uniteddiversity.com Blogs » Climate Change http://uniteddiversity.com Just another Uniteddiversity.com weblog Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:25:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Transport in Transition. A Guest Piece by Peter Lipman. http://uniteddiversity.com/transport-in-transition-a-guest-piece-by-peter-lipman/ http://uniteddiversity.com/transport-in-transition-a-guest-piece-by-peter-lipman/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:09:36 +0000 admin tag:google.com,2005:reader/item/5f3231ad109c5325 Transformation Moment: low carbon travel.
How, and how far, will we travel if we make the changes we need to in order to thrive in a carbon constrained society? For a range of interlocking reasons, the conclusion of this paper is that we will be happier, healthier and more resilient if we radically change from [...]

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/transport-in-transition-a-guest-piece-by-peter-lipman/feed/ 0 Transition Handbook http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-handbook/ http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-handbook/#comments Fri, 03 Oct 2008 23:01:09 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/?p=315 UPDATE: The Transtion Handbook is now online in a wiki! :P

UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.pdf

UPDATE: download Transition-Handbook.odt

See also: Transition Primer

[amtap book:isbn=1900322188]

I really can’t recommend this book highly enough, but if you need more convincing…

“a must-read labelled, ‘immediate’ “ – Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid

“The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age” – Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association

“There is no more important book than this one for any community seeking to change toward ecological sustainability” – Jerry Mander, founder/director of the International Forum on Globalization

“There is no better call to action than this book, and no better guide to the hands-on creation of a liveable future” – Dr Stephan Harding, co-ordinator of the MSc Holistic Science at Schumacher College

“This is much more than just a book. It is a manual for a movement. And not just any movement, but one which could prove to be the most important social force humanity has ever seen” – Mark Lynas, author of Six Degrees

“The Transition movement is the best news there’s been for a long time and this manual is a goldmine of inspiration to get you started” – New Internationalist

“The most important book we have yet published” – John Elford, Green Books (publishers of LOTS of VERY good books)

“The book succeeds brilliantly at every level… Seriously, this is one of the most important books in the sustainability field to appear in this decade” – Robert Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science at the University of Glamorgan and Co-Director, The Green College

“The newly published Transition Handbook is so important that I am tempted just to confine this review to five simple words ‘You must read this book!’” – Richard Barnett, editor of Ethical Pulse (Ethical Junction’s newletter)

Need yet more convincing?

Watch these videos! :)

Caroline Lucas Launches The Transition Handbook

Rob Hopkins’ on the Transition Handbook

Read these reviews…

Enjoy!

Josef.

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-handbook/feed/ 11 Damaging property to prevent climate change is legal http://uniteddiversity.com/damaging-property-to-prevent-climate-change-is-legal/ http://uniteddiversity.com/damaging-property-to-prevent-climate-change-is-legal/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:01:06 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/?p=356 A while ago a couple of peace activists who broke into a military airfield to damage B52 bombers argued they were preventing a greater crime and won their case (see http://www.b52two.org/ for the story).

At the time I wondered “what if you used a similar defense for an action to prevent climate change”?

Well, that has now happened and the jury is out, damaging property to prevent climate change is legal:

Kingsnorth trial: Coal protesters cleared of criminal damage to chimney
The trial of the six Greenpeace UK activists was the first case in which acting to prevent climate change causing damage to property formed part of a ‘lawful excuse’ defence
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/10/activists.carbonemissions

Previous victories where environmental activists have been found not guilty:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/10/activists.kingsnorthclimatecamp1

Is preventing climate change a valid defence? VOTE NOW:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/poll/2008/sep/11/climatechange.kingsnorthclimatecamp

On a more sober note, read Climate Code Red:
http://www.climatecodered.net/

Enjoy!

Josef.

