Ecotopia just ahead

We’re between texts, with Van Jones just behind us and the late Ernest Callenbach‘s Ecotopia just ahead. (We wish!) In the interim, we eagerly anticipate next Monday's visit with our esteemed university president Dr. Sidney McPhee, from whom we hope to get the green light on greening our campus. Maybe we can encourage him to help us emulate the greenest campuses. [Forbes...HuffPo... Top 100 Cool Schools] 

What would Van and Ernie say to our President? Well, Van might say that the real meaning of "True Blue" (and red and white), a patriotism and school spirit that's deep and not cheap, involves acknowledging that we as a society cannot afford not to do the right thing. We must remove our school's endowments from fossil fuel investments. Divestment worked in South Africa, it can work here. As the Williams Record said recently,

As a campus and individually, it is our responsibility as students to extricate ourselves from the industries that jeopardize our future. It is not enough to act as individuals: We are also obligated to examine the impact of our institution. The College has already made significant commitments to campus sustainability, but we must also simultaneously examine the impact of our endowment. Divestment is not just a chance to remove our endowment from unsustainable investments – it also provides an opportunity to reinvest in the green economy of the future. The Williams Record

It's not just students making this case. Unity College president Stephen Mulkey recently called on his colleagues everywhere to divest. That's not utopian or even ecotopian thinking, it's simply the right thing to do. 

Nor is it "magical," as David Remnick recently wrote in The New Yorker. 

As the writer and activist Bill McKibben writes in The New York Review of Books, “Global warming happens just slowly enough that political systems have been able to ignore it. The distress signal is emitted at a frequency that scientists can hear quite clearly, but is seemingly just beyond the reach of most politicians.” 

==
Take a look at #occupy initiatives that continued after #OWS was evicted from Zuccotti Park one year ago http://bit.ly/TOicIn 
==
Tom Zeller Jr. gives one of the best accounts yet of #dothemath--spread this please http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-zeller-jr/climate-change-math-politicians_b_2147001.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email+Notifications …
==

#dothemath express rolling towards North Carolina today! http://math.350.org 

Details 

MTSU making news!

Just found this article on Fox News.com  about our own MTSU!

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/11/17/tennessee-researcher-changing-face-fuel-economy/

Petition!

Join us, November 26

Be There! 2:20PM – JUB, Room 202 – NOVEMBER 26, 2012

On Nov. 26, the Environmental Ethics class will present Dr. Sidney A. McPhee, President of MTSU, with an initiative known as the Presidential Climate Commitment. The goal is to encourage Dr. McPhee to take a stand on greening MTSU’s campus, moving toward climate neutrality. By signing the Presidential Climate Commitment, Dr. McPhee will be taking the first steps towards greening MTSU’s campus. This initiative will benefit MTSU as an educational institution and contribute to the environmental consciousness of the community. Moreover, it will show that MTSU acknowledges it’s responsibility to the future.

You can show your support by signing this petition!

MTGreenTalk

The following Tennessee colleges & universities have committed to climate neutrality:

Rhodes College, William Troutt, President

Sewanee: The University of the South, John McCardell, Vice Chancellor & President

University of Memphis, Shirley C. Raines, President

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Roger G. Brown, Chancellor

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Jimmy G. Cheek, Chancellor

Climate Reality

24 hours of reality - watch here.

Join us on November 14 for 24 Hours of Reality: The Dirty Weather Report. Broadcast live on the Internet, it’s an event that anyone can attend. And it’s your chance to join millions around the world to demand real solutions.
Taking place over 24 hours, this event will put a spotlight on every region of the globe — featuring news, voices, and multimedia content across all 24 time zones. Every hour will be different. You’ll hear from experts, musicians, comedians, and everyday people about the impacts of climate change on their lives and homes.

"Propaganda," William?

