The ultimate present [moment]

Long Views � Blog Archive � The ultimate present

High speed photography of exploding "still life" as metaphor for the moment before chaotic unraveling of social and ecological systems.

After the Money’s Gone - CommonDreams.org

After the Money’s Gone - CommonDreams.org

Catalog Choice - Eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive in the mail

Catalog Choice - Eliminate unwanted catalogs you receive in the mail

Just found this thanks to Gil Friend's blog. I've tried this recently with another service, and I have yet to see any results, but taking four pounds of paper out of the mailbox and transferring it directly to the recycling bin is really taking a toll on my Eco-psyche (and has been for years). Does Victoria lie awake at night and dream about the trees?

In Japan, Rural Economies Wane as Cities Thrive - New York Times

In Japan, Rural Economies Wane as Cities Thrive - New York Times

A Carbon-Negative Fuel (?)

WorldChanging: A Carbon-Negative Fuel

This is a conversation Tom Ward and I have been having of late... the evolution of charcoal and its uses and functions in the post-modern world. This sees bio-char as a fuel and an amendment to the soils, theoretically sequestering carbon in the process. It's a great article, with equally thoughtful comments and critiques.

Microwind Generator: 30X More Efficient and Cheaper!

Microwind Generator: 30X More Efficient and Cheaper! | EcoGeek

A brilliant design. A magnet on a taught string bounces in wind and produces electricity.

Triple Pundit: A juicy issue...

I have long held that Organic Soy, Hemp, or Almond milk (soup broth, etc.) in a non-recyclable* Tetra-Pack does not a green product make. This is one of those dilemmas of availability, as the alternative is often... nothing. The Triple Pundit article quoted below lists the promise of Biomimicry to make the process of reclamation more energy efficient. Now, if they'll just start doing something about that here in the states.

*Due to the lack of infrastructure here in the states, they are either landfill or shipped great distances to be 70% reclaimed.

Triple Pundit: A juicy issue...

Have you enjoyed some soy milk today? Perhaps a nice juice pack? Or added to your soup with a broth in a box? It's so convenient, having packaging that allows you to not depend on refrigeration, and not be limited by short expiration dates. Most of those packages are created by Tetrapak. They seem benign, these aseptic packages, keeping the germs at bay, and storing well for another day.

And yet, there's a problem: To get this level of non refrigerated packaging, it requires layering multiple materials upon one another, including cardboard, polythene, and aluminum. Add to this the plastic spout at the top, yet another material, and you'll find that recycling these is beyond the means and willingness of most places.

We Went to the Moon. We can do 35 MPG | EcoGeek

We Went to the Moon. We can do 35 MPG | EcoGeek

Great Image.

Convenience Wins, Hubris Loses and Content vs. Context, a Presentation for Some Music Industry Friends at FISTFULAYEN

This is an interesting article, both for what it is saying about the music industry (and content providers as a whole) as well (and perhaps more importantly) about illuminating the role that vested interest plays in stifling creativity and technological development in order to protect current position.

Imagine, for example, what cars would look like today if only we used our inherent ability as humans to create rather than protect, rather than the DRM-like struggle that was illuminated in the movie Who Killed The Electric Car? I know, the standard answer is that the market would encourage it if it were economical, but read this article (and watch the aforementioned movie) for an insight into the greater story, beyond the dogma of Econ 101.

The viewpoint of the author is very refreshing, and may point to a greater trend emerging in our approach to exchanging our creative potential.

"I’m here to tell you today that I for one am no longer going to fall into this trap. If the licensing labels offer their content to Yahoo! put more barriers in front of the users, I’m not interested. Do what you feel you need to do for your business, I’ll be polite, say thank you, and decline to sign. I won’t let Yahoo! invest any more money in consumer inconvenience. I will tell Yahoo! to give the money they were going to give me to build awesome media applications to Yahoo! Mail or Answers or some other deserving endeavor. I personally don’t have any more time to give and can’t bear to see any more money spent on pathetic attempts for control instead of building consumer value. Life’s too short. I want to delight consumers, not bum them out.

"If, on the other hand, you’ve seen the light too, there’s a very fun road ahead for us all. Lets get beyond talking about how you get the music and into building context: reasons and ways to experience the music. The opportunity is in the chasm between the way we experience the content and the incredible user-created context of the Web."

