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Lester Brownnose, Sheepdipper.
Posted on 10/15/2009 7:09:40 AM PDT by listenhillary
UXBRIDGE, CANADA — Lester Brown says his views sometimes appear extreme - because the mainstream media largely doesn't understand the urgency and challenges in avoiding catastrophic climate change.
The founder and president of the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute, he is also considered by many to be one of the world's most influential thinkers.
"It looks like I'm a radical because the mainstream media aren't reflecting the reality of our situation," Brown says.
A farmer from the eastern U.S. state of New Jersey, Brown entered the U.S. Civil Service in the 1960s, becoming an expert on foreign agricultural policy before leaving to found the Worldwatch Institute in 1974.
The winner of many awards and honorary degrees, Brown is the author of 50 books. In 2001, he founded the Earth Policy Institute to provide a roadmap for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.
His most recent book is "Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization", the fourth and perhaps most urgent version of the Plan B series, available for download at the institute's website. In Plan 4.0, Brown calls for carbon emissions cuts of 80 percent by 2020.
"We cannot afford to let the planet get much hotter," he explains simply.
IPS environmental correspondent Stephen Leahy recently spoke with Brown on the launch of his new book.
IPS: You are calling for global carbon reductions of 80 percent by 2020. That's far, far more than what any country is proposing to do right now.
LESTER BROWN: Political leaders look at how much of a cut in emissions is politically feasible. At the Earth Policy Institute, we looked at how much of a cut is necessary to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.
Already the massive Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are melting at accelerating rates. If they melt completely, it would raise sea levels by 12 meters (39 feet). Mountain glaciers around the world are shrinking and at risk of disappearing, including those in the mountains of Asia whose ice melt feeds the continent's major rivers during the dry season.
To stabilize the climate and keep future global temperature rise to a minimum we need to keep the concentration of CO2 (carbon dioxide) to 400 parts per million.
IPS: Is such a huge global reduction in emissions even possible?
LB: It will take a worldwide mobilization at wartime speed. First, investing in energy efficiency will allow us to keep global energy demand from increasing. Switching lighting to LEDs (light emitting diodes) and use of smart sensors like motion detectors could reduce the amount of electricity used in lighting by 90 percent.
Then we can cut carbon emissions by one-third by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources for electricity and heat production. In a few years time, Texas will quadruple its wind energy output to 8,000 megawatts. And it plans to grow to 40,000 megawatts, the equivalent of 50 coal-fired power plants. The rate of change is breathtaking.
A further 14 percent cut in emissions would come from restructuring our transportation systems and reducing coal and oil use in industry. Ending net deforestation worldwide can cut CO2 emissions another 16 percent. Last, planting trees and managing soils to sequester carbon can absorb 17 percent of our current emissions.
None of these initiatives depends on new technologies. We know what needs to be done to reduce CO2 emissions 80 percent by 2020. All that is needed now is leadership.
IPS: Most people, including our political leaders, don't seem to feel any sense of urgency or danger about climate change. What will motivate this wartime mobilization?
LB: Change is happening already and it's accelerating. Carbon emissions in the U.S. are down nine percent this year and it's not just due to the recession. I doubt that a new coal plant will be built in the U.S. in future - 22 are being closed or converted this year alone. When rising sea levels become more evident, then people will act.
This is bit like the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. There were years of widespread discontent before the fall that festered and engaged many people at the local level and then seemingly overnight there is a political revolution that changes everything. We are moving towards this kind of tipping point.
IPS: What other signs do you see that we are reaching a tipping point?
LB: I see a change in socializing patterns. At one time, getting a driver's license or owning a car was the key to social interactions for young people. That's changing. In Japan, socialization now happens through the internet and new car sales are in decline. Even in America, the car fleet is shrinking and bike use is going up.
I also see a lot of value searching going on: what are the health affects of cars and our commuting lifestyles? How can we build complete streets with sidewalks, bike lanes that are safe for everyone? The economic downturn has also shifted thinking, I think we will emerge as a much less materialistic society.
IPS: Will this be enough to restructure the world's economies?
LB: I don't know. In the end, the race to save civilization is between social-political and natural tipping points.
I think we need to go with the message that in fact, it’s too late....that the opportunity to reduce emissions has passed.
The Copenhagen conference is in December. Look for an increase in the number of stories on climate change and the end is near.
Anyone I have met from Uxbridge can pretty much be ignored. They all seem to be rabid elitist socialists.
Ummm, define many
"It looks like I'm a radical because the mainstream media aren't reflecting the reality of our situation," Brown says.
Yeah, like THAT'S believable.
Sad day when Brown jumps on a bandwagon like this. Hasnt convinced me of a thing here.
He was originally a farmer in NJ. Must be the gravitational pull of denseness generated by those in Uxbridge that led him to settle there.
It’s 20 degrees below normal today and that’s the forecast for the next several days.
I’m already ready for it to get a little warmer.
At least a couple.
Yes, lots of “denseness” in Uxbridge. It may have been that, or the scent of retired hippies.
Yes, an operation of military precision is needed to drop our quality of life back to 1880 levels.
But I'm betting Lester Brown is planning on keeping his car, his air conditioning, his computer, and his television. The serfs can do without.
The term 'climate change' is extremely accurate shorthand. It is in fact a tacit admission by the AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) lobby that the climate has stopped warming.
After all, if the public are to be convinced to shell out for carbon credits and carbon-taxes, then the current series of colder summers and colder winters is not helping the AGW cause.
If the AGW lobby manage to rename their political bogeyman from 'Anthropogenic Global Warming' to 'Climate Change' then they will have successfully foisted a non-disprovable onto us. Any fact 'proves' Climate Change because there is no fact, no test that disproves it.
"Weather hotter this year? - bad news, that's man-made climate change! We need more carbon credits!"
"Weather colder this year? - bad news, that's man-made climate change! We need more carbon credits!"
"New Ice Age? Northern Europe uninhabitable due to glaciation? - bad news, that's man-made climate change. We need more carbon credits before it is too late!"
After all, the climate never stops changing. It's been up and down like a yo-yo for billions of years. Once we as a society glom onto non-disprovable Anthropogenic Climate Change, rather than unproven Anthropogenic Global Warming, then we really are sunk.
Nothing then could damage our magical belief in the climate, and man's heinous effect upon it.
Primitive peoples who believe that the earth is carried on the back of a turtle can at least be dissuaded by the evidence. But what evidence could ever challenge our invincible faith that all climate change was somehow down to us?
Reminds me of the old Steve Martin bit about how to be a millionaire:
"First, get a million dollars. Second..."
Where has this guy been ?
There is no Global Warming. None. Nada.
There is still a lot of outdated material and satellite photos circulating showing glaciers melting and the Arctic ice pack diminishing. Global warming wackos are still using this as evidence, outdated or not.
Well, that trend has reversed. The Arctic ice pack has actually started expanding again, but you won’t hear that from them.
"First, get a million dollars. Second..."
J. Paul Getty's advice on How to Get Rich:
Follow these three steps:
1. Wake up early every morning.
2. Work hard.
3. Find oil.
I agree with Lester. The more gasbags like him speak, the hotter it gets around here.
according to Weather.com, at this moment it is 1 degree Celsius in Uxbridge with a frost warning
Yep, and dumber than a sack of hammers.
Lester Brown is an idiot. I guess everyone has already forgot how he predicted that by the late 1990’s China’s development meant that they were going to eat the world out of grains and meat - with ensuing food riots, wars, etc...
Still waiting....
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