Leading the event will be our Chairman, former Vice President Al Gore, who will conclude with a presentation on November 15 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.
Most of all, we want to hear from you. During these 24 hours, we’ll ask you to sign a pledge and join a global movement to demand action. You can join the social media conversation, make connections, and send us your ideas. Find out how we can, and we must, solve the climate crisis — and how you can help.

climaterealityproject.org 

Myth: There is a problem with the peer-review process in general—and since the argument has become so politicized, climatologists who disagree with the consensus may be afraid to speak out.

“Climate change has tended to be caught in a straightjacket between so-called ‘skeptics’ and so-called ‘alarmists’ with seemingly little room left in the middle for people who may have reasonable doubts or heterodox views about the range of policy descriptions that should be considered for climate change of uncertain dimensions.”
–Steven F. Hayward and Kenneth Green, American Enterprise Institute, in “AEI Critiques of Warming Questioned,” Washington Post, February 5, 2007.

Peer-reviewed research is research that has been published in a scholarly scientific journal after review by an expert peer or peers from the authors’ same field. The process is undertaken to ensure that authors meet the standards of their discipline, and to establish the validity and accuracy of the research. With an occasional exception, the peer-review process generally works quite well.

Today’s widely-held views on global warming are based on literally thousands of peer-reviewed studies. The research contained in these studies is scrupulously vetted to guarantee that it is based on solid scientific evidence and methodology, and that the conclusions contained therein stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Climatologists who disagree with consensus views have little to fear from the peer-review process as long as that research conforms to scientific standards. In any event, the research of a few scientists who may hold dissenting views—whether their research is published subject to peer-review or not—at best will add only a small bit of information to a very large body of well-reviewed, established knowledge.

For More Information:

• www.aip.org/history/climate/public2.htm
• www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/01/peer-review-a-necessary-but-not-sufficient-condition/

IPCCfacts.org

McKibben channeling Thoreau

"Just as a pointless war can spark a massive peace movement, the corporate-governmental attack on the sources of life itself causes an instinctive human response on behalf of the earth. The scale and energy of this movement goes far beyond the considerable organizational power of the well-funded and well-staffed national environmental groups. It rests on the collective legacy of many previous upsurges going back as far the millions who gathered at the first Earth Day, the vast anti-nuclear power movement and the Nuclear Freeze effort. It has something to do with the 51-year old McKibben's flexible, improvisational, gentle and grounded style of leadership. A longtime resident of Vermont, a graduate of Harvard and a lyrical nature writer, his personal authenticity contains echoes of Henry David Thoreau. He seems to know that he is a prophetic instrument of an emerging force much greater than himself..." Tom Hayden, Climate Activists Hit Hard With 'Do the Math' National Tour | The Nation

McKibben asks for re-tweet:

Bill McKibben ‏@billmckibben

Electrifying moment along the #dothemath trail--Pres. Mulkey of@unitycollege has just challenged colleges everywhere to divest. Please RT

And, following up yesterday's discussion of Earthships:

I do like Alain de Botton’s thoughts on the art and beauty of great architecture, and how we’re better people when we live in beautiful surroundings. But, to draw a connection with something we spoke of yesterday in EEA, functionality and efficiency are beautiful too. Windmills and solar panels are far more beautiful to me than internal combustion engines, and “earthships” more than ranch houses. The art of sustainability is beautiful. Up@dawn

Neil deGrasse Tyson at Vanderbilt tonight

Langford Auditorium, 7 p.m. He's at work on a new version of Carl Sagan's renowned "Cosmos." And he's still strangely reviled by Disney fans as the Man who ‘killed’ Pluto.

The event is officially sold out. However, walk-ups are welcome for no-show ticket holders and late seating will be accommodated. Tickets are free for Vanderbilt students; $5 for non-VU students and $10 for the general public.

Tyson received his bachelor’s degree in physics from Harvard University and his doctorate in astrophysics from Columbia University. He is the recipient of NASA’s highest civilian award, the Distinguished Public Service Medal..."

Man who ‘killed’ Pluto

Postscript from the day after:

POSTED BY D. PATRICK RODGERS ON WED, NOV 14, 2012 AT 9:13 AM

• Dr. Tyson did indeed acknowledge this meme.