WorldChanging: Electric Vehicle Roundup

Sure, some of these may never see production, or may be 'optimistic' about the features and performance, but it truly is refreshing to see the design and engineering shake-up going on in industry as a whole; and the automotive world in particular.

This is a great article that shows some of the pre-order possibilities (and some that are ACTUALLY being produced) of EVs today. What I like about the article is the focus on start-ups and smaller companies (the Chevy Volt is conspicuously absent from the list) that are following a classic innovation path (as documented in The Innovator's Dilemma) to unseat the unresponsive Dino's of Detroit, and even some that think they are the greenest thing going.

Now, if we can just keep our old Camry going for a few more years...

Welcome to the Corn Ethanol Backlash | EcoGeek

From the original:

Welcome to the Corn Ethanol Backlash | EcoGeek | Ethanol, Have, Corn, Biofuels, Barley: "The Economist published a story entitled (no, I'm not kidding) Ethanol Schmethanol, which points out some of the limitations of the fuel itself, while National Geographic's cover story 'Green Dreams' bemoans the inefficiency of the current ethanol system. Finally, WIRED's cover story hits on much the same topic, but from a more technical perspective, with a focus on cellulosic ethanol and switchgrass. Long story short? Corn ethanol isn't working. It's inefficient, reduces supplies of actual food which actual people need to actually eat, and increased demand is only leading to the destruction of the last untouched American prairie lands. But solutions might be on the way in the form of cellulosic ethanol, which is much more energy efficient (though more expensive) to produce, as well as alternate forms of biofuels that are more energy dense and gasoline-like than ethanol (namely butanol.)"

Google Docs in Plain English

Oops sorry, double post. Check it out over on The EQ Blog.

http://eqmedia.blogspot.com/2007/09/google-docs-in-plain-english.html

San Diego Mayor Supports Gay Mariage Resolution

cbs5.com - Video Library

7 Stupid Thinking Errors You Probably Make - lifehack.org

7 Stupid Thinking Errors You Probably Make - lifehack.org

The Great Iraq Swindle: : Rolling Stone

There is a great video to accompany this story.

The Great Iraq Swindle: : Rolling Stone: "How is it done? How do you screw the taxpayer for millions, get away with it and then ride off into the sunset with one middle finger extended, the other wrapped around a chilled martini? Ask Earnest O. Robbins -- he knows all about being a successful contractor in Iraq."

U.S., Canadian West set joint carbon-cutting target | Environment | Reuters

U.S., Canadian West set joint carbon-cutting target | Environment | Reuters

"Our collective commitment will build a successful regional system to be linked with other efforts across the nation and eventually the world," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

As far as i can tell, Schwarzenegger (and his staff) have a brilliant approach to the carbon reduction issue: In the face of an administration that is ranging from denial to delusional (that is, the spreading of) in its policies and fancy for industry lobbyists when it comes to issues of "the Environment", The Gov.'s (Arnold, not U.S.) approach is to supersede the federal layer in favor of an inter-regional, trans-national carbon emission reduction initiatives and "treaties".

The challenge for the plan should be to address 1) potential challenge from courts about the authority for states to make these arrangements on their own, and 2) "giving it teeth" so that the agreements are binding in the face of what will surely be challenges to the political will to accomplish the benchmarks in reductions.

The federal state seems to have impaled itself on the entrenched interests of the status-quo. Hopefully these inter-regional networks can form a cohesive, ad-hoc global approach to the carbon issue. Could this be the nascent stages of a new global body? Arnold for President... of the World?

Focus the Nation

"On January 31, 2008 thousands of schools and organizations will collectively shift the national dialogue on global warming." Focus The Nation is the organization anchoring the event.

Its message is positive yet sober: we can do this, but we had better get cracking. Two quotes stood out (for me) in perusing the site:

"David Orr closed out the event with inspiring—and challenging—words. We may be crossing a political tipping point. But time is not our friend. An aggressive efficiency and renewables policy can get us to where we need to be by mid-century. But we do not have a moment to spare, or the time to indulge in half measures or false solutions."

and,

"Dr. Martin Luther King spoke these prescient words in a speech not long before his assassination:

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time [and] life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. … Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words ‘Too late.’”"

