Via David Roberts at Grist, comes this infographic which conveys a lot of, well, useful info. The key thing it achieves is a nice graphic representation of what will happen no matter what, the scale of action required to hit certain targets, and the scale of impact if we miss certain targets. (Click image for full size).
Seeing the truth, and communicating the truth, are antidotes to ignorance and apathy. So the idea of bearing witness is a powerful strategy for change, and for mobilizing action. That makes sense for any crime, especially epic crimes like genocide. It also makes sense when it comes to trying to turn the tide against the ongoing global extinction of cultures and species due to the way in which humans live. And that is the idea behind this very interesting, art-based project, Extinction Witness:
As artists, we translate the truth of feeling this world in all its frustrations of contrast and contradiction. Our creations speak the unspeakable. They move the dialogue beyond politics to the seeds of belief.
Art invokes feeling. Art is love in action.
Much more here:
Need some perspective?
Here’s a clever visual retelling of Carl Sagan’s epic “Pale Blue Dot” reflection–which was inspired by a photograph, taken by Voyager 1, that set the tiny earth against the vastness of the universe.
The twisted politics and false dilemmas of trying to save the American wolf. These conflicts between human culture and economics on the one hand, and species survival on the other hand, are increasingly legion. So far, the sensibilities and priorities we bring to these issues don’t bode well for the animals.
I have to say, I have particular disdain for claims regarding the romance and pleasure of hunting as a priority or rationale for killing animals.
What about the romance and heritage of one of North America’s iconic species?
But what the heck, maybe we can undo it all later.
If only…
(Warning: Starts funny. But making sausage ain’t pretty, so this is not for the weak of stomach–but, of course, that’s the point)
CITES giveth (to some sharks and manta rays), and CITES taketh away (or doesn’t giveth, for polar bears).
(via Washington Post)
This news came out last week, but it illustrates perfectly the imperfections of the CITES regime and its inscrutable byzantine politics:
An international meeting of government wildlife officials rejected a U.S. proposal to ban the global trade of polar bear parts Thursday, following an impassioned appeal by Canadian Inuits to preserve polar bear hunting in their communities.
There are between 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears living in the wild in Canada, the United States, Russia, Denmark and Norway, according to the most recent analysis, which was conducted in the early 1990s. Scientists project that as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks, many polar bear populations could decline by 66 percent by mid-century.
I still haven’t seen an account which explains what actually went on behind the scenes to kill this proposal. But all sorts of vote-trading and vote-buying is the norm at CITES. And often enough protecting endangered species is not, in fact, the priority.
Because it’s not like the evidence of climate change, and the rate at which it is occurring, is diminishing. In fact, a recent study only makes it look more dramatic in the context of the past 11,000 years of earth history.
This is absolutely mesmerizing (via):
From Jack Shafer, by way of Andrew Sullivan, comes this penetrating and scathing prose from George Orwell:
The interesting thing about the New Albion was that it was so completely modern in spirit. There was hardly a soul in the firm who was not perfectly well aware that publicity – advertising – is the dirtiest ramp that capitalism has yet produced. In the red lead firm there had still lingered certain notions of commercial honor and usefulness. But such things would have been laughed at in the New Albion. Most the employees were the hard-boiled, Americanized, go-getting type to whom nothing in the world is sacred, except money. They had their cynical code worked out. The public are swine; advertizing is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket. And yet beneath their cynicism there was the final naivete, the blind worship of the money-god…
If ever there was a reminder of the incisiveness and scorn that Orwell could summon, that is it. The quote comes from Orwell’s Keep The Aspidistra Flying, which was published in 1936. The novel features Gordon Comstock, who tries to disdain and defy the Money God. Sadly, he loses (or at least his life is cast into misery). But most of us know all about that, right?
This is great news, and will be the perfect way to take Blackfish overseas for the first time:
The programme announced today includes 18 feature films and nine short films across four sections, including a new UK Spotlight. Twenty-three films will make their international, European or UK premieres at Sundance London. Ten are by female filmmakers and six are by first-time feature filmmakers. The films collectively received 12 awards when they premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.. Among the artists expected to attend Sundance London are Lake Bell, Mike Birbiglia, Jimmy Carr, the Eagles, Barbara Kopple and Peaches, as well as Sundance Institute President & Founder Robert Redford.
For any Londoners, tickets will be available from 9:00 am GMT, March 15, at www.sundance-london.com.
The older I get the less enamored with stuff I am, though I was never a big consumer or a hoarder.
This guy has gone to an extreme that I aspire to, and would be perfectly comfortable with (psst, please don’t tell my wife):
I LIVE in a 420-square-foot studio. I sleep in a bed that folds down from the wall. I have six dress shirts. I have 10 shallow bowls that I use for salads and main dishes. When people come over for dinner, I pull out my extendable dining room table. I don’t have a single CD or DVD and I have 10 percent of the books I once did….
We live in a world of surfeit stuff, of big-box stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities. Members of every socioeconomic bracket can and do deluge themselves with products.
There isn’t any indication that any of these things makes anyone any happier; in fact it seems the reverse may be true.
For me, it took 15 years, a great love and a lot of travel to get rid of all the inessential things I had collected and live a bigger, better, richer life with less.
Read the whole thing and see if you don’t start thinking of all the things you could do without–despite the endless and persistent insistence of the marketers and companies whose livelihoods depend on convincing you otherwise. So far, they have been extraordinarily effective at creating a world in which more is better, and growing a global consumer culture that is poisonous to the planet, to our pocketbooks and lifestyles, and to healthy relationships and society (the values are all wrong).
And once you have come to grips with the idea that you could be happy with one-tenth of the things you are told you need to be happy, imagine what the world would be like if everyone had that same epiphany. Revolution. Enlightenment. Salvation.
The Earthist Chronicles 