Growth up, happiness down

more for the Failing to Learn from History/Destined to Repeat It file.

"Starting in 1990, as China moved to a free-market economy, real per-capita consumption and gross domestic product doubled, then doubled again. Most households now have at least one color TV. Refrigerators and washing machines — rare before 1990 — are common in cities.
Yet there is no evidence that the Chinese people are, on average, any happier, according to an analysis of survey data... If anything, they are less satisfied than in 1990, and the burden of decreasing satisfaction has fallen hardest on the bottom third of the population in wealth. Satisfaction among Chinese in even the upper third has risen only moderately..."

When Growth Outpaces Happiness - NYTimes.com

Food glorious food

Julianne mentioned food waste the other day. If you thought food and climate were in unrelated, consider: 

@GOOD: Eight foods you should stock up on before climate change takes them away http://ow.ly/e0V32 ”-Bourbon, coffee, chocolate…No!

 

This is getting serious...

Terrific TED Talks on food, climate, you name it... 

http://osopher.wordpress.com/2012/09/28/a-greener-future/

The next phase of the movement

"It’s simple math: we can burn 565 more gigatons of carbon and stay below 2°C of warming — anything more than that risks catastrophe for life on earth. The only problem? Fossil fuel corporations now have 2,795 gigatons in their reserves, five times the safe amount. And they’re planning to burn it all — unless we rise up to stop them." Bill McKibben

McKibben's Rolling Stone article: Global Warming's Terrifying New Math

Do the Math - Because We > Fossil Fuels

Vulnerable to catastrophe

"We were looking back in class yesterday at the old Club of Rome report from forty years ago. It forecast catastrophic social, political, & ecological consequences in about seventy years, if we continued as a civilization to worship at at the altar of Gross Domestic Product and perpetual economic growth. Are we there yet?

Well, the Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2012 says yup.

(For another perspective on all this: “Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist.”)

The class wants to do something, a collaborative group project that might actually go beyond the walls of our classroom. We’re now collecting ideas..."

Alive & available « Up@dawn

Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2012

"The Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2nd Edition reveals that climate change has already held back global development and inaction is a leading global cause of death. Harm is most acute for poor and vulnerable groups but no country is spared either the costs of inaction or the benefits of an alternative path.

Commissioned by the world’s most vulnerable countries and backed by high-level and technical panels, the new Monitor estimates human and economic impacts of climate change and the carbon economy for 184 countries in 2010 and 2030, across 34 indicators..."

Climate Vulnerability Monitor 2012 - DARA

The way we were

"while markets can and do fail, society does not intervene to correct market failure.” -Mark Sagoff

It’s exam day– see my general study advice *below, students– but we’re also talking markets & growth in EEA. I’ve asked everyone to identify highlights.

One, for me, is the quote of Amory and Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken from Natural Capitalism: “Markets are only tools. They make a good servant but a bad master and a worse religion.”

Another, from Frank Ackerman and Lisa Heinzerling: “human life, health, and nature cannot be described meaningfully in monetary terms… market values tell us little about the social values at stake.”

And how about this dated howler: “Mark Sagoff has noted that while markets can and do fail, society does not intervene to correct market failure.”

And then, of course, the infamous classic Limits to Growth.   Jonathan Franzen said it succinctly, in Freedom: “too many damn people on the planet."

Right. Last one to leave, please turn out the lights.

Franzen’s Freedom, btw, has much to say about environmentalism vs. market-driven capitalist consumerism. Much that’s sad, funny, and true. If there aren’t too many of us yet, there certainly are too many of us eager to remove mountaintops and frack the hell out of our interior...

Up@dawn

The Greens

I was recently registering to vote online and was asked what political party I affiliate myself with. There were the obvious options of Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, and Independent and then there was Green. I'd never heard of Green before so I googled it and found their website. After reading through most of it and researching more I think I can honestly say I'm sold. If you haven't heard of this political party it might be something you want to look into. Here's a link to their national website. http://www.greenparty.org/index.php Here's a link to their Tennessee website. http://greenpartyoftennessee.org/

Highlander Folk School

(and what Gandhi really said about change)-the school was founded in the 1930s to help economically disadvantaged whites but by the early 1950s had begun to focus on civil rights. Horton, an admirer of Gandhi, used his school to train his pupils in how to achieve integration and civil rights...

Gandhi didn’t exactly say everything he said (as Yogi Berra might put it), including the ubiquitous ”be the change you wish to see in the world” slogan. But he did say

“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. … We need not wait to see what others do.”

Same sentiment, slightly less bumper stickery. But only slightly. We need not wait. We dare not wait.

The Movement needs a new Highlander School...

(Continues, with video & music, at Up@dawn)

A Bacterial Arms Trade In Our Soil?

