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Nationwide "Teach-In" planned to address climate change

One of the National Jobs for All Coalition's authors, Eban Goodstein, helped to start this movement. [See his comment below, and his piece, Environmental Regulation and Jobs:Myth and Reality

Nationwide "Teach-In" Planned to Address Climate Change, Stacy Teicher Khadaroo
The Christian Science Monitor Thursday 24 January 2008

Piles of coal, battling windmills, and political leaders descend on college campuses.

In Springfield, Mo., college students are about to see quite vividly how much energy they consume. Piles of coal will be on display in proportion to what's needed each day to power their dorms, computers, and dining halls.

At Radford University in Virginia, students may stumble upon a mock fight between a windmill and a smokestack (costumes courtesy of the campus Green Team).

At the University of Vermont in Burlington, audience members will be encouraged to bike or walk to a one-woman show in which the fictional first lady calls for a boycott against sex until the nation starts a serious dialogue about climate change.

The creative tactics are designed to draw students into a series of events this coming week known as Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America. Organizers bill the culminating day, Jan. 31, as the largest teach-in in the nation's history, drawing parallels to the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s and '70s. More than 1,500 institutions, most of them colleges and universities, will host classes, documentaries, performances, energy-saving competitions, and discussions with political leaders.

Eban Goodstein, the man behind the mission, speaks about it urgently: "What our kids have to do is truly heroic," he says. "If they're going to stabilize the climate for their children, they have to rewire the entire planet with clean-energy technology."

Mr. Goodstein is an economics professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., and an author on environmental issues. The pace needs to pick up in order to hold global warming to low levels before it is too late, he says. "We owe our young people some focused discussion about the critical importance of the choices that are going to get made over the next couple years."

The impact of Focus the Nation depends on whether it preaches to the choir or fulfills its potential to reach a broader audience and inspire long-term commitment. A key question is, "Will [the students] take the message to their parents and grandparents? ... Will it move from the campus teach-ins to the backyard barbecues of early summer?" says Gordon Mitchell, a communication professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has studied rhetoric and social movements. "That will in large part determine if this is a wave, versus a ripple."

The Focus the Nation website has offered templates for activities, but a decentralized network of faculty, students, and other volunteers has seized the opportunity to tailor events for local audiences. Professors in fields as diverse as astronomy, economics, and classics will use class time to link their subjects to climate change. ....

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/012408EA.shtml

DRAFT ISEE Position on Economic Growth

Originating from a Proposal at the Eighth Biennial Conference, Montreal, Canada, July 11-14, 2004 Edited Pursuant to Comments Received Following the Ninth Biennial Conference, Delhi, India, December 15-18, 2006 Send Comments to Dr. Brian Czech.

"Time to Make Environment and Economics Team Players," says new UNEP Chief

Nairobi, 15 June 2006 --The new head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) took up office today with a call to all nations to put the environment at the heart of economic policies.

Achim Steiner, the 45 year-old former Director General of IUCN-the World Conservation Union, said: "For too long economics and environment have seemed like players on rival teams. There have been a lot of nasty challenges and far too many own goals. We need to make these two sides of the development coin team players, players on the same side. We then have a chance to achieve the fundamental shift of values and reach a new understanding of what really makes the world go round. Until recently the goods and services provided by nature have been paid only lip service by traditional economic accounting. Thus the land, the air, the biodiversity and the world's waters have been frequently treated as free and limitless, " he added.

Mr Steiner said a whole stream of reports over the past year or so, including the UNEP-supported Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, were underlining the " enormous wealth of nature's services " . They also underline that far too many are becoming limited as a result of abuse, poor management and over-exploitation, he added.

Mr Steiner said one of his main challenges over his coming first term as UNEP Executive Director was to end this " antagonism between economic and environmental policy ". He said he would be focusing on how markets and economic incentives and international treaties and agreements can be made to work in a way which is " pro environment, pro poor and thus pro sustainable development " .

