Hi guys - this whole website (greenprophet.com) about environmental issues in the Middle East is incredibly interesting, but I thought you'd think this article was particularly cool, especially after we talked about Edmund Burke's argument that the people of the Middle East (especially under Muhammad Ali - the ruler of Egypt, not the boxer) have largely been responsible for their own building projects. Also, Hassan Fathy's book "Architecture for the Poor" sounds like a good read - something that would interest both Brand and Guha!
http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/02/26/17943/hassn-fathy-sustainable-architecture/
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Protest against the Stewart Brand view
Good Afternoon again friends! This is a CNN article about Greenpeace protesting against genetically modified corn in Mexico. This link should create some discussion if mixed in with Stewart Brand. The issue raised by environmentalists was that the genetically altered corn could mix and ruin the native corn crop of mexico. http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/20/greenpeace.mexico/index.html?iref=allsearch
Africa and Environmentalism
Good Afternoon friends! This is a rich website pertaining to the idea that climate change will negatively impact the third world countries first. http://allafrica.com/sustainable/
Monday, April 5, 2010
Empire Forestry Association becomes the Commonwealth Forestry Association
Homepage: http://www.cfa-international.org/index.html
Brief history in the Handbook: http://www.cfa-international.org/Handbook_conspectus.html
"In 1962...the Empire Forestry Association changed its name to the Commonwealth Forestry Association by a Supplemental Royal Charter"
Check out their Global Warming/Sustainability/Reforestation Video:
Brief history in the Handbook: http://www.cfa-international.org/Handbook_conspectus.html
"In 1962...the Empire Forestry Association changed its name to the Commonwealth Forestry Association by a Supplemental Royal Charter"
Check out their Global Warming/Sustainability/Reforestation Video:
Human History and Energy Regimes: Empathy is the Key?
When you google "human history and energy regimes" you come up with a lot of posts about Jeremy Rifkin's new book The Empathic Civiilzation. http://empathiccivilization.com/about
Rifkin claims that "[n]othing could be more important at this juncture in our history as a species than to have a meaningful cultural debate about the role empathy has played in the development and conduct of human affairs. Our ever more complex energy-consuming global civilization is careening the human race to the very brink of extinction. We need now, more than ever, to retrace our steps, to understand how we got here, so that we can find a new, more secure footing that can free us from the entropic shackle and allow us to thrive while living more lightly on Earth and in harmony with our fellow creatures and the ecosystems that nurture life. Our scientists tell us that we have but a few years to find a new economic road map for civilization -one that takes us into a new energy regime that is more sustainable and able to break the fever that is heating up the biosphere.
To accomplish this undertaking requires that we know how human consciousness has developed over eons of history as we transitioned into a succession of ever more complex energy-consuming civilizations. By rediscovering our cognitive past, we find important clues to how we might redirect our conscious future. With our very survival at stake, we can no longer afford to remain unmindful about how empathic consciousness has evolved across history and at what expense to the Earth we inhabit."
Jeremy Rifkin:
According to his website promoting the book: http://empathiccivilization.com/author
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Rifkin
OR, "As head of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C., leftist political activist Jeremy Rifkin has organized demonstrations, formed coalitions, and initiated lawsuits in behalf of a number of causes, most recently against persons, groups, and institutions whose activities in biotechnology--especially genetic engineering--he sees as a potential threat to life." according to Biography Resource Center [Snell Library Databases page]: Biography from Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010. http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/servlet/BioRC Document Number: H1000082959
Rifkin claims that "[n]othing could be more important at this juncture in our history as a species than to have a meaningful cultural debate about the role empathy has played in the development and conduct of human affairs. Our ever more complex energy-consuming global civilization is careening the human race to the very brink of extinction. We need now, more than ever, to retrace our steps, to understand how we got here, so that we can find a new, more secure footing that can free us from the entropic shackle and allow us to thrive while living more lightly on Earth and in harmony with our fellow creatures and the ecosystems that nurture life. Our scientists tell us that we have but a few years to find a new economic road map for civilization -one that takes us into a new energy regime that is more sustainable and able to break the fever that is heating up the biosphere.
To accomplish this undertaking requires that we know how human consciousness has developed over eons of history as we transitioned into a succession of ever more complex energy-consuming civilizations. By rediscovering our cognitive past, we find important clues to how we might redirect our conscious future. With our very survival at stake, we can no longer afford to remain unmindful about how empathic consciousness has evolved across history and at what expense to the Earth we inhabit."
