From Mortimer Adler:

“Let me state one further conclusion. We suffer today not only from political nationalism but cultural provincialism. We have developed the cult of the present moment. We read only current books for the most part, it we read any at all. Not only shall we fail to read the good books of this year well, if we read them only, but our failure to read the great books isolates us from the world of man, just as much as unqualified allegiance to the hammer and sickle makes one a Russian or Chinese first, and a man later—if ever. It is our most sacred human privilege to be men first, and citizens or nationals second. This is just as true in the cultural sphere as the political. We are not pledged to our country or our century.

It is our privilege, in fact, I would say it is our duty, to belong to the larger brotherhood of man which recognizes no national boundaries or any local or tribal fetishes. I do not know how to escape from the straitjacket of political nationalism, but I do know how we can become citizens of the world of letters, friends of the human spirit in all its manifestations, regardless of time and place.

You can guess the answer. It is by reading the great books. Thus the human mind, wherever it is located, can be freed from current emergencies and local prejudices, through being elevated to the universal plane of communication. There it grasps the general truths, to which the whole human tradition bears witness.

Those who can read well can think critically. To this extent, they have become free minds. If they have read the great books—and I mean really read them—they will have the freedom to move anywhere in the human world. Only they can fully lead the life of reason who, though living in a time and place, are yet not wholly of it.”

Big thanks to Larry O of ENTERMODAL (You understand the convention, no? When I link to a site, as I’ve just done with ENTERMODAL, you’re expected to not only click through, but support the linked organization/business/individual) for turning me on to Matt Ruff’s “Sewer, Gas & Electric”. It may well be the most entertaining surrealistifiction novel I’ve read this decade.

The title of this post is just one of a glittering trove of grand nuggets I’ve extracted to date. Pretty much sums up the entire eco-movement, if you axe me - which you didn’t, now did you? You did? Well, next time ask me via email, as my psychic powers are limited to a 50km range, give or take a few hundred meters.
This brief description spells things out fairly well:

Sewer, Gas & Electric is the exuberant Read the rest of this entry »

Please, do yourself and your family a favor this holiday - read Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. I beg you. It’s that important.

Even if you’ve read Plan B 2.0, do this. Enough has changed in the last two years to make a host of revisions necessary, but to allow for a frightening contrast between what was projected in 2005 and what is happening in 2007.

Please. Read the book. I’ll refund you every penny if you don’t find it the most important book you’ve ever read. If you read this site, you know it’s alternately sarcastic, shrill, nonsensical. However, this post is none of those things. This isn’t the ‘blog persona’ typing right now. This is me. Please, ignore the election absurdity and read this book. Urge others to do the same. Come back and tell me what you thought when you’re done.

Buy it now for almost nothing at the EPI Website.

IT’S HERE! CLICK HERE TO BUY PLAN B 3.0!!

In all honestly, I can’t think of a better holiday present than the third version of Lester Brown’s seminal “Plan B”. A more nuanced, better balanced call to eco-action and responsibility cannot be found. Unlike too many other books and movies, “Plan B” refrains from the shrill tone that alienates too many, instead choosing to lay out facts and examine unfolding global scenarios with utter impartiality. Well, Brown is partial to continued existence of life on Earth, but beyond that he shows no political allegiances as he knows full well it will take politicians of every crooked stripe to bring into reality that changes he urges in his writing.

Best of all, “Plan B” is just what it says, a PLAN to move forward into a realistic, sustainable future.

If you buy this book and find it less than 100% compelling, I will personally refund your purchase price. No, I don’t have a lot of extra funds lying around to back up this promise. Instead, I have absolute faith in this book.

Do what I just did: buy “Plan B 3.0″ directly from Lester Brown and the Earth Policy Institute. Not only will you get it before Amazon and other retailers stock it, but you’ll be directly supporting one of the world’s most important nonprofit research organizations.

