Steady State Revolution » Media

Tim Jackson on the Economics of Climate Change

Joshua — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:31:53 +0000

I’ve said numerous times before how much I love Tim Jackson’s work. His book is easily the best growth dilema work to date. And the report the book is based upon is equally as good, just quicker to read. Heck, if you don’t have time for that there is even a summary (pdf) of the report! Needless to say, I think everyone should read his work.

Here’s a great video of a TED Talk by Tim Jackson on the Economics of Climate Change:

Special thanks to Growth Is Not Sustainable for first posting this video.

Paul Gilding’s The Great Disruption at Seattle Town Hall

Joshua — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 03:40:16 +0000

I was finally able to get this video uploaded from Pirate TV onto vimeo (couldn’t get it to work on youtube). Anyway, I know it’s been a while, but I was really impressed with Paul’s talk (and him as a person) – not to mention I was privileged to introduce him for it! (not in the video).

Anyway, check it out:

Paul Gilding’s The Great Disruption at Town Hall Seattle on Vimeo.

Free Money Day: Sharing Is Common Cents - Stunt Offers A New Perspective & An Opportunity To Spark Debate

Joshua — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:16:06 +0000

Sharing Is Common Cents

It’s one of the most basic relationships most of us interact with on a daily basis: money. Just like anything else, if you love something set it free (or even if you don’t love it, just value it or put up with it). It’s time we started to challenge our perceptions around money. That time is nearly here – September 15th.

In just a few days you could be giving away your money to start a discussion about sharing economies, community, cash and alternatives to our unstable, unsustainable growth economy. It’s Free Money Day on September 15th, directly from the source:

What Is It?

On September 15th, at various public locations worldwide, people will hand out their own money to complete strangers (two coins/notes at a time) asking the recipients to pass one of these coins or notes on to someone else.

The Aim?

Raise awareness and start conversations about the benefits of economies based on sharing, as well as offer a liberating experience that gets us thinking more critically and creatively about our relationship with money and how we could have new types of economic activity.

The purpose of Free Money Day is to re-engage with money, re-exploring the way we relate with it and use it, and the possibilities that exist outside of it, in order to reinvigorate some of these democratizing ideals and bring them into practice.

You can register to host your own Free Money Day event here, and sign up to receive updates here. All the information you’ll need to organize a fun and successful event is posted on the Free Money Day website. And don’t forget to join the discussions leading up to and following September 15^th. We hope you’ll agree that this provides a great opportunity for us all to have some courageous conversations with the bonus of some fun added in!

Also, check our the Free Money Day video on YouTube:

This is a project that we’ve been working very diligantly on over at the Post Growth Institute (an international collective identifying, inspiring and implementing new approaches to global well-being without economic growth, co-founded by yours truly). I’m incredibly excited about this project and I hope you will join in!

Climate Change v. Global Warming v. AGW

Joshua — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 19:46:06 +0000

Q: Why was it called global warming for so long, if the weather everywhere isn’t actually warming? Why aren’t they using that term as much anymore?

A: It was called global warming because the average global temperature is rising due to an increasing amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, this as led to misunderstanding and the anti-climate-science media campaigns have shown us the value of a more accurate and easily understood meaning.

Q: Why do some people refer to it as Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW)?

A: This is a term used to create a devision between “global warming” that is occurring naturally, versus “global warming” that is the result of human society (AGW). While our planet’s climate changes on large swings, it happens slowly – in geological time frames. The climate today is changing much faster than the natural swing and can be directly related to human beings burning fossil fuels.

Q: Why “climate change” then?

A: This is a more accurate term now used to help make it clear in the midst of massive amounts of anti-science misinformation and media campaigns by polluters. Tehcnically, it would be even more accurate to call it Global Climate Disruption, as the increase in greenhouse gases throws every part of the ecosystem off balance – cause floods in some areas, droughts in others, increased severity and frequency of storms, causing some areas to cool (N. Europe and Northeast US) while others burn (Texas, Pakistan, Australia).

Q: Where is all this misunderstanding coming from?

A: Bil Oil and Coal dump unbelievable amounts of money into campaigns to make the public distrust the science (that’s right, science, the thing that is allow you to read this, drive your car, and in many cases be alive today – the basis for modern human existence). By undermining the public’s trust in climate science these companies can distort the facts so that we “debate” the existence of something that is considered “unequivocal” by credible scientists.

Q: Good god, why would they do such a thing?!

A: Uh, because they make money by polluting. And our economy is built such that if you make money, next year you must make more. It is in their best (short-term) interests to keep polluting as long as they can – change is costly and will likely result in the end of their industry all together. History is full of corporations fighting to keep up their business, even if it was a business harmful to society – tobacco companies and the British (East Indian Trading Company) pushed the colonists to war over similar issues (there it was taxation, sure, but also local businesses versus foreign interests on the colonists soil – read up on the Boston tea party) are two examples that come to mind.

Q: Now What?

A: Spread the word, don’t buy into the bullshit, and stop engaging with climate deniers. Climate change is already here, it’s happening quicker than we can do anything to stop it now. Best we can hope for is the resulting economic shocks/collapse from the ecological one will smack the deniers enough in the face that they will climb aboard the good ship Reason and Common Sense, so we can do more.

By engaging with the deniers you are giving legitimacy to their position, wasting your time and energy, and furthering their exposure to the larger world (if you are engaging with them online or in another public forum). Their position doesn’t have any legitimacy anymore. Don’t let them take your valuable energy away from you. Instead, direct your energy to positive, action-oriented ways of improving the world, your community and yourself.

Make your local community and your household more resilient to shocks. Invest locally, grow your own food and/or support your local farmers, buy a bike (or two, or three), stop wasting food and energy. Research Transition Towns, find one in your area.

Video: A Steady State Student

Joshua — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:48:42 +0000

Check out this short film:

On YouTube Here.

Happy Birthday Yes! Magazine - Celebrating 15 Years

Joshua — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:05:35 +0000

Yes! Magazine Celebrate's 15 Years

I just returned from a great evening with the folks at Yes! Magazine celebrating their 15th anniversary at Town Hall Seattle. In case you haven’t read Yes! Magazine, they are a leading sustainability-community-new-economy-social-justice – okay, progressive - media outlet. Their website is a constant stream of free (and ad free) content ranging from articles on social justice and sustainability to the new economy and happiness. I’ve been a big fan of them for some time, and privileged enough to be connected with Yes! through previous events, blogging and twitter friends (check out their issue #56 on “What Happy Families Know” my family is on page 52).

I’ll be adding the video of the speakers once it’s up, but wanted to give a quick run-down of tonight’s events, which included Van Jones, Bill McKibben and David Korten. For being a “humble writer,” Bill doesn’t give himself enough credit for his ability to inspire with his speaking as well as his writing. Van’s words were able to move the audience greatly with what appeared to be almost effortless charm – he had us hanging on every well-executed pause and perfectly timed joke. David gave credence to the progressive movements he’s helped to form and be part of with his piece, as well as highlight some of the great work being done to create a better world.

Yes! Magazine started in a basement on Bainbridge Island and is now a world-wide media outlet for progressive, positive stories and action-oriented motivation. They still function on the island, but their offices are a bit bigger. Of course, being a non-profit, community-supported magazine gives their voice even more validity (always good to walk the talk), but it also means they need support to run such an amazing publication. I highly recommend you becoming a subscriber, or read them online and donate. I’m a very satisified dedicated friend (read: monthly donor) and you might be too!

Happy Birthday Yes! Magazine, here’s to another 15 (or 500) years!

UPDATE: Here’s the video link where you can watch each speech separately or the whole thing.