State of the World Forum Launches in Brazil: 2020 By 2050

SEE END OF POST FOR EVENT LIVE BROADCAST LINKS

NextNow Collaboratory is an organizational partner of State of the World Forum, launching the global 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign today in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.  This Forum marks the first time people will be coming together from around the world at this scale to strategize plans of action to reduce carbon emissions globally by 80% by 2020 (instead of 2050, widely accepted by governments but acknowledged by scientists as “too late”) not just through a change in behavior (which can be difficult to sustain) but by re-aligning our relationship to ourselves and to our values, to each other, to Earth and to Life itself.  It also marks the first time a major media company launches a national public education campaign on global warming intended to mobilize a nation to take action– from stopping clear-cutting of the Amazon to creating sustainable lifestyles.

Over 200 scientists, political leaders, business executives, academics, civil society activists and artists from 20 nations and across Brazil are in attendance.  But this initiative is about everyone becoming a climate leader, because that’s what it will take. We’re all part of this movement to build a future in alignment with our most deeply-held values, with the natural systems of Earth and all Life.  Increase your awareness by visiting the State of the World Forum 2020 Climate Leadership Media and Resources page, and join us for the next Forum in Washington D.C. February 28 – March 3, 2010.

Below is the press release for this historic meeting in Belo Horizonte:

PRESS RELEASE
August 4, 2009

Globo TV launches unprecedented national public education ads on global warming to support the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign

The Globo Organization, the largest media company in Brazil and the fourth largest in the world, will premiere its national public education ads to support the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign at the State of the World Forum in Belo Horizonte, Brazil August 4 – 7, 2009. The aim is to educate the public about the escalating dangers of global warming and to encourage “climate leadership” in reducing carbon emissions and developing sustainable lifestyles.

This action is unprecedented and marks the first time anywhere in the world when a major media company has taken up the issue of global warming and begun a sustained public educational effort in support of a national mobilization on global warming. “We are delighted at this demonstration of climate leadership,” said Jim Garrison, President of the State of the World Forum. “ We believe it will serve as a model for other major companies to join Globo and begin to educate their constituencies about the escalating crisis of global warming.”

Albert Alcouloumbre, Director of Planning and Social Programs at Globo, said, “We consider our support for the 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign to be part of our responsibility to our viewers. Globo has a long history of social responsibility going back to the founder Roberto Marinho, and we are proud of this tradition.”

Ricardo Young, President of the Ethos Institute, said, “Brazil is ready for a national 2020 mobilization on this critical issue.”

The Globo ads support the launch of a global 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign and a Brazil 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign in Belo Horizonte August 4 – 7, when scientists, government leaders, business executives and civil society activists from around the world and Brazil will meet to begin planning 2020 campaigns.

Says Garrison: “The urgency of global warming mandates that each and every one of us become climate leaders. For the first time in our lives, indeed for the first time in history, all of us must take responsibility for our climate, whether at the individual, community, company, institution, state, or national level. We are all responsible for global warming. We must all share in the leadership required to solve it, for nothing less than the fate of human civilization is at stake. The crisis is that stark, the choice is that clear, the leadership required is that urgent.”

At the heart of the Climate Leadership Campaign and the purpose of the Belo Horizonte conference is resolving the contradiction between what our governments are negotiating and what our scientists are asserting about the accelerating pace of global warming. Our governments are negotiating as if the world has another forty years to solve global warming. The Copenhagen negotiations call for an 80% reduction of CO2 by 2050.  But the more our scientists know, the more urgent the crisis becomes and the more urgently we must act. The current world situation with regard to climate change is worse than the worst cast scenario of the IPCC in its 2007 Report.

It is for these reasons that when he accepted the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the IPCC, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri said “If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” Thousands of scientists around the world agree. Lester Brown, who will keynote the Belo Horizonte Forum, states “The situation is so urgent it has come down to mobilizing to save civilization.”

Says Garrison:  “Climate leadership must be based on what is scientifically urgent, not on what is politically expedient. Thus our strategic intention and call is a very simple one: ‘2050 by 2020.’ What our governments are negotiating for 2050 must be accomplished by 2020 and we must all be prepared to demonstrate the climate leadership required to accomplish this.”

For further information: Leandro Grandi at FSB Communications at leandro.grandi@fsb.com.br or Jim Garrison at jgarrison@worldforum.org

For further information on the State of the World Forum in Belo Horizonte:
http://brasil2020.com.br

For further information on the State of the World Forum:
http://worldforum.org

TO WATCH LIVE BROADCASTS OF THE BELO HORIZONTE STATE OF THE WORLD FORUM:

6:00- 8:00 PM EST ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 4

9:00 AM- 5:00 PM EST ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5

Ecological Creditor Nation Brazil Mobilizes: State of the World Forum moves to February 2010 (Washington, D.C.) and August 2010 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

In February, NextNow Collab helped launch the Ecological Creditor Nation Summit initiated by the Global Footprint Network.  Brazil is one of the approximately 20% of nations studied that maintains Ecological Creditor status.  Now NextNow Collab partner State of the World Forum is moving its Washington D.C. conference from November 2009 to February, 2010, largely due to the extensive involvement of Brazil, which is launching a Brazil 2020 campaign in partnership with the Forum in August 2009–the developments of which will go far in informing the subsequent Forum in Washington, D.C.– and which we plan to attend.  All of these efforts combined act to energize the emerging global 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.  We’re really excited by these developments and inspired by Brazil’s commitment.

