COLLAPSE & CLIMATE CRISIS

Dmitry Orlov interview. Author of Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Example and American Prospects." Orlov compares end of Soviet & American empires.

His advice for Presidential candidates, as oil era ends is priceless. Hear about "The Collapse Party" platform....

We run a clip from the Minneapolis National Conference on Media Reform (Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford on how media sows doubt on global warming, which doesn't exist in climate science...) Then I reference two hours of key speeches from that Conference, available in program number 415 of the underground series "Unwelcome Guests" by Lynn Gary. Find that at the busy website www.radio4all.net

Search by producer "Unwelcome Guests" - but be warned, the site can be too busy to respond well during peak hours. Go in off-peak hours to get your Media Reform files. radio4all is the backbone for distributing radio works by independent producers - including Radio Ecoshock.

Also: Animal rights & global warming: Anthony Marr interview. Anthony runs "HOPE" which stands for "Heal Our Planet Earth". He's been a long time activist on everything from Tigers to biodiversity of the Amazon, and the abuse of farm animals in agribusiness.

Anthony came to the realization that climate change will wipe out more species, faster, than pharmaceutical testing could ever dream of. Animal rights activists need to get on board fighting climate change - but will they?

I hope so, just as I'm sick of seeing all the coverage about climate impacts on humans. As though we aren't going through a mass extinction event. As though animal's lives don't really matter to the animals themselves. As though all the creatures don't have an inherent right to live on this planet too.

Amory Lovins tells government that Nukes are no answer to climate change. Our 6 minute clip is from Lovin's testimony to Congress, at the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming on March 12th, 2008. It's been a long time since I've heard such a devastating put-down of the nuclear power illusion, in just a few minutes.

I wont' try and summarize what he said - listen in.

Check out some other really interesting testimony to the Committee, with some video, at:
http://globalwarming.house.gov/pubs/testimony

Alex on oil company Net trolls. I was reading a suggestion in Grist that the recent one in 500 year, never seen before, floods in the Mid West might actually be related to climate change. Then the writer gets pounded in the comments - with a pseudo scientific explanation by "Ralph". Ralph says the climate is cooling, and Brad is just a tool.

I always wonder who those trolls really are. Checking out "Ralph" I find Ralph Hansen PHD.
It turns out Ralph is "gainfully employed in the energy industry." What a surprise.

Then I start thinking about all the "independent" military hacks that appeared on TV, really still employed by the Pentagon, as propagandists. Do you suppose that Exxon/Mobil, with $40 billion profits, and other big oil companies (not to mention PR companies hired by the Saudi's) - just might spend a few bucks on blog sites, and a thousand blog commenters like Ralph?

This might explain why any climate science posted on the Net is immediately hit with a torrent of bricks and boos. A newcomer to the Net might think the American public HATES the idea of climate change, or any plan to do something about it.

Funny, real public opinion polls show just the opposite. People are concerned about climate change, and want to save the climate.

We've known the mainstream media, following the lead of the Bush Administration, has long been a force for climate denial and befuddlement. But don't underestimate the psychological operations and paid hacks on the Net as well. It's all propaganda, new and old.

Speaking of mainstream, Discovery Channel has launched a 24 hour "green" themed channel. find it at planetgreen.com

I was a little horrified to see green decorating tips, as the world goes down, but it's a step in the right direction?

How about ABC News bringing out a new special for this September on the possible collapse of civilization due to climate change and other pressures? You can even contribute to the program, and game the end of civilization!!! (at Earth2100.tv)

Their trailer is about as scary as anything I can produce. Is Radio Ecoshock about to be put out of business by Disney's ABC? Don't hold your breath waiting for that. I notice their news program still depends on a 50/50 toxic mix of drugs ads and car/truck/SUV ads. Hardly the stuff of the new age.

Add it all up, and here you go, The Radio Ecoshock Show for June 20th, 2008. Crisis radio.

Alex Smith - your host.