As promised, renowned astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, Neil deGrasse Tyson, delivered a lecture last night at Vanderbilt's Langford Auditorium. The event sold out, but a few dozen of the science enthusiasts who braved the cold to stand in line for unclaimed tickets were indeed permitted. (I must personally thank frequent Country Life/Cream commenter Tobin the Gnome for slipping me a ticket. Preesh, Tobes.)

Dr. Tyson's talk, which revolved around "10 things everyone should know about the universe," was of course informative. Avid space nuts and students of Tyson, however, may have found the lecture somewhat cursory — he didn't quite "go deep," as they say, but you'll hardly even scratch the surface of capital-E Everything in an hour-and-a-half. Just as enlightening and entertaining as Tyson's knowledge nuggets, I must say, was the approachable manner with which he provided them. The good doctor gave his entire presentation sans shoes — a lecture hall demands a certain amount of decorum, he explained, whereas a performance stage such as Langford's calls for a more unencumbered motility. He mentioned that last night marked his second trip to Music City — his first consisted of a stay in the "habitat module" known as Opryland Hotel — and he teased geologists and biologists for their penchant for Latin nomenclature. After all, astronomers and astrophysicists give things names like "black hole," "The Big Bang" and "sunspots." Tyson proudly addressed his recent appearance inAction Comics No. 14 alongside Superman (Tyson helped Superman find the star his home planet of Krypton once orbited) and the fact that he was the inspiration for a pretty solid meme. He also noted that there are 7,000 astrophysicists on a planet with a population of 7 billion — thus reaffirming my claim that Tyson is one in a million, thank you very much.

Follow me after the jump to see the 10 universe-related things Dr. Tyson revealed to his audience last night at Vanderbilt. (Note: I'm no astrophysicist, but I'll do my best to relay Tyson's 10 points.)

10. The Universe Has a Shipload of Stars
A sextillion of them, to be precise. That's 10 to the 21st power — unless I'm counting my zeros wrong, I believe that's about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars.

9. The Universe Is Bad for Your Ego
Even less than a millennium ago, humans held that Earth was the center of the universe. Then we discovered the places of our planetary brothers and sisters within the solar system. Then, our galaxy. In the 1920s, we discovered that there is a multitude of galaxies existing within our universe. So why stop at just one universe? If there's one of something, Dr. Tyson explained, then it's typically not unique. There's a solar system, so why shouldn't there be many? And why shouldn't there be numerous galaxies and, yes, even universes. Multiverse. Hypothetical now, sure, but what will we discover in another century? In another millennium?

[and skipping ahead to #1-]

1. We Are Stardust
Tyson shared a Hubble photograph that illustrates the staggering array of just how many galaxies and stars are out there. Feel free to feel dwarfed by that — it's pretty bewildering. But the fact that I have the same molecules inside me as the Superman's sun — well, that shit makes me feel pretty big and important.

Leaves of deGrasse: Neil deGrasse Tyson Shares 10 Things Everyone Should Know About the Universe at Langford Auditoriumhttp://www.nashvillescene.com/countrylife/archives/2012/11/14/leaves-of-degrasse-neil-degrasse-tyson-shares-10-things-everyone-should-know-about-the-universe-at-langford-auditorium …

Southeast Student Renewable Energy Conference - 2012

How is this for breaking the climate silence?

A distinguished visitor

Dr. McPhee will visit our class on Monday, Nov. 26 (just after Thanksgiving). Bring your environmentally-astute friends and your most persuasive personae!

Professor Oliver

I would welcome the opportunity to meet with your class. Please contact my Executive Assistant, Ms. Kim Edgar at 898-5825 to schedule a time.

From: Phil Oliver
Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2012 2:45 PM
To: Sidney McPhee
Cc: Phil Oliver
Subject: "Presidents' Climate Commitment"

Dear President McPhee,

I teach Environmental Ethics this semester (and in alternate years). Yesterday one of my students presented a report on the Presidents' Climate Commitment, at whose behest 661 college & university presidents have already signed on "to eliminate net greenhouse emissions from specific campus operations" and pursue other goals promoting and modeling environmental sustainability.