" Economic issues that touch on the environment are all too often pushed out of environmental conventions. Meanwhile, environmental issues are generally left standing on the touch line, little more than spectators and rarely asked to play a real role in the great economic game. Everyone, not just those in the developing but also those in the developed world stand to lose out if this continues, " said the new UNEP Executive Director.

Mr Steiner, the organization's fifth Executive Director since it was set up in the early 1970s, said there was every reason to be positive: "There is a real tide of opinion that is now running in the direction of environmentally sustainable economies upon which we must and should sail. A new mood that increasingly recognizes that, while money may make the world go round, what makes money go round is ultimately the trillions of dollars generated by the planet ' s goods and services from the air cleaning and climate-change countering processes of forests to the fisheries and the coast line protection power of coral reefs " .

He said among his many targets, aimed at making UNEP even more relevant to the challenges of the 21st century, was that of achieving stronger and more streamlined ties with other UN organizations, civil society and the private sector.

" The challenges are so immense that, only by working together in mutual self interest, can we realize internationally agreed goals and deliver a stable, just and healthy planet for this and future generations, " said Mr Steiner, a Brazilian-born German national whose previous experience includes being Secretary-General of the World Commission on Dams based at the time in South Africa. He described the UN Secretary General ' s High-level panel on UN system-wide coherence in the areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and the Environment and the UN General Assembly's informal consultations on the institutional framework for the UN system's environmental activities- chaired by ambassadors from Mexico and Switzerland- as " real opportunities that we must all seize " .

" For the first time in two decades environment and the institutional architecture are receiving the highest levels of attention. We have a golden chance to reform the institutions and structures that deliver global and regional environmental policy. It is a chance we must not let slip away, " said Mr Steiner.

He said he was delighted to be taking the helm of an African headquartered organization: " My self and my family are no strangers to this wonderful Continent with its diverse history and culture and hospitable people and beautiful landscapes. So I am delighted to be returning to live here. I believe that Nairobi in East Africa is an excellent location for a global environment agency. I am fully committed to ensuring that UNEP's headquarters becomes ever more a world class facility on a par with cities like New York or Geneva. Africa and the developing world deserve nothing less. I also want to ensure that, at the end of my first four year term, UNEP becomes an ever brighter beacon of intellectual leadership, scientific assessment and a energetic catalyst for the deep and meaningful policy reforms and revolutions so urgently needed world-wide.

UNEP News Release 2006/31

Online EE Journal in Spanish & Portuguese

The Iberoamerican Network for Ecological Economics (Red Iberoamericana de Economia Ecologica, REDIBEC) announces the publication of the second issue of the on-line, peer-reviewed journal, the Iberoamerican Journal of Ecological Economic.

The second issue presents the most relevant papers of the Second Meeting of the Argentina-Paraguay Society for Ecological Economics that took place in November 2004 at the Universidad Nacional de Lujan, Argentina. REDIBEC appreciate the help and involvement of Walter A. Pengue as Guest Editor.

New Masters Program at UVSQ

A new Masters program in the Sciences of the Environment, Territory and the Economy (SETE) is available at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ).

Click here for further information.

First Newsletter from NZCEE

The first newsletter from the New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics (NZCEE) is now available! This newsletter provides information on who NZCEE are, what they do and their current research projects. NZCEE hope this introduction to the Centre will be of interest to ISEE members.

New Masters Program in Australia

The Australian National University will be starting a Masters degree in Environmental and Resource Economics in February 2006.

See their website for further details.

ISEE Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsorship is open to any research institute, NGO, government or international agency, business organisation or similar institutions that does not otherwise qualify for membership under a particular membership category.

Click here to learn more and apply.


