Green For a Day

Small Bites; Big Issue

2009-10-09T20:36:00.000-04:00

From the Florida League of Women Voters:

Small Bites, Big Issue: The Florida League on Coastal Drilling, Part 1 of 2

The Big Beach Grab?

Contact: Deirdre Macnab

President, Florida League of Women Voters

Cell: (407) 415-4559 email: didimacnab@earthlink.net

Perspectives from the League of Women Voters of Florida

The Florida League of Women Voters believes that Floridians must take note of the environmental risks versus the potential monetary gain when considering offshore drilling. Florida’s greatest assets are its emerald waters, its sugar-white sand, its gorgeous beaches. Oil spills DO occur, such as the huge one now in the Timor Sea off Australia. Hurricanes mean our state is particularly vulnerable to this kind of catastrophe. Couple those risks with the fact that past drilling efforts just off Florida's coast have yielded NO results and NO revenue for the state, and the League believes Florida citizens need to carefully question the Legislature's sudden interest in selling the rights to drill for oil off our beautiful shores.

Look no farther than the coast of west Florida for the world’s finest beaches. So says the renowned "Dr. Beach," Stephen P. Leatherman, Professor and Director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University. "The Panhandle beaches are the finest, whitest sand beaches in the country — probably the world: That’s one of the reasons our west coast beaches win award after award and draw millions of visitors."

The facts:

Florida’s tourism industry is responsible for 20 percent of the state’s economy, with its tourists spending nearly $65 billion dollars, and creating 964,000 jobs. In addition, more than $800 million worth of commercial fish are caught annually and more than $5.6 billion is spent in annual recreational fishing expenditures. Why put the tourism industry in jeopardy, especially given the precarious economy, for dubious potential profits? Not to mention our west coast citizens' quality of life?
Rep. Dean Cannon of Winter Park, incoming Speaker of the Florida House, says there's money for Florida to be made by drilling for oil off our shores. His supporters stated last spring that bringing drilling to Florida's coasts would annually net the state $1.6 billion in royalties and taxes. But wasn’t it just 2005 when then-Governor Jeb Bush authorized the payment of $12.5 million of Florida’s hard earned tax dollars to buy out an oil company's contract? In fact, during the 25 years of previous drilling, no commercial quantity of oil was found, and the state only got $2.66 million in revenues. So based on the buyout amount, Florida has already lost money on the deal.

Gov Bush said at that time, "Taxpayers are protected from hundreds of millions of dollars in takings claims while Florida's waters and beaches are safeguarded from the threat of coastal drilling."

The risks? Dave Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council said environmental risks are minimal with modern technology. ''You just don't have oil spills with oil production and exploration,'' he said. ``The entire ethic of the industry has changed.''
But, oil spills do happen, and fairly often in fact. Right now, the very technology they are touting as safe has sprung a massive leak in Australia. As of a week ago, reports say it may take 50 days to stop an oil and gas leak off northwest Australia as marine authorities fight to prevent the slick from harming migratory whales and breeding turtles. The leak in the Timor Sea has caused a 19 mile light-oil slick off the Kimberley, one of the world’s last true wilderness areas. It is the third largest leak in Australia’s history.
And, right here in America, during 2008, the Coast Guard National Response Center logged more than 33,000 spills. Pipelines and platforms each accounted for more than 1,300, and storage tanks more than 2,400. In 2005, Hurricanes Rita and Katrina caused 124 oil spills, destroyed 115 drilling rigs and petroleum production platforms and over 457 pipelines in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Remember: Florida is ranked #1 in the nation for hurricanes!
Another redlight is endangering the federal regulations protecting our coasts. Until 2006, Florida's elected officials were united in their opposition to drilling off of Florida's coasts. If the Legislature were to vote to open up drilling in state waters ten miles from the shore, what will the impact be on the Federal protections that both Republican and Democratic Members of Congress have fought for during the past decades?
Some history: The League opposed removal of the 30-mile buffer around Florida's coast in 1987 and in 1989 testified before the President's Task Force on Offshore Oil Drilling and requested a three year moratorium on oil drilling in order to protect the Everglades and the Florida Keys from spills. Later, the League worked to stop oil drilling on American Indian land in the Everglades. When energy prices rose in 2005, pressure to permit offshore drilling intensified in Congress. The Florida League worked with the National League to alert citizens in Florida and nationwide to oppose these measures, and the bill was withdrawn.

CONCLUSION: Florida is strapped for taxes. But opening up our coasts for doubtful dollars, and creating a risk to our tourism economy, should make citizens ask: Why would we risk this? And would those funds relieve hard-pressed Florida taxpayers, or would the drilling bring in scant proceeds just as before while destroying the protection now in place?

The State of Florida does not have an income tax because of our tourism industry. Damage those pristine, white-sand beaches and beautiful fishing waters, and we'll need to replace the lost revenue with more taxes.

Slow Food and the Bounty of the Western Reserve

2009-09-18T18:49:00.007-04:00

http://www.bountyofthewesternreserve.com/
I have added this blog site to my list of blogs I am following because Mary Holmes knows what she is talking about. I met Mary and her husband, Tom at the annual meeting of the Gates Mills Conservancy which strives to conserve as much of the land of Gates Mills as possible for future generations. The speaker Andrew Waterson drew me to the event but I ended up with much more than just a few great ideas and more info about what Cleveland is doing to get into the sustainability industry. I connected with another person and made a friend, something much more valuable than all the money in Gates Mills to me.
I am in Cleveland this week to continue shooting my cable TV program (that is on Time Warner Cable) called Sustainable Life. We did segments on grass-fed all natural beef, how sustainability is being taught at a local high school and why garlic can change your life.
I will be posting the links to our shows as soon as I get them.
Our last show link is here:
http://www.vimeo.com/6481535
If you know someone that has a story to tell about personel involvement in sustainability please post a reply to me with their contact information.
If you like our show and think that everyone needs to know about how everyone can be sustainable, consider supporting the show financially.
I am committed to helping everyone understand what sustainability is, how they can put it into their lives and making information available to everyone that gives both sides of the story.

Treasury Department Calls for Applications for Renewable Energy Grants

2009-08-10T18:53:00.000-04:00

Treasury Department Calls for Applications for Renewable Energy Grants

Whale Speak -Biologists Zero in on Their Culture

2009-08-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

Whale Speak -Biologists Zero in on Their Culture

Human Patterns and Sustainable Organizations: WebII-The Global Brain and Sustainable Organizations

2009-07-29T00:43:00.001-04:00

Human Patterns and Sustainable Organizations: WebII-The Global Brain and Sustainable Organizations

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Human Patterns and Sustainable Organizations: WebII-The Global Brain and Sustainable Organizations

2009-07-29T00:42:00.001-04:00

Human Patterns and Sustainable Organizations: WebII-The Global Brain and Sustainable Organizations