The introductory video is a realistic message to this generation regarding the scope of the ecological challenge upon us, and the response required. It realizes the requirements of developing and implementing the necessary infrastructure to make the kinds of Carbon Emission Reductions that are being called for in order to mitigate the effects of the industrial era on the ability of this planet to sustain conditions favorable to human and other life.

Most of the organizing focus seems to be coming from college campuses, which seems appropriate since they are the ones who will inherit what will need to be nothing shy of an evolution of human commerce.

Focus the Nation

The Cheapskate Guide: 50 Tips for Frugal Living | zen habits

One person's "Cheapskate" is another's "Eco-conscious lifestyle", as saving personal resources also makes ecological sense. (And as one commenter points out, it is actually a post on frugality, as a cheapskate is "someone who stiffs their waitress.")

Nonetheless, a nice collection of some good advice, not all of it obvious to the seasoned cheapskate, er environmentalist.

The Cheapskate Guide: 50 Tips for Frugal Living | zen habits

Let's Face It: The Warfare State Is Part of Us

This is a great wake-up call for those still clinging to their "Kerry/Edwards '04" bumper stickers, and a warning to not go back to sleep after the Emperor is gone and a "lesser-evil" like Queen Hillary or the Prince of Hope has replaced him.

AlterNet: ForeignPolicy: Let's Face It: The Warfare State Is Part of Us: "While the Bush-Cheney administration is the most dangerous of our lifetimes -- and ousting Republicans from the White House is imperative -- such truths are apt to smooth the way for progressive evasions. We hear that 'the people must take back the government,' but how can 'the people' take back what they never really had? And when rhetoric calls for 'returning to a foreign policy based on human rights and democracy,' we're encouraged to be nostalgic for good old days that never existed. The warfare state didn't suddenly arrive in 2001, and it won't disappear when the current lunatic in the Oval Office moves on."

Welcome to Appropedia - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

(This is a cross post from the EQBlog where I contribute.)

Welcome to Appropedia - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

I've been creating my own wiki over at http://byrnegreen.com/wiki
My intention is part CV?Resume, part list of resources for helping people "meet the challenges and realize the rewards of going green."

I was excited to come across Appropedia, a wiki focused on Sustainable Technologies. I am adding it to my google bookmarks, an my list of links on the byrnegreen wiki.

Soooooo many initiatives. Keep up the good work all!

Potential Energy Crunch May Bring Other Fuels to Fore - WSJ.com

And not once did they mention the term "Peak Oil".

Potential Energy Crunch May Bring Other Fuels to Fore - WSJ.com:

"The conclusions appear to be the first explicit concession by the petroleum industry that it alone can't meet burgeoning global demand for oil, which may rise to as much as 120 million barrels a day by 2030 from about 84 million barrels a day currently, according to some projections. (U.S. gasoline prices are on the rise. See related article.)

These conclusions follow hard on the heels of a medium-term outlook by the Paris-based International Energy Agency this month, which suggested a supply squeeze will hit by 2012. The fact that the American petroleum industry is warning of a crunch could have an even greater impact on the debate over energy policy."

The Integral Vision

kenwilber.com - blog

Ken Wilber is "back" (in book form that is, this guy seems to be getting more prolific with age) with his latest intro to the integral vision.

The main link (above) is to Ken's Blog, which has the full Publisher's Weekly review of the new book, but also valuable to the uninitiated for the link to kenwilber.com. Also, check out integral institute's website.

It seems from the review that the new book is pithy with the framework, but spares no intellectual horsepower. This should be an excellent compliment to Theory of Everything (Shambhala, 2000) which was a bit light on the theory, but a nice intro to the potentials of seeing reality through this framework and the applications thereof.

While I am deep into the theory of KW and the I-I crew, I am looking forward to the August 14th publish date. I always find intro and review material helpful: 1) personally, to inform omissions and support my overall understanding and, 2) for others, both in my ability to teach the material and as yet another reference to offer people when they ask "what is this Integral Theory you keep referencing?"

The book is here at Amazon, but don't forget your locally owned bookstore! (Here's mine.)

