The Higher Pathway to More Resilient Lifestyles and Communities

(Essay Question: What roles can universities and students in Thailand play in facilitating the State of the World Forum’s goal of “empowering people everywhere, personally and collectively, to create greener and more resilient lifestyles and communities?”)

The Higher Pathway
to More Resilient Lifestyles and Communities

Written by Supat Kuanpradit

There have been many global natural disasters occurred over the last decades. Such as the crumbling of the sea ice in the Arctic that has effected people all over the world, the more frequent and intense earthquakes, Tsunamis, the increasing storm damage, for instance, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, USA in 2005, the Honduras Hurricane in 1998, flooding, wildfires, etc.

These are just a very few examples of what has happened on our planet. John Doerr (Video available on TED.com, Sees Salvation and Profit in Greentech, 2007) quoted Eugene Kleiner saying “There is a time when panic is an appropriate response.” And I think we have reached that time, when nature is starting to imitate what we have seen in the movies and it is getting to be more and more intense. Furthermore, scientists say that the global warming crisis has been caused mostly by the unconscious-behavior of human beings.

However, I strongly agree with Jamais Cascio (Video available on TED.com, tools for a better world, 2006) who mentioned that “The successional responses to the world problem are more or less possible. Moreover, focusing on the negative outcomes can really blind you to the possibilities to the success.” And this is the point where the sustainable solutions are, because now it is not a time to blame anyone who created these problems. And if we look at all these approaches as a big picture, I think we will realize that it is not just time to focus on what consequences have occurred on our planet, but it is time to unify all individuals and assemblages in each society and determinedly solve these problems. However, the question is how can we solve these problems at the first place and create sustainable solutions to the society simultaneously?

It is the new generation in the next ten years who will be making decisions or not that leads our civilization into a higher pathway of the solutions. In my opinion, if all communities would unify and determinedly solve these problems, there would definitely be possibilities leading to success. In creating greener and rehabilitated environments, universities and students should follow these approaches;

1) Develop environmentalists
Firstly, establish sustainable-environmental faith in people in every social level, focusing on the youth; the new generation of the society. This faith is the determination of maintaining and augmenting all natural resources through the recognition of sustainable environmental values and the consequences of unconscious-behavior towards our life and the world. Make society realize it and be determined to make a difference.

In addition, I truly believe that if we want to sustainably establish environmental faith in someone, we should start doing it since he/she is a child. Then we need to sustain this environmental faith without exception and lead the child until he/she is grown up and truly understands and values this faith. Then that person will live his/her life without declining this resilient lifestyle and will be resolute to promote the significance of being responsible to the communities and to the world. Emotionally, that person will be willing to do all these things him/herself, that we might call ‘being a sustainable environmentalists’.

2) Establish effective tools for the country and create supporting activities for the communities

Jamais Cascio (Video available on TED.com, tools for a better world, 2006) declared that “It seems that the Global Warming crisis can never be instantly solved and the truth is that we cannot build another better world, and we cannot do so right now, but we have the majority of models, tools, and ideas; we have the knowledge and the understanding of our planet, most importantly we have motives and the world that need fixing and nobody is going to do it for us.”

In order to establish effective tools for the country, I believe that in developing worlds, for example; Thailand, we may use those models, tools, and emerging ideas, which should not be too difficult and unaffordable in investing and constructing, and it should be widely adopted in the country. There are many of those ideas available online provided by mostly Americans and Europeans in the developed world, there are effective ideas available on worldchanging.com, for example.

2.1) Support more governmental green policies

In developing countries, people’s consumption is increasingly growing. The rapid growth and unplanned consumption will lead to more environmental problems. However, I think in this part the government should construct more green-mass transportation systems. Make it comfortable and affordable to the public in order to decrease wasted-private consumption.

In this topic not only transportation is included, but also all infrastructures, second-superpower system, public-welfare and much more. The government could seriously enact the environment-preservation laws and leave no space for those who have been greedily and unconsciously destroying natural resources.


Moreover, the government could emphasize on expanding green areas, saving forests, afforesting all uninhabited areas, and preserving forests which should be preserved, for example. Apart from these policies, there are still many more approaches that the government can provide to the country.