Students wondered if you were familiar with the PCC, and what you think the prospects might be of adding your name and MTSU's to the list of presidents and institutions on the cutting edge of this important initiative.

We'd like to invite you to meet with our class at your convenience to discuss how we might move forward on this, and related efforts to "green" our campus. 

Thanks so much for your time and consideration.

Rebuild the Head Space

In Part III of Rebuild the Dream, Van Jones says it’s time for 99%’ers and Occupiers to move forcefully ahead and take the next step in expanding public support for social justice, green jobs, clean energy, and environmental responsibility. To that end, his organization is producing short videos to help spread the word. Even those who don’t think they can give a coherent lecture or lead a discussion surely can “watch TV and talk about it.”

Notice also, in “Occupy the Head Space” (a nice euphemism for propaganda, eh William?), his mention of the IPCC‘s latest reports linking climate change and extreme weather.

Today we’ll be hearing from Morgan on the IPCC. I’m sure she’ll be corroborating their findings. Surely she wouldn’t claimthey’re orchestrating a vast global warming conspiracy, would she?Denialism is for kooks, right? And other merchants of doubt? Of course a healthy skepticism is good, when rooted in the reality-based community. (BTW, Elizabeth: so far as I can tell, the “esoteric agenda” to accomplish a New World Order or One World Government is not. But of course, I could be in on it too!)

Doing the math

The 21-day, 21-city tour will highlight the magnitude of the threat fossil fuels pose to a livable planet, the opportunity Tuesday's election results pose, and a bold new strategy to hit the fossil fuel industries where it hurts -- including boycotts, blockades, marches on oil companies' shareholder meetings, and a new Fossil Free Campus divestiture movement modeled after the anti-Apartheid movement of the 1980s. McKibben will be joined at stops along the tour by celebrities and activists including author Naomi Klein and Gasland director Josh Fox. Next stops on the tour: Portland, SF, LA. Learn more at http://math.350.org

Pragmatic pluralist ethics at the TPA

Robert Kane’s TPA keynote did not disappoint. Drawing heavily on his latest book Ethics and the Quest for Wisdom, he developed the thesis that “openness” is the key to “common ethical ground in a pluralist world.” In the process he addressed the very issue we were tussling about the other day in EEA: how to admit and embody the pluralist’s insight that there’s no one right way to live, while skirting free of the relativist’s trap of abandoning the quest for truthful wisdom.

We lift from ourselves the burden of proving our view right and all others wrong and place the burden of proof on everyone equally to prove their ways of life right or wrong by how they live and act and not merely by abstract argument.

This sounds pragmatic to the core, to me. But Kane didn’t mention James or his “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life” (1891) last night, the seminal essay that begins:

The main purpose of this paper is to show that there is no such thing possible as an ethical philosophy dogmatically made up in advance.  We all help to determine the content of ethical philosophy so far as we contribute to the race’s moral life. In other words, there can be no final truth in ethics any more than in physics, until the last man has had his experience and said his say. In the one case as in the other, however, the hypotheses which we now make while waiting, and the acts to which they prompt us, are among the indispensable conditions which determine what that “say” shall be.

Must ask Kane about that, as the TPA’s concurrent sessions kick off in just a couple of hours. If you happen to be reading this in middle Tennessee, you have time to get there. Y’all come!

-From "On Common Ground"-Up@dawn

TPA Nov.9-10

Extra credit if I see you there. But you're free* to go or not. Best parking is in the lot on 21st near Broadway, Furman Hall is across the street, near the Law School.

