Sustainability Education Forum – Page 26 – Citizens for Sustainability

SEF News-Views Digest No. 79 (1-21-15)

How Do Foreigners View America? (Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher)

An article I read this past week helps explain perceptions of America by many foreigners, notably Europeans. When expatriates engage in conversation with citizens of other countries, they often gain insights as to how the U.S. is viewed. According to Ann Jones, an expat living in Norway, we’re not as highly respected and beloved as we once were—or think we are today. She offers some substantive reasons for foreigners’ negative impressions in her disturbing article, Is This Country Crazy?, which is listed in the Enlightenment section below.

I imagine Jones’s conclusions coincide with observations made by many Americans who have traveled abroad and conversed candidly with citizens of other countries. Contrary to the wishful thinking of “super-patriotic” Americans—those who believe America remains the beacon of all that’s good, just, and right in the world—it just ain’t so (pardon my English).

Our country has many admirable qualities that are lauded worldwide, but ever since the post-WWII decade the U.S.’s enviable reputation as an international paragon of virtue has slowly eroded. Throughout the post WWII reconstruction era the U.S. served a worldwide benefactor role—creating economic stability, promoting social equality, and spreading democratic ideals. In subsequent decades, however, the U.S. has fought a series of undeclared wars, toppled legitimate governments, and extended its imperial might and influence to most global areas. In pursuing a multi-decades goal to advance our national interests, we’ve managed to antagonize masses of people in unfriendly countries, and disappointed our friendly allies. Our most vociferous critics decry our overall self-absorbed, imperialistic behavior, presumably a manifestation of “American Exceptionalism”.

Rather than further rambling, I strongly encourage you to read Jones’s article. She tells it like it is, in words that will arouse self-righteous indignation in right-wingers, and stir the liberal sensibilities of left-wingers.

ENVIRONMENT (• Natural Resources • Wildlife • Climate)

> Common Dreams: Losing The Climate Fight: Has 400 Ppm Become Planet’s New Normal? (Deirdre Fulton). Two weeks into 2015 and experts are expressing surprise and worry that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has already topped the 400 parts per million threshold several times—a troubling indication for the year ahead and an expression of humanity’s continued failure to act on climate change.

> Eco Watch: The Research Is In: Regulations Alone Won’t Save Us From Climate Disaster (Wenonah Hauter). We are convinced that any serious attempt to address climate change means that a large portion of the natural gas, oil and coal currently locked underground must remain unexploited.

> Common Dreams: It’s Official: 2014 Ranks As World’s Warmest Year On Record (Andrea Germanos). 2014 was the Earth’s warmest year since records began in 1880, according to reports from federal scientists published Friday.

> Time: A Bad Day For Climate Change Deniers … And The Planet (James Kluger). The release of a trio of new studies ought to serve as solid body blows to the fading but persistent fiction that human-mediated warming is somehow a hoax. Good news for the forces of reason, however, is bad news for the planet—especially the oceans.

> MinnPost: Blooming Algae May Be Changing Lakes For The Worse – And Possibly Forever (Ron Meader). A new study of noxious blue-green algae suggests that their summertime blooms may be on the rise not only because of changing climate conditions and continued fertilizer runoff, but also because these phytoplankton have a special gift for self-perpetuation: an ability to make use of phosphorus deposits buried long ago in lake-bottom sediments.

> The New York Times: Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction, Broad Study Says. There are clear signs already that humans are harming the oceans to a remarkable degree, the scientists found. Some ocean species are certainly overharvested, but even greater damage results from large-scale habitat loss, which is likely to accelerate as technology advances the human footprint, the scientists reported.

ENERGY (• Fossil Carbon • Natural Resources • Renewables)

> Resilience-Crude Oil Peak: Tight Oil Boom Can Explain Only Part Of Drop In US Oil Product Imports (Matt Mushalik). This analysis shows by way of several charts that since 2005/06 only around one quarter of a drop of 1.7 mb/d can be explained by the tight oil boom. US product imports peaked 2005/06 at 3.6 mb/d, 5 years before the tight oil boom started, and dropped to 1.9 mb/d in 2014 (estimate). Out of this drop, only 700 kb/d – or 37% – happened during the tight oil boom.

> Weathering the Storm: An Unconventional Truth (Mike Conley). The dramatic plunge in oil prices has exposed an “unconventional” truth: Not all oil is created equal. Recent events have shaken our fantasy of becoming the new Saudi Arabia of oil. It was based on the false premise that “conventional” and “unconventional” oil are one in the same.

> Yale Environment 360: Could Global Tide Be Starting To Turn Against Fossil Fuels (Fred Pierce). From an oil chill in the financial world to the recent U.S.-China agreement on climate change, recent developments are raising a question that might once have been considered unthinkable: Could this be the beginning of a long, steady decline for the oil and coal industries?

> Peak Oil News:Dumb And Dumber: U.S. Crude Oil Export (Arthur E. Berman). Exporting crude oil and natural gas from the United States are among the dumbest energy ideas of all time, because: the U.S. will never be oil self-sufficient and will never import less than about 6 million barrels of oil per day; U.S. total production will peak in a few years and imports will increase; and the U.S. is a relatively minor reserve holder in the world.

ECONOMY (• Finances • Global • Local)

> CASSE-The Daly News: A Population Perspective On The Steady State Economy (Herman Daly). A steady-state economy is defined as having a constant population and a constant stock of physical capital. In a way it is an extension of the demographer’s model of a stationary population to include non-living populations of artifacts, with production rates equal to depreciation rates, as well as birth rates equal to death rates. The basic idea goes back to the classical economists, including John Stuart Mill.

> Resilience-The Heretics Guide to Global Finance: Show Me The Real Money: Three Monetary Myths That Need Busting (Brett Scott). Money pervades our everyday economic interactions, but despite its importance it is also pervasively misunderstood. Here are three common monetary myths frequently perpetuated by economists that need challenging.

> New Economics: Deflation And The Eurozone: Why Falling Prices Aren’t Always Good News (James Meadway). As oil prices continue to fall, deflation is making its presence felt across Europe. If you know that the price of anything you buy will be less in the future, just buy it later. Also, falling prices mean producers earn less money from selling goods and services, which leads to cutting costs.

> Resilience: What Is The “Social Economy”? (John Restakis). The social economy is composed of civil organizations and networks that are driven by the principles of reciprocity and mutuality in service to the common good – usually through the social control of capital. In its essence, the social economy is a space and a practice where economics is at the service of social ends, not the other way round.

> Common Dreams: Don’t Buy The Hype: 20 Years Of Data Reveals ‘Free Trade’ Fallacies (Deidre Fulton). Fast-tracked international trade deals have led to exploding U.S. trade deficits, soaring food imports into the U.S., increased off-shoring of American jobs, and an “unprecedented rise in income inequality,” according to new data released Thursday by the watchdog group Public Citizen.

EXPECTATIONS-ENLIGHTENMENT (• Ideas • Psychology • Beliefs)

> Huffington Post: Is This Country Crazy? (Ann Jones) Europeans have watched the United States unravel its flimsy safety net, fail to replace its decaying infrastructure, disempower most of its organized labor, diminish its schools, bring its national legislature to a standstill, and create the greatest degree of economic and social inequality in almost a century. They understand why Americans, who have ever less personal security and next to no social welfare system, are becoming more anxious and fearful.