REMEMBER: THE NEW PLAN B, VOLUME 3.0 IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER FROM EARTH POLICY INSTITUTE (link below). There is no better New Year’s Resolution reading.
**********************
Earth Policy Institute
Plan B 2.0 Book Byte
For Immediate Release
November 27, 2007

BUILDING NEW INDUSTRIES AND CREATING NEW JOBS IN A PLAN B ECONOMY

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch12_ss6.htm

Lester R. Brown

Building a new economy, one that can sustain economic progress, involves phasing out old industries, restructuring existing ones, and creating new ones. This new economy will be powered by renewable sources of energy, will have a more diverse transport system–relying more on rail, buses, and bicycles, and less on cars–and will recycle everything. For example, coal use will be phased out, replaced by efficiency gains in many countries, but also by natural gas, as in the United Kingdom, and by wind power, as in Denmark and Germany.

The world automobile industry will face a modest restructuring as it shifts from the gasoline-powered internal combustion engine to the gas-electric hybrid, the diesel-electric hybrid, plug-in hybrids, or high-efficiency diesel. This will require a retooling of engine plants and the retraining of automotive engineers and automobile mechanics.

The new economy will also bring major new industries, ones that either do not yet exist or are just beginning. Wind electricity generation is one such industry, incorporating three subsidiary industries: turbine manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. Now in its embryonic stage, this promises to become the foundation of the new energy economy. Millions of turbines soon will be converting wind into cheap electricity, becoming part of the landscape, generating income and jobs in rural communities throughout the world.

As wind power emerges as a mainstream low-cost source of electricity, it will spawn another industry–hydrogen production. Once wind turbines are in wide use, there will be a large, unused capacity during the night when electricity use drops. With this essentially free electricity, turbine owners can turn on the hydrogen generators, converting the wind power into hydrogen. This can then be used to run power plants now fueled with natural gas. The wind turbine will replace the coal mine, the oil well, and the gas field.

Among the many changes in the world food economy will be the continuing shift to fish farming. Aquaculture, the fastest growing subsector of the world food economy, has expanded at 9 percent a year since 1990. The farming of fish, particularly omnivorous species such as carp, catfish, and tilapia, is likely to continue expanding rapidly simply because these fish convert grain into animal protein so efficiently. With this aquacultural growth comes the need for a rapidly expanding aquafeed industry, one where feeds are formulated by fish nutritionists, much as they are for the poultry industry today.

Bicycle manufacturing and servicing is a growth industry. As recently as 1965, world production of cars and bikes was essentially the same, with each at nearly 20 million, but as of 2003 bike production had climbed to over 100 million per year compared with 42 million cars. This growth in bicycle sales reflects growth in the ranks of those reaching the bicycle level of affluence, principally in Asia. Among industrial countries, the urban transport model being pioneered in the Netherlands and Denmark gives a sense of the bicycle’s future role worldwide.

As bicycle use expands, interest in battery-assisted bikes will also grow. Similar to existing bicycles, except for a tiny battery-powered electric motor that can either power the bicycle entirely or partially, its soaring sales are expected to continue climbing.

Yet another growth industry is increasing the productivity of water. Just as the last half-century was devoted to raising land productivity, this half-century will be focused on Read the rest of this entry »

A great reminder. Take the time to read it. .. Plan B 3.0 is set to arrive soon. I hope to pick up several copies as the ultimate New Year (for resolutions!) presents.

You can get yours directly through Earth Policy Institute by emailing mjohnson@earthpolicy.org. This way you’ll not only help EPI directly (as opposed to via Amazon), but you’ll get your book far ahead of Amazon’s Jan 16 release.

ECOLABELING: VOTING WITH OUR WALLETS

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch12_ss4.htm

Lester R. Brown

One instrument that can help in the environmental restructuring of the economy is ecolabeling. Labeling products that are produced with environmentally sound practices lets consumers vote with their wallets. Ecolabeling is now used to enable consumers to identify energy-efficient household appliances, forest products from sustainably managed forests, fishery products from sustainably managed fisheries, and “green” electricity from renewable sources.