Tennessee Philosophical Association

44th Annual Meeting: Nov. 9-10, 2012

Vanderbilt University

 Keynote Speaker: Robert Kane, University of Texas (Austin)

"Ethics and the Quest for Wisdom: Seeking Common Ethical Ground in a Pluralist World" Friday 7:30 pm

Sessions: Saturday, Furman Hall9:00 am through 4:25 pm

9:00-9:55

The Importance of Self KnowledgeMinh Nguyen (Eastern Kentucky University)
Response: Casey Woodling (Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University)
Furman 106

When the Violinist is Your ParentMark Coppenger (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Response: Michael Hodges (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 109

What Are Directions of Fit? Allen Coates (East Tennessee State University)
Response: Andrew D. Cling (The University of Alabama at Huntsville)
Furman 137

Nonconceptual Perceptual Content Through Perceptual TopographiesAlejandro Arango (Vanderbilt University)
Response: Christopher Davies (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 217

10:00-10:55

Is a Burnyeatian Interpretation of Aristotle Still Credible?Cheri Carr (University of Memphis)
Response: Daniel Pearlberg (Ohio State University)
Furman 106

Beyond Waiting: Patience & Moral DevelopmentMatthew Pianalto (Eastern Kentucky University)
Response: Trevor Hedberg (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
Furman 109

Meditations on Induction and DeductionCharles Cardwell (Pellissippi State)
Response: Thomas Mether (Volunteer State)
Furman 137

John Caputo’s Problematic Account of Philosophy of Religion: A Critical ResponseJ. Aaron Simmons (Furman University)
Response: Rickey Ray (Northeast State)
Furman 217

11:00-11:55

An Epistemic Case for Natural RightsJamie Watson (Young Harris College)
Response: Paul Tudico (East Tennessee State University)
Furman 106

Aristotle's Epistemological HumilityJulio Sharp-Wasserman (Independent Researcher)
Response: Allen Coates (East Tennessee State University)
Furman 109

The Imagination and the Proof-Structure of Kant’s Transcendental DeductionAndrew Roche (Centre University)
Response: Leslie MacAvoy (East Tennessee State University)
Furman 137

Refocusing Wykstra’s CORNEAJohn McClellan (Carson-Newman College)
Response: Frank Mashburn (Pellissippi State)
Furman 217

12:00-12:05

Very Brief Business Meeting – Election of President and Secretary
Furman 109

12:05-1:25: Lunch (On Your Own)

1:30-2:25

Armstrong and the Possibility of Alien EntitiesAllen Gehring (Brescia University)
Response: Mark Coppenger (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)
Furman 106

Abortion and Personhood: Can the Infanticide Objection Be Eluded?Trevor Hedberg (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
Response: Justin Barnard (Union University)
Furman 109

Event-Causal Libertarianism and the Disappearing Agent ObjectionDavid Palmer (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
Response: Ji [Albert] Hu (University of Tennessee at Knoxville)
Furman 137

The Outsourcing of Ethical ThinkingJack Simmons & Eric Nordenhaug (Armstrong Atlantic State University)
Response: Heidi Speck (Pellissippi State)
Furman 217

2:30-3:25

Pluralism and Democracy: Considering Talisse’s Peircean AccountJoshua Anderson (Saint Louis University)
Response: Robert Talisse (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 106

Katalin Farkas on the Incompatibility of Privileged Access and Content ExternalismCasey Woodling (Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University)
Response: Jamie Watson (Young Harris College)
Furman 109

On TortureJeff Tiel (Ashland University)
Response: Daniel Silber (Culver Stockton College)
Furman 137

A Minimal Schema for Endless Regress ParadoxesAndrew D. Cling (The University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Responses: Charles Cardwell (Pellissippi State) and
Andrew D. Cling (The University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Furman 217

3:30-4:25

Making Sense of the Different Senses of ExplanationDaniel Pearlberg (Ohio State University)
Response: Nicholas Jones (University of Alabama in Huntsville)
Furman 106

The Reconciliation of Determinism and Free WillBlake McBride (Independent Researcher)
Response: Thomas Holaday (Vanderbilt University)
Furman 109
*[This is the one I was supposed to comment on, but had to withdraw from because my daughter might need a ride on Saturday. I commented anyway, here.]

