It's Getting Hot In Here

I first met Jared Duval in the summer of 2003 on a bus with 100 students from every state in the country who had received the Morris K. Udall Scholarship for college sophomores and juniors committed to the environment and native public health issues. I laughed when he told me he was working for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign — then an unknown Governor from Vermont few thought had a chance at winning the primary. But over the course of the ride, Jared’s well-reasoned confidence began to win me over. And by the end of the Udall gathering, we had recruited most of the scholars into an organization a core group of us invented on the spot: Students for an Environmentally Responsible President. SERP wasn’t long for this world, Jared got busy again at school, and we lost touch.

I had already dropped out of college by then to pursue student organizing full-time, and soon co-founded and began coordinating the Energy Action Coalition. Two years after we had first met, Jared was elected National Director of the Sierra Student Coalition, the student arm of the Sierra Club and one of the biggest partner organizations of Energy Action. We spent two years working together to build the Campus Climate Challenge, and organize the first national student climate summit, Power Shift, in 2007. When Jared’s two terms with the SSC were over, he told me he wanted to write a book. Doubtful again, I wished him the best of luck.

So when I got a copy of his book, Next Generation Democracy, in the mail just a week ago, I was chagrined again as I found myself tearing through it in just a few sittings. The book details how a range of new, web-enabled tools, combined with a newly global, progressive and tech-savvy generation is poised to change the world. He tells the stories behind well-known open-source projects like Linux and Wikipedia, but also unearths some of the most cutting edge approaches like the Deliberatorium, Legislation 2.0, 21st Century Town Meetings and other efforts that hold real promise for fixing our Democracy at a time when such hope can be hard to come by.

A couple of years into the Obama presidency, we are now confronted with the stark realization that truly transformational progress will not be made on any major social challenge until the underlying dysfunction of a ‘pay to play, keep people at bay” system in Congress is addressed…

Where might we look for progress instead? I believe that to get at the root blockages of transformational progress, we must address the disenfranchisement of the American and global public from the decision-making institutions of our society. As author Don Tapscott has written, ‘real change seems glacial…What the current system lacks are mechanisms enabling government to benefit on an ongoing basis from the wisdom and insight that a nation can collectively offer.’

Indeed, while the defining ideological debate of the previous generation concerned the proper size of government, for the Millennial generation the pressing question should be the nature — open versus closed, collaborative versus zero sum — of our very process of government.

Democracy is an ancient idea, and our Democracy here in America is the oldest continuous government in the world. When you consider the incredible gridlock and corruption in our current system against the massive problems on both the domestic and global level it is required to deal with, it’s hard not to feel like we need a tune-up. Jared’s book is as good a primer on these issues as I’ve read, and a good fun read as well.

Young clean energy & climate companions,

The following is an enlightening piece from the Huffington Post by David Gershon, one of our movement’s older-in-body-but-young-at-heart  visionary thinkers and author of the just-released book, Social Change 2.0, which I highly recommend you check out.  I invite you to read carefully, consider implications for our strategies moving forward, and let me know if you’d like to get connected to David:

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The political leaders of the world that gathered in Copenhagen had the unenviable responsibility of forging a strategy to pull humankind back from the brink of a dire future. What ultimately will come from this meeting is uncertain, but whatever occurs, the challenge ahead is immense. According to conservative climate change science, we need to stabilize concentrations of carbon dioxide at 400 ppm and then begin reducing it to 350 ppm to avoid triggering a cascading set of irreversible tipping points. To be successful in this task requires us to develop a solution to achieve by 2020 what the current treaty being negotiated hopes to achieve by 2050 — an 80 percent reduction in CO2 emissions.

The scale and speed of change required goes well beyond anything political leaders have ever had to contemplate, much less achieve. And even if the political will were there to achieve this level and speed of carbon reduction, the social change 1.0 tools at their disposal — command and control, and financial incentives — are not designed for this type of rapid, transformative change. They were purposely designed over two centuries ago for gradual, incremental change.

