Archive for the ‘Environment’ Category

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Fake Accounting, Greed and Oil

21/05/2010

By John Perkins
Sent by email, also published in the Huffington Post

John Perkins

While countries around the world continue to watch their economies collapse, and Goldman-Sachs leaders testify to Congress about how they manipulated both their shareholders and the American public, we are also faced with a tragic oil spill on our most fragile coastlines.
The sad truth is that oil, greed and fake accounting work hand in hand to empower those who have — and significantly disempower those who do not.
In my book, Hoodwinked I talk about the 30,000 Ecuadorians who filed a lawsuit against Texaco (since purchased by Chevron). The company destroyed vast sections of rain forest and the toxic wastes from its operations allegedly killed many people and made many more chronically sick. (more…)

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Posted in Books, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Fair Trade, Room For Improvement, Sustainable Living/Communities, This Just In Department | 1 Comment »

BP’s CEO – Does he grasp severity of accident?

20/05/2010
On May 10, 2010, British Petroleum’s Chief Executive Officer, Tony Hayward, was interviewed by Michele Norris on NPR’s All Things Considered concerning the failed attempt to cap the broken oil rig on May 8th and 9th. (listen to the interview)
The part that most disturbed me about this interview was Dr. Hayward’s comparison of this accident to the Apollo 13 mission, and the Air France Flight AF447 which crashed in the ocean last June. Here is a transcript from part of the interview:
NORRIS: Mr. Hayward, this is the deepest well blowout on record. And the people are most knowledgeable in dealing with deep water wells are at the outer edge of their expertise, even when things are going well. The Coast Guard and oil industry analysts say that drilling here is almost like visiting outer space. It’s like a great unknown. So why are you drilling there if there’s so much that is not known about this territory?Dr. HAYWARD: Well, we’re drilling because it’s a very important source of energy for the United States and the world. That is the reality. Almost 30 percent of the United States oil production today comes from the deep waters. That is where there is the opportunity to provide domestic energy security. That is where there is an opportunity to provide energy security for the world. And, of course, oil isnt all of the solution but it’s a part of the solution.

NORRIS: That opportunity obviously comes, though, with great peril. Is deepwater drilling riskier than BP believed?

Dr. HAYWARD: I think you have to go back to, you know, the track record of the industry and BP’s over the last 20 years. The industry has drilled over 5,000 wells. BP has drilled around 1,500 of those 5,000 wells, and this is the first time that we’ve had a major incident. And I think it is legitimate to draw analogies with, for example, the space program.

The space program was not canceled because of the issues around Apollo 13. It’s also legitimate to draw comparisons with the airline industry. When the Air France plane fell out of the sky coming out of Brazil, we didnt ground the airline industry. So we need to learn the lessons here. They will be learned and they will shape, I’m certain, the industry as it moves forward.

Drawing analogies between this accident and the  Apollo 13 mission makes no sense at all and he uses it to distract from the severity of this incident. There were, first off, no deaths associated with the Apollo 13 mission, and second, Dr. Hayward is completely disregarding the damage the leaking oil and gas is causing to the environment and the coastline communities.
 
The same is true of the Air France flight. Yes, 228 people died in the accident, but Dr Hayward is saying we should not stop deep oil drilling because we did not ground the airline industry after the plane went down. This analogy illustrates how disconnected Dr. Hayward is from the severity of the oil spill.  He is only seeing the deaths, and the money lost. He is not considering the vast unaccountable ecological damage the oil is causing. Moreover, the Apollo 13 mission and Flight AF447 did not lead to an economic disaster causing hundreds of people to lose their livelihood as is happening on the Gulf coast right now. Flight AF447 did not continue to reek havoc on the surrounding environments for months after the crash.
This sort of thinking is how we got into the environmental situation we are in now. People in power in these large corporations are not willing to say, “You know, this technology is not necessary, it is just too harmful.”  Their focus is always on shareholder profits, never on wider ecological impacts. Our disconnection from the natural systems that keep our communities and economies alive is leading us to our own destruction.
Think about this: people talk of nuclear power as a “clean, alternative” energy source. However, what will a CEO say when a plant starts leaking radioactive material into the environment, killing everything? Will he or she say, “We didn’t stop the oil companies from drilling when they had accidents, why should we be shut down?”
Where would we be if a hundred years ago people noticed how dirty and destructive fossil fuels were and decided to try alternatives instead?