Plato’s Tripartite Soul and Freud’s First SlipKenneth Arnette (Independent Researcher)
Response: Kippy Myers (Freed Hardeman University)
Furman 217

More info here: TPA Call for Papers & Program

No one right way to live

We had a pretty good discussion in EEA yesterday, provoked by Scott's report on Daniel Quinn's call from beyond civilization. "There's no one right way to live," but pluralistic "tribalism" doesn't require relativism: there are still wrong ways to live. But who gets to say precisely what those are?

For instance, Morgan challenges: can't an environmentally-sensitive Mom raise a large brood without earning or deserving the scorn of environmentalists who still worry about a population bomb and counsel a nuclear family of limited offspring, even maybe just one? (And, as the president said in the wee hours yesterday: “one dog’s probably enough” too.)

Yes and no, I think. Yes, if that Mom does a superlative job of instilling humane eco-sensitivity in all her offspring. No, if we consider the risk of endorsing large families simpliciter, without qualification. Just do the math: if everyone multiplied herself in kind, generation after generation, we'd soon literally overrun the planet. Even if they were all good biotic citizens, this simply wouldn't be a sustainable model of habitation. The human tribe would implode.

But only one? Two works pretty well, for us, most of the time. Kids and dogs. The one cat's one too many, though, when he tries (as he is right now) to lay on my keyboard.

So what would Rawls say? Presumably he'd trust his veiled deliberators to strike the right chord between liberty and difference on this, and to allow that we might possibly be able to afford the occasional busload-sized family. One of those extra riders just might turn out to be an outsized contributor to our collective good fortune. Odds are against it, though, so the sensible advisory "rule" (probably shouldn't be a law) for most of us will be to ditch the bus (mini-van, SUV) and squeeze the kid(s) into the Corolla...

A good argument, Up@dawn

A Change in the Weather

"In March, 2009, the White House invited leaders of environmental organizations to a meeting. The invitees thought they were going to hear about the president’s strategy on climate change, in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December. And they did — aides to the administration’s environmental adviser Carol Browner, its green jobs adviser Van Jones and Nancy Sutley, the head of the Council on Environmental Quality, gave out a one-page memo. The key point: don’t talk about climate change. Don’t even use the phrase. The president was trying to pass an economic recovery bill that included $90 billion in green projects — the groups should talk about clean energy jobs instead.

Betsy Taylor, a political strategist on climate change, recalled that the only person who stood up was the author and environmental activist Bill McKibben. “This is going to come back and haunt us,” he said..."

A Change in the Weather on Wall Street - NYTimes.com

Global Warming's Dystopian Future

Having just come out of one of the hottest summers on record, wrought with droughts and wildfires, it's a wonder that "climate change" doesn't seem to exist in either of our 2012 presidential candidates' vocabularies. Author and activist Bill McKibben notes that we can't stop global warming, as the earth's temperature has already risen, but "we can keep it from getting worse."

—Steven Hsieh

Underwater power

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcTNkoyvLFs

Sign & commit

Joshua told us all about the Presidents' Climate Commitment yesterday. 661 college & university presidents have already signed and committed

to eliminate net greenhouse gas emissions from specified campus operations, and to promote the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the earth’s climate. Its mission is to accelerate progress towards climate neutrality and sustainability by empowering the higher education sector to educate students, create solutions, and provide leadership-by-example for the rest of society.

So our class now has set itself the definite working goal of persuading MTSU's President McPhee to lead us in joining  them. Shouldn't be too hard a sell, should it? We'll see...

Dear President McPhee,

Yesterday one of my students presented a report on the Presidents' Climate Commitment, at whose behest 661 college & university presidents have already signed on "to eliminate net greenhouse emissions from specific campus operations" and pursue other goals promoting and modeling environmental sustainability.

We wondered if you were familiar with the PCC, and what you think the prospects might be of adding your name and MTSU's to the list of presidents and institutions on the cutting edge of this important initiative.

We'd like to invite you to meet with our class at your convenience to discuss how we might move forward on this, and related efforts to "green" our campus. 

