Note: Much of this diary is notes taken directly from speakers … Some powerful stuff here …
Just back from listening to Michael Pollan and Sarah James (notes to be transcribed later) but reporting now on the incredible talk by Jack Hildary …
The day began with Kenny Ausubel, Nina Simons and Brock Dolman …. Liz Cunningham ..
Kenny’s Messaage: “It’s 2020 or bust”
Jack says its 2-degrees to 2-degrees! Astounding. Just astounding stuff!
Jack Hildary
Jack Hidary says a few weeks back he was bombarded with emails, tweets, phone messages and FaceBook contacts, all informing him that an electric car is now being featured in the catalog of all catalogs: Neiman Marcus!
“Neiman Marcus has recognized that electric cars are here. I’m very excited. I begin to open all tweets and emails and text messages. I find the electric car in the Neiman Marcus catalog is a ….cupcake. Light and fluffy. …. Two years before on the Playo at Burning Man I was distracted by 3-foot high movement. I look, I turn I first see a blueberry, then a second then a third…. The prototype of the electric vehicle. The Muffin mobile….”
Electric cars? What’s the reality of the energy revolution today? What is the reality of solar wind? Lets take a status
Stats: 250 million cars in America; in world there are 800 million; we have 30% of the cars in world.
GV will not reach 5% of US fleet before 2030.
Obama admin goal of 1 million PHEVs (plug in hybrid vehicle)by 2015 will only represent .4% penetration
Need a different approach. We are not on a pathway to sufficient change over, We are not there. How can we get there?
China currently has 65 million cars; 1.3 billion people in China and we are on the way to 300 million vehicles in next 6-7 years.
We must take hold of reality if we want to change this future
Energy. Where is our solar, where is our wind? We all know there is more solar energy available in 70 minutes than we need for entire year. Where is all the solar?
US produces 371,000 megawatt hours of energy every year How much is solar? Solar = 108 megawatt hours
How can we change this?
2 degrees for 2 degrees Nant’an
Milgram’s 1967 experiment “Six degrees of separation” actually found that we are only separated by 4 degrees. It was changed to six by a playwright because it sounded better …. It’s a play, it’s a movie. Voila.
Are we still in a world of 4 or 5 degrees? Let’s use Facebook as a Proxy
Users in 2007: 80 million, today: 300 million
One of the most significant things that has changed is that the number of friends people have has gone up, with the average number of friends at around 120 . Meaning that it is likely that within your group of 120 friends there is one friend who is “super connector.”
“We are probably moving to 2 degrees of separation.”
Facebook’s “Suggested Friends” got better, looking at many more variables to suggest friends for you so more people started connecting. It is now all about “search and discovery, “we have networks but these tools are accelerating. We are accelerating towards each other faster and faster. The mathematics is there!”
But this is not happening uniformly. There are communities at 2 degrees in Brooklyn, New York; Everyone knows everybody.
In Washington, DC because of influx of people following the campaign the estimate is 3 degrees. Here in Northern California communities no more than 4 degrees. Each of these communities is moving towards 2 degrees at different rates.
“What can we do with this 2-degree universe that we could not do before?”
He suggests a scenario of a fender bender en route to work. The hostility, frustration, inconvenience. Accusations. Involvement of the police, insurance companies … but then …
“What if …… we might have an application that doesn’t exist but will probably exist by the end of this lecture and the application will buzz, it will say you have 2 mutual friends with this individual. You are connected and you are probably both going to Bobby’s birthday party on Friday.In the 30 seconds it takes for me to walk over to this guy, the entire interaction has changed. Forget the police, I walk away, call over my shoulder “I’ll see you at the birthday party.”
When we think about changing energy it costs money and some of us might not have the money needed, so we need to find a scalable way to make this happen.
Enter the birth of pacenow.org in Berkeley, CA. the idea of a new bond with the proceeds of that bond going to people in the community so that they could install solar and retrofit homes and businesses.
Lets take this national!
Pacenow.org is now in 15 states in 6 months. Another 10 states are in the works.
“Your county will have ability to give you a low cost loan you will have 20 years to pay back.”
“This is the scale we have been waiting for. This can change everything. But the loans alone will not do it. 2 for 2 means we are now more connected, each one of us sitting here today, all the other places where you are watching. We have ability to change things in a much bigger way.”