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ISEE latest news regional news other news workshops calendar newsletter archive		NEWS ISEE Latest News December 2007 Newsletter ISEE 2008 Election Results First edition of: Introduction to Ecological Economics (e-book) Sustainable Degrowth Conference, April 08 Paris, sponsored by ESEE New Book from Mohan Munasinghe New Executive Director of CIES Appointed New Book from Edward Elgar Draft ISEE Position on Economic Growth New UNEP Chief Nationwide "Teach-In" planned to address climate change One of the National Jobs for All Coalition's authors, Eban Goodstein, helped to start this movement. [See his comment below, and his piece, Environmental Regulation and Jobs:Myth and Reality Nationwide "Teach-In" Planned to Address Climate Change, Stacy Teicher Khadaroo The Christian Science Monitor Thursday 24 January 2008 Piles of coal, battling windmills, and political leaders descend on college campuses. In Springfield, Mo., college students are about to see quite vividly how much energy they consume. Piles of coal will be on display in proportion to what's needed each day to power their dorms, computers, and dining halls. At Radford University in Virginia, students may stumble upon a mock fight between a windmill and a smokestack (costumes courtesy of the campus Green Team). At the University of Vermont in Burlington, audience members will be encouraged to bike or walk to a one-woman show in which the fictional first lady calls for a boycott against sex until the nation starts a serious dialogue about climate change. The creative tactics are designed to draw students into a series of events this coming week known as Focus the Nation: Global Warming Solutions for America. Organizers bill the culminating day, Jan. 31, as the largest teach-in in the nation's history, drawing parallels to the civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s and '70s. More than 1,500 institutions, most of them colleges and universities, will host classes, documentaries, performances, energy-saving competitions, and discussions with political leaders. Eban Goodstein, the man behind the mission, speaks about it urgently: "What our kids have to do is truly heroic," he says. "If they're going to stabilize the climate for their children, they have to rewire the entire planet with clean-energy technology." Mr. Goodstein is an economics professor at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., and an author on environmental issues. The pace needs to pick up in order to hold global warming to low levels before it is too late, he says. "We owe our young people some focused discussion about the critical importance of the choices that are going to get made over the next couple years." The impact of Focus the Nation depends on whether it preaches to the choir or fulfills its potential to reach a broader audience and inspire long-term commitment. A key question is, "Will [the students] take the message to their parents and grandparents? ... Will it move from the campus teach-ins to the backyard barbecues of early summer?" says Gordon Mitchell, a communication professor at the University of Pittsburgh who has studied rhetoric and social movements. "That will in large part determine if this is a wave, versus a ripple." The Focus the Nation website has offered templates for activities, but a decentralized network of faculty, students, and other volunteers has seized the opportunity to tailor events for local audiences. Professors in fields as diverse as astronomy, economics, and classics will use class time to link their subjects to climate change. .... http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/012408EA.shtml DRAFT ISEE Position on Economic Growth Originating from a Proposal at the Eighth Biennial Conference, Montreal, Canada, July 11-14, 2004 Edited Pursuant to Comments Received Following the Ninth Biennial Conference, Delhi, India, December 15-18, 2006 Send Comments to Dr. Brian Czech. "Time to Make Environment and Economics Team Players," says new UNEP Chief Nairobi, 15 June 2006 --The new head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) took up office today with a call to all nations to put the environment at the heart of economic policies. Achim Steiner, the 45 year-old former Director General of IUCN-the World Conservation Union, said: "For too long economics and environment have seemed like players on rival teams. There have been a lot of nasty challenges and far too many own goals. We need to make these two sides of the development coin team players, players on the same side. We then have a chance to achieve the fundamental shift of values and reach a new understanding of what really makes the world go round. Until recently the goods and services provided by nature have been paid only lip service by traditional economic accounting. Thus the land, the air, the biodiversity and the world's waters have been frequently treated as free and limitless, " he added. Mr Steiner said a whole stream of reports over the past year or so, including the UNEP-supported Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, were underlining the " enormous wealth of nature's services " . They also underline that far too many are becoming limited as a result of abuse, poor