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STEPHEN SCHNEIDER, the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, spoke to the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce about the value of "going green," the Palo Alto Weekly reported Nov. 3. By promoting energy efficiency and smarter transportation choices while developing cleaner technologies, Palo Alto businesses will end up earning money while helping the planet, Schneider said. He calls it "doing well by doing good." While it's too late to thwart all effects of humanity's greenhouse-gas releases, Schneider said, it's probably not too late to prevent a catastrophe—although due to the complexities of climate science and fluctuations of political will, no scenario can be definitely ruled out. The inability to reach perfection is no reason to do nothing, he said.
Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for the Washington Post, wrote Nov. 6 that JAMES FEARON, the Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, stressed that wars in which each side is splintered, such as between Iraq's Sunnis and Shiites, are less susceptible to negotiated conclusions because one can't trust the other side to stick to a deal if the other side consists of multiple uncoordinated death squads. In addition, wars that end in negotiation tend to do so only after the combatants have fought to a standstill. "Iraq seems a long way from that," Mallaby wrote. "Leaders on both sides appear to believe that, once the Americans are out of the way, they can get what they want by fighting." This leads Fearon to the view that U.S. withdrawal is a precondition for the military test that in turn is a precondition for peace. If Fearon is right, Mallaby noted, remaining in Iraq actually prolongs the carnage.
After the San Francisco 49ers announced that they were considering a move to Santa Clara, ROGER NOLL, professor emeritus of economics, told the San Francisco Chronicle Nov. 10 that "suburbanization of sports franchises is nothing new. It just hasn't happened to us until now." Despite protests from longtime loyal fans about the importance of the 49ers remaining in San Francisco, Noll said the sad truth is that "anyone who has attempted to do a fact-based analysis of the psychic value of a team to a city has come up empty." Noll suggests looking to Los Angeles, which doesn't even have an NFL team since the Raiders and the Rams left town. "It isn't like they moved an hour away," Noll said. "They lost everything. And yet, I think they would tell you that they are not suffering any post-Rams trauma."