350.org – a global grassroots movement to slow down greenhouse gases

Here’s a 15-min. video of Bill McKibben, in front of 10,000 young climate leaders, laying out an inspiring vision for our movement and  an impassioned call to action.watch this video.

And here are some key points from the 350.org website:

• So, what is global warming and what’s the problem anyway?

The science is clear: global warming is happening faster than ever and humans are responsible. Global warming is caused by releasing what are called greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The most common greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide. Many of the activities we do every day like turn the lights on, cook food, or heat or cool our homes rely on the combustion of fossil fuels like coal and oil, which emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases when burned. This is a major problem because global warming destabilizes the delicate balance that makes life on this planet possible. Just a few degrees in temperature can completely change the world as we know it, and threaten the lives of millions of people around the world.

• And what does this 350 number even mean?

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide—measured in “Parts Per Million” in our atmosphere. 350 PPM—it’s the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.

• If we’re already past 350, are we all doomed?

No. We’re like the patient that goes to the doctor and learns he’s overweight, or his cholesterol is too high. He doesn’t die immediately—but until he changes his lifestyle and gets back down to the safe zone, he’s at more risk for heart attack or stroke. The planet is in its danger zone because we’ve poured too much carbon into the atmosphere, and we’re starting to see signs of real trouble: melting ice caps, rapidly spreading drought. We need to scramble back as quickly as we can to safety.

• How do we create the political change to steer towards 350?

This year, we can create a grassroots movement connected by the web and active all over the world.  We will focus on the systemic barriers to climate solutions, changing political dynamics whenever possible.  At the same time, we’ll get to work implementing real climate solutions in our communities, demonstrating the benefits of moving to a clean energy economy. If this global movement succeeds, we can get the world on track to get back to 350 and back to climate safety. It won’t be easy, that’s why we need all the help we can get.

What would it cost to restore the world environment and meet social goals. And guess who has the money?

Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute (www.earth-policy.org) put together the following very revealing cost comparisons, as part of his Plan B, budget. Published in the excellent quarterly journal Pop!ulation Press (www.populationpress.org).

Additional annual expenditures needed to meet social goals and restore the Earth.





PLAN B BUDGET: Additional Annual Expenditures Needed to Meet Social Goals and Restore the Earth

Basic Social Goals	Goal Funding (billion dollars)
Universal primary education	10
Eradication of adult illiteracy	4
School lunch programs	3
Aid to women, infants	4
Reproductive health & family planning	21
Universal basic health care	33
TOTAL	75
Earth Restoration Goals	Goal Funding (billion dollars)
Planting trees	23
Protecting topsoil on cropland	24
Restoring rangelands	9
Restoring fisheries	13
Stabilizing water tables	10
Protecting biological diversity	31
TOTAL	110
GRAND TOTAL	185
U.S. Military Budget	661
Plan B budget as share of this	28%
World Military Budget	1,522
Plan B budget as share of this	12%

Child musical prodigy joyfully play-conducts Beethoven symphony

For a totally upbeat explosion of joy and laughter and music, watch this five minute video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0REJ-lCGiKU

Richard Wolff on the meltdown of the American capitalist system

Richard Wolff is an Economics Professor at the University of Massachusetts, whose documentary film Capitalism Hits the Fan reveals with stunning clarity the undeniable and ever more glaring deficits in the inherent structure of the capitalist economic model. Viewing this film could be used as wonderful starting point for a discussion or series of discussions on our present situation. In the following article by Wolff, from The Guardian /UK, he expands on this theme:

Until the 1970s, US capitalism shared its spoils with American workers. But since 2008, it has made them pay for its failures…One aspect of “American exceptionalism” was always economic. US workers, so the story went, enjoyed a rising level of real wages that afforded their families a rising standard of living. Ever harder work paid off in rising consumption. The rich got richer faster than the middle and poor, but almost no one got poorer. Nearly all citizens felt “middle class”. A profitable US capitalism kept running ahead of labor supply. So, it kept raising wages to attract waves of immigration and to retain employees, across the 19th century until the 1970s.

Then everything changed. Real wages stopped rising, as US capitalists redirected their investments to produce and employ abroad, while replacing millions of workers in the US with computers. The US women’s liberation moved millions of US adult women to seek paid employment. US capitalism no longer faced a shortage of labor…US employers took advantage of the changed situation: they stopped raising wages. …

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/01/18-2

January 18, 2011 by The Guardian/UK