Must See Videos
See also Environmental Films
Analysis is kind of a spooky concept: it's hard to define, and there's no four step process. It's a habit of mind, related to creativity. It involves often both the classic Western scientific technique of breaking things down into smaller units (but beware the "sin" of reductionism, in which important aspects get left out. General Systems Theory was begun by a rebellion when Von Berthalannfy realized you can't understand life with the tools of physics alone). So analysis must also be synthetic, putting things together most people think are unrelated (See creativity). This is often done via metaphor. Analysis is what you're spending all this time and money to learn; it's the method your hero used.
Advertising & the End of the World is a brilliant Big Picture analysis of how the culture of consumption drives eco-degradation. 2010 Update (not as entertaining): Adverstising & the Perfect Storm: Global Warming, Peak Oil & Consumer Debt presented by Sut Jhally, Umass and Founder/Exec Director of the Media Education Foundation (MEF).
Contents
Anthropocene
(see Big Picture)
Hans Rosling, creator of Gapminder.org, a fantastic tool, introduced at TED , a later talk on global population growth TEDtalk and more videos. **** One of Top all-time TEDtalks.
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History (book) by Elizabeth Kolbert, (video interview), as well as [audio interview). Also an extended video talk see Wildlife. *** 2/14.
Excellent video overview of our current status: Human growth has strained the Earth's resources, but as Johan Rockstrom reminds us, our advances also give us the science to recognize this and change behavior. His research has found nine "planetary boundaries" that can guide us in protecting our planet's many overlapping ecosystems. TEDtalk 2010 ****. This LongNow talk builds on Rockstrom. 3/12. Rio Summit talk 6/12 (audio). We overshot earth capacity a while back.
Global Warming
(see also "debate")
Bill McKibben tells the story of how he and some writer friends and then six students built a movement 350.org (14:30-31:00) 6/12. *** Global Warming's Terrifying New Math is all you need to know. ****
TEDtalks on climate, including Overview TEDtalk by Michael Mann. 12/11 ***
The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See Great video on global warmingPart II How It All Ends is slightly refined version of Part II?***
Environmental History
"A Fierce Green Fire" video documentery traces the history of the modern environmental movement, chronicling dramatic battles like the Sierra Club's fight against dams in the Grand Canyon, Greenpeace's campaign to save whales and recent efforts to combat climate change. San Francisco-based director Mark Kitchell, who also made the Academy Award-nominated "Berkeley in the Sixties," (audio interview). ** Samples: Capt. Paul Watson: the first whale war; Lois Gibbs on Love Canal; Chico Mendez in Amazonia
Earth Days is a fantastic history of the American Environmental Movement. ***
Environmental Justice
Majora Carter works for Environmental Justice in the Bronx 20 min.**** TEDtalk video (one of highest rated).
Eco-Heroes
See also Eco-heroes
Saul Griffith is doing some of the most interesting work around energy. In this webcast, he'll take a scientific look (physics and chemistry based) at all of the earth's energy resources, both stored (nuclear and fossil fuels) as well as renewable (solar, wind, wave, geothermal, tidal, wave, photosynthetic). Looking at the sizes of each of these resources and comparing them to humanity's energy consumption is far from depressing. Although humanity uses a lot of energy, there are very large sources of non-carbon producing energy that can be tapped to meet our needs.this is a brilliant and funny 60 minute talk, plus 30 Q&A) at LongNow. Saul has multiple degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering and completed his PhD in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT. He is the co-founder of numerous companies including: Low Cost Eyeglasses, Squid Labs, Potenco, Instructables.com, HowToons, Makani Power, and WattzOn, a free online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle. Saul has been awarded numerous awards for invention including the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Collegiate Inventor's award, and the Lemelson-MIT Student prize. In 2007 he received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." fantastic TEDtalk on high altitude wind. Another TEDtalk on bio-mimicry, or actually, working from first principles, as did Bucky Fuller. At X Prize, he calls for a systems science for design, Terrarium Science (video). PARC talk video **** 9/12.