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/damaging-property-to-prevent-climate-change-is-legal/feed/ 0 Convergence 13: Transition Strategies http://uniteddiversity.com/convergence-13-transition-strategies/ http://uniteddiversity.com/convergence-13-transition-strategies/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2008 18:27:12 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/convergence-13-transition-strategies/ This looks set to be an amazing event…

Cultivate Update

cultivate your self | community | world

Friday 22nd Feb 2008

Convergence 13: Transition Strategies

Post Carbon Cities, Transition Towns and Eco-Villages 

3rd to the 7th of April 2008 | Festival Pass: €120 until March 10th (€150 thereafter)

Bookings 01 674 5773 or Online

Attention climate activists, community workers, environmentalists, academics, change agents and cultural creatives, if you are at the leading edge of sustainability, or want to be, then this festival is not to be missed. There are only 100 tickets available for this timely event.  Book now!

Convergence brings together people and ideas to explore how communities can build resilience in a future of energy and climate uncertainty.


Featuring:

  • The Community Powerdown Symposium, two days of workshops and discussion
  • Lecture by Daniel Lerch, author of Post Carbon Cities
  • Film and talk with Megan Quinn Bachman, Community Solutions, Ohio, the co-writer and co-director of The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
  • Fantastic networking opportunities  

Full Schedule 

The Rethinking Lecture : Rethinking the City for an Uncertain Future

Thursday 3rd April | 19.30 – 21.30 | €18
Daniel Lerch is the author of Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty, the first major municipal guidebook on peak oil and global warming. He is a program manager with Post Carbon Institute, and has worked on urban planning issues for over ten years in the public, private and non-profit sectors

Vital Viewing : The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006)
Friday 4th April  | 18.00 – 19.30 | €5 (included in lecture price)
This documentary film explores the economic collapse and eventual recovery of Cuba following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Following the dramatic steps taken by both the Cuban government and citizens, its major themes include urban agriculture, energy independence and sustainability. The film was directed by Faith Morgan, and co produced by our main speaker, Megan Quinn

The Transition Lecture : Plan C: Community Strategies for Oil Depletion and Climate Change
Friday 4th April | 20.00 – 22.00 | €18
Megan Quinn Bachman, Community Solution, Ohio, USA
Introduced by Ben Brangwyn, Transition Network, Totnes, UK  

The Convergence Symposium : Skilling Up For Powerdown 

Saturday 5th April | 9.30 – 17.00 and Sunday 6th April | 11.00-17.00 | €120 (Includes a light lunch on both days) (full details)

Talks, workshops and World Café discussions on how we communicate and accelerate community responses to oil depletion and climate change

With John Gormley, Davie Philip, Daniel Lerch, Megan Quinn, Ben Brangwyn, Jonathan Dawson, Anne B Ryan, Graham Strouts, Professor Peadar Kirby, Paul Allen, Tim Helwig Larson, Seamus Hoyne, Adam de Eyto, Magnus Wolfe Murray, Bruce Darrell, Dave Yaffey, Graham Strouts, Pat Fleming, Chris Chapman, Oisín Coghlan and David Korowicz

An Introduction to the Irish Transition Network
Saturday 5th April | 18.30 – 20.00 | €Free
Special networking meeting for communities involved or interested in Transition initiatives in Ireland

The Powerdown Lounge

Saturday 5th April | 19.30- 00.00 | €Free in

The basement bar in Crush at the bottom of S. Great Georges St. will be the venue for this year’s Lounge.  Enjoy local brews from the Porterhouse, chilled out music and visuals and relax with festival participants.

Convergence Events at the Village (Cloughjordan, North Tipperary) – Monday April 7th

Rural Transitions Open Space: “How will our towns and villages reduce carbon emissions and build resilience in an era of climate and energy uncertainty?”

14.00 – 17.00
Organised in association with the Cloughjordan Development Association and the Cloughjordan Business Network


Vital Viewing: The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
18.00 – 19.30
See above

Public Presentation: Cloughjordan, a Village in Transition

20.00 – 22.00
Local, national and international speakers on how Cloughjordan can prosper in an era of climate and energy uncertainty.
Organised by the Cultivate Centre with Sustainable Projects Ireland, the Cloughjordan Development Association, the Cloughjordan Business Network and SERVE
 

Biographies 


Megan Quinn is from the Community Solutions, a non-profit
organization in the US focusing on achieving sustainability by reducing
energy consumption in the household sectors of food, transportation,
and housing. Megan co-wrote and co-produced her organisation’s
award-winning documentary, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil (2006).



