Presenter: Author Richard Heinberg
Thursday, July 28, 12:30 to 1:30
Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability.
Join us for a discussion with Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Reality and Senior Fellow of Post Carbon Institute. We all take economic growth for granted...until it falters, as it did in 2008. But what if the recent meltdown was not just an interruption in the story of continuous economic expansion, but the first intimation of the end of growth as we know it? Will a convergence of financial disruption, resource depletion, and environmental impacts create "Business as Unusual?" We know that traditional economic growth models do not reconcile the best measures of human health and welfare. So how can social change advocates and philanthropists prepare for -- and thrive in -- a future that is not based on assumptions of cheap energy, reckless consumption, and financial speculation? How can we decouple qualitative progress — in education, arts, health, well-being, freedom, happiness -- from ever-expanding consumption and growth?
Health Care Reform - Why Social Justice is the Best Medicine
Presenter: Joe Brenner, EQUAL Health Network of the Center for Policy Analysis
Wednesday, July 20 - 12:30PM to 1:30PM
Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center For Sustainability
Joe Brenner of the EQUAL Health Network/Center for Policy Analysis will discuss the latest developments on health care reform and how they affect access to quality, affordable health care in our communities, from Vermont to California.
The EQUAL Health Network brings together partners from public health, women’s health and the public to advocate for Equitable, Quality, Universal, Affordable – EQUAL – health care.
Update: This event has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date. Stay tuned.
Brown Bag events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.
This week's review is very United Nations heavy, with reports on women, energy, technology, and development:
From the newest UN agency - UN Women - The 2011 Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice report is a survey of women's legal rights and access to justice worldwide. In examining legislation and its implementation, the agency finds that despite expansion of women's legal rights in recent years, real progress on equality and justice has been elusive. Details of the report include which countries have passed special legislation on women's political rights, economic opportunities, and reproductive health and rights. It looks at which countries have laws against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and marital rape. It also provides data on development indicators related to women, and looks country-by-country at women's participation in politics.
The UN Environment Programme, in conjunction with the Frankfurt School of Finance and Bloomberg New Enerby Finance, issued its latest annual report on renewable energy investment trends: Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2011. It shows a 32% increase in green energy investments worldwide - a total of US$211 billion in renewables, or about one-third more than the US$160 billion invested in 2009, and a 540 percent rise since 2004. Developing economies overtook developed ones for the first time in new investment on utility scale projects, with China being the world leader at US$48.9 billion of new investment. Another significant development was the growth of government research and development 120 percent to over US$5 billion worldwide. Additional drops in costs for solar, wind and other renewable technologies are expected, the report says, presenting a growing threat to the dominance of fossil-fuel generation sources in the next few years.
While in the United States, according to the latest issue of the Monthly Energy Review by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, domestic production of renewable energy is now greater than that of nuclear power. During the first quarter of 2011, energy production from renewable energy sources in 2011 was 5.65 percent more than that from nuclear power, which has remained largely unchanged in recent years. Production of renewable energy has increased by 15.07 percent compared to the first quarter of 2010.
Also from the UN, the Department of Economic and Social Affiars of the United Nation published its World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Transformation which "calls for a complete transformation of technology on which human economic activity is based" in order to combat poverty while protecting the environment:
The "great green technological transformation" that the Survey champions will have to be completed in the next 30 to 40 years, that is, twice as fast as it took to accomplish previous major technological transitions. Because of the limited time frame, Governments will need to play a much more active and stimulating role to accelerate the green energy transformation. The Survey details new policy directions and major investments in developing and scaling up clean energy technologies, sustainable farming and forestry techniques, climate proofing of infrastructure and reducing non-bio-degradable waste production.
