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TechnoratiGreenpeace meets Bill McKibben: Fighting Climate Change in the Obama Era
By the end of today, we will have seen two significant developments in the political landscape of climate change. First, the UK has indicated for the first time that it believes serious money will be needed from developing countries at Copenhagen.
Secondly, today will also see a vote in the US House on the Waxman-Markey bill, Obama's re-engagement of the US with climate. You may have seen Joss on Newsnight on Wednesday, arguing that the bill doesn't go anywhere near enough what we need to see from the US, and that Obama had effectively dropped the ball on the climate, but even if inadequate, it is still groundbreaking.
A good moment to get an insight into the interaction between science and politics over the pond. For the first of the Greenpeace meets series, occasional interviews in which we'll hook up with (hopefully) interesting authors, activists, scientists and policy wonks to download their wisdom, I went and had a coffee with veteran US environmental guru Bill McKibben.
Bill has spent the last twenty years writing, agitating and organising to make governments take strong action on climate change. His take is very much that until there is a mass movement that both gives politicians the space to act, and forces them to do so, change will be halting.
With that in mind, he's currently crossing the globe organising for 350.org - the campaign group he founded, which calls for climate targets to be focused on lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a level of no more than 350 parts per million. (Hence the name. We're currently at 388.)
The podcast goes in-depth on the science behind 350.org, Bill's take on what Copenhagen will deliver for the global climate movement, and 350.org's plans for a global day of action on October 24th.
18 Comments so far
Show AllThank you for sharing your thoughts with us.
The problem I see here is, that all these efforts to ‘save OUR planet’
are just ‘skin deep’.
Working with Quantities & Timeframes do not address
the fundamental issues on hand and might bring some Change in color,
shape & time but not the Paradigm Shift every individual needs.
Think about it again !
As long as you think along the same Line of ‘fighting for or against’,
‘all pulling in the same direction’, ‘unity & uniformity’ and
‘following & leading’ etc., you are still trapped in the same Paradigm
which has lead us to where we are today:
- In this purely materialistic world, where Religion has replaced
Spirituality with the ‘logic’ of a Linear Culture.
As long as you are trapped in a perception of ‘Beginning & End’,
‘Good & Bad’, ‘Short or Long Time’, you will perceive Fear & ‘The End’
as negative.
Consequently you will have allies & friends, enemies & dissidents.
Think about it again, just linguistically !
This whole Linear Mono-Culture is thriving for the ‘Finish line’,
to reach an 'End' and, it cannot be fast enough.
Growth & Expansion are in the same ’family’ as Goal & Success !
This Paradigm has just one orientation & quest, to meet its own
definition of End & Destiny; - Whatever that means, 2012, 2030,
in 100 years, Heaven or Hell, etc., it just reflects our arrogance &
self-pity as human race.
Just in the transition from hunter/gatherer societies to food producing
agricultural societies, when we began to define Possessions by laws &
commandments, we started our ‘divine’ war against Nature & the Elements.
We had roughly 10,000 years to learn, that this is a sick and illusive undertaking.
Nothing can be Possessed, no war can be won,
there is no hierarchic order in the Universe,
everything is equally important or unimportant and nothing gets lost,
everything gets recycled & transformed, - including US !
The ‘Truth’ is – constantly changing, Stability is balanced motion !
What can be done, is to Shift our individual mindset and then teach
our kids, brothers & sisters around the world
how to deal with this inevitable situation without loosing their mind,
how to get out of the ‘Rat Race’ to Paradise,
how to get rid of being possessed by Possessions,
how to GIVE respect to All Being, and ultimately,
how to navigate your individual soul thru this wonderful chaos we call LIFE.
The Awareness of Belonging to the Whole of Creation and
being One of/with-IT makes you humble & quiet, ready to receive…
So fellows, before you join the countless paranoids out there,
get your peace of mind, loose your fear of fears, get in touch
with your 3-I’s, - your Imagination, Inspiration & Intuition and then
Do what you have to Do – HERE & NOW !
Because, there is NO END, just a simple self healing process of Nature,
just a small correction in Life and the simple question remains :
Where do You & I Belong in this Picture ?
Have a Wonderful Day
www.compasinchaos.com
Bill notes in his interview that Obama told him to organize and "make us act."
With all due respect to Bill, that is precisely what voters did in 2006 sweeping out the Republicans and installing them to the majority party. The issue then was WAR. Democrats promised to end the occupation in Iraq. That was circa 2006.
Now the winds have shifted. What did we get? Obama and the Dems are now funding the build up of military forces in Afghanistan and plan to occupy Iraq indefinately.
When Obama tells us to make him "do it" he is essentially telling you a fairy tale. What he actually means is keep electing Dems and then hope for the best.
I've been lucky enough to hear McKibbin in person; the man for us to line up behind on the environment. We have to carry his fire to all that we know and love.
Are you kidding?
That was one of the most mealy-mouthed mushy-headed apologies I've seen for a long time.
It's why I hate liberals. They're right-wingers and don't even know it.
Wanderer, I can't belief how many people buy the line of "Obama is doing the best he can, why with all the pressure the lobbies are placing on him, this environmental bill(4% reduction of CO2 by 2020) is a hard won compromise. Fools, when they are swimming in the streets of what used to be NYC, they will realize the extend of their stupidity. I used to respect Bill McKibben, but know I realize he is just another apologist for the Dems. We need people who use the bully pulpit to denounce mistakes made by those in power not to obfuscate the facts. Great step forward, I think NOT.