Below is the announcement from Jim Garrison as it appears on the State of the World Forum website.

Dear Friends of the State of the World Forum,

We want to inform you that the upcoming State of the World Forum has been rescheduled from November 12-14, 2009 to February 28 – March 3, 2010. This has come about due to the extraordinary success of our endeavors and the fact that what was originally an intent to convene a conference has morphed into a global strategy to develop a 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.  Allow me to explain.

A year ago, we decided to convene the 2009 State of the World Forum in November 2009 to address the escalating crisis of global warming.  We decided to do so using an integral framework, a perspective that was unique to the debate and which would allow for very synergistic cross sectoral dialogue. In early March of this year, I was invited down to Brazil to give some lectures on climate change and to speak about the integral approach we were taking on the issue.  What took place can only be described as phenomenal.  Each place I went, the response was not only an affirmation of the urgency of the crisis global warming represents but a willingness to begin working to develop a national mobilization in Brazil to support our efforts to mobilize action by 2020. Similar responses have been forthcoming in Australia, Holland, and Mexico and from a range of organizations and companies around the world.

To make a long story very short, four months later, we are launching a global 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign as well as launching a national Brazil 2020 campaign in Belo Horizonte, Brazil August 4 – 7 with over a hundred international specialists in climate change and several hundred activists from all over Brazil.  The decision has also been made to convene the 2010 State of the World Forum in Rio de Janeiro August 30 – September 3, 2010.  The emergence of a global strategy and such dynamic movement in Brazil has necessitated a reframing of the 2009 State of the World Forum in Washington.

There are four main reasons we are changing the date:

1) By moving to the 2010 February 28 – March date we will have much more space available to us at the Washington Hilton hotel to accommodate more people and to design a more interactive event with more breakout rooms.

2) The new dates for the Washington Forum will place this event equidistance between the two other Forums, giving us the opportunity to respond to the developments from Belo Horizonte in August 4 -7, 2009 and incorporate the work from Washington February 28 – March 3, 2010 into the Rio Forum August 30 – September 3, 2010.  This Phase One plan is in keeping with our overall orientation as a  global Campaign as opposed to a single event.  Our intent is to convene State of the World Forums in major cities worldwide over the next ten years, through 2020, as we building support for our 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.

3) We have recently established an important partnership with Globo TV, the largest media company in Brazil and South America, and are in the process of developing programming ideas, including the production of at least one special in conjunction with the Washington Forum.  This gives us the opportunity to create other global television distribution deals and give the rescheduled Forum world-wide exposure.  The new February dates will give us the time necessary to make these arrangements.

4) The new dates will place the conference in Washington at a time when the Congress is in session, thus providing us with an opportunity to involve members of Congress in the Forum and include some lobbying activity concerning the overall Forum 2020 Climate Leadership Campaign.  As you may know, the United States is essentially acting like a failed state in the climate change domain and so there is a serious and urgent need for further education and lobbying in the Congress.

We sincerely hope that you appreciate the logic of our need to reschedule the Forum and that this change of dates has not inconvenienced you in any way.

We would invite you to peruse our website, which as been transformed from featuring an event to describing an entire global strategy: http://www.worldforum.org/

The urgency of global warming mandates that each and every one of us become climate leaders. For the first time in our lives, indeed for the first time in history, all of us must take responsibility for our climate, whether at the individual, community, company, institution, state, or national level. We are all responsible for global warming. We must all share in the leadership required to solve it, for nothing less than the fate of human civilization is at stake. The crisis is that stark, the choice is that clear, the leadership required is that urgent.

If we rise to this challenge, if we take climate leadership, we will generate climate justice and climate prosperity because it is precisely our capacity to solve our greatest crisis that affords us our greatest opportunities for growth within the context of sustainability and alignment with natural systems.

Update and Save the Date: State of the World Forum in Washington D.C.