Posted in Environment, Health, Room For Improvement | 5 Comments »

Adapting to Post Industrialism

18/05/2010

Book Describes How to Transition

Adapt or Die

“If your town is not yet a Transition Town, here is guidance for making it one. We have little time, and much to accomplish.”
Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute, Santa Rosa, California, author of ‘Power Down’ and ‘Peak Everything’

We live in an oil-dependent world, and have got to this level of dependency in a very short space of time, using vast reserves of oil in the process – without planning for when the supply is not so plentiful. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities, which will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials. They can also encourage the development of local currencies, to keep money in the local area.

The book has three sections, Read more

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Posted in Books, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Holistic Living, Leadership, Sustainable Living/Communities | Leave a Comment »

Twitter Got Us Outside Today

15/05/2010

Evil Twins?

Harrison Kaplan*

Who says computers keep us indoors?  This afternoon, Amanda was Twittering and Facebooking an article I had written a few days ago on how studies show green exercise helps mental health. Enter old friend Rob Kaplan, who  happened to be visiting his parents’ home, here in the area.  He was on Facebook the same time Amanda  was posting on FB and Twitter.  After reading the article, he thought of us, and gave us a call.

Just about that time we had decided to climb Mt. Sunapee,  so I asked Rob if he and his family would like to join us.  “Sure” he said, “just name the time.”  In about an hour, Rob, his two kids, Lucas and Harrison,  my wife Amanda and I were headed up  the old Dick Durrance trail, from Newbury, NH.

Lucas and Harrison are outdoor kids, the former is headed for Camp Coniston this summer, and both are then headed to a Boy Scout camp, (their parents will also be involved in facilitating at the camp).  They seem to be kids who love to camp, get outside and seek adventure. They seem atypical of many kids who spend a lot of time and attention in front of a computer.

Enjoying the spring green**

Facebook has helped me do everything from connect with old friends, to  keep up on an American Mountain Guides Association examee’s  experience on a recent ski guides exam.  Maybe it’s not all bad. Maybe it can, in fact, help get us outside, (I never thought I’d say that). Maybe it’s all about balance.

Jerry Mander writing in “In Absence of the Sacred” stated that technology in not neutral.  By it’s very nature, it pulls us away from nature. He wrote that the computer just doesn’t sit there, it sucks us in.  Point taken.  But it was cool how Facebook  may have pulled us together for a nice afternoon hike with Rob and his kids. It’s all about balance. As my old climbing and skiing buddy, Junji Itagaki says, “step away from the machine” …and go climb a mountain, but check Facebook on your way out, you might have some friends that will join you.

Images:
* Harrison stands by the old doubled up stump at the start of the old Dick Durrance Ski Trail, in Newbury NH.
** Harrison Kaplan, R. Richards and Rob Kaplan cross the brook near the start of the old ski trail.
Historical Notes:
The Dick Durrance Ski Trail was the first ski trail on Mount Sunapee, cut by the Newport/Mt. Sunapee Ski Club. Members also built a cabin on the mountain’s southeast shoulder, at the top of this ski trail. The cabin’s logs came from the immediate area, and were all cut by hand. Hikers can still see the outline of the ski trail by observing the old growth line at trail’s edge. The author skied this trail in about 2001 when we had a March dump that covered up all the trail, making for great backcountry skiing. It’s a bit narrow in spots, but in good deep snow, it’s great skiing. I have pictures of the old cabin which was still standing in the late ’70’s. (I’ll post these images one of these days). Back in the day, ski club members would boot pack the trail, climb to the cabin and stay the night and have races or runs on the weekends.