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Travel Newswire

2009-07-25T00:37:00.002-04:00

TRAVEL IMPACT NEWSWIRE – Edition 48 (2009) – Friday, 24 July 2009
Executive Editor: Imtiaz Muqbil.
This is the fourth in a series of weekly dispatches dedicated to the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals by the set target of 2015. Supported and sponsored by exclusive partner Amadeus, the leading travel technology company, these weekly dispatches are the first of their kind by a travel industry publication worldwide. They will feature a roundup of activities, projects, plans and policies being undertaken by UN agencies, public & private sector organisations, universities, foundations and civil society movements to meet the MDGs. Hopefully, they will educate and inspire the travel & tourism industry to join the effort. No industry is better placed than travel & tourism to help meet nearly all components of the MDGs. By becoming more aware of ongoing projects and policies in areas the industry does not normally venture into, travel & tourism companies, associations and institutions will be able to identify many ways to fulfill both short-term profitability as well as a long-term global good. The support of Amadeus in this unique venture is acknowledged.
In this dispatch:
1. U.N. PACT TO EXPOSE EUROPE’S BIGGEST POLLUTERS
2. G8 LEADERS ‘IGNORED’ UN’S SCIENTIFIC FINDINGS ON CLIMATE CHANGE, SAYS NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
3. CHALLENGES REMAIN IN RUN-UP TO COPENHAGEN CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE
4. FIVE TOP UN OFFICIALS APPEAL TO WORLD LEADERS TO ‘SEAL THE DEAL’ ON NEW CLIMATE PACT
5. GREEN INVESTMENTS A LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY, SAY UN AND TOP ASSET MANAGERS
6. POOR COUNTRIES “NEED TO RETHINK DEVELOPMENT MODEL”
7. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES STILL HURTING FROM HIGH FOOD PRICES
8. UN’S HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS THIS YEAR FACE $5 BILLION SHORTFALL
9. EXPANDING ACCESS TO COPYRIGHTED MATERIALS FOR BLIND
10. NEW ONLINE SCHEME ALLOWS FREE ACADEMIC JOURNAL ACCESS TO POOREST NATIONS

Our Panarchic Future by thomas Homer-Dixon

2009-07-23T23:26:00.001-04:00

great article from World Watch go to www.worldwatch.org

Our Panarchic Future
by Thomas Homer-Dixon

A theory that explains the evolution of ecosystems may apply to civilizations as well-and it says we're approaching a critical phase.
[Editor's note: The following article is adapted from The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, by Thomas Homer-Dixon (copyright © Resource & Conflict Analysis, Inc.) and printed by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C. (www.islandpress.org).]

Buzz Holling, one of the world's great ecologists, is a kind and gracious man, with a shock of white hair and a warm smile. Born in Toronto and educated at the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia, he worked for many years as a research scientist for the government of Canada, where he pioneered the study of budworm infestations in the great spruce forests of New Brunswick. Later, as an academic researcher and eventually as director of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, he created powerful mathematical models to explain the ecological phenomena he saw in the field. Using these models, he achieved major breakthroughs in understanding what makes complex systems of all kinds-from ecosystems to economic markets-adaptive and resilient.

Since the early 1970s, Holling's research has attracted attention in disciplines ranging from anthropology to economics. His papers have been distributed like samizdat through the Internet, and Holling himself has become something of a guru for an astonishing number of very smart people studying complex adaptive systems. Some of these researchers have coalesced into an international scientific community called the Resilience Alliance, with over a dozen participating institutions around the world. Although Holling is now retired from his last academic position at the University of Florida, he's still terrifically vigorous and focused on furthering the Resilience Alliance's work.

Holling and his colleagues call their ideas "panarchy theory"-after Pan, the ancient Greek god of nature. Together with anthropologist and historian Joseph Tainter's ideas on complexity and social collapse, this theory helps us see our world's tectonic stresses as part of a long-term global process of change and adaptation. It also illustrates the way catastrophe caused by such stresses could produce a surge of creativity leading to the renewal of our global civilization.

Dangerous Efficiency

Panarchy theory had its origins in Holling's meticulous observation of the ecology of forests. He noticed that healthy forests all have an adaptive cycle of growth, collapse, regeneration, and again growth. During the early part of the cycle's growth phase, the number of species and of individual plants and animals quickly increases, as organisms arrive to exploit all available ecological niches. The total biomass of these plants and animals grows, as does their accumulated residue of decay-for instance, the forest's trees get bigger, and as these trees and other plants and animals die, they rot to form an ever-thickening layer of humus in the soil. Also, the flows of energy, materials, and genetic information between the forest's organisms become steadily more numerous and complex. If we think of the ecosystem as a network, both the number of nodes in the network and the density of links between the nodes rise.

During this early phase of growth, the forest ecosystem is steadily accumulating capital. As its total mass grows, so does its quantity of nutrients, along with the amount of information in the genes of its increasingly varied plants and animals. Its organisms are also accumulating mutations in their genes that could be beneficial at some point in the future. And all these changes represent what Holling calls greater "potential" for novel and unexpected developments in the forest's future.

As the forest's growth continues, its components become more linked together-the ecosystem's "connectedness" goes up-and as this happens it evolves more ways of regulating itself and maintaining its stability. The forest develops, for example, a larger number of organisms that "fix" nitrogen-converting the element from its inert form in the air to forms that plants and animals can use-in the specific amounts and in the specific places needed. It becomes home to more worms, beetles, and bacteria that break down the complex organic molecules of rotting plants into useful nutrients. And it produces more negative feedback loops among its various components that keep temperature, rainfall, and chemical concentrations within a range best suited to life in the forest.

Over time as the forest matures and passes into the late part of its growth phase, the mechanisms of self-regulation become highly diverse and finely tuned. Species and organisms are progressively more specialized and efficient in using the energy and nutrients available in their niche. Indeed, the whole forest becomes extremely efficient-in a sense, it effectively adapts to maximize the production of biomass from the flows of sunlight, water, and nutrients it gets from its environment. In the process, redundancies in the forest's ecological network-like multiple nitrogen fixers-are pruned away. New plants and animals find fewer niches to exploit, so the steady increase in diversity of species and organisms slows and may even decline.

This growth phase can't go on indefinitely. Holling implies-very much as Tainter argues in his theory-that the forest's ever-greater connectedness and efficiency eventually produce dim inishing returns by reducing its capacity to cope with severe outside shocks. Essentially, the ecosystem becomes less resilient. The forest's interdependent trees, worms, beetles, and the like become so well adapted to a specific range of circumstances-and so well organized as an efficient and productive system-that when a shock pushes the forest far outside that range, it can't cope. Also, the forest's high connectedness helps any shock travel faster across the ecosystem. And finally, the forest's high efficiency makes it harder for it to realize its rising potential for novelty. For instance, the extra nutrients that the forest ecosystem has accumulated aren't easily available to new species and ecosystem processes because they're fully expropriated and controlled by existing plants and animals. Overall, then, the forest ecosystem becomes rigid and brittle. It becomes, as Holling says, "an accident waiting to happen."

So in the late part of the growth phase of any living system like a forest, three things are happening simultaneously: the system's potential for novelty is increasing, its connectedness and self-regulation are also increasing, but its overall resilience is falling. At this point in the life of a forest, a sudden event such as a windstorm, wildfire, insect outbreak, or drought can trigger the collapse of the whole ecosystem. The results, of course, can be dramatic-large tracts of beautiful forest can be obliterated. The ecosystem loses species and biomass and in the process much of its connectedness and self-regulation.

But the effects on the ecosystem's overall health may be very positive. A wildfire in a mature forest creates open spaces that allow new species to establish themselves and propagate; it destroys infestations of disease and insects; and it converts vegetation and accumulated debris into nutrients that can be used by plants and animals that reestablish themselves after the fire. The organisms that survive become much less dependent on specific, long-established relationships with each other. Most important, collapse also liberates the ecosystem's enormous potential for creativity and allows for novel and unpredictable recombination of its elements. It's as if somebody threw the forest's remaining plants, animals, nutrients, energy flows, and genetic information into a gigantic mixing bowl and stirred. Once-marginal species can now capture and exploit newly released nutrients, and genetic mutations that were a bane to survival can now be a boon.

