Hot Climate Activism

A different twist on Ecoshock this week. We go radio active.

While major media goes into denial hyper-spin, the public and greens are making a difference.

You'll hear about the victories over insane expansion of coal-fired power plants in the United States. It's grass-roots, it's bigger than the anti-nuclear movement of the 70's, and it's grossly under-reported. Author Ted Nace explains the high-tech tools and old-fashioned grit that stopped the construction of at least 90 more coal plants in America. That's good news for the climate, and hope for us all. His coal activist Wiki is here.

Then we'll get a sneak preview from journalist and military specialist Gwynne Dyer. The military and politicians know climate is shifting much faster than anyone expected. Why haven't they told the public the truth?

Dr. Gwynne Dyer has a degree in military and Middle Eastern history. He's served in three navies, and advised military colleges from Sandhurst to Oxford. Dyer is also a famous war journalist, who lately dove into climate change, with a book and 3 part radio series called "Climate Wars."

Our speech clips were recorded at a presentation by Vancouver Community College Arts and Science, February 2nd, 2010. After interviewing many scientists, top politicians and generals, Dyer's first conclusion is chilling. Climate change is moving much faster than the public has been told.

Why did all the countries of the world suddenly agree to a two degree limit on warming? Because that's the point at which the climate spins out of any human control. Dyer explains it all.

In our second half hour, we get an update on climate campaigning around the world. Gavin Edwards, the departing Climate Campaign Director for Greenpeace International, tell us about climate action in Asia. And the response after the Copenhagen conference failure.

In breaking news, Gavin Edwards told me he's taking a sabbatical to work on his Masters, while still advising Greenpeace campaigns. Meanwhile, the climate campaign will be directed by Stephan Brockman and, in a surprise return to Greenpeace, Tzeporah Berman. Tzeporah was the famous face of the Clayoquot and Great Bear Rain Forest campaigns, founder of both ForestEthics and Power Up Canada. She will work out of Amsterdam for up to two years.

And that's it for Radio Ecoshock this week.

I'm Alex - thanks for listening. And tune in next week, as we confront the horrible, and fight off our impossible future.

CONSPIRACY! Turning 911 Truth to Climate Denial

Welcome to Radio Ecoshock. We're going to plunge into the fevered world of dark conspiracy. We'll find the men who hate greens, the fringe media voices who call us to commit suicide. If they are to be believed, we must arrest hundreds of thousands of scientists, for their role in the global warming hoax.

We'll find out who is behind the scheme to turn the 911 Truth Movement almost overnight, into the global warming denial network.

This is a review of a new made-for-cable TV series, and rant radio.

Forget about 911. Now our icon of hatred is global warming, and it's terror face isn't just Al Gore. No, the kingpin, the spider at the center of the web is...

[gunfire] [screaming]

Not so fast. To begin my journey into the bowels of conspiracy, I first had to travel to a dark warehouse, on the wrong side of Okayama, Japan. A 30ish balding James Corbett awaits me. He seems shy, but as you'll find out, with a keyboard and a screen, Corbett is a lion against the climate.

Mysteriously, Corbett hands me a slip of paper. With 3 names printed on it. My arduous journey has begun.

The second part of this week's program makes more sense. It's UK author and journalist Fred Pearce. We'll talk about two of his recent books: "Confessions of an Eco-Sinner" and "Last Generation".

Pearce travelled around the world to find out where all our daily "stuff" comes from. Meeting some of the poorer people who produce it, he develops some doubts about all-out localization of production. But then Fred is willing to work through unpopular ideas.

His previous book goes through some of the unexpressed fears scientists have - that we may experience abrupt climate change, rather than the smooth graphs shown by governments and the IPCC. It has happened in the past, and would be very ugly if we bring it on now.

But much of our interview comes from Fred's newest research, for an upcoming book. He's discovered that overpopulation is not doing the planet in, as much as over-consumption. Again he's taken flack, but Fred has the figures to back up his claims. Don't miss Fred Pearce on Radio Ecoshock.

The rest of this blog entry is all about the 911 Truth Movement, rant radio, and how conspiracy theory is being used to deny global warming science. Read More at your own risk....

SMART DECLINE

Bill Rees, originator of the ecological footprint, says we are already into overshoot. We can plan to reduce our use of Earth's resources, or plunge through a series of disasters.

