Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened -- as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding -- she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229
(thanks to A.J. Sender for forwarding this great clip)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Is it an East Coast, West Coast thing if we all bleed green?
In his widely cited New York Times Op Ed piece "The Power of Green"
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/15/opinion/web-0415edgreen-full.php
(to be avoided by those not in the mood for a decidedly saccharine aftertaste) Thomas Friedman begins by wrapping 'green' in the all to convenient Red, White and Blue. "One day Iraq, our post-9/11 trauma and the divisiveness of the Bush years will all be behind us — and America will need, and want, to get its groove back. We will need to find a way to reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order — as the beacon of progress, hope and inspiration. I have an idea how. It's called "green."
Friedman, standing tall atop of his newly pigmented soapbox looks 'beyond global to think national' and proposes renaming green as a way to "reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order"........ in other words find a new branding vehicle by repackaging the neo-liberal script in the post neoCon era as "green." He solidifies this position in his assertion "I want to rename it ('green', that is) geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic." Yeeeeeehaaaa! Gosh, Mr Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush- (Ms. clinton?) globalists, wouldn't we just export our green tech manufacturing to China and India as fast as possible, and insourse most of the new green tech jobs to H1B land like we do now?
On the west /left coast some folks are riding their hybrids in another direction, and this time the most personal benefit you get from the branding isn't just a solo ride in the commuter lane. It's called the Green New Deal. Kind of hard to miss the message there, eh? Like Mr. Friedman they position "green" as the way that America can move forward but with the political pendulum moving in quite another direction. It looks to me more like the 'real deal' and not just a propaganda piece wrapping an global corporate message in shades of a new color scheme. Judge for yourself.
The New Green Deal of 2009 *
http://stardustlocalizing.com/2008/03/03/the-new-green-deal-of-2009/ (again in case you choose not to drink the whole pitcher of cool-aid, read on for lengthy excerpt from the website cited in the previous line)
"The incoming US Federal administration of 2009 will have an important opportunity to launch a New Green Deal that promotes locally directed efforts to solve many of our urgent problems. This is a time of economic and environmental crisis, and we need to demonstrate authentic leadership in pursuit of a vibrant, healthy society that is sustainable and equitable. A New Green Deal can address domestic economic, social and ecological problems in a way that also has a positive impact on foreign policy and relations. The New Green Deal focuses on developing basic requirements for moving towards sustainability such as green collar jobs, regional ecological restoration, and inclusion of under-represented communities. Its mission is to enable comprehensive long-lasting social, economic and natural resource policies. The New Green Deal can become the foundation for healthy, productive domestic programs that reduce our nation's oil dependence and provide proactive responses to global warming.The New Green Deal's founding principle is there needs to be regional improvements to local conditions and carried out by local people, businesses, and communities. This means the overall approach to accomplishing programs will vary according to the places where applied: New York City will have a different emphasis than Los Angeles, and Puget Sound from Chesapeake Bay.The New Green Deal should then be applied in five general directions:
1) Survey, inventory and evaluation of local/regional renewable and non-renewable assets. These include but are not limited to food, water, energy sources, building materials and methods, open space, and transportation alternatives with an emphasis on a North American, inter-regional railway system.
2) Public participation in designating and implementing priorities for projects and activities.
3) "True cost" analysis to evaluate and select the most sustainable alternatives.
4) Green Collar employment programs in the following areas:
a) Ecosystem restoration,
b) Remanufacturing that maximizes use of recyclable and/or post-consumer materials,
c) Renewable energy production and use,
d) Regionally-based sustainable agriculture,
e) Converting all wastes into resources,
f) Water conservation and reuse,
g) Energy efficiency,
h) Green building, living roofs, and landscaping,
i) Ecology and conservation education,
j) And special Green Collar job training programs in vulnerable communities.
5) Create or transform governmental institutions and agencies with policies that promote localization and embody principles of sustainability.---------------------------------------------*A genuine "stimulus package", on the scale of the 1930's New Deal, for the present day. The New Green Deal promotes positive programs to replace catastrophic activities that underlie climate change, economic inequities, water and food shortages, habitat destruction, and species extinction. COMMITTEE FOR A NEW GREEN DEALE mail: mail@planetdrum.orgPostal address: Committee for a New Green Deal, P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA94131"
Now our countrymen down south would probably laughing into their ten gallon hats if this stuff ever even made it to anything that resembles mass distribution or media, and then immediately smell the opportunity to yell, "the commies are coming" or "we'd have to raise middle class and low income taxes to pay for that!" but perhaps a massive "green new deal" public works campaign would give the troops returning home something to do besides getting their asses shot off for minimum wage working for Blackwater in some Central American jungle.
I would agree with these New Green Deal folks that government planning needs to be a major component in directing a salvagable future for this country and not function solely as the "entertainment arm of the military industrial complex". Naw, frack it, lets all go to Burning Man and get high!
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/15/opinion/web-0415edgreen-full.php
(to be avoided by those not in the mood for a decidedly saccharine aftertaste) Thomas Friedman begins by wrapping 'green' in the all to convenient Red, White and Blue. "One day Iraq, our post-9/11 trauma and the divisiveness of the Bush years will all be behind us — and America will need, and want, to get its groove back. We will need to find a way to reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order — as the beacon of progress, hope and inspiration. I have an idea how. It's called "green."
Friedman, standing tall atop of his newly pigmented soapbox looks 'beyond global to think national' and proposes renaming green as a way to "reknit America at home, reconnect America abroad and restore America to its natural place in the global order"........ in other words find a new branding vehicle by repackaging the neo-liberal script in the post neoCon era as "green." He solidifies this position in his assertion "I want to rename it ('green', that is) geostrategic, geoeconomic, capitalistic and patriotic." Yeeeeeehaaaa! Gosh, Mr Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush- (Ms. clinton?) globalists, wouldn't we just export our green tech manufacturing to China and India as fast as possible, and insourse most of the new green tech jobs to H1B land like we do now?
On the west /left coast some folks are riding their hybrids in another direction, and this time the most personal benefit you get from the branding isn't just a solo ride in the commuter lane. It's called the Green New Deal. Kind of hard to miss the message there, eh? Like Mr. Friedman they position "green" as the way that America can move forward but with the political pendulum moving in quite another direction. It looks to me more like the 'real deal' and not just a propaganda piece wrapping an global corporate message in shades of a new color scheme. Judge for yourself.
The New Green Deal of 2009 *
http://stardustlocalizing.com/2008/03/03/the-new-green-deal-of-2009/ (again in case you choose not to drink the whole pitcher of cool-aid, read on for lengthy excerpt from the website cited in the previous line)
"The incoming US Federal administration of 2009 will have an important opportunity to launch a New Green Deal that promotes locally directed efforts to solve many of our urgent problems. This is a time of economic and environmental crisis, and we need to demonstrate authentic leadership in pursuit of a vibrant, healthy society that is sustainable and equitable. A New Green Deal can address domestic economic, social and ecological problems in a way that also has a positive impact on foreign policy and relations. The New Green Deal focuses on developing basic requirements for moving towards sustainability such as green collar jobs, regional ecological restoration, and inclusion of under-represented communities. Its mission is to enable comprehensive long-lasting social, economic and natural resource policies. The New Green Deal can become the foundation for healthy, productive domestic programs that reduce our nation's oil dependence and provide proactive responses to global warming.The New Green Deal's founding principle is there needs to be regional improvements to local conditions and carried out by local people, businesses, and communities. This means the overall approach to accomplishing programs will vary according to the places where applied: New York City will have a different emphasis than Los Angeles, and Puget Sound from Chesapeake Bay.The New Green Deal should then be applied in five general directions:
1) Survey, inventory and evaluation of local/regional renewable and non-renewable assets. These include but are not limited to food, water, energy sources, building materials and methods, open space, and transportation alternatives with an emphasis on a North American, inter-regional railway system.
2) Public participation in designating and implementing priorities for projects and activities.
3) "True cost" analysis to evaluate and select the most sustainable alternatives.
4) Green Collar employment programs in the following areas:
a) Ecosystem restoration,
b) Remanufacturing that maximizes use of recyclable and/or post-consumer materials,
c) Renewable energy production and use,
d) Regionally-based sustainable agriculture,
e) Converting all wastes into resources,
f) Water conservation and reuse,
g) Energy efficiency,
h) Green building, living roofs, and landscaping,
i) Ecology and conservation education,
j) And special Green Collar job training programs in vulnerable communities.
5) Create or transform governmental institutions and agencies with policies that promote localization and embody principles of sustainability.---------------------------------------------*A genuine "stimulus package", on the scale of the 1930's New Deal, for the present day. The New Green Deal promotes positive programs to replace catastrophic activities that underlie climate change, economic inequities, water and food shortages, habitat destruction, and species extinction. COMMITTEE FOR A NEW GREEN DEALE mail: mail@planetdrum.orgPostal address: Committee for a New Green Deal, P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA94131"
Now our countrymen down south would probably laughing into their ten gallon hats if this stuff ever even made it to anything that resembles mass distribution or media, and then immediately smell the opportunity to yell, "the commies are coming" or "we'd have to raise middle class and low income taxes to pay for that!" but perhaps a massive "green new deal" public works campaign would give the troops returning home something to do besides getting their asses shot off for minimum wage working for Blackwater in some Central American jungle.