And because the system is suddenly far less interconnected and rigid, it's far more resilient to sudden shock. This is a perfect setting for the forest's plants and animals to experiment with new behaviors and relationships-a pollinator species like a bee or wasp will try gathering nectar from a type of flower it hadn't previously visited, or a carnivore might try killing and eating a different kind of prey. If such experiments fail, the damage is less likely to cascade across the entire system.

In these ways the forest ecosystem reorganizes and regenerates itself, quite possibly in a very new form. Put simply, the catastrophe of collapse allows for the birth of something new. And this cycle of growth, collapse, reorganization, and rebirth allows the forest to adapt over the long term to a constantly changing environment. "The adaptive cycle," Holling writes, "embraces two opposites: growth and stability on one hand, change and variety on the other." It's at once conserving and creative-a characteristic of all highly adaptive systems.

Holling and his colleagues use a three-dimensional image to represent the relationship between a system's rising potential and connectedness and its declining resilience. The shape looks like a distorted figure eight or infinity symbol floating in space. In the foreground is the growth phase-a curve that moves upward as the system's potential and connectedness increase. At the same time, the curve moves forward in three-dimensional space-toward the observer-as the system's resilience declines. Holling and his colleagues call this part of the adaptive cycle the "front loop." It represents a process of incrementally rising complexity. At the top of this curve, the system collapses. Things then happen fast as the system descends into the "back loop," where it undergoes a rapid process of reorganization before beginning once more the slow process of growth.

Nested Cycles

There's one more essential part to Holling's theory. He argues that no given adaptive cycle exists in isolation. Rather, it's usually sandwiched between higher and lower adaptive cycles. For instance, above the forest's cycle is the larger and slower-moving cycle of the regional ecosystem, and above that, in turn, is the even slower cycle of global biogeochemical processes, where planetary flows of materials and elements-like carbon-can be measured in time spans of years, decades, or even millennia. Below the forest's adaptive cycle, on the other hand, are the smaller and faster cycles of sub-ecosystems that encompass, for instance, particular hillsides or streams. In fact, adaptive cycles can be found all the way down to the level of bacteria in the soil, where the smallest and fastest cycles of all are found. Here things happen on a tiny scale of millimeters or even microns, and they can take place in minutes or even seconds. So the entire hierarchy of adaptive cycles-what Holling and his colleagues call a panarchy-spans a scale in space from soil bacteria to the entire planet and a scale in time from seconds to geologic epochs.

This brings us to the most important point of all for our purposes: the cycles operating above and below play an important role in the forest's own adaptive cycle. The higher and slower-moving cycles provide stability and resources that buffer the forest from shocks and help it recover from collapse. A forest may be hit by wildfire, for example, but as long as the climate pattern across the larger region that encompasses the forest remains constant and the rainfall adequate, the forest should regenerate. Meanwhile, the lower and faster-moving cycles are a source of novelty, experimentation, and information. Together, the higher and lower cycles help keep the forest's collapse, when it occurs, from being truly catastrophic. But for this healthy arrangement to work, these various adaptive cycles must be at different points along that figure-eight loop. In particular, they mustn't all peak at the top of their growth phases simultaneously. If they do-if they are "aligned at the same phase of vulnerability," to use Holling's phrase-they will together produce a much more devastating collapse, and recovery will take far longer, if it happens at all. Should a wildfire hit a forest at the same time as the regional climate cycle enters a drought phase, the forest might never regenerate.

Panarchy theory helps us understand how complex systems of all kinds, including social systems, evolve and adapt. Of course, it shares similarities with other theories of adaptation and change. Its core idea-that systems naturally grow, become more brittle, collapse, and then renew themselves in an endless cycle-recurs repeatedly in literature, philosophy, religion, and studies of human history, as well as in the natural and social sciences. But Holling has done much more than just restate this old idea. He has made it far more precise, powerful, and useful by distinguishing between potential, connectivity, and resili ence; by identifying variations in the system's pace of change as it moves through its cycle; and by describing the roles of adjacent cycles in the grand hierarchy of cycles.

Holling embodies something truly rare: the kind of wisdom that comes when an enormously creative, perceptive, and courageous mind spends a half-century studying a phenomenon and distilling its essential patterns. In a conversation with him not long ago, I encouraged him to expand on many aspects of panarchy theory, filling gaps in my understanding and giving me nuance and perspective that only he could provide. As we came to the end of our conversation, I asked him a question that had been on my mind since our first meeting a year before, when he'd been adamant that humanity is at grave risk.

"Why do you feel the world is verging on some kind of systemic crisis?"

"There are three reasons," he answered. "First, over the years my understanding of the adaptive cycle has improved, and I've also come to better understand how multiple adaptive cycles can be nested together-from small to large-to create a panarchy. I now believe that this theory tells us something quite general about the way complex systems, not just ecological systems, change over time. And collapse is usually part of the story.

"Second, I think rapidly rising connectivity within global systems-both economic and technological-increases the risk of deep collapse. That's a collapse that cascades across adaptive cycles-a kind of pancaking implosion of the entire system as higher-level adaptive cycles collapse, which causes progressive collapse at lower levels."

"A bit like the implosion of the World Trade Center towers," I offered, "where the weight of the upper floors smashed through the lower floors like a pile driver."

"Yes, but in a highly connected panarchy, the collapse doesn't have to start at the top. It can be triggered at the microlevel or the macrolevel or somewhere in between. It's the tight interlinking of the adaptive cycles across the whole system-from the individual right up to the level of the global economy and even Earth's biosphere-that's particularly dangerous because it increases the likelihood that many of the cycles will become synchronized and peak together. And if this happens, they'll reinforce each other's collapse."

"The third reason," he continued, "is the rise of mega-terrorism-the increasing risk of attacks that will kill huge numbers of people and produce major disruptions in world systems. I'm not sure why megaterrorism has become more likely now. I suppose it's partly a result of technological changes and the rise of particularly virulent kinds of fundamentalism. But I do know that in a tightly connected world where vulnerabilities are aligned, such attacks could trigger deep collapse-and that's particularly worrisome.

"This is a moment of great volatility and instability in the world system. We need urgently to do what we can to avoid deep collapse. We also need to figure out how to exploit the opportunity provided by crisis and collapse when they occur, because some kind of systemic breakdown is now almost certain."

We can see the danger of the tectonic stresses in a new light if we think of humankind-including all our interactions with each other and with nature and all the flows of materials, energy, and information through our societies and technologies-as one immense social-ecological system. As this grand system we've created and live within moves up the growth phase of its adaptive cycle, it's accumulating potential in the form of people's skills and economic wealth. It's also becoming more connected, regulated, and efficient-and ultimately less resilient. And finally, it's becoming steadily more complex, which means it's moving further and further from thermodynamic equilibrium. We need ever-larger inputs of high-quality energy to maintain this complexity. In the meantime, internal tectonic stresses-including worsening scarcity of our best source of high-quality energy, conventional oil-are building slowly but steadily.

So we're overextending the growth phase of our global adaptive cycle. We'll reach the top of this cycle when we're no longer able to regulate or control the stresses building deep inside the global system. Then we'll get earthquakelike events that will cause the system's breakdown and simplification as it moves closer to thermodynamic equilibrium.