Continue reading ‘Solution in the Wake of Copenhagen — If Governments Can’t, People Can’

The world including the sea level, climate, and landscape has been shaped by the power of ice for billions of years.  And now, as we’ve pushed co2 concentrations well beyond historical ranges (at least the range of the last 800,000 years), ice is becoming harder to find.  There’s even the potential that earth may become ice free in the near future.  I never really thought much about ice and it’s importance in my life and the lives of others, and most of my interactions with ice involve ice cubes and freezer burn. And, although some people may never even interact directly with ice, “one quarter of Earth’s population will within another decade be affected significantly by lesser snowfall and glacial ice loss.  That number translates to two billion people–and most of them live in Asia.”

“A World Without Ice” is a new book by Henry Pollack that examines geological, biological, and human history and how it has directly and indirectly been shaped by ice.  This historical context (from billions of years ago and even into 2009) creates a foundation that prepares the reader for not only to understand the importance of ice in our earth’s system but also the huge and immediate threat posed by the current climate crisis to humans and all species on earth.  Pollack is a scientist, has been a professor for more than forty years at the University of Michigan and was a member of the Nobel-Peace-Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007.   read on for more on the book, the opportunity to send in questions for the author and the chance to win a copy of the book!

Continue reading ‘A World Without Ice’

I’m sure most of you are familiar with the long-standing deception campaign against global warming.  Although, you may think it’s over–just as Ross Gelbspan did in 2005 and Gwynne Dyer in 2008–but James Hoggan and Richard Littlemore’s Climate Cover-Up tells us it’s now going stronger than ever (at least in terms of funding).  Hoggan is a partner in a Canadian PR firm and, as a co-founder of the Desmogblog.com, he has been digging up dirt on climate deniers since 2005.

Although, I had some understanding of of this “climate cover-up” I liked to think of it as mostly over, too.  It was sobering and frustrating to learn more details about this ongoing campaign and its success in the minds of a majority of the public.  I think as someone fighting for bold climate action it is really helpful to better understand folks fighting against you and how they are organized.  I would definitely recommend the book, especially if you, like me and many others, felt like the climate denial campaign was mostly over.  Read on for more details about the book, my thoughts and links to recent related news.
Continue reading ‘Climate Cover-Up’

Cross-posted from TheReefTank.com

The world pressures of over-fishing and pollution are already a major threat to sea life. Throw climate change into the mix and we’re reading into a whole deeper story.

With oceans covering the majority of our planet, you’d think there would be more attention garnered towards the deep blue mass of beauty that always lies just beyond.

It’s comforting, in a way, to know that we understand so very little about what thrives beneath the ocean’s surface. Science has taken us very far, but the ocean remains a world much larger than our own, that reaches places to which our imaginations can’t yet fathom.

And yet, the impact of us living on this planet is unintentionally having an incredibly significant impact on ocean life. There are three major climate change shifts that the World Conservation Monitoring Centre points to when it comes to ocean life, as explained in the book Global Warming for Dummies:

Continue reading Water World: Sinking Faster Than We Can Swim? on TheReefTank

Sarah Karlin, an editorial intern at Campus Progress, attended an event at Heritage Foundation hosting industry lobbyist and anti-environmentalist crusader Steven Milloy. Check out an excerpt of her piece exposing the hipocrisy of the speaker and the insanity of his claims.

… one might find it hard to trust the scientific credibility of a man who has spent years lobbying on behalf of tobacco and energy companies. For example, in 1993 Milloy was hired by Philip Morris and their public relations firm to defend the tobacco industry. The Americans for Nonsmokers Rights report found that in 1993 Milloy dismissed the US EPA’s studying linking second hand smoke to cancer as a “joke.”

When I asked Milloy about his credibility he became agitated and defensive. “That’s a great spin you put on that,” Milloy said. “You take some contributions to organizations I’ve been affiliated with and spin it into this advocacy for hire and I really think that’s nothing but spin. Let’s look at Al Gore who stands to make more than 2 million dollars for all his energy stuff….So when you guys start doing some introspections looking at your own motivations them you can start throwing stones at other people.”

Milloy repeatedly dodged other tough questions. When a concerned woman wearing a polar bear mask, claiming to “represent the polar bears,” asked Milloy if he believed the polar bears were being threatened, he simply laughed her off. “Well you seem to be doing quite well, you’re down here and its 50 degrees.”