NextNow Collab is joined by Club of Budapest, CSR Wire, Earth Policy Institute, EnlightenNext, EthicalMarkets, Friends of the Earth, GaiaSoft, Integral Institute, New York Open Center, Ode Magazine, Pachamama Alliance, Presidential Climate Action Project, Resilient Cities Initiative and a growing host of others in partnering to convene the 2009 State of the World Forum.  This is the launch of a 10-year plan of committed action to transform our economy, our world, and ourselves in relation to each other and the natural world.  To register, visit the website; to explore collaboration, please contact me at cwelssatnextnowdotnet.  Watch for our announcement in the upcoming issue of NextNow Collab partner Imaging Notes:

This SWF announcement will appear in the upcoming issue of NextNow Collab partner Imaging Notes

NNC and 2009 State of the World Forum in Washington, D.C. Nov. 12-14

“Gaia’s main problems are not industrialization, ozone depletion, over-population, or resource depletion. Gaia’s main problem is the lack of mutual understanding and mutual agreement … about how to proceed with those problems. We cannot reign in industry if we cannot reach mutual understanding and mutual agreement based on a worldcentric moral perspective concerning the global commons.” – Ken Wilber

NextNow Collab is collaborating with The 2009 State of the World Forum to inspire a global network of people and organizations committed to transforming the way we live.  Global challenges are both too systemic and too personal to be left to government and business alone; it really is time for each of us to “be the change.”  (Sorry; it’s well-worn but nothing says it better.)

The 2009 State of the World Forum will vision and launch a 10-year plan to make more sustainable both our economies and our lives by 2020, including through

• Using Ken Wilber’s Integral Framework as our “operating system,” allowing for organizing knowledge and action plans that recognize personal and cultural values, resulting in truly empowered action
• Debuting Version 4.0 of Lester Brown’s Plan B
• Drawing inspiration from action-oriented, forward-thinking organizations such as the Presidential Climate Action Project, Apollo Alliance (who gave a powerful presentation at Social Venture Network conference in October), Friends of the Earth, Global Urban Development and many others
• Leveraging the concept of “social artistry,” as embraced by the United Nations Development Programme, towards creating real leadership for social change
• Releasing the latest data supporting the rise of the “new progressives,” a culturally creative worldwide demographic reflecting global values
• Demonstrating new technologies that enable us to envision, and participate in, sustainable systems.

NextNower’s that will be in the Washington, D.C. area and wish to collaborate please contact NextNow Collab.

Ken Wilber's Integral Framework

Featured speakers include:

