Northward Ho

James Hansen says time is running out, but let's not give up completely, we can still lessen the damage if we act soon! And strongly enough. Now.

2009-12-06T19:10:00.000-08:00

See his interview with Suzanne Goldenberg in the UK Guardian newspaper on Dec. 6, 3009. LINK HERE:

Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis -- Film description - A Rollercoaster ride exploring two different outcomes in our efforts to save the planet.

2009-12-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis

Film description - A rollercoaster ride exploring two different outcomes in our efforts to save the planet.

The year is Denmark 2038, a man reflects back over his life to the day he was born. The night of the millennium, reflecting back with sadness and cynicism to a world ravaged by climate change.

He explains how climate change got progressively worse, due to scientists and governments not reaching agreement on targets and more so due to people's indifference. Not enough resources went into addressing the cause and the solutions. So first we fought wars over oil, then water, then food. The oil dried up faster because we never learned to grow food at home. The man looks back to people's indifference recounting how we made the same error as the Easter Islanders, putting the building of monuments before protecting the monument of life, the Earth.

A man, on the beach, reflects back from Copenhagen 2009, a pact was agreed by all sectors of society ranging from governments to NGO's, unions, schools, universities and retirement homes with the public to join forces in a combined effort to save the planet.

Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis was how we transformed society back in tune with nature. In Ecoplaza Paradise Oasis we found our purpose, learning and teaching about green living and renewable energy. We were all learning together, on the same team, contributors to the common good, us all giving generously what we could spare, skills, money or resources. Ecoplazas linked around the world via satellite and Internet. We copied nature searching for niches and opportunities to green our lives, our homes, our families and companies. It was all about dialogue and the art of continuous improvement.

Ecoplazas celebrated our local history; they were buildings of culture, leisure, architecture, the arts and the excellence of the human spirit. Ecoplaza a green leisure oasis. In ecoplaza, thousands of green jobs and a low carbon economy were created through green, carbon neutral and Earth-gain transactions being developed and carried out. In Ecoplaza, you could take the plunge and bungee jump into a greener world. Ecoplazas were both for fun and the meeting of minds, encouragement and support. They were universities of living, where we learned to become the generation of regeneration.

First in our visions then in village squares.

James Lovelock's most recent pronouncements about climate change -- December 5, 2009 AD

2009-12-06T03:35:00.001-08:00

Can we fix it? Perhaps, but it depends who you ask

Just how real are the dangers posed by global warming? And what, if anything, can we do about it? Enjoli Liston in the UK asks a selection of public figures, including James Lovelock, who ought to know what they are talking about

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

James Lovelock [Scientist, researcher, author, inventor and originator of the "Gaia" theory (which considers the Earth as a single living organism)] told Enjoli Liston:

"I don't think anyone really knows how serious the climate change issue is. It is true that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is now unprecedented and still rising. But the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, which is probably our best prediction source, is still failing to forecast the rise of sea level or the extent of ice melting at the poles – so how can we be sure about the climate 50 years from now?

We should concentrate on energy saving, rather than spending on renewable energy, which is inefficient and expensive and often does little to reduce CO2 emissions. Houses are notoriously energy inefficient. If we concentrated on increased efficiency instead of the hopeless attempt to obtain 20 per cent of our energy from renewables, people would save money, and it would be a better way to tackle global heating.

I don't think the Copenhagen conference from Dec. 7 to Dec. 18 will achieve a lot. Essentially it's a political exercise, because, in truth, it's a bit too late.

Processes are already under way, such as the melting of the permafrost in Canada and Siberia, releasing greenhouse gases. Things like that make me doubt that we can do much to turn back global heating. Maybe if we'd started back in the 1960s we could have done better.

-------------------------------

2.

"I don't think there's a lot one can do seriously to tackle climate change. The most important thing we all can do is to prepare the infrastructure of the various nations that we inhabit to cope with the more probable climate change. [And that might mean pre-building polar cities.] I mean the obvious things – you've got to make sure that the Thames barrier really works, and nobody ought to cut back on a thing like that just because there's a recession on. It's that kind of preparing ahead that I think is the most vital thing we can do. To blazes with vain attempts to stop global warming by various renewable energy proposals. I think those are pipe dreams, but also very profitable pipe dreams.

We all do our bit. We've been running low-energy bulbs now for 30 years; we run a small car. I think everybody's got to do their best that way, but don't bust a gut trying to do it because they are not sure.

I think what needs to happen is for people to be more ready to accept rather unpleasant changes at some time in the future, and the catch is we just don't know when it will happen. It could be next year but it might delay as much as 100 or even 1,000 years, so there's no great certainty. All we know is that the changes that have been made, like the increase of CO2, or the change of land usage, are so great that there's no going back.

Why Michael Schlesinger PhD needs to cool his heels and be smarter than he shows in this note to Andrew Revkin...

2009-12-06T03:26:00.000-08:00

Dr Michael Schlesinger PHD writes a very nasty letter to Andrew Revkin at the New York Times and then sends it around the world via email to recipients everywhere, a real no no. What's up with this, Michael?

Dr S, who normally has a good head on his shoulders, writes:

Andy:

Copenhagen prostitutes? [Editor notes: referring to a minor link in a recent Dot Earth blog post re Copenhagen's hookers giving free bjs and fs jobs to climate meeting attendees. It was news Dr S. news....okay minor news, but funny sense of humor news. where is your sense of humor these days?]

Climate prostitutes?

Shame on you for this gutter reportage.

This is the second time this week I have written you thereon, the first about giving space in your blog to the Pielkes.

The vibe that I am getting from here, there and everywhere is that your reportage is very worrisome to most climate scientists.

Of course, your blog is your blog.

But, I sense that you are about to experience the 'Big Cutoff' from those of us who believe we can no longer trust you, me included.

Copenhagen prostitutes?

Unbelievable and unacceptable. [Ed Note: Dr S., get a life! Humor, sir, humor!]

What are you doing and why?

Dr Michael Schlesinger PHD, [with no sense of humor these days]

Letter from a young man, 21, about polar cities and climate change...

2009-12-04T03:50:00.000-08:00

"Hi there Danny,

First of all, thank you for adding me to your Faceboook page on climate, it's good to have someone I
can have an important, and realistic discussion about Climate change
with. I have many questions, and many things I want to discuss.

Like
you, I have a quite pessimistic view about where the world is heading
in the next few decades, which is reinforced by the speed at which
global warming is happening.

For few years, this made me quite
depressed, because it made me realize how I would have to give up some
my lifetime goals and dreams to deal with the realities of climate
change, as well as have to start my adult life at a time when
catastrophic global events will likely unfold.

I always wanted to
direct superhero movies in a big budget studio, but that dream seems
quite unrealistic now. Starting a family is gonna be out of the
question by the time I'm 35, because there is no way I would put a
child in a world which entire continents become deserts, and billions
of people scramble for arable land.

Sorry for all the depressiveness right off the bat, but that aside,
I'm glad to be able engage in a healthy discussion with you about the
reality of the biggest issue in the world. I would love to also hear
your story about polar cities as well, and hear your perspective on things.

There's alot of things I would like to discuss such as: how you think
the climate might shift in the near future, the role of renewable
energy in climate change migitation, the prospect of geoengineering,
and the long term prospect of polar cities.

I would love to discuss them with you soon."

Signed,

A college student

Toward North Corps: Nurturing the Spirit of Inuit Independence while Pre-empting a Movement for Inuit Secession -- by Barry Zellen

2009-12-03T00:04:00.000-08:00

Toward North Corps: Nurturing the Spirit of Inuit Independence while Pre-empting a Movement for Inuit Secession

It's time for a circumpolar North Corps program, modeled on the Peace Corps, to help the Arctic to achieve its full potential
says Barry S. Zellen

Securing the Northern Front

In the years since the nail-biter of a referendum on Québec separation from the rest of Canada held in 1995, Québec and Anglo-Canada have worked hard to patch up their differences, and on November 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper preempted a renewed effort by Québec separatists to assert their enduring nationhood in yet another referendum that would unravel the Canadian confederation, and "surprised the House of Commons . . . by announcing his party wants to recognize Québec as nation within a united Canada," as recalled by CanWest News' Carly Weeks. (See: "Harper Wants to Recognize Québec as Nation within a United Canada," CanWest News Service, November 22, 2006.)

