over a decade,” Pastore said in a prepared statement. “We find the dialectic process to be an efficient method for solving problems. As I like to say to Rob, ‘Are you sure about that?’ I respect faith, but we have to question everything to learn.”
Fleming responds: “And I say that perception can often trump reality – that what we believe to be true is often more important than the reality. Sustainability is partly driven by facts about how our behaviors have negatively impacted the world. At the same time, though, sustainability is also about belief – belief that there are better ways to live on the planet, better ways to run our enterprises and better ways to treat each other.”
Last week’s show, the first, looked at climate change and the role that humans play. Their guest was Steve Ghan, climate scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wa.
This week: Are we running out of oil? Will the world survive? Are people still buying SUVs? Ecoman and the Skeptic will explore peak oil and alternative energy options such as solar, wind and geothermal power. Liz Robinson, executive director of the Energy Coordinating Agency in Philadelphia, is the guest.
Regular features include green news and a greenwashing quiz.
["From primordial mysticism to this, its climax, the attack on man’s consciousness and particularly on his conceptual faculty has rested on the unchallenged premise that any knowledge acquired by a process of consciousness is necessarily subjective and cannot correspond to the facts of reality, since it is “processed knowledge.”"] Greenwashing... more like brainwashing... Make no mistake about the actual meaning of that premise: it is a revolt, not only against being conscious, but against being alive—since in fact, in reality, on earth, every aspect of being alive involves a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action. (This is an example of the fact that the revolt against identity is a revolt against existence. “The desire not to be anything, is the desire not to be.” Atlas Shrugged.)— John_Galt
Comment removed.- Stank, you should invest some time in a few geology books before posting idiotic statements like the one above. 50 million years?— mattSR
My my, how we rebound to controversial items of note.. let's sum it up for you three.. Atlas shrugged because he didn't know the answer.. Philly U has a higher academic rating than three of the "big 5" schools.. and 50 million years.. geez!, we hadn't even crawled out of the water yet!- I love when people with no scientific background try to tell us there isn't anything wrong with the way we use the Earth. It's like bringing a plastic butter knife to a gun fight. Anyway, yes the Earth has evolved many times over millions and millions of years but, what we are destroying is our way of life and that or other animals. There is proof of this. The Earth will still be here in the future but will we?
GreenSpace - her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life - appears every other Monday in Health & Science.
 | Follow on Twitter |
- Facts of the Day Former DEP secretary John Hanger
- WolfeNotes NJ environmental policy expert Bill Wolfe
- PennFuture Pennsylvania environmental advocacy
- A Rube With a View NJ wildlife and conservation expert Larry Niles
- View From the Cape What’s happening birdwise at Cape May
- Beverly Milestone Maisey Environmental issues and Transition Cheltenham
- My Plastic-Free Life California’s Beth Terry goes without
- GreenFaith Interfaith Partners for the Environment
- LA Times Greenspace blog
- B’More Green Baltimore Sun’s environmental blog
- Blue Marble Mother Jones' enviro blog
- All about Philly recycling
- RecycleNOW Philadelphia
- Next Great City Philly urban sustainability
- Mayor’s Office of Sustainability
- Transition Town Media
- Transition Cheltenham
- Wissahickon Growing Greener
- Sustainable Delaware County
- One If By Land Bucks County Citizen journalism on the environment.
- PhillyCompost
- Regional air quality partnership
- Philadelphia Air Management Services
- Clean Air Council in Philadelphia
- Clean Water Action in PA
- Sierra Club, NJ Chapter
- Sierra Club, Pennsylvania Chapter
- Energy Coordinating Agency
- Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
- Delaware River Basin Commission
- Academy of Natural Sciences’ Center for Environmental Policy
- Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future
- Pennsylvania Environmental Council
- PennEnvironment
- Delaware Riverkeeper Network
- Philly Rivercast A daily forecast of water quality in the Schuylkill River
- Environment New Jersey
- New Jersey Environmental Federation
- NJ PIRG
- NJ’s American Littoral Society
- NJ’s Clean Ocean Action
- The Nature Conservancy, Pennsylvania Chapter
- NJ Pinelands Commission
- Pinelands Preservation Alliance
- New Jersey Audubon Society
- Bucks County Audubon Society
- Valley Forge Audubon Society
- Wyncote Audubon Society
- Delaware Valley Ornithological Club
- Pennsylvania Center for Environmental Education
- Philly’s Women’s Health and Environmental Network
- Dumpster Divers of Philadelphia
- Environmental news and commentary from grist.org
- National Geogoraphic’s Green Guide
- Treehugger green living site
- The Daily Green
- Green Living from the Natural Resources Defense Countil
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
