Check out "Community-Based Rainforest Restoration Work is Huge Success in Borneo"
http://permaculture.org.au/2009/03/30/community-based-rainforest-restoration-work-is-huge-success-in-borneo/

Enjoyed that. Check this one out. Maddening, sickening, frustrating.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_17464.cfm

How can one remain positive and inspiring when so much seems so wrong? J

Hallo, To say that Scientists should know better is False!!!Knowledge/Education does not mean that you are Conscious,As like so many they are driven by Greed and the Ego(I want recognition)Awareness is the key. Blessings Ivan

Dear Dr. Glen,
I am well pleased that you have not quit on your intimate thoughts and are sharing this with the Ecological Internet Community! As a biology teacher, I find it difficult with all my encouragements....i.e., northern deciduous woodland and swamp habitat field trips, ecological enlightenment, right out my classroom door......teenagers are vastly run by hormonal impulses. My top students have excelled in nature's classroom. Climate change is ever so politically charged in the classroom...at my previous position 3 years ago in a public school, in a district of upper middle-class republicans....their was an overwhelming despising of me because I saw what was happening to the earth (I am extensively travelled in the neotropics) and the incredible speeding up of climate change. Twelve years ago our grand-kids would be dealing with it, six years ago our children and now we are seeing the end of nature. My students mostly don't care that we are in Earth's 6th great extinction spasm. The media has perfected the art of relegating nature to at the very most, the last 2 minutes of the national news. A shooting in New York State draws the national media's focus while the collapse of the Wilkens Ice Shelf is just another minor point in the continuing saga of rapid climate disintegration. I would have rather seen an ice sheet from the mainland the size of Maine break off and wake the planet up (if possible)! That would have surely raised sea-level by several inches. Obviously these ice shelves are holding back land based ice. I agree on the restoration of Gaia.....a key novel I embrace is Thoreau's Walden. The one word....SIMPLIFY>>>is ever present in my mind. Having lived with families in the rainforest of Peru and Costa Rica, I see the world through eyes of everyday needs. I have a very difficult time believing North Americans are anywhere near this concept and still are clueless on earth's dire state. The realm of comfort will be witnessing some major shocks in the next several years.....let's see the Einstein's of the world dig us out of this pit!
Sincerely, Karl

P.S. Maybe they'll send some of the worlds best into the Yellowstone Caldera to stimulate an atmospheric particulate reflective response....

You say that credible revolutionary threat may spur governments to required ecological sufficient action. In the vast majority of developing nations (where much of the action will need to take place) the people will not go on the barricades at all, or only when they are hungry or politically oppressed. You can't tell an illegal logger in Sumatra to stop doing what he does if you not give him another means to support his family. Gaya's old, new garden can only come about if there is a pay check at the end of the month for the gardeners who care for it.

Activist here and gardener and educator etc etc. Working with youth in the cities to give hope and earth and mulch and worms and food and flowers and adults too.

I will keep trying to keep the coal in the mountains and dancing as should we all, but a huge die off is coming and the total collapse of the "western" world. That simple. Chief Seattle was right, they will not stop until every tree is cut. But, they will be maxed out by then too. So till then...

That said, someone needs to be more clear, there needs to be a stop to all the children people are having. It is a mania. Really. A newly inspired poetics and art of not procreating to sink into peoples consciousness.

Dear Sir:

This is too important for words. Thank you for your gigantic effort trying to save the Earth and all that still exists on it. Hope enough people help to make it a fact.

I am a 78 year old woman and made an error I am unable to correct when signing. If you receive these words please keep me up dated with your efforts.
Thanks Maria

Interesting essay..If this guy's not a pagan, he should be. Gaia as a living entity is a common neo-pagan theme.

thanks for your treatise - as usual, I agree with every word. Buddha sat under a tree and Enlightenment came his way. How much will it take to get through to the thickos in government what is needed? It is all down to Superman, Batment and the other Marvel heroes - politicians believe it can all be solved by Man's intervention. Keep me informed. We work here to save our wee bit of Scotland - my friends and I have 4 nature reserves. I have just been for 4 pints of real beer and when I got in I tried a can of my son's beer from an aluminium can - I could taste the metal; what a difference! The populace are so inured to what is happening that they cannot taste the difference between the ersatz from the real. Greer Hart

With regard to your statement that the Obama administration is investigating geo-engineering as a solution to climate change, you might want to read the clarification of Dr. Holder's position on Cllimate Progress site. Apparently, the news story went for headlines instead of the full information.