Here is this week's highly selective selection of some significant reports, investigations, and studies I encountered this week in the news:
The National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released State of the Climate in 2010, this year's update on 41 worldwide climate indicators, significant climate events, and other climate information. Compiled by 368 scientists from 45 countries, it shows 2010 to be one of the two warmest years on record and an increase in carbon dioxide of 2.60 ppm, more than the average annual increase seen from 1980-2010. Among other findings, global average temperature in 2010 was warmer than the 20th century average for every month in the past quarter century, Arctic sea ice continued to decline, average global sea surface temperature was the third warmest on record, and sea levels continued to rise. The online supplement includes additional data.
San Francisco was named the greenest city in North America in a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit and commissioned by Siemens as part of its ongoing Green City Index project. The report rates 27 cities selected to represent a number of the most populous metropolitan areas in the United States and Canada, and it is based on 31 indicators in nine categories intended to measure "their commitment to reducing their future environmental impacts": CO2 emissions reduction, energy, land use, buildings, transport, water, waste, air, and environmental governance. San Francisco has the top overall score and is in the five top scorers in six categories: air, energy, buildings, transport, waste, and water.
The Center for Park Research of the National Parks Conservation Association released The State of America's National Parks, "the culmination of ten years of research on the condition of natural and cultural resources within America's national parks." The assessment reports on long-standing and more recent threats, including unchecked human development, invasive species, climate change, the failure to protect or catalog millions of artifacts, and a general insufficiency of funding to maintain and to interpret park resources. Also highlighting some success stories within the system, it suggests several recommendations for restoring health.
The National Resources Defense Council released Testing the Waters 2011, its annual survey of water quality and public notification at U.S. beaches. Its findings "confirm that our nation’s beaches continue to experience significant water pollution that puts swimmers and local economies at risk." NRDC recommendations focus on addressing the sources of beachwater pollution, particularly contamination carried by stormwater runoff. State-by-state results are available on the website.
And the Costs of War report of the Eisenhower Study Group at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies is a new effort to document and assess as comprehensively as possible the effects of ten years of the United States' wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The goal of the project has been to bring to light and to develop a broad understanding of the human, economic, social, and political costs of these conflicts in the U.S. and abroad.
Among the findings:
- Putting together the conservative numbers of war dead, in uniform and out, brings the total to 225,000.
- The current number of war refugees and displaced persons -- 7,800,000 -- is equivalent to all of the people of Connecticut and Kentucky fleeing their homes.
- The wars have been accompanied by erosions in civil liberties at home and human rights violations abroad.
- Conservatively estimated, the war bills already paid and obligated to be paid are $3.2 trillion in constant dollars. A more reasonable estimate puts the number at nearly $4 trillion.
- Afghanistan and Iraq both continue to rank low in global rankings of political freedom, with warlords continuing to hold power in Afghanistan with US support, and Iraqi communities more segregated today than before by gender and ethnicity as a result of the war.
- Serious and compelling alternatives to war were scarcely considered in the aftermath of 9/11 or in the discussion about war against Iraq. Some of those alternatives are still available to the U.S.
Last Thursday's Thoreau Center Brown Bag speaker was Desmond D'Sa, the chairperson of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) in South Africa who was here to talk about the work of the alliance and its plans for the future. His visit to the San Francisco Bay Area was hosted by the International Development Exchange (IDEX), which promotes sustainable solutions to poverty by providing long-term grants and access to resources to locally run organizations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. D'Sa helped found the SDCEA in 1995 as an alliance of community organizations addressing the environmental and human rights issues caused by the largely unrestricted expansion in Durban of industry and oil refineries. Through vigilant pollution monitoring, information sharing, education, community empowerment, and government lobbying, the SDCEA has had numerous success over the years, although major problems remain, namely climate change and the need for grassroots mobilization to strengthen the movement for climate justice. For a full rundown of his visit to the area, see this report prepared by IDEX.