Budget for Restoring Earth; Lester Brown

Sustainable Business Insider Article:

"We can roughly estimate how much it will cost to reforest the earth, protect the earth's topsoil, restore rangelands and fisheries, stabilize water tables, and protect biological diversity. Where data and information are lacking, we fill in with assumptions. The goal is not to have a set of precise numbers, but a set of reasonable estimates for an earth restoration budget."

The big suprise here is this:

Annual Earth Restoration Budget

Funding Goal
$6 billion Reforesting the earth
$14 billion Protecting topsoil on cropland
$9 billion Restoring rangelands
$13 billion Restoring fisheries
$31 billion Protecting biological diversity
$10 billion Stabilizing water tables
$93 billion TOTAL

93 Billion is peanuts compared to the overall volume of the global economy, or the cost of the Iraq war. This is an issue of political will, not available science or resources.

The Yes Men have done it again: Daily Kos: State of the Nation

"The Yes Men have done it again. Posing as representatives of Exxon-Mobil and the National Petroleum Council, they today presented to 300 oil industry representatives in Calgary, Alberta, a new product - Vivoleum: an oil made from..." the remains of humans who perish as a result of climate change.

Sure, a gruesome joke, but a telling sarcasm pointed at the captains of industry, whereby the consequences of the present destruction actually becomes the feedstock for future profits. Not so far from the truth, huh?

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Democracy Now! | Ex-Marine Josh Rushing on his Journey from Military Mouthpiece to Al Jazeera Correspondent

I really appreciated this interview, and I think it is one of the best exchanges I have seen from Amy Goodman and a guest in some time.

Josh Rushing was featured in the film Control Room (about Al Jazeera) and was subsequently pressured by the military he served loyally for candidly expressing his insights regarding building bridges between the U.S. Military and Al Jazeera, and therefore their viewers. He is now reporting for Al Jazeera's English channel after having resigned his commission.

In addition to the behind the scenes viewpoint of the "highly-produced" briefing "set" that the US used in Iraq, Mr. Rushing also tells about his years as a liaison between the Marines and Hollywood, and some of the censorship that goes on as a result.

Really, a great interview; highly recommended.

Democracy Now! | Ex-Marine Josh Rushing on his Journey from Military Mouthpiece to Al Jazeera Correspondent

Green Maven continues to recieve acolade from industry leaders.

talk about leveraging web 2.0 for sustainability.

green maven continues to get props for its use of google co-op to search the green web. this time it's from the mighty google themself. see google's list here

the brain child of network and technology mastermind (and my dear friend) k.joey shepp, fellow greenMBAers (of which i am an alumnus) and others share a hive-mind for the green web. as greenMaven editor/contributors, we add sites to the search query by tagging them as we surf the web.

early this year, the site was named #9 in TIME's top 25 web sites of 2006, although it had only launched weeks before the endo of the year. that is here:

get a widget (here) for your page and help spread the green web.

"Green Maven makes searching for all things green as easy as using
Google. If you search for socks, you get organic socks. If you search
for cars, you get hybrid cars. Our mission is to make it easy for
mainstream to go green."-Joey Shepp, founder of Green Maven

Web Worker Daily � Blog Archive Zen and the Art of Attention �

Web Worker Daily: Blog Archive Zen and the Art of Attention

"To control your cow, put it in a large pasture."

A great take--counter to conventional wisdom of limiting your intake--on navigating the information overload society. So important to those of us that have our fingers on so many pulses and are trying to influence and contribute to so many different spheres.

An American Self-Portrait

Running the Numbers-An American Self-Portrait by Chris Jordan

As I put it to my new friend Meri after she passed this along, "Good art is a reflection of light and shadow, literally and figuratively. This artist certainly has a grasp of our shadow." These are visuals of the staggering statistics of consumption in our culture. (The image is a visual representation of the number of cell phones retired in the US DAILY.)



From the artist's website:

This new series looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on. My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 426,000 cell phones retired every day. This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society, in large intricately detailed prints assembled from thousands of smaller photographs.

Amazon.com: The Assault on Reason: Books: Al Gore

Amazon.com: The Assault on Reason: Books: Al Gore:

A bit strange to post an Amazon "article", I know. There are no affiliate codes here though, just some insightful comments from Al Gore, such as:

"How do you spur people to action in a crisis like this without using fear?

"Gore: I often open the slideshow by talking about the 'climate crisis.' The English meaning of the word 'crisis' conveys alarm, but the Chinese and Japanese expressions use two characters together: the first means danger, but the second means opportunity. The animations do help to convey some of that sense of danger--but the opportunities are enormous. We are beginning to see companies taking advantage of the new markets that are emerging as they innovate and put to market the technologies that we need to solve this crisis. Some have become ubiquitous, like the hybrid electric engine and compact fluorescent light bulb. There are thousands of opportunities like this all around us if governments will show the type of bold leadership that we need--and work with industry to exploit these opportunities."

Researchers eye ancient plant as source of biofuel

Full Story Here

By Les Blumenthal

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A plant that flourished in Europe roughly 3,500 years ago could become a major source of biofuel.

Researchers say that camelina, planted on millions of acres of
marginal farmland from eastern Washington state to North Dakota, could
help power the nation's drive for cleaner energy.

"This is the most exciting crop I have seen in my 30 some years
in this field," said Steven Guy, a professor at the University of Idaho
and a crop-management specialist."

via: TreeHugger

Sweet News: Organic Bees Are Thriving (TreeHugger)

Thankfully...

Sweet News: Organic Bees Are Thriving (TreeHugger)

"The buzz around organically maintained beehives seems to be "Epidemic? What epidemic?" (That and maybe "Someone should tell the Queen to start laying off the royal jelly, if you know what I mean.") While record numbers of bees in North America and Europe are vanishing en masse in a worrying trend experts have dubbed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD), organic beekeepers are reporting no losses."

Kelpie Wilson | Birth of a New Wedge

I sent a related article to Tom Ward, and i am eagerly expecting his perspective. I know Tom is a proponent of charcoal and is a leading thinker in "Social Forestry"--the interface of the urban and the rural/zone 5 area.

A carbon-negative source of energy which is also a soil-mineral remediation treatment may sound too good to be true, but the argument is promising.

Tom?

Kelpie Wilson | Birth of a New Wedge

"The first meeting of the International Agrichar Initiative convened about 100 scientists, policymakers, farmers and investors with the goal of birthing an entire new industry to produce a biofuel that goes beyond carbon neutral and is actually carbon negative. The industry could provide a "wedge" of carbon reduction amounting to a minimum of ten percent of world emissions and possibly much more....

"One reason for the excitement is agrichar's potential to address a range of problems from poor soil fertility to waste disposal to rural development. About half the world's population relies on charcoal for cooking fuel, and the production of charcoal drives deforestation in Africa and other places. Smoky, inefficient charcoal kilns pollute the air with noxious gases that harm health and heat the planet.

"An effort to replace these kilns with modern, efficient pyrolysis units would relieve the pressure on forests by reducing waste and adding the ability to use any source of biomass, including agricultural waste products such as rice hulls. The ultimate objective is to produce enough charcoal to have some left over to bury and increase soil fertility, leading to a bootstrapping effect where increased yields provide both more food and more biomass for energy.

"Projects discussed at the agrichar meeting ranged from a household-size pyrolyzing stove that produces both cooking gas and charcoal, to industrial-scale units capable of processing large waste streams from sugar mills, pulp mills, poultry farms and even municipalities."

A sober take on the State-of-the-Earth

~C4Chaos: What do you believe about the state of the environment?

"I believe that the state of the environment is not in peril. It's just is.

"The Earth had survived countless transitions in its billions of years of evolution. And it will continue to do so long after humanity (as a specie we are today) had perished. So in my view, it is *us* and our state of relation to the environment which could use more improvement if we want humanity to have an extended stay on this planet."

Read the rest on his site. Spot on, in my opinion.

Goose Networks: Stop going. Start Goosing.

Goose Networks: Stop going. Start Goosing.: "'High-tech hitch-hiking seems likely to catch on'"

I have heard (peak-oil educator) Richard Heinberg mention 'Community Supported Hitchhiking' before. (A play off of CSA: Community Supported Agriculture.) Ironically, the techno-fix is in, and it is Goose Networks. Microsoft Employees are Beta testing this, and it could catch on.