"Harmless bacteria from American soils carry the same antibiotic-resistance genes as many pathogenic microbes around the world, suggesting there is a secret arms trade running between the bacteria in our soils and those that ravage our bodies with disease. Such a trade has long been suspected, but Gautam Dantasfrom the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has now found the clearest evidence for it. “The genes are 100 percent identical,” he said."

http://the-scientist.com/2012/08/30/soil-harbors-antibiotic-resistance/

European Air Pollution

"There are many ways to harm your respiratory system such as smoking or breathing in asbestos. For urbanites living in cities across Europe, merely living and breathing in the city can be bad. A new study released by the European Environment Agency (EEA) found that most residents of European cities breathe toxic pollutants exceeding international health standards. The most deadly air within the EU is found in the eastern countries of Bulgaria and Romania, but there are few urban areas that escape unhealthy pollutants like ozone, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. The published study is already being seized upon by environmental groups who demand much tougher EU standards."

Source:
http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/44995

Treesitting returns

“Today I climbed a tree in the path of Keystone XL to demand TransCanada stop construction of this dirty and dangerous pipeline. This pipeline is a disaster for everyone it touches, from the cancer tar sands extraction is causing indigenous communities, to the water poisoned by inevitable tar sands spills, to the landowners whose land has been seized, and to everyone that will be affected by climate change,” said Mary Washington, one of the Tar Sands Blockade members sitting in a tree."

BREAKING: Eight People Climb Trees And Start Indefinite Tree Sit to Stop Keystone XL » Tar Sands Blockade

How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement

not sure I'd call it a "revolution," but definitely a watershed moment.

“Silent Spring” was published 50 years ago this month. Though she did not set out to do so, Carson influenced the environmental movement as no one had since the 19th century’s most celebrated hermit, Henry David Thoreau, wrote about Walden Pond. “Silent Spring” presents a view of nature compromised by synthetic pesticides, especially DDT. Once these pesticides entered the biosphere, Carson argued, they not only killed bugs but also made their way up the food chain to threaten bird and fish populations and could eventually sicken children. Much of the data and case studies that Carson drew from weren’t new; the scientific community had known of these findings for some time, but Carson was the first to put them all together for the general public and to draw stark and far-reaching conclusions. In doing so, Carson, the citizen-scientist, spawned a revolution..."

How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement - NYTimes.com

A New Low For Arctic Ice

on the radio this morning.

This summer, the Arctic ice cap shrank—melted– to an all-time tiny size. Half what it was in 1980.  The planet is changing.

“The apparent low point for 2012 was reached Sunday, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which said that sea ice that day covered about 1.32 million square miles, or 24 percent, of the surface of the Arctic Ocean. The previous low, set in 2007, was 29 percent.”-nyt

 “That difference between the previous record and this year’s is larger than the entire state of California, and almost as large as the state of Texas.  An ice-free summer in the Arctic, once projected to be more than a century away, now looks possible decades from now. Some say that it looks likely in just the next few years.”-Scientific American

A link to the broadcast, Greenpeace video from the Arctic, etc. at A New Low For Arctic Ice | On Point with Tom Ashbrook

How to survive mass extinction

Be wide ranging, be free to move, be good at surviving stress. More good reasons to ride a bike.

...if the species has a global distribution, some are likely to reside in a spot that's largely unaffected by the crisis. If you already inhabit multiple habitats, then some will likely be less affected or you can move from one to another.

Be free to move. An animal that can move freely will do well – it can escape the prevailing conditions and carry on. If the arctic was wiped out tomorrow, there are birds and whales that could move to the Antarctic and better conditions within days.

Be good at surviving stress. Animals used to going for long periods without food or water (like many reptiles or hibernating mammals), or have burrows, are likely to do better than those that require copious clean water, or can only survive a few hours in the wrong temperatures..."

'How to survive mass extinction | Science | guardian.co.uk

Activism on wheels

"Integrating cycling into our daily routines is one easy form of “activism” for the environment open to us all. “A short, four-mile round trip by bicycle keeps about 15 pounds of pollutants out of the air we breathe.” Just ride!

James Garvey, environmental ethicist and editor of The Philosophers’ Magazine, is on a long bike-ride: 1,000 miles across Britain. He seems to be having second thoughts, or at least concerns, about striking the correct balance between mental and physical exercise..."

(continues at Up@dawn)

To everything a season, burn burn burn

"My ancient firewood man came around with a rick last night, just in time. It’s 45 degrees this morning. And I know, a wood fire is considered environmentally incorrect by many. Alright, then, I’ll just go to hell. I still love my Earth Stove..."

