New Movie Carbon Nation: Coming to a Theater Near You
1/17/2011 1:51:33 PM
Documentary filmmaker Peter Byck has produced a new documentary about climate change solutions: Carbon Nation. Instead of focusing on the negative aspect of carbon footprints and the modern impact on the climate, he has approached the problem from a proactive point of view. What can we do to solve climate change? How do these solutions affect (and improve) other areas like the social scene, economics, and national security? The answers to these questions and others are in the film, along with a host of entertaining characters to take you along for the ride. You can watch the trailer below, and find more information on the movie’s website.
Screenings:(one week in each city)
2/11/11–New York City, Cinema Village
2/18/11-Los Angeles, Laemmle Sunset 5 Theatre
3/4/11–Portland, Regal Fox Tower Stadium
3/4/11–Seattle, SIFF Cinema
3/11/11–Austin, Regal Arbor Cinema
UN Climate Change Conference in Cancun Starts & Media Attention Increases Again
11/30/2010 11:19:54 AM
The United Nations Climate Conference is happening for the next two weeks in Cancun, Mexico. You can visit the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Website (UNFCCC) here. Below is their description of the conference:
The United Nations Climate Change Conference is taking place in Cancun, Mexico, from 29 November to 10 December 2010. It encompasses the sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP) and the sixth Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP), as well as the thirty-third sessions of both the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI) and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), and the fifteenth session of the AWG-KP and thirteenth session of the AWG-LCA.
In honor of the 13th annual climate change conference, The New York Times has published several articles on what they think the best solution for so many nations attempting to tackle climate change might be. The general consensus is that the participants and representatives are trying to do too much at once. They want to take on climate change from the top down, reducing carbon dioxide now, instead of addressing short-term emissions problems like methane, HFCs, ozone, and soot. By reducing these now, we can buy more time to reduce carbon emissions and convert to renewable energy sources. You can read more, including a small farmer’s account of how climate change affects him personally, via the links below.
A sample of Earth Fever is now available on Scribd! Go check it out to read the introduction and preface to the book, as well as the first chapter. Help spread the word about the dangers of climate change!
Documentary about the Innuits & Climate Change Premiers
11/8/2010 8:54:26 AM
“Innuit Knowledge and Climate Change” by Nunavut filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk premiered recently on Canadian Broadcasting. This documentary is about the effects of global warming on the Innuits in northern Canada.The Innuits drew a lot of attention last year with their observations that the Sun and constellations are not in the right place. See this trailer and judge for yourself what is going on in the northern parts of Earth here.
In an event hosted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the Ambassador to the Plurinational State of Bolivia for the United Nations, Pablo Solon, spoke on October 22 about Bolivia’s perspective and participate on the UN Climate Change negotiations. He also discussed Bolivia’s role in finding solutions to the climate crisis. You can view the video of his interview below. You can also read about it on CEPR’s website here.
In other news, the New York Times has been urging its readers to remember the global climate change efforts they voted for two years ago. They offer up advice and criticism for the future, hoping to help turn the tide back to concern for the environment and climate change. You can read each article here:
With election day tomorrow, there have been endless articles about who's funding who (and how much they're giving) in the congressional race. Interestingly, The Guardian has uncovered that European big oil and polluting companies (inluding BP) are contributing money to fund the midterm elections for the Tea Party, a grass-roots, far right political group that completely opposes the concept of global warming.
An article about the issue explains that "nearly 80% of campaign donations from a number of major European firms were directed towards senators who blocked action on climate change. These included incumbents who have been embraced by the Tea Party such as Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, and the notorious climate change denier James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma."
Movement toward sustainability is already threatened with delayed legislation and lack of government support. Those concerned about the state of global warming and the way it is being handled should contact their local senator or representative and let make their concerns known. By working together, we can help stop climate change.
Van Jones is a former White House Adviser, an environmental activist and social entrepreneur and currently a distinguished fellow in the Center of African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at Princeton University.
Jones said, “The next American economy should be characterized by production, thrift and ecological restoration. But can our political system meet the challenge of helping America transition to a green economy? Or will a politics of fear ultimately derail the politics of hope?” In his lecture, he links green environment initiatives with the economy, bringing to light that athe United States is in a state of crisis both environmentally and economically. For more information on the climate crisis, read Cosimo BookEarth Fever, Living Consciously with Climate Change and for more information on how to move to a green economy and toward sustainability, check out Up From Wall Street: The Responsible Investment Alternative.
Climate Change Reports Flood the News, But All Agree: Something Must Be Done
9/30/2010 9:39:41 AM
Last week, Robert M. Thorsen of the Hartford Courant wrote an article about how the Earth’s temperature this year, 2010, is one of the hottest on record, and it’s currently competing with the year 1998 for the title. He compared the temperature of the Earth to a human fever, something we can all identify with in Cosimo’s book Earth Fever: Living Consciously with Climate Change. Thorsen says:
Thus far, according to the U.S. National Climate Data Center, this year’s average is 58.5 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.21 degrees higher than the 20th century average.
