The most interesting sustainability report you'll never have to read

There's no doubt we need art if we're going to make the progress toward sustainability on the timeline we need to avoid big trouble.  Cheers to Heineken:



Stay going.
--
.

Divestment 3: Hip Hop & Push Back

I bumped into the endowment manager of a small liberal arts college at a holiday party. I asked about the practical concerns some have expressed about the feasibility of divesting from fossil fuels, when endowments allocate assets to various management funds who invest in co-mingled funds, and the like. His response was straightforward: "no problem, I could get us out of fossil fuels next week, and if the investment committee tells me to do it, I will, doesn't matter to me."

I'm not sure if that perspective would be universal among endowments managers, but it may put that aspect of the conversation to bed.

Although I'm not sure that's good news for the divestment movement.  The more I look at this, the more convinced I become that the best thing for the goals of the campaign would be if most endowments continue to refuse to divest.

As this post by Carol Pierson points out, negative SRI screens have had little impact on curbing things like guns and tobacco over their long history. As I pointed out in this previous post, it's unlikely that if all endowments sold their fossil fuel stocks, the markets or fossil fuel companies would notice.

What fossil fuel companies, the markets, and the general public will likely notice is millions of students raising hell. And if endowments continue to stand their ground, that could happen. The campaign has now spread to 192 campuses.

The divestment movement also got a boost from skeptics with a WSJ opinion piece by Robert Bryce (subscription required). Divestment proponents were quick to point out Bryce's financial ties to the fossil fuel industry and provide rebuttals to his argument.

Fox News also acknowledged the campaign (and tried to dismiss it as childish).

The campaign is also getting wisely leveraging the arts to get people involved -- too often sustainability efforts focus on science, dire warnings, and restricting behavior.  I'm convinced the only way to really engage people in leading the kinds of changes needed to create a sustainable society is through the arts. Here's one example with the official divestment music video:

Stay going.
...

Sinfonia Antarctica

DJ Spooky.  Check out this interview with him at Grist.


Stay going.

Wheat Grass by DJ CAVEM

Stay going.

350 Earth Art

Climate art visible from space.  That's what's coming up next from the 350.org crew.  350 Earth will be the first art exhibit visible from space.

Based on the premise that the earth rise photo created an immediate shift in consciousness for humanity - providing a dramatic, visual reminder that we're indeed on a spaceship, and its the only one we've got.

Even if we didn't articulate it this way, it drove a visceral realization that we've got energy coming in from the sun, but materials don't come in and go out (aside from the odd meteor or satellite) - there is no "away" for poisons we create or pull out of the earth's crust (the basic premise behind Sustainability Principles 1 & 2); and that we can't continually use up or destroy the resources faster than they regenerate naturally (SP 3); and we've got to find basic ways to live together, respect each other and keep the social fabric from falling part (SP 4).

A new report from UC Berkeley shows that dire messages about climate change can backfire if presented too negatively - increasing skepticism and inaction.  It says people generally see the world as just (or want to believe it is) - and reject the idea that we would create an apocalyptic for ourselves and future generations.  We all know we're not 100% rational creatures.

As I write I'm listening to Wake Up - the new album from John Legend and the Roots the revisits classic songs that drove social movements in the '60s and '70s.  It's clear we need powerful art like that now.  It's a good thing we're getting it.

From November 20-28 artists and citizens at over a dozen locations will create massive art installations that satellites will photograph from space.

Bill McKibben, in many ways the voice of 350.org said "I think it's going to be very powerful. Art gets to people in ways that science doesn't."

The series of installations are timed to happen before the annual international climate negotiations - COP 16 - happening in Cancun, Mexico in early December.  Most people aren't expecting much to come out of these meetings.  Sometimes that's when things can happen.

Stay going.

Tweet

Rural Hip Hop

Hip hop & organic farming... even if it is viral marketing, I can't resist...



Thanks to Climate Denial Crock of the Week where I found this one...

Stay going.

Beds are Burning

A decent remake of a classic for our new climate reality from TckTckTck (sign-up if you haven't yet):

Stay going.

.

i.heart will.i.am

Seems like I can't turn around without posting another awesome video from will.i.am - this one taking Gore's speech and challenge about creating 100% clean renewable energy within 10 years (9.5 now...I'm sure you all saw the news yesterday that Obama's going to stop the federal gov't from impeding states on setting their own higher auto-standards - a great early move).

This is a big step to see a major music star take up the call to create a sustainable society - doing a pretty damn good job of putting a lot of the pieces together (from climate and energy, to plastics and textiles, to water, to sustainable product design, etc.) and tying each back to his own daily routine - showing at the same time how (a) we're all complicit in this unsustainable reality, and how we can change our behaviors personally, demand better politically, and create better professionally, and (b) we're all getting played by corporations with goals and parameters that are in many ways misaligned with maximizing well-being for as many people as possible.

It also highlights the importance of the arts in this process of co-creating a sustainable society. For communicating in compelling ways, for inspiring, for reshaping our collective values, for connecting with our authentic selves and what's really important. Sustainable development is truly a transdisciplinary endeavor, and can't be relegated only to the scientists, engineers, designers, politicians, or economists.



Stay going

Tunes

MUSE Music

Old Crow Medicine Show

Lindsay Mac

Publish the Quest

Sweet Talk

My Other Ride