Author: Douglas McLennan

Finally: Scientists Figure Out Where The Stonehenge Stones Came From

David Nash at the University of Brighton in the UK and his colleagues have identified the source of 50 of the 52 large boulders, known as sarsens, that make up the monument’s iconic stone circle. By analysing the stones’ chemical composition, the team has traced their origins to 25 kilometres away from the monument, in the West Woods in Wiltshire. – New Scientist

Report: Going Green Now Would Create 25 Million Jobs

A new report calculates, in detail, what it would take to aggressively transition to a clean energy economy in the U.S. by 2035—the timeline needed to make it possible to hit the target of the Paris climate agreement—and finds that decarbonizing the economy could quickly create 25 million jobs. “For a world looking to bounce back from a pandemic, there is no other project that would create this many jobs,” the authors write. – Fast Company

US Senate Report: Art Market Enabled Oligarchs To Get Around Sanctions

The report said the financial transactions were enabled by the secrecy and anonymity with which the art market operates and it called for tighter rules to force greater transparency. The investigators concluded that the auction houses — including Christie’s and Sotheby’s — and private sellers never knew the true identity of the oligarchs who were buying the art, but they said that was a loophole that needs to be closed for a sanctions policy to be truly effective. – The New York Times

Reimagining Los Angeles’ Approach To Culture

Even in the best years, funding for arts and culture in our city does not meet the needs of the communities we serve. It is time to expose this hard truth and build the support needed to focus on culture and creativity as a primary driver of racial equity, create healthy communities, assure key economic recovery, and build vital long-term sustainability. – KCET

Changing The Powerful Symbols Along Richmond’s Monument Avenue

“As protesters have remade this avenue, forcing the removal of memorials to men who betrayed their country, covering the remaining plinths with graffiti and activating the street day and night with new forms of protest and community, they also have underscored deep connections between urban planning and old ideologies of whiteness, greatness and cultural ambition. They have made problematic the idea of the City Beautiful, a powerful late 19th-century American contribution to the annals of urban design.” – Washington Post