Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’

By ROB NIXONNOV. 6, 2014

Naomi Klein Credit Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times

“Every inhabitant of this planet must contemplate the day when this planet may no longer be habitable.” Thus spoke President Kennedy in a 1961 address to the United Nations. The threat he warned of was not climate chaos — barely a blip on anybody’s radar at the time — but the hydrogen bomb. The nuclear threat had a volatile urgency and visual clarity that the sprawling, hydra-headed menace of today’s climate calamity cannot match. How can we rouse citizens and governments to act for concerted change? Will it take, as Naomi Klein insists, nothing less than a Marshall Plan for Earth?

“This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate” is a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable. Klein’s fans will recognize her method from her prior books, “No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies” (1999) and “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism” (2007), which, with her latest, form an antiglobalization trilogy. Her strategy is to take a scourge — brand-­driven hyperconsumption, corporate exploitation of disaster-struck communities, or “the fiction of perpetual growth on a finite planet” — trace its origins, then chart a course of liberation. In each book she arrives at some semihopeful place, where activists are reaffirming embattled civic values.

To call “This Changes Everything” environmental is to limit Klein’s considerable agenda. “There is still time to avoid catastrophic warming,” she contends, “but not within the rules of capitalism as they are currently constructed. Which is surely the best argument there has ever been for changing those rules.” On the green left, many share Klein’s sentiments. George Monbiot, a columnist for The Guardian, recently lamented that even though “the claims of market fundamentalism have been disproven as dramatically as those of state communism, somehow this zombie ideology staggers on.” Klein, Monbiot and Bill McKibben all insist that we cannot avert the ecological disaster that confronts us without loosening the grip of that superannuated zombie ideology.

…(read more).

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BBC News – First Europeans ‘weathered Ice Age’

6 November 2014 Last updated at 15:05 ET

The DNA comes from a man who lived in westernmost Russia some 36,000 years ago
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The genetic ancestry of the earliest Europeans survived the ferocious Ice Age that took hold after the continent was initially settled by modern people.

That is the suggestion of a study of DNA from a male hunter who lived in western Russia 36,000 years ago.

His genome is not exactly like those of people who lived in Europe just after the ice sheets melted 10,000 years ago.

But the study suggests the earliest Europeans did contribute their genes to later populations.

Europe was first settled around 40,000 years ago during a time known as the Upper Palaeolithic.

But conditions gradually deteriorated until ice covered much of the European landmass, reaching a peak 27,000 years ago.

The ice melted rapidly after 10,000 years ago, allowing populations from the south to re-populate northern Europe – during a time known as the Mesolithic. But the genetic relationships between pre- and post-Ice Age Europeans have been unclear.

Some researchers have in the past raised the possibility that pioneer populations in Europe could have gone extinct some time during the last Ice Age.

And one recent study looking at the skull features of ancient Europeans found that Upper Palaeolithic people were rather different from populations that lived during the later Mesolithic period.

In the latest study, an international team of researchers sequenced the genome (the genetic “blueprint” for a human) of a man buried in Kostenki, Russia.

They discovered a surprising genetic “unity” running from the first modern humans in Europe, through to later peoples. This, they claim, suggests that a “meta-population” of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers managed to survive the Ice Age and colonise the landmass of Europe for more than 30,000 years.

…(read more).

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Ashmolean Gala – address by Lord Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University

RhodesTrust

Published on Oct 16, 2013

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America’s Choice 2014: GOP Wins back Congress

rebuildthedream

Published on Nov 6, 2014

11/05/2014: Has the President’s lack of Congressional relationships created a gridlock to progress?

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Big Meat Flexes its Muscles | Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Posted November 6, 2014 by Ben Lilliston

Used under creative commons license from Mark Roy.

It wasn’t the subject of a barrage of campaign ads this past month, nor has it been widely reported in the media or even debated much in the halls of Congress but new rules are being written right now as part of an arcane, secret process that will expand global agribusiness’ choke-hold over our food system, and you are not invited. A new report, Big Meat Swallows the Trans-Pacific Partnership, released today from IATP takes an in-depth look at what’s at stake for global agribusiness—and particularly the big meat corporations—in potentially the largest regional free trade agreement ever negotiated, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

This weekend, President Obama will meet with leaders of 11 other Pacific Rim countries at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation summit about TPP. The negotiations and the proposed treaty text itself are secret, behind-closed-doors affairs—and the corporations that will benefit like it that way.

