Year: 2011

Science wants to save us from ourselves

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Many argue that what we’re suffering from is an ‘evolutionary mismatch’ in that our hunter-gatherer brains haven’t caught up with modern real-time problems such as climate change. What we are currently wired to respond to are immediate and easily perceived threats, like stampeding buffalo. According to acclaimed Stanford biologist Paul Erhlich — in his paper Human Natures, Nature Conservation and Environmental Ethics — our nervous systems have perceptual constraints making it difficult for us to comprehend the very real threat of a planet that is slowly heating up.

Selling the oil illusion, American style

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US production of crude oil peaked in 1970 at 9.637 mbpd (million barrels per day) and has been in a downtrend for 40 years. Recently, however, there’s been a tremendous amount of excitement at the prospect of a “new era” in domestic oil production. The narratives currently being offered come in the following three forms: 1) the US has more oil than Saudi Arabia; 2) the US need only to remove regulatory barriers to significantly increase production; and 3) the US can once again become self-sufficient in oil production, dropping all imported oil to zero.

The Paris-Berlin-Moscow axis back again

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To minimal serious coverage in the media and on the internet, the Nord Stream was inaugurated in Lubmin on Germany’s Baltic Coast on Nov. 8 in the presence of Pres. Medvedev of Russia and the prime ministers of Germany, France, and the Netherlands, plus the director of Gazprom, Russia’s gas exporter, and the European Union’s Energy Commissioner. This is a geopolitical game-changer.

What is Nord Stream? Very simply, it is a gas pipeline that has been laid in the Baltic Sea, going from Vyborg near St. Petersburg in Russia to Lubmin near the Polish border in Germany without passing through any other country. From Germany, it can proceed to France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, and other eager buyers of Russia’s gas.

Occupy Wall Street and FDR’s four freedoms

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The GA, and the break-out groups that meet in the Atrium at 60 Wall Street are blessed with the Quaker tools now refined by waves of protest movements: the Suffragettes, Satyagraha, Lunch Counter Sit-Ins, No-nukes Affinity Groups, and Battle in Seattle. What doesn’t work? Violence. Power Trips. Hierarchies. What works? Good facilitation, timekeeping, note-taking, hand-signs, open agenda, global café, conflict transformation, consensus. What came out of the conventions at the turn of the 18th to 19th Century was protection of slavery, disenfranchisement of women, ethnic cleansing of Native Americans and the preservation of an elite ruling class, especially the banksters. What will emerge from this process may also be flawed when seen in hindsight centuries hence, but it will be progressively less so.

Wealth, illth, and net welfare

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Wellbeing should be counted in net terms — that is to say we should consider not only the accumulated stock of wealth but also that of “illth” and not only the annual flow of goods but also that of “bads.” The fact that we have to stretch English usage to find words like illth and bads with which to name the negative consequences of production that should be subtracted from the positive consequences, is indicative of our having ignored the realities for which these words are the necessary names.

Charles Hall on the biophysical economy & Bill Schubart on resiliency in hard times

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Professors Charles Hall and Kent Klitgaard’s new book is Energy and the Wealth of Nations: Understanding the Biophysical Economy. Hall explained what the biophysical costs of energy are, and why they’re more important than the price. He revealed how his understanding of peak oil helped him plan in 1970 a successful retirement investment strategy that paid off in 2008. This Wednesday, November 16 is the fall conference of Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility, with the them, “Resiliency in Uncertain Times.” VBSR executive director Andrea Cohen talked about why they chose the theme even before Tropical Storm Irene hit the state, and author and entrepreneur Bill Schubart discussed his take on resiliency. Schubart will moderate a panel on the theme Wednesday morning.

Privatising public space

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By privatised public space, I mean that space which appears to be a public space (a square or a lane, for example) is in fact owned and controlled by a private landowner (or sometimes managed privately for a public owner.) Either way, different rules apply. It’s a trend which has been driven along by private sector regeneration schemes, and reinforced by a plethora of increasingly contentious public order legislation. But it is all but invisible.

Transitioners debate how to engage Occupy movement

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…[T]he Occupy movement reminds Transitioners that we can’t adequately address peak oil and climate change without democracy and fairness in the economy. Their blogger then goes on to recognize that Occupiers have picked up on their own some of the open ways of the Transition movement: decision-making by consensus and making cooperative action plans to increase community resilience. But not all Transitioners agree that Occupy is a good angle for local groups devoted to making their communities more resilient.

Occupy your life

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Someone asked “if you could say something to the Occupy movement what would you say?” Vandana Shiva flashed her brilliant and embracing laughing smile, a smile that hooks right into your heart and you can’t help but feel the connection. She replied: “I’d tell them, Occupy your Life.” She reminded us how Gandhi had the symbolic actions — sitting in protests — but with that he also had the cotton — the tangible actions.  Dr Shiva said that along with the protests, people need to grow food, to build connections within their communities, to make changes in their lives.

Local currencies, Transition Councils and Declarations of Food Independence: it must be the October Transition podcast!

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Here’s the second Transition podcast. The idea with these is that they will explore some of the stories from the month’s “Round up of what’s happening in the world of Transition” in greater depth. So, this month we hear from Brixton about the latest developments with the Brixton Pound, from the Wiltshire town whose Town Council just voted to become a Transition Council, and from the Yorkshire valley that recently declared independence from the global food system.

Commentary: The 2011 ASPO-USA Conference: Truth in Energy, Truth in Community

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Media types are fond of saying that if an event doesn’t get covered, it didn’t happen. But this conference definitely happened. And what is created was a general assembly of a community, one that shows tremendous promise as a model for cross-sector collaboration. This kind of collaboration is desperately needed if we are to have anything resembling a soft landing as we head down the fossil carbon mountain.