Jeremy Rifkin:
According to his website promoting the book: http://empathiccivilization.com/author
According to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Rifkin
OR, "As head of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C., leftist political activist Jeremy Rifkin has organized demonstrations, formed coalitions, and initiated lawsuits in behalf of a number of causes, most recently against persons, groups, and institutions whose activities in biotechnology--especially genetic engineering--he sees as a potential threat to life." according to Biography Resource Center [Snell Library Databases page]: Biography from Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010. http://0-galenet.galegroup.com.ilsprod.lib.neu.edu/servlet/BioRC Document Number: H1000082959
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Climate Change in literature
So, while listening to NPR in the car a few days ago I heard this really fascinating interview with the British novelist Ian McEwan. After taking a trip to the arctic with a group of other artists, writers, and humanists, he was inspired to write a novel about climate change, the recently-released book, Solar. As I'm writing my paper on books about the history and science of climate change, I think it is interesting to consider how contemporary writers are incorporating the issue into fiction.
I've not yet read the book, so I can't vouch for it's quality (reviewers have mostly agreed that it's not McEwan's best book). But this is the first book of contemporary literature I have come across that grapples with the question of climate change and what it means for humanity, which in itself is interesting, given that climate change is the issue of the day. It seems a difficult topic for a novelist to tackle, given that it is such a heated political topic and there is much uncertainty surrounding what course climate change will take in the future -- unless the novelist is a science fiction writer, I suppose. I'm interested to read it and see how (and if) McEwan successfully gets a moral point across without sounding too preachy . . .
Anyway, the interview is here:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/125470747
And a review here:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/125434400
- Sarah
I've not yet read the book, so I can't vouch for it's quality (reviewers have mostly agreed that it's not McEwan's best book). But this is the first book of contemporary literature I have come across that grapples with the question of climate change and what it means for humanity, which in itself is interesting, given that climate change is the issue of the day. It seems a difficult topic for a novelist to tackle, given that it is such a heated political topic and there is much uncertainty surrounding what course climate change will take in the future -- unless the novelist is a science fiction writer, I suppose. I'm interested to read it and see how (and if) McEwan successfully gets a moral point across without sounding too preachy . . .
Anyway, the interview is here:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/125470747
And a review here:
http://www.wbur.org/npr/125434400
- Sarah
Thursday, April 1, 2010
"Resources and Conflict": A Post Related to My Final Paper
When I was looking for videos on African environmnetalism and development on the internet, I inevitably came across features on the venerable Wangari Maathai, with whom all of us should be quite familiar at this point. Many of the videos with Maathai are over ten minutes long, but some were nice and short. One such "quickie" can be watched at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA0qGlnc-30&feature=fvw. Its topic inspired this post, and many of Maathai's remarks in the video gave me points to address herein.
I believe it was Stewart Brand who told us that mega-wars engendering grave depopulation will be the result when there are too many people to be supported given the prevailing methods of food production and general harnessing of environmental resources. With the unprecedented population growth in Africa in recent decades, for which states as a rule have been unprepared, wars over resources which bring about the death of scores and scores may, then, prove hard to avoid. Wars over resources (which are typically within existing states) are already alarmingly common in Africa, however, only more as a function of political instability than overpopulation. Of the three books on which I will be writing my final paper, The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai-- who of all the authors tries the hardest to discuss all African problems-- is the only one that touches on resource wars, Crisis and Opportunity overlooking violent seizure in its examination of economical resource management and Africa's Ecology, as for the science of land surfaces and the science of human aggression and appeasement, only concerning itself with the former. Her writing on the northern Sudan-Darfur-Chad imbroglio is what stands out to me the most on the matter.
