Steady State Revolution » Sustainability

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.

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.

Paul Gilding At Town Hall Seattle - Friday, May 6th at 7:30pm

Joshua — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:44:51 +0000

In a two short weeks Town Hall Seattle will be hosting Paul Gilding, author of The Great Disruption. Paul will be discussing the now unavoidable consequences of climate change and the challenges humanity will face. But in the face of such great challenges Paul envisions it will bring out the best of us: compassion, innovation, resilience and adaptability.

Paul will be in Seattle giving a talk about his new book and I will be introducing him as the Washington State Chapter Director of CASSE. The event will be at 7:30pm on Friday, May 6th at Town Hall Seattle. I hope you can make it!

Here’s a short description of his work:

“It’s time to stop just worrying about climate change, says Paul Gilding. We need instead to brace for impact because global crisis is no longer avoidable. This Great Disruption started in 2008, with spiking food and oil prices and dramatic ecological changes, such as the melting ice caps. It is not simply about fossil fuels and carbon footprints. We have come to the end of Economic Growth, Version 1.0, a world economy based on consumption and waste, where we lived beyond the means of our planet’s ecosystems and resources.

“The Great Disruption offers a stark and unflinching look at the challenge humanity faces-yet also a deeply optimistic message. The coming decades will see loss, suffering, and conflict as our planetary overdraft is paid; however, they will also bring out the best humanity can offer: compassion, innovation, resilience, and adaptability. Gilding tells us how to fight-and win-what he calls The One Degree War to prevent catastrophic warming of the earth, and how to start today.

“The crisis represents a rare chance to replace our addiction to growth with an ethic of sustainability, and it’s already happening. It’s also an unmatched business opportunity: Old industries will collapse while new companies will literally reshape our economy. In the aftermath of the Great Disruption, we will measure “growth” in a new way. It will mean not quantity of stuff but quality and happiness of life. Yes, there is life after shopping.”

Get your tickets here and check out Paul’s site for more locations on his tour.

Are Nuclear Fears Unfounded?

Joshua — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:31:42 +0000

I have a great respect for George Monbiot. He is an amazing writer (I loved his book Heat), a fearless journalist and a strong-willed political activist. He an deeply committed environmentalist, and also (so it appears, see below) a supporter of nuclear power.

Recently he engaged in a debate over the nuclear debacle in Japan with staunch anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott. After hunting for scientific evidence to support the claims of the anti-nuclear movement in general. Seeing as how I’ve been musing on the Japan nuclear quagmire, I thought I would share his piece with you.

From his recent article, “Evidence Meltdown,”

“Failing to provide sources, refuting data with anecdote, cherry-picking studies, scorning the scientific consensus, invoking a cover-up to explain it: all this is horribly familiar. These are the habits of climate change deniers, against which the green movement has struggled valiantly, calling science to its aid. It is distressing to discover that when the facts don’t suit them, members of this movement resort to the follies they have denounced.

“We have a duty to base our judgements on the best available information. This is not just because we owe it to other people to represent the issues fairly, but also because we owe it to ourselves not to squander our lives on fairytales. A great wrong has been done by this movement. We must put it right.”

Clearly a energy policy that does not rely on greenhouse gas emitting, non-renewable technologies is necessary. There is potential for nuclear power to provide a stop-gap to get us between our current technology level to when we will have more efficient, cheaper solar, wind, geothermal and wave/tidal power or potentially other more advance energy sources (fusion, hydrogen, etc). I also know that we could utilize all of these without nuclear power now, but I’m not so sure about the political feasibly of it all. And I am not keen on relying on unknown future technologies to save us in the present.

On the flip side, here’s Brian Czech’s most recent post on The Daly News.

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Image Credit: Inhabitat

The Real Population Question

Joshua — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 17:40:49 +0000

7 Billion People

This year will be a monumental one. 2011 is the year our spaceship Earth will have 7 billion people on board. A large majority of the developed countries’ populations are entering the elderly years, when they become less able to work and need more care. This means a lowered workforce all around and an increased need for a workforce to care for our elders. In the developing world, where a large majority of this population growth is occurring, there are more malnourished children, more uneducated mothers and more people living with inadequate shelter, food, health care, water, et cetera, et cetera.

I’ve written before about population. This is a dodgy issue surrounded by misconceptions, fear and contention. It is an easy topic to bring up if you are looking to start a heated argument, loose friends or out any Nazis in a group. However, the topic of population is an important one and it simply needs to be framed properly with the other root cause of “the problem” – consumption. The two go hand-in-hand and we like to avoid talking about either in respect to natural limits.

Jeremy, over at Make Wealth History, brought it up last month in a great post, “How many people can the Earth support?” and I want to echo his thoughts. I also want to make it clear to everyone that this debate must be had! We must have debate over these serious issues. We must be willing to potentially change our minds or, at the very least, be able to open them to solutions we might not have thought of ourselves or might not have be completely confident in their success. Either way we have to do something.

Next month is Global Population Speak Out Month, and I think we should all open up this topic for discussion. It is important for us to recognize that there is a limit to the number of people the world can support, as well as the amount of consumption that can be supported. The real question is what is the desired level of consumption that we want for everyone? We must be fair and grant enough room for all to equally share the Earth, so what is an appropriate stable population and consumption level? Our generation must answer these questions, so we should start by at least asking them.