Up@dawn

Green Aristotle: Virtue, Contemplation and the Ethics of Sustainability

"Sustainability ethics, a subspecies of environmental ethics, refers to a set of positions that emerge when the environmental state of things is not simply regarded as irritating, but as immoral, bad, wrong or evil.[1]  Environmental ethics in general and sustainability ethics in particular shares a framework in common with the rest of contemporary ethical philosophy, though it also has a suite of unique problems.  Although most environmental ethics is human-centered in which environmental damage is largely considered reprobatory because of the consequences for human welfare, there are, more controversially, a set of ethical positions that center on concerns beyond those of our own species.  In common though with other normative ethical frameworks, environmental ethics can be approached from a so-called consequentialist, deontological, or virtue ethical perspective..."

3quarksdaily: Green Aristotle: Virtue, Contemplation and the Ethics of Sustainability

The Mismeasure of All Things

"Gross Domestic Product (GDP) might seem benign enough. After all, it’s just a number. But it has emerged as the principal way the public evaluates a nation’s status and whether times are good or bad. News organizations report rising GDP as a sign of recovery, and stagnant or declining GDP as a portent. But GDP mismeasures all things. It is about as indicative of human progress as a body count is of success in war; it’s not only blunt, but also blind to the destruction behind the number. It denies that “growth” makes us poorer in the long run and in the short run benefits only a few. The inventor of GDP, the economist Simon Kuznets, never intended it as an indicator of progress or happiness..."

The Mismeasure of All Things | Orion Magazine

"Bridge at the Edge" Q&A

• Is Speth's assessment that "all we have to do to destroy the planet's climate and biota" is keep on doing what we're doing now too bleak? (x)
• What sort of "civic unreasonableness" do you think is now appropriate or necessary? (xiii)
• Is the Golden Rule + Aldo Leopold all the environmental ethic we need? (xvi)
• Is Martin Rees too pessimistic? (5-6)
• What's wrong with "maiinstream environmentalism"? (9)
• Are education and poverty (etc.) environmental issues? ((13)
• Are we closer to a "tipping point" with respect to public opinion regarding climate? (26)
• How can a "concerted international response" be achieved? (28)
• Why is the loss of biodiversity bad in itself, apart from disruptions to the ecosystem of which human civilization is a part? (36)
• If humans are "a new force of nature," does that fact contain a silver lining? (39)
• Are you a "solutionist"? Or what? (42)
• Do you participate in the "secular religion" (47) of rapid, never-ending economic growth?
• Why don't Americans demand "shorter workweeks, longer vacations" etc.? (48)
• What would be an "appropriate price" for a sustainable environment, in market terms? (52-3)
• How do we create sighted markets (instead of the "blind" ones operant today)? (54)
• (Your suggestions...)

And some factual questions:

• What 1980 report was prescient? (18)
• What was the predominant nature of the environmental challenges that spurred the first Earth Day?
• CO2 is at its highest level since how long ago? (21)
• Sea level rises attributable to the melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets can be traced to at least what year? (22)
• What are some of the leading health problems associated with climate change? (23)
• 20% of the world has contributed to how much of the world's present emissions? (28)
• [Leaving the rest of ch1 to you guys]
• What's our "secular religion"? (47)
• 
  

Too little too late

Or can we possibly cross "from crisis to sustainability"? We begin Gus Speth's Bridge at the Edge of the World today. Speth was Jimmy Carter’s environment guy in the White House, the one who put up the solar panels Ronald Reagan made such a show of removing. Talk about a symbol of our subsequent decline!

He’s now a mild-mannered Yale Dean, but his recently-blasted two part Orion manifesto “America the possible” is anything but reticent..."

(Continues at Up@dawn)

Where do you fall?

Starting on page 43, a multitude of solutions to our environmental problem are listed. I think we should discuss where each of us fall, as well as why we chose it over the rest of the options.

Similarly, and I'm on chapter 3, so I don't know how far everyone else has gotten, but, toward second half of the book, I think it starts to sink in that it's too late, and that while the salvation of humanity is still a achievable, the world as we know it, the biodiversity that has colored our perception of the Earth, the lifestyles, cultures, plants, and animals that make up our reality have already suffered an irreversible damage, and will not be available for future generations.

To delve in on that further, I believe that, now, after reading this far in, that we will NOT be able to sustain, or save, the world, atleast not for anything remotely similar to the lives we live; and therefore, should be more  worried about...say, leaving behind to tell others how it use to be. A reminder of what it was like before, similar to what the Mayans or Egyptians did. Just a thought.

The Democracy Project

 Being a citizen entails participation. There are those passive participants. They may not fully understand the scope of citizenship. Perhaps they lack the inspiration to comprehend Social Responsibility. In swearing allegiance, we affirm our citizenship. But, it doesn't stop there. Now we must become the Socially Responsible Citizen. I accept my participation in this experiment of Democracy here in America.The question is, do you?