When you think PACE think about people you do not know as well …
Is PACE happening in your state? Are there low cost loans available now to make the difference?”
“Financial tools as important as solar and wind.”
You could put the charging stations in your vehicle, house, shopping center, We can actually make this happen
It all comes back to the Playa.
“We each can be leaders, now I have the tools; I have the tools to create a 2- degree universe. We are hurling towards each other. The technology and the tools are there. Do not wait!”
“Yes, we should continue conventional models of activism, but we must take it to another level, we cannot wait for government. The scale and the pace are not happening. WE NEED PACE TO PICK UP THE PACE.”
“We are now in a new 2 degree universe let us use to avoid those next 2 degrees in temperature.”
Why here, Why Now?
There has never been a more time in the history of our planet to find the solutions to such critical environmental and social issues. The Earth could reach an irreversible tipping point in less than a decade unless we quickly change our ways, according to NASA climate scientist James Hansen.
Proven by how much attention the recently released film Food, Inc., and other social and environmental indictments like it earn, the masses are starting to ask themselves what they can do to make a difference.
Bioneers goes beyond the dialogue and inspires, educates and calls people to action. From water security to social justice, from green building to green collar jobs, Bioneers mobilizes citizens across the globe by offering them the tools, resources, and inspiration to be catalysts for change in their own communities to reverse the damage before it is too late.
For the past 20 years, Bioneers has been a hub of breakthrough solutions and leading-edge ideas that celebrate the genius of nature and human creativity to create a healthy planet. The organization recognizes that the work never stops and the need for solutions to critical issues is infinite. To that end, Bioneers will continue to inspire and connect experts across the globe with everyday citizens, and spread the gospel that each person can be a change-maker for a better world.
Through its educational works on pressing issues of the day including biomimicry, integrative medicine, green building and fostering youth leadership to build a sustainable future, Bioneers will continue to broadcast across global channels the urgency of taking care of the earth and of one another. And if the past 20 years are any indication of the demand, the annual conference in San Rafael, California that draws thousands each year will continue to showcase the latest technology, social and scientific solutions needed to spark hope and inspiration and to turn education into action. Bioneers FAQ
Highlights of the 2009 Conference
• Dr. Andrew Weil, the nation’s foremost authority on Integrative medicine, and author of numerous bestselling books including Spontaneous Healing and Eight Weeks to Optimum Health. Drawing from his newest book, Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future (September 2009), Dr. Weil will illustrate how making the critical link between human and environmental health can transform the healthcare system to benefit public health, the economy and the environment.
• Because Bioneers was created with the mission to help improve the industrialized food system, there will be a heavy focus around food and agriculture. Presenting at this year’s conference is food expert Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, and participant in the recently released production by Participant Media, Food, Inc., which will be shown during the conference’s Moving Image Festival. At the forefront of the modern day food conversation, Pollan will highlight front-line initiatives to redesign our destructive food system.
• Giving indigenous populations a voice for justice is one of the founding principles of Bioneers and primary focus of this year’s conference. Almir Narayamoga Surui is an Amazonian tribal chief who has spent more than 15 years fighting for the survival of his Surui tribe and the Amazon rainforest. Chief Almir will tell the astonishing story of how he connected with Google Earth Outreach and is using their technology to protect his people and preserve the rainforest with laptops instead of weapons.
Earlier Notes
Rehydration Revolution: Brock Dolman on Basins of Relations: A Reverential Rehydration Revolution
I am going to write later on Nina’s talk about the role women are playing in leading the world … and about Kenny’s amazing intro … but right now while it is fresh in my mind i want to report on Brock and the Rehydration Revolution ….
Water Institute
For starters, this guy is really head over heels in love with water!
Brock talks about ‘Hydro-illiteracy’ and how each of us much view our own watershed as a lifeboat; that each watershed is our true community and that the laws of nature operate from the bottom up… we need to outfit every lifeboat … He discusses a recent trip to Tibet and shows pictures of small Tibetan water (prayer) wheels which are predominant throughout the country. He shows the heartbreaking pictures of the Himalayas today and how millions and millions people will be impacted as the snow virtually disappears from the mountaintops and the rivers begin to dry up.
just think about it water three forms and as a solid it can float on itself.
we have kingdoms of life as opposed to kingdoms of life….
shows slides of Tibetan water wheels….