Ecoshock 080620 1 hour CD Quality 56 MB or Lo-Fi 14 MB.

Production Notes: Check out this stinging social song "We Can't Make It Here Anymore" by James McMurty. We take the time to play the whole thing. Best I've heard in a while, almost a country Dylan, back when Dylan had something to say.

Insert quick station ID over music at 29:03 if needed. Or cut into song if you need more.

CRISIS OF CONFIDENCE

Is it just me... or is the world falling apart?

The Radio Ecoshock Show 080516

Worried? Need a hole to hide in?

All through Western history, the human herd has reached panic points. Civilization was expected to end. And sometimes it did.

In this program, we'll take the bullet train through global defrosting, climate adaptation, rogue capitalism, economic crash, selling out, capital flight, and the food crisis.

You will hear samples from a conference call with world food expert Lester Brown, and clips from a tell-all speech by the radical Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig. Top Harvard environmental teacher James Gustav Speth says environmentalism has utterly failed. An expert in the hidden economy, Loretta Napoleoni explains Rogue Capitalism. Bill McKibben says we have one last chance.

LINKS FOR THIS SHOW:

Here are some links to the full interviews and speeches referenced in this show:

Lester Brown press call conference on the causes of the world food crisis (34 minutes in a tiny fast-downloading file). Brown, of Earth-Policy.org says this isn't a passing crisis, but a new trend which will cause mass starvation from here on out.

Mel Hurtig "The Truth About Canada" book launch speech (1 hour) on sell-out, corporate concentration, merger with U.S. and capital flight.

WNYC Leonard Lopate interview with Yale's James G. Speth

Loretta Napoleoni book launch speech "Rogue Economics" (1 hour)

Here is the best spot to find Bill McKibben's "Last Chance for Civilization" article - with some really intelligent blog reader comments - at commondreams.org.

TRANSCRIPT FOR THIS SHOW:

You can find the whole thing tied together in this rough and ready transcript for the show.
Learn how the billionaires are skipping out on taxes - and on paying for the energy and transportation transformation we will need to confront climate change.

This includes a brief profile of one rogue corporation: the Swiss banking giant UBS. Just after we went to air, a former UBS executive was arrested, charged with helping a California billionaire avoid U.S. taxes. Just one of many.

American listeners will also be interested in Mel Hurtig's description of secret meetings - a real-life conspiracy among the business elite (and your elected representatives) to sell out America, Canada, and Mexico to create the North American Union (that nobody voted for, and nobody wants...)

You have to get that from the audio of the program. Blogger readers, click the title above, or get the one hour program (14 MB) at:
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080516_Show_LoFi.mp3

There is a hilarious bit on biofuels from John Oliver (the "Senior Correspondent" on Jon Stewart's "Today Show") and Andy Saltzman in this program. Find their running series "The Bugle" at the Times Online site here.

The whole food crisis is so sick we need to poke black fun at our wasteful fat selves, to see through our thick lenses. Then Lester Brown tucks into the real issues, including a call for an end to the heartless process of using up food for SUV fuel.

IMPORTANT Note to Podcast listeners:

By popular demand, I have switched this podcast to the smaller Lo-Fi format (32 Kbps, mono).
This downloads faster, stores better on your hard drive, and sounds pretty good.

The only downside is slightly less quality, if you are into good stereo sound for your Ipod or sound system. And you can't burn this LoFi version direct to older style CD's. It will burn to CD as an mp3 file, which can be played by newer CD players, computers, DVD players, etc.

If you are a radio station getting the podcast from this source, you should switch over to the podcast found at our radio support site: www.ecoshock.net

That site will continue to podcast the full 56 MB 44 Hhz version. There is an easy sign-up podcast subscription button there. Then you can burn direct to CD from the podcast, and toss it into any station CD player. This is handy for late night, or unattended play.