I've said it before: there certainly will be a cacophony of solutions offered in response to 'The Hydrocarbon Twins" (Climate Change and Peak Oil). Some will be innovative, some will be far-fetched. The jury is out on this one...

Bee Colony Collapse Disorder

Einstein once said that without honeybees, the human race would have four years to live. While I am not sure of how he arrived at that specific number, one thing is for certain: pollinators are a crucial element to the life cycle--even in industrial agriculture. There is no techno-fix for a disappearing honeybee population.

I have read two hypothesis for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) so far: Cell Phones interference with bees' navigation systems, and GMO pollen contaminating the environment with plant produced pesticides that "bypass the protective barrier between species." The former has seen some counters (such that hive preditors do not take advantage of the abandoned hive, denoting some other factor), and the latter (GMOs) being addressed in the Sierra Club article that this post links to.

Let's hope this is one we didn't muck up.

How to punctuate a sentence - lifehack.org

because writing is important to communication; which is important to evolution, i offer you this link:

How to punctuate a sentence - lifehack.org

Dembot: HD UP

UPDATE: ooops! what's this doing here. should be here.

Andrew Baron of Rocketboom on the thirst for content:

Dembot: HD UP: "As expected, a pick-up in high quality online content is being desired with the release of the Apple-TV.

It used to be that we got calls all the time about new distribution platforms for our files and now they have for the most part turned to HD calls. Aggregators serving HD content are popping up left and right. RB is currently distributed on at least four companies that I know of.

Our primary distribution point, Move Digital, has seen a 10-fold increase over the last couple of weeks. We were serving around 400-500 files per day there and its just jumped up to 3000-4000 per day.

Related: David Pogue lifts up TiVo in context of it's i-boxing.

What's next with all this new hardware? Why set-top box software apps, of course."

GreenBiz News | The Convergence of Science, Technology, and Nature

"Students of economic and cultural history know that the current tight alignment between science, technology, and economic development is relatively recent. Western science accelerated past that of other cultures around perhaps 1600, whereas Western economies did not do so until the 19th century, indicating substantial lag time between scientific discovery and implementation in commercially viable technologies. That gap, however, has virtually disappeared. Not only are the lines between "basic" and "applied" research increasingly unclear and porous, but much scientific research has shifted from "curiosity driven" to "potential economic value" driven.

"These trends have long existed, but are accelerating dramatically; moreover, they are increasingly coupled to each other. They also coalesce in a particular modern zeitgeist as "natural" systems are converted to commodities and thus internalized to the human project; "nature" not just as cultural construct, but as subset of the human."

Incoming! KaosPilots!

[The cadre of change. cb]

Dane MBAs reinvent biz school in poorest Vancouver.

"Stepping into the lobby of the KaosPilots' impromptu headquarters inside the Stanley, however, is like walking into a different world. Chic-looking European MBA students are talking on cellphones or huddled in laptop scrums discussing how to help a big union or small business go green, get city hall more sustainable, or make disabled people less lonely.

If you're a KaosPilot, this is business school. Peter Froberg is one among 30 of them living and working from an SRO in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Like his counterparts, Froberg, a 25-year-old Dane, beat out some tough competition for a chance to join the Denmark-based program and come learn in Canada's poorest postal code. He's also shelling out considerable tuition fees because he wants to learn how to effect "a merger between the business world and the idealistic world," as he puts it.

In three years of fast-paced projects and lectures, students like Froberg plan to become a troupe of organizational contortionists, equally at home in corporate, non-profit and public spheres. It's the kind of ambidextrous business acumen students hope will help them climb the ladder, and that the program's creators hope will plug Europe's troubling brain drain."

GreenBiz News | Are Emissions Offsets A Carbon Con?

The Summarized Takeaway:

For many campaigners, offsetting is flawed in principle since it gives the impression that people in rich countries need not change their lifestyles to halt global warming. A serious objection concerns the effectiveness of the voluntary offsetting market, whose lack of regulation or standards makes it far from clear whether offsets are actually having the desired effect.