Here are some reports, investigations, and other long form pieces that I encountered this week, which I'm sharing here just in case you missed them:
The International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO), in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), released a preliminary report summarizing the conclusions and recommendations from an interdisciplinary workshop of leading marine scientists held earlier this year. Their assessment of the state of the oceans and marine life is a grave one with increasing chances of extinctions as a result of overexploitation, habitat loss, and climate change. Their proposed solutions emphasize urgent action to realize CO2 emission cuts, improved fishery management, and development of marine reserves. Look for the full report later this year. (http://www.stateoftheocean.org/index.cfm)
A yearlong investigation by the Associated Press (AP) on federal oversight and the nuclear power industry finds that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly weakened or not enforced existing standards in order to keep aging reactors in operation - “Failed cables. Busted seals. Broken nozzles, clogged screens, cracked concrete, dented containers, corroded metals and rusty underground pipes — all of these and thousands of other problems linked to aging were uncovered in the AP's yearlong investigation. And all of them could escalate dangers in the event of an accident.” (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110620/ap_on_re_us/us_aging_nukes_part1)
Meanwhile, a report from Ernst & Young commissioned by the Solar Trade Association predicts that prices of solar panels by 2013 will fall to half of what they cost in 2009, suggesting that large-scale installations could by cost-competitive with fossil fuels earlier than had been assumed. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jun/20/solar-panel-price-drop)
Not surprisingly, an internal investigation by Transocean finds that BP is largely responsible for the Deepwater Horizon disaster last year. (http://www.deepwater.com/fw/main/Public-Report-1076.html)
In food systems, a new report from Oxfam International, Living on a Spike, examines the impact of the rise in global food prices through 2010 and 2011 on the people most directly affected by them. Speaking to people in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Kenya, and Zambia, the research shows how these prices rises have worked to perpetuate inequality and how people respond not simply by consuming less but also through political activity. (http://www.oxfam.org/en/grow/policy/living-spike)
Another report on food systems, Appetite for Change, published by the think tank SustainAbility, is critical of the food industry for its lack of vision and failures to meet its own goals on the sustainability front. It calls for drastic changes in the way the industry, as well as consumers and governments, mange the world's food supply. (http://www.sustainability.com/library/appetite-for-change)
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released the The State of World's Midwifery 2011: Delivering Health, Saving Lives. Based on data from 58 countries in all regions of the world, its analysis finds that the world lacks some 350,000 skilled midwives -- 112,000 in the neediest 38 countries surveyed -- to fully meet the needs of women around the world. The report explores a range of issues related to building up this key health workforce, and the website presents additional information including detailed country profiles. (http://www.unfpa.org/sowmy/report/home.html)
Closer to home, the Foundation Center released Key Facts on Bay Area Foundations, showing that grantmakers in the nine-county Bay Area awarded $3.1 billion in 2009, a 77% increase over 2000, with priority going to education and the environment. The assets of these foundations rose 34% during the same ten years, despite a steep decline in 2008. (http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/research/pdf/keyfacts_bayarea_2011.pdf)
Presenter: Desmond D’Sa
Wednesday, June 22, 12:30P to 1:30P
Pacific Room at Tides, Thoreau Center for Sustainability
The South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) is organizing across the historic racial divisions of its communities to speak out for environmental justice at local, national, and international levels. Begun in 1995, SDCEA is a democratic coalition of members of communities who have come together to bring higher environmental standards to the industries and communities that cohabit South Durban.
SDCEA takes a rights-based approach to environmental justice and works to empower community members, especially women and youth, to engage in environmental issues and fight against man-made climate threats.
Desmond is currently the SDCEA Coordinator, and a coordinator of the Right2KNOW Campaign, a national campaign against the draft secrecy laws such as the Protection of Information Bill and the Media Appeals Tribunal. Desmond is a tireless campaigner and also serves as the Coordinator for the Durban Social Forum and sits on a number of activist boards and church organizations. As a key organizer and leader of the South African climate justice movement, Desmond is uniquely positioned as a spokesperson for grassroots organizing currently taking place in Durban to protest the upcoming UN summit on climate justice, in November/December 2011.
Brown Bag Events are free informal mid-day learning sessions hosted at Tides. Friends, neighbors and colleagues are welcome. Visitors, please sign in at the front desk.
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