Daniel Lerch is the author of ‘Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty’,
the first major municipal guidebook on peak oil and global warming.
Daniel is a program manager with Post Carbon Institute, and has worked
on urban planning issues for over ten years in the public, private and
non-profit sectors.

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/convergence-13-transition-strategies/feed/ 0 Cheat Neutral http://uniteddiversity.com/cheat-neutral/ http://uniteddiversity.com/cheat-neutral/#comments Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:39:50 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/cheat-neutral/ I’ve written before about the carbon offsetting con and in my update I mentioned the wonderful Cheat Neutral site.

Now I figured I should embed their splendid video here too for your delight and enjoyment:

Their about page is also great, and so I reproduce that here too…

About Cheatneutral

Cheatneutral is about offsetting infidelity. We’re the only people doing it, and Cheatneutral is a joke.

Carbon offsetting is about paying for the right to carry on emitting carbon.
The Carbon offset industry sold £60 million of offsets last year, and is
rapidly growing. Carbon offsetting is also a joke.

Find out more:

Five ways that Cheatneutral is like carbon offsetting:

  1. Cheatneutral tries to make it seem acceptable to cheat on your partner.
    In the same way, carbon offsetting tries to make it acceptable to carry
    on emitting excess carbon.
  2. Cheatneutral doesn’t really do much to reduce the amount of cheating in
    the world. Carbon offsetting does very little to reduce global carbon
    emissions.
  3. It seems impossible to measure how much harm cheating on someone does.
    With carbon offsetting, there is currently no practically feasible way
    of measuring how much carbon offset projects actually save.
  4. Having Cheatneutral’s services available could actually encourages you
    to cheat more. If the carbon offsetters persuade you that it’s possible
    to offset your emissions, you’ll carry on emitting excess carbon through
    your lifestyle rather than think about reducing your emissions.
  5. Cheatneutral is fundamentally the wrong way to go about solving problems
    with your relationships. Carbon offsetting is fundamentally the wrong
    way to go about tackling climate change.

Two ways which Cheatneutral is not like carbon offsetting:

  1. We don’t make any money out of Cheatneutral. Offset companies in the
    voluntary carbon market take a cut of every transaction and make a
    profit.
  2. Cheatneutral is a joke we thought up in the pub. Carbon offsetting
    presents itself as a credible solution to climate change, described by
    the government’s chief scientist Sir David King as
    “the most severe problem that we are facing today, more serious even
    than the threat of terrorism…”

What can I do instead?

  • Measure your carbon footprint. There are good resources to do this online —
    visit www.resurgence.org/carboncalculator for a good, detailed analysis of your footprint. For a slightly quicker calculator try www.carbongym.co.uk, or www.chooseclimate.org to look in more depth at the CO2 emissions associated with flying.
  • Think about reducing your carbon footprint. There are lots of easy ways to reduce the emissions from various areas of your life. You might want to think about your home,
    transport and what you eat and consume. There are lots of resources on the internet to help you reduce your emissions.
  • Learn about Contraction and Convergence. C&C is a framework for agreeing a global cap on carbon emissions. We believe that to make our individual sacrifices count, we need a global framework that caps the amount of carbon emitted, creates a timeframe for reducing emissions to a safe level, and distributes carbon credits equitably. C&C satisfies all of these, and would make carbon trading fair and effective. Good resources are www.climatejustice.org.uk and www.gci.org.uk
  • Use your influence as a citizen. You could lobby your MP for the adoption of C&C and telling them you are concerned about climate change. You can also talk to and lobby your elected representatives from local and regional and European government. You can find out who your MP is at www.theyworkforyou.com. Think about joining a pressure group, lobby group or charity that you feel shares and promotes your concerns.
  • Get together with your friends or family and discuss what you think. How we face up to the new challenges of climate change should be something everyone has an opinion on. Although individual action is needed, we also need ways to make government and businesses take a lead in responsibly dealing with emission reduction.
]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/cheat-neutral/feed/ 1 It's the End of the World as We know it and I feel FINE #23 http://uniteddiversity.com/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine-23/ http://uniteddiversity.com/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine-23/#comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:32:54 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine-23/ Via Submedia