Other listeners who want to continue receiving the higher quality 56 MB version are quite welcome to sign up for the podcast coming from www.ecoshock.net as well. You don't need to be a radio station to use that podcast.

One final note: we need more stations! As the number of stations go up, it gets easier for me to bring on the big name authors and scientists. Although, I have to say, we have had no problems so far!

Still, if you can contact your local non-profit college or community radio station, please ask them to add Radio Ecoshock to their programing. I realize there is a lot of competition for local air space, but we need one big environment program with the world view. Things like climate change are too important. We can't just say "Oh sorry, we don't have time to tell listeners about that..."

Please write or email requests to your local station. If you get some contact with a program director or station manager, can you forward it to me? My address is
radio [at] ecoshock.org.

I'm also trying to find more Low Power FM stations to broadcast the show. Your suggestions (and their contact info) are also very welcome.

We need a revolution to save what's left - and I'm hoping podcast listeners, and blog readers, will help out. From the emails I have received from you - we have a really intelligent bunch here! A lot of activists, scientists, professionals, and even government people are listening to Radio Ecoshock.

I appreciate the tips and help people send in. Some programs, including next week's "Too Hot to Handle" - come from listener tips. This has become a group effort - thanks so much!

Alex Smith
host
Radio Ecoshock

Wall Street & the Climate Crash

This week we dig into the Wall Street Mess. Are we headed into the next Great Depression? We'll talk to a Finance Campaigner at the Rainforest Action Network, to see how they fought some big bankers, and won. That interview with Matt Leonard of RAN is only available in the audio program.

But first, Wall Street needs to dig themselves out with a new bubble scam. Why not use our concern about climate change. If a new American Administration takes on carbon emissions, they may hand out billions in new wealth, as tradable pollution credits. In just a couple of minutes, we'll talk with an anonymous Wall Street insider, about the big banker's plans to get rich, on climate change.

There are lots of clips from the recent Bear Stearns debacle, to similar stuff from 1929. About 8 minutes of multimedia audio in the show.

But for blog readers, let's get into Warren Buffett. (And incidentally, DNA tests have shown he is no relation to the singer Jimmy Buffett...)

What does the world's richest man say about climate change? Can the multi-billion dollar empire of Warren Buffett help prevent the catastrophe?

At the age of 77, the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway is listed by Forbes magazine at the top of the capitalist heap, with 62 billion dollars at his command.

Buffett says he is not as good at giving away money, as making it. So, he has an agreement to steer countless billions from his estate, 83 percent of it, to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. That Foundation may be one key in the future fight against climate change, but not yet.

Gate himself has said precious little about climate change. The Foundation is immunizing and helping poor African kids, but is apparently not yet tuned into the changing winds that stripped North Africa of its annual rain. We can only hope that the Arctic Ice melt last year, and continued storm damage in the United States and elsewhere, will melt the hearts of Bill and Melinda, so they begin to tackle climate change with the billions at their command.

Meanwhile, there is gigantic cult of following Warren Buffett's investments, and his sayings. Whole books are devoted to being like Buffett. And the man has some common sense, without a doubt. Here is what Buffett said about the current economic debacle, on CNBC March 4th, 2008.

[clip on Wall Street bankers drinking their own cool-aid]

I've done an exhaustive search of the Net, and various media archives, and here is Buffett on climate change:

[TV static]

That's right. Nothing, nada. Is is possible this old-world man of sensible plaid shirts, and down-to-Earth companies, hasn't heard we are in trouble? While companies all over the globe are publishing advertising, about their new committment to saving the world, and themselves, from wrenching climate change, Mr. Buffett is Mr. Invisible. Why?

I've been wondering why Buffett is misssing in action, and words, for years. But our guest today, the proprieter of the Climateer Investing blog, pointed out that Buffett's company reporting for 2007, which included a long philosophical report from Chairman Buffett, says absolutely nothing about climate change.