> Archdruid Report: March Of The Squirrels (J. M. Greer). So far, the crash of 2015 is running precisely to spec. Smaller companies in the energy sector are being hammered by the plunging price of oil, while the banking industry insists that it’s not in trouble. It’s an interesting regularity of history that the closer to disaster a society in decline becomes, the more grandiose, triumphalist, and detached from the grubby realities its fantasies generally get.

> Common Dreams: That Was Easy: In Just 60 Years, Neoliberal Capitalism Has Nearly Broken Planet Earth (Jon Queally). According to a new pair of related studies, humanity’s rapacious growth and accelerated energy needs over the last generation—particularly fed by an economic system that demands increasing levels of consumption and inputs of natural resources—are fast driving planetary systems towards their breaking point.

> Huffington Post: The Danger The Planet Faces Because Human Instinct Overpowers Human Reason (David Ropeik). We are compelled from the deepest level of our genes and survival instincts to taking more from the system than it can provide and put back in more waste than it can handle, and no amount of human brain power can outwit the natural instincts that are driving us 150 miles an hour toward a cliff.

> Grist: Is “Resilience” The New Sustainababble? (Laurie Mazur & Denise Fairchild). Suddenly, “resilience” is everywhere. It’s the subject of serious books and breezy news articles, of high-minded initiatives and of many, many conferences. Resilience is all about our capacity to survive and thrive in the face of disruptions of all kinds. If we were to take resilience seriously, we would make some far-reaching changes in how we live.

EQUITY (• Equality • Health • Social Concerns)

> Common Dreams: Failure Of Conscience’: Groups Urge Congress To Fund Social Well-Being, Not Fossil Fuel Industry (Nadia Prupis). “Leaving the social safety net in tatters and keeping Big Oil on the dole is not just a failure to prioritize. It is a failure of conscience.” Altogether, the cost of government subsidies for the oil and gas industry totals $6.45 billion, an amount that could provide 5,469,579 children free or low-cost health insurance up to age 19.

> CNBC: Aspen, Detroit Share Real Estate Phenomenon (Robert Frank). Detroit is a fallen factory town hounded by poverty. Aspen is a fast-rising mountain resort feasting on the fruits of the plutonomy and the global super rich. Houses in Detroit can’t be given away, while the average home price in Aspen is worth more than $5 million.

> ENSIA: The Leading Cause Of Death In Developing Countries Might Surprise You (Richard Fuller). What’s the leading cause of death in low- and middle-income countries: malnutrition/under-nutrition; tuberculosis, malaria & HIV/AIDS; or pollution? Surprise, it’s “C”!. Exposures to polluted soil, water and air (both household and ambient) killed 8.4 million people in these countries in 2012.

ENGAGEMENT (• Goals • Activism • Solutions)

> Peak Prosperity: What Should I Do? – Crash Course Chapter 26 (Adam Taggart). If there’s one message to take away from this newly updated Crash Course video series, it’s this: It’s time for you to become more resilient and more engaged. Things are changing quickly and nobody knows how much time we have before the next economic, ecological or energy related crisis erupts. Nobody knows when, but we do have a pretty good idea of what is coming.

> On The Commons: Way To Go! (Jay Walljasper). Driving less is good news for everybody because broader transportation choices are linked to a bounty of social and economic benefits, including expanded economic development, revitalized urban and suburban communities, increased social equity, reduced household transportation costs, improved public health, decreased traffic congestion, and improved environmental conditions.

> National Geographic: Securing Water For Urban Farms (Sandra Postel). Linking urban water management more closely to urban farming has the potential to increase food security, water productivity, and community health, while reducing chemical fertilizer use, long-distance food and water imports, and related greenhouse gas emissions at the same time.

> Environmental Defense Fund: Blueprint For Climate Stability (Fred Krupp). EDF’s president surveys five powerful trends that are driving momentum for climate action and describes an ambitious plan to rein in global emissions by 2020.

> Breaking Energy: ‘Climate Geoengineering’: As Contingency Plan Perhaps The Sharpest Tool In The World’s Climate Tool Box (Roman Kilisek). The debate about the development and deployment of geoengineering technologies is slowly creeping into the mainstream media. See also: Energy Department Project Captures And Stores One Million Metric Tons Of Carbon.

EVENTS AND INFORMATION

> Eastside Food Co-op: Movie Night—Fed Up (The film the food industry doesn’t want you to see), Thurs., Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m., EFC Granite Studio. Free; RSVP luna@eastsidefood.coop or 612-843-5409

> Dakota County Citizens’ Climate Lobby: Meet and Greet, Thurs., Jan. 22, 6-9pm, JoJos Rise and Wine Café, 12501 Nicollet Avenue, Burnsville, MN. Info: Deborah Nelson (952-250-3320; deevee@charter.net)

> Minnesota Clean Energy & Jobs Day On The Hill, Mon., Feb. 2, 9:30am-4pm, MN State Capitol, St. Paul. Registration Online: http://bit.ly/1392C4W

> CERTs: CERTs 2015 Conference: Community Driven Clean Energy, March 10-11, 2015, St. Cloud, MN Agenda & Register to Attend

SEF News-Views Digest No. 78 (1-15-15)

Plentiful, Cheap Energy: Pros and Cons — Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher

The hoopla these days about America’s plentiful oil and natural gas production is fraught with conflicting views, including controversy about the installation of expanded pipelines and upgrading of railroads in the upper midwest to transport tar sands and Bakken oil. But it’s the news about falling oil prices that’s inflating economic concerns, and influencing people’s perceptions about available energy supplies. So here we go—yet again—with a barrage of conflicting economic pronouncements that swings between excessive optimism (spouted by the mainline media and economists) to dire warnings of pending collapse (delivered by dark-green environmentalists and sustainability-oriented futurists).

How about a appropriate transportation metaphor to help us understand more clearly what’s going on? We Americans—with our century-long attachment to automobiles—assume entitlement to drive anywhere we wish, at anytime, and for any reason. So, let’s suppose we’re subject to national policy that requires rationing the amount of gallons each driver can have for personal use, a situation that occurred during WWII, when most goods were rationed, including gasoline).

In this fantasized scenario, each adult driver may be allotted the equivalent of one full tank of gas, which is expected to last for a specified period, from one month to a year. For a compact-sized auto averaging 25 mpg, this would require approximately 18 gallons, which should provide around 450 miles of travel. Assuming each driver will likely give priority to essential transportation needs, such as commuting to work, we can assume he or she will be very careful about driving anywhere for frivolous reasons. In sum, responsible drivers will most likely find effective ways to reduce the amount of auto travel, possibly by carpooling, using public transportation, riding a bike, or even walking whenever convenient.