The concurrent economic, social and ecological challenges are GAIA's voice trying to help us awaken. The overall challenge facing us is one of conciousness as that determines our actions which determine our footprint. As far as climate change is a result of human activity (nobody knows how much is attributable to us)it is only an impact of part (eg energy consumption) of the 3rd level of 'the problem' (ie the components of footprint). We need to become more concious as a species of how we interact with each other and the earth. Science can only act at the 3rd and 2nd levels and because science today is money driven, it can't even do that properly! I think it was Einstein who said you cannot solve a problem by dealing with it at the level it was created. Many in our world believe more in the life force of a dollar bill, a computer or a part of life created in a laboratory than in GAIA or a peasant. That is unconcious awareness. Media is the way to raise conciousness and change human behaviour in modern society.
The Indigenous cultures of the world have much to teach us yet many have been bought to their knees by materialistic global living.
[email protected]

Hi Glen, As usual your unvarnished truth is a bracing reminder of the peril we face. So the big question is what to do to break through the logjam of conventional thinking.

Here are my ideas:

Obama has allocated considerable funding to energy conservation and efficiency. This is good as far as it goes, but we can and need to do much more of it. It is the cheapest and most effective way to reduce our carbon footprint immediately.

We need a carbon tax. This idea has gotten a lot of traction recently, but it still is a very difficult sell, politically. My proposal is to push for a modest gas tax increase immediately, say 50 cents/gallon, and then raise it each year over the next 10 years until we reach $5/gallon. The incremental aspect of this approach may make it more palatable. It will also give carmakers and consumers time to adjust to it in an orderly fashion, thus removing some of sting.

We have got to stop population increase. That is the most basic source of our problem. I am not a feminist per se, but I am now convinced that improving the lot of women in developing nations will reduce rampant population growth and eliminate a lot of misery along with it. Developed countries are already doing a good job keeping population growth in check.

OK, these are not exactly new ideas nor a complete list, but the problem of course is how to get them implemented. We face the well-financed agenda of big industry, who prefer paying for window dressing ads touting their green credentials as opposed to taking real action. We also have a public that is preoccupied with celebrity gossip and is unwilling or unable to see beyond the next few weeks.

On the other hand, we have made major progress in public perception. Global warming was considered a joke a couple of years ago, now it is an accepted part of public discussion and the naysayers are on the defensive. People are becoming much more sensitive to environmental issues, although this attention often results in fairly trivial “feel good” action. We proudly use reusable shopping bags so now we think we are off the hook.

Finally, the deep financial crisis paradoxically has given us a window of opportunity. People are deeply troubled economically and have lost a lot of faith in the unconstrained capitalism that has run rampant for so many years. They are questioning the validity of many deeply held assumptions about what makes for a good and successful society. While people are in this questioning mood, we must find a way of getting our message across more forcefully and help them to redefine their thinking along lines that will get us out of the mess we are in.

We have many organizations committed to environmental action, each with its own set of priorities and objectives. We have some very big pocket activists, Bill Gates being the big Kahuna in that crowd. I think it is time to close ranks, set our specific concerns aside for the moment and address the fundamental problems.

We, the folks who are reading this, all belong to one or more environmentally oriented organization, such as the Sierra club or the Auduban society. We should contact the leadership of these organizations and request that they convene a meeting to define objectives and a global strategy for implementation. In other words, we should have an environmental United Nations, hopefully more effective than the real United Nations. With a common set of objectives and a pooling of resources, we can be a political voice that rivals that of Exxon and the coal industry. By getting our act together we will also increase our credibility with legislators and maybe even get Bill Gates to part with a few billions.

What do you say? Shall we give it a try?

Paul Rosenberger

Fabulous essay, thank you.

The preservation of Earth's body and environs, and its maintenance as a fit place for human habitation, could be initiated so simply, sensibly and responsibly by following "Ten Commandments" for immediate economic reform.

http://www.ft.com...

Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world
By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Published: April 7 2009 20:02 | Last updated: April 7 2009 20:02

1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail. Evolution in economic life helps those with the maximum amount of hidden risks – and hence the most fragile – become the biggest.

2. No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains. Whatever may need to be bailed out should be nationalised; whatever does not need a bail-out should be free, small and risk-bearing. We have managed to combine the worst of capitalism and socialism. In France in the 1980s, the socialists took over the banks. In the US in the 2000s, the banks took over the government. This is surreal.

3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. The economics establishment (universities, regulators, central bankers, government officials, various organisations staffed with economists) lost its legitimacy with the failure of the system. It is irresponsible and foolish to put our trust in the ability of such experts to get us out of this mess. Instead, find the smart people whose hands are clean.

4. Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks. Odds are he would cut every corner on safety to show “profits” while claiming to be “conservative”. Bonuses do not accommodate the hidden risks of blow-ups. It is the asymmetry of the bonus system that got us here. No incentives without disincentives: capitalism is about rewards and punishments, not just rewards.

5. Counter-balance complexity with simplicity. Complexity from globalisation and highly networked economic life needs to be countered by simplicity in financial products. The complex economy is already a form of leverage: the leverage of efficiency. Such systems survive thanks to slack and redundancy; adding debt produces wild and dangerous gyrations and leaves no room for error. Capitalism cannot avoid fads and bubbles: equity bubbles (as in 2000) have proved to be mild; debt bubbles are vicious.

6. Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning . Complex derivatives need to be banned because nobody understands them and few are rational enough to know it. Citizens must be protected from themselves, from bankers selling them “hedging” products, and from gullible regulators who listen to economic theorists.

7. Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”. Cascading rumours are a product of complex systems. Governments cannot stop the rumours. Simply, we need to be in a position to shrug off rumours, be robust in the face of them.

8. Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains. Using leverage to cure the problems of too much leverage is not homeopathy, it is denial. The debt crisis is not a temporary problem, it is a structural one. We need rehab.

9. Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible “expert” advice for their retirement. Economic life should be definancialised. We should learn not to use markets as storehouses of value: they do not harbour the certainties that normal citizens require. Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control).

10. Make an omelette with the broken eggs. Finally, this crisis cannot be fixed with makeshift repairs, no more than a boat with a rotten hull can be fixed with ad-hoc patches. We need to rebuild the hull with new (stronger) materials; we will have to remake the system before it does so itself. Let us move voluntarily into Capitalism 2.0 by helping what needs to be broken break on its own, converting debt into equity, marginalising the economics and business school establishments, shutting down the “Nobel” in economics, banning leveraged buyouts, putting bankers where they belong, clawing back the bonuses of those who got us here, and teaching people to navigate a world with fewer certainties.

Then we will see an economic life closer to our biological environment: smaller companies, richer ecology, no leverage. A world in which entrepreneurs, not bankers, take the risks and companies are born and die every day without making the news.

In other words, a place more resistant to black swans.

The writer is a veteran trader, a distinguished professor at New York University’s Polytechnic Institute and the author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Dr. Barry,

Having worked behind the scenes in government for over two decades, I've seen first hand the roll that momentum plays in decision making processes for government officials. Their intentions are for the most part honorable, but they'll take no radical paths unless forced to by radical circumstances.

But the essential truth comes down to the question: How do you feed, clothe, house, tranport, and generally care for the nearly 7 billion humans upon this planet? This is the question that governemts face every day, and when faced with making decisions, they take the path that appears the safest and most likely to succeed.

The other big factor is the reluctance of well-off humans to give up their comforts and addiction to consumption. This addiction to the consumer lifestyle is like a plaque the quickly infects societies that become more affluent. Once people begin to taste the supposed "comforts" avaialabe at the Walmarts fo the world, they are not likely to give them up willingly.

So you have two major hurdles in your way before humans will willingly "retrun to the garden" of Gaia-- the inertia of government, and the consumer driven economy.

In the face of all this, I am personally an optimist and believe in the wisdom of Gaia to heal herself. She already is reacting to what has become a human infection across her face, in her waters, and even in the air that surrounds her. Homo Sapiens began as a minor species, almost wiped out several times by ice ages, and finally during just the last ten thousand years, rapidly growing in numbers and technology to have become a threat to the whole balance of ecosystems across Gaia. But this ten-thousand years of human explosion is but a mere blink of an eye to Gaia, and now she's already mounting responses to the infection.