Yesterday, I got to watch the excitement on the faces of over three hundred newly sworn-in citizens as they took their oath and pledged their allegiance to the United States. Afterwards, the Justices presiding the ceremony gave a speech applauding their new citizenship. Allusions were made to the Forefathers of the nation and the principles that they founded the country on, namely, Freedom. Also, the cultural diversity of America was highlighted as a "melting pot", being as the audience were from 69 different countries, the diversity of the audience was hailed as a prime example of America. Overall, the experience was very enlightening, as I got to witness first-hand the naturalization process that all new citizens must undergo.

My participation in the American Democracy Project civics group has opened and continues to open my views towards the democratic process. Whether it is attending a Naturalization ceremony, participating in the vote, registering others to vote, letting my congressman or congresswoman know how i feel on different issues, or even simply sharing my ideas on any given subject. I have learned that active participation is crucial. That active participation is not only crucial to the future success of democracy, it is also pivotal in the future success of the world. We must strive to become aware of the ways which we may affect the direction of the world. This is our Global, Social Responsibility as citizens. Not only are we citizens of this democratic experiment we call the United States, we are citizens of the world.

Pledge for peace, Pledge for change. Pledge for positive, peaceful change. Welcome change with open arms, for it is inevitable. Change is a constant motion. Whether it is for peace or whether it is for power. The change is coming. It could be this very hour. For we are the ones we have waited for. We have this Power. TO CHANGE. That is power. Will all accept this? We are the prosecutors persecuting the prosecution. The Resistance to this change is power. Standing People Power. Will you stand for those pledges which you have principled? Will you fall for those unprincipled pledges? A pledge is a pledge is a pledge, for justice or naught. "Ask not what your country can do for you, But, What can you do for your country." - JFK

"We" means all of us

As Paul Hawken says at the end of Blessed Unrest, we all need to get on the bus "because in the end, there's only one bus." One planet, one human species, one precarious future. His wiser.org is the World Index of Social and Environmental Responsibility,

a global village for sharing and kinship-building for all citizens around the world who believe in a more just and sustainable world. Our community focuses on the pooling of our collective intelligence to create a better world for all.

The appendix continues to grow.

Immunity and futurity

"Paul Hawken inspires with his immune system analogy, and the hope that together we’ll be strong enough to ward off the ecological and social diseases that have lately been threatening the health of our planetary organism.

My favorite moment, in these last two chapters, recounts Michael Chabon’s conversation with his (then) eight-year old. “Will there really be people [in 10,000 years], Dad?”

‘Yes’, I told him without hesitation, ‘there will.’ I don’t know if that’s true… But if you don’t believe in the Future, unreservedly and dreamingly… then I don’t see how you can have children.

Me neither. That’s why I’m restless about the present torpid state of environmental and social activism, and why we’ll next bring Gus Speth back into our conversation. Good place to start, before stepping onto his Bridge at the Edge of the World, is with his recent two-part Orion manifesto America the Possible."

(Go to Up@dawn for links to Hawken, Chabon, Speth etc.)

Questions from Blessed Unrest Chapter Immunity

Discussion questions- How would incorporating a "slow food" mentality affect the family?  Would it require someone being at home more in order to shop, prepare the food, enjoy/consume the food?

Should we as individuals avoid Coca-Cola products?  Should we encourage M.T.S.U. to ban Coca-Cola products on campus?  What type of reaction would such a ban receive?  Would such a ban help or hurt the movement's image?  Do we have a right to make choices for others even if the choices are good for them?

Factual question- What three annual reports did Hawken receive? Pg. 158ish, answer- Audubon Society, Friends of the Earth, and India Resource Center.

More "Blessed Unrest" Qs

We finish Paul Hawken's book today, and prepare to pick up Gus Speth's Bridge at the Edge of the World next time. Here are a few more questions for discussion. More crowdsourcing from the collective, please.

• ["We Interrupt This Empire"]
• Is it plausible to think of "the movement" as operating independently of any individual person's intent, for the good of the social organism? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of "Gaia" (141f.)?
• Is "culture jamming" (149) a constructive form of activism? 
• How do you regard the "real billionaires" and corporate figures (Soros, Gates, Burffett, Moore, Branson, Omidyar, Skoll...) in the movement? 
• Do you agree with what Michael Chabon said to his kid? (154)
• Is "slow" the way to go, in general?
• Is it true that we'll either unify as one species or "will disappear as a civilization"? What do you think healthy unity looks like, intellectually, socially, governmentally?
• ["Restoration"]
• [Add your suggestions here, students]

Some more factual Qs:

• ["We Interrupt This Empire"]
• Who proposed the Gaia hypothesis? Who were some of his philosophical precursors? (141)
• Is the power of webs, links and networks rooted mostly in technology? Or what? (144)
• Who is Stewart Brand? What Brand project did Michael Chabon tell his kid about? (153-4)
• How does the brain relate to the immune system? (164)
• ["Restoration"]
• [Add your suggestions here, students]

If you will all add your questions here daily, students, we'll have a convenient crowd-sourced study guide... and never a loss for something fun to discuss in class.

