Martin Luther King Junior was a great, great man. In fact, he was the last great leader in the United States.

Sadly, I received this email today from a friend who is in Birmingham, Alabama visiting relatives: “MLK Jr. day is, uh, not so popular here. We aren’t going to the parade because it would be dangerous for us. African-Americans here are offended if white people participate and shootings happen.”

If that doesn’t speak volumes about U.S. race relations, nothing does.

I found this in today’s newsletter from George Polisner of ALONOVO.COM (where you should shop instead of Amazon):

Thomas Jefferson, as you likely know, penned a decent chunk of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. His words should be inscribed on every civic monument and building, tattooed upon the flesh of every elected representative. Most vital was his declaration that, “Governments are instituted among men to secure the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Further, if the People recognize that their government is acting contrary to their well-being, “it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institure new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most liekly to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

Abe Lincoln revisited these words just prior to the launch of the Civil War. It’s time for us to take a hard look at them as we wage battle against those who would hamper our efforts to save a planet that is in great distress. If the Dems and Republicans continue to look the other way on environmental issues, Again quoting Jefferson, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” I don’t know about you, but I have a four-year-old son. He is going to grow up in a world that, if it continues along its current path of enironmental degradation, will be entirely unliveable by 2035. If our elected officials refuse to change course, then their ignorance is a direct assault on the U.S. population, as well as that of the world. Many of my fellow citizens, even the most “aware” or the most “liberal” have infinite faith that somehow we’ll get bailed out, that our “leaders” have our best interests at stake, that the Toyota Prius is a mechanical Eco-Jesus that has arrived in the nick of time. I’m willing to wait another year or two, to see if the Democrats really do give a damn, to see if the “Inconvenient Truth” was more than just a post-VP bellowings of a guilt-wracked man who sat on his hands for 8 years. Beyond that, I will do what any good father would do - I will protect my family, my friends, and those who have no voice from those who seek to destroy them.

The saddest thing to me is the fact that the vast majority think that anyone who espouses such notions in this time of unparalleled danger is considered utterly cracked. We’ve forgotten our history so thoroughly. We’ve become perfectly conditioned. The U.S. public school system, modeled directly after the 19th century Prussian People’s School (designed to rapidly produce compliant soldiers, with the children of the Prussian elite going to the “real” schools), has done it’s job admirably. We’re a threat only to ourselves.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that went into developing the useless Apple iPhone (useless in that there are hundreds of other mobile phones to choose from, all of which do essentially the same thing, differing only is stylistic elements), over which tech-geeks the world over are drooling, could have helped transition the energy economy of an island nation from oil to wind and solar.

Just think what would happen if Darfur or, say, the fact that THE EARTH IS DYING got the same press that a new Apple gadget gets. People may actually start to give a damn beyond token lightbulb purchases.
Sigh. We’re fucked.

Several months back, prominent Sudanese-born businessman and billionaire Mo Ibrahim announced the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. In short, this prize gives a sizeable cash stipend ($200K for life) to African leaders whose careers are proven free from corruption and “who have demonstrated exemplary leadership, improving the welfare of their people and consolidating the foundations for sustainable development.”

Amen! Praise be to Mo Ibrahim for recognizing that humans will be, well, human. Rather than expect them to resist temptation, why not dangle a carrot? Ibrahim’s plan is pure genius.
Which brings me to the extremely corrupt government in the United States. Our corruption, fed in large part by corporate lobbyists, is right out in the open and is absolutely legal. We tend to assume that corruption of government officials is illegal. In most parts of the world, yes. In the U.S., mmm. . . nope. Yes, we’ve tried to ban lobbyists again and again but the corporate interests are just too strong.

Now, what about fighting fire with fire by using the Ibrahim Carrot to out-waggle the Corporate Carrot? Why not set up a similar prize for legislators who, during their careers, recieve ZERO campaign donations and/or perks from corporations and their lobbyists? Believe me, if a U.S. billionaire would step up to the plate (Gates? Turner? Buffett? Perot?), lobbying in Washington D.C. would evaporate overnight.

As the fight for pro-environmental legislation heats up (ahem), the evil wreaked by lobbyists against the entire human race will become more and more apparent. For a sobering account of just how much damage they’ve already done, read Jeremy Leggett’s book, Carbon War. It is critical that we remove these parasites by hook or by crook - as well as the Republican and Democrat legislators who support them.

Mo, I know you read my blog daily. Just wanted to take a moment to thank you directly for your amazing work. Keep me in mind when you’re thinking about your next round of project funding. My film project would interest you very much as our goals seem to be much aligned. Give me a call when you have time. I know you’re busy. I am nothing if not a patient man.

My god, what a great movie. Made in 1972, set in an outer space future, full of emotional content with a powerful and profound ecological statement/warning, Silent Running is close to a perfect film. Oh, and it’s a sci-fi film, and given that some mistake me for a nerd, this is the icing on the cake.

Set in the not-so-distant future, our anti-hero, Freeman Lowell (a name right out of a Heinlein novel) is the caretaker of a number of massive outer space arboretums. They orbit Saturn, growing crops and trees in an effort to re-seed the surface of an post-eco-catastrophe Earth. When orders come from Earth to nuke the arboretums, Freeman goes a bit off the deep end in an effort to save the only plant life left in our solar system.

Forget my description, just try the movie. You’ll be grateful you did. . .if only for the Joan Baez songs.