==

And by the way: I recently received a query from someone looking for the "Students for Environmental Action" at MTSU (also listed with CampusActivism.org). My office phone is listed as a contact for this organization, which apparently was co-founded by my predecessor (and the former occupant of my office) over a decade ago. Its faculty advisor is one "Brendan Martin," who I cannot find in our directory.

Time to revive and resuscitate this defunct shell, folks?
==
Bicycle rentals, repair shop catch student, faculty attention:http://mtsunews.com/blue-raider-bike-program/ …

VanderbiltPhilosophy ‏@VandyPhilosophy

Friday Nov 9 at 7:30pm: Robert Kane (Austin), "Ethics and the Quest for Wisdom" (TN Philosophical Association Keynote)

Elizabeth Kolbert, "Greening the Ghetto," New Yorker Jan.12, 2009: Van Jones, on top of the world

TIME.com ‏@TIME

With #Sandy, the world's greenest author is seeing his fears come true | http://ti.me/SzOaZX 

==
Finally, this just in:

"In a surprise announcement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Thursday that Hurricane Sandy had reshaped his thinking about the presidential campaign and that as a result he was endorsing President Obama."

“The devastation that Hurricane Sandy brought to New York City and much of the Northeast — in lost lives, lost homes and lost business — brought the stakes of next Tuesday’s presidential election into sharp relief,” Mr. Bloomberg wrote in an editorial for Bloomberg View.

Our climate is changing,” he wrote. “And while the increase in extreme weather we have experienced in New York City and around the world may or may not be the result of it, the risk that it may be — given the devastation it is wreaking — should be enough to compel all elected leaders to take immediate action.”

Bloomberg Endorses Obama, Saying Hurricane Sandy Affected Decision - NYTimes.com

PCC LINKS

http://presidentsclimatecommitment.org/

Thomas Jefferson &the Art of Power

looking forward to today's conclusion of William's report, and then Joshua's, both concerned with the style and substance of organizational/presidential leadership as a possible model for the environmental movement. We talked about George Washington, but it's been argued that he wouldn't have survived the politics of our time.

Consider the case of George Washington. Though most people assume Washington must have been intensely charismatic, Simonton says when personality researchers analyze his character, he is evaluated as just average in terms of charisma, [not] particularly outgoing or charming or interested in being with people or energetic. In fact, Simonton says, during his first inaugural address, Washington was horribly awkward.

"He was very timid, visibly nervous, wasn't very dynamic. People were disappointed," Simonton says.

And Simonton says Washington isn't the exception — he's the rule among early presidents. Simonton ticks off a list: "Washington, John Adams, Jefferson — they're just all average..."

What?!

I'm sticking with JFK's evaluation of Jefferson, whom I've always been more impressed with (than w/GW) anyway.

At a 1962 dinner for 49 Nobel laureates, President John F. Kennedy quipped that the event was "the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."

I'll bet TJ'd have agreed with Lennon: if you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain't gonna make it with anyone anyhow.

Does environmentalism need a charismatic leader? Or is anarchical unrest blessed enough to bring the change we need?

"Thomas Jefferson hated confrontation, and yet his understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to move men and to marshal ideas, to learn from his mistakes, and to prevail. Passionate about many things—women, his family, books, science, architecture, gardens, friends, Monticello, and Paris—Jefferson loved America most, and he strove over and over again, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision: the creation, survival, and success of popular government in America. Jon Meacham lets us see Jefferson’s world as Jefferson himself saw it, and to appreciate how Jefferson found the means to endure and win in the face of rife partisan division, economic uncertainty, and external threat. Drawing on archives in the United States, England, and France, as well as unpublished Jefferson presidential papers, Meacham presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history."

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power: Jon Meacham: 9781400067664: Amazon.com: Books

Exam 2

tomorrow's exam cover's Parts Two & Three in Speth's Bridge at the Edge of the World and the McKibben readings through Adrienne Brown's "The Green Generation." It's not too late to help write it. Post your T/F questions here.
==
4 pm update: ok, now it's too late.