2.2) Encourage more green projects and activities in the society

Universities and students in Thailand, uniting as one would play these important roles in empowering people, personally and collectively, by organizing environmental campaigns focused on these two initiatives;
- Reduce CO2 emission into the atmosphere
- Support CO2 levels reduction methods

2.2.1) In the private sector
Universities and students could encourage the private sector to use energy efficient electronics in their workplace such as Compact Fluorescent Light bulb (CFL), in order to reduce CO2 release into the atmosphere. Moreover, they could build up their brand recognition as environmental care organizations, not only create an external image, but also create the assurance of accountability from within organizations.

In supporting CO2 levels reduction methods, the private sector could follow Alex Steffen’s ‘Green Roof’ project, for example. (Sees a Sustainable Future on TED.com) This idea could increase the green areas in the city, which are full of skyscrapers, crowds of people, and pollution.

2.2.2) With ordinary citizens
In fact, as mentioned that one of the most significant strategies is to encourage the youth to undertake these activities and nurture them by instilling a sustainable-environmental faith. Allow them to grow up with love and respect for nature, and sense of social responsibility. Moreover, all sectors of society should give support and invariably participate in these activities when organized.

Universities and students could organize environmental campaigns. They could reforest all uninhabited areas, some preserving forests, which might have been destroyed, etc. All individuals and groups should participate in these campaigns.
Universities and students could create an Indoor Gardening campaign. All unusable land of every house in the country should be planted with various species of trees, crops and flowers with everybody’s effort. In addition, this method not only has advantages on the CO2 reduction, but also happiness and relaxation in everyday life.

Furthermore, another idea by Alex Steffen and his team is the city car-share. This idea can possibly reduce some amount of CO2 emitted from the burning of fuel by individual consumption. Moreover, this is also the process of strengthening people’s relationships and making the city a better place to live in. Apart from these ideas, there are still many beneficial and effective ideas for developing countries, like Thailand and others available on worldchanging.com

Even though we have enormous tools that may help us to save our world, but if there is a lack of attention, then the success will never reach its point. So we need to use other tools we have, for instance, the technology; social network, including mass-media communication; advertising through television & radio broadcasting, organizing some green events by both virtual and face-to-face conference. I believe all these tools, models, and ideas can effectively help us solve problems.

Now let’s move on to the question, “how can we create sustainable solutions for society?” In my opinion, in order to genuinely fix any problem, the most significant approach is that we need to fix it at its root, because if we do so, the problem will be resolved permanently. The heart of this problem lies fundamentally in human nature and values.

After the Industrial Revolution period, the world becomes more consumer-oriented. Here, there are both advantages and shortcomings. I believe all of us already know what the advantages are such as the rapid improvement of technology, which provides for a more convenient and comfortable lifestyle. However, one of the disadvantages is the growth of materialism. People value outer material thing more than they value the true person inside.

Additionally, in Buddhism we consider that the planet is composed of three components; the earth (includes only non-living thing; mountain, land, ocean, etc.), organisms (human beings, animals), and organisms’ emotions within ones’ selves (especially, most powerful source is that humankind’s emotions), and there are several links between these three components.

For instance, if there are some natural disasters occur on earth such as earthquakes, flooding, storms, the climate that turns to be too hot or too cold, etc., the question is whether these things have any impacts on organisms? The answer is “Yes! Of course”. Then, how about the impact on our mind? Well, yes again. Because we may feel upset sometimes, when the weather is too hot, or sometimes too cold. However, the point is that any changes from humankind’s emotions, or our mind, also have some effects on the earth as well.

In fact, unfortunately, there are a lot of cases of inappropriate CO2 release nowadays, just because of few people produce it without thinking of its consequences to the planet. Here, let me share with you true stories which happened in preserved forest area, where covers more than 22,000 kilometers2 in the North of Thailand.

Firstly, according to the official forest staff message, (Protect the Earth from Global Warming Crisis, 2009, available in Thai language) during summer, 90% of the forests are burned by fire started by a few villagers' own hands. They said they did it because of some mushroom harvests. After the forests were burned and the rain had fallen, then a large amount of mushrooms would sprout. Unfortunately, they set fire to the whole forest, just for some mushroom harvests! The farmers thought about the income they would earn from mushroom sales without considering its impact of CO2 emission that had been released into the atmosphere, or about its impact on the earth.

