Must See Videos
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).
== Anthopocene == / 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. 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 6/12. *** Gobal 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).
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 tells how he became a defender of whales [and currently bluefin tuna off Libya]. (tedxsf video). (inspiring but possibly disturbing).
The Story of Stuff an excellent look at consumption *** Annie Leonard spoke at UCSC, along with UCSC alum.
Top 20 TEDtalks by views, not necessarily the best.
Essential Readings
"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 (short 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. *** Gobal 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:
Kurt Vonnegut
Douglas Adams
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintainance
