The Poetist

Congratulations to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on global warming!  The award was also given to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

You can read the New York Times article here.  This is truly an issue of global significance but together they’ve been highly successful in clearing at least one great hurdle – getting the word out.  So what will we do with this knowledge?  Remain skeptical?  Elevate ourselves to criticize Gore’s method while choosing to ignore the impact of what he and others are suggesting?  I hope not, I dearly hope not.  Please don’t get caught up in your habits of disbelief.  This issue is real and it is serious.

For more information you can visit:
Alternet.Org/from the Center for American Progress
Tips on living green from MSN
Taking action from ClimateCrisis.net

“I thought you’d like to know about this urgent call for action on global warming. I’m one of hundreds of thousands who’ve signed a petition on climate change at Avaaz.org. This petition will reach leaders from some of the world’s largest polluters at the APEC summit–please join me in challenging them to address the climate crisis! Click here:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/apec_petition/tf.php

Thanks!“
Basically there are two scenarios for the outcome of this summit – a commitment to  fighting climate change, or adopting voluntary guidelines.  We don’t have time for voluntary guidelines or hopeful resolutions.  Seriously.  I just read This Moment on Earth (great book, you should read it!) and it said that there is a 10-year window of time that we have to severly mitigate our climate changing activities before irreversible and unpredictable damage is done.  Even if that number doesn’t have the broad scientific consensus that the general problem of climate change has, scientists do agree that we’re seeing the affects now, much sooner than people thought.  So please do whatever you can to mitigate climate change – whether by turning off your tv when you leave the room, carpooling, signing a petition, buying a fuel efficient or hybrid car, or whatever is in your scope of action.

From Avaaz.org:

WORLD TO APEC: HOPE IS NOT ENOUGH!

“On September 8 and 9, world leaders from many of the world’s top polluting countries will meet in Australia for the APEC summit. The theme of the meeting is to generate support for voluntary climate agreements, thus undermining the UN’s drive for binding policies. We’ll present our petition to leaders to show them just how many people around the world are calling for real climate targets.”

I am so excited! The movement to fight climate change is growing and growing. It is so encouraging to see individuals from both the public and private sectors making this issue a priority. The latest – a carpet tile executive commited to greening his company, and encouraging other businesses to do the same. Check it out: Executive on a Mission: Saving the Planet.

Also of note: Wolfowitz gone, World Bank seeks new identity: “The entire international economic architecture established after World War II… is buckling…” I’ll say! This is the post-cold war world. Maybe even post post-cold war. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are waaaaaay outdated in their policies and practices (two different things, of course). Anybody who knows what I studied in college probably already knows how I feel about this. I also think it’s interesting that the U.S./Bush administration thinks it should continue to choose the president of the Bank when a) poor judgement in picking people for leadership roles is now the norm, and b) the U.S. contribution to the Bank is less than other countries.

And that brings me to Al Gore’s latest book, the Assault on Reason; a book which I had actually dreamed of writing myself, and which I certainly want to read ASAP. Al Gore is much better as an activist than a politician. He has a lot to say about the Bush administration – but this stuff needs to be said, without fear of impunity.

This is so exciting – world leaders and many of the leading urban cities in the world are joining together with multinational banks and other companies to retrofit older buildings to make them much more energy efficient and contribute that much less to climate change. This is incredible! I am also very proud because among the participatory cities, both Chicago and Tokyo have signed on.

(International Herald Tribune) Coalition to invest billions to save energy
(New York Times) Global Coalition to Make Buildings Energy Efficient

in its entirely. please.

It’s not about RED STATES or BLUE STATES anymore. It’s about a GREEN COUNTRY: The Power of Green

Reports of failed states and war-torn societies dominates most of the news on sub-Saharan Africa, but there are also great examples of highly successful states. Here are three:

For one, Botswana is highly successful – with steady elections since the 1960s, a functioning economy and a government that offers social services; plus, they’ve refused aid from the World Bank and the IMF, choosing instead to have full control over their government and policies.

The upper region of Somalia, Somaliland, is “The Other Somalia: An Island of Stability in a Sea of Chaos.” Although not internationally recognized as independent, they have a separate goverment, currency and passport from the rest of Somalia. They have a functioning economy and even offer social services. Clan violence, which plagues the rest of Somalia, has largely been solved by a legislative system that includes clan elders and elected representatives. And again, they have done all of this without international aid.

In Niger, “Trees and Crops [are Turning] Back the Desert.” What a victory for the people and the environment!