And if any non-students happen to be reading along with us, feel free to propose questions in the comments space as well.

Who is John Mackey?

John Mackey started his original health-food store, Safer Way, in a garage in Austin, Texas, in 1978. Local farmers would drop off produce from junky old pickups, and hippie bakers would supply nut loaves and 20-grain bran muffins. Originally selling only fresh fruits, vegetables, and bread, Whole Foods now offers everything from beer to fresh steaks at more than 150 stores throughout the U.S. and a handful in Canada and the U.K. Mackey has led the fight to put organic on the mainstream map and make it more available to average folks. For this, he has been considered a hero of part of the environmental movement. He is also extremely forward thinking in the realm of employee benefits and is personally incredibly philanthropic. He has reduced his salary to $1 a year and donates his stock portfolio to charity. He has also set up a $100,000 emergency fund for staff facing personal problems. He wrote, “I am now 53 years old and I have reached a place in my life where I no longer want to work for money, but simply for the joy of the work itself and to better answer the call to service that I feel so clearly in my own heart.” Mackey prefers to take a longer view of financial health than the quarterly model favored in the corporate world. He does this to accommodate forward-thinking projects like humane animal-treatment standards. This, coupled with Mackey’s vegan lifestyle, would seemingly make him exactly the kind of person that could help lead the environmental movement. However, Mackey is sometimes loosely defined as an antihero of the environmental movement. He makes no apologies for running what has now become a large, consolidated operation that imports produce and displaces local farmers and small vendors. He has also stated his support of the book “Heaven and Earth: Global Warming—the Missing Science”. In an interview with the New Yorker from February 2010, Mackey stated that he agrees with the book’s assertion that “no scientific consensus exists” regarding the causes of climate change. He added that it would be a pity to allow “hysteria about global warming” to cause us “to raise taxes and increase regulation, and in turn lower our standard of living and lead to an increase in poverty”. What might be his train of thought be here? How is it that a smart entrepreneur with a rather “raw” vegan lifestyle doesn't believe in global warming? Are we missing something or is he?

What do you do when you're too unambitious to achieve greatness? Make a big deal out of "the little things."

I'd love to preface this post by saying, "the little things", is not inherent to this book. In fact, it's a universal slogan for slackers everywhere. Whether you can't be troubled to buy your girlfriend an anniversary gift, or you're too timid to reach beyond simply recycling and turning the lights off at night, everyone loves to lean on "the little things."

Starting on page 187, and continuing to the first paragraph of 188, Hawken examines a response, penned by David James Duncan. It's in retaliation to the takeover of Christianity by Fundamentalist. The response contains a wee bit too much of a certain social element called "cop-outanium." It's one of the most dangerous things in our society, and specifically dangerous to political social movements. It can most recently be observed in Mitt Romney's campaign, where instead of running as a moderate and breaking bi-partisan lines, he copped out, changed all of his policies, and went for the Republican base. Tsk tsk Rom Rom, tsk tsk.

However, it is specifically damaging to the environmental movement, because we lack a singular, major, unifying act. There's no 9/11 to unify us against terrorism, or Pearl Harbor to get everyone on the same page, and by the time there is, it'll be too late. So No, Mr. Duncan, I don't agree that the "Great things tend to be undoable", and I also don't think you should feel satisfyingly warm and fuzzy every time you recycle a can. I'm not saying go out and blow up a dam, or kill lumber jacks (Hah, if you could), just don't throw your some-how-pessimistic-and-inspirational-at-the-same-time dribble in my face, and expect me to like it. As the saying goes, shoot for the moon, because even if you miss you'll fall amongst the stars.

Follow the bike, not the $

"The standard bike is a piece of low tech, the nearly divine epitome of sustainability, and an absolute necessity when cities have to be rethought and redesigned without the present profusion of noisy, space-hogging, energy-consuming cars. In contrast to several years of gasoline-engine monotheism and tailpipes, the cycling polytheism will open many possibilities of otherness and gliding unpredictable processes.

The trajectories and escape routes of the bike do not follow the flows of commodities, money, and capital..."

The Philosophy of Bicycling - Great Writing - Utne Reader

Cycling-Philosophy for Everyone

"The Fertile Time" (Up@dawn)

We are a flexible & innovative species

"A musical investigation into the causes and effects of global climate change and our opportunities to use science to offset it. Featuring Bill Nye, David Attenborough, Richard Alley and Isaac Asimov. "Our Biggest Challenge" is the 16th episode of the Symphony of Science series by melodysheep.