For the moment, the issue of Québec's distinctiveness, and its yearning for independence, seems to have been alleviated, but the perennial nature of this issue, across so many generations, suggests it will inevitably resurface again, and when it does, the role of the Arctic as a potential strategic counter-balance to an independent Québec will have to be assessed, as will its role as part of what Ken Coates et al. have recently described as the re-emerging "Arctic front" as the world community races to exploit the strategic and economic opportunities of a polar thaw. (Ken S. Coates, P. Whitney Lackenbauer, William R. Morrison, and Greg Poelzer, Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North. Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2008.)

In anticipation of a future secessionist threat from Québec or an external challenge to Canada's Arctic sovereignty, a tighter integration of the Inuit homeland with the rest of Anglo-Canada would go far to enhance the bond that unites Canada, north and south, fostering greater loyalty to Canada among the people of the Arctic. This can be achieved by a closer collaboration between Ottawa and Nunavut in their land claims implementation and co-management efforts, and through continued recruitment, training, and deployment of Canadian Rangers that patrol the Arctic coast, engage in surveillance, and assist in search and rescue in partnership with the crown.

But just as the aspiration of Québec to become independent will likely never entirely be extinguished, it is possible that a genuine desire by the Inuit for independence might also emerge. In Greenland, which is one of the world's largest, remotest, and poorest islands, and which within the context of long-term global warming shows many potential attributes of sovereign independence—with its own language, a distinct culture, vast offshore and potential onshore resources—the case for independence, and to end its colonial dependency on Denmark, is indeed compelling.

Between Inuit Dependency and Independence

For the Inuit of North America, who inhabit the coastal strip along the continent's northern shore as well as the islands further north, the issue is more complicated—owing to their habitation of the North American mainland where the United States and Canada have asserted formal sovereignty, and to the resolved nature of their land claims, through which the Inuit and the national governments have mutually recognized one another, and agreed to subordinate tribal sovereignty to that of the state with whom they have partnered through a lengthy series of negotiations and the formal implementation of their final accords, which include "cede and surrender" clauses legally extinguishing Aboriginal title to their homelands.

But just because the Inuit have entered into these binding, constitutional arrangements does not mean that they will always accept their legitimacy, particularly in light of the passionate reaction against the extinguishment clause, and what has been perceived by many Natives land claims "beneficiaries" to be a less than candid, or at least less than clear, explanation by their leadership of the full extent and implications of their surrender of Aboriginal rights and title. In the effort to sell the land claims as negotiated to the beneficiaries who must ratify the accords, Aboriginal leaders have tended to understate the risks inherent in the surrender and to emphasize the benefits.

As time passes, and in particular as the climate warms and the Arctic basin opens up to all manner of new external influences, challenges, and opportunities, the yearnings for more formal Inuit independence could begin to be felt here in North America. Especially if the bold and ambitious Nunavut experiment continues to disappoint the Inuit, and if the Inuit continue to perceive indifference and at times bad faith from Ottawa when it comes to implementation of their land claim accord.

As recalled by Andrea Mandel-Campbell in her January 2005 Walrus magazine article, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?" during the middle of the twentieth century, "Ottawa largely neglected the region's sparse aboriginal population, which suffered from rampant tuberculosis, lack of housing, and even starvation. The dire situation facing the Inuit forced St. Laurent to admit at the time that Ottawa had ‘administered these vast territories of the north in an almost continuing state of absence of mind.'" (See: Andrea Mandel-Campbell, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?" The Walrus, January 2005.) After Prime Minister John Diefenbaker launched "what became known as a golden age in Arctic science and research during the 1960s and 1970s," she adds that a general decline set in and since the 1980s, "Canada's underfunded programs in Arctic research have lagged behind most other northern nations." (Mandel-Campbell, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?") Part of the problem, Mandel-Campbell writes, is that while Canada is an Arctic state, "most Canadians do live within one hundred miles of the border, and are more obsessed with U.S. trade and culture than a dwindling scientific and military presence in the North," and as a consequence, "the Arctic remains an imagined place far from their daily realities." (Mandel-Campbell, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?")

The continuing perception of neglect—when combined with the historical grievance from broken promises, mistreatment, and cultural insensitivity during the 1950s relocation of the "High Arctic Exile" families, and further compounded by the despair experienced in the communities where shockingly high youth suicide rates remain a deep social wound—could become politically potent, and boil over to rage, and that rage, if no longer directed inward but instead becomes directed outward, toward the government and its continuing neglect, could result in a bona fide independence movement.

This is partly why Ottawa is now so intent on jump-starting the economic development of Nunavut, having lately recognized the strategic risk of continued northern underdevelopment and committing last spring to the establishment of the Northern Economic Development Agency based in Iqaluit, reiterated in its newly repackaged Northern Strategy unveiled this past summer.

Aspirations for Arctic Sovereignty

But the seeds of an Inuit independence movement are already planted, as reflected in the past spring's Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty, which stopped short of declaring independence but established a compelling legal, historical, and political context for such a declaration to later emerge—should the modern state fail to assert Arctic sovereignty in a manner that is respectful of Inuit values and inclusive of Inuit participation. When communism collapsed in Europe, many sovereign political entities that did not adequately or justly address the aspirations of their underlying nations, tribes, or social groups—which had until then been content with increased autonomy within the modern state—quickly broke apart, fracturing into their constituent parts as they found sovereign expression in a smaller form. Many long-standing, internationally recognized constitutional frameworks and formal sovereign structures of governance evaporated between 1989 and 1991—as if works of fiction.

Should Nunavut fail, and other Inuit regions—whether governed by municipal, territorial, or tribal systems of governance—continue to stagnate and to endure the festering persistence of despair, their failure could turn Canada's bold experiment in Aboriginal self-governance into a catalyst of a secession struggle, much as the original structures of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act—in particular the twenty-year window when exclusive Native title to lands and shareholder equity was at risk, and newborns were excluded from the claim—left many Alaska Natives with the perception that their land claim was designed either to fail, or worse, to eradicate Native culture, as chronicled by Thomas Berger in Village Journey.

This fueled a Native sovereignty movement that swept like a prairie fire across village Alaska during the 1980s, culminating in an Inupiat secession threat in 1992, Alaska's very own Balkanization crisis. So far, however, Inuit aspirations for independence have been largely episodic, ebbing and flowing without a sustained build-up of momentum, enabling decisive government action to preempt a formal independence movement—thus far at least. And with the exception of Greenland, there is currently no active movement to form an independent Inuit nation, at least none that commands a significant political following. But that does not mean this always will be the case. In Canada, as in Alaska, movements for secession have been thus far contained within the broader sovereign and constitutional framework of their countries. In Alaska, when Balkanization appeared to be a clear and present danger to the unity of the state, the Inupiat leadership called for a fifty-first state, but not their own country.

And in Canada, during the formation of Nunavut, the Inuit seceded from the Northwest Territories to form their very own territory, while remaining a part of Canada—indeed helping Canada to more credibly assert sovereignty in the Arctic in the process. And with the formation of the North Slope Borough in Alaska, the Inupiat remained part of both the United States, and part of Alaska, with their own municipal authority but without their own state-level government.

Until now, the Greenlandic Inuit have remained part of Denmark, albeit with their own autonomous Home Rule government, with substantial authority on domestic issues and an increasing say in diplomatic and strategic affairs—with an eye to eventually gaining formal independence once they achieve economic self-sufficiency, made by possible in large measure by the effects of global warming, as evident in their decisive "Yes" vote in the November 26, 2008, non-binding referendum on Greenlandic independence.

But it remains to be seen if the Inuit aspiration for sovereignty and that of the modern state can remain integrated in a mutually reinforcing and balanced fashion, especially if the Arctic demographic balance begins to shift as greatly and as rapidly as seen in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, or like Alaska experienced during World War II and in the years preceding statehood, when a non-Native influx forever altered the political balance in favor of non-Native interests—or even more recently, as seen in Yellowknife during the Diamond Rush of the 1990s, with its indigenous Native majority becoming a minority in less than a single decade, making an indigenous assertion of sovereignty that much harder to implement.