Now, what if we transpose this fuel-rationing scenario to a larger-scaled operation—an entire city, a state, a region or a nation? If any sized community faces shortages, or even evidence that shortages are very likely at some point, wouldn’t it make sense to adopt a conservation strategy as a first line of defense? Moreover, if prominent energy experts are correct in claiming that “peak oil” is here now (and they probably are), wouldn’t it be wise for everyone to begin seeking ways to stretch out oil supplies as long as possible, thereby allowing a generation or so to effectively bridge from carbon-based fossil energy to renewable sources—if and when they are supported by available essential resources and general economic feasibility.

I think this simple metaphor suffices to make the point that peak-oil supporters have been trying to communicate to the general public over the past decade or so. Unfortunately, there are greedy, short-term thinking, misguided leaders of industry and business who desire only to accumulate more wealth, mostly for the benefit of those who already have too much money and power.

So it’s up to the 99% of poor-to-middle class Americans to send a clear message to the top wealthy 1%. In order that future generations might have access to carbon-based fossil energy sources for long-term use, the current unbridled extraction of natural resources (our primary wealth) must cease. Experience teaches us that the inordinately low oil and gas prices we’re experiencing today are a temporary phenomenon. Prices will eventually rise, perhaps precipitously, simply because we cannot sustain our high-energy, consumption-driven lifestyles without it.

Note: The Energy Section that follows contains articles that relate to the above commentary, particularly the first article listed, which in found on the Resilience website.

ENERGY (Fossil Carbon • Natural Resources • Renewables)

> Resilience: Vast Reserves Of Fossil Fuels Should Be Left Untapped (Alex Kirby). A research team from University College London’s Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR) says that, in total, a third of global oil reserves, half of the world’s gas and over 80% of its coal reserves should be left untouched for the next 35 years.

> Petroleum Truth Report: The Oil Price Fall: An Explanation In Two Charts (Arthur E. Berman). Oil prices move up and down in response to changes in supply and demand. If the world consumes more oil than it produces, the price goes up. If more oil is produced than the world consumes, the price goes down. Also, QE ended in July 2014, the exact month that oil prices started falling. What a coincidence!

> Forbes: Why Falling Oil Prices Don’t Hurt Demand For Renewable Energy (Victor A. Rojas & Paul Stinson). Now is the time to be building the foundation for a stable energy future protected from the price volatility of fossil fuels. The good news is we’re well on our way. From solar, to wind, and energy storage, we’re reaching tipping points that promise further cost reductions and market acceptance for clean energy technologies.

> New Economics Foundation: Energy Round-Up: Unburnable Oil. The bad news: oil demand is falling partly because Europe has failed to create a lasting recovery, and the Chinese economy is also slowing sharply. The good news is that oil demand is also falling because of dramatic improvements in energy efficiency – spurred by those same high-energy prices – in some surprising places.

> Oil Price: Big Oil Going On The Offensive (Michael Klare). Increasingly grim economic pressures, growing popular resistance, and the efforts of government regulators have all shocked the carbon-based energy industry. Oil prices are falling, institutions are divesting from their carbon stocks, voters are placing curbs on hydro-fracking, and delegates at the U.N. climate conference in Peru have agreed to impose substantial restrictions on global carbon emissions.

ENVIRONMENT (Natural Resources • Wildlife • Climate)

> Common Dreams: For The Planet And Future Generations, New Congress May Be Most Dangerous Yet (Wenonah Hauter). Under the likely leadership of Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), expect the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee “to intensify its bullying of environmentalists.”

> 350.org: 2015: The Year We Turn Away From Tar Sands (Cam Fenton). As we leave 2014 and look forwards to 2015, here is a snapshot of the global movement to stop the tar sands.

> ENSIA: Envision 2050: The Future Of Protected Areas (David Doody). The idea of setting aside areas of land and water to be protected against human activities has become a staple of the conservation movement. But with that movement itself at a crossroads, it’s worth exploring just what protected areas will look like in the future.

> On Earth: 2014 Broke The Heat Record. Will 2015 Crush It Again? (Susan Cossier). Since 1997, we’ve seen the 15 hottest years on record; we haven’t had a month of below-average global temperatures in 29 years; and a record cold month hasn’t frozen us solid in a century. The previous recorded hottest year was 2010, and 2015 may turn out to be another contender for the title.

ECONOMY (Finances • Global • Local)

> Our Finite World: Oil And The Economy: Where Are We Headed In 2015-16? (Gail Tverberg). Some first-layer bad effects of low oil prices are: increased debt defaults; rising interest rates; rising unemployment; increased recession; decreased oil supply; disruption in oil-exporting markets; defaults on derivatives; continued low oil prices; drop in stock market prices; drop in market value of bonds; and changes in international associations. Is this enough?

> Common Dreams: Why The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Is A Pending Disaster (Robert Reich). Drafted mostly by corporate and Wall Street lobbyists, the TPP provides less protection for consumers, workers, small investors, and the environment. In other words, the TPP is a Trojan horse in a global race to the bottom, giving big corporations and Wall Street banks a way to eliminate any and all laws and regulations that get in the way of their profits.

> CASSE-The Daly News: Crossroads On Global Infrastructure (Brent Blackwelder). We are at a critical moment where two approaches to infrastructure are diverging. The infrastructure path of a true cost economy can lead to smaller-scale, smarter infrastructure and a healthier earth. The proposed path of the G-20 and World Bank, on the other hand, will replicate and intensify numerous unsustainable projects and cause human civilization to exceed the carrying capacity of the earth.

> The New York Times: Job Growth Looks Great; Wage Growth, Less So (Neil Irwin). This is all excellent news for the people holding one of the 2.95 million jobs that did not exist at the beginning of 2014 (the strongest year of job growth since 1999). And the numbers do nothing to throw cold water on the idea that the recovery has shifted into a higher gear in recent months. But forgive us for a moment of less than sunny optimism on this front.

EXPECTATIONS-ENLIGHTENMENT (Ideas • Knowledge • Psychology • Beliefs)

> The Archdruid Report: A Camp Amid The Ruins (J. M. Greer). Understanding the concept of sustainability simply requires a willingness to recognize that if something is unsustainable, sooner or later it won’t be sustained. Of course what can’t be sustained at this point is the collection of wildly extravagant energy- and resource-intensive habits that used to pass for a normal lifestyle in the world’s industrial nations, and has recently become just a little less normal than it used to be.

> Monitor: Adapting To A Warmer World (Kirsten Weir). Scientists agree that as the atmosphere continues to warm, extreme weather will happen more frequently and become more severe. Now a group of mental health professionals (International Transformational Resilience Coalition-ITRC) has come together to develop policies and programs to help individuals and communities prepare for the inevitable psychosocial aspects of that threat and to help them achieve wellbeing.

> Resilience: Lives Not Our Own (Tom Butler). The competing urges of the wild and the domestic live within us, and are likely to persist within the conservation movement until humanity embraces a land ethic that both places the wellbeing of the entire biotic community first and renounces the idea that Earth is a resource colony for humanity. Do we have the wisdom to exercise humility and restraint, to choose membership over Lordship? Lives not our own hang in the balance.

> Resource Insights: The Central Contradiction In The Modern Outlook: ‘Planet Of The Apes’ vs ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ (Kurt Cobb). When talking about the perils of climate change or resource depletion, soil degradation or fisheries collapse, water pollution or nuclear waste–how annoying it is to have one listener respond dismissively, “They’ll figure something out. They always have.”