I love this series and this is one of the best episodes yet! :)

This Week

1. Trillionaire Debt
2. Almost $100
3. PetroChina
4. Food Riots
5. Buy Nothing Day
6. No Borders Camp
7. R.A.T.M.
8. Ron Paul, who cares
9. Ward Churchill

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-and-i-feel-fine-23/feed/ 1 Runaway Climate Change http://uniteddiversity.com/runaway-climate-change/ http://uniteddiversity.com/runaway-climate-change/#comments Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:51:24 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/runaway-climate-change/ The International Panel on Climate Change forthcoming report, Climate Change 2007, confirms what we already knew: that human activity has caused, and is causing, the climate to change.

But as this video from the Apollo Gaia Project outlines, what gets left in IPCC reports is not the whole story. Positive feedback (such as dark pools of water in melting ice speeding up the melting) mechanisms are often down-played.

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/runaway-climate-change/feed/ 2 Transition Towns http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-towns/ http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-towns/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 11:54:46 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-towns/ So, we’re both a day late, but Gloria and I somehow decided that every day in May was going to be inspirational!

Each day Gloria will a post about an inspirational person, and I’ll highlight an inspirational project. Her first person is Maya Angelou, and my first project is…

Transition Towns
The Transition Towns project was initiated by permaculture teacher of 10 years, Rob Hopkins.

Focussing on the central issues of peak oil and climate change, Transition Towns are “towns that are participating in the transition to a more localised post-peak-oil future”.

This process normally involves going through the following 10 steps (now 12 steps, see here):

  1. Raise awareness of peak oil and climate change (often by showing films like The End of Suburbia and An Inconvenient Truth)
  2. Lay the Foundations. This is about networking with existing groups and activists and stressing that this Transition Town initiative is not a process of duplicating their work but of requesting their input in a new way of looking at the future.
  3. The Official Unleashing. The aim of this event is to generate a momentum which will propel your initiative forward for the next period of its work.
  4. Form Groups. You can’t do this on your own. Part of the process of developing an Energy Descent Action Plan is that of tapping into the collective genius of the community. One of the most effective ways to do this is to set up a number of smaller groups to focus on specific aspects of the process.
  5. Use Open Space. Open Space Technology is an extraordinary tool. It has been described as ‘a simple way to run productive meetings, for five to 2000+ people, and a powerful way to lead any kind of organization, in everyday practice and ongoing change’.
  6. Develop Visible Practical Manifestations of the Project. It is easy to come up with ideas, harder to get practical things happening on the ground. It is essential that you avoid any sense that your project is just a talking shop where people sit around and draw up wish lists. Your project needs, from an early stage, to begin to create practical manifestations in the town, high visibility signals that it means business.
  7. Facilitate The Great Reskilling. Very few people still have the skills a more resilient society needs. This is where your Transition Town initiative comes in.
  8. Build a Bridge to Local Government. Whatever the degree of groundswell your Transition Town initiative manages to generate, however many practical projects you manage to get going on the ground and however wonderful your Energy Descent Plan is, you will not progress too far unless you have cultivated a positive and productive relationship with your local authority.
  9. Honour the Elders. There is a great deal that we can learn from those who directly remember the transition to the age of cheap oil, especially the period between 1930 and 1960.
  10. Let it Go Where It Wants to Go and Reflections….In essence, although you may start out developing your Transition Town process with a clear idea of where it will go, it will inevitably go elsewhere. You need to be open to it going where the energy of those who get involved want to take it. If you try and hold onto the idea that it will be a certain way it will, after a while, begin to sap the energy that is building to do certain things. It is what is so exciting about the whole thing, seeing what emerges.

So there you have it. Transition Towns (of which there are now many) are very inspiring projects.