Ray Anderson, Founder and CEO, Interface Inc. www.interfaceglobal.com Esperide Ananas, International Coordinator, Federation of Damanhur, Italy, founded in 1975. Damanhur  is a U.N. agency award-winning sustainable society numbering 1,000 citizens; it is a member of G.E.N.; and an active supporter of the Earth Charter Initiative.   www.damanhur.org Bill Becker, Executive Director, Presidential Climate Action Project; Project Director and Senior Consultant, National Leadership Summits for a Sustainable America; and former Director, Department of Energy, Central Regional Office. www.natcapsolutions.org Barrett C. Brown, Co-Director, Integral Sustainability Center, organizational consultant, author, and specialist in leadership development for global environmental and social sustainability. www.integrallife.com Lester Brown, Founder, Earth Policy Institute, World Watch Institute, author of numerous books, including Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization. www.earth-policy.org Brian Castelli, Executive Vice President for Programs and Development, Alliance to Save Energy. www.ase.org Michael Cox, Chair, Executive Committee, California Student Sustainability Coalition. www.sustainabilitycoalition.org Sean Esbjorn-Hargens, Chair, Integral Theory Department, John F. Kennedy University; Executive Editor, Journal of Integral Theory and Practice; co-author, Integral Ecology. www.integralinstitute.org Morel Fourman, Founder, Gaiasoft; author Managing in the New Economy – Performance Management Habits; and The Book of Personal and Global Transformation. www.mindofmany.com Vasilis M. Fthenakis, Senior Scientist, Head, National Photovoltaic Environmental Research Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Director, Center for Life Cycle Analysis, Earth and Environmental Engineering Department, Columbia University www.bnl.gov Jim Garrison, President and Chairman of Wisdom University, a graduate academic institution that explores both ancient wisdom traditions and the wisdom culture shaping our future today. He is also founder and president of State of the World Forum, a San Francisco based non-profit institution with a global network of leaders dedicated to developing a more sustainable global civilization. Richard Hames, Distinguished University Professor, Founding Director, Asian Foresight Institute, Dhurakij Pundit University, Bangkok, Thailand www.richardhames.com Marilyn Hamilton, Founder, Integral City Meshworks Inc.; author, Integral City: Evolutionary Intelligence for the Human Hive. James Hansen, Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; Adjunct Professor, Department of Earth and Earth Sciences Division, Columbia University. www.giss.nasa.gov Johannes Heimrath, Executive Director, Club of Budapest. www.johannesheimrath.de Jean Houston, mythologist, philosopher and researcher in human capacities, long regarded as one of the principal founders of the human potential movement; author of 19 published books, including The Possible Human, A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, The Passion of Isis and Osiris, and Jump Time. www.jeanhouston.org Ross Jackson, Founder and Chairman, Gaia Trust, a Danish foundation which since 1987 has supported over 300 sustainability products in over 40 countries, especially in the ecovillage movement. He is also a major shareholder in the Urtekram International, the largest organic wholesaler in Scandinavia. Jurriaan Kamp, President, Editor-in-Chief, Ode Magazine www.odemagazine.com Chuck Kutscher, Principal Engineer/Group Manager, Thermal Systems Electricity, Resources, and Building Systems Integration, National Renewable Energy Laboratory www.nrel.gov Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder/artist of the International Cheemah and Mari Monument Projects, which are dedicated to environmental sustainability, cultural diversity and societal transformation. www.ospreyoriellelake.com Ervin Laszlo, President, The Club of Budapest; Founder and University Chancellor, The Institute at GlobalShift University. www.clubofbudapest.org Pierre-Yves Longaretti, Theoretical astrophysicist, Astrophysics Laboratory of Grenoble, France. http://www-laog.obs.ujf-grenoble.fr/~pyl/ Amory Lovins, Chairman and Chief Scientist, Rocky Mountain Institute; focuses on transforming the hydrocarbon, automobile, real estate, electricity, water, semiconductor, and several other sectors toward advanced resource productivity. He has authored or co-authored twenty-nine books and hundreds of papers, and consulted for scores of industries and governments worldwide. www.rmi.org Hunter Lovins, President and Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions. She is currently a founding Professor of Business at Presidio School of Management, one of the first accredited programs offering an MBA in Sustainable Management. www.hunterlovins.com David Martin, Executive Chairman, M∙CAM, Fellow, Batten Institute, Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Virginia. www.m-cam.com Peter Merry, Founding partner of Engage! InterAct; Chair of the Board of the Center for Human Emergence; author, Evolutionary Leadership. www.engage.nl Caroline Myss, Author of five New York Times bestselling books, including Sacred Contracts, The Interior Castle, The Anatomy of the Spirit; founder, Caroline Myss Education Institute. www.myss.com Karen O’Brien, Chair, Global Environmental Change and Human Security Project Professor, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo  http://www.iss.uio.no/instituttet/ansatte/karenob.xml Mary Otto-Chang, Consultant, UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Children and Climate Change; UN Secretariat for the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (2003-2007); UN Development Program, Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (2000-2003).  UNICEF and UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean Rajendra Pachauri, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (2007); Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Director, Tata Energy Research Institute; author of over twenty books and numerous articles on ecology, climate change and technology.  www.climatescience.gov Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project and Center for the Environment at Mount Holyoke College.  www.globalwaterpolicy.org James Quilligan, Economic development policy advisor and writer for many international politicians and leaders, including Pierre Trudeau, François Mitterand, Jimmy Carter, Edward Heath, Julius Nyerere, Olof Palme, Willy Brandt, Tony Blair, and His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal.  www.global-negotiations.org Sally Ranney, CEO, StillWater Preservation LLC. www.stillwaterpreservation.com Paul Ray, Sociologist; Director, Institute of the Emerging Wisdom Culture, Wisdom University; author, The Cultural Creatives.  www.wisdomuniversity.org Jerome Ringo, Chairman, Apollo Alliance; Associate Research Scholar “ Yale University; former Chairman, World Wildlife Fund.  www.jeromeringo.com Rustum Roy, Evan Pugh Professor of the Solid State Emeritus; Professor of Science Technology and Society Emeritus, Pennsylvania State University www.rustumroy.com Robb Smith, CEO, Integral Institute; Chairman, CEO and co-founder, Integral Life. www.integrallife.com Richard Tarnas, author of The Passion of the Western Mind and Cosmos and Psyche; Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies. www.cosmosandpsyche.com Marc Weiss, Founder and CEO of Global Urban Development. www.globalurban.org Herman Wijffels, Member, Office of the Executive Director, World Bank, representing Armenia, Bosnia and Herzengovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands, Romania and Ukraine; former Chairman of Rabobank; Chairman, Economic and Social Council of the Netherlands. www.clubofbudapest.org Ken Wilber, Author of 25 books translated into some 30 foreign languages, he is the most widely translated academic writer in the United States. Ken is the internationally acknowledged originator of Integral Theory and co-founder of Integral Life.  www.kenwilber.com Michael Zimmerman, Director, Center for Humanities and the Arts, and Professor of Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder; co-author, Integral Ecology.  www.colorado.edu Ken Zweibel, former Program Leader for the Thin Film Photovoltaic Partnership Program, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and is often credited with the success of thin film photovoltaics in the U.S. Zweibel also cofounded a thin film CdTe PV start-up, PrimeStar Solar and became the founding Director of the Institute for Analysis of Solar Energy at George Washington University. He has written two books on photovoltaics and co-authored a Scientific American article (January 2008) on solar energy as a solution to climate change. solar.gwu.edu

60 Earth Hour / Vote Earth March 28 8:30 p.m.

I’ll finally be adding posts in April, including on TEDxUSC (the first independently-organized TED conference in the world), on the new Clean Economy Network, and on our upcoming program in Santa Cruz on EcoSentience, which, not coincidentally, falls on March 28, the day you can “vote Earth,” the real subject of this post:

If you aren’t participating in Earth Hour / Vote Earth (Vote for the Earth–your switch is your vote in the world’s first “global election”), please watch the clips below and consider taking part.  It may not have an effect on global warming, but it can do amazing things for shifting awareness.

