If all politics are local, how can we ever hope to solve global challenges like climate change?

In this article on the History of Earth Day, it becomes clear that the strategy of environmental organizations to engage with corporations to support climate change legislation in the U.S. did not work in the absence of a grassroots movement.  It's not about messaging.  It is about exercising political power through democratic structures - sounds naive but there doesn't appear to be a better substitute.
 
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2013/04/15/130415crat_atlarge_lemann

Physics Envy on Wall Street?

A fascinating story about the fallacy behind the rigor of Wall Street Quants and regulators' feeble attempts to manage them.  John Breit, the former head of Risk Management at Merrill Lynch, explains why successful risk management requires human spies gathering intelligence more that quantitative models which try to ape the hard sciences like physics.  It also includes a damning portrayal of how disconnected and isolated the senior management of financial institutions are from the real risk taking activities of the firms they lead.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/uncovering-the-human-factor-in-risk-management-models/?smid=pl-share

As a member of Freelancers Union since 2003, I am pleased to see its success and growth.  This quote seems to sum it up: “It reminds me of the old guilds” — the precursors of modern-day labor unions — “that focused on workers’ individual autonomy, trying to build their own careers, with the backing of a collective organization to assist them,” says Janice R. Fine, a professor of employment relations at Rutgers University.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/business/freelancers-union-tackles-concerns-of-independent-workers.html?smid=pl-share