Dear Paul and others
I appreciate the sermon, and those movies look really interesting,
and I can't wait to see them. Still it would be super-wasteful to buy
copies of DVDs and distribute them as Christmas presents. I just read
that more than 30 billion compact discs are sold annually, generating
enormous waste in manufacture, distribution and disposal. Anyhow, we
now can download movies and software now! The film "Mother" can be
streamed, but the other two recommended movies cannot yet. I just
phoned the distributors to ask and I got the definite impression that
if a number of people were to write to them, they could be motivated
to update their web sites to allow downloads sooner rather than later.
Even more importantly, sending and watching movies and talking about
them might not be enough. For those people who are past
conversational, and have reached the "What can we do?" stage, we
might be working toward practical solutions. I just read on the
website for Paul's MAHB organization that, "It's too late for talk,
the only hope is ACTION! The crisis is NOW! If we act TODAY, we
can sustain the future...". But, haven't found any recommendations
for practical action listed on the MAHB web site. (Under "Ideas for
Actions", there is advice on generating more conversation:
http://mahb.stanford.edu/what-can-i-do/ideas-for-actions/ )
For practical actions, here are some other web sites with information.
http://www.50waystohelp.com/
http://www.worldwatch.org/resources/go_green_save_green
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/save-earth-top-ten.htm
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/environment/0,28757,1602354,00.html
In fact, there must be many great web resources with latest solutions
and best practices toward environmental and social
sustainability. If you have some that you especially like, please
send to me and I'll send it out to the list in the New Year, in time
for resolutions. It would be great to see what the ideas are! When
such lists are compiled they could be posted on the MAHB web site and
elsewhere.
Very best wishes
Lawren
At 10:26 AM 12/2/2011, David Inouye wrote:
From: "Paul R. Ehrlich" <[email protected]>
Subject: GLOBAL EMERGENCY: WHAT CAN I DO??
Dear Friends,
Anne and I were recently at a meeting of scientists, politicians, and
media people in Sydney. Everyone was in agreement that humanity is
in the midst of a largely unrecognized global emergency -- one that
puts the persistence of civilization seriously in doubt. And there
was no agreement on the burning question "what can I do about
it?" That is a question that is central to the MAHB and various
social movements, all of which are searching for
answers. Occasionally I'll pester those on my list with things I
think you can do -- this is the first of such pestering.
There are three important films available on topics dear to MAHB's
heart: the impossibility of perpetual economic growth
(GROWTHBUSTERS), the population problem (MOTHER), and the lethal loss
of biodiversity (CALL OF LIFE). You can find more about them on the
MAHB web site at
http://mahb.stanford.edu/media-bar/mahb-goes-to-the-movies/. Or you
can go to their respective web sites:
http://www.growthbusters.org/
http://www.motherthefilm.com/
http://calloflife.org/
What can you do? You could buy copies and send them as Christmas
presents, arrange showings at local high schools and colleges, pester
school boards and deans to get them included in curricula, write to
TV stations and ask them to show them, write newspapers and ask them
to review them, arrange showings for your neighbors/friends. The
Ecology-Evolution group of the Biology department at Stanford will be
showing all three in teach-ins next week, focusing on the inequity
issues that pervade all three areas. We're doing it in support of
the "Occupy the Future" movement on campus. I will also be
integrating them into my courses. Let's use some of the energy
generated by frustration with our broken government and corrupt
financial system to actually DO something. End of sermon......P
Paul R. Ehrlich
Bing Professor of Population Studies
President, Center for Conservation Biology
Department of Biology, 371 Serra Mall
Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5020
Ph 650-723-3171
Fx 650-723-5920
https://www.stanford.edu/group/CCB/cgi-bin/ccb/content/paul-r-ehrlich
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Lawren Sack
Professor, Dept of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles
621 Charles E. Young Drive South
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606 USA
Tel: 310-825-6525
Fax: 310-825-9433
Email: [email protected]
http://www.eeb.ucla.edu/Faculty/Sack