Celebrating Inauguration Day

A few of my grainy images from our great nation’s capital, on and around January 20, 2009, celebrating “Renewing America’s Promise.”

Tomorrow is Day One.  It’s going to take all of us.

Yes We Can!

"You'll Never Walk Alone" at the Lincoln Memorial--what a concert!

One of many Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events, this one with Ben Afleck

Downtown store window--"Presidential Cool"

Our Capitol; current estimates are approx. 2 million attended the inauguration

The First Couple at the Western States Inaugural Ball

Citizen Action Items: change.org Top Ten and NEW change.gov Citizen Briefing Book

If you haven’t already checked it out, please consider going to change.org and voting on your favorite ideas for Change In America. (VOTING ENDS 5 PM ET JANUARY 15.)  It’s too late to submit your own ideas to change.org, but the Obama-Biden Transition team just announced a Citizen Briefing Book in the Open Government section on change.gov:  “an online forum where you can share your ideas, and rate or offer comments on the ideas of others.  The best-rated ones will rise to the top, and after the Inauguration, we’ll print them out and gather them into a binder like the ones the President receives every day from experts and advisors. If you participate, your idea could be included in the Citizen’s Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama.”

Below are the top ranking ideas on change.org (showing current numbers of votes), but there are many others to choose from, in many categories, including Global Warming, Domestic and Global Poverty, Energy, Environmental Conservation, Economy, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship, Education, Technology Policy, and Civic Engagement:

• 14,416
• Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana

• Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana. “Marijuana has been proven to relieve the suffering of the chronically ill, as well as disabled patients undergoing chemotherapy, and other forms of medical treatments, yet using it for medical purposes conti…

  - posted by Jose Torres (Unemployed / Disabled / Activist / Supporter), Newark, NJ 1st Place   (3634 comments)

• 11,442
  Free Single Payer Health Care

  Health Care is a fundamental human right.  No one should have sell their house to pay for their mother’s cancer.  No one should have to choose between food and medicine. Free basic health care for all! Why? 1) Its the most efficient approach 2) It works.&…

  - posted by Jared S (activist), Los Angeles, CA 2nd Place   (779 comments)

• 10,823
  Appoint Secretary of Peace in Department of Peace and Non-Violence

  Our planet, our media, our social interactions, our homes all suffer from the epidemic of inter-personal violence and warfare that plagues America. With the establishment of a Department of Peace and Non-Violence, with a respected Secretary of Peace in the Presi…

  - posted by Stephen Zendt (I am a Senior Citizen, work in Financial Services), Walnut Creek, CA 3rd Place   (901 comments)

• 10,522
  Health Freedom IS Our First Freedom

  Health Freedom – Our First Freedom! More information: http://www.HealthFreedomUSA.org/index.php?p=1733 Health Freedom means the right to control what happens to your body, choosing your own health path, making our own health choices as you see fit. Please vote for…

  - posted by Bill Pleasants (Aspiring farmer, retired engineer) 4th Place   (612 comments)

• 10,516
  Save Small Business From the CPSIA

  A Proposal From the handmadetoyalliance.org: In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public’s trust. They were selling toys containing dangerously high lead content, unsafe small parts…

  - posted by Cecilia Leibovitz (Founder, CraftsburyKids.com) 5th Place   (896 comments)

• 10,450
  End the war on drugs

  We have the highest non-violent incarceration rate in the world. We need to free up our police, jails and courts to deal with people who actually pose a clear and present danger to life and liberty. Stop persecuting non-violent drug users. Prefer regulation to prohib…

  - posted by dan b (realist) 6th Place   (256 comments)

• 10,303
  Make the grid green in 10 years

  Al Gore has made it his mission to get the U.S. electrical grid off of carbon-based fuel (coal, oil, etc.) in the next ten years. Make this the centerpiece of a national energy plan.