I wrote the Governor at the time,  in the late ’70’s, and requested permission to save the cabin. When he said no, I gave up on the idea to restore the cabin. But in hind sight should have persisted. We’d have a great skiing historical landmark today.  Oh well, I was only a teenager then.  I thought that when I got a no from the government, that was it. Now I, and others,  know better.

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Posted in Environment, Experiential Education, Health, Holistic Living | Leave a Comment »

Global Meditation to Heal Waters

07/05/2010

If Group Meditation reduced violent crime in Washington DC, what could a massive healing meditation do for the world’s waters?

Startling & Postive Results

Below is a writeup on the now-oft quoted meditation event in Washington DC.  Then read further, about a worldwide meditation event scheduled for May 18th at 15:38 EST to send healing prayers to the world’s waters.

From alltm.org
A study published in the peer-reviewed journal Social Indicators Research reports on one of the most dramatic sociological experiments ever undertaken. Researchers predicted in advance that the calming influence of group meditation practice could reduce violent crime by over 20 percent in Washington, D.C., during an 8-week period in the summer of 1993.

In fact, the findings later showed that the rate of violent crime–which included assaults, murders, and rapes–decreased by 23 percent during the June 7 to July 30 experimental period. The odds of this result occurring by chance are less than 2 in 1 billion. Rigorous statistical analyses ruled out an extensive list of alternative explanations, according to John Hagelin, (more…)

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Posted in Climate Change, Environment, Holistic Living, Inner Work, Service, Spiritual, Sustainable Living/Communities | 2 Comments »

A Sea Change

06/05/2010

Imagine A World Without Fish
Ocean acidification threatens over one million species with extinction–and with them, our entire way of life.

Time for Course Corrections

DVD: Directed by Barbara Ettinger
Recipient of the NOAA 2010 Environmental Hero Award

A Sea Change documents how the pH balance of the oceans has changed dramatically since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: a 30% increase in acidification. With near unanimity, scientists now agree that the burning of fossil fuels is fundamentally reshaping ocean chemistry. Experts predict that over the next century, steady increases in carbon dioxide emissions and the continued rise in the acidity of the oceans will cause most of the world’s fisheries to experience a total bottom-up collapse–a state that could last for millions of years. Read more..

Directed by Barbara Ettinger
Produced by Barbara Ettinger, Sven Huseby, Susan Cohn Rockefeller
Music by Joel Goodman

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Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Film/DVD, Glaciology, Leadership, Power of Place | Leave a Comment »

Time to Break the Oil Addiction

06/05/2010

Sign the Petition

Now is a Good  Time to Break the Oil Addiction
From Greenpeace
On March 31st, President Obama announced a plan to allow oil and gas exploration and drilling in 167 million acres of coastal waters that have been protected for decades. Obama’s plan would expose the waters off southern Atlantic states and the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil spills and other dangers, threatening many tourism and fishing-dependent communities. The news is even worse for Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, which are especially sensitive to oil drilling because they provide critical habitat for polar bears, whales, seals and other important Arctic species.

And of course, opening more areas to drilling only prolongs our dangerous addiction to oil, which is pushing us closer and closer to runaway climate change.

It’s time to quit oil, get clean, and make a permanent switch to renewable energy. Tell our President to just say no to offshore drilling.

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Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Oil Spill Cleanup Timeline: 3 Months

03/05/2010

Current time-line to shut down Gulf of Mexico oil spill: three months.
Christian Science Monitor

Oil Slick in Gulf of Mexico

Federal officials gave a sobering appraisal of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Sunday, with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar saying ‘ultimate relief’ was 90 days away.