In another case, in the central plain of Thailand, some groups of farmers also set fire to a preserved plain, because grass for their oxen. Their unconscious action had unimaginable impacts, both by increasing CO2 emissions in the atmosphere and worse than that is the diminishing green area that would help to transform CO2, but it would not. Apart from these two cases, there are a lot of other examples of destroying the environment.

Considering follow this two cases, we may think that if we let people behave with negligence and unconsciousness, who only think about their own benefits and carelessly have little thought about community at large, it will affect the earth immensely and intensely, especially when the effects from these individuals are combined, the final impact would be more than immense for sure.

However, if all individuals start to better their mind and consciousness by thinking that how we can save our world from this crisis. Rather than to damage it, maybe, by reforestation, or even creating indoor gardens in our own homes, if every house does the same thing, it will help save the earth.

Another example, in Japan during its fast economic development, the environment was heavily destroyed, by its own people who released too much mercury into the water at a village named Minamata, Itai Itai. The fish were then contaminated by the mercury, and then people ate those fish, and were poisoned by mercury. Word ‘itai-itai’ means ‘hurt/be in pain’, because when the wind blows towards people poisoned by mercury, they weep because of the unbearable pain and eventually die.

After enduring many problems caused by environmental damage which affected the health of the Japanese, they realized that they could not let these problems go on anymore. They unified and developed campaigns to rehabilitating environment; turning the island, all the country green by growing trees, setting restrictions on the pollution of water/air/toxic, for example. The Japanese realized that their greatest national priority is not only economic development, but also the environmental protection and developing consciousness within individuals’ mind at the same time.

According to the “Turning Point” by Dr. Fritjof Capra (1982), “By developing our capacity for abstract thinking at such a rapid pace, we seem to have lost the important ability to ritualize social conflicts… But the evolution of consciousness gives us the potential to live peacefully and in harmony with the natural world in the future… We can consciously alter our behavior by changing our values and attributes to regain the spirituality and ecological awareness we have lost.”

Consequently, the final answer on how to create sustainable solutions to the society is to better all individuals’ emotions, people’s mind. There is nothing wrong with consumerism and technology, which improves the lives of man. However, at the same time, we should not forget our awareness. The best alternative is the moderate and sustainable consumption.

H.G. Wells once said that “All of the past is but the beginning of a beginning; all that the human mind has accomplished is but the dream before the awakening.” The dream that I dare to dream, and I think the ultimate significant issue is that, which method is the most stabilized and effective to ritualize all individuals’ emotionalism? A METHOD, which is environmentally sustainable, which is universal; shared by everyone on the planet, which promotes stability and democracy and human rights, and which is achievable in the time flare necessary to make it through the challenges we have faced recently.

Finally, When people in all societies get united. All miracles are possible. And unity is the most powerful tool that can make any differece. Together we can and we are going to do it. Even some people say it’s unrealistic, idealistic, that it can’t happen. Remember, people created it. And we’re people too. So let’s create something new.

Reference
- Cascio, Jamais. Tools for a Better World. Video on TED.com, 2006 (Online). Available: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamais_cascio_looks_ahead.html
- Dhammakaya Foundation. Global Warming. Online TV. In Thai language. Available:
http://www.dmc.tv/mmdownload.php?file=/world-dhamma/500708.wmv
- Dhammakaya Foundation. Protect the Earth from Global Warming Crisis. Online TV. In Thai language. Available: http://www.dmc.tv/mmdownload.php?file=/world-dhamma/510420.wmv
- Dhammakaya Foundation. Turning Point of the Century. Online TV. Online TV. In Thai language. Available: http://www.dmc.tv/mmdownload.php?file=/world-dhamma/510907.wmv
- Doerr, John. Salvation and Profit in Greentech. Video on TED.com, 2007 (Online). Available: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/john_doerr_sees_salvation_and_profit_in_greentech.html
- Dr.Capra, Fritjof. The Turning Point. Southern Winter of 1996, 1982 (Online). Available: http://www.mountainman.com.au/capra_4.html
- Gore, Al. An Inconvenience Truth. Available As: audio-visual material, 2005
Leonard, Annie. Story Of Stuff, Referenced and Annotated Script. (Online). Available: http://www.storyofstuff.com
- Steffen, Alex. Sees a Sustainable Future. Video on TED.com, 2005 (Online). Available: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/alex_steffen_sees_a_sustainable_future.html

State of the World Forum

Jim Garrison

at Bioneers Conference

UNMISSABLE TALK!!!!