For more info check out Rob Hopkin’s blog Transition Culture, these excellent articles on Treehugger, and have a read through the Transition Initiatives Primer (pdf) and the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan (pdf)

Also, check out this short video from Transition Town Lewes:

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/transition-towns/feed/ 2 David Korten – The Great Turning http://uniteddiversity.com/the-great-turning/ http://uniteddiversity.com/the-great-turning/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:04:07 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/david-korten-the-great-turning/ Last night, when I should’ve been asleep, I watched these video clips and was left totally inspired. :)

I strongly encourage you to watch them too. Its great stuff!

You should also buy the book:

[amtap book:isbn=1887208070]

UPDATE: The book in bullet points from David Korten’s new site:

“The Great Turning provides a powerful framework for understanding our time within a deep historical context and for defining the collective choice we must now make as a species. These are the key elements:

  • We humans face a choice between two contrasting models for organizing our affairs: the dominator model of Empire and the partnership model of Earth Community.
  • After 5,000 years of organizing human affairs by the dominator model, the Era of Empire finally has reached the limits of the exploitation that people and Earth will sustain.
  • A mounting perfect economic storm born of a convergence of peak oil, climate change, and a falling U.S. dollar is poised to bring a dramatic restructuring of every aspect of modern life.
  • There is no technological fix for the human crisis. The underlying problem is a consequence of social dysfunction and the only solutions are cultural and institutional
  • We now face a choice between a last man standing imperial competition for what remains of Earth’s natural bounty and a cooperative sharing of Earth’s resources to create a world that works for all.
  • Empire’s power depends on its ability to control the stories by which we humans define ourselves and our possibilities. Whoever controls the prosperity, security, and meaning stories that define the mainstream culture, controls the society.
  • The key to changing the human course is to displace the prevailing Empire prosperity, security, and meaning stories that define dominator hierarchy as the natural and essential human order, with Earth Community prosperity, security, and meaning stories that celebrate the human capacity to live in cooperative balance with one another and Earth.
  • Healthy children, families, communities, and natural systems are the true measure of prosperity.
  • To end poverty, heal the environment, and secure the human future it is necessary to turn from growth to the reallocation of resources as the defining economic priority. Eliminate harmful uses (military, advertising, sprawl, and financial speculation), increase beneficial uses (environmental regeneration, food and energy self-reliance, health, education, and productive investment), and give priority to the needs of those the old economy excludes and represses (the desperate, hungry, and indentured).
  • Security and social order depend on strong, caring communities based on mutual responsibility and accountability.
  • All being is the manifestation of an integral spiritual intelligence seeing to know itself through the on going creative unfolding in search of unrealized possibility.
  • We humans are a choice making, choice-creating species that can choose to create societies that nurture our higher order capacities for compassion, sharing, and commitment to the well-being of all.
  • Meaning is found in discovering our place of service to the whole.”

An 2 minute excerpt from David Korten’s (author of “When Corporations Rule the World) inspiring and lavishly-illustrated presentation of his new book “The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community“:

A full-length DVD of this presentation is available at http://www.peakmoment.tv

David Korten on “The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community” at the Veterans for Peace 2006 National Convention in Seattle:

A 2.5 minute mash-up:

The full 30 minute presentation:

More
Peak Moment 48: A 28 minute interview with David Korten. The planet is quickly confronting us with limits to the exploitative, dominator system of the past 5000 years. David Korten implores us to replace dominator-control stories with new stories — affirming life values of cooperation, community and interdependence.

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/the-great-turning/feed/ 4 Prophecy, Peak Oil and the Path for the Faithful http://uniteddiversity.com/prophecy-peak-oil-and-the-path-for-the-faithful/ http://uniteddiversity.com/prophecy-peak-oil-and-the-path-for-the-faithful/#comments Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:59:31 +0000 admin http://uniteddiversity.com/prophecy-peak-oil-and-the-path-for-the-faithful/ I recently watched this video and thought it was really good summary of some of the important issues it covers.

If you are a Christian you might want to get it shown in your church or invite Rev Sam Norton along for a talk.

Even if you don’t classify yourself as a Christian (I don’t), it is still very informative and interesting…

A summary of Rev Sam Norton’s recommendations found in this film can been found here

]]> http://uniteddiversity.com/prophecy-peak-oil-and-the-path-for-the-faithful/feed/ 0