Full keynote speech from "Resilient Cities" 091021 plus Q and A with Warren Karlenzig on Post Carbon Cities, including China's "eco-cities". That presentation, with host Daniel Lerch from the Post Carbon Institute, was October 20th, all at the Vancouver Convention Centre, Canada.

Breakthrough information.

Ecoshock 091030 1 hour CD Quality 56 MB or Lo-Fi 14 MB

Production note: end music clip: "99 and a half won't do" by Mavis Staples.

NATURE AS KILLER: The Medea Hypothesis

From the edge of the Earth, broadcast, podcast, by cable and satellite, this is Radio Ecoshock with Alex Smith.

Gaia - the great interconnected force of living things on a minor planet called Earth. British scientist James Lovelock wondered how life created it's own space, with the oxygen and nutrients we all need. It's a soothing idea. Some Greens took it further, suggesting Gaia is a super-consciousness that watches over balance and survival. A few worship Gaia.


Dr. Peter Ward, a deep time digger and climate investigator says Gaia, if there is one, can also be a mass murderer. The rock record shows at least 5 great mass extinctions before us. Ward offers us a different Greek myth: Medea - the wife of Jason the Argonaut, who swiped the Golden Fleece. In a fit of rage against her husband, Medea killed her own children. In a new book, the Medea Hypothesis, Peter Ward says Gaia is out. Bountiful Nature can become ecocidal, and only intelligent life can stop the death cycle we are now approaching.


Peter always stuffs us full of the latest science. He's not well-known to the public, but other climate scientists are listening closely, as this brilliant mind sparks off a new paradigm for life and death, Earth-style. But can we trust a creature with obvious pathological flaws to save the species? Should humans try to replace Nature?

Following our interview with Peter Ward, I answer a few questions about Radio Ecoshock, as a local college stations turns the tables, to interview the elusive Alex Smith. We talk the future of food, the economy, and radio itself. You'll also hear the new climate anthem, a re-worked "Beds Are Burning" from a host of celebrities. Plus "Fear Itself" from Loudon Wainwright III.


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ENJOY YOURSELF (It's Later Than You Think)

It is already too late to stop rampant climate change? An emailed blog posting asks: "Do we just enjoy the time we have left?"

Scientist James Lovelock thinks so. He wanted the sub-title of his new book "Vanishing Gaia" changed from "Final Warning" to "Enjoy it while you can."

Is it really that serious? We'll hear top American and British administrators say it is.

But I want to contrast the response by two scientists: James Lovelock, who at age 90 plans to blast out into space, and NASA's James Hansen, the first world-class climate scientist to put himself up for arrest, to stop mountain top mining in West Virginia, this week. (Hansen was arrested, along with 31 others, including actress Daryl Hannah, on a West Virginia road, outside a humoungous toxic coal ash dump.)

Doubting coal barons, the black secret of George Soros, U.S. climate dodgers in Canada - from outer space to the deepest pit - enjoy yourself. This is Radio Ecoshock.

The program is also loaded with music clips – from Guy Lombardo’s opening 1950 hit “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)”, another version by The Specials UK concert, samples from country music star (and anti-mountain top removal activist) Kathy Mattea, talk and music from Tom Petty, an oldie by Lee Dorsey – and a lot of fun clips, including stuff from the trailer for “Skipjack” and even Winston Churchill.

But the question is deadly serious. Should we give up?

Find all the video and audio links used in this Radio Ecoshock program here. Click on through to the source material – on our climate crisis.

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BE THE CHANGE Climate Conversion

This program explores how green leaders are converting to climate activism. And how you can move from spectator to citizen action.

You'll hear Forest Ethics co-Founder Tzeporah Berman in a moving speech, going to a new climate group Power Up Canada. United Church Pastor Bruce Sanguin gives us a new vision of Gaia-friendly Christianity. And Maureen Jack-LeCroix explains her calling to "Be the Change" - as host of the recent Be The Change Circles event in Vancouver. There's more... Arran Stephens of Nature's Path, and two conference guests - but first, here are some links to help you dig further.