Visit http://symphonyofscience.com for more science remixes!
Materials used in the creation of this video come from:

- Are We Changing Planet Earth?
- Bill Nye - Climate
- Eyes of Nye - Climate Change
- Earth: The Operator's Manual
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Hot Planet
- How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth
- Human Planet

Thanks for watching!"
Symphony of Science - Our Biggest Challenge (Climate Change Music Video) - YouTube

Is Capitalism Inherently Bad for the Environment?

On Pages 118&119, Hawken truly opens up about how he thinks the free market ideology, while originally intended to protect and increase social welfare, has failed miserably for its biggest supporter, the United States.

Earlier in the week, on Monday to be precise, I believe it was Morgan that brought that in order for true security to exist, it must be enforced through equality programs and in exchange for freedom, which to me, sounds like the bleaker side of Communism. However, and this can even be viewed in some dystopic science fiction films, the Communist/Faschist Utopia's usually are quite clean. Aeon Flux and Metropolis come to mind.

However, when you think about the Dystopic Science Fictions involving the ravages of Free Market and Deregulation, you have the terribly digusting landscapes such as in: Mad Max, A Boy and His Dog (although where the rich people are is considerably communist, and quite clean.), Blade Runner, and on the subject of prison overpopulation in America, Death Race comes to mind.

Sure, these are fiction films, but Science Fiction tends to have a knack for becoming true (Zombie Apocalypse notwithstanding). Do you all think certain forms of government are naturally more environmentally friendly? Why and why not?

We Need To Go Straight At The Fossil Fuel Industry'

"I think that so far the political and economic power of the fossil fuel industry has trumped all else.

Q: In your opinion what strategy holds the best chance of solving our climate change problems?

A: Well, I think we need to go straight at the fossil fuel industry. This fall 350.org launches a divestment campaign on college campuses — we’re calling it ‘do the math,’ based on an article I wrote for Rolling Stone this summer that went wickedly viral. I’m not certain it will work, but I know that these are the guys (not the politicians) calling the shots, so we need to reach them..."

An Interview With Bill McKibben: 'We Need To Go Straight At The Fossil Fuel Industry' | ThinkProgress

And from Grist,

let me recommend this “Guide For Engaging and Winning on Climate” [PDF], put together by the consultancyBreakthrough Strategies & Solutions with help from several climate thinkers and leaders. It builds on previous surveys and thinking from several other groups, but boils things down to a short and highly digestible form...

"A Simple Useful Guide to Communicating Climate Change"

Violence is down, but then there's football

"Interesting that peace and security were also centerpieces of our discussion yesterday in EEA. Paul Hawken’s “blessed unrest” is blessed precisely because, amidst the chaos and trouble of our times, he finds seeds of hope for a more peaceful and secure world in the unorchestrated coalescence of so many local movements devoted to securing the conditions for life for our kids and their world.

They’re emerging against a backdrop of real progress in human history: we really are a less violent, more secure species than we were not so many centuries ago. It’s hard to realize that, as regional wars and sectarian conflicts rage without end around the globe and 9/11 rolls around once a year to remind us of our capacity for carnage and cruelty. But it’s so. Read and watch Steven Pinker, on our better angels. “We are living in the most peaceful time in our species’ existence.”

But then there’s football. Here’s the Gladwell link I keep telling people about. I hope everyone reads it. (The surprising defenders of MMA are probably going to be harder to reach, with this message, than I first realized.)

Well, I could go on about that and tomorrow probably will..."

Up@dawn

Castles in the Sky

One of the questions I would like to address is about a quote on page 36 of Blessed Unrest regarding Thoreau and how activists should conceive their "dreams" or movements. He basically suggests that you should go big or go home. If you want something done you should build your castles in the air, "that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them," My question is whether or not you believe this is a successful technique for the environmental activist? Does this put off the "mainstream" or inspire? While many people during his day believed that Thoreau's endeavors at Walden were unsuccessful, his first book initially flopped,it is obvious that his time at Walden has been a major influence not only on literary world but also on the environmental movement. Does that mean we should all stop paying our taxes and live off the land? Will we change the world or just go back to making pencils? What do y'all think?

"Blessed Unrest" Qs

I've asked students in our Environmental Ethics & Activism class to help me identify worthy questions for discussion & exams. Here's a kickstart. First, for discussion:

