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5th March 2015 20:34
Link to Post #14321
Re: Up At The Ranch And Beyond
Thought some of you could find this engaging. Originally I was just going to post the vid (see below) but thought I'd add some extracts of the content to give a taster.
Apparently recorded on November 20th, 2013 at the University of Alberta, Paul Hawken (author of The Ecology of Commerce) talks about addressing the global issues of our time, like poverty and environmental destruction, and comments on the beauty of connectedness in earth's ecosystems.
He refers to what he calls the "narcissism of failure", where people simply dwell on the problems we face and lose sight of our propensity for healing and change. He talks about the way change does not need to come from a centralised authority with a minority of leaders, like governments and corporations infected with corruption; but that focusing our energy on change through grassroots and community groups can and does affect tremendous change.
He offers basic common sense, at a time when fear of anything carbon-related can lead to misconceptions, and reiterates that carbon is our ally, only its abuse (through burning excessively for fuel) is our enemy.
Around 50 minutes in he talks about progress in making technology more efficient, offering examples of :
- a private company in California called Tri Alpha Energy working on fusion technology to replace coal power.
- a company in Silicon Valley who've reinvented the refrigeration cycle with no compressor, reducing energy use by 70% and water by 90%.
At 18:40 he says : "We've become very good at imagining the end of the world, but not very good at imagining the beginning of the world... [...] ...What's become unimaginable now is the belief that we are intelligent, problem-solving animals. And that we're brilliant, and we're extraordinary, and that we are going to do something about this, and that we are right now."
At 58:22, whilst playing a Joshua Bell violin recording, he says : “Puccini (the composer) was asked once, how can you write such beautiful music? And he said 'I don't. I don't.' He said 'I hold the pen and God writes the music.' And for me God is life. I don't think of a God, I think of life itself, and its vastness and its mysteriousness and its complexity and its beauty. That to me is God, alright. And to me what we're talking about in this century, to make it through this century, in a way that's civilised and beautiful and extraordinary, is that we have to hold our pen but we have to let life speak through us. And to do that... […] ...we cannot demonise the world, whether it's people or whether it's carbon, or whether it's governments or whether it's corporations. It doesn't mean we don't speak truth to power. But we have to ask ourselves this question, 'cause we did it, we did this... Did climate change happen to us or is it happening for us? 'Cause if it's happening to us then we're victims, then we're cut off and we're separated... […] but if it's happening for us we are so empowered, and we see this as a gift not as a curse, to reimagine the world, every single aspect of it... […] ...The only civilised thing we can do is come together.”
He talks about the problems with EROI in the energy sources offered by the mainstream, such as tar sands being 2 and a half to 1 compared to oil (cited around 17 to 1), there being no real net energy from corn/ethanol, and the limitations of solar (much as he supports its development) with the EROI being 5 to 1 on a good day.
He says BP explained to him that they and Exxon are only the 17th and 16th biggest oil companies, with the other 15 being state owned or private, and he comments that that's what's running the world.
Throughout the talk he gently reiterates the importance of empowering ourselves, commenting that : “Really what climate change is saying to us is that life wants to speak to us...” and “What we need to be in this century is fearless, not hopeful.”
I found it worthwhile and uplifting.
Paul Hawken: Reimagination of Carbon
P.S. Blessings for the thread master – envisioning his safe return...
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5th March 2015 20:38
Link to Post #14322