This year’s elevated temperature is already 2.068 percent above normal. In human terms, this is like running a fever of 101.2 degrees. Though we’re not in the danger zone yet, we must not forget that the fever is still rising, albeit erratically.
Here’s what the Earth Fever authors have to say:
With respect to global warming we could use another metaphor: The Earth has a fever. As we all know, fever is a symptom of illness. Fever can heal, but it can also be deadly. We, the authors, don’t believe that the Earth itself will succumb to this relatively light fever, but we do believe that humankind and large parts of nature are in serious danger.
Thorsen’s article goes on to explain how the higher temperatures effect real communities, and what (scientificially) is causing the rise.
Another article, written by Beth Kapusta for The Huffington Post, discusses a recent arctic expedition and how climate change is affecting the polar areas of the world, especially the ice caps. She says:
Ice conditions affect our captain’s daily navigation decisions (particularly the fear of becoming trapped by it), and provides a palpable physical reminder of the climate change that is affecting the High Arctic with accelerated force–the global rise in temperature is about .8 degrees Celsius; here it is considerably higher. Today, we have almost been trapped by the melting ice cap as it fragments into pieces (some of them the size of a football field), and is swept south by the wind and east by the rotation of the earth.
Finally, an article by the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Jeffery Sachs, emphasizes the importance of addressing climate change now in his final article for the Sustainable Developments column at Scientific American. The whole column is available in the September issue, but I’d like to highlight a key point he makes here.
According to Obama’s 2008 election campaign, this was to be the first year of a new climate and energy policy for the U.S., too, and the second year of a “green recovery.” We’ve had neither. The recovery has sputtered: Obama bet on “stimulating” exhausted consumers rather than on a long-term program of public investments in sustainable infrastructure. The Senate, true to form, sustained its 18th year of inaction on global warming since ratifying the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992. […]
We are losing not just time but the margin of planetary safety, as the world approaches or trespasses on various thresholds of environmental risk. With the human population continuing to rise by 75 million or more per year and with torrid economic growth in much of the developing world, the burdens of deforestation, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, species extinction, ocean acidification and other massive threats intensify.
All these articles bring to light how climate change is actively affecting our communities, and if not our livelihoods, then the livelihoods of those around us. Earth Fever also makes this important distinction, and offers insight to help us find new ways of living. Ways that will affect the Earth in a positive manner, that will enable us to continue to sustain life and growth without wreaking havoc on the world around us.
German Military Study Warns of Potentially Drastic Oil Crisis
9/30/2010 9:35:36 AM
A German military think tank study has analyzed how “peak oil” could change the global economy. The internal draft document shows for the first time how serious the German government takes a potential energy crisis.
Climate Change Experts and Leaders Call Governments and People to Action
9/30/2010 9:34:29 AM
Al Gore recently commented on an Australian protest where citizens rallied against the government for not taking more direct action against climate change. Al Gore echoed these sentiments for the United States, where he hopes that American citizens will rally to try and convince the government to take action against global warming, passing a comprehensive energy bill that will reduce carbon emissions and hold companies accountable for their output. This call for government action–or action from the people to encourage government action– is largely similar to the letter from Earth Fever authors Erik van Praag, Judy McAllister, and Jan Paul van Soest to the governments of the world, pleading with them to pass a comprehensive measure or bill against climate change.
You can do your part by writing to your local Senator or Representative, encouraging him or her to vote for methods and measures protect against climate change.
Earth Fever Authors Appeal to World Leaders: Take Responsibility for Climate Change!
9/30/2010 9:32:58 AM
AN APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE WORLD
August, 2010
Your Majesties, Presidents, Prime Ministers, Premiers, Chancellors and Excellencies,
Much of what is dear to us is at risk of being lost as a consequence of climate change. To be clear, we aren’t just talking about nature and the environment, but also about society as we know it, and in the long term perhaps even large parts of the planet itself. This is not just a loose statement but a very real possibility, as we hope is shown clearly in our bookEarth Fever, Living Consciously with Climate Change.
That’s why we make this urgent appeal to you and call upon you to do the following:
1. To deepen your knowledge about the situation. We ask this not just to those of you who have to deal with the problem directly, but to all of you. It is not that difficult to learn the essential facts in a short time (reading the first two chapters of our book, for example, is sufficient to get the basics). But more than that, it requires courage to let the facts sink in. That is what we call for.