Panarchy theory also helps us better understand another critically important phenomenon: the denial that prevents us from seeing the dangers we face. Our explanations of the world around us-whether of Earth's place in the cosmos or of the workings of our economy-move through their own adaptive cycles. When a favorite explanation encounters contradictory evidence, we make an ad hoc adjustment to it to account for this evidence-just like Ptolemy added epicycles to his explanation of the planets' movements. In the process, our explanation moves through something akin to a growth phase: it becomes progressively more complex, cumbersome, and rigid; it loses resilience; and it's ripe for collapse should another, better, theory come along.

We often invest enormous mental energy to maintain a perspective on the world that's at variance with reality-that's far from intellectual equilibrium, so to speak. But today bits of anomalous evidence-from data on the melting of Greenland's ice cap to reports of steadily falling discovery of new oil fields-are piling up around us.

Lessons from Rome...

For over a millennium in Western culture, Rome's collapse has been an emblem of social catastrophe, one often used as a cudgel in political debate. When people don't approve of a particular social, political, or economic trend, they'll often assert that it caused Rome's demise. So explanations have proliferated. In 1984 the German historian Alexander Demandt listed more than 200 different explanations for Rome's fall that he found in the historical literature since 1600-from epidemics, plutocracy, and the absence of character to vainglory.

Perhaps it's rash, then, to add another one to the list. Still, recent work by archaeologists, economic historians, and complexity theorists gives fresh insight into what happened. And their story, which has immense relevance to our situation today, comes down to this.

Because energy is a society's master resource, when Rome exhausted its energy subsidies from its conquests-when it had to move, in other words, from high energy-return-on-investment (EROI) sources of energy to low-EROI sources-it faced a critical transition. And, at least in the Western part of the empire, it didn't make this transition successfully. It couldn't sustain the cost and complexity of its far-flung army, ballooning civil service, hungry and restless cities, elaborate information flows, and intricate irrigation systems. Not that it didn't try. Rome's prodigious effort to save itself by putting in place a system to aggressively manage its energy problem was simultaneously one of history's greatest triumphs and tragedies. It was a triumph because, for a while at least, the effort reversed what seemed like the empire's inexorable decline; but it was ultimately a tragedy because it didn't address the empire's underlying problem-complexity too great for a food-based energy system-and was thus bound to fail.

The western Roman empire couldn't make the transition from high-EROI to low-EROI sources of energy. Today, our societies are headed toward a similar transition as oil becomes harder to find. Sometime in the 1960s the United States crossed a critical threshold when its EROI for domestic petroleum extraction started to fall, and it's likely that since then just about every other oil-producing region in the world has crossed the same threshold (often it takes a while for data to show clearly that the threshold has been crossed). Very few people-certainly not our society's leaders-grasp the significance of this change, yet it's of epochal importance. It marks the beginning of a shift from our modern industrial civilization to some other kind of civilization.

We can't yet say what form this new civilization will take, but we can be fairly certain that compared with our experience over the century and a half since the industrial revolution, energy will become far more costly as nonconventional and renewable sources replace cheap oil. The price rise won't be steady and linear: we'll see sharp spikes and dips as the global economy tries to adjust. Even an average increase in real energy costs of just 2.5 percent each year-a rate we've consistently exceeded in recent years-will compound into a tenfold increase in a century.

Can we get through this transition wisely and safely? Not if we refuse to understand its implications and simply continue what we're doing now. In Buzz Holling's terms, we're busily extending the growth phase of the adaptive cycle of our planetary economic, ecological, and social system. In the process, this planetary system is becoming steadily more complex, connected, efficient, and regulated. Eventually it will become less resilient; it may, in fact, have already started to lose resilience.

A number of factors drive these changes. First, the desperate need of companies, economies, and societies to maximize performance and productivity forces them to steadily boost their organizational and technological complexity, their internal efficiency and regulation, and their speed of production and transport of materials, energy, and information. Also, as the world economy expands relative to the size of Earth's resource base and biosphere, we have to use resources and energy far more efficiently and manage our interactions with nature with ever greater care-and this means progressively more elaborate technologies, procedures, regulations, and institutions. Based on current trends, global output of goods and services will quadruple from US$60 to $240 trillion (in 2005 dollars) by 2050. If we're going to keep such a gargantuan economy humming-and if we're going to avoid simultaneously wrecking the planet's environment-we'll need everything from high-tech energy and water conservation programs to huge bureaucracies that find and punish the people and companies that emit too much carbon dioxide. And finally, as our EROI declines in coming decades, we'll need far more sophisticated technologies and organizations to scavenge small pockets of oil from all over the world and to pull together lower-quality energy from a myriad of solar, wind, and geothermal generating plants.

In short, in coming decades our resource and environmental problems will become progressively harder to solve; our companies, organizations, and societies will therefore have to become steadily more complex to produce good solutions; and the solutions they produce-whether technological or institutional-will have to be more complex too.

...and from Holland

Today's Holland gives us a hint of what this future might be like. One of the world's most crowded countries, Holland has a heavily industrialized, energy-intensive, high-consumption economy, and its people must constantly fight back the sea to survive on their small patch of territory-much of it indeed reclaimed from the sea. Over the centuries, the Dutch have responded by putting in place astonishingly complex systems of technology and social regulation. These have included block-by-block urban residential committees to prevent flooding, detailed laws to maximize efficient use of land, and of course an intricate system of dikes, canals, and pumping stations. As Holland has become progressively wealthier, more crowded, and more hemmed in by resource and environmental pressures, the regulations and technologies have become steadily more intricate and costly.

But if we end up with a global society and economy like Holland's, would that really be so bad? After all, the Dutch live very well. Sadly, even the enormous complexity of today's Holland won't be remotely adequate for the host of planetary challenges we're going to have to address soon, like climate change and worsening shortages of high-quality energy. We'll have to create a global society that I've come to call "Holland times 10," with vastly more sophisticated, pervasive, and expensive rules and regulatory institutions than anything the Dutch live with today. Do we really want such a future for ourselves and our children?

And even if we do, can we really create it? First of all, Holland is in some ways an inadequate example. It's a small, ethnically homogeneous society with relatively low economic inequality, a deeply rooted culture of collaboration, and a citizenry that's receptive to social policies intended to change people's behaviors. These are hardly features of our world as a whole. Also, today's Holland maintains its comfortable lifestyle by importing energy, food, and natural resources from far beyond its boundaries, and by expelling much of its wastes, such as its carbon dioxide, outside its boundaries too-Holland's carbon dioxide ends up traveling in the atmosphere around the planet. Humanity as a whole, though, can't get its resources or expel its pollution beyond Earth's boundaries.

More important, as our global social-ecological system moves through the growth phase of its adaptive cycle-toward a Holland-times-10 future-it's losing resilience. Capitalism's constant pressure on companies to maximize efficiency tightens links between producers and suppliers; reduces slack, buffering, and redundancy; and so makes cascading failures more likely and damaging. As well, capitalism's pressure on people to be more productive and efficient drives them to acquire hyperspecialized skills and knowledge, which means they become less autonomous, more dependent on other specialized people and technologies, and ultimately more vulnerable to shocks (remember how most Americans were so ill equipped to deal with the 2003 blackout). Meanwhile, worsening damage to the local and regional natural environment in many poor countries is fraying ecological networks and undermining economies and political stability. And finally pressure is increasing within both rich and poor societies too-from tectonic stresses like demographic imbalance, growth of megacities, and widening income gaps.

