Move Review: The Eleventh Hour
Written on 08/18 at 07:27 PM by Andy Posner
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movie reviews
The 11th hour, directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, and narrated and produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, picks up the environmental narrative where An Inconvenient Truth left off and improves and expands on it. Al Gore’s powerpoint presentation gives the audience the sense that global warming is the greatest crisis ever faced by mankind, but that it can be solved without any major lifestyle changes or restructuring of the economy. The 11th hour not only deepens the environmental narrative by showing how all of the earth’s ecosystems are in decline--forests, oceans, soil, climate, biodiversity, and so on--it also moves away from the laissez fare approach to the environment taken by Mr. Gore, whose message seems to be “stabilize emissions of CO2, but hands off the economy!” There are no easy answers in this documentary.
Making use of over 50 interviews with policy experts, environmentalists and scientists ranging from David Susuki to Paul Hawken, Stephen Hawking and Lester Brown, the 11th Hour presents the case that the entire planet is in trouble. Oceans are in decline. Forests are disappearing. Species are going extinct. Humans are losing their connection to nature. The quality of the topsoil all over the world is being degraded. The movie’s title, the 11th hour, is defined as “the last moment when change is possible.” Not only do we have a small window of time in which to act on global warming but, according to the movie, the time has come to rethink our relationship to the natural world. By broadening the scope of its ecological concern beyond the single issue of global warming, the film renders laughable the notion that hybrids and compact fluorescent light bulbs alone are going to save us.
Britain Claims it Can Be Carbon Neutral By 2027
Written on 07/30 at 10:46 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments
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environment
By cutting Britain's energy consumption in half and producing the rest of its energy from renewable sources, the center for alternative technology has come up with a plan it says will make Britain carbon neutral by 2027. They have written a 114 page report detailing their plan that can be downloaded here.
What About The Mercury in Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs?
Written on 07/23 at 10:47 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments
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environment
Compared to incandescent light bulbs, compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs offer tremendous energy savings. It used to be that the only complaint with CFL's was that the quality of the light was poor and difficult on the eyes, and some people found it annoying that they buzzed. Well, I can attest to the fact that those problems have been solved, as the CFL's that I just purchased put out excellent-quality light and are extremely quiet as well. There is, however, one more issue with these bulbs: they contain tiny amounts of mercury.
Ethanol Could Leave the World Hungry
Written on 07/13 at 10:48 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments
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environment
Many people, especially the auto companies and politicians in Washington, are excited about Ethanol and its purported ability to wean us from foreign oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the American economy. Numerous bills have been passed subsidizing the production of Ethanol, to the point that farmers can now make more money growing Ethanol for fuel than for food. This, argues Lester Brown, could spell disaster for the "two billion poorest people in the world who simply want to survive." The article does a fantastic job of showing the problems with Ethanol and then demonstrating several cheaper and more effective alternatives. This article was written in August of 2006 and appeared in Fortune Magazine.
Interesting Article About Celebrities and their “Pet Causes”
Written on 07/07 at 10:50 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments
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This op-ed article appeared in today's LA Times. It is especially interesting because there is a similarity between the celebrity charity work done by people like Bono for Africa, and the work done by Al Gore for the Environment. Notice how the articles points to the way in which celebrities distort facts–an important point given that they influence public opinion and policy. In any case, the article raises some interesting questions about celebrities and charitable causes. On the one hand, they can shed light on an issue that otherwise might go unnoticed. On the other hand, they can mislead the public, offer an incomplete vision, or simply distort reality to better serve their pet-cause.
Welcome. I call this the ideas blog. That’s because this is where I explore new ideas, discuss new inventions, and chronicle how they are being implemented in the real world. I call these the three I’s: Invest. Invest. Implement. Here I will look at everything that’s going on in the world of information technology, open-source software, renewable energy, energy efficiency, micro-credit/poverty alleviation, social justice, politics and literature. If that sounds overly broad, keep in mind that many of the world’s most intractable issues--poverty, hunger, injustice, environmental degradation--are profoundly intertwined. Solving them requires big ideas, and that’s what this blog is all about.
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