Media & Communications

Environmental education begins with hope

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Some say that the best way to learn is to teach. In my second year as a college environmental educator, I have learned much more about my subject matter—namely the increasingly tenuous ability of nature to meet the needs of seven billion human consumers. But I have also come to learn the barriers to understanding and acting upon the signs of planetary peril, including climate change, peaking oil production, water depletion and toxics in our food.

Commentary: Weak world GDP growth & “peak oil”

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As we previously forecast, the decline in world oil production is likely to occur in the next 1-4 years, a year having passed since we forecast 2-5 years. Some believe that weak worldwide economic conditions will significantly extend the onset of decline. We believe that the delay will be essentially negligible.

Occupy everything

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All of the action right now has the weird aura of being an overture to the year 2012, fast approaching as we slouch into the potentially demoralizing holidays of the current year. I don’t subscribe to Mayan apocalypse notions, but there’s something creepy about the wendings and tendings of our affairs these days. OWS is nature’s way of telling us to get our shit together, or else.

How Germany became Europe’s green leader: A look at four decades of sustainable policymaking

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Over the last 40 years, all levels of government in Germany have retooled policies to promote growth that is more environmentally sustainable. Germany’s experiences can provide useful lessons for the United States (and other nations) as policymakers consider options for “green” economic transformation.

#Occupy – Oct 9

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– NY Times gives thumbs up: Protesters Against Wall Street
– Pelosi Supports Occupy Wall Street Movement
– Krugman: Confronting the Malefactors
– Derrick Jensen Speaks To Occupy DC via Skype (audio-video)
– Think Again: The Era of the ‘One Percent’
– Occupy Sesame Street Gets Violent
– #OccupySesameStreet: The Making of a Meme

Destroying dreams the peak oil way

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It is with some trepidation that I prepare for a trip that includes an appearance before college students who generally find the idea of peak oil so disturbing that they do not want to even hear about it. And, I can’t blame them. They must think that I have come to destroy their dreams, dreams premised on a future of ever expanding material prosperity and career advancement.

Occupy Wall Street, a love affair

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Like other love affairs, mine with OWS followed the usual trajectory. Admiration from afar. Approach. Gift-giving. Statements of support. Telling my friends how awesome the new love object is. Then, finally, union. At first, I gave money from Rhode Island. Then, I decided to rent a car, fill the trunk, and drive down to deliver it and introduce myself, shyly, tentatively.

The response was emotionally overwhelming — hugs, thanks, joy. For about $600 worth of socks, Neosporin, fleece, tampons. In my work terms, about four or five hours of private SAT tutoring. Good deal.

Sharing power: Building a solidarity economy

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We all recognize that sharing is good. Sharing, lending, and borrowing help connect neighbors, encouraging isolated individuals to create community by consuming less. But most of the latest sharing projects focus on wealthy neighbors. What if I’ve never had too much? How do we address social inequity? How do we redistribute power to the majority who live without it? To transform an economic system which fails to meet community needs, we have to move from a sharing economy to a solidarity economy.

World population approaches 7 billion

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Bill Ryerson of the Population Media Center in Shelburne, Vermont spoke about how to think about population and population control as the world passes seven billion souls in October. His prescription for reducing world population: provide women everywhere with good health care, including contraception. The Population Media Center also produces soap operas and other media that include women who go to school or take other paths than getting married and having kids while a teenager. Ryerson said Vermont could feel dramatic effects of overpopulation, with environmental refugees streaming here from drought-stricken parts of the country.