BE THE CHANGE EARTH ALLIANCE
http://www.bethechangeearthalliance.org

You Tube video of founder Maureen Jack-LeCroix - why she devoted 10 years to Gaia and founded Be The Change Circles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smLyRHo7aS0

ECOSHOCK PROGRAMS ON CLIMATE, DRYING FORESTS AND FIRES

BURNING DOWN THE WEST Wildfires stoke the carbon load. Ecoshock Show 071116 (1 hr) Interview: Dr. Tom Gower, saying fires in N. Canada make positive feedback; speech by Temperate Rainforest activist Pas Rasmussen - why she is now a climate activist as well. Echoes by Andrea Reimer of the Wilderness Committee. New research on the Rockies burning by Lara Kueppers; were California fires climate change?
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock/ES_071116_Show.mp3

CURRENT PLAGUES - FUTURE FORESTS Can forests keep up with global warming? Ecoshock Show 070706 1 hour
Dr. Clive Welham on ravages on pine bark beetle in Rockies; Dr. Del Meidinger speech "Future Forests" to 6th N.A. Forest Ecology Conference.
http://www.ecoshock.org/cfro/2007/ES_070706_Show.mp3

RISING SEAS, DRYING WEST Ecoshock Show 080815 Top IPCC organizer & U of Arizona Professor Jonathan Overpeck speech at Washington U. After updating the world climate report, Overpeck predicts climate impacts on North America. 1 hour CD Quality Lo-Fi 14 MB http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080815_Show_LoFi.mp3

Drying of the West with National Geographic author Robert Kunzig; the first Carbon Tax in North America in B.C. (and what it means for the U.S.); censored Canadian scientists - speech clip from Dr. John Fyfe, IPCC author. Oh yeah, and some hope. 1 hour. Ecoshock show 080222 Lo-Fi 14 MB
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080222_Show_LoFi.mp3

TZEPORAH BERMAN SPEECHES

Climate Conversion - Tzeporah Berman speech Be The Change Un-Conference, Vancouver May 23, 2009. 16 minutes Lo-Fi
http://www.ecoshock.org/downloads/ecoshock/ES_Tzeporah_Berman_090523_LoFi.mp3

A CLIMATE OF CRASH AND CHOICE Finance & elections. Mike Whitney on Wall Street mess -Bush's plan to grab the money & run. Voting for climate action. Brianna Cayo Cotter U.S. PowerVote.org; Tzeporah Berman speech introducing PowerUpCanada.ca. Also Rep Ed Markey web cast on new Green Jobs initiative. Plus some fun (e.g. George Carlin) and music. Ecoshock Show 080926 1 hour
Lo-Fi 14 MB
http://www.ecoshock.net/eshock08/ES_080926_Show_LoFi.mp3

Tzeporah Berman at Bioneers Conference October 2006. About 20 minutes.
http://www.ecoshock.org/cfro/ES_Berman_Bioneers_061021.mp3

POWER UP CANADA
http://www.powerupcanada.ca/


THIS WEEK'S ECOSHOCK PROGRAM BEGINS....

Dear extra-terrestrial visitor,

Things are past serious here on Planet Earth. Our top scientists, the people who study and measure, warn the web of life is headed toward utter catastrophe, possibly in just ninety years. The ocean, source of our oxygen and mother of most life, is turning acid due to our carbon pollution. Our once stable climate, the basis of our agriculture and civilization, is undergoing violent change.

As I record this, smoke from forest fires - hundreds of miles away in the mountains, is filling our great city. I can smell the distress, and it's only June, not even fire season yet. Last night, as we watched TV news, a reporter showed the tinder dry conditions on Vancouver Island. "My God" said my companion, "that is the rain forest. The rain forest, untouched by fire for a thousand years or more, could burn."

It's only a matter of short time. The great pine forests of the Rocky Mountains have been killed by global warming. They stand dead, valley after valley, each long trough visible from space, waiting to burn. Each great tree is a tower of carbon taken from the atmosphere. Now it will go back, in great bursts of fire that nothing can stop. A burp of carbon worse than the Indonesian rain forest fires of '97-'98. Greenpeace predicted this in 1994, in a report called "The Carbon Bomb". Now, it's happening. Here in the Rockies, all from California right up to the Yukon. Even the boreal forest, clothing the North, is burning out more carbon than new trees can gather. Vast forests will convert into grasslands or scrub deserts.

We don't know how far all this new carbon, coming in the next decade, will push the climate.

The carbon whirlwind is still of our own making. Will you be a witness? Or will you be the change we need?

This is Radio Ecoshock. I am your host, Alex Smith.

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Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves

Welcome to Radio Ecoshock. Today you'll hear two green broadcasters meet on air. Matt and Alex ask how cities can work in the climate energy crunch. Should you get out - and what can we learn from the back-to-the-land movement of the late '70's. I'll toss in the mental survival tips I use to survive the awful knowledge of climate change.