Getting it wrong appears to be all too easy when it comes to carbon offsetting. But as the offset market continues to mature, and its standards become more established, the quality of offsets available should increase. Yet, ultimately, the process of offsetting is not foolproof. Nor is it the answer to climate change, which can be more effectively tackled by companies and individuals first changing their behaviour.

Web Worker Daily: Focus on Multitasking

This article highlights some old news to those who troll the productivity blogs... multi-tasking is actually a less effective way to GTD (get things done). I am a big fan of checking email periodically rather than being on alert for immediate response (even if that response is only to stop what i am doing to read) to the next message.

Conscious Choice: Why We Close Doors

Conscious Choice: Why We Close Doors:

In his new book, researcher featured in What the Bleep… shows how to outsmart our brains for our own betterment"

Evolution is something you do.

"...To consciously evolve is to surrender unconditionally to the truth that there is no other and at the same time to accept responsibility for what that means in an evolving universe—a cosmos that is slowly but surely becoming aware of itself through you and me." ~Andrew Cohen

Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward

I appreciate Joel Makower's ability to hold an aperspectival viewpoint on the complex issues we are beginning to confront. Much like Ken Wilber's AQAL approach that "nobody is smart enough to be 100% wrong", Makover often offers insights that are beyond value judgments and meets people "where they are".

Does this mean that some of the perspectives don't conflict with one's own values? Of course not. What it does mean however, is that one can suspend one's own perspective as the ultimate truth and realize that different people see (and are motivated by) different things, and helps to build bridges rather than battling across chasms. For instance, rather than the old business vs. environment adversarial relationship, he states:

"I've long maintained that one of the biggest mistakes that the environmental community -- and many of us -- made around climate change is relegating it to being an 'environmental issue.' It is, of course, but it's also a public health issue, a human rights issue -- and a huge economic issue."

The article/post is a review and commentary of two noteworthy articles published this month: a discussion on "competitive advantage on a warming planet" in the March issue of Harvard Business Review, and a cover story in the April Atlantic on "who loses -- and who wins -- in a warming world."

Regarding competitive advantages and risks associated with climate change, whether they be changes in landscape due to rising seal levels affecting population centers, new shipping lanes (due to melting arctic ice sheets), or potential exposure of arable land long frozen in Siberia, Makover concludes:

"...this is all so much conjecture, a bit of a parlor game for now. And whoever the real "winners" and "losers" turn out to be isn't really the point. What's significant -- at least for the time being -- is to ponder such questions. Doing so is the best chance we have of moving the climate conversation into the many arenas in which it needs to take place: beyond the birds and the trees and into the realm of people, their communities, and the economic systems on which we all rely."

Welcome to "The Future's History."

Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward

I appreciate Joel Makower's ability to hold an aperspectival viewpoint on the complex issues we are beginning to confront. Much like Ken Wilber's AQAL approach that "nobody is smart enough to be 100% wrong", Makover often offers insights that are beyond value judgments and meets people "where they are".

Does this mean that some of the perspectives don't conflict with one's own values? Of course not. What it does mean however, is that one can suspend one's own perspective as the ultimate truth and realize that different people see (and are motivated by) different things, and helps to build bridges rather than battling across chasms. For instance, rather than the old business vs. environment adversarial relationship, he states:

"I've long maintained that one of the biggest mistakes that the environmental community -- and many of us -- made around climate change is relegating it to being an 'environmental issue.' It is, of course, but it's also a public health issue, a human rights issue -- and a huge economic issue."

The article/post is a review and commentary of two noteworthy articles published this month: a discussion on "competitive advantage on a warming planet" in the March issue of Harvard Business Review, and a cover story in the April Atlantic on "who loses -- and who wins -- in a warming world."

Regarding competitive advantages and risks associated with climate change, whether they be changes in landscape due to rising seal levels affecting population centers, new shipping lanes (due to melting arctic ice sheets), or potential exposure of arable land long frozen in Siberia, Makover concludes:

"...this is all so much conjecture, a bit of a parlor game for now. And whoever the real "winners" and "losers" turn out to be isn't really the point. What's significant -- at least for the time being -- is to ponder such questions. Doing so is the best chance we have of moving the climate conversation into the many arenas in which it needs to take place: beyond the birds and the trees and into the realm of people, their communities, and the economic systems on which we all rely."

Welcome to "The Future's History."