Richard D. Wolff, Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University joins us to discuss the narrow coverage of economics in media, our fictional economic recovery, Occupy Wall St., and the structural problems that perpetuate a vast disparity of wealth.
Richard D. Wolff, Professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University joins us to discuss the narrow coverage of economics in media, our fictional economic recovery, Occupy Wall St., and the structural problems that perpetuate a vast disparity of wealth.
Helena Norberg-Hodge was one of 45 leading scholars, authors and activists who convened at The Great Hall of Cooper Union, New York City, on October 25-26, 2014, for the public presentation: “Techno-Utopianism and the Fate of the Earth.” Speakers discussed the profound impacts—environmental, economic and social—of runaway technological expansionism and cyber immersion; the tendency to see technology as the savior for all problems. For more info, see http://ifg.org/techno-utopia/program/ .
Author and filmmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge (wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Norberg-Hodge
) is a pioneer of the new economy movement. Through writing and public lectures on three continents, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than thirty years. She is a widely respected analyst of the impact of the global economy and international development on local communities, local economies, and personal identity, and is a leading proponent of ‘localization’, or decentralization, as a means of countering those impacts.
Helena’s seminal book, Ancient Futures (localfutures.org/publications/books-and-reports/books-and-reports),
has been described as “an inspirational classic,” providing insightful solutions to the unintended impacts of development, based on her decades living and working in Ladakh, India. Together with the film of the same title, it has been translated into more than 40 languages, and sold about half a million copies. She is also the producer and co-director of the award-winning film, The Economics of Happiness (theeconomicsofhappiness.org), and the co-author of Bringing the Food Economy Home and From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture.
The Earth Journal counted Helena among the world’s ‘ten most interesting environmentalists’, while in Carl McDaniel’s book Wisdom for a Liveable Planet, she was profiled as one of ‘eight visionaries changing the world’.
Helena has lectured in seven languages and appeared in broadcast, print and online media worldwide, including MSNBC, The London Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. She has written numerous articles and essays, and her work has been the subject of more than 300 articles worldwide.
Educated in Sweden, Germany, Austria, England and the United States, Helena specialized in linguistics, including studies at the University of London and at MIT. Since 1975, she has worked with the people of Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”, to find ways of enabling their culture to meet the modern world without sacrificing social and ecological values. For these efforts she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. She was awarded the prestigious Goi Peace prize in 2012 (goipeace.or.jp/english/activities/award/award2012.html)
Helena is the founder and director of the Local Futures – International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) and The International Alliance for Localization (IAL). Based in the US and UK, with subsidiaries in Germany and Australia, ISEC examines the root causes of our current social and environmental crises, while promoting more sustainable and equitable patterns of living in both North and South. Helena is also a founding member of the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Ecovillage Network.
Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network’s (www.FFAN.us) conference call series Call In To Action:
Bye Bye Becquerels, No Radioactive Waste in Our Food!
Be sure to watch the other parts in the series:
Pt. 1
Program host Mary Beth Brangan of EON – the Ecological Options Network gives the context for the growing citizen push for independent monitoring of radioactivity in U.S. food.
Pt. 2 – Jim Turner – Petitioning the FDA
Pt. 3 – Cindy Folkers – Health Impacts of Fallout in Food
Pt. 4 – Adam Weissman – Current TPP Status
Pt. 5 – Kimberly Roberson – Stop the TPP
Help Block ‘Fast Track’ to Radioactive Foods
Kimberly Roberson, Founder and Director of the Fukushima Fallout Awareness Network (FFAN.us), tells how you can get involved in helping to stop secret trade deals from destroying food radiation safety standards, US national sovereignty and democratic choice.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s U.S. visit came at a critical moment in the fight to establish a sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership. An agreement could mean hundreds of billions of dollars in business, exports and profits, but opponents warn it would cost American jobs and give foreign corporations too much legal power. Gwen Ifill talks to Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Federal regulators have unveiled new rules that would effectively abandon net neutrality, the concept of a free and open Internet. The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission would allow Internet providers like Verizon or Comcast to charge media companies like Netflix or Amazon extra fees in order to receive preferential treatment, such as faster speeds for their content. If the new rules are voted on next month, the FCC will begin accepting public comments and issue final regulations by the end of summer. “What we’re really seeing here is the transformation of the Internet where the 1 percent get the fast lanes, and the 99 percent get the slow lanes,” says Michael Copps, retired FCC Commissioner. “If we let that happen, we have really undercut the potential of this transformative technology. This has to be stopped.”
“Fast track’ means it gets pushed through Congress for a vote, unbelievably, before our Congressional Representatives even get to read it. TPP is secret trade deal anyway.
Thom Hartmann talks with David Cortright, American scholar and peace activist / Director of Policy Studies at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and Chair of the Board of the Fourth Freedom Forum
Website: www.davidcortright.net, who argues peaceful protest is a good thing.
On Earth Day, April 22, 2015, Yale’s Presidential Carbon Charge Task Force hosted a special town hall discussion with the university community to discuss the details of a report recommending that Yale adopt a carbon charge as part of its campus sustainability efforts.
President Peter Salovey and Provost Benjamin Polak shared the report of the Presidential Carbon Charge Task Force with the Yale community on April 20. The report can be downloaded using the following link:
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.
Calendar – Click on Date for links entered on that Day
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