Read the whole story and check out a video of the  Polar Bear Ambassador here.

[The author is currently part of The Summer of Solutions, but views are personal]

Over the past few days, we have seen a lot of contention on Its Getting Hot in Here over the critiques posed by the Breakthrough Generation fellows. On the one hand, recent posts call for open and collaborative discourse so we can more carefully evaluate our strategies and tactics, sentiments with which I generally agree. Conversely, responding comments took offense to the frequent posting of Breakthrough fellows, the perceived attack on certain tactics like “Direct Action”, and the privilege of a group whose alleged central organizing strategy is to think, talk and message (check the comments on the above linked posts to review these critiques). I have close friends on both sides of the argument, and I agree with much of the Breakthrough philosophy as much as I feel that many of its recent tactics are not in alignment with their frame. Far from seeking objectivity, I’m simply pointing out that as we start operating under an interest group mentality we lose the ability to appreciate the truth in the other person’s voice, obscuring participants’ internal conflict – as powerfully expressed by a recent Breakthrough Generation post. A friend here in Minnesota introduced me to a new term yesterday after we read all of the critical back-and-forth: “flame war” – something that happens on blogs and other internet sites when everybody’s well-reasoned arguments turn into fiery antagonism.

Friends – and the pun is intended: its time for a break through. Continue reading ‘On Movement Transformation’

Since Powershift and the rollercoaster ride that Juliana refers to, I’m looking forward to kicking back over the Holidays to reflect and plan next steps for 2008 and beyond. I literally have not been able to stop talking about what we’re doing, calling my Senators, and thinking about more of what we can do in the New Year. In the meantime, some friends of friends keep asking me what kind of materials they can get their family to learn more. Since it is the holidays and I haven’t really reviewed any climate change books, I’m wondering what all of you out there think of the following books (for young kids, newcomers, and slightly seasoned climateers)? Are there any that I’m missing?

- Laurie David and Cambria Gordon – A Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming

- David de Rothschild – The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook: 77 Essential Skills to Stop Climate Change

- Al Gore – An Inconvenient Truth

- Bob Henson – Rough Guide to Climate Change, Parts 1 and 2

- Dessler & Parson – The Science and Politics of Climate Change

- Jennifer Hoffman, et al. – Climate: The Force That Shapes our World and the Future of Life on Earth

- Linden – The Winds of Change: Climate, weather, and the Destruction of Civilizations

Editor’s note: This is part 5 (of 5) of the serialized introduction to Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalist to the Politics of Possibility, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger’s latest book.

Here are the other sections of the Introduction: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] Part 5

“From the Nightmare to the Dream” – Introduction to Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Part 5 of 5)

8.

The politics we propose breaks with several widely accepted, largely unconscious distinctions, such as those between humans and nature, the community and the individual, and the government and the market. Few things have hampered environmentalism more than its longstanding position that limits to growth are the remedy for ecological crises. We argue for an explicitly pro-growth agenda that defines the kind of prosperity we believe is necessary to improve the quality of human life and to overcome ecological crises.

Continue reading ‘From the Nightmare to the Dream – Introduction to Break Through (Part 5 of 5)’

Editor’s note: This is part 4 (of 5) of the serialized introduction to Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalist to the Politics of Possibility, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger’s latest book.

Here are the other sections of the Introduction: [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] Part 4 [Part 5]

“From the Nightmare to the Dream” – Introduction to Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility (Part 4 of 5)

6.

The political environment for action on energy independence and global warming has undergone a dramatic shift since 2004. Motivated by their anger with government inaction and the Bush administration’s outright interference, climate scientists increasingly started speaking out about the need for bold action. In the summer of 2006, Al Gore wrote a best-selling book and starred in a widely seen movie, An Inconvenient Truth, that were compelling—and terrifying—presentations about global warming.

In lieu of action by Congress, progress on climate has come from other quarters. California enacted historic legislation reducing the state’s greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020, and other states are likely to follow. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, in the spring of 2007, that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant causing global warming. And sustainability is today one of the hottest topics in politics, the corporate world, and the media.

Continue reading ‘From the Nightmare to the Dream – Introduction to Break Through (Part 4 of 5)’