Al Gore Finally Said Something Smart & 10% Original.

Sorry for the post title. I’m sure some will object. But it’s just a light hearted poke at a guy who seems to be more opportunist than originator. But I digress.

This is from his TED2006 speech.

“The key to fighting global poverty is to have the wealthy nations and the developing nations join together to reduce global warming … What we need is a global Marshall plan to make the creation of jobs around the reduction of carbon the central principle for how we develop this.”

This is something I’ve been thinking about lately. But it seems to me that a solution to shifting our nation’s sustainability problems would be to create something along the lines of the Marshall Plan or FDR’s New Deal.

In post-war Europe and post-depression America these government sponsored plans were instrumental in (re)building a slumping economy and infrastructure.

I think in some ways this concedes that in some sense “using less” can only do so much. And that ultimately sustainability will come at the hands of technological progress. While I certainly don’t wholeheartedly agree with this. I’m beginning to see that an environmental or green Marshall Plan/New Deal could be instrumental in turn the sinking, bulky ship. I’m not sure how feasible this is as long as oil companies are as powerful and as profitable as they are (and continue to grow stronger day by day). But creating jobs that are rooted in sustainability and alternative fuels would be a huge boom to not only the economy, but the sustainability of the world.

Which I think is at least worth exploring.

Green Revolution?.

Thomas Friedman says that there really is no green revolution . . .

Hey, I’m really glad you switched to long-lasting compact fluorescent light bulbs in your house. But the growth in Doha and Dalian ate all your energy savings for breakfast. I’m glad you bought a hybrid car. But Doha and Dalian devoured that before noon. I am glad that the U.S. Congress is debating whether to bring U.S. auto mileage requirements up to European levels by 2020. Doha and Dalian will have those gains for lunch — maybe just the first course. I’m glad that solar and wind power are “soaring” toward 2 percent of U.S. energy generation, but Doha and Dalian will devour all those gains for dinner. I am thrilled that you are now doing the “20 green things” suggested by your favorite American magazine. Doha and Dalian will snack on them all, like popcorn before bedtime.

But, as I said, this is not just about “them.” It is still very much about us. Peter Bakker is the chief executive of TNT, the biggest express delivery company in Europe. The Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2007 just listed TNT as the No. 1 company in terms of energy and environmental practices. Mr. Bakker, whom I met in China, told me this story:

“We operate 35,000 trucks and 48 aircraft in Europe. We just bought two Boeing 747s, which, when fully operational, will do nine round trips every week between our home base in Liège [Belgium] and Shanghai. They leave Liège only partly full and every day fly back to Europe as full as you can stuff them with iPods and computers. By our calculations, just these two 747s will use as much fuel each week as our 48 other aircraft combined and emit as much CO2.”

That’s why we’re fooling ourselves. There is no green revolution, or, if there is, the counter-revolution is trumping it at every turn. Without a transformational technological breakthrough in the energy space, all of the incremental gains we’re making will be devoured by the exponential growth of all the new and old “Americans.”

Agree or disagree?

I tend to agree with this assessment. I think what we need besides a “green revolution” is a better way of thinking about consumption, i.e. CONSUME LESS.

I was reading The Knot’s wedding magazine (a friend gave it to Anna for photography reasons and I read it when I’m using the bathroom so lay off!) and they had a big article on Your Wedding Saving the World. I mean give me a break. Right? The problem is not with weddings not being “green” enough. But rather with the decadent hyper-consumption that the entire industry is built off of.

The same goes for every magazine and TV show host (Oprah, Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, etc). Spinning out a few green tips and giving everybody in the audience a cloth shopping bag is not the solution for a greener, more sustainable world. Rather the hyper-consumption on every level when you enter a chain box supermarket. Where bananas are shipped in from overseas (in the middle of February?) and fish is raised in a drainage ditch farm in Seoul.

Real “green living” is not created by changing a few light bulbs and carrying a green Whole Foods cloth bag. But rather when we examine why we need to turn our lights on all the time and leave them on. Why we need the temperature so cold/warm in our home. Or why we need an SUV to tote our groceries from point A to point B. Or why we need to eat food shipped from across the world when we could be from down the street or from our neighbor’s backyard.

We don’t need more tips. But rather a new way of looking at our consumption.

(ht: Jordon Cooper)

Mental Midget.

Every now and again, I get a rather heated comment left on one of my older posts. This one happened to be left this morning on this post, Muslim, Texas, & Pig Races. The language has been censored to protect the virgin ears.

You’re an idiot…it’s no more “racist” than their “cult” is SEXIST, VIOLENT and OPPRESSIVE.

Mental midgets like yourself should pray to JESUS CHRIST that we are able to stop this cult dead in it’s tracks. Or your sisters, mothers and daughters will be wearing sheets and your young sons will be raped daily.

FU#% allah and FU#% the child rapist mohammad!!

Now I know that most who are opposed (or at the very least wary) to Islam aren’t this militant. And I’m certainly not going to rely on an extreme to make fun of those who have a divergent perspective. But how is this comment any less violent than anything that extremists do? Violence begets violence and at some point . . . the cycle has to be broken. My money is on love and non-violence as opposed to violence. I’m just not sure how some Americans (the commenter was from Texas) can have so much vitriol in their hearts towards another human. Especially considering our American history is built off of sexism, violence, oppression, and the raping of Native-American women. The same things he accuses Islam and Mohammad of.

But then again . . . that’s just me.

In the words of Stong Bad . . . deleted!

KIVA Reflects on Oprah.

Matt & Jessica reflect on their time on Oprah sharing their nervousness and emotions. I can’t say this enough. These are good people doing a good thing. If you’re not a partner with Kiva, you need to go now and loan $25. It’s that easy.

Damn The Man, Save The Empire.

So here’s the deal. Some blog’o’sphere friends of mine have run into a little problem with the US government. Imagine that.

My friends Mike and James have a friend and former roommate (Rob) who is traveling with Pastors for Peace. Which is a group of pastors who attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to Cuba. Here’s the press release they released with excerpts below.

“The Pastors for Peace caravan, 12 brightly painted vehicles carrying 126 activists and 90 tons of aid, plans to cross into Mexico later today on its way to Cuba. The caravan is a direct nonviolent challenge of the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba, which prevents the Cuban people from accessing much-needed supplies . . . Our caravans are like water dropping onto a rock,” said Rev. Diane Baker of Dallas, TX. “The rock may seem impenetrable, but we just keep on keeping on — because the water always wins . . . Two years ago, US government officials spent a whole day seizing computer aid – CPUs, modems, cables, and toner cartridges – from the 16th IFCO/Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba. IFCO/Pastors for Peace struggled for nearly a year to finally get that aid released. Two weeks ago, the Bush Administration detained medical aid for Cuba at the Maine-Canada border – hospital gowns, stethoscopes, even breast pumps – although they allowed the very same sort of aid to pass into the U.S. from Vancouver, Toronto, and Winnipeg.”

Rob has contacted them and told them that not only we’re they detained this time around, but their laptops and other supplies were confiscated.

Mike makes this plea, “I would only ask that if you believe the US embargo on the island-nation of Cuba to be a joke, please contact your elected officials and ask them to advocate on behalf of our US citizens seeking the welfare of those less fortunate than us. Even if these people are considered by our government as “enemies” of the US Empire.”

Here’s an easy way to locate your House Rep and Senator

[tags]Humanitarian, Pastors for Peace, Cuba, America + Empire, Congress, Cuba + America, Cuba + Embargo[/tags]