Bill McKibben tells the story of how he and some writer friends and then six students built a movement 350.org 6/12. *** Do the Math Tour takes on the energy companies head on in a fight to the death.
Elon Musk (TEDtalk) has made huge contributions as a designer and entrepreneur because he imagined what was inevitable and caught the wave to that early: Tesla electric cars, private sector spaceflight and solar energy. extensive bio interview 1/13 The Future of Energy and Transport Oxford 2012.
Captain Paul Watson (video) tells how he founded Sea Shepherds and became a defender of whales (and currently bluefin tuna off Libya). (tedxsf video). (inspiring but possibly disturbing). See Whales.
Green Design
(see Green Design)
Elon Musk (TEDtalk) has made huge contributions as a designer and entrepreneur because he imagined what was inevitable and caught the wave to that early: Tesla electric cars, private sector spaceflight and solar energy. extensive bio interview 1/13 The Future of Energy and Transport Oxford 2012.
Saul Griffith is doing some of the most interesting work around energy. In this webcast, he'll take a scientific look (physics and chemistry based) at all of the earth's energy resources, both stored (nuclear and fossil fuels) as well as renewable (solar, wind, wave, geothermal, tidal, wave, photosynthetic). Looking at the sizes of each of these resources and comparing them to humanity's energy consumption is far from depressing. Although humanity uses a lot of energy, there are very large sources of non-carbon producing energy that can be tapped to meet our needs.this is a brilliant and funny 60 minute talk, plus 30 Q&A) at LongNow. Saul has multiple degrees in materials science and mechanical engineering and completed his PhD in Programmable Assembly and Self Replicating machines at MIT. He is the co-founder of numerous companies including: Low Cost Eyeglasses, Squid Labs, Potenco, Instructables.com, HowToons, Makani Power, and WattzOn, a free online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle. Saul has been awarded numerous awards for invention including the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Collegiate Inventor's award, and the Lemelson-MIT Student prize. In 2007 he received a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant." fantastic TEDtalk on high altitude wind. Another TEDtalk on bio-mimicry, or actually, working from first principles, as did Bucky Fuller. At X Prize, he calls for a systems science for design, Terrarium Science (video). PARC talk video **** 9/12.
A good overview of Green Design can be found in William McDonough’s great 2007 TEDtalk.
Creativity/How to Find Your Passion
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams (74 min youtube version). longer Google video version****
Steve Jobs' famous commencement speech from a legendary entrepreneur, co-founder of Apple.***
"Consider the Lobster" is an excellent essay on the ethics of eating animals by David Foster Wallace, bonus his fine commencement address This Is Water ***. (audio), (video), (as opposed to the fake one ascribed to Kurt Vonnegut (Ice 9 isn't real either, but you really should read his books).
Sir Ken Robinson has written numerous books on how to find your dream/passion. He has also done phenomenally wise and popular video talks on education and creativity: original 2006 talk **** and 2010 followup TEDtalk, CBS News segment 1/10. Newer 2011 talk. 2013 TEDtalk.
Fun/Cool/Humor
Amazing video from deep ocean includes bioluminescent and encephlapods by David Gallo TEDtalk. David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square's worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean. See also longer video TEDtalk (total of 3). *** See Octopus.
Fun mockumentary on the plastic bag. alt link. See Plastic page.
Lord of the Rings recycling parody (video) (humor).
Music video on plastic bags. ***
Audio/Podcasts
British journalist George Monbiot's “Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning" became a best seller in Europe and Canada but Monbiot could barely convince a publisher in the US to print it. (Audio interview) alt link. 11/15.*** See Global Warming.
RadioLab does brilliant work on a wide variety of topics, including green issues such as bats and rabies, endangered species *** and conservation.
Science Could Soon Bring Species Back to Life: Advances in biotechnology may enable us to revive the passenger pigeon, the great auk, and even the wooly mammoth -- and help restore biodiversity and genetic diversity in the process. But critics say that de-extinction efforts distract from important conservation priorities like combating habitat destruction and saving existing species. Panel discussion: Professor Stanley A. Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation at the University of Wisconsin, and a senior fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation; Professor Stuart L. Pimm, Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University; Ryan Phelan, executive director and co-founder of Revive and Restore, a project within The Long Now Foundation. 9/13.