All these factors are creating an overload condition just at the moment when we're entering an epochal shift from high-EROI to low-EROI sources of energy. Because it takes energy to create and maintain complexity and order, and because energy will become steadily more expensive, we'll find it steadily harder to implement complex solutions to our complex problems.

Indeed, in a world of far higher energy costs, a Holland-times-10 global system is likely impossible. Even today's globalized economy won't be viable, because it takes too much energy to keep it running. As energy prices rise, we'll first see cutbacks on long-distance travel and trade. Instead of becoming increasingly "flat" as barriers to commerce and economic integration disappear-as some commentators, such as the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, suggest-the world will become more regionalized and even hierarchical because manufacturing, commerce, and political power will shift to countries with relatively good access to energy. Eventually those of us in rich countries will have to change many things in our societies and daily lives-not just the machines we use to produce and consume energy but also the work we do, our entertainment and leisure activities, how much we travel in cars and airplanes, our financial systems, the design of our cities, and the ways we produce our food (because our current agricultural practices consume a huge amount of energy).

The growth phase we're in may seem like a natural and permanent state of affairs-and our world's rising complexity, connectedness, efficiency, and regulation may seem relentless and unstoppable-but ultimately it isn't sustainable. Still, we find it impossible to get off this upward escalator because our chronic state of denial about the seriousness of our situation-aided and abetted by powerful special interests that benefit from the status quo-keeps us from really seeing what's happening or really considering other paths our world might follow. Radically different futures are beyond imagining. So we stay trapped on a path that takes us toward major breakdown.

The longer a system is "locked in" to its growth phase, says Buzz Holling, "the greater its vulnerability and the bigger and more dramatic its collapse will be." If the growth phase goes on for too long, "deep collapse"-something like synchronous failure-eventually occurs. Collapse in this case is so catastrophic and cascades across so many physical and social boundaries that the system's ability to regenerate itself is lost. [A] forest-fire shows how this happens: if too much tinder-dry debris has accumulated, the fire becomes too hot, which destroys the seeds that could be the source of the forest's rebirth.

Holling thinks the world is reaching "a stage of vulnerability that could trigger a rare and major ‘pulse' of social transformation." Humankind has experienced only three or four such pulses during its entire evolution, including the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to agricultural settlement, the industrial revolution, and the recent global communications revolution. Today another pulse is about to begin. "The immense destruction that a new pulse signals is both frightening and creative," he writes. "The only way to approach such a period, in which uncertainty is very large and one cannot predict what the future holds, is not to predict, but to experiment and act inventively and exuberantly via diverse adventures in living."

Opportunity to tell your story

2009-05-08T10:19:00.002-04:00

Tell me your story about sustainability and maybe you will be on cable TV.
email me at green1consulting@yahoo.com
Or
call me at 561-309-6048
to discuss your story and why you believe your story needs to be told.

Temple of Doom or Cap and Trade

2009-05-06T06:56:00.002-04:00

Jim Hansen opines about the need for actions in reducing green house gases that result in actual reductions. It seems he feels cap and trade will end up being business as usual for companies in general.

Emily's Photos

2009-04-13T17:41:00.000-04:00

The nature of slow money and how to create a 'new' economy

2009-03-13T00:48:00.002-04:00

The Nature Of Slow Money'

Filed under: Economic Scene

Dante Hesse, organic dairy farmer, needs to raise $700,000. NPR

A bunch of you have been asking about economic growth and sustainability. Today on All Things Considered, we hear from an organic dairy farmer who has turned to his customers for help financing a bottling plant in his barn.

In his way, Dante Hesse is part of the new Slow Money movement. It's the brainchild of venture capitalist Woody Tasch, author of Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money from Chelsea Green.

You can read an excerpt from his book with the story. Here's a nugget from Tasch:

Organized from "markets down" rather than from "the ground up," industrial finance is inherently limited in its ability to nurture the long-term health of community and bioregion. These limits are nowhere more apparent than in the food sector, where financial strategies optimizing the efficient use of capital have resulted in cheap chemical-laden food, depleted and eutrophied aquifers, millions of acres of GMO corn, trillions of food miles, widespread degradation of soil fertility, a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and obesity epidemics side by side with persistent hunger.

Laura Conaway

Social Capital

2009-02-16T18:44:00.001-05:00

I thought this was an interesting article from the Earth Portal web site. I believe it adds to the discussion on what 'value' we place on outside and inside 'things'. If we are to truly change direction (some say that would be reducing green house gases by 80% by 2050) and save our planet we will need to educate ourselves and the people we love around us by any and all appropriate means.

5 Things you can do today

2009-02-15T21:45:00.002-05:00

1. Change your light bulbs to CFL's as your old bulbs burn out. Even better is to use a LED bulb if you can find one that fits.

2. Do a mini energy audit of your home. Find drafts by using feathers ( or something very light) around possible places like doors, windows or floors and ceilings. If there is more than a slight movement you more than likely have a draft that is costing you money. It is easier with water becuase you can usually hear it. Are you shading your windows exposed to the warm summer sun so it reflects the heat and are you insulating your windows in the winter so you don't let heat to escape? What appliances or products are running all the time? Is it necessary?

3. Do you excercise? Being 'green' also means being healthy and excercise is a very efficient way of increasing your chances of being healthy.

4. How do you eat? What are your portions? How 'green' is your food that you are buying? Can you buy some food at a farmers' market?

5. Many people are increasing their gas mileage by checking their tire pressure, changing the air filter and getting regular tune ups. Another great way to save money on gas is to make sure you drive 5 mph slower than you usually do. I find most people drive 5 mph faster than the speed limit because that is what the police have accepted as the default speed. If you just drive the speed limit you will get less tickets and save on gas.

Spirituality of Sustainability

2009-02-12T11:09:00.002-05:00

This is a start:

The Spirituality of Sustainability or the sustainable Spirit

Sustainability has been defined many different ways, so for the purposes of this paper I will define it as the ability of any organization of nature (humans are part of nature) to be able to sustain itself in a way that promotes the existence and continuation of the environment including the organization in question for future generations (no time limit implied or specified, assumed infinite).

This is the dictionary definition:

1: capable of being sustained

2 a: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture> b: of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>

Another set of definitions have been proposed as working or planning or implementation definitions for real like situations and they follow:

"Sustainable means using methods, systems and materials that won't deplete resources or harm natural cycles" (Rosenbaum, 1993).

Sustainability "identifies a concept and attitude in development that looks at a site's natural land, water, and energy resources as integral aspects of the development" (Vieira,1993)

"Sustainability integrates natural systems with human patterns and celebrates continuity, uniqueness and placemaking" (Early, 1993)

Using my definition I believe opens the discussion of sustainability to the realm of spirituality. We need to define spirituality which in some ways is even more difficult than sustainability. The dictionary definition:

1. The state, quality, manner, or fact of being spiritual.

2. The clergy.

3. Something, such as property or revenue, that belongs to the church or to a cleric. Often used in the plural.

Some other definitions:

a sense of purpose

a sense of ‘connectedness’ – to self, others, nature, ‘God’ or Other

a quest for wholeness

a search for hope or harmony

a belief in a higher being or beings

some level of transcendence, or

the sense that there is more to life than the material or practical, and

those activities that give meaning and value to people’s lives.