EQUALITY (Equity • Health • Social Concerns)

> Common Dreams: ‘Everything Is Awesome’? Not So Much For Middle Class, Says Warren (Deirdre Fulton). According to Warren, “For tens of millions of working families who are the backbone of this country, this economy isn’t working. These families are working harder than ever, but they can’t get ahead. Opportunity is slipping away. Many feel like the game is rigged against them—and they are right. The game is rigged against them.”

> Alternet: 5 Studies That Show How Wealth Warps Your Soul (Zaid Jilani). In his essay, Michael Lewis, writes: “The problem is caused by the inequality itself: It triggers a chemical reaction in the privileged few. It tilts their brains. It causes them to be less likely to care about anyone but themselves or to experience the moral sentiments needed to be a decent citizen.”

> Common Dreams: Amid Time Of Soaring Inequality, Rich Say: The Poor Have It Easy (Andrea Germanos). Oxfam International’s Winnie Byanyima says political leaders will ignore inequality at their own peril.

ENGAGEMENT (Goals • Activism • Solutions)

> TED Talk: Navi Radjou: Creative Problem-Solving In The Face Of Extreme Limits. Pioneer entrepreneurs in emerging markets have figured out how to get spectacular value from limited resources, and the practice of “jugaad,” (frugal innovation) has now caught on globally. Peppering his talk with examples of human ingenuity at work, Radjou shares three principles for doing more with less.

> Common Dreams: Consumer Self-Defense: 12 Ways To Drive GMOs And Roundup Off The Market (Ronnie Cummins). Contrary to what some in the biotech industry and the media claim, genetic engineering of plants is not the same thing as selective breeding, or hybridization. Genetic modification involves inserting foreign genetic material (DNA) into an organism. Selective breeding does not.

> Food Tank: 10 Ways To Support The Next Generation Of Farmers. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average age of farmers has steadily increased over the last 30 years. The (USDA) reports that half of all current farmers are likely to retire in the next decade, leaving a large gap for the next generation to fill. Fortunately, a new wave of food pioneers, mostly from non-farming backgrounds, is turning to careers in agriculture, and facing a fair share of hurdles to overcome.

> Alternet: Not Going Vegetarian, But Cutting Down On Meat? There’s A Name For That (Martha Rosenberg). Reducetarianism is “an identity, community, and movement that’s composed of individuals who are committed to eating less meat–red meat, poultry, seafood, and the flesh of any other animal,” (See website).

> ENSIA: Suburban Sprawl Doesn’t Have To Be Ecologically Devastating (Sarah Jane Keller). As development gobbles up open space, conservationists take a fresh look at subdivisions with biodiversity in mind.

> Geek.com: New Wind Turbine Looks Like A Tree, Generates Power Silently. A French company is trying to change the concept of monolithic wind turbines with a apparatus called the Wind Tree. As you might guess, it’s an array of wind power turbines in the shape of a tree, and several of them will be deployed in Paris this coming March as a test.

EVENTS AND INFORMATION

> Report—Sustainability Education Forum: Last Saturday 11 persons participated in stimulating discussions related to current sustainability topics, led by 3 persons presenting special articles and book reviews. 2 Macalester College sustainability majors attended, and they accepted our invitation to discuss their sustainability activities and potential career opportunities at a future meeting. Next SEF: Saturday, March 14, 2:30-4:30 p.m., at the St. Anthony Village Library. Please place this date on your calendar and let me know if you will attend.

> Minnesota Environmental Partnership: Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment  Fifth Anniversary Celebration and Forum, Thurs., Jan.15, 2015, Noon to 6 p.m. (program begins at 12:30)  Minneapolis Marriott Northwest, 7025 Northland Drive North, Brooklyn Park, MN 55428  Fee: $10.To register click here.

> Nativity Lutheran Church-‘Pop Tops’: What Is Sustainability, And Why Do We Need It? Clifton and Bettye Ware, presenters. Nativity Lutheran Church, St. Anthony Village, Silver Lake Rd., Sun., Jan. 18, 9-10 a.m., Fellowship Hall.

> Eastside Food Co-op: Movie Night—Fed Up (The film the food industry doesn’t want you to see), Thurs., Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m., EFC Granite Studio. Free; RSVP luna@eastsidefood.coop or 612-843-5409

> CERTs: CERTs 2015 Conference: Community Driven Clean Energy, March 10-11, 2015, St. Cloud, MN Agenda; Register to Attend

SEF News-Views Digest No. 77 (1-7-15)

EDITOR (Clifton Ware) — Come, Let Us Learn Together

It’s a rare situation when seekers of knowledge (truth) can gather to discuss serious issues—openly, respectfully, and intelligently. Hot topics are usually avoided in company of strangers, or when friends, colleagues, family members, and acquaintances may either be reluctant to discuss certain topics, or too opinionated to discuss any topic with an open mind.

There are numerous groups dedicated to addressing specific interests, as an online search of Meetup reveals (http://www.meetup.com/). Although there are few educationally oriented groups dedicated to studying and discussing sustainability issues, a little sleuthing may reveal suitable groups (Sierra Club, Bioneers, Transition Towns, etc.). Several groups exist in the Twin Cities area, including our newly organized Sustainability Education Forum (SEF).

SEF seeks to offer all participants the freedom to present and discuss topics related to sustainability issues in a friendly, positive atmosphere. In addition to gaining greater knowledge and understanding of major sustainability issues, we seek realistic, practical solutions that will help us prepare for a somewhat predictable future of converging crises, including the all-pervasive effects of climate change on the planet and all life forms.

The room we use in the St. Anthony Village Library has seating for up to 20 persons. Our group currently consists of 10 persons of various career backgrounds, as well as various experiences associated with sustainability issues. This is an ideal sized group for stimulating discussion, but we can easily accommodate several more participants.

If you’ve been putting off the idea of joining a discussion group, now is a good time to start learning as much as possible about creating greater resilience and sustainability—in the amiable company of persons who share similar values and concerns. We invite you to join us for our January 10th Forum (information follows).

> SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION FORUM: DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT NEWS-VIEWS FOR 2015 (including information provided in SEF newsletters). Sat., Jan. 10^th, 2:30-4:30 p.m., St. Anthony Village Library, SAV Shopping Center, Pentagon Drive. Free. Info/RSVP: warex001@umn.edu

ENVIRONMENT (Natural Resources-Wildlife-Climate)

> Upworthy: A Drone Flew Over A Pig Farm To Discover It’s Not Really A Farm. If you have a strong stomach for dirty stories, this article and video will explain the gross indecencies produced by corporate hog farms.

>NPR: Road Salt Contributes To Toxic Chemical Levels In Streams. There’s growing awareness that the coarse mix of sodium chloride and other chemicals that makes driving and walking a little easier may also cause harm to the environment and health of living things.

> The Guardian: Pope Francis’s Edict On Climate Change Will Anger Deniers And US Churches (John Vidal). In 2015, the pope will issue a lengthy message on the subject to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, give an address to the UN general assembly and call a summit of the world’s main religions. In recent months, the pope has argued for a radical new financial and economic system to avoid human inequality and ecological devastation.