"We are of the earth. We live on the earth. We will turn to the earth. And the wisdom of the reinforce is that WE NEED TO LIVE WITH THE EARTH." Because of the transformation of human heart and values, we shall be on earth as it is in heaven..

And that is the 2020 Climate Leaderships Campaign ...

Highlights from North American Summit

This short movie was compiled by TCP delegates from Argentina and features The Climate Project's North American Summit, held in Nashville, TN, May 14-16, 2009.

UN: Rich Countries Will Suffer Unless They Help Poor on Climate Change

UN: Rich Countries Will Suffer Unless They Help Poor on Climate Change

WorldChanging Team, 2 Sep 09

By Ashley Seager

• £300bn needed by poor nations to tackle carbon emissions• Failure to give could reduce world gross product by 20%The world's rich countries need to embark on a huge transfer of funds to developing countries in order for both groups to grow richer and reduce their carbon emissions significantly, a United Nations report urges today.

Delaying spending on mitigating climate change in the developing world "runs the real danger of locking in dirtier investments for several more decades", says the annual survey from the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA).

Ahead of this weekend's meeting of G20 finance ministers in London, the report estimates that developed countries need immediately to transfer around 1% of world gross product (WGP), or $500-600bn (£300-370bn), to poor countries.
Carrying on with business as usual, or making only minor changes, could lose 20% of WGP so doing nothing would be an expensive mistake, it argues.

UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon says the report "makes the case for meeting both the climate challenge and the development challenge by recognising the links between the two and proceeding along low-emissions, high-growth pathways".

The report adds, using unusually strong language, that "by any measure, the amounts currently promised for meeting the climate challenge in the near term are woefully inadequate".

It continues: "The failure of wealthy countries to honour long-standing commitments of international support for poverty reduction and adequate transfers of resources and technology remains the single biggest obstacle to meeting the climate change challenge."

The survey estimates that about $21bn (£13bn) in official development funding is set aside to addressing climate change, mostly for fighting problems such as drought or flooding. The total amount of climate financing that is required is a large multiple of that figure, it says.

"If the international community is serious about a 'global new deal', it should be just as serious about committing resources on the same scale as was needed to tackle the financial crisis and defeat political extremism."

The report challenges the thinking that the climate problem can simply be addressed by across-the-board emission cuts by all countries or by relying exclusively on market-based solutions to generate the required investments. Its central point is that developing countries can only make a meaningful contribution to combating climate change if their economies continue to grow strongly.

In turn that would require satisfying the growing energy needs of developing countries, which are projected to double that of the developed world over the coming decades.

"This raises the question for climate change negotiators of how poor countries can pursue low-emissions, high-growth development," it says, with an eye on the Copenhagen climate change conference in December.

The report argues that the technologies that would allow developing countries to switch to a sustainable development path do exist. These include low-energy buildings, new drought-resistant crop strains and more advanced primary renewables.

But they are often prohibitively expensive and, the report says, such a transformation would require "a level of international support and solidarity rarely mustered outside a wartime setting".

Poor countries, the report says, are facing "vastly more daunting challenges than those confronting developed countries and in a far more constrained environment".

Economic growth remains a priority for them, not only to reduce poverty but also to bring about a gradual narrowing of the huge income differentials with wealthy countries.

"The idea of freezing the current level of global inequality over the next half century or more (as the world goes about trying to solve the climate problem) is economically, politically and ethically unacceptable," the report says.
The study's authors believe that they could be pushing on a door that is starting to open with world policymakers becoming increasingly aware of the dangers posed by rapid climate change.

Professor Nicholas Stern, who carried out a seminal study into the economics of climate change three years ago, recently published a book arguing for speedier action on a bigger scale than before.