Spirituality is stories.

Spirituality can be defined as a search for the sacred, a process through which people seek to discourse, hold onto and, when necessary, transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives [the sacred includes the concept of God, divinity, transcendence, and ultimate reality].

As we can see in the definitions above, any discussion of the spirit assumes an unknowing of ‘things’ including any time limit or any other limits we define in our ‘real’ world at present. We now can say humbly that we do not know anything about the limits of sustainability, what it can or cannot do or what value to place on it in comparison to other standards of society or nature. Or can we? Humans have given value to spirituality since the beginning of our existence and it has no limits.

As society has developed we have focused and placed our attention on the ‘value’ of things or labor. This has become part of how we communicate to one another.

I have made several statements that are broad and diverse and many might not see any connection with the spirituality of sustainability. I have tried to lay a foundation of the context of my relationship to sustainability. I believe each persons individual understanding of sustainability can be different but is connected by the spirituality of sustainability.

There is much more on this subject with many links of other people who have written about this that I will put on this blog in the near future.

Value / Satisfaction Survey

2009-01-11T20:27:00.002-05:00

Center for Earth Jurisprudence and Precautionary Principle Academy event

2009-01-09T21:06:00.002-05:00

The Center for Earth Jurisprudence (so far the only organization of its kind in the US) is developing content for its new newsletter Groundswell and events such as the Precautionary Principle Academy.

For the flyer go to http://earthjuris.org/pdfs/ppa-miami.pdf

From Shop Organic

2009-01-06T09:31:00.002-05:00

USDA scientists report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that a Pterostilbene in berries and grapes can reverse the negative effects of aging on the human brain, while also improving working memory. The compound apparently produces these beneficial effects through action as an antioxidant in the hippocampus region of the brain.

In work sponsored by The Organic Center at Washington State University, organic berries were found to contain higher levels of pterostilbenes, compared to conventional fruits.