• What do you find either objectionable or salutary about the Native American perspective on ecology and human rights?
• Do you find Hawken's claims about the number of grassroots organizations working toward ecological sustainability and social justice credible?
• Does the planet have a life-threatening disease whose primary symptom is climate change?
• What do you think of Hawken's attitude toward "reconsidering" our place in the environment? What's the relevance of his etymology ("Consider, con sidere, means "with the stars")?
• What are your thoughts on the epigrams from Martha Graham and Barry Lopez on p.9?
• What do you think of the "Mother Earth" and "Gaia" models of ecology? Is humanity part of a singular planetary organism? If so, how do you see our role? (Parasite? Central Nervous System? Antibodies?)
• Is environmentalism still widely perceived as a "children's crusade"? Is that a problem?
• Do you agree or disagree with the statement that one's relationship to the earth is a "true gauge that determines the integrity of one's culture, the meaning of one's existence, and the peacefulness of one's heart"? Elaborate.
• Do we need a Highlander Folk School for environmental activists?
• What do you think of Wade Davis's concept of the "ethnosphere"? Are languages and cultures "unique visions... inherently right?" [Note Davis's TED Talks on this topic.]
• What do you think of the late Christopher Hitchens' view of the Arawaks? (95)
• Is it possible to "discover" an inhabited land? (96)
• Are indigenous peoples better integrated than westerners, in a mind-body sense ("their bodies were  not something that merely carried their brain around..." 100) 
• ["We Interrupt This Empire"]
• Is it plausible to think of "the movement" as operating independently of any individual person's intent, for the good of the social organism? What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of "Gaia" (141f.)?
• Is "culture jamming" (149) a constructive form of activism? 
• How do you regard the "real billionaires" and corporate figures (Soros, Gates, Burffett, Moore, Branson, Omidyar, Skoll...) in the movement? 
• Do you agree with what Michael Chabon said to his kid? (154)
• Is "slow" the way to go, in general?
• Is it true that we'll either unify as one species or "will disappear as a civilization"? What do you think healthy unity looks like, intellectually, socially, governmentally?
• ["Restoration"]
• [Add your suggestions here, students]

And factual questions for possible inclusion on the first exam at the end of the month:

• What is the  the Native American perspective on ecology and human rights?
• How many organizations does Hawken claim may be working toward ecological sustainability and social justice?
• What unprecedented condition now afflicts the planet, according to PH?
• Is Blessed Unrest focused mainly on what's currently wrong on Earth? 
• Where does the book's title come from? What does it mean?
• What are "the movement's three basic roots"?
• Do most indigenous cultures distinguish social from environmental movements? 
• What & where was the Highlander Folk School? (80) [Ask me about this place, I stayed there for a weekend once.]
• Who was Fitzroy? A: Darwin's captain on the Beagle, full of missionary zeal (90) 
• Did Darwin greet the Fuegians and other indigenous peoples with cosmopolitan openness? Did he consider them fully human? A: Nope (91)
• How does the Feugian language compare with English? What does yamana mean?(92)
• What does Wade Davis mean by "ethnosphere"? A: "sum total of thoughts, dreams, ideals" etc. (94)
• How have most people historically regarded the world's profusion of languages? (94)
• What "crimes against humanity" do we usually not hear about on Columbus Day? (97)
• How does Hawken define "globalization"? (102)
• Does PH say he agrees with the Gaia hypothesis ("earth itself an organism")? (113)
• ["We Interrupt This Empire"]
• Who proposed the Gaia hypothesis? Who were some of his philosophical precursors? (141)
• Is the power of webs, links and networks rooted mostly in technology? Or what? (144)
• Who is Stewart Brand? What Brand project did Michael Chabon tell his kid about? (153-4)
• How does the brain relate to the immune system? (164)
• ["Restoration"]
• [Add your suggestions here, students]

If you will all add your questions here daily, students, we'll have a convenient crowd-sourced study guide... and never a loss for something fun to discuss in class.

And if any non-students happen to be reading along with us, feel free to propose questions in the comments space as well.

Nashville plugs in

Took a walk around Vanderbilt/West End this morning. Encouraging signs of vehicular/ecological progress all around. If they can do it here, they can do it anywhere...

Paul Hawken and the Age of Ecology

"In “The Long Green” Paul Hawken reminds us that environmentalism didn’t just happen when a bunch of young idealists thought it would be cool to have an Earth Day, or even when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring in 1962 (the contention of a new book by William Souder).

No, environmentalism’s always been latent but real (if not so labeled) for as long as there have been indigenous peoples with a deep sense of themselves as nature’s children. In the western world it’s more recent, coinciding with social justice movements in general and the rise of biological science in particular. “The 19th century may come to be called the Age of Ecology, thanks not only to the scientific ethos of Darwin and Huxley but to a popular mindset framed by the likes of Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Horace Greeley, and John Muir..."

Continues at Up@dawn

Clean energy at MTSU

I'm for it! 

In the Fall of 2006, MTSU students voted to put in place an $8 per semester Clean Energy Fee.  A university committee has been established to administer the funds generated by this fee.  We are in the process of soliciting applications for the Sustainable Campus Fee.  Below is a set of guidelines that may be used to determine whether a project is eligible for funding:

 Projects and proposals should focus primarily on:

*             Renewable Energy
*             Energy Conservation/Efficiency
*             Alternative Fuels
*             Sustainable design

Eligible spending may include:

*             On-site generation projects that utilize and publicize renewable energy technologies, such as solar array displays on campus;
*             Opportunities that may arise to gain additional funding or offset costs through rebate programs, such as the Generation Partners program provided by Tennessee Valley Authority and Murfreesboro Electric Department;
*             Up to 10% of the total annual appropriations may be allocated to perform studies that analyze energy efficiency initiatives;
*             Up to 10% of the total annual appropriations may be used for research grants, as well as academic programs for educational, training, and research purposes, to help develop awareness of energy use, consumption, and conservation to be awarded within the MTSU community.