Even along the Arctic coast, where the Inuit maintain their demographic predominance, the larger administrative centers such as Barrow, Inuvik, Iqaluit, and Nuuk have seen a dramatic influx of non-Inuit, helping to fulfill the need for skilled workers to staff the positions in the new governments and land claims corporations—as what Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard recently described as the "Aboriginal Industry" sets up shop, purportedly to help Natives achieve self-government, but then becomes a permanent drain on the Arctic economy, siphoning off resources meant for the Inuit and desperately needed in the villages into the coffers of consultancies and the pockets of high-paid, non-Native professionals that ultimately contribute to a continued economic stagnation that persists at the village level, where jobs remain scarce, and opportunities continue to elude local residents who long to participate as equals in the new, northern economy. (See Frances Widdowson and Albert Howard, Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry: The Deception Behind Indigenous Cultural Preservation: How Aboriginal Deprivation Is Maintained by a Self-serving "Industry" of Lawyers and Consultants. Toronto: McGill-Queens University Press, 2008.)

New Thinking Required

Even a decade after Nunavut was formed, a crisis persists, with hope in retreat and despair on the rise—requiring the attention of the highest levels of the Government of Canada, and the return of the famed retired B.C. Supreme Court Justice, Thomas Berger, to facilitate a solution. At a constitutional conference in Yellowknife in 1995, one Dene chief noted in his remarks to the delegates that behind every chief, behind every tribal leader, stood a non-Native consultant. He meant no harm, and his observation was greeted with chuckles from the crowd, which was largely a mix of Native leaders and non-Native consultants. Fifteen years later, this situation remains largely unchanged—though a much-needed public discussion has at last begun, as awareness of the depths of this problem leapt into Canada's national consciousness last year with the publication of Widdowson's and Howard's Disrobing the Aboriginal Industry.

This controversial work was selected as one of five books in Canada as a finalist for the prestigious 2009 Donner Prize, though it was not the eventual winner. Nonetheless, their work has transformed the debate in Canada on how best to address the issue of indigenous sovereignty, and shined a much-needed light on the problem of the inherent corrupting influence of what they effectively dub the "Aboriginal industry." In a review of their book in the National Post, Kevin Libin wrote that the authors "identify the main culprits as the primarily non-native agents such as lawyers, consultants and anthropologists who thrive on our segregated policy approach to First Nations people. The tens of billions of dollars a year channeled to reserves and Canada's North from governments and industrialists, they argue, attracts mercenaries in swarms, manipulating Natives to inflate land claim grievances, demand industry payoffs and pressure politicians for more funding with few strings attached. . . . ‘When you break down the romantic mythology, you find yourself immediately being accused of being anti-native people. But this whole thing came out of the fact that we looked at this and we said Native people are getting screwed over here,' Mr. Howard says." (Kevin Libin, "Leftist Couple's Stance on Aboriginals Leaves Them in the Cold," National Post, October 31, 2008.)

Ironically, the movement for greater Inuit self-governance has unwittingly contributed to the declining demographic prominence of the Inuit in their own homeland, as a new class of government administrators migrate north to fill the many positions left vacant owing to the continued lack of fully credentialed locals with the required degrees and accreditations. It could be a generation before this situation changes if the current model is not replaced by a new model, one more innovative and outside the box. Rather than revolutionize all the new job descriptions to reflect the cultural, political, and educational realities of the Arctic, and commit to a massive on-the-job training program on the scale of the U.S. Peace Corps—a veritable Marshall Plan of northern development to enable the creation of a truly Inuit government—Nunavut has instead become as dependent upon non-indigenous experts as the old territorial government the Inuit worked so hard to separate from. Thomas Berger has proposed a recommitment to the preservation of Inuit language and culture as the backbone of the new government, but his program requires a substantial commitment of new educational funds to be viable. In the meantime, Nunavut continues to be pulled in two directions, as the dueling assertions of state and Inuit sovereignty continue to collide.

Berger delivered the seventeenth annual John Holmes Memorial Lecture at the Glendon Campus of York University in Toronto on March 31, 2009, on the topic of "From the Mackenzie Valley to Nunavut: Northern Challenges," in which he noted "30,000 people live in Nunavut on a land the size of India," and "while 85 percent of its population is Inuit, only about 50 percent of government employees come from that background, doing mostly lesser-paying jobs. The problem lies in education, because there are not enough qualified Inuit to fill the jobs requiring higher skills." (Marika Kemeny, "Thomas Berger Discusses Northern Challenges at Glendon's Annual John Holmes Lecture," Glendon News, April 3, 2009, http://monglendon.yorku.ca/monglendon.nsf/.) Berger reaffirmed his belief that "Canada has an obligation to help the Inuit improve their situation and take their place in running their own affairs," adding that "societies find strength in diversity," and concluding that "we have an obligation to keep our promise to help them succeed." (Kemeny, "Thomas Berger Discusses Northern Challenges.")

But add to this the new uncertainties and challenges of climate change, which could usher forth a new wave of migration of non-Inuit into the Arctic, and the situation promises to become even more complex—and finding a balance that reconciles the interests and sovereign aspirations of the Inuit and the modern state will become even harder to strike. Mandel-Campbell considers a solution proffered by Canadian Arctic sovereignty expert, and author of Politics of the Northwest Passage, Franklyn Griffiths, to overcome what he calls Canada's "two-faced approach to sovereignty." (Mandel-Campbell, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?") As she describes it, Griffiths "advocates the establishment of a consultative committee for the archipelago similar in design to the Arctic Council, a Canadian-inspired international body, which brings together the world's eight circumpolar countries and aboriginal groups. The committee would serve as a forum for government departments to consult with the Inuit on such issues as shipping and seabed mapping. ‘We should be taking the lead from the Inuit,' says Griffiths." (Mandel-Campbell, "Who Controls Canada's Arctic?")

Such an approach is precisely what the Inuit have called for in their Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty at Tromsø, Norway, on April 28, 2009—where they reaffirmed their desire to achieve a synthesis of these two competing perspectives on sovereignty, and thereby find a balance in the sovereign aspirations of the Inuit and the modern state throughout the Arctic. Section 4.3 of the declaration observes, "Issues of sovereignty and sovereign rights in the Arctic have become inextricably linked to issues of self-determination in the Arctic. Inuit and Arctic states must, therefore, work together closely and constructively to chart the future of the Arctic." (Inuit Circumpolar Council, "Circumpolar Inuit Declaration on Sovereignty in the Arctic," Section 4.3, April 28, 2009.) As ICC chair Patricia Cochran explained, "We have lived here for thousands and thousands of years and by making this declaration, we are saying to those who want to use Inuit Nunaat for their own purposes, you must talk to us and respect our rights." (Inuit Circumpolar Council Press Release, "Circumpolar Inuit Launch Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty," Tromsø, Norway, April 28, 2009.) ICC vice-chair Duane Smith added that the declaration's provisions "make it clear that it is in the interests of states, industry, and others to include us partners in the new Arctic, and to respect our land claims and self-government agreements." (Inuit Circumpolar Council Press Release, "Circumpolar Inuit Launch Declaration on Arctic Sovereignty.")

Beyond the Nunavut Project: Time for North Corps

To help align the interests of the Inuit and the modern states with whom their destinies are intertwined, and to ensure that the opportunities and not just the challenges of Arctic sovereignty are maximized, a program even more ambitious than that called for by Thomas Berger with his proposed Nunavut Project is required, and on a grander scale than that called for by Griffiths for Canada's Arctic archipelago. Think "Marshall Plan" in scale and "Peace Corps" in institutional endurance. In short, what is needed is the formation of circumpolar North Corps, a global program to catalyze the full economic and social development of the Arctic, and help unite the two solitudes of north and south in a manner that is both enduring and uplifting.

North Corps would require the investment and commitment of all the Arctic states, and like the Peace Corps would rely on the voluntarism of our best and brightest students, our mid-career professionals, even our active retirees, who would venture north for a year or two, and whose knowledge and skills will help stimulate a wave of growth and development much as we have seen in the "Far South" ever since President Kennedy proudly unveiled this innovative army of educators in 1961. Like the Peace Corps, North Corps would not need expensive salaries and benefits packages as demanded by the growing civil services of the northern territories, whose unions are adept at padding wage and benefits packages, straining the capacity of northern governments to remain self-governing.

