What can be done?

If we acknowledge that there are environmental problems, our first question is what can we do? Corporations and individuals can work toward acting responsibly, but as with most change, we'd rather that someone else go first. How long before the world's population reaches the tipping point and we all change our behavior? This means managing our lives as though the environment matters to us and to future generations. I think that ultimately, countries of the world need to ramp up their collaboration and put environmental policies on the table more frequently for discussion and action. We can shop responsibly and eat responsibly, and this does make a difference, but government and business needs to lead the way. Who is willing to take the risk and go first?

Choking on Growth: New York Times series

The New York Times is doing a series on China. Go to this url http://tinyurl.com/2rdszp and read the article about the effects of chemical spills on the people and land of China. The interesting part is how the Chinese government is dealing with one man who is an environmental activist. As I have noted before and read in more than one place - China's political system and its economic boom are not compatible. What does the future hold not only for China, but other countries who are dealing with the same problems? Is there a collaborative way to work on global problems?

Side by Side: Local and Global

At the forum at Utica College last night, the focus of Bill McKibben's book, Deep Economy, came up. In his book, he puts out the idea that economic growth should not be the only measure of happiness and success. If everyone on the planet had the same lifestyle and used as many resources as we currently do in this country, there would not be enough resources to support them. We see this in China today as more people have cars and from that, create more pollution and gridlock. McKibben proposes everyone being more dependent on local, not global, supply chains, which will ultimately result in less dependency on fossil fuels. It is an interesting book and I highly recommend it along with The World is Flat. They offer not really different, but a balanced perspective.

Guest blog by Bill McKibben

The idea that the world works best as a fully globalized economy is an artifact of the world of cheap fossil fuel. The average bite of food that we eat, for instance, travels 2000 miles before it reaches our lips. Which makes a great deal of sense if oil is inexpensive, and if we pay no attention to the effects of burning it (those pesky melting icecaps!). My guess is that we will start to evolve a very different looking planet if and when we start to take seriously the actual cost of energy.

I think the logic of a world like that tends towards localization, not globalization; and it tends towards durability, not growth. The vested interests of our current system will fight hard to maintain it, but in the long run they are defending an illogical system, as soon as the economic law of gravity starts to shift. Which it will, if the price of fossil fuel ever reflects its cost.

Bill McKibben 10/09/2007

About the author: BILL MCKIBBEN is an environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming, alternative energy, and the risks of genetic engineering. His first book, The End of Nature, was published in 1989. It is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change.His most recent book, Deep Economy: the Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, was published in March 2007 and addresses the shortcomings of the growth economy and envisions a transition to more local-scale enterprise. Bill is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, Orion Magazine, Mother Jones, The New York Review of Books, Granta, Rolling Stone, and Outside. He is also a board member and contributor to Grist Magazine. He has been awarded Guggenheim and Lyndhurst Fellowships, and won the Lannan Prize for nonfiction writing in 2000.

See http://www.midyork.org/regionalread/author_bio.htm for a complete biography and visit Bill's official website at http://www.billmckibben.com/

Local or global - do we have to choose?

Thomas Friedman makes us think about the globalization of the world and the possibilities that it brings with it. There is also a movement that is advocating that we eat and buy food that is grown near where we live. Is it possible to balance these two ideas?

Questions for Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy, will be speaking at Colgate University this coming Monday, September 24. What questions would you have for him? If I get a chance, I will be happy to ask some on your behalf.

Globalization and climate change

Let's spend a little time this week talking about climate change. Start by going to http://carbonfund.org and poking around a little bit. Take note of what you were interested in and what you learned. Write a comment on the blog about your experience or do the carbon calculator exercise and report on what you learned or how you might be able to change your lifestyle to reduce your carbon footprint.

Our family has been working on our footprint for the last year or so. Some things we have done are changing light bulbs, signing up for more of our energy to come from solar and wind sources, and buying local produce and meat. And we bought a Toyota Prius.

How does this kind of behavior fit with Friedman's book? How do you think the effects of globalization fit with environmental issues such as climate change?