Matt and I also talk about Derrick Jensen and so-called "Eco-Terrorism". Non-violence hasn't worked (our life support system is going into the crapper) - do we need to go further?

We'll top that off with 15 minutes from the master. Al Gore's latest testimony to the House Energy Subcommittee April 24th. The last minute American hope to save the climate.


I'm Alex Smith, wading through the deep green with green broadcaster Matt. His long-running show "Healing the Earth" runs out of the University of Guelph in Canada - but his guests - some of them controversial - come from all over the world.

I hope you enjoyed that exchange with Matt. It's not easy doing radio about a gorgeous ecosphere under attack, in decline. My hope is lame, but it's still there. Maybe hope is built into us, the ultimate survival trait.

Here's someone who never gave up: Al Gore. We go now to his testimony to the House Energy Subcommittee, chaired by the remarkable Ed Markey of Massachusetts. As the Obama Administration rounds up the evidence for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, Chairman Markey gets the best, keeps it moving. You can find the whole 2 hour video on C-Span.

Here's Al. (The key 15 minutes of testimony, 4 MB)


Next week we'll interview climate scientist and activist Bill Hare. His new report says the world may have to stop using fossil fuels completely in just 20 years - or face a drastic climate shift. The latest science, the most alarming.

I'm Alex Smith. Thank you for caring about your world.

THIS IS IT! The ship is going down.

This is Radio Ecoshock. I'm Alex Smith with eye-popping headlines on the triple crisis: Peak Oil, climate change, and economic collapse.

While America basks in Obama, Europe quietly fell further apart over the week-end. On Martin Luther King Day, the British government announced more hundreds of billions to prop up banks and bad bets. Stocks in Barclay Bank fell to 25 percent in less than an hour. The largest, Royal Bank of Scotland, is already 80 percent owned by the government.

The same in Ireland. Both countries look close to nationalization of their banking system. Even some government officials wonder whether Britian itself faces either bankruptcy or a complete collapse of the British pound. Unthinkable stuff.

Jim Rogers, the famous expatriate American billionaire, says the big American banks are bankrupt themselves. Hardly anyone argues that point any more. The U.S. government tossed another 20 billion dollars to the Bank of America, and guaranteed more than a hundred billion dollars in worthless paper generated by the former Merrill Lynch. The world's largest bank, Citi Group, has lost more billions, and is splitting up into two.

At least a dozen countries, national governments, are close to bankruptcy. Not just former success stories like Iceland and Ireland. The credit rating of Spain has been downgraded. Italy may be technically bankrupt. The Balkans are a mess, as is most of Eastern Europe, right up to Latvia and Lithuania.

We haven't even discussed economic chaos in the Middle East and Asia.

This is it friend. The great ship of modern production has hit the iceberg. The band may still be playing sweetly in the First Class Ballroom, but the cold sea water is filling the holds below.

It will settle by degrees, no doubt. A wave of closures this March. Quiet desperation over the Summer. A lot of dancing, new announcements, the most reckless spending moves. All stalling the inevitable revaluation. We have yet to live the leaden doldrums, the years of suffering, before the real reformation comes.

In today's program, the Head of the International Energy Agency admits oil production has peaked out, and time is running out for the planet's climate. While we were all enthralled with non-stop coverage of the U.S. elections, this speech by Fatih Birol got buried. Are you ready to cut your energy use by 9 percent every year? Get ready, because the oil is running out.

Here is the Youtube video (about an hour) of Fatih Birol speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations on December 1st, 2008. Our program runs his 15 minute speech, with notes and exclamation points added.

In our second half hour, I'll interview Christine MacDonald, author of the book Green Inc. She claims the biggest environmental groups have been covering for multinational corporations, in cosy relationships, for giant salaries. What will we see in the green mirror?

Then we'll wrap up with Van Jones. He has a vision for those left behind in America's poverty ghettos. It's a green vision, where those with the most need, produce what America needs most: carbon-free energy. Van Jones testifies to Congress.

Here's just a few of the headlines that got my attention recently.

The managing director of the world's biggest bond fund, Bill Gross of Pimco, admits the whole economy was really a Ponzi scheme. Gross said the U.S. had been running, quote "our Ponzi-style economy".

Another bright light, Meredith Whitney - the stock analyst who bravely said the Emperor of Wall Street had no clothes - now says all of the 300 billion dollars of U.S. government TARP money has simply disappeared, covering banking losses. No wonder there is no money to loan. Pretty predictable really. Coming generations will be harnessed to debt for absolutely nothing. At least until they refuse.