For global agribusiness, most with operations and connections in multiple TPP countries, the goal is simple: lower tariffs and weaken regulations that support farmers, consumers and rural communities in order to increase exports and imports. For the big meat companies, the stakes are high. Meat consumption in the U.S. has flattened, and in some cases like beef and pork, has slightly declined. While domestic consumption has been stagnant, meat exports from the U.S. have soared since 1990, and the percentage of U.S. meat production for export is rapidly rising.

The handful of big meat and poultry companies driving factory-style production in the U.S. do not consider themselves U.S. companies. They are global corporations, some with foreign parent companies, operating in multiple TPP countries. An alarmingly few companies control the U.S. protein market (as the industry refers to it). They are all global players operating in multiple sectors and multiple countries, including: JBS USA (beef, pork and poultry), Cargill (beef, feed), Tyson Foods (poultry, beef), Shuanghui/Smithfield (pork).

…(read more).

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Global Climate Convergence Call to Action

http://globalclimateconvergence.org/2014/05/global-climate-convergence-call-to-action/

Global Climate Convergence Call to Action
https://vimeo.com/90085232

from Global Climate Convergence 7 months ago Not Yet Rated

The Global Climate Convergence for People, Planet and Peace over Profit is an education and direct action campaign beginning this spring with “10 days to change course” from from Earth Day to May Day 2014.

For more information and to get involved visit:
globalclimateconvergence.org
facebook.com/globalclimateconvergence
twitter.com/earthday2mayday

Video Credits:

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Know What Comes From Your Tap!

By Adrienne Harris

“Is my tap water safe?” I get this question from friends and family a lot because I work in EPA’s Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water. Just recently, my parents moved to a new city and asked me if there was anything in the drinking water that they should be worried about. My response was, “Go read the latest Consumer Confidence Report!”

Many Americans get their water from a “community drinking water system,” including people living in cities, towns, manufactured housing communities and other institutions where people live full-time, such as nursing homes. Each spring, all community water systems in the United States send an annual water quality report, or consumer confidence report (CCR), to their customers (either by mail or online). After explaining that to my parents, we hopped on the computer and quickly found the CCR for their city posted online. We learned that their city had performed a total of more than 150,000 tests for different contaminants in their drinking water – and none were found to exceed EPA’s drinking water limits.

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act, which was passed in 1974. In 1996, the Safe Drinking Water Act was amended to require all community water systems to provide consumer confidence reports to their customers. Every CCR must contain information about the water system’s drinking water source, possible contaminants and health effects, and other relevant information. Systems are required to deliver this information to every consumer. Sometimes the CCR contains other useful information, too. My best friend is an avid fish collector who appreciated the information in her CCR about using her drinking water for her fish tank.

…(read more).

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New England Communities Ramp Up for Renewable Energy

 

Solar panels in Dennis, MA.

At EPA, we’re constantly promoting sustainable development. Renewable energy is at the top of that list because it’s an upfront investment that improves the environment and saves money. It’s a win-win from every angle.

Recently, I was lucky enough to spend time driving through the tunnels of deep red maple trees and brilliant yellow birch leaves that mark New England in autumn. My purpose: see a sampling of the most impressive, innovative clean energy projects in New England. These solar, waste-to-energy and bio-mass projects are cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions, providing jobs and boosting local economies.

I’m proud to represent a region on the forefront of environmental and energy policy. Some of the projects I saw – including in New Bedford and Dennis, Mass. – were located on former landfills, making productive use of otherwise afflicted space. And the clean energy efforts in Burlington, Vt., are a reminder of what we all can achieve.

 

EPA Regional Administrator Curt Spalding and U.S. Congressman Bill Keating at a Dennis, MA solar installation.

In the Massachusetts town of Dennis, on Cape Cod, I saw the launch of New England’s largest solar development – 22 megawatts of panels that will provide half the electricity used in Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. This project includes nine solar arrays, including seven sitting on capped landfills. Altogether, this project will reduce regional greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of more than 2,700 passenger vehicles. It’s the latest piece in the state’s ambitious goal to create 1600 MW of solar energy by 2020.