  - posted by Liz Rose (1Sky Campaign), Washington, DC 7th Place   (97 comments)

• 9902
  Pass Marriage Equality Rights for LGBT Couples Nationwide

  All people should be allowed equal rights when it comes to civil marriage no matter the sexual orientation or gender identity of the spouses. This is the ultimate civil rights battle of our time. We need to make sure our friends, brothers, sisters, mothers and father…

  - posted by Jen N. (Editor, Women’s Rights Blog), Washington, DC 8th Place   (300 comments)

• 9877
  Get FISA Right, repeal the PATRIOT Act, and restore our civil liberties

  Update, January 12: please check out Steve Elliot’s Get FISA Right: Last Chance To Vote Against Domestic Spying and consider voting for it on digg FISA and the PATRIOT Act strike at the core of our Fourth and First Amendment Rights and institutionalize a surveillanc…

  - posted by Jon Pincus (strategist, activist, writer) 9th Place   (106 comments)

• 9557
  Pass the DREAM Act – Support Higher Education for All Students

  The problem: Many American students graduate from college and high school each year, and face a roadblock to their dreams: they can’t drive, can’t work legally, can’t further their education, and can’t pay taxes to contribute to the economy just because they were bro…

  - posted by Dream ACTivist (MA Graduate Immigrant LGBT Student), San Francisco, CA 10th Place   (1353 comments)

• 7758
  Develop & Implement a National Strategy for Sustainability

  The Obama Administration needs to lead our country in developing and implementing a National Strategy for Sustainability. With only 5% of the world’s population, the US consumes 1/4 of the natural resources. Meanwhile humanity uses 30% more of the earth’s bio-capac…

  - posted by Rob Wheeler (Organizer – Campaign for a Sustainable America), Scotland, PA 11th Place   (112 comments)

• 7034
  Forgive Student Loans: Stimulate the Middle and Lower Middle Class

  Forgive Student Loans!    ^ The American middle and lower classes are crippled under the weight of educational debt; in these unusual times, as we bail out lenders and executives, we encourage the Obama administration to forgive student loans, provid…

  - posted by Sarah Szalavitz (Entrepreneur), Beverly HIlls, CA 12th Place   (238 comments)

• 7001
  Bridging the Empathy Gap – Yes We Can!

  Obama says, “Empathy strikes me as the most important quality that we need in America and around the world.” Mutual understanding and awareness result in effective resolution of conflicts, bridging of ideological divides, and wise use of our resources. Practica…

  - posted by Jori Manske (Catherine Cadden, Inbal Kashtan, Kathleen Macferran, Miki Kashtan, Sylvia Haskvitz – NVC Trainers) 13th Place   (358 comments)

• 6731
  Vegan school lunch options

  Require USDA to facilitate healthful plant-based (vegan) school lunch options to promote public health, freedom from hunger, environmental quality, nonviolence, and kindness to animals. ———————— The Problem Under the mandate from the U.S. Depar…

  - posted by Alex Hershaft (Advocate for healthful nonviolent diets), Bethesda, MD 14th Place   (771 comments)

• 6701
  Appoint a Special Prosecutor for the Crimes of the Bush Administration

  President-elect Obama recently said, “if I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in coverups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our Constitution is nobody above the la…

  - posted by Bob Fertik (President of Democrats.com), New York, NY 15th Place   (665 comments)

• 6094
  ReBuild and RePower America with a Green Stimulus Package.

  The inevitable economic stimulus package proposed by the new administration should be used to start solving our economic and climate crises simultaneously – putting Americans back to work with Green Jobs that rebuild our nation’s infrastructure using clean technology…

  - posted by Jake Brewer (PowerShift09.org), Washington, DC 16th Place   (70 comments)

• 6060
  Fully Fund Medicaid Waivers for the Developmentally Disabled

  ***ALERT:  Make sure your VOTE counts.  Click on the number to the left with “Vote” under it – it will change to “Voted”.  Registering on this site and posting a comment is not a vote!*** National Priority for the Economic Stimulu…

  - posted by Renee Beauregard (Mom, advocate, small business owner), Aurora, CO 17th Place   (528 comments)

• 5820
  End the Genocide in Darfur

  President-Elect Obama must create a peace surge for Sudan, focused on ending the crisis in Darfur rather than managing it.  Supporting a U.N.-authorized peacekeeping force that actively protects civilians and holding the perpetrators of the genocide to account a…

  - posted by Jerry Fowler (President, Save Darfur Coalition) 18th Place   (220 comments)

• 5757
  END CORPORATE “PERSONHOOD”

  An 1886 Supreme Court clerk’s headnotes misreading (Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad) applied the 14th Amendment to corporations, extending to them all the rights, but none of the responsibilities, of human persons.  The result has been…

  - posted by ED CIACCIO (RETIRED TEACHER/CURRENT ACTIVIST) 19th Place   (152 comments)

• 5730
  Protect Our Food Supply – Stop NAIS!

  The National Animal Identification System (NAIS) poses the greatest threat to local and sustainable agriculture since the Nixon administration. NAIS was originally designed to give huge corporations help with export markets. It will not stop animal disease or impro…

  - posted by Pamela Matlack Klein (Writer/Farmer/Slow Food Eater), Appomattox, VA 20th Place   (518 comments)

2008 Tech Awards: “Let’s Put Poverty into A Museum” (Yunus)

Thanks to Rob Stephenson for these links covering the 2008 Tech Award events and the work of the Laureates.

