That kind of thinking — which automakers here have dubbed “kuruma banare,” or “demotorization” — is a U-turn from earlier generations of Japanese who viewed car ownership as a status symbol. The trend is worrying Japan’s auto executives, who fear the nation’s love affair with the auto may be coming to an end.

“Young people’s interest is shifting from cars to communication tools like personal computers, mobile phones and services,” said Yoichiro Ichimaru, who oversees domestic sales at Toyota.

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Wall St. Journal critiques Dell’s carbon offsets program

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Newsweek on global warming

OK, not the most original argument, but at least it’s going mainstream.

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Stop Global Warming at Change.org (not to be confused with Obama’s Change.gov)

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Will Obama be a Greater Gorbachev? Dissolve the U.S.: an Option for Proactive Change before Collapse

David Korten on “AN ECONOMY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: A Proposal for the Obama Administration.” Along the lines of Pollan’s great letter to President-Elect Obama, this one is on how to fix the economy, written by someone who knows a bit about the Military Industrial Complex.

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Richard Conniff on A Green Scorecard for Stimulating the Economy:

In evaluating an economic recovery package, the new U.S. administration and Congress must weigh any proposed spending – on highways or mass transit or wind-power transmission routes – on the basis of clear criteria that would assess just how green the projects will be.

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What millennials are watching and not. Surprise surprise, it’s less TV, but more media in general.

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Climate Revelations: An atheist concludes that he can’t talk about climate without talking about God



Talks about how climate change might actually inject meaning back into people’s lives. An inspiring article for a scary topic.

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For clean energy, look to the Internet.

A founder of the Internet talks about lessons learned for the energy crisis. Hint: it has to do with many-to-many decentralize networks.