The carbon tax (in Australia) starts on July 1 this year, so there’s some tidying up to do around the edges -- appointments, financing, regulations -- and then a big tick next to the climate policy box on the cabinet whiteboard. Minister Greg Combet has already taken on the additional portfolios of industry and innovation.
If only. A barely reported new study on Earth’s energy imbalance from NASA climate chief James Hansen and his research team contends that, far from answering the climate challenge, we have constructed "a Faustian bargain".
This Valentine's Day 2012, ecoSanity invites you to consider the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster (maiden voyage April 6, 1912, sank April 14/15, 1912) through the fictional love story depicted in the 1997 movie (like it or hate it) and the similarities between the circumstances that surrounded the real event then vs. the dire realities of the climate crisis NOW:
Coal (fossil fuel)-powered; was avoidable; multiple unheeded warnings; didn't react fast enough; fate sealed before anyone knew it; denial; tipping point beyond which ship had to break in two, then sink; poorest / lowest class / most vulnerable / least culpable suffered most, and so on.
When you watch the original trailer (above), yup, mega Anglo/white (just one person of colour on board who did not survive and was not depicted in the film). Heterosexual. Classist. Colonial. Symbolic of the limits and excess of our growth and consumption-based economic model, technological hubris, and more than a little bit of a metaphor for the (potential) 'end of the world'.
But with sympathetic characters you may care about / relate to in peril, who love, risk and sacrifice for each other through a tragedy of epic proportion, our intent is to help stir and elucidate the kind of intensity, emotion and sense of imminent danger we all need to connect to in order to get to a mindset that can compel us to confront (with EMERGENCY action at EMERGENCY, world war-time speed) the true scale, scope and urgency (planetary EMERGENCY) of our shared, global predicament.
There's a lot to cover, so below is part 1 and a taste of part 2 (of 5), with the rest to follow between now and the actual April anniversary.
Contents (Bold below. Unbold to follow over the next few weeks.)
Intro
Part 1: Emotions are hard
Part 2: Nutshell: Titanic (partial, more soon)
Part 3: Titanic & climate science (coming soon)
Part 4: More about the climate crisis (coming soon)
Part 5: Bottom line: We've hit the iceberg -- Now what? (coming soon)
Like a phoenix out of ashes... (Alright, maybe that's a *little* over dramatic.)
After a forced, 8-day 'hiatus' caused by a computer breakdown and repairs that were complicated by (among other things) the need to get back to work as soon, and for as little expense, as possible...
ecoSanity has received a powerful upgrade, but is in urgent need of additional financial relief from a prolonged period of 'treading water' to maintain.
While grief and despair may result in periods of paralysis, DeChristopher considers them to be essential phases in the enlightenment process because they can lead to the outrage and compassion necessary to move us beyond fears about what we could lose, or the supposed need for 'hope', and compel us to take action based on our moral beliefs about what's right, how we should behave and what we should stand for.
Many other points are made in the full version of the interview before and after the segment below, some of which we -- and you -- may agree with / relate to more than others, but several thoughtful insights, regardless.
a Film/TV industry escapee turned organizer, activist, advocate for EMERGENCY int'l action at world war- time speed to confront the climate, energy, population, democracy, justice crises.
A proponent of peaceful civil disobedience/direct action, Glenn has been an arrested participant in Greenpeace protests outside Canadian PM Stephen Harper's residence, and the federal Parliament buildings.