management and over-exploitation, he added. Mr Steiner said one of his main challenges over his coming first term as UNEP Executive Director was to end this " antagonism between economic and environmental policy ". He said he would be focusing on how markets and economic incentives and international treaties and agreements can be made to work in a way which is " pro environment, pro poor and thus pro sustainable development " . " Economic issues that touch on the environment are all too often pushed out of environmental conventions. Meanwhile, environmental issues are generally left standing on the touch line, little more than spectators and rarely asked to play a real role in the great economic game. Everyone, not just those in the developing but also those in the developed world stand to lose out if this continues, " said the new UNEP Executive Director. Mr Steiner, the organization's fifth Executive Director since it was set up in the early 1970s, said there was every reason to be positive: "There is a real tide of opinion that is now running in the direction of environmentally sustainable economies upon which we must and should sail. A new mood that increasingly recognizes that, while money may make the world go round, what makes money go round is ultimately the trillions of dollars generated by the planet ' s goods and services from the air cleaning and climate-change countering processes of forests to the fisheries and the coast line protection power of coral reefs " . He said among his many targets, aimed at making UNEP even more relevant to the challenges of the 21st century, was that of achieving stronger and more streamlined ties with other UN organizations, civil society and the private sector. " The challenges are so immense that, only by working together in mutual self interest, can we realize internationally agreed goals and deliver a stable, just and healthy planet for this and future generations, " said Mr Steiner, a Brazilian-born German national whose previous experience includes being Secretary-General of the World Commission on Dams based at the time in South Africa. He described the UN Secretary General ' s High-level panel on UN system-wide coherence in the areas of Development, Humanitarian Assistance and the Environment and the UN General Assembly's informal consultations on the institutional framework for the UN system's environmental activities- chaired by ambassadors from Mexico and Switzerland- as " real opportunities that we must all seize " . " For the first time in two decades environment and the institutional architecture are receiving the highest levels of attention. We have a golden chance to reform the institutions and structures that deliver global and regional environmental policy. It is a chance we must not let slip away, " said Mr Steiner. He said he was delighted to be taking the helm of an African headquartered organization: " My self and my family are no strangers to this wonderful Continent with its diverse history and culture and hospitable people and beautiful landscapes. So I am delighted to be returning to live here. I believe that Nairobi in East Africa is an excellent location for a global environment agency. I am fully committed to ensuring that UNEP's headquarters becomes ever more a world class facility on a par with cities like New York or Geneva. Africa and the developing world deserve nothing less. I also want to ensure that, at the end of my first four year term, UNEP becomes an ever brighter beacon of intellectual leadership, scientific assessment and a energetic catalyst for the deep and meaningful policy reforms and revolutions so urgently needed world-wide. UNEP News Release 2006/31 Online EE Journal in Spanish & Portuguese The Iberoamerican Network for Ecological Economics (Red Iberoamericana de Economia Ecologica, REDIBEC) announces the publication of the second issue of the on-line, peer-reviewed journal, the Iberoamerican Journal of Ecological Economic. The second issue presents the most relevant papers of the Second Meeting of the Argentina-Paraguay Society for Ecological Economics that took place in November 2004 at the Universidad Nacional de Lujan, Argentina. REDIBEC appreciate the help and involvement of Walter A. Pengue as Guest Editor. New Masters Program at UVSQ A new Masters program in the Sciences of the Environment, Territory and the Economy (SETE) is available at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ). Click here for further information. First Newsletter from NZCEE The first newsletter from the New Zealand Centre for Ecological Economics (NZCEE) is now available! This newsletter provides information on who NZCEE are, what they do and their current research projects. NZCEE hope this introduction to the Centre will be of interest to ISEE members. New Masters Program in Australia The Australian National University will be starting a Masters degree in Environmental and Resource Economics in February 2006. See their website for further details. ISEE Sponsorship Opportunities Sponsorship is open to any research institute, NGO, government or international agency, business organisation or similar institutions that does not otherwise qualify for membership under a particular membership category. Click here to learn more and apply.