As a side note, I am particularily amused by the "consumer green" people-- those who buy a Prius for example, as a way to "save" the planet. They would seem to want to have their cake and eat it too. Do they realize how destructive the mere production of their "green" car is to Gaia? If you want to return to the garden, you'll have no car at all!

In the face of what has already started and what will come (drought, plague, water wars, etc.)One can't but help ask the question: Am in helping or hurting Gaia's cause by even wanting human civilization to continue? Or, is it better that human civilization collapse and small bands of humans remain, living by necessity closer to the earth, and returning to the "garden of Gaia" out of necessity? What I'm saying is: either way, Homo Consumerus can not survive, as Gaia can't allow it, and those who voluntarily return to being Homo Sapiens, living close to the earth (in the sense that indiginous people such as Native Americans did) are the ones whose genetic offspring are the most likely to carry on the human family.

R. Gates

Hi Glen,

I totally agree. The need for restoring the ecosystems of the planet is
critical.But we have to deal with the huge human population that now
occupies the land. This is why I began working on Analog Forestry thirty
years ago.

I belive that we have to use such tools, designed on natures processes
rather than the deadly ´technological fixes´ that are being touted today.

Good luck,

Best,

Ranil

Dear Glen
Beautiful article.
Obama is still on the messiah track. He got a considerable proportion of his votes by misleading people to believe he is
concerned about the earth's well-being. He is just trying to make money for big-business and himself. No better than Bush.

Subrey

Dear Friends,

Wonderful discussion. The ideas generated here appear vital to me. While I agree with everyone who says no one can predict the future, I also believe we can likely agree that if the human community keep doing precisely what we are doing now, we will keep getting what we are getting now.

One indication of faulty reasoning and extreme foolishness, I suppose, would be for us to believe that we can keep overconsuming, overproducing and overpopulating as we are doing now and somehow achieve different results from the ones in existence now.

If, for example, by doing "more of the same business-as-usual activities" that we are doing now, we could be leading our children down a "primrose path" to a recognizably horrendous fate of some unknowable kind, would reason and common sense not suggest a change in behavior?

We have self-proclaimed Masters of the Universe among us who are recommending to the children that all of us can live large and long; that we can conspicuously consume limited resources, pollute the frangible environment, overpopulate the finite planet and ravage the Earth......just the way they are insisting all of us do now. These arrogant and avaricious leaders are living examples of patently unsustainable lives and, yes, they take pride in their gigantic ecological 'footprints' and lifestyles based upon excessive consumption and unbridled hoarding. If our children were to keep doing what my not-so-great generation of elders are adamantly advocating and doing now, what is likely to become of them?

My growing sense of frustration results from a realization that remarkably clear, intellectually honest and morally courageous reports from so many responsible and duty-bound scientists show us that the Masters of the Universe are determined to deny what could somehow be real and not to speak publicly about what they believe to be true regarding the predicament in which the family of humanity finds itself in these early years of Century XXI. Even worse, their minions with leadership responsibilities and duties in environmental organizations have collusively been enjoined from speaking about whatsoever they believe to be true. As a consequence, a conspiracy of silence has been established among all these leaders and the absurdly enriched talking heads in the mass media who eschew intellectual honesty and moral courage in favor of reporting repetitively about whatsoever is politically convenient, economically expedient, socially agreeable and religiously tolerated.

The silence of so many leaders is deafening, while the duplicitous, disinformational chatter of the talking heads is morally outrageous. What is much worse, sad to say, is that the determination of these leaders and the talking heads to live large and long in such stupendously unsustainable ways -- come what may for the children -- is not only grossly irresponsible, it is a profound dereliction of their duty to warn, I believe.

Perhaps change is in the offing.

Sincerely yours,

Steve

Hi Glen,

I totally agree. The need for restoring the ecosystems of the planet is
critical.But we have to deal with the huge human population that now
occupies the land. This is why I began working on Analog Forestry thirty
years ago.

I belive that we have to use such tools, designed on natures processes
rather than the deadly ´technological fixes´ that are being touted today.

Good luck,

Best,

Ranil

Thank you for the information ~ I will pass it along !