11 January 2010

The Package Deal

Cutting carbon emissions 80% by 2020, stabilising population under 8 billion, ending extreme poverty, restoring natural systems is a package deal' as Lester Brown so eloquently put it; the health of natural systems and the stability of the climate will affect how we grow food, where we grow it, how much we can grow, competition for it...

Excerpt from
Integral+Life's, State of the World Forum, an event which will be held in Washington 28 February - 3 March 2010

Interview with Lester Brown [mp3 only]

'Lester Brown and Jim Garrison discuss the real-world consequences of climate change, especially as it pertains to the global food supply. Lester also offers a summary of his new book, Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization.

Topics include:

Tipping points: A discussion of Dr. Rajendra Pachauri's statement that if we do not decisively address the issue of climate change by the year 2012, "ecological forces could synergize out of control and humanity could lose any capacity to influence events.

Our melting future: Some of the dramatic impacts climate change is already having upon the Arctic region

The politics of scarcity: The direct effects of climate change upon India and China's wheat and rice harvest, as well as the rest of the world's food supply—culminating in nations purchasing vast quantities of property in other nations, just so they can grow food and send it back home.

System shock: Some of the reasons why the world's governments have yet to form a global response to climate change

Good under pressure: Examples of how humanity has been able to quickly restructure itself and adapt to crises in the past

Plan B 3.0: A discussion of Lester's new book, a survival strategy for our early 21st-century civilization.

Final Words: Lester’s recommendations to help governments respond to the climate change issue; including cutting carbon emissions, stabilizing population growth, eradicating poverty worldwide, and restoring natural resources (replenishing forests, fisheries, aquifers, soil, etc'

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