To talk, now, of goings-on in our class, Professor Deese asked me if I was aware of the incredible mineral richness of Congo-Kinshasa. I am, and I am also aware of the atrocities to the end of material enrichment that have been going on there since its conquest by the much, much smaller Belgium and conversion into a personal fiefdom of King Leopold II (who, as it disgustingly turns out, never actually visited the place). After independence from Belgium, whose rule was so murderously demanding of rubber and other commodities that, I remember reading in King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild, in certain places the vultures had been able to consume so much carrion that they, having become grossly overweight, could no longer fly, Jospeh Mobutu in short order built a reputation as one of Africa's (and the world's) most blackhearted dictators, monopolizing for himself and his stooges the country's superabundant resources through perpetual conflict. Mobutu, in his raping of his own country, helps us understand the social science tenet known as the Weingast paradox (named after Barry Weingast, reading "any institution with the power to protect property also has the power to take it away"), as he chose time and time again to "take away" rather than "protect," which the United States Government, excepting forfeiture through criminal conduct or nonpayment and the occasional case of "eminent domain," always does. To get back to my plan of border adjustment for Africa, Congo-Kinshasa should definitely be partitioned, both because it is humongous at present and its resources being split up, as evenly as possible, among several new states should make the government of each state more likely to choose to "protect"-- because there would be less to "take away," if for no other reason.
To connect "resources and conflict" to the concept of changing Africa's state setup on which I gave a speech, I of course think that altering Africa's borders in a way informed by ethnic distinctions and environmental disparities would serve to decrease fighting for resources both between states and inside of them, and I wish to express that such feuding would be even more regular if only some states were not so miserable, so downtrodden. Niger is, from a human standpoint, the last country in the world in which one should want to live, according to the UN Human Development Index, and the appalling underdevelopment there is largely attributable to the horrific environmental situation. It is resource-poor, and it is the country I had most firmly in mind when I spoke of some states being straitjacketed into being both desertified (the expansion of the Sahara, I am guessing, impacts Niger more negatively than any other country) and landlocked. The government of Niger, I am sure, is too cash-strapped and disorganized to launch a strike against a neighboring state with the aim of bettering its resource situation; the "conflict" over "resources" relevant to Niger comes when natives of the country, having recognized that Niger is effectively unlivable as is, are persecuted by those in the polities (which include Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire) to which they have fled who feel they are taking up too much space, et cetera. Before independence, Niger was governed by France as just one section of the huge French West Africa, meaning it was politically tied to much naturally wealthier parts of the continent and, ultimately, a worldwide empire stretching from St. Pierre and Miquelon to the Marquesas. It was never meant to be self-sufficient under formal imperialism, and it is not, by any stretch, self-sufficient when left to its own devices-- so Niger needs to cease to exist as a self-contained state, for the good of its people!
Equatorial Guinea is a different case entirely, as it is one of the higher-functioning sub-Saharan African states and conflict for its oil and gas stores could be on the horizon. An irony here is that Equatorial Guinea, the only part of Africa south of the Sahara granted to Spain at the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884, went to the Spanish, by the end of the nineteenth century mostly a nonfactor in power politics, because it was a sliver of territory thought to have few prospects. Now its small size and economic attractiveness mean it could be fodder sooner or later for the adjacent countries of Gabon (which is also a respectable oil producer, in fact an associate member of OPEC) and Congo-Brazzaville (which is less potent than Gabon but still potent enough to be a threat); the relative homogeneity of the population and the mere fact that there has not been historical precedent indicates to me that serious internal resource conflict is unlikely. The decent prosperity of Equatorial Guinea (whose most famous animal export, the first and only of its kind known to science, the mascot of Barcelona even after its death, can be seen at: http://www.virginmedia.com/science-nature/wildlife/albino-animals.php, on a big-time aside) should be spread around maximally, so as not to precipitate conflict, and the refiguring of Equatorial Guinea, if its people would assent to as much, could certainly be of assistance in that beneficent evening-out process! But I will finish by confessing that invasion by Gabon or Congo-Brazzaville is not all that likely and Equatorial Guinea and Botswana, on the basis of their solid development and social cohesion, are the sub-Saharan African nations least in need of participation in a program like the one I am proposing, at least for strictly their own benefit.
I believe it was Stewart Brand who told us that mega-wars engendering grave depopulation will be the result when there are too many people to be supported given the prevailing methods of food production and general harnessing of environmental resources. With the unprecedented population growth in Africa in recent decades, for which states as a rule have been unprepared, wars over resources which bring about the death of scores and scores may, then, prove hard to avoid. Wars over resources (which are typically within existing states) are already alarmingly common in Africa, however, only more as a function of political instability than overpopulation. Of the three books on which I will be writing my final paper, The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai-- who of all the authors tries the hardest to discuss all African problems-- is the only one that touches on resource wars, Crisis and Opportunity overlooking violent seizure in its examination of economical resource management and Africa's Ecology, as for the science of land surfaces and the science of human aggression and appeasement, only concerning itself with the former. Her writing on the northern Sudan-Darfur-Chad imbroglio is what stands out to me the most on the matter.