Al Gore Presentation at Poznan Poland Dec. 2008

2008-12-16T09:24:00.001-05:00

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much for that warm welcome. And Yvo de Boer, thank you very much for your very generous introduction. And thank you for your leadership and tireless efforts in combating this crisis. Thank you so much. To all of the ministers, delegates, members of the NGO community, scientists, especially members of the IPCC who are gathered here, to my good friend who has shown such leadership and courage Wangari Maathai who is also here somewhere, and to all of the distinguished guests, this is an unusual moment during this long journey that began 16 years ago in Rio de Janeiro. To all of you who have worked here in Poznan and to the many of you who have worked at conferences throughout this process, thank you for your extraordinary efforts and for your remarkable achievements. We, the human species, have arrived at a moment of fateful decision. It is unprecedented and in some ways even laughable to imagine that we could actually make a conscious choice as a species. But that is nevertheless the challenge that now faces us because our home, Earth, is in danger. What is at risk of being destroyed is of course not the planet itself but the conditions that have made it hospitable for human beings I will not dwell on the science but I want to state a few facts if only to underscore the urgency of our task. We are, after all, in a process of negotiation with one another around the world but it is important to remind ourselves that we cannot negotiate with the facts. We cannot negotiate with the truth about our situation. We cannot negotiate with the consequences of unrestrained dumping of 70 million tons of global warming pollution into the thin shelf atmosphere surrounding our planet every 24 hours. Scientists have for several years now warned us that we are moving dangerously close to several so-called tipping points that could within less than 10 years make it impossible to avoid irretrievable damage to the planet's habitability for human civilization unless we act quickly. As many of you here know full well, in virtually all of the mountain ranges of this planet, the glaciers are now melting rapidly in the Alps in the Andes in the Rockies and most ominously in the Himalayas which contain number 100 times as much ice and snow of all of the mountains here in Europe. The leading Chinese scientist who studies ice, professor Yao Tandong calls the Tibetan plateau the water tower of Asia. As you know it feeds the great rivers of Asia, the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Salween and the Irawati, the Mekong, the Yangtze and the Yellow. 1.4 billion people depend for more than half of their drinking water on the rivers and spring systems that flow from the ice of the Tibetan plateau, which is now melting at an alarming rate. Because the climate crisis has also increased the rate of soil moisture evaporation around the world and concentrated rainfall in shorter periods of time, shifting the seasons during which it falls, there is increased desertification and longer droughts, increasing stress on all of the people who live in the dry land regions of our world. Many shallow lakes, including prominently lake Chad, have disappeared. The Great Lakes of Africa are undergoing dramatic change, the Great Lakes of North America are losing their ice cover, and the water level is dropping dramatically. Last year 2000 scientists gathered at the food and agriculture organization in Rome to discuss their fear of an impending crisis in the Mediterranean as it becomes saltier and as warmer water reaches its depths, threatening in the future to turn it into a stagnant sea if this process continues. The dumping of 25 million tons of CO2 into the oceans of the world every day, and the increasing acidification of the ocean water along with rising temperature is putting stress on the ocean Fisheries throughout our planet. And as you know, the warming ocean waters are also causing stronger typhoons and cyclones and hurricanes. Typhoon Saomai was the strongest to hit China in more than 50 years, two of the three strongest histories in history hit south Asia within the last 3 years, one of them killing 20,000 people in Myanmar. We have had such strong storms in North America as well, and in South America where Brazil had the first hurricane in recorded history. Massive flooding has resulted at record rates on every continent. Last year more than a dozen countries in Africa suffered the consequences of such flooding. Last year Mexico had record flooding. We have seen comparable events in Europe and throughout the world. Heat waves continue. Two winters ago was the hottest winter in the history of recorded atmospheric measurements. 20 of the 21 hottest years in recorded history have occurred in the last 25 years. The university of Tel Aviv recently published a new study predicting that with each 1 degree increase in temperature there is a 10 percent increase in lightning, along with man-made causes, we are now seeing record fires as dryer soils and dryer vegetation leads to spreading fires in Greece, for example last year and in many other countries as well. The extinction crisis is tearing at the fabric of the web of life, and the scientific consensus that we must take action was strengthened by the IPCC yet again earlier this year. So the science is clear, and we are faced with a sharp contrast between two notional rates of change, first, the rate at which we are approaching a point of no return in terms of systems collapse, and second, the slower rate at which we have been addressing the problem of how to reduce the emissions that are causing this crisis. We are moving up against a physical standard that doesn't give credit for a good try. We will succeed or we will fail. At every time of great challenge, we as human beings first must resolve a struggle in our own hearts between hope and fear. That struggle is palpable here during this meeting at Poznan. The causes for fear, pessimism, discouragement and doubt have been discussed in whispered conversations among the delegates here. The global recession, we are told, makes the task of solving the climate crisis more difficult. The businesses lobbies in the developed nations we are told have too much power and may divert leaders from their obligation to safeguard our future. The prices for oil -- the prices for oil and coal have, in a cyclical and destructive pattern, once again risen to new highs in the first half of this year, contributing to the causes of the economic downturn, only then to once again plummet to levels that threaten to discourage investments necessary to develop renewable sources of energy and effective measures to improve conservation and efficiency. We are also told that even though people throughout the world are more aware of the unprecedented threat posed by the climate crisis, many still seem not to feel the appropriate sense of urgency that should cause them to demand the emergency measures that the scientists have so clearly told us governments must take as quickly as possible. The gap between rich and poor as we are all aware is not being closed with sufficient speed to build the unity of purpose so desperately needed as a basis for supporting global action. These are all causes for doubt, for fear, for pessimism. But in spite of these fears and doubts, you have continued your work and have continued to make steady progress in resolving many issues that once seemed intractable. Thank you. And even though the steps that you have taken and that have been taken by nations around the world sometimes seem small and even though the progress seems painfully slow, it is worth taking stock and recognizing that this great enterprise that began 16 years ago has now taken us to a vantage point from which we can see the basis for success because in spite of the remaining obstacles and difficulties, I believe that the causes for hope and optimism are greater than the causes for doubt and discouragement, and I believe the road to Copenhagen is now clear. Let me outline for you the basis for the hope and optimism that I feel in my heart. In the midst of this synchronized global recession, there is an emerging consensus throughout the world that the best, indeed the only way to effectively combat the recession is with a synchronized global stimulus and in nation after nation, leaders have concluded that they must design a green stimulus and build the infrastructure for renewable sources of energy and put people to work retro-fitting homes and buildings with CO2 reducing insulation and windows and lighting and more efficient technologies. China, a second cause for hope, China once seem by many as a looming obstacle to the world's effort to reduce CO2 emissions has itself announced a green stimulus of $600 billion over the next 2 years. Chinese leaders are mobilizing a national effort to introduce CO2 reduction initiatives and have already begun the largest tree planting program the world has ever seen. And in contrast to it 2 years ago, no one at this conference has said China is standing in the way of progress. China is ready to join in leading the world toward a solution for this crisis. Much more needs to be done, of course. Much more needs to be done even in countries that have in the last few years provided leadership. The struggle between hope and fear is taking place even today here in Europe. And yet we hear the reports that leaders once resistant to fiscal stimulus are now calling for massive new initiatives to create jobs in ways that also reduce CO2 and the Secretary general of the United Nations who has provided such tremendous leadership for the world in this process has himself called for what he terms a green new deal in the world. Developing countries that were once reluctant to join in the first phases of a global response to the climate crisis have themselves now become leaders in demanding action and in taking bold steps on their own initiative. Just last week Brazil proposed an impressive new plan to halt the destructive deforestation in that nation. Thanks to your efforts in Bali and in the continuing discussions, we now know how to integrate the protection of forests in a global agreement that also sharply reduces industrial sources of global warming pollution. Yes, much more work needs to be done, but you have created the basis for integrating the different kinds of solutions that must come together to solve this crisis. Another source of optimism, scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs in every part of the world have been busy and productive in developing exciting new ex-technologies that will dramatically improve our ability to create renewable energy, they are creating the basis for increasing living standards while simultaneously reducing pollution. In my country there have also been promising and optimistic changes. State governments, including the State of California, our largest state, have shown leadership by passing binding laws requiring the mandatory reduction of CO2. 884 U.S. cities have now embraced the principles of the Kyoto protocol without waiting for the Federal Government to act. The United States -- dozens of proposed coal firing generating plants have in the last 2 years been cancelled because of grassroots opposition and public pressure to adopt renewable sources of energy. The United States Supreme Court, which I must tell you in my opinion does not always reach the right conclusion, decided earlier this year in a ruling that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is required by law to regulate CO2 emissions. No new coal fired generating plant can be approved without a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  1 year ago this week in Bali at another extraordinary moment during this process, I asked you to anticipate the possibility that there would be significant changes in the approach of the U.S. national government to the climate crisis because of our oncoming elections. Just prior to coming here to Poznan, I went to Chicago for a meeting with president-elect Barack Obama and he emphasized that the climate crisis will be a top priority of his administration. We discussed how to create millions of new jobs in a new clean energy economy, and he emphasized that once he is president, the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations and help lead toward a successful conclusion. I would like to read to you some of the public statements that president-elect Barack Obama has made since the election. He said, “…the time for delay is over. The time for denial is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That is what I intend my administration to do. “He said in another statement, “The science is beyond dispute. The facts are clear…. Washington has failed to show leadership. That will change when I take office. My presidency will mark a new chapter in America's leadership on climate change… That will start with a Federal cap and trade system... It will not only help us bring about a clean energy future saving our planet, it will also help us transform our industries and steer our country out of this economic crisis. Solving this problem will require all of us working together. Once I take office, you can be sure that the United States will once again engage vigorously in these negotiations and help lead the world toward a new era of global cooperation on climate change. “Don’t discount these words. Will there be difficulties? Of course. Not only in my country but in every country. You know that better than most. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the most inspirational leaders in the history of the world said halfway through the last century that the most powerful force in global politics is what he called "satyagraha" which I am told translates into my language roughly as "truth force". The reason why you have been able to continue moving forward is because you understand the truth about the crisis that we face. One of Mahatma Gandhi's -- one of those inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said in discussing human rights, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. In that very same way, we now face a crisis that makes it abundantly clear that increased CO2 emissions anywhere are a threat to the integrity of this planet's climate balance everywhere. As a result, the old divide between north and south; between developed countries and developing countries is a divide that must become obsolete. We must link poverty reduction with the sharp reduction of CO2 emissions, including reduced emissions from deforestation with reform of the clean development mechanism and adequate funding for adaptation that is essential and must be financed even though obviously mitigation and prevention are the primary task because without them adaptation would ultimately prove to be impossible. We hear a lot also about capacity building. A phrase that is almost exclusively used with respect to the developing countries and indeed capacity building is important there. But I want to talk about the need for capacity building in the developed countries as well. The political systems in the developed world have become sclerotic. We have to overcome the paralysis that has prevented us from acting and focused unblinkingly on this crisis as opposed to spending so much time on OJ Simpson and Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith. In this struggle between our hopes for success and the doubts that constantly complicate this task, we have to call upon the people of the world to speak up more forcefully, to put their weight in the balance of the scales that are measured by world leaders. The truth is that the goals we are reaching toward are incredibly difficult, and even a goal of 450 parts per million, which seems so difficult today, is inadequate. We will soon need to toughen that goal to 350 parts per million. We understand that. But we have to understand as delegates in this process understand all too clearly the difference between stating the goal and reaching the goal. As governments come to grips with the very difficult work that has to be performed in order to reach even a goal of 450 parts per million, the task can seem very daunting. But for those of us who do understand that the goal should be tougher still, let us remember that the early steps in a process of reaching a goal of 450 parts per million and a process to reach 350 parts per million, the early steps are very similar, and we know from experience that once the process of change begins, once the momentum shifts, once the decisions are arrived at, then the task often becomes easier in the doing. As we start making these changes, we will see that they do strengthen our economies, they do create millions of new jobs, and they do improve the standard of living. To those who are fearful -- to those who are fearful that it is too difficult to conclude this process with a new treaty by the deadline that has been established for 1 year from now in Copenhagen, I say it can be done. It must be done. Let us finish this process at Copenhagen. Do not take the pressure off. Let us make sure that we succeed. Ultimately this really is not a political issue. It is of course a moral issue, and even a spiritual issue, however you understand that word. And our different traditions lead us to different ways of describing a spiritual challenge. But this one affects the survival of human civilization. It is simply put, a question of right versus wrong, and we have to bring to bear that truth force and that moral courage necessary to do what is sometimes seen as impossible. Very simply put, it is wrong for this generation to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every future generation. That realization -- that realization must carry us forward. Our children have a right to hold us to a higher standard when the future of all human civilization is hanging in the balance. They deserve better, and politicians who sit on their hands and do nothing to confront the greatest challenge humankind has ever faced. This crisis does offer us the chance to experience what few generations have had the privilege of experiencing, a generational mission, a compelling moral purpose, a shared cause and the opportunity to put aside the pettiness and conflict of politics and narrower concerns to embrace a genuine moral generational mission. I believe that it is time between now and the gathering in Copenhagen 1 year from now for heads of state to become personally involved in meeting several times between Poznan and Copenhagen. I don't think that they can stay disengaged from this process any longer. I am very optimistic about the leadership of the new Danish chair that will preside over the meeting in Copenhagen, and even though I do not have the opportunity to speak formally for the people of my country, I would like to relay to you a message that I heard from the people of the United States of America this year, that I think is very relevant to the task the world is facing over this next year. Yes, we can. Thank you.