Officials speaking about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill Sunday morning appeared to be steeling the Louisiana coast – and the nation – for consequences that could be “catastrophic.”  The officials, who run the agencies charged with mitigating the impact of the spill on America’s Gulf coast, used unusually stark words to describe the situation and the difficulties of the remedy. Read the rest of this story

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Posted in Environment, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

We’ve Really Done It Now

03/05/2010

Gulf Oil Spill 2010, Image: Reuters, UK

I can’t help but think, with the Gulf oil spill, that we’re simply fleas on the back of a living organism that’s about to shake us off.  The spill is big. A retired expert mentioned this morning on The Power Hour internet radio show with Joyce Riley said there is not an easy way to stop such a huge oil spout, which is under such high pressure. It’s escaping the man-made hole created thousands of feet under the ocean’s surface. The expert actually said the only way he knew of containment, was to use an atomic blast, placed just in the right way, to seal the hole.

In any event, Chief Sealth from the Pacific Northwest was right, “We do not own the earth.”  This latest mishap by us, seems to really be screwing things up.  To be more informed on a culmination of “the perfect storm” read Richard Heinberg’s Peak Everything which addresses a number of issues which are peaking on our planet today.
Below if from Amazon’s page on Peak Everything.

Heinberg is Brilliant

From Publishers Weekly
In his latest, “Peak Oil” expert Heinberg (Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies) puts that theory in place alongside corresponding peaks in population, food production, climate stability and fresh water availability to paint a grim future of overlapping and accelerating global crises. For an introduction to Peak Oil, the idea that coming fossil fuel shortages will be sudden and drastic, readers should seek Heinberg’s earlier works; this volume assumes familiarity and addresses the challenges a post-carbon world poses for a global community “as reliant on hydrocarbons as it is on water, sunlight, and soil.” The worst-case scenario, “global economic meltdown” read more

Description of Peak Everything
The twentieth century saw unprecedented growth in population, energy consumption, and food production. As the population shifted from rural to urban, the impact of humans on the environment increased dramatically.

The twenty-first century ushered in an era of declines, in a number of crucial parameters:

* Global oil, natural gas, and coal extraction
* Yearly grain harvests (more…)

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Posted in Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Sustainable Living/Communities | 2 Comments »

Why No Posts for 14 Days?

01/05/2010

Iceland Ash, NASA

You may have noticed we’ve not been been posting for almost 14 days. We were stuck in Paris. Tough duty but someone had to do it. Due to Iceland’s volcanic ash event, what had meant to be a 5-day trip, turned into a 13+day one.  I hadn’t brought my computer, and if you know anything about Paris, everything including computer time is expensive, (and not readily available).

My wife headed over to support her twin sister who was running the Paris Marathon. (Congrats to Lindy Roberts by the way for completing the marathon in good style!) I caught a later flight (thanks Priceline) to support Lindy as well, and spend a few days there with Amanda. Since there was an apartment anyway, I couldn’t miss the opportunity.

I’ve also been delayed on postings because,  right before I left, I mistakenly re-formatted a portable drive which contained all my images. No big worries though, I had other back-ups of almost everything, but I’m still shuffling files around since my delayed return stateside.

The good news? We were stuck in Paris. It was good be back in France. We had extra time to see the Louvre, speak my second language (of five) again, be away from the computer, (isn’t that what MSI is about anyway?) and play some guitar and sing on the streets in the evening.

I brought my guitar in order to practice for a gig back in New Hampshire, which I had to cancel because of the ash cloud. So instead of practicing for the gig, I decided to throw my guitar case open and see what I could earn to help pay for the trip. I earned a total of 2.24 Euros (about $1.75), one cigarette (I don’t smoke), one cigar in a small tin, (cigars either, but nice tin), and some flowers placed in my case by a nice fellow. I guess I’m a little rusty on my busqing skills.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. I’m back, and expect to see more postings soon, and maybe even a few images and thoughts on Paris.
R. Richards

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Posted in Climate Change, Environment, Focus on MSI People, MSI News, Music, Power of Place, Sense of Humor Perspective, Traveling | Leave a Comment »

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