101 Ways to Go Green in College

101 Ways to Go Green in College
As a student, there are lots of things you can do to be more environmentally friendly. Whether you’re participating in campus recycling or practicing conservation in your dorm room, you can make a difference. Read on to learn about 101 ways to go green in college.
Recycling
Try these ways to take advantage of recycling on campus.
Look for recycling bins: Use recycling bins around campus and create one for your room.
Recycle your electronics: Don’t throw away your old cell phone or laptop-find a recycling center.
Know recycling rules: Make sure you don’t send in anything that can’t be processed.
Recycle paper: Even in this digital age, students generate lots of paper-be sure it finds its final place in a recycling bin.
Reusing
These tips will help you reuse what you already have access to.
Don’t throw away good stuff: Use sites like Craigslist and Freecycle to get rid of your old items.
Reuse paper: Use back sides of paper for scraps and more.
Donate supplies to artists: Give paper towel tubes, rubber bands, even oven doors to artists who can use them.
Repurpose items: Use empty cans for pencil holders, turn old shoe boxes into storage, and more.
Get used textbooks: Get used textbooks from stores, classmates, or websites.
Reducing
With these tips, you can reduce the waste you generate.
Be thrifty: Shop at a thrift store to reuse old items and avoid waste from production.
Buy green: Buy recycled products whenever possible.
Be picky: Don’t buy lots of unnecessary items-you’ll save money and the environment.
Carry a refillable water bottle: Instead of buying plastic water bottles each day, bring your own to refill.
Shopping
These are some of the ways you can be green while shopping.
Use canvas bags: Keep an extra canvas bag in your backpack for shopping.
Buy local: Buy your furnishings and supplies locally.
Buy in bulk: Cut down on packaging by purchasing items in bulk.
Cleaning
Stay clean and green with these methods.
Handwash: Conserve electricity and water by hand washing your clothes.
Use green cleaning products: Choose biodegradable cleaning products with minimal toxins for your dorm room.
Line-dry clothing: Cut down on costs and save energy by drying your clothes on a line.
Only wash full loads: Save water and energy by only washing loads at capacity.
Make your own cleaning products: Use ingredients like baking soda, vinegar, and lemon for non-toxic cleaning.
Use cold water: Cut down on electricity and heat damage to your clothing by using cold water in your washing machine.
Consolidate products: Buy a two in one shampoo plus conditioner to cut down on packaging.
Dorm Life
Follow these methods to make your dorm more environmentally friendly.
Take shorter showers: Save thousands of gallons and pounds of CO2 by reducing your shower time.
Use plants instead of air fresheners: Instead of plug in air fresheners, you can use plants that improve indoor air quality.
Decorate with recyclable materials: Use decor that you can recycle when you’ve outgrown it or move out later.
Create a handmade lamp: Recycle jars with a lighting fixture to create your own lamp.
Buy organic cotton sheets: Avoid toxicity by investing in organic cotton linens.
Use compact fluorescent bulbs: Instead of using overhead dorm lights, use a lamp with a compact fluorescent light bulb.
Give up air conditioning: Turn on a fan, open a window, or take a cold shower.
Use a programmable thermostat: Program your thermostat to be comfortable when you’re in your dorm room or apartment, and higher or lower in temperature when you’re not.
Turn off your lights: Use natural light whenever possible.
Turn off the water: Be sure to turn off your faucet when you’re brushing your teeth.
Unplug electronics: Save energy by turning off and unplugging electronics.
Supplies
Make your supplies green with these tips.
Use refillable pens and pencils: Avoid waste by refilling writing utensils instead of throwing them away.
Download energy saving applications: With certain applications, you can save energy on your computer.
Use an e-reader: With an e-reader like Kindle, you can download books instead of buying paper items.
Save your supplies: Keep your supplies and reuse them from semester to semester.
Use binders instead of notebooks: Save waste by reusing notebooks and using single sheets of paper.
Write to the edge of your paper: If you’re just taking notes, don’t bother staying within the margins.
Get a solar backpack: Use a solar backpack to charge your laptop, gadgets, and more.
Rent your textbooks: Save money and the environment by renting your textbooks.
Share textbooks: Save paper and money, and study together with a classmate.
Take inventory: Know what you have and avoid duplicates.
Print carefully: Cut down on printing by choosing carefully what you’d like to print.
Use low quality settings on your printing: Print in draft mode for items you don’t need to turn in, and you’ll save ink.
Print on both sides: For notes, directions, and more, save paper by printing on both sides.
Use recycled paper: Print and take notes on recycled paper.
Take digital notes: Save yourself the trouble of writing on paper by typing your notes on a laptop.
Clothes
Follow these tips to have environmentally friendly clothing.
Shop at thrift stores: Save money and the environment by shopping for clothing at thrift stores.
Go vintage: Get vintage accessories, clothing, and more.
Take care of your stuff: Repair items instead of replacing them, and treat them kindly to extend their life.
Swap clothes: Share and swap clothes among your friends.
Avoid chasing trends: Avoid wastefulness by investing in classics.
Purchase fair trade items: Improve the livelihoods of workers around the world by purchasing fair trade.
Shop indie: Stay away from big box retailers and support local boutiques instead.
Transportation & Travel
Make your travel and transportation greener with these tips.
Walk: Most college campuses are very friendly for walking.
Carpool: Split the cost and the emissions of transportation by carpooling with friends.
Use local resources: Find something fun to do around campus instead of going somewhere far flung.
Ride the bus: Use public transportation to get to class instead of driving.
Ride your bike: You can easily bike around campus.
Take a road trip close to home: Go on a road trip with your friends to save gas together.
Take an eco-trip: Go somewhere with sustainable housing, low-impact activities, and local support.
Food
Eat green on campus and off with these tips.
Go local: Buy seasonal, local food to cut down on miles and support your community.
Eat plants: Eat lots of fruits and vegetables to go greener.
Eat what you take: If you have an all you can eat cafeteria, make sure you only take what you know you’re going to eat.
Plan your meals: Save money on groceries by putting together a game plan ahead of time.
Stay away from packaging: Eat unpackaged or minimally packaged foods.
Go meat-free: You can cut your carbon footprint by eating less meat, or none at all.
Create a window box garden: Grow some of your own food in a window box.
Invest in organic: Keep yourself and the world healthy by purchasing organic food items.
Use cloth napkins: Stop using disposable napkins by using cloth.
Avoid disposable cups and plates: Use inexpensive plates instead of disposables.
Go raw: Cut down on the energy of preparing food by eating fresh, raw foods.
Save your leftovers: Don’t waste food-eat what’s left over again later.
Invest in a water filter: Easily filter water to put in your reusable bottle.
Use eco friendly appliances: Use a microwave, toaster, and rice cookers for green cooking.
Drink low waste beverages: Go for water, canned items, and concentrated drinks.
Bring a reusable mug: If you’re going to drink a lot of coffee, use your own mug instead of disposable cups.
Limit paper napkins: Cut down on paper napkins with fast food.
Take advantage of smart choices: If your school offers it, look for local, organic, and fair trade food choices.
Electronics
Follow these methods, and you can make your electronics greener.
Try to upgrade instead of replacing: Before replacing electronics, find out if a simple upgrade will do.
Buy used: Extend the lifetime of a gadget by purchasing used.
Buy items that will last: Avoid items that will ultimately end up in the trash.
Go paperless: Switch to paperless mailings for your monthly statements.
Keep your gadgets as long as possible: Weigh the options before replacing your gadgets.
Get energy efficient electronics: Check ratings to find the most energy efficient gadgets before you purchase them.
Getting Involved
Make a difference for yourself and others on campus by adopting these ideas.
Lobby for water savings: Talk to administrators about low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators.
Encourage green food: Let your school know that you want organic, fair trade, vegan, and vegetarian options for food.
Ask for a recycling program: If your school doesn’t already have recycling bins or a program, ask that they start one.
Be a role model: Practice what you preach, and inspire others.
Start a rally: Educate others on the environmental movement by holding a rally.
Start a composting program: Get together with your school’s landscaping office and start a composting program for food waste.
Join green student groups: Get together with like minded students on campus.
Pick a green school: Find a school that supports your eco-friendly ways.
Request lighting sensors: Ask that campus building lights be put on timers and sensors to save energy in empty rooms.
Get your cafeteria to go trayless: Keep waste to a minimum by stopping the use of trays that can be overfilled.
Start a campus garden: Create beautiful produce on campus with your classmates.
Support local businesses: Cut down on transportation and help out your campus community by supporting local businesses.
Put together a green campus guide: Write a guide that students can use to be more environmentally friendly.
Host a paper drive: Put together a drive to collect recyclable paper at the end of every semester to save paper from the trash can.

