Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Four Lectures on Climate Change: Kevin Anderson, Andrew Simms, Gwynne Dyer, and Daniel Nocera

We have treated the world as a garbage dump. The damage we have done has been devastating and the repercussions unimaginable.

From the disappearing bees to plastic waste vortex’s in the oceans, from the commodification of water to increasing CO2 emissions for cheap gasoline, from deforestation (pdf) to the melting ice caps, from fracking to the oil sands, our politics, our economics, and our way of life are devastating ecosystems across the globe.

The simple fact is that even though it is our technological evolution that is bringing about an economic metamorphosis that we see manifesting itself as a global financial crisis, it will be the environmental revolution forcing our civilization to implement the concept of sustainability that will finally transform our society. In essence, we need to seriously rethink our current economic system.

There are positive changes taking place on the political front, and then some, but we are losing the battle:
“Humans must immediately implement a series of radical measures to halt carbon emissions or prepare for the collapse of entire ecosystems and the displacement, suffering and death of hundreds of millions of the globe’s inhabitants, according to a report commissioned by the World Bank. The continued failure to respond aggressively to climate change, the report warns, will mean that the planet will inevitably warm by at least 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, ushering in an apocalypse.”
Below you will find four lectures that provide further insight into our current predicament:
  1. In the first video Kevin Anderson presents some data;
  2. In the second video Andrew Simms discusses the absurdity of growth as it relates to our current economic system;
  3. In the third video Gwynne Dyer outlines what the consequences might be if we fail to address this issue;
  4. In the fourth video Daniel Nocera talks about the basic mathematics that we must consider to solve our energy crisis.

Kevin Anderson: 'Rhetoric to Reality'



Andrew Simms: Climate Change and the GDP-led Growth Model

Related: Video of “The impossible Hamster (and economic growth)

Gwynne Dyer: The Geopolitics of Climate Change

Related: Video of “Arctic Methane: Why The Sea Ice Matters

Daniel Nocera: Sustainocene: Harvard Leads a New Epoch for Humankind

Related: More math, full video lecture of “The Most IMPORTANT Video You'll Ever See

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