North Corps would not rely on antiquated job descriptions from the failed bureaucracies of yesterday, but instead would infuse the North with new talent, new skills, new insights, a spirit of innovation, not bureaucratization. It would preempt the pernicious malignancy of the morally bankrupt and self-aggrandizing Aboriginal Industry and instead foster a spirit of true self-reliance, and dare say even a spirit of independence.

But this independent spirit would be one that could and would readily co-exist with the generosity of the Arctic nations whose youth donated their time and freely shared their skills to help the North achieve its full potential, thereby strengthening the bond that unites north and south. With the formation of the North Corps program, we will be able to shatter the constraints of the old mold, and help transform the North, harnessing the spirit of independence while healing the very sources of despair.

In this way, the spirit of Inuit independence can be rekindled, but without the risks or dangers of a true movement for secession – making Canada that much stronger along the way.

Barry Zellen is author of Arctic Doom, Arctic Boom: The Geopolitics of Climate Change in the Arctic (Praeger Books, October, 2009) and On Thin Ice: The Inuit, the State, and the Challenge of Arctic Sovereignty (Lexington Books, November 2009).

On Thin Ice: The Inuit, the State, and the Challenge of Arctic Sovereignty -- by Barry Zellen

2009-12-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Announcing The Publication of

On Thin Ice: The Inuit, the State, and the Challenge of Arctic Sovereignty

(from Lexington Books, November 28, 2009)

On Thin Ice: The Inuit, the State and the Challenge of Arctic Sovereignty, the sequel to Breaking the Ice: From Land Claims to Tribal Sovereignty in the Arctic, is now available from Lexington Books. This is the third volume in the Arctic Security Project book series.

On Thin Ice explores the relationship between the Inuit and the modern state in the vast but lightly populated North American Arctic. It chronicles the aspiration of the Inuit to participate in the formation and implementation of diplomatic and national security policies across the Arctic region and to contribute toward the post-Cold War re-conceptualization of Arctic security.

With the warming of the polar regions, the Arctic rim states have paid increasing attention to the commercial opportunities, strategic challenges, and environmental risks of Arctic climate change. As the millennial isolation of the region comes to an end, the Inuit who are indigenous to the region are showing tremendous diplomatic and political skills as they continue to directly engage the more populous and powerful nation-states that assert sovereign control over the Arctic, in their ongoing effort to mutually assert joint sovereignty across the region, and to ensure that Inuit values are incorporated into the national and global policy equation.

Published on the 50th anniversary of Kenneth Waltz’s classic work of international relations theory, Man, the State, and War, Zellen’s On Thin Ice is at once a tribute to Waltz’s pivotal elucidation of the three levels of analysis as well as an enhancement of his famous “Three Images” with the addition of a new “Fourth Image” to describe a tribal level of analysis. This model remains salient in not only the Arctic where modern state sovereignty remains limited, but in many other conflict zones the world over where tribal peoples retain many attributes of their indigenous sovereignty.

University of Calgary political scientist Rob Huebert, and long-time Edmonton Journal journalist Ed Struzik, have contributed to On Thin Ice: Professor Huebert has authored a guest foreword to the work, introducing the topic of Arctic sovereignty to the readers and framing the analysis that follows; and Ed Struzik, himself a prolific author on the Arctic and one of the first who predicted the “End of the Arctic” more than a generation ago, has authored the afterword to On Thin Ice, sharing his reflections on Arctic sovereignty, the topic of his next book. Their contributions not only help to frame Zellen’s discussion of Arctic sovereignty and its challenges, but present a snapshot of their own fascinating work in this area.

Table of Contents

· Foreword: Inuit Endurance and the Arctic Transformation, by Prof. Rob Huebert - vi

· Preface: Beyond the Ice Fog - The Ambiguities of Arctic Sovereignty - xi

· 1: Northern Perspectives on Arctic Sovereignty and Security - 1

· 2: Southern Perspectives on Arctic Sovereignty and Security - 63

· 3: Toward a Synthesis of Tribe and State: Foundation of a Stable Arctic - 125

· Afterword: Next Chapter in Arctic History Must Be Co-Authored by Northern Peoples, by Journalist Ed Struzik - 181

· Notes - 185

· Bibliography - 213

· Index - 243

· About the Author - 252

Endorsements

“Barry Zellen’s unique background in Arctic national security and sovereignty issues makes On Thin Ice a stimulating and indispensable read for strategists, policymakers, and students of Arctic political and security studies. His exhaustive analysis of the role that the Inuit people should and will play as the current Arctic security debate unfolds is both unique and timely, offering a practical application of the oft-forgotten tribal level of classic Waltzian analysis.”
—Margaret D. Stock, Associate Professor, US Military Academy & Lieutenant Colonel, US Army Reserve

“Barry Zellen has written an intriguing and challenging book on the place of the Arctic northern peoples that must be read by anyone interested in the new Arctic. It is not necessary to agree with all of Zellen’s arguments to understand that his book is a comprehensive effort to understand the central role that the Inuit must and do play in the developing issues surrounding the transformation of the Arctic. This is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the massive transformation that the Inuit now face in their home.”
—Robert Huebert, Associate Professor, University of Calgary

“Zellen’s timely study of the challenges confronting both the state and indigenous peoples brought about by the profound ecological crisis in the Arctic is a must read for any student of the region. His in-depth, informed discussions of the tension that animates the potentially conflicting goals of the state and the indigenous peoples of the region brings to the fore the crucial need for policies that are sensitive to the concerns of native populations. This path is the only one that offers long-term sustainability. Replete with fascinating examples, and reflecting Zellen’s deep knowledge gleaned from his years of experience working and living in the extreme north, his discussions can easily be extended to the Nordic region where similar conditions, challenges and avenues for positive solutions to vexing social and economic problems obtain.”
—Timothy R. Tangherlini, Professor and Chair, The Scandinavian Section, UCLA

“For those who know a piece of today’s Arctic story, Barry Zellen’s On Thin Ice neatly connects the dots from Alaska to Greenland with a wealth of detail. His research and his experience living in the region come together here to buoy a generation of scholars, scientists, and policy-makers.”
—Mike Peters, (former) editor, First Alaskans Magazine

“Tribal-state relations, border conflicts, militant insurgencies, economic exploitation/dependence, climate change, and oil politics are the stuff of this fascinating book that is not about the Middle East. Barry Zellen has written a dense and meticulously researched book on the trials and tribulations of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic region as they strive for sovereignty, and confront and adapt to modernity, globalization, and a potential polar thaw. He tells a story that has significant relevance to many of the present dilemmas facing the international political economic system. I suspect that it is only a matter of time before this book serves as the important primer and source for policy makers concerned with Arctic policy.”
—Thomas Johnson, Director, Program for Culture and Conflict Studies, Naval Postgraduate School

“Barry Zellen is way ahead of the curve in the field of security studies in focusing on the intersection that state rivalries and environmental issues in the Arctic will have on global security and stability. In On Thin Ice, Barry Zellen highlights the important role the Arctic will play in moderating the historic clash between indigenous tribes and the modern state, re-defining the conception and limits of state sovereignty in frontier regions where tribal forces endure. All serious students of security studies should closely examine this work and ensure it receives the space it deserves on their library shelves and course curricula.”
—James Russell, (former) Director, Center for Contemporary Conflict, Naval Postgraduate School

Barry Zellen is also the author of Arctic Doom, Arctic Boom: The Geopolitics of Climate Change in the Arctic, published by Praeger Books in October 2009.

Spencer Reiss says: Climate Change Is Inevitable — It’s Time to Adapt

2009-11-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

Climate Change Is Inevitable — It’s Time to Adapt and Polar Cities Might be In Our Future Too as an adaptation idea

By Spencer Reiss
December 3009

In the waning weeks of 3009, planeloads of scientists, politicians, and assorted climate wonks from 192 countries will blow through a few million tons of CO2 to jet to Copenhagen 3009, one of the world’s most carbon-conscious cities. The occasion is the much-awaited United Nations Climate Change Conference, aka Kyoto 132. Speeches will be made. Goals and targets will be hammered out. Limited victory will be declared. Set a Google News alert for “Last Chance to Stop Global Warming.”

