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Re: [Phys-l] Civilization's Last Chance?



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ABSTRACT: In response to my Physoc/Phys-L post "Civilization's Last Chance?" Art Hobson recommended Bill McKibben's book "Deep Economy," in which, according to one reviewer "McKibben incisively interprets a staggering array of studies that document the symbiotic relationship between fossil fuels and five decades of dizzying economic growth, and the many ways the pursuit of ever-higher corporate profits has led to environmental havoc and neglect of people's most basic needs." Gus Speth in "The Bridge at the Edge of the World" evokes a related message, writing "Working only within the system will . . . not succeed when what is needed is transformative change in the system itself." Would Speth regard Arjun Makhijani's "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for US Energy Policy" as unworkable because it appears to "work within the system"?
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Art Hobson (2008) responded to my post "Civilization's Last Chance?" [Hake (2008)] regarding Bill McKibben's (2008a) Los Angles Times opinion piece "Civilization's last chance: The planet is at a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast" as follows:

"I'll recommend one of McKibben's recent that I'm just finishing reading. It's called 'Deep Economy'. . . . .[my insert - for pedantic reference freaks, the academic reference is "McKibben (2008b)"]. . . . It's a call for most local economic interactions, things like farmer's markets, local food co-ops, small farms, buying local products, regional radio and TV, talent. He thinks we need to move beyond growth as the paramount economic ideal."

McKibben (2008b) and Gus Speth (2008) appear to be on similar wave lengths.

According to a review of Speth (2008) at Amazon.com <http://tinyurl.com/5v6m4w> by Ross Gelbspan <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Gelbspan>:

"Contemporary capitalism and a habitable planet cannot coexist. That is the core message of 'The Bridge at the Edge of the World,' by J. 'Gus' Speth, a prominent environmentalist who, in this book, has turned sharply critical of the U.S. environmental movement. Speth is dean of environmental studies at Yale, a founder of two major environmental groups (the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute), former chairman of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (under Jimmy Carter) and a former head of the U.N. Development Program. So part of his thesis is expected: Climate change is only the leading edge of a potential cascade of ecological disasters. 'Half the world's tropical and temperate forests are gone,' he writes. 'About half the wetlands . . . are gone. An estimated 90 percent of large predator fish are gone. . . . Twenty percent of the corals are gone. . . . Species are disappearing at rates about a thousand times faster than normal. . . . Persistent toxic chemicals can now be found by the dozens in . . . every one of us.' One might assume, given this setup, that Speth would argue for a revitalization of the environmental movement. He does not. Environmentalism, in his view, is almost as compromised as the planet itself. Speth faults the movement for using market incentives to achieve environmental ends and for the deception that sufficient change can come from engaging the corporate sector and working 'within the system' and not enlisting the support of other activist constituencies. Environmentalism today is 'pragmatic and incrementalist,' he notes, 'awash in good proposals for sensible environmental action' -- and he does not mean it as a compliment. 'Working only within the system will . . . not succeed when what is needed is transformative change in the system itself.' . . . . . . . . . . . "

Considering the last sentence, would Speth regard Arjun Makhijani's (2007) "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for US Energy Policy" [recommended by Hugh Haskell (2008)] as unworkable because it appears to "work within the system"?

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>


REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Hake, R.R. 2008. "Civilization's Last Chance?" online at <https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives/2008/6_2008/msg00011.html>. Post of 1 Jun 2008 10:50:19-0700 to PHYSOC and Phys-L.

Haskell, H. 2008. "Re: Civilization's Last Chance?" PHYSOC post of 1 Jun 2008
21:15:34-0400; online at <http://tinyurl.com/4v758d>. To access the archives of PHYSOC one needs to subscribe, but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on <http://listserv.uark.edu/archives/physoc.html> and then clicking on "Join or leave the list (or change settings)." If you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the list!

Hobson, A. 2008. "Re: Civilization's Last Chance?" PHYSOC post of 1 Jun 2008
16:30:41-0500; online at <http://tinyurl.com/6cr4g3>. To access this post, see the above reference.


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McKibben, B. 2008a. "Civilization's last chance: The planet is at a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast," Los Angeles Times, 11 May; online at
<http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-mckibben11-2008may11,0,7434369.story>.
McKibben wrote:

". . . . .all of a sudden, those grim Club of Rome types who, way back in the 1970s, went on and on about the "limits to growth" suddenly seem ... how best to put it, RIGHT (emphasis in the original).