> Climate Progress: Irreversible But Not Unstoppable: The Ghost Of Climate Change Yet To Come (Joe Romm). If humanity gets truly serious about emissions reduction — and by serious I mean “World War II serious” in both scale and urgency — we could go to near-zero global emissions in, say, two decades and then quickly go carbon negative. It wouldn’t be easy, far from it in fact. But it would be vastly cheaper and preferable to the alternative.

> Climate Desk: 2014 Was The Year We Finally Started To Do Something About Climate Change (James West). This was a big year for climate news, good and bad. While there was plenty of anti-science rhetoric and opposition to climate action (no, the polar vortex does not disprove climate change), the year came to an end with at least three landmark climate-related stories. Watch the video.

> Resilience-Mud City Press: Review: Don’t Even Think About It By George Marshall (Frank Kaminski). This book delves into psychological processes and even brain architecture that underlie humans’ compulsion to disregard, refute and skew evidence of difficult facts. Marshall argues that these insights are critical to mobilizing public opinion on climate change.

ENERGY (Fossil Carbon • Natural Resources • Renewables)

> Peak Prosperity: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize (Chris Martenson). At the essential center of the framework of the Crash Course is the almost insultingly simple idea that endless growth on a finite planet is an impossibility. At the very heart of endless growth lies the matter of energy. To grow forever requires infinite amounts of energy. Growth and energy are linked in a causal way.

> CASSE-The Daly News: A Stick In The Stocking: Santa’s Supply Shock (Brian Czech). Recent talk of “supply shock” is a wake-up call for the sustainability of Big Capital, the little man, and everyone in between. The latest news of cheap oil notwithstanding, we are moving inexorably into the era of Supply Shock (“supply parties”), in which natural resources and environmental services become the limiting factors for human wellbeing; so limiting in fact, that wellbeing declines quickly and ubiquitously.

> The New York Times: What North Dakota Would Look Like if Its Oil Drilling Lines Were Aboveground. More than 11,000 oil wells have been drilled in North Dakota since 2006. In all, almost 40,000 miles of well bores have been drilled underground to connect the fracking operations to surface wells. Laid end to end, they would circle the Earth about one and a half times.

> Oil Voice: Five Energy Surprises For 2015: The Possible And The Improbable (Kurt Cobb). I am not predicting that any of the following will happen, and they will be surprises to most people if they do. But, I think there is an outside chance that one or more will occur, and this would move markets and policy debates in unexpected directions.

> Huffpost: A Dozen Reasons 2014 Was Awesome For Clean Energy & Beyond Coal Victories (Mary Anne Hitt). From small towns to big cities, we saw inspiring coalitions of diverse groups and organizations working together to protect communities from coal’s pollution and ramp up clean energy.

ECONOMY (Finances-Global-Local)

> The Washington Post: Why America’s Middle Class Is Lost. Over the past 25 years, the economy has grown 83 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In that time, the typical family’s income hasn’t budged, and corporate profits doubled as a share of the economy. Workers today produce nearly twice as many goods and services per hour as they did in 1989, but they get less of the nation’s economic pie.

> Yes! Magazine-Shareable: Owning Together Is The New Sharing (Nathan Schneider). The line between workers and customers has never been so blurry. Online platforms depend on their users, and pressure is mounting all over the Internet. People are tired of seeing their communities treated like commodities, and they’re looking for ways to build platforms of their own.

> The Archdruid Report: The Cold Wet Mackerel Of Reality (J.M. Greer). For most Americans, the last four years have been a bleak era of soaring expenses, shrinking incomes and benefits, rising economic insecurity, and increasingly frequent and bitter struggles with dysfunctional institutions that no longer bother even to pretend to serve the public good. When recalling 2015, people may label it the year in which America got slapped across its collective face with the cold wet mackerel of reality.

EXPECTATIONS-ENLIGHTENMENT (Ideas • Knowledge – Psychology – Beliefs)

> Peak Prosperity: Future Shock – Crash Course Chapter 25 (Adam Taggart). Simply put: We’ve lived well beyond our economic, energetic and ecological budgets. It’s time to change that. It is time, to return to living within our means. We need to set priorities, set budgets, and stick to both.

> ENSIA: Our Top 10 Stories Of 2014.  Here are some of Ensia’s most frequently read articles and commentaries from 2014.

> Common Dreams: New Year’s Resolution For America (Dennis Kucinich). It is for us to gather the knowledge and resources, the strength and determination, to regenerate the soil, protect the land, purify the air, preserve the water, in a ceremony of personal, civic and political engagement which protects and celebrates the natural world as the precondition of life itself.

> Yes! Magazine: Can You Imagine A City Where Trees And Swing Sets Matter More Than Cars? (Jason F. McLennan). To take control of our next evolution, we must embrace and prioritize what it means to be human; what it means to live in concert with nature. Creating a truly living community will mean changing our role on—and as a part of—the planet.

EQUALITY (Equity-Health-Social Concerns)

> The Atlantic: 17 Things We Learned About Income Inequality In 2014. Earnings growth for the richest Americans has been outpacing the income growth of the lower and middle classes since the 1970s, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office. That means that income inequality is not a new concept. So why does it suddenly feel like such a big deal?

> Common Dreams: Greed Kings Of 2014: How They Stole From Us (Paul Buchheit). Greedy individuals or corporations have regularly taken much of our country’s new wealth in wrongful ways, either through nonpayment of taxes or failure to compensate other contributors to their successes.

> The New York Times: As Feared, It’s A Season Of High Flu Intensity. Nationwide, we’re on track for a nasty flu season, with both a large number of cases and many severe ones that require hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It declared an influenza epidemic this week, a status achieved at some point nearly every year, though not usually this early in the season.

> Common Dreams: The Battle Of Our Time: Breaking The Spell Of The Corporate State (Nozomi Hayase). In previous decades, untamed predatory capitalism has risen to a new level in the form of a corporatocracy, creating the world’s first truly global empire. This small segment of society, acting with a will to power—as if they are superior to the rest of mankind, has successfully enslaved large parts of the world population to their sense of grandiose entitlement.

ENGAGEMENT (Goals-Activism-Solutions)

> Resilience: The Story Of Hudson Valley Seed Library. Ken Greene began the Hudson Valley Seed Library (HVSL) out of the Gardiner Public Library (NY), initially just adding the seed varietals to the library catalog as another item that patrons could “check out.” There are now over 300 seed libraries, seed swaps, seed exchanges, and community seed banks all over the country.

> The Guardian: Opinion: Let’s Leave Behind The Age Of Fossil Fuel. Welcome To Year One Of The Climate Revolution (Rebecca Solnit). If everyone who’s passionate about climate change understands that we’re living in a decisive moment for the fate of the Earth and humanity finds their place in the movement, amazing things could happen. What’s happening now is already remarkable enough, just not yet adequate to the crisis.

> Star Tribune: Recycling Your Tree Can Be Gift For The Environment (Tori J. McCormick). Recycled conifers can go back into nature to be used for landscaping, conservation and wildlife habitat projects. If it’s too late to recycle your tree this year, keep it in mind for future seasons.

