This paper analyses the best available technical, scientific and engineering literature on the risks and opportunities posed by shale gas, and also what policy environment could maximise the opportunity and minimise the risk. It also analyses China’s current policies and practice to understand whether the conditions for greener growth are in place.
We conclude that many of the environmental risks shale gas poses are manageable, and amenable to conventional environmental law and policy tools. Its development could in principle offer significant net environmental benefits if the gas produced permanently replaces coal and helps set China on a pathway to a renewable-dominated energy system. The greater impediment is political, hinging on whether China has the political will and capacity to dramatically cap coal generation, invest in renewable energy and enforce strong environmental regulations and targets.
We therefore emerge from our analysis with a healthy dose of scepticism about unconventional gas greening China’s growth: truly making it work requires a broader set of practical commitments to sustainability, pollution control and low-carbon energy.
CARBON is the first film in the Green World Rising Series. http://www.greenworldrising.org “Carbon” is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Carbon is produced by Mathew Schmid and was written by Thom Hartmann, Sam Sacks, Leila Conners and Mathew Schmid. Music is composed and performed by Jean-Pascal Beintus and intro drone by Francesco Lupica. Carbon is produced by Tree Media with the support of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
The film “Last Hours” is the 2nd film in the Green World Rising Series ( the first one is “Carbon” that is available on this channel). Last Hours describes a science-based climate scenario where a tipping point to runaway climate change is triggered by massive releases of frozen methane. Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, has already started to percolate into the open seas and atmosphere from methane hydrate deposits beneath melting arctic ice, from the warming northern-hemisphere tundra, and from worldwide continental-shelf undersea methane pools.
Burning fossil fuels release carbon that, principally through greenhouse effect, heat the atmosphere and the seas. This is happening most rapidly at the polar extremes, and this heating has already begun the process of releasing methane. If we do not begin to significantly curtail the use of carbon-based fossil fuels, this freed methane threatens to radically accelerate the speed of global warming, potentially producing a disaster beyond the ability of the human species to adapt.
With this film, we hope to awaken people to the fact that the earth has experienced five major extinctions in the deep geologic past – times when more than half of all life on earth vanished – and that we are now entering a sixth extinction. Industrial civilization with its production of greenhouse gases has the potential to trigger a mass extinction on the order of those seen in the deep geological past. In the extreme, it could threaten not just human civilization, but the very existence of human life on this planet.
An asset for the climate change movement, “Last Hours” will be disseminated globally to help inform society about the dangers associated with climate change and to encourage the world community to chart a path forward that greatly reduces green house gas emissions. We encourage you to explore this website and the highlighted actions you can take to address climate change. We look forward to bringing you additional films about the challenges we face and the solutions that exist over the next few years, in the lead up to COP21, the 2015 UN Conference on Climate Change in Paris.
“Last Hours” is narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann and directed by Leila Conners. Executive Producers are George DiCaprio, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Last Hours is produced by Mathew Schmid and was written by Thom Hartmann, Sam Sacks, and Leila Conners. Music is composed and performed by Francesco Lupica. Last Hours is brought to you by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and produced by Tree Media.
Green World Rising is the 3rd film in the Green World Rising series. The film shows how we can be 100% off fossil fuels in a few decades. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, presented by Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners and produced by George DiCaprio, Mathew Schmid, Earl Katz and Roee Sharon Peled. Music composed and performed by Jean-Pascal Beintus. Created by Tree Media with the support of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
RESTORATION is the fourth film in Green World Rising, ( http://www.greenworldrising.org ) a series of films aimed at moving the climate debate forward. The film focuses on how nature can protect the Earth from the harmful effects of climate change and how industrial design and science researchers can learn valuable lessons from natural systems.
“When we plug into the wisdom of nature and work alongside Earth’s ecosystems, we discover new and exciting innovations. Many are already underway. It is this partnership with nature that will solve our most pressing climate concerns and create the building blocks of a civilization that works alongside nature, not against it,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, Narrator of RESTORATION.
The film can be seen at greenworldrising.org, where viewers can also take action with resources to contact elected officials and spread the word. “I’m proud that this series moved the needle not only by garnering hundreds of thousands of viewers. It also inspired real action,” said Leila Conners, director of the film, which was produced by George DiCaprio, Mathew Schmid, Roee Sharon Peled and Earl Katz, and presented by Thom Hartmann. “There is too much at stake to sit back and do nothing. We must act,” said Conners.
CARBON debuted as the first film in the Green World Rising series, exploring the effectiveness of the carbon tax and carbon pricing in fighting climate change. LAST HOURS, the second film in the series, describes a science-based climate scenario where a tipping point to runaway climate change is triggered by the release of methane into the atmosphere. The third film, GREEN WORLD RISING, shows how we can be 100% fossil fuel free in a few decades through technological innovation.