Among these ecolabels are those awarded by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for seafood. In March 2000, the MSC launched its fisheries certification program when it approved the Western Australia Rock Lobster fishery. Also earning approval that day was the West Thames Herring fishery. In September 2000, the Alaska salmon fishery became the first American fishery to be certified. Among the key players in the seafood processing and retail sectors supporting the MSC initiative were Europe-based Unilever, Youngs-Bluecrest, and Sainsbury’s.

To be certified, a fishery must demonstrate that it is being managed sustainably. Specifically, according to the MSC: “First, the fishery must be conducted in a way that does not take more fish than can be replenished naturally or [that] kills other species through harmful fishing practices. Secondly, the fishery must operate in a manner that ensures the health and diversity of the marine ecosystem on which it depends. Finally, the fishery must respect local, national, and international laws and regulations for responsible and sustainable fishing.” By October 2007 there were 23 certified fisheries worldwide supplying some 2.5 million tons of seafood.

The MSC’s counterpart for forest products is the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which was founded in 1993 by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and other groups. It provides information on forest management practices within the forest products industry. Some of the world’s forests are managed to sustain a steady harvest in perpetuity; others are clearcut, decimated overnight in the quest for Read the rest of this entry »

This post requires you do a lot o’ readin’. I try to keep things brief, knowing that most who visit this site don’t have time to do much more than look at the snapshots of t&a I routinely hide in the links. Today, I ask that you skip that pointless article in the Times or Post about Hillary vs. Obama and instead read something that actually matters:

LEARNING FROM THE PAST

http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch01_ss4.htm

Lester R. Brown

Our twenty-first century global civilization is not the first to face the prospect of environmentally induced economic decline. The question is how we will respond. We do have one unique asset at our command–an archeological record that shows us what happened to earlier civilizations that got into environmental trouble and failed to respond.

As Jared Diamond points out in his book Collapse, some of the early societies that were in environmental trouble were able to change their ways in time to avoid decline and collapse. Six centuries ago, for example, Icelanders realized that overgrazing on their grass-covered highlands was leading to extensive soil loss from the inherently thin soils of the region. Rather than lose the grasslands and face economic decline, farmers joined together to determine how many sheep the highlands could sustain and then allocated quotas among themselves, thus preserving their grasslands and avoiding what Garrett Hardin later termed the “tragedy of the commons.”

The Icelanders understood the consequences of overgrazing and reduced their sheep numbers to a level that could be sustained. We understand the consequences of burning fossil fuels and the resulting CO2 buildup in the atmosphere. Unlike the Icelanders who were able to restrict their livestock numbers, we have not been able to restrict our CO2 emissions.

Not all societies have fared as well as the Icelanders, Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who do remember his name, you probably think of “She Blinded Me With Science.”
However, the man has forged a career out of lovely tunes, including not only very likely your mobile phone ringtone but the 1981 gem, “Wind Power.” You can listen to it below.

Quite likely, you’re also familiar with the premise/promise of wind power. Namely, that it can help deliver us from the evils of nuclear and coal power plants. Well, to date that promise has been mostly hot air (sigh). Instead of massive wind turbines, we’re sold absurd ‘backyard turbines’ that are a waste of money and generate far less power in a lifetime than that which was spent constructing them.

Ah, but thanks to the POWER OF TECHNOLOGY, as predicted by Thomas Dolby, the time may well be at hand. The breakthrough? As described in his incredible book, “HEAT: How to Stop the World Burning,” High Voltage DC power lines present a solution to the problem of efficiently transferring massive amounts of power long distances (from say, a wind farm 300 miles offshore to numerous coastal cities).