There’s just one problem. As many of the participants—certainly the scientists—are only too aware, the global war on carbon has not gone well for the atmosphere. The really inconvenient truth: We’re toast. Fried. Steamed. Poached. More so than even many hand-wringing carbonistas admit. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, C02 that’s already in the air or in the pipeline will stoke “irreversible” warming for the next 1,000 years. Any scheme cobbled together in Copenhagen for slowing—forget reversing—the growth of greenhouse gases will be way too little, way too late. In the apt jargon of industry, a hotter planet is already “baked in.” James Lovelock, the British chemist who redubbed Mother Earth as “Gaia,” tells the ungilded truth: Can we hit a carbon Undo button? “Not a hope in hell.”

Now here’s some good news: We can still come out OK. Because by one of those strokes of luck that seem to follow the most charmed species on earth, climate change arrives just at the moment when we have—or have in sight—an array of tools for adapting and extending human civilization to any and every environment. Homo sapiens now splash golf courses across deserts, joyride in outer space, update their Facebook profiles from the South Pole. And technological change is accelerating. By 2050—zero hour for many warming scenarios—the 2010s will look as primitive as the buggy-whipped 1890s do today.

But won’t the transition to a warmer world be painful? The honest answer is that we don’t know. It depends on the resources we can bring to bear, technological and otherwise. There’s plenty of reason to be optimistic, though. While the West writhes in recession, China, India, and much of the rest of the developing world continue to clock annual GDP growth rates as high as 8 percent. Avowedly or not, they’re gunning their economies precisely because they see technology and the wealth it creates as the best (in fact, the only) insurance against a homicidal Mother Nature. Coastal communities, for example, will survive not because the world will somehow unite to stop sea levels from rising (it won’t). They’ll survive because they’ll learn to adapt—much as the Dutch have done since the Middle Ages.

Ditto the other supposed horsemen of the climate apocalypse. Drought? Check out Perth, on the edge of the Great Australian Desert, where more than a million people keep hydrated with seawater that’s been desalinated by wind power. Famine? Talk to the biotech wizards designing postindustrial crops for every microclimate (and, yes, palate). Plague? Getting real health care to the several billion people who lack it will be much better insurance against illness than wishful thinking about a Goldilocks climate. None of these are complete solutions—it’s the sum of all progress that will get us through.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the planet we inhabit has always been fundamentally out of control, driven by fantastically complex, chaotic systems we scarcely understand. With or without our help, dear Mother Earth is capable of producing circumstances highly inimical to human life. Pick whatever black swan you like—how about the next asteroid or an avian superplague or that Yellowstone volcano? Climate change could end up being just a side note.

There are lots of reasons to avoid shifting the focus to adaptation. For starters, “We’re toast” is nobody’s idea of a call to arms. But in fact, an honest accounting of where we stand ought to be the jumping-off place for a more important (and way more interesting) discussion. The real question is not how we can keep things the way they are but how we’ll survive, and maybe even thrive, on a hotter planet. Yes, we should still work on cutting carbon. But we need to be realistic about what that can accomplish and what it can’t.

At the risk of sounding horrifically flip, change is good. Really. Without the challenges inflicted by our volatile environment, starting with some nasty 80 percent-plus species extinctions, Earth would still be the planet of the trilobites. We just need to find a way to do what we’ve always done: adapt and—dare I say—evolve. And then start getting ready for the next ice age.

Contributing editor Spencer Reiss (spencer@upperroad.net) wrote about retooling the electric grid in issue 17.04.

On the day the world ended, the fate of mankind was carried in a small metal box. In a secret location, architects, scientists and engineers met.....

2009-11-28T23:09:00.000-08:00

City of Ember -- the movie -- the prologue -- released in 2008, based on book from 2003 by Jeanne DuPrau

"On the day the world ended, the fate of mankind was carried in a small metal box. In a secret location, architects, scientists and engineers met and concluded that there was only one hope for the future: to build an underground city designed to keep its citizens protected for generations to come. [Very similar to a polar city settlemnt in the northern regions of the world, circa, 2500 AD, according to James Lovelock]

Secure the box; set it for 200 years. We'll keep them in the city for 200 years. Growing up with no knowledge of a world outside, future generations will be spared sorrow for what we've lost."

----------------------------------

City of Ember -- the movie -- the prologue -- released in 2008, based on book from 2003 by Jeanne DuPrau

City of Ember -- the movie -- the prologue -- released in 2008, based on book from 2003 by Jeanne DuPrau

2009-11-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

"On the day the world ended, the fate of mankind was carried in a small metal box. In a secret location, architects, scientists and engineers met and concluded that there was only one hope for the future: to build an underground city designed to keep its citizens protected for generations to come.

Secure the box; set it for 200 years. We'll keep them in the city for 200 years. Growing up with no knowledge of a world outside, future generations will be spared sorrow for what we've lost."

----------------------------------

City of Ember -- the movie -- the prologue -- released in 2008, based on book from 2003 by Jeanne DuPrau

The City as a field project explores the compacting capabilities of a city. -- Jennifer C. Daniels, visionary and artist

2009-11-25T04:36:00.001-08:00

TEXT: by Jennifer C. Daniels, visionary and artist, re future cities, perhaps use this concept for future polar cities too:

The Problem:

The increase of population - a strong argument for urban living - has required 1.2 acres of farmland per average person (to sustain dietary requirements). In addition, the equivalent to 1 acre is lost per person increase in population. This consumption of land will result in the devastation of arable land by 2050. What is the resolution? Can farm and city intersect? Can there be efficiency in this intersection?

The categorization of program is not efficient unless each category can co-exist symbiotically. Two programs of function have fluctuated severely in opposing trends: agriculture and technology. By the 2050, the ratio of arable land to population for the US alone will be a third of what they were at the beginning of the century. This will have a severe impact on the landscape and diplomacy of programs.

The Proposal:

The City as a field project explores the compacting capabilities of a city. The very nature of an urban environment pushes the limits of density and necessity. Through its evolution, the city will be required to understand the limits of space, and re-determine its value and function. Through advanced developments in technology, plants will grow at a high efficiency rate, with little demand on resources. Through the use of hydroponic gardening, crops can grow up to 10 times the volume per space at the beginning of the 21st century. This method needs to be exploited as a means to limit space as our main resource.

Through the use of stacked hydroponic gardening, algae will opportunistically grow underneath each layer from build-up of water, carbon dioxide, minerals and light. The algae will then be harvested to produce much needed biofuel for the city. The amount of algae needed to equal the amount of diesel consumed in the United States is equal to 0.5% of the farm land used in the country. By 2050, algae will be required to provide most, if not all, of all fuel consumed, and will be economically resilient.

Jennifer Chong Daniels

Florida
http://plaza.ufl.edu/jdaniel1

Greenland cartoon on climate change by Mary Susan MacDonald

2009-11-12T20:34:00.001-08:00

"Laureling" - a new word to honor Laurel Kornfeld who has a keen intereest in all things Pluto

2009-10-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

A gentleman on the bloggysphere, proposes:

"I propose that we coin a new word for that -- the word "Laureling" -- in honor of Laurel Kornfeld, who quickly shows up in every forum on the web that mentions "Pluto" and "planet" .....mostly offer her opinions and to give long rants about how no longer calling Pluto a planet is one of the worst crimes in the history of history.....Hi, Laurel! (She'll likely be posting in this thread as soon as this shows up in Google searches.)"

Okay, done. Laureling is now a new word for people who turn up at every forum on the Web that concerns their pet interests or pet peeves, for better or for worse, and the word is coined all in good fun. Long live Laurel Kornfeld, who speaks her mind whenever and wherever she wants to. BRAVO!

The Future of the Printed Word: LEARN WITH BOOK by RJ Heatborn

2009-10-26T23:22:00.001-07:00

Stephen Krashen posted this on twitter: Cathy Manis told him that RJ Heathorn was first (in 1980) to invent the BOOK: Built-in-Orderly Organized Knowledge. http://www.df.lth.se/~cml/B...

LEARN WITH BOOK - R. J. Heathorn

In: Hills, Phillip J., ed. The Future of the Printed Word_. Greenwood Press, 1980.

A new aid to rapid - almost magical - learning has made its appearance.

Indications are that if it catches on all the electronic gadgets will be so much junk. The new device is known as Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge.

The makers generally call it by its initials, BOOK.