Meanwhile, on the climate front, Indonesia has announced over a billion dollars for new railroads. Does that sound like good news? It's not. The rails will move coal reserves from South Sumatra to the coal ships. Onward to Asia's multiplying coal stations, and runaway climate change.

Climate blogger Joseph Romm, recently a guest on Radio Ecoshock, points out a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists from South Korea's Pohany University found, quote, "Sudden, considerable reduction in recent uptake of anthropogenic CO2 by the East/Japan Sea." If true, the ocean burial ground for our carbon binge may be full. Next week on Radio Ecoshock, we'll talk with a top American scientist who questions this research. He should know. Pieter Tans is Chief Scientist for NOAA's global carbon monitoring program.

At climateprogress.org, Joe Romm also says: "China announces plan to single-handedly destroy the climate. China to increase coal production 30 percent by 2015"
That big increase in coal power was just announced by the government of China. The increase, Romm writes, will be "an amount equal to two-thirds of the entire coal consumption of the United States -- an amount that surpasses all of the coal consumed today in Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East, Africa, and Central and South America."

Mommy, how do you spell "toasted planet?"

As the Titanic settles, there are more fancy balls to attend. Kate Sheppard wrote about two supposedly Green inauguration parties in Gristmill, the environmental blog, for January 19th. I quote her now:

"Tonight's dueling balls showcase an interesting dichotomy within the green movement. Gore's ball, which has more of an activist bent, is co-hosted by the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, the Vote Solar Initiative, and Youth for Environmental Sanity, among many other groups and businesses. Wal-Mart, KPMG, and the American Gas Association are also on board, but these and other corporate sponsors have incorporated green practices into their businesses, say the Gore folk. The organizers are decorating with tree seedlings, using recycled-fiber carpet, recycling and composting waste, and offsetting their carbon emissions. The food is going to be organic, and cooked across the street, to lower the carbon footprint, natch. Will.i.am and Maroon 5 will serenade the crowd.

The International Conservation Caucus Foundation's ball is hosted by The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and WWF, among others, and will be just a few blocks down the street. "Roses will be flown in from Ecuador. Marinated beef is being flown in from Texas to Virginia, where it will be grilled and then trucked to the auditorium," reports the Times. "We are not into symbolism," said caucus president David H. Barron. "We are focused on a much bigger impact." As the Times puts it, "the caucus gala sticks to its philosophy that the environment and wildlife are most effectively protected by governments and businesses." To that end, sponsors include ExxonMobil, Chevron, International Paper, and Wal-Mart (which appears to be hedging its bets). Famous anticipated guests include Robert Duvall, Bo Derek, and Ed Norton."

That's a report from Kate Sheppard at gristmill.grist.org.

And that leads us to our next report, with Christine MacDonald. She worked for Conservation International, and didn't like the company it keeps.

[Interview with Christine MacDonald, author of "Green Inc"]


I'd like to take you now to the Committee Rooms of Congress, to hear another great African American voice, Van Jones. This is the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, chaired by Ed Markey. They get the best.

In this brief testimony on January 15th, 2009, Van Jones explains how to beat America's energy poverty, while giving work to those who need it most.

[Van Jones]

Van Jones is both a civil rights activist and environmental advocate in Oakland, California. His Green Jobs program came out of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He's got a web site at vanjones.net.

I'm Alex Smith. You can find my kingdom of free green audio at ecoshock.org

Save yourself, your neighborhood, or just a lonely planet. Load up your Ipod or computer with free mp3 files on the triple threat: the environment, peak oil, and the new hard times.

Mother Earth will thank you.

Until next week.

Alex Smith

Radio Ecoshock

TOM HAYDEN The Birth of Movements

As government and corporate governance fails, we need a wide-spread social movement to address climate change, peak oil, and extinction. Where is it? How does it start?

Tom Hayden witnessed the beginning of a dozen social movements. We gather his insight from a new speech in Vancouver, an Alternative Radio program, and quotes from his 2008 book: "Writings for a New Democracy, The Tom Hayden Reader."

The Reader begins with Hayden's "Letter to a New Young Left" in 1961. There are selections from The Port Huron Statement, a founding document of the '60s revolution in some ways. Hayden was a co-founder of the Students for a Democratic Society, which became fairly radical.