Sanity, it really is a sorry excuse -
We couldn't do it because you didn't pressure us enough.
What an escape hatch - no matter how much we pressure Obama, he will claim it wasn't enough.
This is unreal. Obama says that he needs pressure to move in a certain direction. WTF. So now, in order to be heard you have to pressure the White House. LOL. When pols show that 80% of Americans want single payer, what do the 80% get? They get a mandate to buy health insurance from a PRIVATE FOR PROFIT CORPORATIONS, and single payer is not even an option. How are we supposed to pressure these BASTARDS. Certainly peaceful demonstrations don't work. Writing letters to these AHoles accomplishes absolutely NOTHING. I guess the only choice left to us is to strike, make a run at the Banks, and only buy necessary things and hope like hell these actions bring down the crumbling facade of this "democracy". I wonder how the EMPIRE will look without its clothes. I also wander if this will be enough to get Americans out of their couches and in to the streets.
Not to mention that taking decisive action AGAINST the prevailing winds is the very DEFINITION of Leadership. There is a TON of money telling Obama that single-payer healthcare is off the table, that the defense budget is just fine the way it is, that some WallStreet banksters are just 'too big to fail', and that earth may actually be better off warmer. But the real question is: considering who just got him elected (us), WHY IS HE LISTENING TO THEM??
he means that americans have to take to the streets in a non-violent way.
kind of like what happened in 2006 with the immigration movement.
other wise it will never, never happen. i bet my life on it.
Immigrants, what exactly did the immigrants get for their peaceful demonstrations?
No laws have been passed to stop the horrible treatment of latin immigrants, the DEMS control everything(the White house, congress, and the senate) and yet there is no amnesty or even any means for "illegal immigrants" to have a path toward legalization of their status. Granted the government did not continue to crack down on immigrants, but that is because the economy tanked.
If we continue to demonstrate peacefully, or contacting our representatives through email or phone calls, we will get steamrolled by the corporate powers that use money to buy the politicians. We need to hurt them financially. Then they will listen.
Without money they cease to exist.
snydly
One of the most subversive things anyone can do is STAY HEALTHY.
Granted, there are unpredictable conditions, BUT you know what I mean.
Now, I'm not a very good example of my own suggestion, but I know it's the right thing to do.
In fact, "SOCIALIZE HEALTH" would be a legit function of gov't, no?
A wide open clearing house of every kind of diet, exercise, yoga, etc., and facilities devoted to ending the processed/sugar/grease and GM food idiocy that literally plagues our nation.
Then tell the Ins and Pharma corps to go suck it.
""His take is very much that until there is a mass movement that both gives politicians the space to act, and forces them to do so, change will be halting.""
***********************************************************
Hmmm, why did this guy give the politicians the information they need to make sure any action IS halted.
And 'fighting' climate change seems a bit idiotic because the climate is changing due to the natural cycles that have been happening for millions of years.
Now if it was called 'regulation of pollution' or 'pollution control' I would think either a better name for a strategy for tampering with the forces of our climate because anything that is, say maybe effecting or exacerbating tempature change, would be the pollution the we allow industries to pour out into the air, land and water and, also, to mention the destruction of the rain forests, tropical and temperate, which are sinks that hold the biggest green house gas, watervapor.
But I suppose the destruction of these rain forests and the 'unfettered' dumping of pollutants and the 'unfettered' growth of the human population is just what the people want because plans to minimize such is told to those that would figure how to circumvent any attempts to stop polluters and I am beginning to think people on this planet really do like moonscapes.
But, I just cannot think of a planet so overrun with the most destructive of species, for that species to even be close to sane or rational.
Stop eating meat and global warming could fix itself in 2 years. Here's an article on animal agriculture- the giant cow in the living room. some statistics and solutions
http://www.treeoflife.nu/article.php?p_id=33
I will do you one even better and even more sure fire, reduce the population of humans down to under 300,000,000 people and the planet will start to recover; kill all carnivores and the planet will eventually and totally revive, you know why, people are at the top of the food chain and the worst thing for this planet; meaning WE are carnivorous and WE are our own worst enemy.
I'm curious about your actual plan for eliminating approximately 20 out of every 21 people currently on the planet within the next 20-50 years. How to determine who lives and who dies? What method of death would you prefer? How to enforce non-childbearing, and how to determine who, if any, obtains the right to breed?
The devil, as they say, is in the details. Have at it.
Well, it seems you see that only a catastrophic event or situation would create this depletion which is my intent and is in most probability something that will happen because as you say and to put it mildly, stopping people from having children is harder than stopping the rain; who determines life or death will depend on those who are capable of evaporating huge segments of the people and that means no choice of method unless one decides to do him/her self.
Probably the biggest factor is the 'footprint' of humans on the enviroment and that does not just mean how much is a person using to exist every day but the mentality involved which for me can be stated by the 7 deadly sins inherent in all people but actually is only one and that is greed, all the others being subsets of greed.
Needless to say you and anyone can google 'studies of overpopulation' and derive or pick your favorite but it would be worth a look see, and here is one:
http://dieoff.org/page27.htm
and here is another with a differing point of view:
http://www.albalagh.net/population/overpopulation.shtml
one alarming and another one a bit more 'cozy' and palatable.
Hope, with Obama the Nazi Furher. MMM OK!
Duh.