Original post March 17th 2009

Although graphs such as the one below do scare me, after spending a week in Copenhagen with the worlds top scientists and hundreds of students from across Europe, I have to say that foremost on my mind is the seemingly inevitable destruction of life on the planet.

Long gone are the days when I thought global warming was a debatable topic- when education led to action and I believed  that real change was imminent with the onslaught of new technologies and greater undertanding of the problem- to today, when awareness of the urgency and inevitability of the problem coupled with global inaction and denial from political leaders has led to a kind of despair; why haven't we done more, where is the bold leadership we need to realize that the systems we have set up in the world are failing and we need a new way forward.

Barack Obama has exemplified great leadership. His election provided hope to millions across the globe, including myself, that change is possible. But Obama plans to bring the US into the cap and trade scheme, a system which allows rich countries to pay for pollution by 'offsetting' somewhere else. It does nothing to curb the emissions of developed countries. As James Hansen, Head of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, voiced in Copenhanhagen last week, "The cap in cap and trade is a psyedonum for tax. It is a highly flawed system which we know does not work because it has done nothing to reduce global emissions."

Who will have the courage and understanding  to say "we are going to cap carbon emssions". Obama gave us hope but without strong leadership in the face of climate change that hope will be lost along with the future of the planet.

Its not total despair, last weeks talks left me incredibly inspired to motivate action and do my part to combating this challenge. The innovative ideas, new technologies, and mutual understanding flowing through Denmark revives the hope that we do have the necessary tools to avert climate disaster. As I was walking home yeterday through Holland Park, on a particularly gorgeous day in London, I just had to wonder how people couldn't see the importance of protecting our planet. What is the point of life if you only value wealth through money... how can you accept a society for which there is no measure of time, happiness, human connection, or the song of a bird (the example often quoted by those advocating an economic system which puts the environment at its center). Even if you don't believe global warming is happening (which it is), you can't deny that we are causing massive destruction to our ecosystem through mass consumption and waste.


Holland Park

I think the global financial crisis has caused people to stop and think about the arbitary processes we have put in place to order our societies. We have allowed greed and monetary wealth to overtake ethics and values. The much talked about Daily Show 'brawl' between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer highlighted this change in attitude, this feeling of being cheated, and this desire to do things differently. Climate change is not just a bullet point on a laundry list of challenges facing our world, it is THE challenge, a product of the greed, power, and waste which is at the root of all our other problems. Combating it is not just about changing the weather, it is understanding that the human species cannot survive 'business as usual'. We have to change, we have to innovate, and we need everyone to be part of the solution.

Here is a rather scary article by the writer and environmental activist George Monboit: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Another article highlighting the current activism in the UK as well as outputs from Copenhagen last week: Protestors demonstrate against the expansion of heathrow (the comments of some people are, as usual, quite scary)

Original post November 4th 2008

Crazed with excitement and anticipation.... !!!!!!!

Original post written October 8th 2008

In an era which calls for fundamental change in the way we think about the economy and government on a global scale, an emphasis on sustainability needs to be at the core of new policy initiatives for any real change in Washington or elsewhere. Unfortunately, true passion and vision for leading the world towards a more sustainable future and combating climate change seems to be lacking in both Presidential candidates. The focus is understandably on the economy; but the current economic crisis is at its core about sustainability, defined as, "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"- The World Commission on Environment and Development. The over-consumption of food and natural resources with complete disregard for the long term future of society and the planet has created a most formidable challenge for the years ahead.

As economist Nick Stern stated at the launching of the new London School of Economics Grantham Institue on Climate Change and Environment, "if we ignore risk we will get burned. This is becoming apparent in the current financial crisis where we are at risk of a serious recession, lasting for a few years. But the risks we face from climate change equate to far greater losses over a substantially longer period of time. His warnings were echoed by Dr. Nikolaus von Bomhard, Board of Management, Munich Re: "Munich Re deals with risk management, we consider ourselves the ‘masters of disasters’; we understood the impacts of climate change very early on, but we always felt we fell short from understanding the specific economic effects. This is why we are thrilled to combine forces with the LSE. Insurance industries need to be part of the mix. Although this economic crisis is big, it bares no comparison to the economic disaster that is climate change.”

As Nick Stern pointed out, these arguments for action were based on pure economic calculations and scientific evidence. But the issue of development and environmental sustainability, particularly that of who is most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, is an issue about global inequity. It is widely understood that those most effected by climate change will be populations in the developing world, while the cause of the high level of GHG emissions at present lies in the hands of the developed world. Yet it seems as though ethics and equity alone are not enough to mobilize action for change. Fortunately, as the LSE and others are showing, climate change and unsustainable practices will come at a great economic burden for the entire world. As he and many others have stated, "the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action."

Living in Europe, I find the topics of sustainability and climate change recieve much wider attention from government, the media, and the public, than they do in the United States. I can see that this is changing, and I am hopeful that a change in administration in Washington will transform the United States into a leader for a sustainable future; a role it can and must take on.

After the jump are a few examples of the work going on the articulate crucial connections between the environment, the economy, and government:

Wanted: a green 'new deal'- Caroline Lucas MEP

Joseph Stiglitz was right when he wrote on Cif earlier this week that the present economic downturn could be the worst since the Depression.

In the coverage of the causes and likely future effects of the credit crunch, such grim parallels are becoming commonplace. But it's now time to move from problems to solutions, and here too the Depression can form a useful reference point. Franklin Roosevelt's action programme for dealing with the aftermath of the late 1920s credit crunch was threefold: first, strictly regulate the cause of the problem - the greedy and feckless finance sector; second, get people back to work, and generate business opportunities by a New Deal. This invested billions of dollars in training, better working conditions and a huge range of infrastructural projects such as highways, dams and bridges. Finally, fund this in part by an increase in taxes on big business and the rich - a measure which also had the positive effect of dramatically decreasing inequality.