> Huffpost:10 Ways To Be More Environmentally Friendly (Ashley Massis). Even one environmentally friendly change can help our growing climate change issues. No only will you be lessening your carbon footprint, but can reduce your costs with these environmentally friendly tips.

EVENTS AND INFORMATION

> Minnesota Renewable Energy Society: “Climate Change and Public Health”. Presenter: Bruce D. Snyder, MD FAAN Clinical Professor of Neurology, University of Minnesota Medical School; Thursday, January 8th, 5:30 to 7:00 pm, Mayflower Church, 106 East Diamond Lake, Mpls., Map

> CERTs: CERTs 2015 Conference: Community Driven Clean Energy, March 10-11, 2015, St. Cloud, MN Agenda; Register to Attend

SEF News-Views Digest No. 76 (12-29-14)

UPCOMING EVENT

> SUSTAINABILITY EDUCATION FORUM: DISCUSSION OF RELEVANT NEWS-VIEWS FOR 2015 (including information provided in SEF newsletters). Sat., Jan. 10^th, 2:30-4:30 p.m., St. Anthony Village Library, SAV Shopping Center, Pentagon Drive. Free. Info/RSVP: warex001@umn.edu

EDITOR (Clifton Ware)— Out With the Old, In With the New

Now that the holiday rush is subsiding, it’s likely that most folks are thinking ahead and making plans for the rapidly approaching New Year. I think we all agree that looking ahead constructively usually requires looking back over the past year to assess what’s been accomplished, overlooked, or postponed. A serious desire to improve life for our selves, and others, requires a candid appraisal of both achievements and unfulfilled objectives.

This time of year provides an excellent opportunity for taking stock of our accomplishments and our failures. I’ve certainly had my share of both, and I imagine you have as well. The saying that we learn more from our failures than from our successes rings true for me. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over my lifetime is that it’s OK to let go of anything that restrains a sense of freedom or hinders the accomplishment of worthwhile goals.

When principal values and goals have been determined, it’s easier to decide what should be dropped, as well as what should be adopted. Typically, unnecessary material things are the first to go, as I increasingly learn that we can live with much less stuff. Owning excessive stuff requires expending considerable time and effort caring for items, including cleaning, moving, or storing. So one recurring resolution is to continue going through stuff and getting rid of items that will likely never be used. Our intended mantra remains “reduce, reuse, recycle!”

Activities that drain energy and cause emotional stress are also on the chopping block. Who needs negative stress? Because of work and family obligations, younger people have limited options. But retirees, like me, appreciate the freedom we have to selectively choose pursuits. Regardless of age or life circumstances, everyone can improve his or her overall life. How? By focusing more on initiatives that foster positive opportunities, including time for convivial social relations, creative pursuits, recreational activities, and rewarding charitable work.

In creating greater resilience and sustainability, however, we face greater challenges. So learning as much as possible about economic, social, political, and environmental issues and conditions is a necessary first step. As the sayings go, “Being forewarned is being forearmed”, and “knowledge is power”.

As I’ve written previously, the mainline media primarily deliver news and views of institutionalized pundits dedicated to promoting the conventional “growth paradigm”, which some highly respected futurist experts claim is no longer creditable. The bad-but-factual news is that our finite planet cannot continue supporting a bulging human population that’s dedicated to constant material growth.

The good news is there’s plenty of room for growth in non-material terms, including personal growth in psycho-emotional and spiritual dimensions. And the same applies to communities committed to providing the basic needs of all citizens, while living in harmony with nature. Living more simply and frugally is a “degrowth lifestyle” concept that most Americans have yet to accept, but eventually will adopt in order to create adequate resilience and long-term sustainability. (See articles about degrowth in the Economy section)

Best wishes to you, your family, your friends and colleagues, and your community for continuing growth in the things that truly matter—in the New Year 2015!

ENVIRONMENT (Natural Resources-Wildlife-Climate)

> Climate Progress: What We Learned About Climate Change In 2014, In 6 Scary Charts (Joe Romm). The 2014 chart I consider the most important is the one that best captures our latest understanding of what has emerged as the greatest danger to humanity this century from human-caused climate change — Dust-Bowlification, and the threat to our food supplies.

> NPR (MPR): Arctic Is Warming Twice As Fast As Anyplace Else On Earth. Here’s the latest from the 2014 Arctic Report Card — a compilation of recent research from more than 60 scientists in 13 countries. The report was released Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

> Resilience: Climate: The Crisis And The Movement. Allen White, Senior Fellow at the Tellus Institute, talks with writer and activist Naomi Klein, author of the new book This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, about how our economic system has driven us to the point of crisis and how we can build a movement to confront the root causes of contemporary planetary perils.

> Common Dreams: What Climate Change Asks Of Us: Moral Obligation, Mobilization And Crisis Communication (Margaret Klein). The future of humanity falls to us. This is an unprecedented moral responsibility, and we are by and large failing to meet it. Passivity, in a time of crisis, is complicity. It is a moral failure. Crises demand that we actively engage; that we rise to the challenge; that we do our best.

> Daily Telegraph: Global Warming Blamed For ‘Worst Ever’ Marshall Islands Coral Bleaching. Coral bleaching is widespread across the northern Pacific, apparently due to greenhouse gas emissions causing elevated temperatures under climate change.

ENERGY (Fossil Carbon • Natural Resources • Renewables)

> The Archdruid Report: Déjà Vu All Over Again (J.M. Greer). What’s going on with the recent plunge in the price of oil and the apparent end of the fracking bubble is something that a number of us in the peak oil scene have been warning about for a while now. To start with, oil isn’t the only thing that’s in steep decline.

> Resilience: The Oil Price Crash Of 2014 (Richard Heinberg). Since it’s almost the end of the year, perhaps this is a good time to stop and ask: (1) Why is this happening? (2) Who wins and who loses over the short term? and (3) What will be the impacts on oil production in 2015?

> Resilience: Are Small-Scale Renewable Energy Grids Already Starting To Replace Mega-Utlility Corporations. The environmental magazine Ensia shows that lithium-ion battery prices have fallen by 40 percent since 2010 while solar panels are 80 percent cheaper than five years ago. Wind turbine prices have also fallen up to 35 percent from their 2008 high.

ECONOMY (Finances-Global-Local)

> CASSE-The Daly News: Peace, Love, And The Gift (James Magnus-Johnson). Today, money acts as a profane separator when seen as an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Rather than understanding money as a tool that helps facilitate the exchange of goods or truly improve our quality of life, we tend to see money–its accumulation and growth–as the ultimate end

> Feasta: Degrowth – A Vocabulary For A New Era: Review (Brian Davey). Reviewer Davey respects parts of the book but weighs in with some keen insights as to its shortcomings.

> DeGrowth: Revolution, Part 1: The End of Growth? (Nafeez Ahmed). New research suggests that the ongoing global economic crisis is symptomatic of a deeper crisis of industrial civilization’s relationship with nature. The continuation of the crisis is part of major phase shift to a new form of civilization that could either adapt to post-carbon reality and prosper, or crumble in denial. See also: Revolution, Part 2: The New Paradigm (An summary comparison of old vs. new paradigm)

> USA Watchdog: Financial Fantasy Land Continues To Prevent Collapse (Bill Holter). The entire distribution chain runs on credit, and if credit seizes or even hiccups, you could very well see a panic and shelves clean up lock, stock and barrel.” This same thing could happen in America.