He was arrested at the Democratic Convention protests in Chicago in 1968 - where he was tried for conspiracy to subvert democracy as one of the famous Chicago Eight. They were acquitted by a jury after an amazing trial (beat poet Allan Ginsberg was one of the witnesses for the defense.) Now two movies, with Hayden as one of the characters, are coming out about the Chicago Eight trial, not to mention a stage play which almost anyone can mount.

In the early 70's Tom Hayden met and married film star Jane Fonda. It was Hayden who first dared to visit North Vietnam during the awful war. When Jane accompanied him later, she was pilloried as "Hanoi Jane". The marriage lasted 18 years.

In 1976, Hayden and a couple of dozen activists had to rethink the future. They had gathered in opposition to the Vietnam War. As that war ended, these men and women met to decide the next phase of social activism. From this group came several successful politicians, union leaders and environmental founders.

Tom himself took a run at the U.S. Senate. He was not successful, but the campaign document produced by his group, and reprinted in the Tom Hayden Reader, is still one of the best. It could serve as a platform for Obama. Hayden is a kind of rebel within the Democratic Party, always trying to haul them into social justice.

Tom Hayden did become a successful politician - as a California Senator. He became involved in environmentalism, visited the Amazon in a life-changing experience, and rediscovered his roots in Ireland.

All through this program, we visit the fabric of social activism, watching for signs of how they developed. We also explore Tom Hayden, not as an icon, but as a human who struggles, as we do.

Hayden also considers whether the decision to abandon the search for Peace, after the Vietnam War, was a mistake. He says, as an American trying to solve social ills, imperialist wars just keep on coming. They always drain away social capital - both tax money and social will - from real improvements at home. Just as the war in Iraq is doing now, in both the United States and Canada.

First I recorded a new speech by Tom, in Vancouver, as he traveled up to support a re-birth of the Students for a Democratic Society at the University of British Columbia. At the speech, Tom handed me a thick copy of his collected writings, The Tom Hayden Reader. That took me a month of Summer reading, taking notes, for you.

Then David Barsamian of Alternative Radio came out with a Tom Hayden special called "Movements and Machiavellians". I've given you a few short clips on our topic, and instructions on how to order either the CD, or a cheap $5 download of the speech (well worth it!).

To add another sound viewpoint, Steve Bowell, producer of Ragbag Radio on CFRO in Vancouver, has lent his professional voice to a half dozen key quotes from the Tom Hayden Reader.

The whole project stretched out too long, over three months, but it's finally ready. Enjoy!

Alex Smith

The Radio Ecoshock Show 081017 1 hour CD quality 56 MB or Lo-Fi 14 MB

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

Mark Jaccard: 20 Years of Climate Failure

Why have all the political climate plans failed so badly? Targets are set, with big announcements, and yet greenhouse gas emissions just keep going up, and up.

Canada's Professor Mark Jaccard has developed scientific models, to study how governments cope with the climate challenge. His results are solid, and controversial.

Just knowing about the climate threat is obviously not enough. As consumers, we know, but just keep polluting. Some politicians mean well, but we can't seem to change our carbonized society. If knowing is half the battle, getting real protection for our atmosphere requires the other half: the dirty work we all want to avoid: taxes and compulsory controls on greenhouse gas emissions. Laws with teeth.

This talk is about how nice guys finish with a wrecked climate. Maybe we have to seek other arrangements - with plans that nobody likes. Comfortable consumers don't want to change, politicians don't want to lose votes, business doesn't want to lose money. So, how can we really get emissions down?

Who is Mark Jaccard? Professor Mark Jaccard is a much sought advisor, to many levels of government. Based out of Simon Fraser University, in British Columbia, Canada - Jaccard has served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He leads the School of Resource and Environmental Management, at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, Canada. For several years Jaccard Chaired the B.C. Utility Commission - in charge of the energy supplies for millions. Jaccard is the author of 90 scientific papers, and three books - including "Sustainable Fossil Fuels" and his latest: "Hot Air," co-authored with famous Canadian journalist Jeffery Simpson.

As one of the few people with real solutions for governments, Jaccard is in constant demand. He has advised the Chinese government, the Canadian government, and worked with other scientists around the world. In addition to a 20 year teaching career at Simon Fraser University, Jaccard has his own consulting company, and is also funded by the C.D. Howe Institute.