In Dartmouth, Mass., I stood at a city landfill where a new plant will turn food waste into energy. This bio-energy facility will be the first of its kind in the state: an anaerobic digester generating biogas for use at the Crapo Hill Landfill. The digester will initially accept up to 3,000 gallons a day, though it’s eventually expected to take 30,000 gallons. This plant was built in preparation for a state regulation that forbids commercial businesses over a certain size from discarding food waste in landfills.

In nearby New Bedford, I saw a former 12-acre landfill turned into one of the country’s most forward-thinking and innovative clean energy projects: 5,490 solar panels will create 2 MW of power, and will help meet the city’s goals of purchasing power from renewable sources. A $15 million Superfund cleanup allowed the city, working with other public and private groups, to reuse this property to produce clean, sustainable power. New Bedford’s investment installing solar panels around the city is a model for other towns and cities across the country. The trend is clear: What used to be a waste pit has become a source of energy for the city.

…(read more).

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Before We Shift to Fossil Fuel Overdrive.. Uh.. I Have a Question…

November 6, 2014

Above, from Democracy Now.
At about 3:45 in the short clip above, Lee Fang states part of the conundrum that energy suppliers are in right now. Let’s just talk about natural gas.

We’re about to start exporting significant quantities of gas. Fossil fuel advocates have been pointing to natural gas supplies, bolstered by fracking technology, as a bright spot in the economy – and evidence of a “100 year supply”, yadda yadda etc etc.
As a result, a lot of new natural gas generators have been built in recent years, and we’re told that this is a good thing because of lower carbon footprint attributed to natural gas. That is of course controversial, but let’s stipulate for now that, ok, gas is less polluting.

There may be, nevertheless, to mix metaphors, a developing train wreck in the pipeline.

NPR:

Utilities in New England have announced electricity rates hikes on the order of 30 percent to 50 percent, making prices some of the highest in the history of the continental United States.

For Sage and other consumers, these changes seem to have come out of nowhere, but in reality, they have been a long time coming. Between the years of 2000 and 2013, New England went from getting 15 percent of its energy from natural gas to 46 percent. That’s dozens of power plants getting built.

But the pipelines to supply those power plants? Not so much.

At the same time, with the fracking boom just a few hundred miles west driving down gas prices, more and more homeowners were switching to natural gas for heating.

So now when it gets cold and everyone turns on their heat, the pipelines connecting New England to the Marcellus Shale are maxed out.

Power plant operators are left to bid on the little bit of gas that’s left over for them, and the prices can get out of hand.

“In New England, this winter, based on what’s been recently trading, is likely to have the highest natural gas prices on planet Earth,” says Taff Tschamler, chief operating officer of energy supplier North American Power.

Gas for January delivery is trading at nearly $19 per million BTUs. Gas in Japan, which relies entirely on imported gas and often has the world’s highest prices, is forecast to cost less than $18 this winter.

OK, so, this fuel, which is supposed to be a boon to our economy because its cheap, and which we have been rushing toward, because its cheap, and which we’ve been told is going to stay cheap, is about to get way more expensive.

…(read more).

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Obama & McConnell Pledge Cooperation; Will Fast-Tracking Secretive TPP Trade Deal Top Their Agenda?

democracynow

Published on Nov 6, 2014

http://democracynow.org – While the two parties have plenty to fight about in the new Republican Congress, Mitch McConnell, the possible next Senate majority leader, says he shares common ground with the president on international trade. What does this mean for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)? We get analysis from Lori Wallach of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, who notes that while some analysts say GOP gains will accelerate the passage of fast-track legislation in Congress to enable an agreement on the TPP, “it is kind of hard for the Republicans to voluntarily delegate more authority to the guy they’ve been attacking as the imperial president who grabs power that’s not his.” The controversial so-called free trade deal involves 12 countries and nearly 40 percent of the global economy. Trade ministers from the 12 countries negotiating the trade deal are due to meet in Beijing ahead of the Asia-Pacific economic summit next week to continue negotiations.

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