Carbon credit traders turn to option contracts

Carbon credit traders turn to option contracts
By Morten Andersen 02/07/2009 10:15
Ref: http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=1648

Uncertain of the outcome of December’s UN climate change conference, investors are getting nervous over their carbon credit portfolios.

A new trend in carbon credit trading has emerged, financial news agency Bloomberg reports: Instead of buying additional carbon credits (or Certified Emission Reductions, CER), investors turn to option contracts.
The contracts – also named “put options” – give investors the right to sell credits at fixed prices.
This strategy will limit the losses, should the parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agree to scale down or abandon the so-called Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) at December’s conference in Copenhagen.
“Some people are nervous about their portfolios and are seeking insurance to cover their exposure,” Ken Schneider, an options trader at New York-based environmental hedge fund RNK, tells Bloomberg, while stressing that he personally doesn’t believe in the strategy:
“Spending a couple of million euros to protect tens of millions is a no brainer, in my mind.”
The number of credits created under the UN program fell 30 percent last year, and the total amount financed under it dropped 12 percent to 6.5 billion USD, according to the World Bank. The UN credit benchmark has dropped 44 percent from a year ago, down to about 12 euros per ton. The fall in prices can mainly be attributed to global economic recession.

State World Forum - On Green Project

01 Introduction Invocation by Jim Garrison.mp3 -

The Washington Forum will continue to emphasize the urgency of global warming and the fact that each and every one of us must become climate leaders. For the first time in our lives, indeed for the first time in history, all of us must take responsibility for our climate, whether at the individual, community, company, institution, state, or national level. We are all responsible for global warming. We must all share in the leadership required to solve it, for nothing less than the fate of human civilization is at stake. The crisis is that stark, the choice is that clear, the leadership required is that urgent.
If we rise to this challenge, if we take climate leadership, we will generate climate prosperity and climate justicebecause it is precisely our capacity to solve our greatest crisis that affords us our greatest opportunities for growth within the context of sustainability and alignment with natural systems.

Action Plan


The Washington Forum will continue building the global Climate Leadership network charged with thinking through and articulating what exactly needs to be done in order to accomplish by 2020 what our governments are currently negotiating for 2050.
In considering how this can be accomplished, we have partnered with Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and author of the seminal work Plan B 4.0. If there is one person in the world who understands our global predicament from the point of view of its solvability, Lester Brown is that person. Lester knows the complexity and urgency of the escalating effects of global warming and understands the relationship between ecology and economy. In Plan B, he recommends numerous solutions, including reducing our carbon emissions by 80% by 2020, which if implemented would shift the basis of our economies from fossil fuels to alternative energy. Lester is convinced, as many are, that climate change is now endangering human civilization itself and that we must act decisively and immediately to solve the crisis.
We will also be drawing from other seminal thinkers and organizations such as the Presidential Climate Action Project that has done very comprehensive work in suggesting how President Obama can begin to tackle the issues of climate change; the Apollo Alliance that has mapped out powerful long term initiatives that will contribute to the greening of our economies; the work of Friends of the Earth on the carbon tax; Global Urban Development, which has created a worldwide network of cities working on developing green economies; and the Asian Foresight Institute which advises governments, corporations and institutions on climate change, among many others.


We will hear from Rajendra Pachauri, Head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; James Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Bill Becker, Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project; Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth; Mary Otto-Chang, Consultant with the UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean for Children and Climate Change; Richard David Hames, strategic thinker and author; Ervin Lazslo, Founder of the Club of Budapest; Karen O'Brien, Chair of the Global Environmental Change and Human Security at the University of Oslo; Jerome Ringo, Chairman of the Apollo Alliance; Hunter Lovins environmental activist and author; Sandra Postel, Director of the Global Water Project; and Herman Wijffels, Member of the Office of the Executive Director at the World Bank, among others who will be added as we develop the agenda.