EXPECTATIONS-ENLIGHTENMENT (Ideas • Knowledge – Psychology – Beliefs)

> The Conversation: Even Climate Change Experts And Activists Might Be In Denial. For at least a century, psychoanalysis has taught us that we might be consciously thinking and saying one thing, but unconsciously doing another. In this context that means people are very consciously aware of the threats posed by climate change, even if they aren’t doing too much about it.

> Resource Insights: Greed Explained: J. Paul Getty, Aristotle And The Maximum Power Principle (Kurt Cobb). Do we–meaning the human species as a whole–have any choice in the matter? Or are we as a species destined to live by the Maximum Power Principle to its seemingly inevitable and calamitous conclusion–a story in which the drive for maximum energy gain is no longer adaptive, but rather dangerous to the continued existence of humankind?

> Huffington Post: Everything’s Coming Together While Everything Falls Apart (Rebecca Solnit). Americans are skilled in a combination of complacency and despair that assumes things cannot change and people are powerless to change them. One has to be abysmally ignorant of history and current events not to see that our country and our world have always been changing, occasionally through the power of the popular will and idealistic movements.

EQUALITY (Equity-Health-Social Concerns)

> Common Dreams: Wealth Gap Between Rich And Poor Americans Highest On Record. An analysis released Wednesday by Pew Research Center finds that the wealth gap between the top 21 percent of families and everyone else is the widest since the Federal Reserve began collecting such income data 30 years ago.

> Inequality.Org: Program On Inequality And The Common Good. The Program on Inequality and the Common Good focuses on the dangers that growing inequality pose for U.S. democracy, economic health and civic life.

ENGAGEMENT (Goals-Activism-Solutions)

> Peak Prosperity: An Opportunity To Live Resiliently (Adam Taggart). After watching the Crash Course, who among us hasn’t felt insecure with where we live? The idea of a sustainable community has a powerful allure. But what exactly is a “sustainable community” anyways? How do you find one? What’s it like to live there? How do you know if it’s all going to work out in the long run?

> Resilience: Connecting With Nature: Farmsters + Citizen Science. Getting back to the roots. What does it really mean? Check out this 30-minute discussion on radio.

> Grain: Food Sovereignty: 5 Steps To Cool The Planet And Feed Its People. A worldwide redistribution of lands to small farmers and indigenous communities – combined with policies to support local markets and ecological agriculture – can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by half within a few decades, significantly curb deforestation and meet the food needs of the world’s growing population.

> Star Tribune: Some Minnesotans Garden Under The Snow. In Dawn Pape’s Shoreview yard, under a blanket of snow, is a polycarbonate-topped, 2- by 8-foot box, or “cold frame” that contains healthy spinach, kale, salad greens and other veggies growing in the frigid ground. Cold-weather gardening is not for everyone, but a hardy few are giving it a try.

> Product Design & Development: Vehicles Powered by Electricity from Renewables Could Save Lives. Driving vehicles that use electricity from renewable energy instead of gasoline could reduce the resulting deaths due to air pollution by 70 percent.

> E&E Publishing: Commuting By Bike Begins To Roll, Lowering Emissions And Enriching Cities. An unfinished billion-dollar urban planning project set to connect downtown Atlanta with green spaces, affordable housing, and trails for biking and walking may already be paying dividends.

> Yes! Magazine: Walking: The Secret Ingredient For Health, Wealth, And More Exciting Neighborhoods (Jay Walljasper). Over recent decades, walking has come to be widely viewed as a slow, tiresome, old-fashioned way to get around. But that’s changing now as Americans recognize that traveling by foot can be a health breakthrough, an economic catalyst, and the route to happiness.

EVENTS AND INFORMATION

> CERTs: CERTs 2015 Conference: Community Driven Clean Energy, March 10-11, 2015, St. Cloud, MN Agenda; Register to Attend

SEF News-Views Digest No. 75 (11-27-14)

Gratitude for the Little Things in Life (Clifton Ware, Editor-Publisher)

Here we are, celebrating another Thanksgiving season. For Bettye and me, Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday, primarily because it represents a time for acknowledging our good fortune, and sharing nourishment and convivial fellowship with family members. This season has been a bit colder, snowier, and wetter than usual, but as long as the heat and electricity are functioning, we’re very grateful.

Another reason for appreciating this special holiday is the perception that it offers an occasion to be thankful for what we have, and, hopefully, to ignore the pervasive commercialism associated with accumulating and dispersing more stuff than we need to live well. Nevertheless, some businesses will initiate the Christmas holidays’ shopping mania a day early: on Thanksgiving Day!

Isn’t Black Friday early enough; indeed much too early? The growing Holiday Shopping Creep gets longer every year, and I hope that you will join us in foregoing the frantic rush to buy, buy, buy. Admittedly, society’s ingrained commitment to production and consumption of goods and services may be beneficial in creating short-term economic stability; but does the current economic system, which is based on constant economic growth, provide stability and security over the long term? Some highly reputable experts think not, including Richard Heinberg, Chris Martenson, and Herman Daly, all of whom are featured fairly regularly in this newsletter.

In the past decade I’ve worked on cultivating an attitude of gratitude, reinforced by a daily meditative-prayerful litany honoring a wide range of persons and things for which I’m grateful. I begin with expressing gratitude for life, body-mind health and healthcare, basic needs, freedom, and nature, and continue by acknowledging the contributions of parents, family, friends, mentors, colleagues, and all who have influenced my life in special ways. Gratitude is also extended to all persons embracing a love of nature, including our unique human role in a universal ecosystem, as one species among many enjoying life on this fantastically beautiful and hospitable planet.

To continue this theme of gratitude and emphasis on the little things in life, I highly recommend a recent article by Stephanie Castillo titled The Science Of Gratitude: It Really Is The Little Things.

NOTE. We’ll be touring Turkey Dec. 3-19, so the next newsletter will be sent Dec. 31^st, in time for the New Year 2015. Here’s wishing you and yours a very joyful celebration of holiday seasons.

ENVIRONMENT (Natural Resources-Wildlife-Climate)

> Common Dreams: Planet Already On ‘Unavoidable Course To Warming’: World Bank Report. The WB reports: “Even very ambitious mitigation” can’t change the fact that the world has already “locked in” mid-century warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial times”, indicating increased threats to food and water security and jeopardizing poverty-reduction efforts.

> Star Tribune: Commentary: No, It Doesn’t Mean Global Warming Is Myth (Chris Mooney). It’s important to keep in mind that just because it is very cold in the U.S. doesn’t mean that you should question the overall warming trend for the planet. Weather shifts heat and cold around — we know that. We also know our own local experiences inherently bias us, since we only live the weather in one place.

> NRDC-On Earth: Hot Times, Cold Comfort. Last month was the hottest October on record, according to data from NASA and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. That’s going back to at least 1880, when global record keeping began. May, June, August, and September were all record breakers, too.