A great writeup on High Voltage DC and it’s relationship to wind power is right HERE (link). One thing pains me about this move to DC: That Edison may be proven correct over Tesla and his AC power. This really kills me. . .oh Nikola . . .As blogs are more popular when they list consumer items, here are a few items you should consider acquiring (best to borrow or buy used):“HEAT” by George Monbiot

“The Sole Inhabitant” by Thomas Dolby

And here’s that Dolby track for you: [audio:dolby.mp3]

[tags]dolby, edison, monbiot, tesla, thomas dolby, wind power, windpower[/tags]

Thanks to Gail, whose political blog (LINK) is amazing.

Hopefully, you’ve already picked up Monbiot’s book, “HEAT: How to Stop the Planet Burning” (LINK) as it may well be the very best climate change-related text out there, in terms of showing exactly what we can to do make 90% reductions in the next 30 years. I challenge you to find someone else who presents actual solutions.

In Monbiot’s latest post, he details once again a concept I’ve been trying to get across for a long time: We must STOP BUYING SHIT. Instead, we tell ourselves it’s okay to consume like mad, so long as the product is ‘green’. Do you agree? No?
LINK TO MONBIOT’S SITE

Eco-junk

Posted July 24, 2007

GREEN CONSUMERISM WILL NOT SAVE THE BIOSPHERE

By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 24th July 2007

It wasn’t meant to happen like this. The climate scientists told us that our winters would become wetter and our summers drier. So I can’t claim that these floods were caused by climate change, or are even consistent with the models. But, like the ghost of Christmas yet to come, they offer us a glimpse of the possible winter world we’ll inhabit if we don’t sort ourselves out.

With rising sea levels and more winter rain (and remember that when the trees are dormant and the soils saturated there are fewer places for the rain to go) all it will take is a freshwater flood to coincide with a high spring tide and we have a formula for full-blown disaster. We have now seen how localised floods can wipe out essential services and overwhelm emergency workers. But this month’s events don’t even register beside some of the predictions now circulating in learned journals(1). Our primary political struggle must be to prevent the break-up of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets. The only question now worth asking about climate change is how.

Dozens of new books appear to provide an answer: we can save the world by embracing “better, greener lifestyles”. Last week, for example, the Guardian published an extract of the new book by Sheherazade Goldsmith, who is married to the very rich environmentalist Zac, in which she teaches us “to live within nature’s limits”(2). It’s easy: just make your own bread, butter, cheese, jam, chutneys and pickles, keep a milking cow, a few pigs, goats, geese, ducks, chickens, beehives, gardens and orchards. Well, what are you waiting for?

Her book also contains plenty of useful advice, and she comes across as modest, sincere and well-informed. But of lobbying for political change, there is not a word: you can save the planet in your own kitchen – if you have endless time and plenty of land. When I was reading it on the train, another passenger asked me if he could take a look. He flicked through it for a moment then summed up the problem in seven words. “This is for people who don’t work.”

None of this would matter, if the Guardian hadn’t put her photo on the masthead last week, with the promise that she could teach us to go green. The media’s obsession with beauty, wealth and fame blights every issue it touches, but none more so than green politics. There is an inherent conflict between the aspirational lifestyle journalism which makes readers feel better about themselves and sells country kitchens and the central demand of environmentalism: that we should consume less. “None of these changes represents a sacrifice”, Sheherazade tells us. “Being more conscientious isn’t about giving up things.” But it is: if, like her, you own more than one home when others have none.

Uncomfortable as this is for both the media and its advertisers, giving things up is an essential component of going green. A section on ethical shopping in Goldsmith’s book advises us to buy organic, buy seasonal, buy local, buy sustainable, buy recycled. But it says nothing about buying less.

Green consumerism is becoming a pox on the planet. Read the rest of this entry »

From George Monbiot’s well-researched and rather articulate new book, “HEAT: How to Stop the Planet Burning”. (you can grab a copy HERE - directly from the publisher, thus reducing the accumulated ‘carbon value’ of the book as it won’t have to travel to other warehouses):

(the bold sections and typos are my own)

“I have sought to demonstarte that the necessary reduction (90% by 2030) in carbon emissions is — if difficult — technically and economically possible. I have not demonstrated that it is politically possible. There is a reason for this. It is not up to me to do so. It is up to you.

