Trump’s decision to appoint Vice President Mike Pence to lead the task force on U.S. coronavirus response is the latest in an attempt to hastily piece back together the national pandemic response infrastructure that the president himself ordered dismantled in the earlier days of his presidency, according to global health expert Laurie Garrett. “Why did he do it? It certainly wasn’t about the money, because it was not a heavily funded program,” says Garrett. “It was certainly because it was Obama’s program.” Garrett says that under the Obama administration, a special office was created to coordinate and mobilize resources across multiple channels in the case of a pandemic outbreak in the U.S. “That was all eliminated. It is gone,” says Garrett.
William Robert Catton, Jr. (born January 15, 1926) is an American sociologist best known for his scholarly work in environmental sociology and human ecology. His intellectual approach is broad and interdisciplinary. Catton’s repute extends beyond academic social science due primarily to his 1980 book, Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. Earth at Risk is an annual conference in San Francisco that brings together some of the greatest thinkers and activists in the fields of social and environmental justice. For more information, visit www.earthatrisk.info.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
Dr Shiva Vandana is a philosopher, environmental activist, eco feminist and author of several books. Dr Shiva, currently based in Delhi, is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals and participated in the non-violent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, some of whose main participants were women, adopted the approach of forming human circles around trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement.
Dr Shiva has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food. Intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics, genetic engineering are among the fields where Dr Shiva has contributed intellectually and through activist campaigns. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland, and Austria including campaigns against genetic engineering. In 1982, she founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, which led to the creation of Navdanya. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped redefine perceptions of third world women.
In November 2014, some of the world’s preeminent strategists in environmental defense, social justice, revolutionary fire, and grassroots activism came together to share their insights and speak toward ONE goal: crafting game-changing responses to address the converging crises we face.
This is Part 1 of an interview with William R. Catton, Jr., conducted on August 9, 2008 at his home near Tacoma, Washington, USA. Catton is the author of the seminal book, “Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change,” published in 1980. In the interview he outlines the major themes of his book: stealing from the future, exuberant growth, takeover and drawdown, industrialization, carrying capacity deficit, the absence of real villains, the bane of advertising, humankind’s true nature, ecological modesty, and the need for us to expect the worst. He also addresses the push to re-localize our economies, and outlines his current book project: “Humanity’s Impending Impasse.” (Note: retitled “Bottleneck” and self-published in 2009.) He ends on a note of optimism, encouraging us to enjoy life despite the catastrophe he fears is coming.
Interview with William R. Catton, Jr. (Part 2 of 5)
In this second part of the video interview, Bill Catton answers questions about “Stealing the Future”, “Our Age of Exuberance”, the concepts of “Takeover” and “Drawdown”, “Thomas Malthus”, and the “Industrial Revolution”.
Interview with William R. Catton, Jr. (Part 3 of 5)
In this third part of the video interview, Bill Catton answers questions on “Ecological Enlightenment”, “No Real Villians”, “A New Ecological Paradigm”, “Cargoism”, and “Expecting the Worst”.
Interview with William R. Catton, Jr. (Part 4 of 5)
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In this fourth part of the video interview, Bill Catton answers questions about “The Bane of Advertising”, “Undermining Democracy”, “Humankind’s True Nature”, “Renewed Interest in his book Overshoot”, and “Ecological Modesty”.
Interview with William R. Catton, Jr. (Part 5 of 5)
In this fifth part of the video interview, Bill Catton answers questions on “Re-localization”, “Human Agency”, and his new book, “Humanity’s Impending Impasse” (Note: retitled “Bottleneck” and self-published in 2009.) He ends with a final message of optimism.
This is an interview with William R. Catton, Jr., conducted on August 9, 2008 at his home near Tacoma, Washington, USA. Catton is the author of the seminal book, “Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change,” published in 1980. In the interview he outlines the major themes of his book: stealing from the future, exuberant growth, takeover and drawdown, industrialization, carrying capacity deficit, the absence of real villains, the bane of advertising, humankind’s true nature, ecological modesty, and the need for us to expect the worst. He also addresses the push to re-localize our economies, and outlines his current book project: “Humanity’s Impending Impasse.” He ends on a note of optimism, encouraging us to enjoy life despite the catastrophe he fears is coming.
In this video I share the main concepts from the 1980 book Overshoot by William R. Catton Jr.
I address the issues of overpopulation, resource depletion, and what we can do about it from a permaculture perspective.
Essentially, the human population is not something we can simply ignore, or leave to “natural patterns” if we care about preserving resources for future generations and reducing unnecessary suffering.
One way or another the human population will be “managed” ie; kept in check. Without any intentional management on our part, it’s likely that the population will grow until it hits resource shortages that cause a population collapse. This would be a chaotic way to allow the population to be managed by the environment. (Which is what happens with most other living organisms)
Another option is to control the population through some central governing body, like China’s one-child policy. This also has disastrous consequences, and takes away a fundamental human right of planning your own family, and number of offspring.
The ideal way to manage the population is through educated individuals and families being free to make their own choices about such matters. However with this right comes great responsibility, because that means it’s up to US to be aware of the lands carrying capacity and voluntarily choose to not exceed it.
So, that’s partly why I’m sharing this video, to help spread awareness to you all, so you can make more educated informed decisions about your family, and how you consume resources in your daily lives. If we step up to this responsibility, and respond appropriately, then we can avoid the pains of either resources scarcity or oppressive governmental programs.
http://www.whatawaytogomovie.com presents another clip as part of the “Why Are Things Falling Apart?” series. In this clip, Derrick Jensen defines civilization and argues how, despite cultural and social advantages, cities are functionally unsustainable.
A two-minute trailer for the upcoming documentary feature What a Way to Go: Life at the End of Empire. Purchase the film at http://bit.ly/WAWTGDVD . And visit http://bit.ly/2AOTAprint or http://bit.ly/2RFprint to find Bennett’s novels, All of the Above and Rumi’s Field. Thanks!
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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