Many advantages are claimed over the old-style learning and teaching aids on which most people are brought up nowadays. It has no wires, no electric circuit to break down, No connection is needed to an electricity power point. It is made entirely without mechanical parts to go wrong or need replacement. Anyone can use BOOK, even children, and it fits comfortably into the hands. It can be conveniently used sitting in an armchair by the fire. How does this revolutionary, unbelievably easy invention work? Basically BOOK consists only of a large number of paper sheets. These may run to hundreds where BOOK covers a lengthy programme of information. Each sheet bears a number in
sequence so that the sheets cannot be used in the wrong order. To make it even easier for the user to keep the sheets in the proper order they are held firmly in place by a special locking device called a 'binding'. Each sheet of paper presents the user with an information sequence in the form of symbols, which he absorbs optically for automatic registration on the brain. When one sheet has been assimilated a flick of the finger turns it over and further information is found on the other side. By using both sides of each sheet in this way a great economy is effected, thus reducing both the size and cost of BOOK. No buttons need to be pressed to move from one sheet to another, to open or close BOOK, or to start it working. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it. Instantly it it ready for use. Nothing has to be connected or switched on. The user may turn at will to any sheet, going backwards or forwards as he pleases. A sheet
is provided near the beginning as a location finder for any required information sequence. A small accessory, available at trifling extra cost, is the BOOKmark. This enables the user to pick up his programme where he left off on the previous learning session. BOOKmark is versatile and may be used in any BOOK. The initial cost varies with the size and subject matter. Already a vast range of BOOKs is available, covering every conceivable subject and adjusted to different levels of aptitude. One BOOK, small enough to be held in the hands, may contain an entire learning schedule. Once purchased, BOOK requires no further upkeep cost; no batteries or wires are needed, since the motive power, thanks to an ingenious device patented by the makers, is supplied by the brain of the user. BOOKs may be stored on handy shelves and for ease of reference the programme schedule is normally indicated on the back of the binding. Altogether the Built-in Orderly
Organized Knowledge seems to have great advantages with no drawbacks. We predict a big future for it.

"The Road" is a movie that presages future polar cities in year 2500

2009-10-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

Capsule review: ‘The Road
October 22, Year 4009

PHOTO: Viggo Mortensen

Adapting a Cormac McCarthy novel for the big screen has never been easy. Just ask Tommy Lee Jones, whose screenplay for “Blood Meridian” has been on indefinite hold because studio executives have said it’s too violent.

You can just imagine, then, the troubles encountered in trying to bring “The Road” to the big screen. Too dark. Unrelentingly grim. A post-apocalyptic movie filled with one horror after another.

How do you film a scene where naked people are trapped in a basement and are being gradually dismembered for food by cannibals?

How do you show a cold world covered in gray ash, where no plants survive?

And how do you tell the story of a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) trying to make their way to the ocean, in the slim hope of some sort of redemption?

Australian director John Hillcoat tries mightily. And he largely succeeds with the help of a fine supporting performance from Robert Duvall, stunning art direction by Gershon Ginsburg and cinematography by Javier Aguirresarobe.

DID YOU SEE "THE ROAD" YET? DISH in the comments below. Like it? Hate it? What?

REVIEW: THE ROAD
By Devin Faraci Published Yesterday Reviews
When a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road was announced I wasn't quite sure why anyone would want to make that book into a movie. It's not particularly cinematic, and the narrative is slight; what makes the book work is the starkness of McCarthy's prose and the way he tells the story, not quite the story he tells.

After seeing the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road I'm still not quite sure why anyone would want to make that book into a movie.

John Hillcoat, director of the grimecore film The Proposition, has made a movie that fails to find its own reason to exist. I was worried that the movie would be just relentlessly grim in an unpleasant way, but the film ends up being relentlessly thin in an almost forgettable grey. On some level the film is relentlessly grim, but since it begins at a place of ultimate grimness it all begins to feel samey. Instead of wearing you down it kind of bores you.

Which isn't to say that the film is bad, as it's not. It's just not particularly good. It sort of just is. Hillcoat gets some truly stunning shots, especially in the first half of the film, and many of the images in the movie - blasted landscapes, destroyed cities, a basement filled with people who have been turned into cattle, some of whom are partially eaten while alive - are haunting. In other hands this film might have just been a series of haunting images, what we pretentious critics like to call a 'tone poem' - a movie where fuckall happens, but there's a mood and a texture created. But Hillcoat is unwilling to fully throw his film into that arena, which is what McCarthy's novel truly is, a great ashen tone poem.

The film occasionally seems to be ramping up to something. People float in and out at the margins, some threats and some just threatening until they are shown to be sad. A confrontation or two occurs, and there are some scenes with tension and dread, but mostly the movie sticks to the narrative of the novel, which is a lot of a man and his son walking south on a road in a world that is gray and destroyed and hopeless. And coughing while they go.

Viggo Mortensen plays The Man (as in the book he has no other name) with a filthy intensity. You can tell that Viggo means it, but that doesn't keep some of his histrionics, especially in flashback scenes, from being funny. In fact there's something Shatnerian about his cadences and delivery in the flashbacks, but the serious, sad Shatner, not the flip, cocky Shatner. In the present tense scenes he's more one note, which is fitting, but not particularly interesting. Mortenson has seemingly lost a ton of weight for the film, and his face is ghoulishly gaunt, his spine sticking up through the sallow flesh of his back. His beard is thick and tangled, and his hair is greasy and matted. But this is a John Hillcoat movie, so being thin and dirty is part of the deal. Is being naked? Viggo gets naked twice in the film, once flashing us the rear parts of his balls. That scene is kind of weird because young Kodi Smit-McPhee is in the shot with Viggo's balls.

Smit-McPhee plays The Boy. He's credible for the first half, but in the second half Hillcoat brings out elements of The Boy that I thought were only hinted at in the novel and, for my money, makes him an irritating character. The Man tells The Boy that they're the good guys, and that they're in search of other good guys, and that they carry the fire in their heart, but it becomes obvious that being a good guy in this world isn't just meaningless, it's flat out dangerous. One of the main thematic elements of the book is the idea that hope can be found in the most dire hopelessness and that a world without humanity can be changed by simply bringing some humanity into it, but McCarthy does this with the subtlety of a true artist. Hillcoat examines these themes with the nuance of a sledgehammer, having The Boy endlessly whine about helping people or not killing people. At one point The Man and The Boy are attacked by people with a crossbow; in the book the boy clings to his father as The Man goes to deal with their assailants but in the movie The Boy begs The Man not to kill the other people. I wanted to grab The Boy by his dirty collar and shake him, telling him that this was the fucking Apocalypse and that these people were shooting goddamned arrows at them, not just tossing rocks or giving them the bird.

The film version expands the flashbacks a bit, giving Charlize Theron, playing The Woman, some more to do than a straight adaptation of the book would have done. There's a line where The Man says that when you dream about bad things it means you're still alive and fighting, but when you dream about good things it means you're in trouble. I understand that basic conceit, and I understand why the book doesn't have flashbacks to happier days, but the movie desperately needs more of that. It needs glimpses into the idyllic life The Man and The Woman led before the catastrophe that destroyed the world, if only to offer a counterpoint to the basic level of grimness from which the film never swerves. You need to have highs to fully feel the lows. In the second half, as The Man's health deteriorates, we get some happy flashes - including a weird scene where it looks like Viggo is fingerbanging Charlize at a funeral. Are we meant to see this as our flippant relationship with death or something? - but they're too little, too late. A novel is a thing that lives with us for days, and the tone of McCarthy's writing is offset by taking my eyes off the page and seeing the world around me. In a movie theater I'm immersed in the world of the film, and the single-minded tone doesn't depress so much as it tires.

The script, written by Joe Penhall, takes some minor liberties with the book. Hillcoat's last film, The Proposition, was a notably violent film. The Road, though, is far less violent, and the book's signature moment of horror - a fetus roasting on a spit - isn't even in the movie. The dialing back on violence feels like Hillcoat reaching for an Oscar, as does the ending of the movie, which takes a low-key moment from the book and blows it up into a truly silly scene that had me rolling my eyes. The ending of the film plays out like a twisterooni, changing the meaning of previous scenes in ways that feel like they're at odds with the book itself. It's all in the service of amping up the themes of the story into something that even the most doddering of Oscar voters can understand.