All of a sudden it isn't morning in America, it's dusk on planet Earth.

There's a number -- a new number -- that makes point most powerfully. It may now be the
most important number on Earth: 350. As in parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

A few weeks ago, NASA's chief climatologist, James Hansen, submitted a paper to Science
magazine with several coauthors. The abstract attached to it argued -- and I have never read
stronger language in a scientific paper -- that *if humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar
to that on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted, paleoclimate
evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385*"

See also McKibben's website <http://www.350.org/4/>.


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Makhijani, A. 2007. "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for US Energy Policy." Ieer Press. Online as a 4.4 MB pdf at <http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/index.html>. EggheadBooks information at <http://www.eggheadbooks.org/books/carbonfree.htm>. Egghead wrote:

"In a world confronting global climate change, political turmoil among oil exporting nations, nuclear weapons proliferation, nuclear plant safety and waste disposal issues, the United States must assume a leadership role in moving to a zero-CO2-emissions energy economy. At the same time, the U.S. needs to take the lead in reducing the world's reliance on nuclear power. This breakthrough joint study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Policy Research Institute shows how our energy needs can be met by alternative sources. Wind, solar, biomass, microalgae, geothermal and wave power are all part of the solution. 'Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free ' is must reading for people concerned with energy politics and everyone who wants to take action to protect the planet's future."

Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/3l6jd6>.

A good review by John Roeder, soon to be on the "Teachers Clearinghouse for Science and Society Education Newsletter " <http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~lindenf/pse/> can be download at <http://tinyurl.com/4ba8el> - scroll to the bottom and click on <Reviews(W08).doc>.


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McKibben, B. 2008b. "Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future." Holt Paperbacks. Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/5yt7m4> contains this review:

"Beginning with his prescient treatise on global warming, "The End of Nature" (1990), McKibben has been investigating and elucidating some of the most confounding aspects of our lives. He now brings his signature clarity of thought and handsomely crafted prose to a pivotal, complicated subject, the negative consequences of our growth-oriented economy. McKibben incisively interprets a staggering array of studies that document the symbiotic relationship between fossil fuels and five decades of dizzying economic growth, and the many ways the pursuit of ever-higher corporate profits has led to environmental havoc and neglect of people's most basic needs. At once reportorial, philosophic, and anecdotal, McKibben, intoning the mantra 'more is not better,' takes measure of diminishing returns. With eroding security, a dysfunctional health system, floundering public schools, higher rates of depression, 'wild inequity' in the distribution of wealth, and damage to the biosphere, McKibben believes a new paradigm is needed, that of a 'deep economy' born of sustainable and sustaining communities anchored in local resources. Using the farmer's market as a template, he explains the logistics of workable alternatives to the corporate imperative based on ecological capacities and the 'economics of neighborliness.' With the threat of energy crises and global warming, McKibben's vision of nurturing communities rooted in traditional values and driven by 'green' technologies, however utopian, may provide ideas for constructive change."
- Donna Seaman, American Library Association.


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Speth, J.G. 2008. "The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. "Yale University Press (YUP), publisher's information at
< http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks/book.asp?isbn=978030013611 >. YUP writes:

"How serious are the threats to our environment? Here is one measure of the problem: if we continue to do exactly what we are doing, with no growth in the human population or the world economy, the world in the latter part of this century will be unfit to live in. Of course human activities are not holding at current levels-they are accelerating, dramatically-and so, too, is the pace of climate disruption, biotic impoverishment, and toxification. In this book Gus Speth, author of "Red Sky at Morning" and a widely respected environmentalist, begins with the observation that the environmental community has grown in strength and sophistication, but the environment has continued to decline, to the point that we are now at the edge of catastrophe.

Speth contends that this situation is a severe indictment of the economic and political system we call modern capitalism. Our vital task is now to change the operating instructions for today's destructive world economy before it is too late. The book is about how to do that."

See also Speth's website <http://www.thebridgeattheedgeoftheworld.com/>, where among other things, appears:

"My point of departure in this book is the momentous environmental challenge we face. But today's environmental reality is linked powerfully with other realities, including growing social inequality and neglect and the erosion of democratic governance and popular controlŠ As citizens we must now mobilize our spiritual and political resources for transformative change on all three fronts." _- Gus Speth

"When a figure as eminent and mainstream as Gus Speth issues a warning this strong and profound, the world should take real notice. This is an eloquent, accurate, and no-holds-barred brief for change large enough to matter." - Bill McKibben