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An excellent essay from NYTimes columnists Thomas Friedman. What if the recession is just a small part of what we are actually being told? What if we don't listen?
The Inflection is Near?
Sometimes the satirical newspaper The Onion is so right on, I can’t resist quoting from it. Consider this faux article from June 2005 about America’s addiction to Chinese exports:
FENGHUA, China — Chen Hsien, an employee of Fenghua Ningbo Plastic Works Ltd., a plastics factory that manufactures lightweight household items for Western markets, expressed his disbelief Monday over the “sheer amount of [garbage] Americans will buy. Often, when we’re assigned a new order for, say, ‘salad shooters,’ I will say to myself, ‘There’s no way that anyone will ever buy these.’ ... One month later, we will receive an order for the same product, but three times the quantity. How can anyone have a need for such useless [garbage]? I hear that Americans can buy anything they want, and I believe it, judging from the things I’ve made for them,” Chen said. “And I also hear that, when they no longer want an item, they simply throw it away. So wasteful and contemptible.”
Let’s today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis and ask a radical question: What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession? What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall — when Mother Nature and the market both said: “No more.”
We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese ...
We can’t do this anymore.
“We created a way of raising standards of living that we can’t possibly pass on to our children,” said Joe Romm, a physicist and climate expert who writes the indispensable blog climateprogress.org. We have been getting rich by depleting all our natural stocks — water, hydrocarbons, forests, rivers, fish and arable land — and not by generating renewable flows.
“You can get this burst of wealth that we have created from this rapacious behavior,” added Romm. “But it has to collapse, unless adults stand up and say, ‘This is a Ponzi scheme. We have not generated real wealth, and we are destroying a livable climate ...’ Real wealth is something you can pass on in a way that others can enjoy.”
Over a billion people today suffer from water scarcity; deforestation in the tropics destroys an area the size of Greece every year — more than 25 million acres; more than half of the world’s fisheries are over-fished or fished at their limit.
“Just as a few lonely economists warned us we were living beyond our financial means and overdrawing our financial assets, scientists are warning us that we’re living beyond our ecological means and overdrawing our natural assets,” argues Glenn Prickett, senior vice president at Conservation International. But, he cautioned, as environmentalists have pointed out: “Mother Nature doesn’t do bailouts.”
One of those who has been warning me of this for a long time is Paul Gilding, the Australian environmental business expert. He has a name for this moment — when both Mother Nature and Father Greed have hit the wall at once — “The Great Disruption.”
“We are taking a system operating past its capacity and driving it faster and harder,” he wrote me. “No matter how wonderful the system is, the laws of physics and biology still apply.” We must have growth, but we must grow in a different way. For starters, economies need to transition to the concept of net-zero, whereby buildings, cars, factories and homes are designed not only to generate as much energy as they use but to be infinitely recyclable in as many parts as possible. Let’s grow by creating flows rather than plundering more stocks.
Gilding says he’s actually an optimist. So am I. People are already using this economic slowdown to retool and reorient economies. Germany, Britain, China and the U.S. have all used stimulus bills to make huge new investments in clean power. South Korea’s new national paradigm for development is called: “Low carbon, green growth.” Who knew? People are realizing we need more than incremental changes — and we’re seeing the first stirrings of growth in smarter, more efficient, more responsible ways.
In the meantime, says Gilding, take notes: “When we look back, 2008 will be a momentous year in human history. Our children and grandchildren will ask us, ‘What was it like? What were you doing when it started to fall apart? What did you think? What did you do?’ Often in the middle of something momentous, we can’t see its significance. But for me there is no doubt: 2008 will be the marker — the year when ‘The Great Disruption’ began.”
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Is This The Beginning?
Alice Waters On 60 Minutes
Alice Waters, the mother of the slow food movement in a great piece from 60 Minutes.
If there is a problem playing the video, check it out here.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Distance
Yes, It's been a while. Sorry for the silence, but to be honest, I think mentally I really needed some distance.
Last year was, to put it mildly, a truly wild experience. I never in my wildest dreams would have guessed that things would have gotten as crazy as they did (on dec 31st i must have done 15 interviews) and while I'd be lying if I said that a lot of it wasn't a blast, it really took a toll, both mental and emotional. Which is why I've been silent for a while. I think I needed some distance from the whole experience in order to get a better grasp on where things were and where they were going.
As some of you may have known, I had grand plans for a new site and even hired a company to build a really cool version for me, but sadly, they jumped ship two weeks before the end of the year (so much for contracts right?). So I created a site on my own which i must say, is truly stupendous considering i don't know diddly about website creation, but beyond that, is not much of anything. I think that the reason I haven't been updating it is that i just don't like the way it lays out.
So, rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm coming back to my comfort zone, here at 365. I'll slowly be transferring all the info from there over here so nothing gets lost, and then building from there. I've found someone I really like to work with on a new site, but that won't be ready for a bit, and not until i love it. I'll be getting the newsletter up and running again (sorry for the delay) and am about to send out the second backpack and give away the third (I'll post some pics when i can). And i'll be back with some new updates and hopefully we can continue where we left off, with me spouting out ideas, and you all coming back with helpful ways to improve on them.
Finally, to everyone who checked in with me, offered your help, and was generally concerned with my well being, thank you from the bottom of my heart. The fact that I don't even know most of you yet you cared enough to reach out brings me hope and meant a great deal.
Back soon,
Dave
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The Final Numbers
Today was extremely crazy for a lot of reasons but I did manage to do a final tally with a real scale and get some numbers. I was hoping to get to a wrap up post as well, but that will have to wait. Perhaps its for the best as I'll have day or two to reflect. That said, throwing something "away" this morning was an extremely odd experience, one that in all truth, made me feel uneasy. I don't think I will ever think the same after this experience, and that's a good thing.
So here ya go. Some numbers are different than last month due to a more accurate scale. Truthfully, better than I had thought.
Trash
30.5 Pounds
Cardboard
19 Pounds
Plastic Bags
4 Pounds
E-Waste
12 Pounds
Misc. Recycling
26.5 Pounds
Paper
69.5 Pounds
9 Pizza Boxes
11 Tetra Paks
153 Glass Bottles
14 Cups
2 Aluminum Cans
64 Plastic Bottles and Jugs
8 Plastic Yogurt Tubs w/Tops
8 Old Paint Cans
So there ya go. Pretty shocking. If all goes well tomorrow I'll have pictures and more up. Stay tuned.
Dave
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