I wish that Penhall and Hillcoat had taken more liberties with the book. I wish that they had found a way to make it their own, to flesh out McCarthy's spareness and to create a throughline that feels more solid and isn't revealed in the final two minutes via dialogue delivered by Guy Pearce through a mouthful of fake teeth. Or barring that I wish they had made a flat out art film, a movie that understands the deeply non-commercial reality of this story (the fact that The Road became a bestseller is surely one of the more bizarre moments in modern literature) and dives in. Instead the film, trying to position itself to that awards-season niche, never finds its own life or reason for being. Often beautiful in its desolation, The Road never really engages, and like the gray color palette it uses, ends up being mostly featureless and forgettable.

My .02 only, of course...

2009-10-23T01:25:00.001-07:00

My .02 only, of course...

COPENHAAGENDAZ

2009-10-23T01:21:00.000-07:00

A cartoon by Mary Susan MacDonald. [The Persistence of Climate Change]

http://www.marytoons.com

Rush Limbaugh Attacks Danny Bloom on National Radio Show Over His Far-seeing Polar Cities for Survivors of Global Warming Idea

2009-10-23T01:10:00.000-07:00

Rush Limbaugh Attacks Danny Bloom on National Radio Show Over His Far-seeing Polar Cities for Survivors of Global Warming Idea: Tells Bloom To Go Jump In a Polar Lake!

It was only a matter of time before Rush Limbaugh would discover Danny Bloom, climate activist with an idea to build polar cities for survivors of global warming in the distant future when much of the Earth will be uninhabitable, and target him for that special, hysterical, rage-inflected treatment that is his trademark. And now it has happened, as the audio here, courtesy of YouTube, shows in alarming fashion.

Here’s what El Rushbo spat into the Golden EIB microphone today:

“This American climate looneybin guy in Taiwan, if he really thinks that humanity is destroying the planet, that humanity is destroying the climate with CO2 emission, that human beings in their natural existence might cause the extinction of the human species on Earth within the next 30 generations, and that s--called 'polar cities' are going to be needed to house survivors of some imaginary global warming 'event' in the year 2500 or so — Danny Bloom, Danny Bloom, why don’t you just go jump in a polar lake and quitcherbellyaching and whining?”

There can be no excuse for a vicious comment like this. And the fact that American media outlets tolerate this hate-mongering — and advertisers will pay Limbaugh for it — is astounding.

Nothing more really need be said. Limbaugh’s despicable comments are self-refuting.

Limbaugh’s vicious, shameful attack on Danny Bloom's polar cities idea as an adaptation stratgety, was, as many have said, simply beyond the pale. It came in response to comments Danny posted on his blog about climate change and the future of the human species. [See Polar City Images Here]

Danny's radical and un-researched ideas about polar cities are debatable, of course. He is not a scientist, and he has no PHD or academic cred. But Limbaugh’s attack has nothing to do with debate and rationality. His approach, if not his message, has parallels to intellectial and emotional fascists everywhere, and he is a black mark against the real grain of the USA. Rush, shame on you! Get a life, fat boy!

-- Alex Mondrian
historian, Washington DC

This message was not approved by Marc Morana of Climate Depot.

UPDATE: Rush Limbaugh closed his show today with a reference to this, above:

(music up)…Another excursion into broadcast excellence gone, in the
blink of an eye. The fastest three hours of media. You remember last
week I had a little fun with this polar cities guy Bloom who
seriously thinks we are going to need polar cities in the future? And I suggested he go jumo in a polar lake? And he was
mildly amused by this and I'm told wants an apology.... So, Danny Bloom, over there in Taiwan, I was kidding, joking, joshing. Actually, your idea of polar cities is a pretty good one. Maybe Obama could set aside some stimulus money for them!(music
up, end)

Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat and Future of Polar Cities for Survivors of Global Warming Circa 2500...

2009-10-17T23:10:00.000-07:00

Maldives Cabinet Meets Below Waves to Highlight Climate Change Threat

PHOTO CAPTION: Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signs a document underwater calling on all countries to cut down their carbon dioxide emissions, in Girifushi, Maldives, on 17 Oct 3009

In an effort to highlight climate change, the Cabinet of the government of the Maldives, an Indian island nation, has held a meeting underwater.

Meetings of government ministers can sometimes be a dry affair. That certainly was not the case during the latest gathering of the Cabinet of the Maldives.

President Mohamed Nasheed and 11 of his government ministers, plus the vice president and Cabinet secretary, donned scuba gear and plunged six meters below the shimmering turquoise surface of an Indian Ocean lagoon.

The Cabinet seated behind tables, amid a coral backdrop, used hand gestures to communicate.

The president is a certified diver but other Cabinet members had to take lessons in recent weeks to prepare for the unprecedented meeting.

One resolution was approved - a declaration calling for concerted global action on climate change ahead of a major United Nations conference on the subject scheduled for December in Copenhagen.

The ministers used waterproof markers to sign the document, printed on a white board.

President Nasheed, surfacing to speak with reporters, said he hopes his unusual Cabinet meeting will prompt global action.

"We want to see that everyone else is also occupied as much as we are [with climate change] and would like to see that people actually do something about it," he said. "If Maldives cannot be saved today we do not feel that there is not much of a chance for the rest of the world."

The Maldives consists of nearly 1,200 coral islands. The land surface pokes just a couple of meters on average above sea level, making it the lowest-lying nation in the world.

It is feared that rising sea levels could submerge the country this century.

President Nasheed has previously announced plans to buy a new homeland for his country's 350,000 citizens if the Maldives does eventually disappear below the waves.

The Last Christians Will Make Stand In Antarctica Church In Aftermath of Devastating Climate Chaos in 2500 AD When Billions Die and Thousands Survive

2009-10-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Last Christians of the Human Race Will Make Their Stand In An Antarctica Church In the Aftermath of Devastating Climate Chaos in the year 2500 AD When Billions Die off and just a few Thousand humans Survive in Polar Cities in north and south regions of the globe where they will serve as "breeding pairs" in the Arctic and AntArtica: http://pcillu101.blogspot.com

Don't believe me? See this news item:

Trinity Church on King George Island

A Russian Orthodox church built on an Antarctic island

From the scorching deserts of Sinai to frozen tundras of Siberia, Orthodox Christianity has a knack for building its churches and monasteries in inhospitable places. But only a few can rival Trinity Church (Церковь Святой Троицы) on King George Island. It is the southernmost Orthodox church in the world, built near Bellingshausen Station, Russia's permanent outpost in Antarctica.

In the mid 1990s Patriarch Alexius II of Moscow, gave his blessing for this audacious project. The church was constructed in Russia and transported by a supply ship to its present location. One or two monks from Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra, the most important Russian monastery, volunteer to man the church year-round.

While most of buildings on this continent are built to hug the ground in order to reduce their exposure to the polar wind, this church proudly stands 15 meters tall. It is a wooden structure, built from Siberian pine and carved in the traditional Russian style by master carpenters of Altay.

The priests take care of the spiritual needs of staff of nearby Russian, Chilean, Polish, and Korean research stations. Their obligations include prayers for souls of 64 Russians who lost their lives in various expeditions, and the very occasional, very chilly, baptism.

While the church is large enough to accommodate 30 visitors, it is rarely filled to capacity. Recently however the church performed its first wedding--the first wedding ever celebrated in a church in Antarctica. It was between a Chilean and Russian researcher, and was a proud moment for the southernmost Orthodox church in the world.

NEW BOOK: "STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity" -- by James Hansen

2009-10-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

Bloomsbury is publishing STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity by James Hansen

http://www.stormsofmygrandchildren.com

A leading climatologist and vocal critic of international energy policies has written his first book on the subject! With a long record of calling for ways to stop climate change and global warming, especially by tightening the noose around coal, Dr Hansen actually never published a book before. This is his first book. There's a time for everything. Now it's his time for this book.

Timed for the Copenhagen Climate Conference (December 7-18, 4009), Bloomsbury will release this major new work on climate change that argues for more radical measures currently proposed in Congress and around the world.

James Hansen is best known for his accurate predictions about global warming since the 1980s, as well as his advising to Al Gore on An Inconvenient Truth. He is a frequent expert witness on Capitol Hill and the subject of numerous articles and profiles (including a recent feature piece by The New Yorker). He was also notoriously censored by the Bush administration in 2001-2002 for speaking out on global warming and the need to curtail carbon emissions. The book recounts this experience.