“Nature has mechanisms which naturally protect us from the negative effects of climate change. So when we harm nature, we harm ourselves. Technology will play a crucial role in averting a climate crisis. Yet many solutions lie right before our eyes. We must partner with nature – both by preserving wildlife and habitats and by appropriating natural systems in new technologies — to solve these problems,” said Thom Hartmann.
Published on Apr 17, 2015
The wave of migrants arriving at Italy’s ports is showing no sign of let up, as hundreds more arrived in Pozzalo on Friday morning.
Ten thousand people have entered the country in the last week alone, after risking the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean in overcrowded boats.
Another 450 people are thought to have drowned.
On Thursday Italian police at the Sicilian port of Augusta arrested 10 suspected traffickers who were among hundreds of migrants rescued at sea.
RESTORATION is the fourth film in Green World Rising, ( http://www.greenworldrising.org ) a series of films aimed at moving the climate debate forward. The film focuses on how nature can protect the Earth from the harmful effects of climate change and how industrial design and science researchers can learn valuable lessons from natural systems.
“When we plug into the wisdom of nature and work alongside Earth’s ecosystems, we discover new and exciting innovations. Many are already underway. It is this partnership with nature that will solve our most pressing climate concerns and create the building blocks of a civilization that works alongside nature, not against it,” said Leonardo DiCaprio, Narrator of RESTORATION.
The film can be seen at greenworldrising.org, where viewers can also take action with resources to contact elected officials and spread the word. “I’m proud that this series moved the needle not only by garnering hundreds of thousands of viewers. It also inspired real action,” said Leila Conners, director of the film, which was produced by George DiCaprio, Mathew Schmid, Roee Sharon Peled and Earl Katz, and presented by Thom Hartmann. “There is too much at stake to sit back and do nothing. We must act,” said Conners.
CARBON debuted as the first film in the Green World Rising series, exploring the effectiveness of the carbon tax and carbon pricing in fighting climate change. LAST HOURS, the second film in the series, describes a science-based climate scenario where a tipping point to runaway climate change is triggered by the release of methane into the atmosphere. The third film, GREEN WORLD RISING, shows how we can be 100% fossil fuel free in a few decades through technological innovation.
“Nature has mechanisms which naturally protect us from the negative effects of climate change. So when we harm nature, we harm ourselves. Technology will play a crucial role in averting a climate crisis. Yet many solutions lie right before our eyes. We must partner with nature – both by preserving wildlife and habitats and by appropriating natural systems in new technologies
Stephen Spaulding, Common Cause, joins thom Hartmann. Capitol lawn – lawmakers in one of the reddest of red states – Montana – passed a groundbreaking campaign finance law. The so-called Montana Disclose Act – which was supported by both Democrats AND Republicans – requires any group that spends money on Montana state elections to reveal where that money comes from. For once – this is some really good news…
My foremost interest in the Onkalo facility … is how we are able to put things into the world that have these far reaching consequences. This is new I think, this has never happened before in the history of mankind. And as such, I think the Onkalo facility represents something new, something significant. – Michael Madsen
FOP had the opportunity to interview Michael on April 29, 2010, after Into Eternity screened at the Tribeca Film Festival. During our conversation we discussed what it was like for him to enter the Onkalo facility as a filmmaker and to work directly with those involved in bringing Onkalo into reality: engineers, scientists, medical technicians and communication directors.
At the core of Into Eternity is an attempt to imagine communicating to humans hundreds of thousands of years into the future (the film is structured as an address to the future). We talked with Michael about why he chose this mode of address and how he hoped audiences of today would respond to it. We also discussed how the circumstances that necessitate the building of facilities such as Onkalo demarcate a fundamentally new chapter in human history.
Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.
Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storage, which is vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock — a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.
Into Eternity English Subtitle
Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.
Published by MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Emerging Alliance of World Religions and Ecology
Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim
Religion, Modern Secular Culture, and Ecology
George Rupp
Perspectives on Environmental Change: A Basis for Action
Michael B. McElroy
The Ethical Dimensions of Global Environmental Issues
Donald A. Brown
Multicultural Environmental Ethics
J. Baird Callicott
World Religions
Nature in the Sources of Judaism
Hava Tirosh-Samuelson
New House Rules: Christianity, Economics, and Planetary Living
Sallie McFague
Islam and Ecology: Toward Retrieval and Reconstruction
S. Nomanul Haq
Water, Wood, and Wisdom: Ecological Perspectives from the Hindu Traditions
Vasudha Narayanan
The Living Cosmos of Jainsim: A Traditional Science Grounded in Environmental Ethics
Christopher Key Chapple
Principles and Poetry, Places and Stories: The Resources of Buddhist Ecology
Donald K. Swearer
The Ecological Turn in New Confucian Humanism: Implications for China and the World
Tu Weiming
Envisioning the Daoist Body in the Economy of Cosmic Power
James Miller
Indigenous Americans: Spirituality and Ecos
Jack D. Forbes
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.
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Overview
Transition Studies 