It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here | David Roberts: ‘Climate Change Is Simple’ (remixed by Ryan Cooper)

Via YouTube:

David Roberts is staff writer at Grist.org. In “Climate Change is Simple” he describes the causes and effects of climate change in blunt, plain terms.

On April 16, 2012, speakers and attendees gathered at TEDxTheEvergreenStateCollege: Hello Climate Change to reflect on the ability — and responsibility — of formal and informal education to inspire and empower action in this era of climate change.

Related:

• David Roberts: ‘Climate change is simple: We do something or we’re screwed’ (Grist)
• ‘Why can’t we quit fossil fuels?’ (The Guardian)
• ‘Global warming’s new frightening deadline’ (Vancouver Sun)

Sustainability on the Mind: ‘Externalities’

From Sustainable Man:

David Suzuki explains the fallacy of conventional economics, in an interview done for the BBC. The song is “Outro” by M83.

Thinking Globally: ‘Overview’ (Short Film)

From Vimeo:

On the 40th anniversary of the famous ‘Blue Marble’ photograph taken of Earth from space, Planetary Collective presents a short film documenting astronauts’ life-changing stories of seeing the Earth from the outside – a perspective-altering experience often described as the Overview Effect.

The Overview Effect, first described by author Frank White in 1987, is an experience that transforms astronauts’ perspective of the planet and mankind’s place upon it. Common features of the experience are a feeling of awe for the planet, a profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a renewed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment.

‘Overview’ is a short film that explores this phenomenon through interviews with five astronauts who have experienced the Overview Effect. The film also features insights from commentators and thinkers on the wider implications and importance of this understanding for society, and our relationship to the environment.

More here.

It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here: ‘Weathergirl Goes Rogue 2: Still Hot, Still Crazy’

After the huge viral success of ‘Weathergirl Goes Rogue’, the folks at Deep Rogue Ram are back with another hilarious, but deadly serious weathercast.

Related:

• ‘September Bookends the Warmest 12 Months on Record’ (Climate Central)
• ‘Extreme Weather Means Extreme Food Prices Worldwide, Aid Agency Warns’ (NPR)
• U.S. Election 2012: ‘Climate Change, The Debate’s Great Unmentionable’ (New Yorker)

Getting Around: ‘Good Bicycle Karma’ (Video)

Here’s a fun, simple, and low cost idea to encourage smart and safe cycling in cities. Copenhagen’s ‘Karmaspotters’ walk the streets of the city giving out good karma presents to cyclists who are being considerate while biking around the city.

(Source: Cycling Embassy of Denmark)

Related:

• ‘When the Bad Guys Ride Bikes’ (Atlantic Cities)

Ideas for the Future | ‘It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future’ (Video)

From SFU Continuing Studies via Youtube:

Although climate change is a scientific and technological issue, it is also fundamentally a moral issue, and it calls for a moral response. 

In the spring of 2012, Kathleen Dean Moore of Oregon State University joined us at SFU Vancouver to deliver a lecture called It’s Wrong to Wreck the World: Climate Change and the Moral Obligation to the Future. 

She addressed several questions: Why has climate-change science elicited such stunning indifference? What calls us to act? How can we respond to the crisis in ways that honor duties of compassion, justice, and respect for human rights? How can we discuss these values across differences? How do we live when we truly understand that we live in complete dependence on an Earth that is interconnected, interdependent, finite, resilient, and heartbreakingly beautiful?

Neil deGrasse Tyson: ‘The Most Astounding Fact’ (Video)

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was asked in an interview with TIME magazine, “What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the Universe?” This is his answer. (Vimeo)

Awe-inspiring. Definitely a video deserving of a full screen treatment. The Cinematic Orchestra track in the background is a nice touch as well.  

Grow your own: ‘How we can eat our landscapes’ (Video)

From TED Talks via YouTube:

What should a community do with its unused land? Plant food, of course. With energy and humor, Pam Warhurst tells at the TEDSalon the story of how she and a growing team of volunteers came together to turn plots of unused land into communal vegetable gardens, and to change the narrative of food in their community.

Pam Warhurst cofounded Incredible Edible, an initiative in Todmorden, England dedicated to growing food locally by planting on unused land throughout the community.

(Photo source: Incredible Edible)

Getting Around, Safely: ‘The Invisible Helmet’ (Video)

This is awesome on so many levels:

“If people say it’s impossible we have to prove them wrong.”
Design students Anna and Terese took on a giant challenge as an exam project. Something no one had done before. If they could swing it, it would for sure be revolutionary. The bicycle is a tool to change the world. If we use bikes AND travel safe: Life will be better for all. (Vimeo)

You can read more about the Invisible Bike Helmet here.

Tools for Change: ‘Smart Environmental Policy with Full-Cost Pricing’

From The Pacific Institute of Climate Solutions via YouTube:

Canada’s natural resources, ecosystems and wildlife are indispensable to the sustainability of our planet and economy. Despite this, both the public and private sectors do not adequately consider the environmental consequences of production and consumption when calculating their bottom line. There is a growing need for full-cost pricing, a system that adjusts market prices to reflect not only the direct costs of goods and services, but also their impact on our country’s natural capital. Presenting the findings of a March 2012 paper, Dr. Olewiler argues that the onus is on the federal government to create the conditions for full-cost pricing to succeed.

…

Nancy Olewiler is the Director of the School of Public Policy at Simon Fraser University. Her areas of research include natural resource and environmental economics and policy. She has published extensively, written two widely used textbooks (The Economics of Natural Resource Use and Environmental Economics), and produced numerous reports for the Canadian federal and provincial governments, including studies on energy and climate policy, natural capital, and federal business tax policy. Nancy is the Chair of the TransLink Board of Directors, and has previously served on the boards of BC Hydro and several of its subsidiaries. She is also a member of advisory committees for Statistics Canada, WWF-Canada, Sustainable Prosperity and the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions. 

The Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions has lots of other great solutions oriented talks here. 

Related:

• ‘India set to be first country to publish ‘natural wealth’ accounts’ (The Guardian)
• Report: ‘The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity’ 
• TED Talks: ‘Pavan Sukhdev: Put a value on nature!’
• ‘Bank of Natural Capital’

(Graphic source: TEEB4me)