Here's a really great interview with the legend of the environmental movement, James Lovelock.  The full version can be found here in the New Scientist.  Some highlights:
On Carbon Emissions...

"Do we have time to do a similar thing with carbon emissions to save ourselves from climate change?

Not a hope in hell. Most of the "green" stuff is verging on a gigantic scam. Carbon trading, with its huge government subsidies, is just what finance and industry wanted. It's not going to do a damn thing about climate change, but it'll make a lot of money for a lot of people and postpone the moment of reckoning."

On Survival...
"Do you think we will survive?
I'm an optimistic pessimist. I think it's wrong to assume we'll survive 2 °C of warming: there are already too many people on Earth. At 4 °C we could not survive with even one-tenth of our current population. The reason is we would not find enough food, unless we synthesised it. Because of this, the cull during this century is going to be huge, up to 90 per cent. The number of people remaining at the end of the century will probably be a billion or less. It has happened before: between the ice ages there were bottlenecks when there were only 2000 people left. It's happening again.  I don't think humans react fast enough or are clever enough to handle what's coming up. Kyoto was 11 years ago. Virtually nothing's been done except endless talk and meetings.

It's a depressing outlook.

Not necessarily. I don't think 9 billion is better than 1 billion. I see humans as rather like the first photosynthesisers, which when they first appeared on the planet caused enormous damage by releasing oxygen - a nasty, poisonous gas. It took a long time, but it turned out in the end to be of enormous benefit. I look on humans in much the same light. For the first time in its 3.5 billion years of existence, the planet has an intelligent, communicating species that can consider the whole system and even do things about it. They are not yet bright enough, they have still to evolve quite a way, but they could become a very positive contributor to planetary welfare."

Sobering words, but it does make you look at things from the widest view possible.  We are on a rock spinning around the sun that's been here for millions of years.  Humans, while we like to think of ourselves quite centrically, are really small peanuts in the scheme of things.  I'd reckon any solutions we shoot for should really keep this reality in mind.  Though, how realistic might that really be...

This week we have a rather comprehensive array of helpful resources to feature.  From greening the family, to the bird's eye view on all things carbon trading.  Here we go...

First from Worldwatch comes The State of the World 2009. What must we do in the 21st century—especially in 2009 and the years just following—to make a future possible, and to head off the kind of climate catastrophe that many scientists now see as likely?  This question inspires the theme of the Worldwatch Institute's State of the World 2009 report: how climate change will play out over the coming century, and what steps we most urgently need to take now.  The year 2009 will be pivotal for the Earth's climate. Scientists have warned that we have only a few years to reverse the rise in greenhouse gas emissions and help avoid abrupt and catastrophic climate change. The world community has agreed to negotiate a new climate agreement in Copenhagen in December 2009. Early that same year, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th U.S. President. The United States, one of the world's largest producers of greenhouse gases, will have its best chance to provide global leadership by passing national climate legislation and constructively engaging with the international community to forge a new consensus on halting emissions.

As part of the equation comes carbon markets and offset programmes.   If you've been wanting a macro picture on the subject, the exhaustive SEI Review of Offset Programs: Trading Systems, Funds, Protocols, Standards and Retailers is a perfect background document.  The goal of this review is to provide an up-to-date analysis and synthesis of the most influential offset programs and activities.  It reflects on lessons learned to inform participants and designers of current and future offset programs. The intention is to periodically update this review to stay abreast of ongoing developments, and to develop a website portal to make this information more accessible.

And finally, if you're looking to take practical action closer to home, we'd like to recommend the Green and Save Family Guide to Going Green.  Alongside their Return on Investment Table, you get a comprehensive look at actions and how they will save money in the household.  The resources are created for the US market, but indicative of savings in other markets as well.  The big picture is rather amazing: take action on things like thermostats and water saving to the tune of US$69,590 up front, and enjoy a savings over 20 years of a whopping US$182,170-- that's an 11.8% return just for being smart around the house.

I had the pleasure of having drinks with Jill Caldwell on a recent summery afternoon in Auckland. For those not familiar with her work, Jill is a researcher par excellence who started Windshift Communications, and has also written a fascinating book called 8 Tribes. She is one of those people with an amazing brain that can connect statistics with anthropology with socioeconomics and any issues of the day with profound clarity. In fact, she almost makes it look too easy!

We got to chatting about a variety of behaviour issues in society, and how the “green” movement has largely been talking to itself so far and is reaching a critical point where it must branch out and engage other people. After all, if any progress is to be made on global issues such as climate change, it needs to be a mass effort.  (continues)

Courtesy Dan Gould at PSFK (see also the rather inspiring Havas link):

Umair Haque, the director of the Havas Media Lab shares five questions (and possible answers) he believes can generate valuable insights on how to thrive as a business in the sometimes dizzying world of the 21st century. Haque says that to mitigate the effects of the gloomy economic future, people need to radically change assumed operating procedures and re-wire the fundamental ways they do business. He discusses how to manage a world based on decreasing consumption and how to build on two-way value chains such as the member submitted culture of Threadless.

He explains:

Tomorrow will not be like yesterday. This is no mere recession: it’s a tectonic global shift in savings, consumption, and investment. Today’s macropocalypse is a rupture in the global economic fabric - and the next half-decade will be spent reweaving it. It is not a temporary departure from business as usual, an illness - it is a structural transformation, a lasting change.

20th century business isn’t fit for 21st century economics. Yesterday’s businesses were built for a world of overconsumption, artificially cheap production, symmetrical competition, and macroeconomic stability. That was yesterday. Today, the herd of industrial-era dinosaurs is going to be mercilessly culled - unless they can evolve to fit a radically altered economic environment.

Harvard Business: “A User’s Guide to 21st Century Economics”

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy 2009 and a great summer (for those in the southern hemisphere anyway).  As part of our summer plans, we're heavily involved with volunteer efforts alongside our regular workload.  Forward is working alongside Nexus, an Auckland University Student Sustainability Group to help develop the year's programming, assisting New Zealand Aids Foundation with its awareness initiatives, as well as assisting Unitec Hortecology Sanctuary open a new chapter in its history.  Next month we will also be involved with Trade Aid helping organise Fair Trade Fortnight.  No matter what you're interested in, get involved somewhere this summer and help make a difference in your community and the world at large. 

   

It's not quite as sleep as the Micro Compact Home, but for reused material factor, local manufacture, portability, and composting loo (not to mention Kiwi ingenuity), we give it some big points.  Introducing Port-a-Bach.  Put all those retired shipping containers to good use.  Nice Work!