Portable Light Device Credit: KVA MATx

This article has great photos of the innovations in situ:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10093164-76.html?part=rss&subj=News-CuttingEdge

This is a great article with the night’s keynote speaker, Muhammad Yunus:

VentureBeat: Interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus on Micro Credit’s Long Shadow
By Dean Takahashi
http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/13/interview-with-nobel-peace-prize-winner-muhammad-yunas-on-micro-credits-long-shadow/

This article has a short video of the morning reception:

Mercury News: Tech Museum Awards Honor Low-Tech Solutions to Big Problems
By John Boudreau
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10968397?source=rss

Mercury News: Tech Awards Celebration Shows True Value of Technology
By Mike Cassidy
http://www.mercurynews.com/portal/business/ci_10975258?source=rss&_loopback=1

Silicon Valley Watcher: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mohammad Yunus Challenge to Silicon Valley and beyond: Let’s Put Poverty Into A Museum
By Tom Foremski
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2008/11/nobel_peace_pri.php

Think Change India: Tech Winners Starting Small, Scaling Up
By Shital (no last name posted)
http://thinkchangeindia.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/tech-winners-starting-small-scaling-up/

Imaging Notes: Political Footprints on the Planet

This is the quarterly editorial by NextNow member Tim Foresman in Imaging Notes, a premier Digital Earth publication.  Many thanks to Myrna Yoo, NextNow member, collaborator on ISDE5 and Publisher of Imaging Notes.

Timothy W. Foresman, Ph.D., is President of the International Centre for Remote Sensing Education. He has been director of United Nations Environment Programme’s Division of Early Warning and Assessment (Nairobi, Kenya) and national program manager for NASA’s Digital Earth (Washington, D.C.). He is editor of The History of Geographic Information Systems, 1998, Prentice Hall. Dr. Foresman was the Director-General for the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth (www.isde5.org) and is author of the children’s book, The Last Little Polar Bear:  A Global Change Adventure Story.

“A new administration will be upon us after the results are tallied for the November presidential elections.  One way or another, the seating arrangements in the U.S. government will change, and a new set of political party affiliates will become entrenched for a four-year tour of duty at the helm of one of the world’s most influential nations. In pondering this peaceful transfer of power, one of the U.S.A.’s most civilized behaviors, we might reflect on the impact of the 44th presidential election on the earth, and the current conditions and trajectories of that impact.

Those who are acute observers of the state of the planet will undoubtedly agree that regardless of who the victor is, the political footprint will be measurable and will affect us all. We might easily be distracted by economic chaos and Wall Street chicanery, or by military adventurism or by obdurate Russian leaders who appear to be singing ‘It’s a rainy night in Georgia’ while casting kerosene onto the international bonfire of vanities.  However, the bottom line on preserving our biodiversity and coping with climate change remains paramount for our survival as a civilized species.

The old axiom that all politics is local is an apt focus for the fact that all environmental impacts are also local to someone, albeit shared with the rest of us one way or another. Therefore, we might take the opportunity to look at the two major political parties and—with careful attention to objectivity and non-partisanship—differentiate which policies, as espoused by the campaign platforms and Web pages, will likely leave the greatest ecological footprints in the coming years.

Energy Policy

Both parties’ proclivities are to salve the citizens’ fears of higher energy prices with a clever mix of more domestic oil drilling combined with increased nuclear energy, a minimum level of conservation, and investment into alternatives or renewables. While the McCain team has led the charge to ‘drill now,’ the Obama team has acquiesced to that strategy and also has offered the strategic oil reserve to further lower gas prices: blatant political pandering by both camps as they seek to protect the voting public from increased gasoline prices.

The oil industry’s geophysicist, Dr. M. King Hubbert, calculated almost fifty years ago the fact that peak oil usage would impact the nation and world about right now. Experts increasingly accept the reality that we are heading on the down slope of this finite resource. Domestic oil drilling will not yield the results being claimed by both parties. We are running out of oil and the gas pump prices will continue to rise, while neither political candidate is willing to broadcast this new reality. Continued burning of oil will further damage our severely polluted atmosphere and exacerbate global warming. Neither campaign is willing to place this issue against the stark reality of citizens’ behaviors and chart a 180-degree shift in national policy that would demonstrate real change and real international leadership. Pain at the pump will be a legacy until renewables alter the equation.