Check out this infographic on the subject (my thanks to Grist for showing it to me) or this National Geographic video:

Ten Things That Will Build The New Economy

Joshua — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:00:06 +0000

The term “new economy” is broad, but its definition is gaining a more solid footing in the grass-roots of localism, communalism and post growth(ism). When I hear the term I think of an economy based on people and planet, not greed and growth. It is one that focuses energy on resilient local communities and businesses. It embraces the knowledge that small is beautiful. The New Economy is not just a rebooted version of the Old Economy – it is a drastic reshaping of the economic landscape. (I also believe that the New Economy is a post growth economy)

Out of the Old Economy of big-business, inequality, wall street over main street, oil & gas, environmental destruction and social degradation will rise the New Economy of small business, fair distribution, local systems, renewable energy, environmental restoration and protection, social renewal and strong communities.

The path ahead is not entirely clear, there are many opportunities to improving our social fabric and strengthening our local economics, but I believe that certain ideas will shine above the rest. Most of the change will come from the bottom up. This is true not only because the viability of anything getting done at the top of the political spectrum is practically non-existent, but also because the local movements will out-pace the movement of congress any day of the week. Here is my list of Top Ten Things That Will Build The New Economy (in no specific order):

Local Currency – Keeping the economy local, supporting the community businesses, and creating wealth within your region are all side effects of using a local currency. Local currency has really seen a boom in the last decade, too. From the Ithaca Hours to the Berkshare to time banks, there’s even a transition town book on the subject.
Distributed Renewable Energy Systems – E.F. Schumacher was right when he said “Small Is Beautiful.” Community and home scaled energy systems not only help create resiliency, but when connected to a smart grid can easily amplify that resiliency to the system as a whole. Distributed energy systems encourage local green jobs and in most cases utilize otherwise wasted space (rooftops, for example).
Co-ops & Employee Owned Businesses – What could be more empowering than employee ownership? It unifies a company from the base employees to the CEO. Instead of putting stockholder profit ahead of the actual people who make a company (employees), it puts in power those very employees – allowing them to decide what’s best for the company. When economic downturns hit, perhaps they will decide to collectively take a paycut instead of putting people on the street. When times are good they can invest in employee-supporting programs or back into the company. I’m willing to bet these types of corporate structures will outlive and out-thrive the stockholders in the long run. Why? Because they put the power in the hands of the people.
State Banks - When the economy crashed banks put there hands up in the air and said, “sorry, no more loans.” Every bank except for a state-run bank in North Dakota. This state run bank wasn’t out to make huge profits on high risk loans or derivatives – it is owned by the people to serve the people. A banking institution that is owned by the people it serves is more likely to be thinking in the interest of the people and not the shortsighted, profit interests of shareholders.
Fair Wage Distribution & Reduced Work Hours - I put these two into one because I think they will work hand-in-hand in the transformation of our working standards. In order to employ everyone we cannot afford to trust in GDP growth – it actually, will not happen. Equally important is the realization that GDP growth is unsustainable. To both maintain a sustainable economy and eliminate our staggering unemployment we must reduce our average work hours – spread the available work around, while increasing our personal and leisure time. But, we must not allow unfair wage distribution to continue in this restructuring or many will be pushed into poverty. Increasing base wages and decreasing the ungodly wages of CEOs is not only socially just, but necessary to maintain a middle class with a shorter workweek.
Alternative Metrics – GDP is a grossly inadequate metric of prosperity. It is literally a measurement of total economic activity, not a measurement of well being or even of positive economic activity (oil spills tend to boost local GDP). A more comprehensive metric that takes into account both good and bads on a multitude of levels – economic, social, environmental, happiness – is necessary for us to better gauge the progress of our economy.
Sharing, Bartering and Trading – Returning to the basics is not necessarily a bad thing. Non-monetary based transactions like sharing, bartering and trading are becoming more common place and will be the basis of a more resilient, local economy that will emerge from the wreckage of our current globalized, liberal disaster of an economy. We’ll still have currency (mostly local, see above), but we’ll be using a lot more of these basic non-monetary means as well.
Cycling & Trains – Transportation is a fundamental part of our daily lives. However, we cannot continue to rely on oil and coal for cheap fuel anymore. Besides the problems of crossing over the peak of oil production, we must transition to a sustainable means of travel to avert runaway climate destabilization. Bicycling provides a great means of self-propelled transportation that is widely available, zero-emission, efficient and one of the few types of transportation that improves your health! Coupled with public and mass transit powered by renewable energy, cycling is a great small distance alternative to the gas-guzzling cars of the past. In the new economy we will see a larger emphasis on alternative means of transportation and I’ll bet money the cycling community will boom, especially when trains are bike-friendly.
Backyard Gardens & Farmers Markets – A stable of our existence, food is no laughing matter. During the war efforts of the world wars “victory gardens” were rampant - everyone was supplementing their food with homegrown variety. Today’s local, resilient economies are seeing a resurgence of the backyard garden because they just make sense. And when we have reduced work hours, we’ll have more time to devote to growing our own foods! It is a simple way to connect with family, the Earth and become more self-reliant. Couple victory gardens with local farmer’s markets that keep your community farmers in business and you’ll have an even more prosperous economy. This is the future of food: sustainable, organic, community-based production.
Transition Towns – The Transition Town movement takes pretty much everything I’ve just discussed and places it in a manual for cities to become resilient to the shocks of climate change and peak oil. But these are not simply measures taken to prepare for some horrible, looming future. Far from it. In fact, all of these measures connect the community, enhance the personal spirit, encourage sustainability, and improve our general well being. Sometimes thinking outside of the box and looking back to some of the simple things that worked in the past out larger dividends than business-as-usual.