A Global Perspective
The 09 Forum will be distinctive in that we will investigate how other crucial domains besides government action, business transformation and reducing carbon emissions will be needed in order to accomplish our goals. To deal effectively with climate change and the collapse of financial systems, our entire societies need transformation. In order to generate the political will for what so urgently needs to be done we must be prepared to change our personal and cultural lives as dramatically as we green our economic and political structures. Only then will we attain the solutions we all seek.
What this requires is for us to embrace a number of big ideas:
• First, we must understand that we are confronted by a planet-wide problem and we are all in the same boat together. There is no us versus them on this one.
• Second, we will need to involve an amazing variety of populations across the world and the full spectrum of every kind of organization in every sector of the economy, governance and civil society in order to succeed.
• Third, we cannot treat anyone or any group in isolation, trying to solve one problem at a time, because we are all linked together as the planet starts to become one world for the first time in history. Planetary integration is our next industrial revolution. This presents us with both a grand opportunity and a tough challenge. All of us -- as individuals, communities, organizations, and governments are, or are becoming, part of one planetary network of systems.
• Fourth, practical success at getting things done will be helped by making strategic and integrated use of all of our technology, all of our leadership, all of our plans, and all of our individual and collective values and actions. Greening our economies therefore requires a complete shift in thinking, values, actions and intentions.

An Integral Approach

To assist us in developing an effective way to organize the information available to us and to integrate the various aspects of our humanity that must be brought together, we will draw upon integral thinking as the organizing framework for the process. Ken Wilber, the leading integral philosopher of our time and founder of Integral Life, has thought through more comprehensively than anyone we know how to organize human knowledge, specifically how our values and actions interact and mutually affect one another. We will be using his integral framework as the operating system for the Forum, as a tool to organize information and develop approaches for understanding how best to proceed. This is an approach that combines facts and values -- what people do in relation to what they believe -- in a profound synthesis that enables holistic thinking and effective decision making and values-based leadership.
In developing an integral perspective, we will draw upon the powerful work in the field of social artistry by Jean Houston, an expert in human capacities, who has trained emerging leaders from all over the world; from Caroline Myss, best selling author, who has explored very deeply how to overcome humanity’s troubling tendency toward denial and habituation to the suffering of others; Monica Sharma, who has worked throughout the global south with the UN, and has a powerful perspective on how values and culture affect human empowerment; and Rob Work, who has spent decades working internationally and from an integral perspective to empower leaders and communities in the art of resilience and creativity.
We will examine the contributions of social psychology, cultural development and personal growth and how they can inform and guide us in developing the leadership qualities and best practices required to succeed in actually accomplishing the tasks at hand. By the end of the Forum, all of us will have a deeper sense of both what needs to be done and what we can personally and collectively do to implement the goals we seek to achieve.

A Rising Tide of Cultural Creativity

In this regard, the Forum will highlight new data on a fundamental shift taking place in global values. The latest research shows that “new progressives” now constitute the largest single voter constituency in the United States and which strongly supports moves toward a green economy. Similar trends can be seen in Europe, Japan and in cities and constituencies throughout the global south. Research conducted by sociologist Paul Ray shows that roughly one third of the public is now “culturally creative” and that over 70% supports decisive action on global warming, among other ecological concerns. The important conclusion from this research is that politicians who are willing to speak to progressive values and take decisive action on global warming can win elections.
Focusing on the relationship between leadership, ecology and economy, using Plan B, along with other suggestions, as the basis of a ten year plan to green our economies, utilizing integral approaches to seeing how we can personally as well as collectively develop a restored moral basis of our lives, all support the central focus of the 09 Forum, which will be on how to galvanize the public support necessary for the kind of political action required.

A Call to Engage

It is remarkable that just as global warming threatens the world and our financial and economic structures are collapsing, endangering our political institutions and our way of life, new social values are emerging along with the appreciation, skills and technologies that can shape a future sustainable and resilient enough to meet the challenges besetting us. The implications of this emerging wave of change are as profound as the threat of global warming is imminent.
We are in a time of enormous transition, when the present is crumbling right from under our feet, but the future is not quite clear enough for us to grasp. What is needed is imagination and a sense of possibility to bridge the gap between present and future.
The State of the World Forum is committed to working with partners worldwide to catalyzing the imagination needed and the collaboration required to both envision and implement the world we must fashion as humanity moves beyond the War on Terror into the next phase of human development. Joining together to make this commitment can generate a veritable renaissance of international solidarity and good will.