To talk, now, of goings-on in our class, Professor Deese asked me if I was aware of the incredible mineral richness of Congo-Kinshasa. I am, and I am also aware of the atrocities to the end of material enrichment that have been going on there since its conquest by the much, much smaller Belgium and conversion into a personal fiefdom of King Leopold II (who, as it disgustingly turns out, never actually visited the place). After independence from Belgium, whose rule was so murderously demanding of rubber and other commodities that, I remember reading in King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild, in certain places the vultures had been able to consume so much carrion that they, having become grossly overweight, could no longer fly, Jospeh Mobutu in short order built a reputation as one of Africa's (and the world's) most blackhearted dictators, monopolizing for himself and his stooges the country's superabundant resources through perpetual conflict. Mobutu, in his raping of his own country, helps us understand the social science tenet known as the Weingast paradox (named after Barry Weingast, reading "any institution with the power to protect property also has the power to take it away"), as he chose time and time again to "take away" rather than "protect," which the United States Government, excepting forfeiture through criminal conduct or nonpayment and the occasional case of "eminent domain," always does. To get back to my plan of border adjustment for Africa, Congo-Kinshasa should definitely be partitioned, both because it is humongous at present and its resources being split up, as evenly as possible, among several new states should make the government of each state more likely to choose to "protect"-- because there would be less to "take away," if for no other reason.
To connect "resources and conflict" to the concept of changing Africa's state setup on which I gave a speech, I of course think that altering Africa's borders in a way informed by ethnic distinctions and environmental disparities would serve to decrease fighting for resources both between states and inside of them, and I wish to express that such feuding would be even more regular if only some states were not so miserable, so downtrodden. Niger is, from a human standpoint, the last country in the world in which one should want to live, according to the UN Human Development Index, and the appalling underdevelopment there is largely attributable to the horrific environmental situation. It is resource-poor, and it is the country I had most firmly in mind when I spoke of some states being straitjacketed into being both desertified (the expansion of the Sahara, I am guessing, impacts Niger more negatively than any other country) and landlocked. The government of Niger, I am sure, is too cash-strapped and disorganized to launch a strike against a neighboring state with the aim of bettering its resource situation; the "conflict" over "resources" relevant to Niger comes when natives of the country, having recognized that Niger is effectively unlivable as is, are persecuted by those in the polities (which include Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire) to which they have fled who feel they are taking up too much space, et cetera. Before independence, Niger was governed by France as just one section of the huge French West Africa, meaning it was politically tied to much naturally wealthier parts of the continent and, ultimately, a worldwide empire stretching from St. Pierre and Miquelon to the Marquesas. It was never meant to be self-sufficient under formal imperialism, and it is not, by any stretch, self-sufficient when left to its own devices-- so Niger needs to cease to exist as a self-contained state, for the good of its people!
Equatorial Guinea is a different case entirely, as it is one of the higher-functioning sub-Saharan African states and conflict for its oil and gas stores could be on the horizon. An irony here is that Equatorial Guinea, the only part of Africa south of the Sahara granted to Spain at the infamous Berlin Conference of 1884, went to the Spanish, by the end of the nineteenth century mostly a nonfactor in power politics, because it was a sliver of territory thought to have few prospects. Now its small size and economic attractiveness mean it could be fodder sooner or later for the adjacent countries of Gabon (which is also a respectable oil producer, in fact an associate member of OPEC) and Congo-Brazzaville (which is less potent than Gabon but still potent enough to be a threat); the relative homogeneity of the population and the mere fact that there has not been historical precedent indicates to me that serious internal resource conflict is unlikely. The decent prosperity of Equatorial Guinea (whose most famous animal export, the first and only of its kind known to science, the mascot of Barcelona even after its death, can be seen at: http://www.virginmedia.com/science-nature/wildlife/albino-animals.php, on a big-time aside) should be spread around maximally, so as not to precipitate conflict, and the refiguring of Equatorial Guinea, if its people would assent to as much, could certainly be of assistance in that beneficent evening-out process! But I will finish by confessing that invasion by Gabon or Congo-Brazzaville is not all that likely and Equatorial Guinea and Botswana, on the basis of their solid development and social cohesion, are the sub-Saharan African nations least in need of participation in a program like the one I am proposing, at least for strictly their own benefit.
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