2. To create an image of a world in which we as citizens and politicians, both in our own countries and on a global level, collaborate to tackle the climate problem. To create a world in which cooperation and togetherness is our credo and in which we truly care about the wellbeing of all people and all creatures, now and in the future. And to demonstrate that concern in action. To create a world in which our attention is focused on what connects us, instead on what separates us, and in which sharp negotiations that quickly lead to concrete, far-reaching agreements have replaced the molasses-slow processes of today.
3. To communicate about the situation with each other, your staff, us citizens and in international meetings. We ask you to speak not only about the emergency we are in, but also about your vision, the opportunities we still have and the sacrifices that are necessary. Only thus can you escape the dilemma of vacillating between negative thinking and unfounded optimism.
4. And finally: to set much more radical steps than the ones already taken on the road leading to the new world and to do that now. Don’t be dismayed because other countries and the corporate world don’t follow you immediately. You can be an example for them, and be a vanguard in the technical, economical, ecological and social fields. Specifically, we ask you to take in the short term all the measures recommended in international plans and scenarios directed at achieving a maximum level of 450 CO2 parts per million-equivalent.
With these actions you will restore the dignity of your nation, and we, the citizens, will be very pleased. We know ecological policy is a priority though it is often insufficiently thought through and thus inconsistent.
This is what we ask of you, and it would be a radical break from politics thus far. With this you are giving back to politics–and with that to democracy–its rightful place in society. In the beginning you will no doubt encounter much resistance. But you will also encounter support from citizens who, like you and us, hope for a world worth living in: for us, for those who will come after us, and also for our brothers and sisters elsewhere on the planet. In short, we call for a leadership that radiates vision, courage and a love for Gaia, this glorious planet with everything on it.
That is not asking too much, is it?
Yours faithfully,
Judy McAllister, Erik van Praag and Jan Paul van Soest
Authors of Earth Fever, Living Consciously with Climate Change
The English version of Earth Fever: Living Consciously with Climate Change by authors Judy McAllister, Erik van Praag, and Jan Paul van Soest has been released by Cosimo and is now available for ordering at Amazon, Barnes& Noble, and the Cosimo online bookstore.
How can we individually do our part in dealing with climate change? One answer is provided in Earth Fever, coming soon from Cosimo Books. In it, authors Jan Paul van Soest, Erik van Praag, and Judy McAllister bring to bear their diverse experience in the fields of sustainability, leadership, and entrepreneurialism on the problem of bringing about the change of consciousness and the new spirituality the endeavor will require. Along with the wisdom of international opinion leaders—including management consultant Peter Senge; Jeroen van der Veer, the former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; cultural creative Paul Ray; Herman Wijffels, former governor at the World Bank; and others—Earth Fever delves into what is needed to bring about this essential new way of thinking.
The first edition of Earth Fever was published by Dutch publisher Uitgeverij ten Have in 2008, and with this new English-language release, the crucial information about climate change and our response can reach even more people worldwide.
‘Earth Fever’: the prescription for a global change of attitude
9/30/2010 9:06:57 AM
The other day, 56 newspapers around the world published the same editorialon the climate crisis: an unprecendented event for potentially an unprecedented global emergency.
The editorial—drafted by editors at the Guardian—says, among other things:
Many of us, particularly in the developed world, will have to change our lifestyles. The era of flights that cost less than the taxi ride to the airport is drawing to a close. We will have to shop, eat and travel more intelligently. We will have to pay more for our energy, and use less of it…
In the U.S., only the Miami Herald ran the editorial, though it deleted a key sentence from it that focused on the particular need for the U.S. to change its carbon-hungry ways. It’s a telling indication of how poorly the message is being communicated when those who need to hear it most aren’t even being exposed to it.
Fred Branfman of the Sacramento News & Review offers a similar argument, in a piece entitled “Copenhagen Won’t Be Enough—Only a ‘Human Movement’ Can Save Civilization from the Climate Crisis” (via Alternet):
Our greatest challenge is to adjust ancient belief systems to the new climate realities that have undone them. If we can break through our fog and clearly see the existential threat we pose to our children, presently unthinkable actions to save them may become possible. But if not, we will remain locked in our cognitive cattle cars, moving inexorably toward the loss of everything we hold dear.
How do we adjust those ancient belief systems? How can we individually do our part in dealing with climate change? One answer is provided in Earth Fever, coming soon from Cosimo Books. In it, authors Jan Paul van Soest, Erik van Praag, and Judy McAllister bring to bear their diverse experience in the fields of sustainability, leadership, and entrepreneurialism on the problem of bringing about the change of consciousness and the new spirituality the endeavor will require. Along with the wisdom of international opinion leaders—including management consultant Peter Senge; Jeroen van der Veer, the former CEO of Royal Dutch Shell; cultural creative Paul Ray; Herman Wijffels, former governor at the World Bank; and others—Earth Fever delves into what is needed to bring about this essential new way of thinking. Stay tuned for news of Earth Fever’s publication...
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