Throughout all this, Mark Jaccard tries to maintain the unbiased stance of science. He is not an environmentalist, a business hack, or a politician. Jaccard has analyzed why climate policies fail, and how they could work, in any country. The facts, as he finds them, are controversial, and yet increasingly implemented by governments. That is why we need to learn from this speech delivered in Vancouver on March 4th, 2008 at the Canadian Memorial United Church.

The speech was organized by VTAAC, Voters Taking Action on Climate Change. It was recorded by Radio Ecoshock.

Studies and models by Jaccard's team, and bolstered by other social scientists all over the world, tell us that human habits are very hard to change. I guess we can include oil addiction.

It also seems there are several layers of "knowing" about something. I may "know" that smoking is bad for me, and still smoke. But at some point, I "know" I have to quit, and do. Reaching that gut level of knowledge that leads to real action is the key, when it comes to controlling greenhouse gas emissions. How can we do it?

The problem gets worse because governments are basically geared to inaction on any contentious issue. They don't want to upset voters. Jaccard says environmental groups haven't helped, by insisting that solutions to the carbon energy problem are "easy" and "cheap". The Greens say we don't need new power plants, because energy efficiency will take care of the problem. In his speech, Jaccard goes over a long history of seeking energy efficiency, and says the reality isn't so easy or cheap at all.

Just take the example of refrigerators. Fridges got more and more efficient from the 1950's to the 1970's, without any real government pressure. But that good news was blown away by people buying larger fridges, bar fridges, coolers to take to the beech, and just plain more fridges per household. Sometimes efficiency just leads to people using more of the product, not less.

The solutions of subsidizing green choices doesn't work either, says Jaccard. First of all, some people will buy energy efficient appliances, for example, without any government subsidy. The real trick is to find those people who were going to buy a gas hog, and give the subsidy to them - that leads to a real gain. But how can you find the people who need the subsidies?

And how can you develop a subsidy for all the new and crazy uses people find for energy? A government just works out rules for gas BBQ's (with an accompanying growth of bureaucracy) - and then people start bringing "outdoor heaters" to soccer games, not to mention patio heaters for bars, and a thousand other uses not envisioned by anyone. The subsidy games ends up very wasteful, not hitting the right people, and creates more and more government workers and offices to look after it.

Anyway, countries like Canada who have depended on the light touch methods - like "information," "energy efficiency," subsidies, and "change your light bulbs" - have already experienced 20 years of failure. Like almost every other country in the world, including the United States and Europe, Canada's carbon emissions have just kept skyrocketing. None of that works in the real world.

The awful truth is: when it comes to a problem this big, the individual cannot solve it. Jaccard asks: "What did you do to reduce your sulfur dioxide emissions?" back in the '80's when Acid Rain was the big problem. Obviously, governments made big industry clean it up. We didn't do much, other than complain the lakes were dying.

Same thing for climate. When the modelers add up all the benefits of changing light bulbs, going for more mass transit, and buying green - the planet still goes under with climate change. In fact, it takes massive social change, including big industry, to have a hope of preventing the worst of climate change. And that takes a kind of bravery of leadership in governments - that we haven't seen so far.

The inconvenient truth about social behavior: somebody has to make us do it. Again, Jaccard gives the example of school zones. Almost any sane person will agree that drivers shouldn't speed through school zones when there are children about. Surely, just common sense, good will, and love of kids will make these school zones safe, since we all agree it is good? No...we have patrol cars handing out tickets, stiff laws, fines - because someone needs to enforce the law.

Ditto carbon emissions.

Despite his earlier book "Sustainable Fossil Fuels" - Jaccard isn't pushing "clean coal" or anything like that. In this speech, he claims to be agnostic when it comes to using a carbon tax, a cap and trade system, or a hybrid that uses market mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gases. Any of those can be designed to work, he says, so long as the government is willing to enforce laws that work in reality.

Personally, as soon as I hear the words "climate policy" my eyes glaze over. I've heard so much bull-shit, and seen so many fabulous announcements and "super-green" plans go down uselessly. So, I had low expectations for this speech. Surprise. Professor Jaccard has been lecturing for 20 years, with students who challenge him - so he does know how to communicate. It's a good speech - which taught me some of the realities we need to know, if we demand that governments act on climate. Act how? What really works?

I'm hoping people in many countries will check out this speech, especially in America, where a lot of tough decisions need to be made, to reduce the load from one of the world's biggest polluters. The climate threat is so huge, we all need to understand "climate policy" - and what to demand.

Alex.

www.ecoshock.org