The importance of Silent Running is that it is very much a Hollywood response to Rachel Carson’s seminal book, Silent Spring. Given how stridently many within Hollywood are now arguing for immediate environmental reforms and legislation, this film serves in it’s own way as parent to this effort and even foreshadows An Inconvenient Truth in the way that only science fiction can. If only we paid more attention to sci-fi . . . it really does predict the future: Robots! Laser beams! Environmental ruin!

Trivia: The film is featured in Episode 306 of Six Feet Under (”Making Love Work”) (Admission - I’ve never seen Six Feet Under or Sopranos or Weeds or Everyone Loves Raymond . . . but I hear they’re solid shows. I did, however, get a chance to see an episode of Meerkat Manor when I was on vacation - two thumbs up!)

[tags]bruce-dern, silent-running, freeman-lowell, six-feet-under, climate-change, meerkat-manor, sci-fi, hollywood[/tags]

While I usually agree with Grist writer Dave Roberts about as often as Paris Hilton takes public transit (okay, it’s a weak comparison - sue me, I’m tired.), I have to hand it to him for putting together a solid interview with California environmental adviser Terry Tamminem. I can’t say that I’m in agreement with 100% of Tamminem’s positions, but he does seem to have formed a realistic road map. The piece (CLICK ME, BABY) is definitely worth reading.

Milton wrote, “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise.”

By this standard, how many of the world’s famous citizens deserve their fame?

Given that a number of our greatest scientific and political minds have devoted themselves to help solve our planet-wide environmental collapse, why are these men and women relegated to virtual obscurity? Certainly they are among the greatest examples of Milton’s “clear-spirited?”

How many Nobel Peace Prize winners can you name? Compare that to the number of Grammy winners you can list. Grasp my point? It isn’t your fault . . . we simply don’t value heroes any longer. Instead, we cherish entertainment personalities and self-anointed celebrities (see WHY I’M FAMOUS for details).

Enjoy this great essay by Amy Henderson, entitled “Media and the Rise of Celebrity Culture.” Written in 1992, the past fifteen years only highlight the clarity of Henderson’s insight.

John Maynard Keynes, the famous economist wrote, “There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose.”

As you may or may not know, the U.S. dollar is under attack on many fronts. While it’s true that the dollar has been propped up for years now, existing in a ‘bubble’ of sorts, it’s devaluation and the ensuing economic devastation in the U.S. do no great favors for current global environmental efforts. One had better believe that when the crash comes voters and politicians will care little for the ‘long term economic benefits’ of a proactive environmental agenda (yes, I’m still entertaining the pipe dream that the Democrats may come up with such an agenda, though I’m not holding my breath - meaning particulate-laden smoke is billowing out my nose, ears, eyes, mouth). Many projects will be shelved. Priorities will shift even more to the hyper-now (is this possible?). The more costly, trendy ‘eco-lifestyle’ will dissolve overnight as the moderately well-off scramble to make house payments amid swift inflation and rising interest rates.

Take a gander at a couple of the articles linked below:

Washington Post: CHINA REDUCES EXPOSURE TO DOLLAR

Int’l Herald Tribune: UAE DUMPS DOLLARS FOR EUROS

World Net Daily: DOLLAR TO LOSE 30% IN 2007?

Interestingly enough, Keynes also coined the simultaneously hopeful and despondent phrase, “In the long run, we are all dead.” Quite apt, considering the current environmental crises.

Some of you may know the great sci-fi writer Philip Jose Farmer (WIKI). I was leafing through his famed ‘To Your Scattered Bodies Go,‘ written in 1970, and came across this passage, which describes the U.S.A. in roughly 2005:

“…and pollution of water, land and air was killing millions. The scientists said that half of Earth’s oxygen supply would be cut off in ten years because the phytoplanktons of the oceans–they furnished half the world’s oxygen you know–were dying. The oceans were polluted…I believed them. I was a biochemist. But most of the population, especially those who counted, the masses and the politicians, refused to believe until it was too late. Measures were taken as the situation got worse, but they were always too weak and too late and fought against by groups that stood to lose money, if effective measures were taken.”

Herbert’s “Dune” series also warns us. Almost forty years later and we still move so slowly. Nancy Pelosi, for one, doesn’t seem too terribly concerned. Her “100 Hours” agenda has little to do with our biggest problems. Alas. Alack.

I originally read this book, and the series of which it is part, some fifteen years ago. Of course, I didn’t pick up on the environmental warning at that time. Had I, I’m certain I would have dismissed it.

By the way, in Farmer’s book, the world ends in 2008.

With over 200 film and television credits to his name (including the original ‘Battlestar Galatica’ and ‘Amazon Women on the Moon’), Ed Begley, Jr. has been more than prolific. Not only that, but he’s a pretty damned fine actor. Most importantly, I make the argument that he is Hollywood’s leading eco-man, as his activism streak stretches decades into the past, way before it was hip to be green.

The man practices what he preaches by living off the grid and pedaling around Los Angeles on his trusty bicycle. Think he’d be caught in a wasteful Prisu? Think again! More importantly, he champions environmental causes at every turn, speaking eloquently and with a solid reservoir of knowledge. Check out the following links. Make Ed Begley, Jr. your new favorite actor!

ED BEGLEY JR. WEBSITE

ENVIRONMENTAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION

NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE - ALL’S GREEN ON THE DOMESTIC FRONT