To the Best of Our Knowledge NPR **** January 25, 2015 Our planet is facing a mass extinction crisis. By the end of the century, we could lose up to half of all living species. But people are working hard to save endangered species and habitats, and a few scientists are even trying to bring lost species - like passenger pigeons and woolly mammoths - back to life (Shapiro UCSC).
Elizabeth Kolbert, "The Sixth Extinction." It's a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. See Biodiversity. *** (another audio interview).
Astronaut Michael J. Massimino: A View of the Earth alt link. ****
Other Sites
The Story of Stuff an excellent look at consumption *** Annie Leonard spoke at UCSC in 2104. They also have fine videos on bottled water, e-waste and Citizens United (corporate personhood).
Top 20 TEDtalks by views, not necessarily the best.
Essential Readings
Hawken, Paul Blessed Unrest. Two excellent chapters are "The Rights of Business" (includes important history like Bhopal) and the final inspiring and insightful chapter, "Restoration" (password protected) Restoration (no password); here's a short video overview from Bioneers Introduction/The Long Green and "We Interrupt This Empire" on WTO article on the book's origins Talk at Google campus2007 Another 2007 talk (video)."Restoration" is the final chapter of Blessed Unrest, the best antidote to easy cynicism or even real and valid despair, as well as a map forward (The Rights of Business is pretty good green history, including essential events such as Bhopal]) Paul Hawken. He has created a database (you can search it to find some related to your hometown issue) of many thousands of organizations who are working on social and environmental justice, as well as related concerns (longer video explain this ***). He thinks these constitute a new kind of social movement. The book Blessed Unrest is the result. video of a talk at Google HQ based on the book. Introduction "Emerson's Savants" explores Emerson, Thoreau and Gandhi. Talk at Longnow.org (audio) June 19, 2007 "The New Great Transformation."
Joanna Macy is an "eco-philosopher, is a scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory, and deep ecology (short video definition). A respected voice in movements for peace, justice, and ecology, she interweaves her scholarship with four decades of activism. She has created a ground-breaking theoretical framework for personal and social change, as well as a powerful workshop methodology for its application." Video on Great Turning. Coming Back to Life : Practice to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World / Joanna Macy, Molly Young Brown 1998 Location McH Stacks GF80 .M33 1998. Excerpt:Macy, J. and Brown, M. provide a good introduction as well, relating systems thinking to spiritual practices. *** (login required). 2010 Bioneers keynote video.
Donella Meadows archive of her articles, one of the best being the 12 Leverage Points. *** See also her 2008 book Thinking in Systems: A Primer Table of Contents. A summary of the conclusion: Dancing With Systems. Meadows was also part of a team of three scientists from MIT in 1972 who created a computer model that analyzed global resource consumption and production. Their results shocked the world and created stirring conversation about global 'overshoot,' or resource use beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. Now, preeminent environmental scientists Donnella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows audio interview 2004 have teamed up again to update and expand their original findings in The Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Global Update. summary pdf.
Bill McKibben tells the story of how he and some writer friends and then six students built a movement 350.org 6/12. *** Global Warming's Terrifying New Math is all you need to know. ****
Books that will rock your world right now but will be useless in five years:
Adams, Douglas. Best known for the amazing Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, he also wrote Last Chance to See about endangered animals. Intro Ch. 1 password required. Author reading about Komodo dragon encounter (full audio book). Warning, some animals were harmed in the production of this book ;) NEW! at TEDtalk; talk based on Last Chance experiences. The BBC has done a new series in which Stephen Frye retraces the original journey. Here are some of the original radio dispatches.
Fake commencement speech ascribed to Kurt Vonnegut but not bad advice.(Ice 9 isn't real either, but you really should read his books).
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; presumably the motorcycle on the cover of a newer book Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work is not an accident.