It's not that Buffett companies are not agents of climate change. He owns many polluting industries. He also owns companies with major exposure to global warming, especially his massive holding of insurance companies. Every other big insurance company, companies like All-State and Munich Re, have acres of reporting on their exposure to climate change damages. The series of big Florida hurricanes, followed by Katrina, topped off their years of research showing an increase in catastrophic climate-related events, around the world, since the 1980's.

Well, let's talk about Warren Buffett.

Warren does not have a limousine. He drives himself in his own Cadillac, and is a big supporter of General Motors. He is known for his frugality, rather than the usual conspicuous consumption of other billionaires. Buffett has lived in the same small house for the past 50 years.

The richest man does know about climate change. In a letter in 1993, he told investors that possible global warming indicated that, quote, “catastrophe insurers can’t simply extrapolate past experience.”
"If there is truly ‘global warming,’ for example, the odds would shift, since tiny changes in atmospheric conditions can produce momentous changes in weather patterns.” The question was still "if" back then.

However, even more recently, he seems still on undecided about climate science. Buffett doesn't actually say that storms are impacted by "“atmospheric, oceanic or other causal factors." Its just the huge insurance losses have caused him to be more cautious. Hardly an endorsement of climate change, from the head of the third largest insurance company on Earth.

In an article in 2006, Al Gore said: "The best long-term investors, including Warren Buffett, now realise that climate change can materially impact company returns." But there is litte on the Net to indicate that Gore and Buffett are close friends, or anything like that. However, Buffett has come out in support of the Democrats for 2008. He is on the record as unhappy with the Bush administration management, if it can be called that, of the economy.

Inevitably, some of Buffett's subsidiaries are involved in climate change mitigation, one way or another. For example, PacifiCorp, a utility owned by the Berhsire Hathaway empire, will make a joint feaibility study in Wyoming, with a coal-fired power plant using Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC). That could be called a kind of carbon capture tech. The EPA, and the Electric Power Research Institute are looking at this technology, which gasifies coal, makes electricity, and then grabs the carbon for sequestration, as a way to keep coal plants working, without wrecking the climate. We shall see.

NetJets Europe, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, is hoping to develop a plan to offset, or otherwise remediate, its carbon emissions.

Meanwhile, other parts of the empire churn out planet-destroying levels of CO2. His companies make giant recreational vehicles, are involved in the trucking industry, and his utilities emit lots of carbon. For example, Buffett bought over $2 billion of the debt issued by the gross polluter TXU, the Texas utility. Berkshire Hathaway also ownd MidAmerican Energy Holdings, another utility conglomerate. One of those subsidiaries is Yorkshire Electricity and Northern Electric, with 3.8 million customers, making it the UK's third largest electricity producer.

His subsidiary Northern Natural pipelines reportedly carries about 8% of the natural gas used in America. But MidAmerican also has wind farms, as we will hear in a moment.

Buffett's recent investment in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp, 10 percent of the railroad giant, has to be seen as climate friendly, considering the much greater efficiency of rail travel. Of course, the company should be moving to more electric rail power. And yet, at least 20% of Burlington Northern's business is just hauling coal from Wyoming to big power plants in the Midwest. Dirty fingerprints, there.

And Buffet is a big supporter of the Canadian Tar Sands. Here is a clip from the National Post, February 7th, 2008:



If Warren Buffett refuses to comit himself publicly to the reality of climate change, and ignores it in his annual company reports, he isn't so shy about Peak Oil. Let's listen to this interview on CNBC in March of 2008.

[CNBC interview]

My thanks to the Climateer Investing blog for some of these tips. Find at climateerinvest.blogspot.com. His entry for February29th is Who Cares What Warren Buffett Thinks About Global Warming?

Well, I do, and you should too. If this seemingly amiable man at the top of the heap doesn't get it, we are all in trouble. This is no place to hedge bets. This is a planet that needs leadership, and so far, Mr. Buffett has failed to provide it, and that is damaging.

That's my opinion, I'm Alex Smith, for Radio Ecoshock.