Today the re-regulation of finance is even being discussed among consenting free market adults in the columns of the Financial Times. My colleague, environmentalist Colin Hines, has fleshed out the details of a Green New Deal which could help re-boot the economy after the credit crash, while putting serious money into addressing climate change.

A Green New Deal: Joined-up policies to solve the triple crunch of the credit crisis, climate change and high oil prices

The global economy is facing a ‘triple crunch’: a combination of a credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by encroaching peak oil. It is increasingly clear that these three overlapping events threaten to develop into a perfect storm, the like of which has not been seen since the Great Depression, with potentially devastating consequences.

The Green New Deal Group, drawing inspiration from the tone of President Roosevelt’s comprehensive response to the Great Depression, propose a modernised version, a ‘Green New Deal’ designed to power a renewables revolution, create thousands of green-collar jobs and rein in the distorting power of the finance sector while making more low-cost capital available for pressing priorities.

The Green Collar Economy

We've all heard of blue-collar workers, white-collar workers, and maybe even steel-collar workers (industrial robots!), but the latest and greatest collar color has to be green. One green-collar advocate, Van Jones, is releasing a book today called The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems. The book makes the case for an economy that saves the environment while creating solid jobs.

I was first introduced to the concept of green-collar jobs after reading a post on this very blog. I loved the simple brilliance of the idea. The United States needs to do something about the environment, especially as it relates to energy independence. At the same time, we're dealing with a serious economic crisis, one that's been responsible for over 750,000 lost jobs this year. On the surface, the environmental crisis and economic crisis don't seem related, but Jones links the two in a compelling fashion.

I could go on and on about this, but I think it's better to let the author do the talking. Check out his appearance on The Colbert Report. As always, Colbert's interviews are entertaining, and Jones does a great job at getting his points across.

For more information on green-collar jobs, check out the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign and Van Jones's book, The Green Collar Economy.

A message from my colleague I thought I would share:

I know it’s still only September, but Amnesty International and People Tree have cunningly timed the arrival of their shop catalogues on my doorstep just as I'm starting to think about Christmas. Lots of lovely things to give and receive, so I thought I'd put a few web-links to my favourite online ethical shops:

• www.traidcraftshop.co.uk
• www.amnestyshop.org.uk
• www.nigelsecostore.com
• www.peopletree.co.uk
• www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/
• www.ethicalsuperstore.com

And in the spirit of reducing consumerism altogether, some prezzie ideas that don't encourage yet more piles of stuff under the tree:

• Good Gifts
• Oxfam unwrapped
• Gifts for Life

LEAD is an international non-profit organisation with a fast growing network of 2000 leaders in more than 90 countries. Our shared mission is to inspire leadership for a sustainable world.

We do this by searching worldwide for outstanding people, developing their leadership potential through our innovative training programmes and working with them to mobilise others to make a real difference to the future of this planet.

Our LEAD offices across the world deliver training programmes that challenge traditional notions of leadership with progressive participatory techniques. Using LEAD's experiential learning approach, our participants learn through multi-stakeholder dialogue, systems thinking, and inclusive cross-cultural processes.

We train business executives, government officials, academics, NGO directors, activists, educationalists and media professionals. Our multi-lingual training team works with top-level experts and practitioners from around the world who focus on emerging issues relevant to leadership and sustainable development.

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I made my decidedly annual trip to Ireland two weeks ago to visit the family! Filled with the usual characters (Peter, Joe, Francis, Marcus, and Fiona); I had a wonderful and relaxing break. I am constantly awed by the beauty of West Ireland, the vibrant green of the hills and mountains along the backdrop of the dark blue sea and sky. It is truly breathtaking and makes me appreciate my ancestry and all the connections I have with Ireland. 

Fiona, Marcus, and Myself


I also got to meet Patricia (Joe and Francis daughter) and Ronan and their daughter Sarah, as well as Eugene (J&F's son) for the first time. I fell in love with Sarah at first sight because she is by far one of the cutest kids in the world, I think there is a huge family resemblence actually!! :)

Myself, Eugene, Peter, Marcus, Ronan, and Patricia


Sarah<3

Growing up in Woodlawn, I feel as though I had a particularly Irish childhood, and it is probably why I am not so much a fan of Dublin. It is Ireland without the beauty of the West, and for me very similar to my little Irish pocket in the Bronx. Don't get me wrong; I am basically obsessed with Woodlawn and wouldn't trade living and gorwing up there for anything else in the world.

So my advice if you go to Ireland... Go to Sligo and have drinks at Strandhill and climb the sandunes and appreciate the beauty all around.. Drive through Leitrim and breath in the silence and tranquility of the smallest county in Ireland, which gots its first traffic light less than 8 years ago... walk down the streets of Kiltyclogher which seem to remain frozen in time since my grandmother was first born there almost 80 years ago; and look up local historian and all around most wonderful man in the world, my uncle, Joe Bennett. He will make the surroundings come alive; telling stories of history and fantasy, from the hard times of the Troubles, to the roads where the fairies cross at night. His motto, which was the mantra of my great grandfather, ''sufficient is enough for today''. It reminds me, particularly when life feels overwhelming and the world too big, to stop and breath. 

Ireland brings me back to myself in every way possible, and for me that is more than sufficient.

Me and Joe in Kiltyclogher


Strandhill in Sligo


Sligo