To submit a Clean Energy Fee funding proposal, please visit the Student Government Association website at: www.mtsu.edu/sga . Click on the link on the right hand side of the page that reads, "Clean Energy Fee."  Scroll down to "Forms to Print and Submit" and click on the version of your choice.  Email your completed proposal as an attachment to cee@mtsu.edu or send to Box # 57 or fax to 615-904-8093. The deadline to submit your completed applications is September 28.

DANNY R. KELLEY, Ph.D.
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Center for Student Involvement and Leadership (CSIL) Middle Tennessee State University
MTSU Student Union 330
P.O. Box # 39 Murfreesboro, TN 37132
615-898-5812 (office)
615-898-5001 (fax)

Denying it doesn't make it stop

but neither does ignoring it.

Obama is a global warming “believer” but has provided little substance to back his conviction and seldom talks about it. Romney, on the other hand, presents a wavering, sometimes mocking assessment on the severity of the issue.

In nearly four years in office, Obama has occasionally paid lip service to the “threat of climate change”, but has yet to use his bully pulpit to lay out the scientific case in a high-profile setting. He once in a while mentions climate change in passing, but has yet to discuss its causes, the evidence, and potential impacts in detail.

As a perfect example, at a speech in Charlottesville, Va. last week, Obama’s token reference to climate change was: “Denying climate change doesn’t make it stop.”
Obama has passed up opportunity after opportunity to discuss climate change science, including during his last State of the Union address...

Obama and Romney on climate change science - Capital Weather Gang - The Washington Post

Silent Spring at 50

The great Rachel Carson, a few years before the first Earth Day, had a lot to do with turning conservation into "divisive" environmentalism.

"Like many of her contemporaries, Carson was wedded to the idea of the "balance of nature," the now quaintly obsolete notion that nature will heal itself if only man would leave it alone. "The inescapable fact that the decline of wildlife is linked with human destinies is being driven home by conservationists the nation over," Carson wrote in 1938. "Wildlife . . . is dwindling because its home is being destroyed." Today, nature's natural state is known to be constant change. And man, of course, is a major change agent, for ill—and for good."

The WSJ's headline writer (or maybe ALD's) calls her a "prophet of doom." But this review's conclusion is the real  headline: Carson surely improved the land, water and air we all share.

Book Review: On a Farther Shore | Silent Spring at 50 - WSJ.com

A call to action from Lazy Point

More Environmental Ethics on the radio, a Labor Day rebroadcast of Carl Safina's "On Point" interview with @tomashbrooknpr. His View From Lazy Point, one of my best summer reads, is both reassuring and alarming. A reminder that saving and savoring the world go hand in hand.

"The world still sings. Yet the warnings are wise. We have lost much, and we’re risking much more. Some risks, we see coming. But there are also certainties hurtling our way that we fail to notice. The dinosaurs failed to anticipate the meteoroid that extinguished them. But dinosaurs didn’t create their own calamity. Many others don’t deserve the calamities we’re creating.

We’re borrowing heavily from people not yet born. Meanwhile, the framework with which we run our lives and our world—our philosophy, ethics, religion, and economics—can’t seem to detect the risks we’re running. How could they? They’re ancient and medieval institutions, out of sync with what we’ve learned in the last century about how the world really works.

So, how to proceed? I’ve come to see that the geometry of human progress is an expanding circle of compassion. And that nature and human dignity require each other. And I believe that—if the word “sacred” means anything at all—the world exists as the one truly sacred place."

Conservationist Carl Safina’s Ecosystem Wake Up Call | On Point with Tom Ashbrook

"The bike is going to challenge the car"

but probably not in middle Tennessee any time soon, alas. One more reason to consider a move to Denmark.

Every day, one-third of the people of Copenhagen ride their bikes to work or school. Collectively, they cycle more than 750,000 miles daily, enough to make it to the moon and back. And city officials want even more people to commute, and over longer distances.

So a network of 26 new bike routes, dubbed "the cycling superhighway," is being built to link the surrounding suburbs to Copenhagen.

Lars Gaardhoj, an official with the Copenhagen capital region, says the routes will be straight and direct.

"It will be very fast for people who use their bike," he says. "This is new because traditionally cycle paths have been placed where there is space for them and the cars didn't run. So now the bike is going to challenge the car...

In Bike-Friendly Copenhagen, Highways For Cyclists : NPR