Link Loving 04.03.11

• An interactive map of the pro-democracy movements in the Middle East, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.
• Carl Pope reveals the painful truth about BP eleven months on from the oil spill.
• Sarah Goodyear asks why do people in cars hate people on bikes so much? (They don’t in Holland because all drivers also cycle…)
• I still can’t quite get over the awesomeness of these Avaaz actions paid for by thousands of people all over the world.
• David Cameron Pretending To Be Common photo blog. Teehee : )
• Is the future a polyamorous one? Newsweek investigates.
• Great piece on echo-chambers, social networks and sustainability by Bora Zivkovic.
• Interesting idea for an app to allow non-protesty people get together for political change. From Joe Smith.
• McKinsey’s latest report on how effectively businesses influence government. Not effective enough apparently.

Birth And Death Are The Two Noblest Expressions Of Bravery

I spent a week at Climate Camp’s Space for Change event last week. This is the outcome – brave, and the right thing to do.

Metamorphosis: A statement from the Camp for Climate Action

The near-collapse of the financial system; droughts in the Amazon, floods in Pakistan; a new government in the UK; a violent programme of
unprecedented cuts; food prices rising and real incomes eroding; revolutions across the Middle East… This is all very different from 2005
when the Camp for Climate Action first met to spark radical action on the greatest threat to humanity, climate change.

In 2011 the climate science is as strong as ever – and the need for action on climate change never greater – but the political landscape is radically
different. As a movement, to be relevant, we need to move with the times. Therefore the Camp for Climate Action has decided, after much discussion
and reflection, to change. To that effect,

1. We will not organise a national Climate Camp in 2011.
2. We will not organise national gatherings as ‘Climate Camp’ or the Camp for Climate Action in 2011.

This closure is intended to allow new tactics, organising methods and processes to emerge in this time of whirlwind change.  With the skills,
networks and trust we have built we will launch new radical experiments to tackle the intertwined ecological, social and economic crises we face. To
that effect,

3. We have created interim working groups to manage the transition.
4. There will be a major meeting in the near future.

Link Loving 03.03.11

• This is how Donald Rumsfeld writes emails. You’d think parody, but it’s the truth.
• Sven Teske on how the energy revolution has already begun.
• Young people moving away from blogging, and sticking with social networking sites. Or not.
• The government’s chief scientific adviser says it’s time for scientists to speak up.
• TED moves into mini-books, and Jules Evans get’s excited about the revival of the essay.
• The US economist Tyler Cowen discovers the Big Society and rips it to shreds. Gleeful reading.
• What banking can learn from biology. Monise Durrani.
• John Deans on the 10,000 Thai protesters mobilising against coal and for clean energy.
• Berlusconi’s greatest ally? The Italian left, argues John Foot.
• Tom Clark reminds us that an election hasn’t been called over a policy change since 1923, and it ain’t likely to happen here soon.

A Story Of Sustainability

A decent attempt at telling the story of sustainability.

I’d argue there was little on justice and equity in this story, with the central problem of having a singular male power force – the king – in charge. Great mix of simple story and compelling images, though.

What do you think?

Desiderata

Time to share an old favourite, Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata.

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Link Loving 02.03.11

• If you haven’t yet read George Monbiot’s piece on online astroturfing, it really is worth it.
• Gluttony dressed up as foodie-ism is still gluttony. Great piece in the Atlantic by B. R. Myers.
• Surreal. What corporations can learn about social media from the revolutions in the middle east. Peter Cohan.
• This month’s edition of Adbusters looks good. Really good.
• What science fiction got wrong – instead of a revolution in energy, we’ve had a revolution in information.
• Judith Butler on how discourse creates homosexuality.
• After last weekend’s reading group on Latin American social movements, it’s exciting to see Chilean activists use social media to fight an enormous coal mine.
• Why are experts so bad at making predictions? Michael Shermer in the Scientific American.
• Headline: Monsanto agrees to clean up toxic chemicals in South Wales quarry. Small print: Tax payers still footing a £2 million bill.

Happy Birthday Transition Heathrow

Heroes all.

(It really gets going about half way through – really beautiful stuff.)

A Hero For Our Times: Tim DeChristopher

If you haven’t yet read this wonderful interview with Tim DeChristopher in YES! Magazine, I’d highly encourage you to do so.

Back in 2008, Tim was planning to disrupt the auctioning of land that held valuable oil and gas. He says, ‘I knew I would probably go to jail, but my mindset was: “It’s worth it to keep this oil in the ground.”’

Grist.org explains what happened next;

“DeChristopher hadn’t planned what he was going to do that day when he arrived directly after a class. The auctioneers asked if he would like to be a bidder. Thinking on his feet, he said, “Yes, I would.”

Handed bidder paddle number 70, DeChristopher began bidding as soon as the auction opened. He bought more than a dozen parcels and drove up the prices of others before being stopped by a federal agent. His “purchase” totaled 22,500 acres, and effectively put a halt to the 11th-hour leases and subsequent drilling.

The auction itself was later deemed illegitimate by the Obama administration because it was conducted outside of the rules set for holding such auctions. A law known as Secretarial Order 3226 went into effect in 2001, stating that all parts of the Department of the Interior, including the Bureau of Land Management, have to take into account the impacts of climate change in any major decision they make involving resource extraction.”

An inventive and brave incident of direct action has now meant he’s $1.7 million in debt, facing a court date and up to 10 years in jail. On Monday he started his trial – and his interview reveals a man who sees the moral arc of our age – we just haven’t started acting like it.  Some choice quotes,

“One of the dominant characteristics of the climate movement is a sense of disempowerment. We’re fighting against these entrenched interests, against the richest and most powerful corporations in the world, often in collusion with our federal or state government. We think that they’re big and powerful and we’re small and weak, so we’re just not going to be effective at overcoming them.

We’re missing out on the fact that even if 10 to 15 percent of the U.S. population really get the issue of climate change, that’s 30 or 40 million people. That’s more than enough to bring the fossil fuel industry to its knees. If even a tenth of those people were willing to engage in significant nonviolent civil disobedience, that’s an incredible force. To begin with, there’s no way they could all be arrested—that would double the population of prisoners we currently have in this country, and we already have a prison crisis. They wouldn’t know what to do with us. And that’s with just a tenth of people who really understand the problem.

We think we have no power when in fact we have more than enough power. Right now, we have a big enough movement to win this battle; we just need to start acting like it. That’s the message that the climate movement really needs to internalize. On an individual level, it means making the commitment that we’re going to be powerful and effective agents of change; on the movement level, it’s about making the decision that we’re really going to win this battle.”

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Link Loving 01.03.11

• If Not, Then What? An awesome anti-cuts project creating new visions of the future starting on Friday.
• Want to write the perfect biography? Get Storied has some answers (but it’ll cost you).
• Bilingualism is good for the brain – helps multitasking and prioritising apparently. (Hooray for immigrant parents and funny surnames.) LA Times.
• Social media encourages activism, finds a new study. Matthew Ingram.
• The return of the lost sock. Hipster heaven.
• Friends of the Earth are recruiting campaigners.
• Peter Beaumont. The barricades today do not bristle with bayonets and rifles, but with phones.
• Adam Gorlick on the moral anguish of soldiers. Apart from the themes of heroism, sacrifice and loyalty, guilt also takes a heavy mental toll.
• This would be pretty shit. All Coral Reefs May Be Gone By 2050.
• Obama’s 2012 proposed budget – interactive version.

Love Your Kingdom: Animal Beatbox

Favourite? The monk-key : )