I would agree with these New Green Deal folks that government planning needs to be a major component in directing a salvagable future for this country and not function solely as the "entertainment arm of the military industrial complex". Naw, frack it, lets all go to Burning Man and get high!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What is the appropriate response to Global Warming and Peak Oil catastrophies?
An interesting movement that is not only taking Global Warming and Peak Oil very seriously, but actually organizing people, communities and cities to take action to insulate themselves from the economic impact of what they forsee as the likely coming collapse of our current energy and economic systems, is the Transition Initiative. They are professing to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and to discovering and implementing ways to address this big question.
from their website
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain
itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate
the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to
mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"
The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.
The community also recognises two crucial points:
that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.
The mission of this group is to create "communities across the UK to unleash their own collective genius and embark on an imaginative and practical range of connected initiatives, leading to a way of life that is more resilient, more fulfilling and more equitable, and that has dramatically lower levels of carbon emissions. " and it appears that they have actually gotten some traction. Regardless of their long term viability or success, I think they have some interesting things to say, and their website is worth checking out. Can you imagine a movement like this going anywhere in the USA?
The Transition Initiative groups focus on the issues of Peak Oil and Global Warming makes for an effective appeal, as there is a wide consensus among the scientific community, governmental and NGO's, that Global Warming is a serious threat, and the media penetration around this issue is influencing the greater general public opinion toward supporting measures mitigating underlying factors contributing to Global Warming. It is interesting that the methods they prescribe are so far outside the dialogue of US society that they sound almost revolutionary, but upon closer examination, bear a greater resemblance to a return to turn of the century economic and civic practices, rather than advancing some hidden subversive socialist agenda. The idea's put forward by this group, if adopted on a wide scale, would threaten the growth and consumption based economy that we live in today. Their message is more palatable because it is put forward as a response to their predictions of coming collapse of the current energy system, and offered as a survival or disaster mitigation strategy. I find their ideas attractive from many perspectives, including close cooperation among members of the community in implementing renewable non-carbon energy sources, and local production of food stuffs and materials for everyday life. Is it a Utopian dream to think that communities can strike some kind of balance between a globalized, corporatist economy on one hand, and a local community focus on certain basic needs of everyday life like energy and food production? It will be interesting to follow the success of these UK based community experiments and see at what level they are successful and if they spread to other parts of the world.
from their website
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
"for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain
itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate
the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to
mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?"
The resulting coordinated range of projects across all these areas of life leads to a collectively designed energy descent pathway.
The community also recognises two crucial points:
that we used immense amounts of creativity, ingenuity and adaptability on the way up the energy upslope, and that there's no reason for us not to do the same on the downslope
if we collectively plan and act early enough there's every likelihood that we can create a way of living that's significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment than the oil-addicted treadmill that we find ourselves on today.
The mission of this group is to create "communities across the UK to unleash their own collective genius and embark on an imaginative and practical range of connected initiatives, leading to a way of life that is more resilient, more fulfilling and more equitable, and that has dramatically lower levels of carbon emissions. " and it appears that they have actually gotten some traction. Regardless of their long term viability or success, I think they have some interesting things to say, and their website is worth checking out. Can you imagine a movement like this going anywhere in the USA?
The Transition Initiative groups focus on the issues of Peak Oil and Global Warming makes for an effective appeal, as there is a wide consensus among the scientific community, governmental and NGO's, that Global Warming is a serious threat, and the media penetration around this issue is influencing the greater general public opinion toward supporting measures mitigating underlying factors contributing to Global Warming. It is interesting that the methods they prescribe are so far outside the dialogue of US society that they sound almost revolutionary, but upon closer examination, bear a greater resemblance to a return to turn of the century economic and civic practices, rather than advancing some hidden subversive socialist agenda. The idea's put forward by this group, if adopted on a wide scale, would threaten the growth and consumption based economy that we live in today. Their message is more palatable because it is put forward as a response to their predictions of coming collapse of the current energy system, and offered as a survival or disaster mitigation strategy. I find their ideas attractive from many perspectives, including close cooperation among members of the community in implementing renewable non-carbon energy sources, and local production of food stuffs and materials for everyday life. Is it a Utopian dream to think that communities can strike some kind of balance between a globalized, corporatist economy on one hand, and a local community focus on certain basic needs of everyday life like energy and food production? It will be interesting to follow the success of these UK based community experiments and see at what level they are successful and if they spread to other parts of the world.
Friday, March 7, 2008
New Blog site
Welcome Comrads . I'm looking for comments and suggestions before I send out the link to a wider audience. Like the name? I hope to get inspired and add content regularly, and feel free to jump in and join this and future conversations. I plan to hit a wide variety of topics in the sustainability, environmental business and lifestyle spheres.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
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