Sustainable Business outlook for 2018

2008-12-16T06:59:00.001-05:00

Read one vision for sustainability from a UK based organization

Third Planet Newsletter is a Resource for all Florida Environmentalists

2008-12-15T14:30:00.003-05:00

Third Planet, the idea of Dr. David Benjamin in the early '90 came to Florida in 1999 as a 501 (c) promoting sustainable energy development and ecological restoration.

Please take a look at the web site at www.thethirdplanet.org and make a contribution to help Florida become sustainable.

Green Car Reality

2008-11-27T13:48:00.002-05:00

This looks like it might be a viable option for many people who want a vehicle that does not pollute but can carry more than what can fit in a bicycle basket.

Barry

2008-10-22T06:57:00.001-04:00

1. 20 MILLION COULD LOSE JOBS IN FINANCIAL CRISIS

GENEVA (ILO News) The head of the United Nations labour agency has called for bold and innovative action to avert an unemployment crisis resulting from the current global financial turmoil, which could increase the number of jobless people worldwide by 20 million. Preliminary estimates indicate that the financial crisis could increase the number of unemployed from 190 million in 2007 to 210 million in late 2009, noted Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In addition, the number of working poor living on less than a dollar a day could rise by some 40 million – and those at $2 a day by more than 100 million. The sectors hit the hardest would be construction, automotive, tourism, finance, services and real estate. Mr. Somavia added that the actual number could be even higher than the projections if the global community does not take immediate action to tackle the crisis.

“This is not simply a crisis on Wall Street; this is a crisis on all streets. We need an economic rescue plan for working families and the real economy, with rules and policies that deliver decent jobs. We must link better productivity to salaries and growth to employment,” he stressed.

“Protecting and promoting sustainable enterprises and decent work opportunities must be at the heart of the Summit on the Financial Crisis recently announced by Presidents [George W.] Bush and [Nicolas] Sarkozy,” he said. “We must return to the basic function of finance, which is to promote the real economy. To lend so that entrepreneurs can invest, innovate, produce jobs and goods and services.”

While welcoming the calls for better financial regulation and a global surveillance system of checks and balances, Mr. Somavia emphasised the need to address issues beyond the financial system. “Long before the current financial crisis, we were already in a crisis of massive global poverty and growing social inequality, rising informality and precarious work – a process of globalization that had brought many benefits but had become unbalanced, unfair, and unsustainable,” he said. “We need to get the balance right and concentrate on rescuing people and production. It’s about saving the real economy.”

In this regard, he said it is important to develop a new multilateral framework for a fair and sustainable globalization. “This is the time to think and act in bold and innovative ways to confront the huge challenges before us, particularly for the United Nations,” said the ILO chief.

According to a new study published on 16 October 2008 by the research arm of the ILO, strong economic growth since the early 1990s produced millions of new jobs but income inequality also grew dramatically in most regions and is expected to increase due to the financial crisis,

The new report, entitled World of Work Report 2008: Income inequalities in the age of financial globalization, produced by the ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies also notes that a major share of the cost of the financial and economic crisis will be borne by hundreds of millions of people who haven’t shared in the benefits of recent growth.

“This report shows conclusively that the gap between richer and poorer households widened since the 1990s”, said Raymond Torres, Director of the Institute responsible for the report. “This reflects the impact of financial globalization and a weaker ability of domestic policies to enhance the income position of the middle class and low-income groups. The present global financial crisis is bound to make matters worse unless long-term structural reforms are adopted.”

The report notes that while a certain degree of income inequality is useful in rewarding effort, talent and innovation, huge differences can be counter-productive and damaging for most economies, adding that “rising income inequality represents a danger to the social fabric as well as economic efficiency when it becomes excessive”.

The report marks the most comprehensive study to date of global income inequalities by the Institute, and examined wages and growth in more than 70 developed and developing countries. It calls for longer term action to put the global economy on a more balanced track, including promotion of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda to link economic, labour and social policies to boost employment and improve incomes and income distribution.

The report says that as global employment rose by 30% between the early 1990s and 2007, the income gap between richer and poorer households widened significantly at the same time. What’s more, compared with earlier expansionary periods, workers obtained a smaller share of the fruits of economic growth as the share of wages in national income declined in the vast majority of countries for which data was available.

“The ongoing global economic slowdown is affecting low-income groups disproportionately”, the report says. “This development comes after a long expansionary phase where income inequality was already on the rise in the majority of countries.”

Among its other conclusions, the report says:

<> Employment growth has also occurred alongside a redistribution of income away from labour. In 51 out of 73 countries for which data are available, the share of wages in total income declined over the past two decades. The largest decline in the share of wages in GDP took place in Latin America and the Caribbean (-13 percentage points), followed by Asia and the Pacific (-10 percentage points) and the Advanced Economies (-9 percentage points).

<> In countries with unregulated financial innovation, workers and their families became increasingly indebted in order to fund housing investment and consumption. With stagnant wages, this was key to sustain domestic demand. However the crisis has underlined the limits to this growth model.

<> Between 1990 and 2005, approximately two thirds of the countries experienced an increase in income inequality. The incomes of richer households have increased relative to those of the middle class and poorer households.

<> Likewise, during the same period, the income gap between the top and bottom 10% of wage earners increased in 70% of the countries for which data are available.

<> The gap in income inequality is also widening – at an increasing pace – between top executives and the average employee. For example, in the United States in 2007, the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the 15 largest companies earned 520 times more than the average worker. This is up from 360 times more in 2003. Similar patterns, though from lower levels of executive pay, have been registered in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong (China), the Netherlands and South Africa.

Noting that prospects are for a continuing increase in income inequality in the course of the present economic situation, the report also added that excessive income inequalities could be associated with higher crime rates, lower life-expectancy, and in the case of the poor countries malnutrition and an increased likelihood of children being taken out of school in order to work.

“Already now, there are widespread perceptions in many countries that globalization does not work to the advantage of the majority of the population”, the report says. “The policy challenge is therefore to ensure adequate incentives to work, learn and invest, while also avoiding socially-harmful and economically-inefficient income inequalities.”

Ocean Literacy Standards for Testing

2008-10-21T01:11:00.002-04:00

Take a look at the Ocean Literacy testing standards. Comment, review, contribute, try out in your class!

This is a link to the Essential Principles and Fundemental Concepts of Ocean Sciences
http://www.coexploration.org/oceanliteracy/documents/OceanLitConcepts_10.11.05.pdf

Tips to Winterize your home

2008-10-13T08:52:00.002-04:00

Click on the blog site posted here to see tips to save energy this winter in your home.