> CASSE-The Daly News: Animal Welfare: Seeing The Forest For The Denizens (Brian Czech). The most prevalent source of animal suffering is habitat destruction. Habitat includes food, water, cover, and space. When any of these elements are destroyed or depleted, wild animals suffer and often die more miserable deaths than if killed by hunters or predators.

> World Wildlife Fund: Five Ways Food Impacts Our Planet. The average American will eat nearly one ton of food in a year: That is almost 2,000 pounds per person! Our need for food is one of the biggest threats our planet faces—and the impacts from food production, distribution, management and waste also threaten wildlife and wild places.

ENERGY (Fossil Carbon • Natural Resources • Renewables)

> Resilience-Our Finite World: Eight Pitfalls In Evaluating Green Energy Solutions (Gail Tverberg). Does the recent climate accord between US and China mean that many countries will now forge ahead with renewables and other green solutions? I think that there are more pitfalls than many realize, at least 8.

> MPR: Oil Boom, Pipeline Safety Put Enbridge On The Spot. Plans for a new oil pipeline across northern Minnesota are bringing increased scrutiny to Enbridge. Federal data show 49 spills since 2002 on Enbridge lines in Minnesota.

> Earth Justice: A Climate Solution Within Reach: Coming Clean: The State Of U.S. Renewable Energy. How does your state stack up on the road to a cleaner energy future? 8 states, including Minnesota, rank at the top.

> University of Michigan News: Lean Times Ahead: Preparing For An Energy-Constrained Future. According to environmental psychologist Raymond De Young, at some point in this century the era of cheap and abundant energy will end, and Western industrial civilization will likely begin a long, slow descent toward a resource-limited future characterized by “involuntary simplicity.”

> Huffington Post: Challenging (Crude) Convention. Instead of being on the dawn of a new age of plenty, a careful analysis of all available data indicates the probability of near to mid-term trouble even maintaining current levels of production, let alone eliminating the chasm between US production and consumption.

ECONOMY (Finances-Global-Local)

> Peak Prosperity: Energy & The Economy – Crash Course Chapter 22 (Adam Taggart). We know that energy is required for both growth and complexity, that surplus energy is shrinking and that the age of cheap oil is over. We know that because of this oil costs will consume an ever-greater proportion of our total budget. And with these known facts, come along specific risks.

> Economy & Markets Daily: The Economy’s Ebb And Flow (Harry Dent). It’s human nature to overdo and over shoot everything. That’s why the economy and markets have natural mechanisms for re-balancing. Inflation stimulates investments that bring inflation down and then benefit the economy for decades to come — the killer apps like the assembly line in 1914 and the PC in the late 1970s.

> CNBC News: Rich Hoard Cash As Their Wealth Reaches Record High. With the annual gross domestic product of the U.S. closing in on the $17 trillion mark, according to the World Bank, this means that the ultra-rich now have almost twice the wealth of the world’s largest economy. Their global population will reach 250,000 individuals in the next five years, an increase of 18 percent.

> Huffington Post: Seven Years After: Why This Recovery Is Still A Turkey (Dean Baker). Usually an economy would be fully recovered from the impact of a recession seven years after its onset. Unfortunately, this is not close to being the case now.

EXPECTATIONS-ENLIGHTENMENT (Ideas • Knowledge – Psychology – Beliefs)

> The Archdruid Report: Facts, Values, And Dark Beer (J. M. Greer). The notion that life has to justify itself to me seems, if I may be frank, faintly silly, and so does the comparable claim that I have to justify my existence to it, or to anyone else.

> Resilience: A Two-Century Fight For The Small, The Local And The Beautiful (Allan Carlson). Living simply and well through the self-sufficiency of the home economy, finding meaning and identity in family and community as expressed through song and dance, and joyfully submitting to the cadences of nature: these were the common attributes of the American Agrarians.

> Resilience: Learning From Icarus (Erik Aassadourian). The challenge is ensuring that all our efforts to become more resilient make us more sustainable—and vice versa. But even if we fail at that, we should still work to stop any ‘resilience’ projects that serve to extend the reach and robustness of the consumer society. That, at least, may help cushion our eventual fall when we crash into the proverbial sea.

> MSN News: Doomsday Pope Warns Man’s Greed Will Destroy World. At the Second International Conference on Nutrition, the Pope cautioned that if men continue to be greedy about abusing natural resources to make a profit, the earth will eventually take her revenge, the Daily Mail reported.

> Resource Insights: Nuclear War: A Forgotten Threat To Human Sustainability (Kurt Cobb). The possibility of a new Cold War between Russia and the United States and its NATO allies brings with it the spectre of nuclear war, an all-but-forgotten threat since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

EQUALITY (Equity-Health-Social Concerns)

> Common Dreams: Do We Live On A One-Party Planet? (Martin Kirk). Introducing a new digital pamphlet designed to connect the dots on advanced-stage, 21st Century neoliberalism. “There is a force so broad, so enmeshed within the logic of modern global power, that the solutions we all work toward in the specific struggles we care most about – be that rampant inequalities in income and opportunity, widespread poverty, or climate change – are all facing it.”

> Star Tribune: Gen X Struggles As Baby Boomers, Millennials Hog Spotlight (Jackie Crosby). Generation X is struggling to come into its own, crushed between the aging baby boomers and the rising wave of millennials.

> Huffington Post: Nutrition Policies Can Address Inequalities (Michael F. Jacobson). The analysis of Americans’ diets shows just how important the campaign against trans fat has been to the public’s health — especially that of low-income Americans — and why FDA needs to bring it home.

ENGAGEMENT (Goals-Activism-Solutions)

> Sustainable America: How To Have A 100-Mile Thanksgiving (And other tips for more sustainable holidays!). In the spirit of using less fuel and supporting local farms and food artisans, we challenge you to try a 100-mile Thanksgiving (ingredients sourced from within 100 miles of your dinner table).

> US Government: Toolkit For Addressing The Challenges Of A Changing Climate (http://toolkit.climate.gov/) Here are some helpful strategies in building resilience for individuals and communities.

> Yes! Magazine: 10 Climate Conscious Cities—Electric Cars, Rooftop Farms, And Other Ways They’re Preparing For The Future. There’s no time to waste when it comes to acting on climate change. The world’s most forward-thinking cities are curbing carbon and building for a sustainable future, now.

> Our World: New Research Says Plant-Based Diet Best For Planet And People. Examining almost 50 years’ worth of data from the world’s 100 most populous countries, University of Minnesota Professor of Ecology G. David Tilman and graduate student Michael Clark illustrate how current diet trends are contributing to ever-rising agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and habitat degradation.

> Resilience: Atamai Village: An Experiment In Resilient Community. If you clue in to the kinds of dramatic changes that are coming with limits to growth, climate, energy, etc. you come to realize the personal consequences and implications: An essential element of a re-localized new paradigm is a new kind of human settlement – a resilient community.

EVENTS AND INFORMATION

> Growth Busters: Free Online Movie on Black Friday— GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth. See this short trailer. Visit GrowthBusters channel Friday and the film will be featured and easy to find.