The other hot topic endorsed by both campaigns is clean-coal technology. This is neither cheap nor truly clean. Mountain-top removal is but one startling dimension of any ambitious coal energy policy. Solar, hydroelectric, tidal electric, wind, non-cereal biomass, and geothermal are requisite priorities for an energy policy that does not further damage the Earth.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change

Parity on the issue of climate change among the political campaigns is a given. Senator McCain has been a student of climate change science for over a decade and Senator Obama has been consistent in his aligned opinions. The two sides to the coin are (1) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and (2) adaptation strategies for the impacts of global warming. Timely action on (1) may reduce the costly actions necessary for (2). Two quotes below highlight the critical nature of this issue and the stated urgency required to begin addressing our national and global challenges. Unfortunately, neither campaign appears ready to place the urgency of this issue front and center before the voting public, especially with our collective habit of watching feel-good news and entertainment.

‘There is still time to avoid the worst impacts of climate change if strong collective action starts now.’ – Stern Review, ‘The Economics of Climate Change,’ 2006.

‘Humanity must act collectively and urgently to change course through leadership at all levels of society.  There is no more time for delay.’ – Sigma Xi and United Nations Foundation Report, ‘Confronting Climate Change: Avoiding the Unmanageable and Managing the Unavoidable,’ 2007.

McCain’s camp suggests that a ‘cap and trade system would encompass electric power, transportation fuels, commercial business, and industrial business – sectors responsible for just below 90 percent of all emissions. The cap-and-trade system would allow for the gradual reduction of emissions [emphasis added].’ Their goal for 2050 is 60% below 1990 levels (66% below 2005 levels).

Obama’s camp suggests that they will ‘implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050.’ Neither campaign represents fast-track action. Neither camp appears to embrace the concept of ‘urgency’ on this topic, and both are inclined to follow the cap-and-trade system that was used for acid rain reduction to protect sensitive lakes and historic statues. Urgency would imply the kind of attention that paramedics face when deciding whether to stop bleeding or assist breathing on an accident victim. And because all aspects of urgent action are intricately tied to economic, social, and environmental dimensions of governance and international trade, it is unlikely that any political actions will be categorized as urgent. Meanwhile, the victim still lies on the ground.

Space Technology Program

What emphasis is being placed on our capacity for Earth observation at a time of climate change, biodiversity loss, over-fishing, and other impacts? McCain’s campaign offers to ‘ensure that space exploration is top priority and that the U.S. remains a leader,” to “maintain infrastructure investments in Earth-monitoring satellites and support systems.’  Earth-monitoring satellites will compete with missions to the Moon and to Mars, as space exploration is top dog for these space enthusiasts. This does not bode well for Landsat data continuity missions.

Obama’s campaign articulates a comprehensive space exploration agenda, but it too holds no safety net for the competition between space explorers and Earth monitors and is loaded in favor of space exploration.  Perhaps star gazers for both parties should join the rest of us to look at what is happening beneath their feet. After 50 years, NASA and the nation should figure out that Mission to Planet Earth is still the best idea it has ever had.

A host of other areas could, and should, be examined to see if Spaceship Earth will receive the kind of care and maintenance it must have to successfully continue our journey through the cosmos. These areas include: green jobs, smart growth, transportation, international treaties (e.g., Law of the Sea and Kyoto), U.N. support, economics/trade, weapons sales, and population control. For everyone’s benefit, let us hope that real change for the better does occur from the party that takes over leadership of the U.S. and that the winner accepts the challenge of saving the planet in an urgent and collaborative manner.’ –Tim Foresman

Imaging Notes / Fall 2008 / www.imagingnotes.com

More Election Protection

A last suggestion for protecting democracy on Nov. 4, if necessary.  This one is an interesting, and as always non-partisan alternative from CREDO Mobile (you do NOT need to be a CREDO Mobile customer) to help ensure that people are not deprived of their right to vote.

If you are ready and willing to take action, sign up for CREDO Mobile’s election protection text network. We’ll send a text message to your mobile phone if there is an election protection emergency in your county.

Sign up for election protection text message alerts now.

We know you’re getting a lot of traffic in your e-mail and on your phone in the lead-up to Election Day. Let me be clear about this program — this is not background noise. This is an easy way for you to make a big difference on Election Day if you are needed in your community. Here’s how the program works:

1. Here at CREDO headquarters, we hear about an election protection emergency in Alameda County — say college students are being forced to wait in line for hours to vote, or pollworkers are requiring voters to present photo ID even though your state’s laws allow non-photo ID, like utility bills.
2. We’re concerned about these reports, but we want to make sure they’re true. So we vet and verify them through the media and our sources on the ground.
3. We send you a text message — a quick summary of the problem and an easy way that you can take action and make a difference. “Students waiting for hours at City Hall — bring pizza!” Or maybe, “Pollworkers illegally requiring photo ID — call Board of Elections!”

We’ll give you all the information you need to ensure your time is well used — for example, if we ask you to call your Board of Elections, we’ll text you the number to call. If you need to hurry to a hotspot to protest voter intimidation, we’ll text you the address. Chances are that we may not text you at all, but if we do, it will be because you have a real opportunity to protect voters in your county and in your state.