The Unsustainable Journal

Human intelligence and the environment Noam Chomsky "Global Warming and The Common Good"     By Noam Chomsky Issue #76 : Features http://isreview.org/issue/76/human-intelligence-and-environment The following speech was delivered by Noam Chomsky at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, on September 30, 2010. "I’LL BEGIN with an interesting debate that took place some years ago between Carl Sagan, the well-known astrophysicist, and Ernst Mayr, the grand old man of American biology. They were debating the possibility of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. And Sagan, speaking from the point of view of an astrophysicist, pointed out that there are innumerable planets just like ours. There is no reason they shouldn’t have developed intelligent life. Mayr, from the point of view of a biologist, argued that it’s very unlikely that we’ll find any. And his reason was, he said, we have exactly one example: Earth. So let’s t...

THE RISE OF SUSTAINABILITY There is light at the end of the tunnel, be it the barrel of the gun, we as a species always endure and are resilient, with odds stacked against us we stand against the rising tide. These are troubling times, with politics, economy, war, justice, equality, industry and survival all intertwined and exposed to the marrow by the advent of electronic and social media, a lot still remains concealed, setting overtones and making waves for the approaching crescendo. The hope lies not just in the powers that be but in the ultimate strength in the human need for survival, I see a lot of change in individuals. http://blogs.worldwatch.org/women-solar-power-change-world/ http://www.realestate.com.au/news/off-grid-house-costs-300-year/ http://www.newsweek.com/green-2016/top-green-companies-world-2016 https://peoplesclimate.org/ people are trying to do their 2 bits, we have to stand united to ensure we keep standing. As the climate changes we have...

THE BUSINESS LOGIC OF SUSTAINABILITY https://www.ted.com/talks/ray_anderson_on_the_business_logic_of_sustainability "take / make / waste" industrial system and turn it around. “And I then challenged the people of Interface, my company, to lead our company and the entire industrial world to sustainability, which we defined as eventually operating our petroleum-intensive company in such a way as to take from the earth only what can be renewed by the earth, naturally and rapidly — not another fresh drop of oil — and to do no harm to the biosphere. Take nothing: do no harm. I simply said, "If Hawken is right and business and industry must lead, who will lead business and industry? Unless somebody leads, nobody will." It's axiomatic. Why not us? And thanks to the people of Interface, I have become a recovering plunderer”. Ray Anderson This is the age of the corporates, financial institutions and conglomerates working towards a financial gains and po...

COSMIC VOYAGE - THE POWER OF TEN Possibly the most humbling short I have seen, I saw the original version of its which was made by Charles and Ray Eames back in late 1970’s. THE POWER OF TEN-CHARLES AND RAY EAMES I still remember I was about 7 and my father made me sit with him to watch this 9-minute short film, the lesson he wanted to teach stuck with me he said, “Hammad! We are minuscule and simply negligible in the fabric of time and space, just remember that make a positive impact on what is, and what surrounds you in your life.” We are all the centres of our universe and this journey starts with just that, and through its few steps forward, few steps back, you are left bewildered at the ridiculousness of it all. Humbled by the immense magnitude of what is beyond our being. All we are, our past and our present over 4 Billion years is on this planet and that, and for all its 7.5 billion inhabitants this would be the only place we will call home, and that is not e...

https://www.ted.com/talks/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action “Biomimicry is an approach to innovation that seeks sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested patterns and strategies”. https://biomimicry.org/what-is-biomimicry/ Nature is not just pretty pictures, it is a path to solving our resource problems and not limited to just that, it has been solving and evolving through the issues we are currently grappling with. Janine Benyus just shows us some examples of how simple nature has inspired some giant advances in our time, and encourages us to explore and step up to look at what surrounds us while attempting to resolve problems, most likely nature could not only provide us with the muse but the cure as well. Biomimicry has applications and integrations all over our context, from fabrics and materials to storage and consumption of resources, with our growing concerns for sustainability, simple codes in nature could provide us with ans...

https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_pawlyn_using_nature_s_genius_in_architecture USING NATURE'S GENIUS IN ARCHITECTURE We have a lot to learn from nature, with over 4 billion years of evolution nature can be a source of infinite knowledge and wisdom, scientists are already trying to make connections and find ways to integrate the highly efficient systems found in nature in our daily lives, what nature can do with limited resources and in a closed loop providing us with examples of a highly sustainable and efficient examples, which can be a direction for us to partake. These ventures into exploring the fantastic world are integral in our journey to finding a sustainable solution and securing our future. Michael Pawlyn’s talk on biomimicry was one of my first Ted Talks, one that would prove to be for me a realization, the humbling understanding of how with so much intelligence and understanding we are still leaps and bounds away from the whimsical and symphonic harmony of natu...

THE BIOPHILIC WORLD Bio-Philia /Life-love, we share our world with 8.7 Million species, and of all these we are the only ones who are causing havoc to the ecosystem. An ecosystem that has been evolving for over 4 million years is now falling prey to us, deforestation, over extraction, fossil fuels are just a few of the drastic changes we are making to this planet, most likely the only one we will ever know. Our inherent tendency to appreciate nature and find solace in it is strangely becoming second to our need/greed, we need to realise how much we need nature for our survival food, air, habitat and quality of life are just a few of the components. BIG YELLOW TAXI- JONI MITCHELL They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people A dollar and a half just to see 'em Don't it always seem to go, That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone? They paved paradise Put up a parking lot Hey, farm...