Those of us who are already campaigning to reduce the impact of climate change cannot do it by ourselves. Given that this is the greatest danger the world now faces, we are astonishingly few. It appears to be easier to persuade people to protest against . . . speed cameras and high fuel prices, than to confront a threat to our existence. There is an obvious reason for this: in those cases something is being done to us. In this case we are doing it to ourselves. In fighting climate change, we must fight not only the oil companies, the airlines and the governments of the rich world; we must also fight ourselves.

The problem is that no meaningful progress has been made at the international climate talks. The problem is that we have not wanted it to happen. It is true that governments of the United States and Australia have done everything in their power to prevent the talks from succeeding or even from taking place. It is true that the defining feature of these negotiations is that someone else is always to blame. The governments of the rich nations complain that there is no point in cutting their own emissions if emissions are to continue to grow in China and India. The governments of China and India complain that limiting their pollution is a waste of time if the richer countries — whose output per head is still far greater than their — are not prepared to make the necessary reductions. It is also true that the fossil fuel companies use their tremendous wealth to buy everything they need, including a politician’s suit with the politician still inside it.

But if those governments that have expressed a commitment to stopping climate change have found their efforts frustrated, it is partly because they wanted them to be frustrated. They know that inside their electors there is a small but insistent voice asking them both to try and to fail. They know that if they had the misfortune to succeed, our lives would have to change. They know that we can contemplate a transformation of anyone’s existence but our own.  

So they play to the script which we have all ghost-written. They will make frowning speeches about the threat to the planet and the need for action. They will announce that this issue is of such importance that it transcends the usual political differences and requires a cross-party consensus. They will urge everyone to pull together and confront the enormity of the threat. Then they will discover, to their great disappointment, that progress has not been made, that it is in fact very difficult to make, and the decision about what should be done will yet again have to be deferred.

In the U.K., as my researcher Matthew Prescott pointed out to me, government policy is not contained within the reports and reviews it commissions; government policy IS the reports and reviews. By commissioning endless inquiries into the problem and the means by which it might be tackled, the government creates the impression that something is being done, while simultaneously preventing anything from happening until the next review (required to respond to the findings of the last review) has been published. I have an image in my mind of the British prime minister up to his neck in water on the floor of the House of Commons, explaining that ‘in the forthcoming White Paper on energy efficiency . . .’.

Governments will pursue this course of inaction — irrespective of the human impacts — while it remains politically less costly than the alternative. The task of climate-change campaigners is to make it as expensive as possible. This means abandoning the habit of mind into which almost all of us have somehow slumped over the past ten years or so: the belief that someone else will do it for us. . .

. . . This is partly, I think, because of the sustained global economic growth between then (1990’s) and now. We are simply too comfortable, and we have too much to lose. It is partly also because, accompanying this growth (indeed to some extent driving it) has been a surge in indebtedness, especially among the young, who used to be on the front line. Debt induces a bright panic, which ensures that those burdened with it can sledom see byond the next few weeks.

But I also blame that tool of empowerment, the internet. Of course it is marvellously useful, allows us to exchange information, find the facts we need, alert each other to coming dangers and all the rest of it. But it also creates a false impression of action. It allows us to believe that we can change the world without leaving our chairs. We are being heard! Our voices resonate around the world, provoking commentary and debate, inspiring some, enraging others. Something is happening! A movement is building! But by itself, as I know to my cost, writing, reading, debate and dissent change nothing. They are of value only if they inspire action. Action means moving your legs. Indeed, if this book has not encouraged you to want to DO something, then I urge you to return it to the shop and demand your money back, for it has proven useless.
[tags]china, climate change, heat, monbiot[/tags]