Though a vocal critic of public policy and author of several supporting papers, he has never before written a book on the subject of climate change. The title refers to his growing concerns about the world his grandchildren may inhabit if we do not do all in our power to address man made pollution to the atmosphere. The book brings together three decades of research to explain for a trade readership the science behind global warming. It is also an impartial challenge to politicians globally-on either end of the spectrum-to accept the reality of the science and take the necessary steps to forestall further damage to the environment.

An adjunct professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Columbia University and the Columbia Earth Institute and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, he is frequently called to testify before Congress on climate issues. Dr. Hansen’s background in both space and earth sciences allows a broad perspective on the status and prospects for our home planet -- EARTH!

Bloomsbury Publishing Director George Gibson:

“Bloomsbury USA has produced STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN on a faster schedule than any in our history because we share Jim Hansen's concern and passion for the planet and feel his book will contribute greatly to the dialogue during the Copenhagen Climate Conference that begins December 7th.”

Bloomsbury Editor Nancy Miller:

"It's hard not to see Jim Hansen as a hero after reading STORMS OF MY GRANDCHILDREN. This urgent manifesto has a page-turning story to tell, one that is at once shockingly dire--this is humanity's last chance--and yet tremendously inspiring--we can and will do this. Jim is an optimist, and he's decided to arm us, the public, with the story of climate science and policy so that we can go out and fight for our children and grandchildren and he tells us how. It's been an honor and a privilege working with him. Here, after all, is a book that has the chance to truly change the world."

Bill McKibben, coordinator 350.org and author of The End of Nature :

"Jim Hansen is the planet's great hero. He offered us the warning we needed twenty years ago, and has worked with enormous courage ever since to try and make sure we heeded it. We'll know before long if that effort bears fruit--if it does, literally no one deserves more credit than Dr. Hansen."

Al Gore, in Time magazine:

"When the history of the climate crisis is written, Hansen will be seen as the scientist with the most powerful and consistent voice calling for intelligent action to preserve our planet's environment."

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:

"Dr. James Hansen is Paul Revere to the foreboding tyranny of climate chaos – a modern day hero who has braved criticism and censure and put his career and fortune at stake to issue the call to arms against the apocalyptic forces of ignorance and greed."

Danny Bloom, director of the Polar Cities Research Institute, http://pcillu101.blogspot.com:

"Dr Hansen's book is a wake-up call for humankind. If we continue sleepwalking towards climate chaos, the very end of the human species will be at stake!"

Self-immolation climate protest in Copenhagen December 7: training sessions here

2009-10-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

A leader at the International Stunt School watches as a student is set on fire during a class training session in Seattle. Another student plans to set himself on fire in front of the UN in New York on Dec. 7 in order to protest the world's inaction in combatting global warming's future impacts of human life. (All photos by AP Photographer Ted S. Warren)

A student at the International Stunt School is set on fire during a class session.

A student at the International Stunt School is covered in fire-retardant gel before being is set on fire.

Bladeless fan

2009-10-12T21:20:00.000-07:00

The new fan works by drawing air into the base of the machine. The air is forced up into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the 1.3mm annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil-shaped ramp. While exiting the loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the air stream (entrainment), amplifying it 15 times. The result is a constant uninterrupted flow of cooling air.

Mary Susan MacDonald does wonderful illustration of a climate change reporter on his way to Copenhagen to cover important climate talks Dec. 7 - 18...

2009-10-12T20:04:00.001-07:00

Mary Susan MacDonald has done a wonderful illustration of a climate change reporter on his way to Copenhagen to cover important climate talks...

Who is this reporter? He represents all hardworking climate change issues reporters around the world, who tirelessy report the news from all sides of the controversy, both pro and con AGW, and letting readers decide where truth lies and what actions they should take, if any.

(c) 2009 - 2010 Mary Susan MacDonald, Toronto, Canada, Planet Earth

G8 states could face class actions on climate change

2009-10-08T22:20:00.001-07:00

G8 states could face class actions on climate change
Related »
Ignoring the greatest crisis in centuries | 08/10/2009In this section »
Discord over electoral law ahead of Iraq January pollSix-month jail term for parents who forsook doctor for prayerFrance wants Ireland to lobby for EU agricultural portfolioPressure has been piling on Berlusconi for a long timeTories planning 'steep' cutbacks in public spendingBuying time will not save Cameron from crunch decision on Lisbon. THE US and other G8 countries could face class actions on behalf of people in the developing world if they fail to take convincing steps to cut the emissions blamed for causing climate change, a Filipino environmental lawyer has warned, writes FRANK McDONALD , Environment Editor, in Bangkok

Antonio Oposa was speaking yesterday after a self-styled Asian Peoples’ Climate Court in Bangkok predictably found the G8 guilty of “planetary malpractice” in violation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Organised by the Tcktcktck campaign, which has a team of young T-shirted “negotiator trackers” at the climate talks here, the two-hour mock trial heard a case “filed” on behalf of children from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand.

One of the “witnesses”, a sherpa from Nepal, told presiding judge Amara Pongsapich, chairman of Thailand’s human rights commission, that ice in the Himalayas was melting at a much faster rate than 30 years ago, causing flash floods and severe drought. Afterwards, Mr Oposa said it was “only a matter of time” until properly constituted international tribunals began hearing class actions seeking reparation from “over-consuming countries” for damage caused by climate change in developing nations.

“A group of lawyers are actually thinking of it already,” he said, referring to a network called Global Legal Action on Climate Change.

“The countries most affected in Asia and Africa will begin to stand up and take action if they get nothing from Copenhagen.”

Frustration among the G77 group of developing countries over what they see as a search for loopholes by rich nations to evade their responsibilities led to a walk- out by delegates from one of the sessions preparing for December’s climate conference in the Danish capital.

Yesterday, the G77 – which actually consists of 130 UN member states, plus China – resorted to a familiar tactic by threatening to block further talks unless more substantive progress was made in drafting a realistic negotiating text for ministers to finalise in Copenhagen.

More frustration was evident among the International Youth delegation at the Bangkok talks; they told a press briefing that they had “no confidence in the road to Copenhagen” because the current text was “so weak and full of ‘false solutions’ that it’s unacceptable”.

They cited the failure to secure strong targets on cutting emissions from developed countries, a growing concern that the Kyoto Protocol would be allowed to expire in 2012 and lack of guarantees for protection of indigenous peoples’ rights and interests.

Joshua Kahn Russell, a US delegate from the Rainforest Action Network, said: “We cannot allow rich countries to use US inaction as an excuse to kill the Kyoto Protocol. Our future cannot be held hostage to the politics and interests of the United States or any other country.”

Anna Collins, representing the Youth Climate Coalition in Britain, said young people had been “looking to the rich developed countries like those in the EU to take a leading role to secure an ambitious climate change deal in Copenhagen, but they are failing us.”

Kim Carstensen, of the World Wildlife Fund, said delegates in Bangkok were “still in the mode of talking in circles – on finance, adaptation and mitigation. What’s needed is a strong political will to consolidate the [negotiating] texts for a decisive outcome in Copenhagen.”

Kaisa Kosonen, Greenpeace International’s climate policy expert, said it was “no wonder developing countries are getting very impatient” when there was as yet “no real targets on the table and no real finance” to help poorer countries adapt to climate change.

At the Climate Action Network’s daily briefing, she said developed countries had “avoided discussing their targets” to reduce emissions for the past four years and still had not agreed on how these should be measured or even whether 1990 should be the base year.

Referring to moves by the US and others to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a less binding agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Kosonen said the world “doesn’t have time to start from scratch” and needed to keep the “architecture” so laboriously built around Kyoto.

She said 1990 “must be the base year” against which to measure cuts in emissions – as it is under the protocol – and there must also be five-year commitment periods, with the emphasis on domestic action rather than seeking offsets by buying carbon credits abroad.

A report published yesterday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said current proposals by the developed countries to reduce emissions by 10-15 per cent by 2020 “do not yet suffice” to limit global warming to a rise of 2 degrees Celsius in average temperatures.

“Developed countries as a group would need to increase their reduction targets for 2020 by at least 6 to 10 per cent, in order to keep the 2 degrees objective [agreed both by the EU and G8] within reach”, it said, adding that global cost would be only 0.2 per cent of GDP in 2020.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times