Every city has its share of the marginalised, downtrodden and forgotten these parts of the cities live in the shadows and have been neglected and ignored for a long time, slums are an enormous part of the socio-economic fabric of the city. https://www.ted.com/talks/haas_hahn_how_painting_can_transform_communities It is pertinent to provide this socio-economic substratum of our cities the same integration and habitability that we all enjoy. Upgradation of slums can have many positive effects impacts on the society. https://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/housing-slum-upgrading/ This process of integration firstly and most importantly requires the city to give them a sense of belonging initiatives like beautification and art programs, events where people from all walks of life would commune there and help the social rehabilitative process, followed by education reformations followed by the bigger policies taking into effect for upgradation of housing. But the big journ...

UNDOING THE DAMAGE IN THE URBAN-SCAPE http://blogs.worldwatch.org/parks-or-people-five-cities-that-are-choosing-both/ There is an increasing need for establishing high density urban areas or we are likely to see the adverse effects of urban sprawl as the development finds its way into prime agricultural lands or deforestation. High density developments in urban spaces and over utilization of existing land in city centers is always a double edge sword, it does provide for economic growth but it falls short on the biophilic needs of the people and critically the urban heat island effect. There is a need for policy makers, planners, architects and built environment professionals to ponder relentlessly on the matter and working together with the public they need to ensure the quality of life that is not just driven by the economics of the space but also the quality of the space. In context, possibly Sydney Olympic park is another one of the examples where landfills w...

AN APPRO ACH TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF CUBA https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257559970_An_approach_to_sustainable_development_The_case_of_Cuba#pf11 The worlds ecosystem is continuously being destroyed, with natural resources depleting at an astonishing rate, an unlikely role model for sustainable development stepped up the ranks, Cuba, a country lesser known for its “Habitability, sustainability and policies” was named as the such by the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) in their bi-annual “Living Planet Report 2016”. Using limited energy and resources they created a combination of livability, habitability and human development conditions, which might not be perfect but the implementation has shown results. Cuba with its limited resources took steps to show how government reforms and policies can result in such a positive impact, this was ensured by the empowerment of localized agriculture strengthened by a well-integrated grassroots organizations an...

IDIOCRACY Idiocracy is an American comedy film touching upon science fiction and satirical genres. It was directed by  Mike Judge   and despite its questionable release in 2006, it has become a cult film. It has been referred to as “Prophecy” instead of “Idiocracy” especially since Donald Trump became the President of USA, as it links today’s world affairs to the dystopian society of the world in a not so distant future. The movie is a satire on the lack of interest in the collective intellect and social responsibility, as well as the insatiable hunger for consumerism and physical pleasures of today’s human race. As people consume more and more of the earth’s resources, the risk of physical, environmental and social decay is nothing but inevitable. The premise of the movie is defined in the opening narration: “As the twenty-first century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fa...

GERMANY MEETS 85% ENERGY DEMAND FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES IN A DAY. Germany has been on the forefront of progress when it comes to Energy, constantly edging towards responsible evolution, marked with its competition with itself for setting benchmarks in energy generation. It is my bias that even though developing countries are where the problem of consumption lies I think if provided the right guidelines and an example or precedent to follow there is hope for us all. What must be appreciated in this regard is Germany’s vigilance and pro-active approach in trying to conserve the Earth’s limited resource. Germany which targets to achieve 30% share of gross energy by   renewable Sources like Wind, Solar and Hydro by 2030.  http://www.businessinsider.com/top-renewable-energy-investments-by-country-2016-3?IR=T/#10-chile-34-billion-1 THESE 10 COUNTRIES ARE RAMPING UP CLEAN ENERGY MORE THAN ANY OTHERS With growing concerns about global greenhouse gas emissions a...

THAT SUGAR FILM It is a 2014 Australian documentary exploring the “hidden” sugar in our everyday food and the negative impact it has on our bodies. The film is directed by   Damon Gameau who also the protagonist in this documentary. The premise of the movies it that an average person living in America consumes about 22 teaspoons of sugar per day which is way more than what the human body is made to consume. This over-consumption of fructose/sugar leads to an unhealthy body and Damon experiments on his own body by cutting down on the consumption of sugar. The film also has an accompanying book, “That Sugar Book” and website http://thatsugarfilm.com/ expanding upon Damon’s journey on alarming the people of the world about its health-destroying sugar consumption as well as the dark side of today’s food industries. One can find advice on helping oneself through various ways, and advice can be found in the film, book and the website. The culture of consumption and...

EAST AUSTRALIA ONE OF 11 AREAS TO ACCOUNT FOR 80% OF WORLD FOREST LOSS BY 2030 ABC piece on Australian deforestation https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/27/east-australia-one-of-11-areas-account-for-80-of-world-forest-loss-by-2030 Forests are major component of our land area, amounting to almost 30% of the planets land, in recent times due to major factors like factors like agriculture, population explosion and urban sprawl an estimated  129 million ha of forest have been lost just between 1990 and 2015 and to put it in context now an estimated one and a half acre of forest is cut down every second( http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/various-deforestation-facts.php ), this deforestation is not only responsible for 12-17% of annual greenhouse gas emissions ( http://www.conserve-energy-future.com/GreenhouseEffectCauses.php ) but is also having an immense impact on the decline in biodiversity of the world, keeping in mind that almost 80% of world’s docu...