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ALANNA MITCHELL, DANIEL PAULY AND MORE!
It's been nearly two months since our last Newsletter. I don't know if there's ever been so long a gap. Once again, however, we've published two more Green Interviews, with a third one coming next week. And we've been working on a citizen-financed video documentary called Salmon Wars, on the environmental and social impact of net-cage salmon aquaculture, particularly in our home region of Atlantic Canada. More on that in our next Newsletter. Alanna Mitchell has been called "the world's best environmental journalist," and by the Reuters Foundation, no less. She is the author of two important books, Dancing at the Dead Sea: Tracking the World's Environmental Hotspots and Sea Sick: The Global Ocean in Crisis, the first and only book to examine the state and condition of the global ocean. Sea Sick won the 2010 Grantham Prize for the best environmental reporting in the world. It's a fine book, intensely readable, sometimes funny, full of fascinating characters. But it's also deeply scary.As Mitchell says, "The ocean contains the switch of life. Not land, not the atmosphere, the ocean. And that switch can be flipped off." Dr. Daniel Pauly is a legendary fisheries scientist, an authority on the overall state of world fisheries and fish stocks, and a bold, incisive thinker. He is famous for articulating the concept of “shifting baselines,” showing that as our world is progressively more impoverished biologically, we actually forget what once existed. Pauly is the driving force behind FishBase, an online database of all the 35,000 fish species known to science. He is also largely responsible for Ecopath and Ecosim, free ecosystem modelling software tools that allow scientists to develop complex scenarios about changes in the ecology of the world's oceans. In 2002, Pauly made headlines by arguing that commercially fished species like cod, tuna, and flounder will be effectively extinct within a few decades unless we reduce fishing dramatically and set up large fish zones to allow stocks to recover. Overall, he says, the fishing industry is a "global Ponzi scheme," and it's not just one fishery that's failing―it's the whole system. NEW INTERVIEWS coming up on the site include: David Korten, founder of Yes! Magazine, and author of When Corporations Rule the World... Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, a follow-up interview reflecting on her experience as a Member of Parliament since 2011... Betty Krawczyk, the snowy-haired grandmother, now over 80, whose environmental activism in British Columbia has earned her jail terms totalling more than two years... ... and more. Check out the “Interviews” page on the site! SDC
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Newsletter 120324
Newsletter 120128
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It's been a month since our last Newsletter. Unbelievable.
But we've published two more Green Interviews – and there's more good stuff coming. Ecological philosopher David Orton was a highly-regarded proponent of "deep ecology," a perspective that sees all life forms – man, moose or microbe – as having an equal right to survive and flourish. David published his ideas on the Green Web website, which he started in the 1990s, and latterly on his Deep Green Blog. His focus was on a fundamental factor in our environmental crisis, something that might be called wrong understanding, wrong attitude, wrong philosophy or wrong spirituality. In early 2011, David was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, and we were fortunate enough to interview him just a couple of weeks before he died. It was a very moving conversation, and it is our first posthumous interview. Our second new Green Interview is with David Montgomery, a geologist, a professor, a rock musician – and the author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, a startling account of the way human beings have been mining the soil since the dawn of agriculture, turning the Fertile Crescent, for instance, into the desert that is modern Iraq. He is also the author of King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon, a fine book on the decline of salmon all around the northern hemisphere, from the fjords of Norway to the rivers of British Columbia. We asked David what connects these two books. He told us that he's a student of the forces that shape the landscape over time – and among the most powerful forces shaping the landscape in recent millennia is us. Efficiency Nova Scotia: My blog and this Newsletter have been neglected partly because I've been doing a province-wide speaking tour of Nova Scotia for Efficiency Nova Scotia, explaining the benefits of energy efficiency and telling people about the programs that ENS provides to help people reduce electrical demand in their houses and businesses. It's a remarkable story – last year, Nova Scotia's advances in energy efficiency were the equivalent of taking 20,000 cars off the road – and I've had wonderful audiences. The last two presentations are in Yarmouth on February 1 at the Yarmouth Arts Council's playhouse, 76 Parade Street, and in Halifax on February 7 at the Keshen Goodman Library. NEW INTERVIEWS coming up on the site include: Alanna Mitchell , author of Sea Sick, who has been called “the best environmental journalist in the world” ... ... and many more. Check out the “Interviews” page on the site! SDC
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Newsletter 111209
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Annie Hill, Trevor Robertson, My Speaking Tour, and Much Else!
Our newest interview is with long-distance cruising sailors Annie Hill and Trevor Robertson. Voyaging on a Small Income is Annie's much-loved book on how to develop a simple, sane, exciting and responsible lifestyle based on just a tiny income. Annie and Trevor have spent their entire adult lives living on small boats and sailing all over the world – combined, they've sailed more than 300,000 miles – but their frugal, mindful approach to life works just as well anywhere else. Is there such a thing as a sustainable way to live in the world? There is – and here's a lovely example.
I'm partnering with Efficiency Nova Scotia Corporation on a speaking tour of eight communities in the province, presenting ideas about energy efficiency, and describing ENSC programs to help people implement those ideas. More detail at www.efficiencyns.ca I've done two of the talks (in Truro and Stellarton), and the reception has been heartwarming. In fact, several other communities have now asked that I visit them, too. I'm delighted by that reaction, and I hope we can extend the tour to accommodate at least some of them.
Preparing for the tour, I ran across two of my Sunday Herald columns from 2001 on Nova Scotia's ecological footprint -- which is disgracefully large, mainly as a result of our use of coal to generate electricity. For that reason, energy efficiency provides every Nova Scotian with an opportunity to reduce emissions. I really intended the two columns to be read as a single piece, and so I combined them into an essay called Elephant Tracks: Nova Scotia's Ecological Footprint (2001). The essay is posted on the Green Pieces blog on the site. To learn more about ecological footprint analysis, see our interview with Bill Rees, who invented it.
Also on the Green Pieces blog is Fear and Loathing in the Wheat Fields, a 2006 Herald column about the Canadian Wheat Board, which the present government of Canada is trying to eliminate. The CWB was created in the 1930s – by a Conservative government -- to help Canadian farmers survive the utter failure of the “free” market. It's been very effective in supporting the incomes of grain farmers – but agribusiness hates it, and today's Conservatives, infatuated with “free” markets, care a lot less about farmers than they do about big business.
Also on the main blog is a piece about freelance environmental writer Chris Benjamin. Among Chris' many recent achievements is a book called The EcoInnovators, which includes a very nice section about The Green Interview. The furious pace of Chris' activities led me to some reflections on life as a freelance writer, fully exposed to the “free” market. It's not an easy way to make money, but it's an endlessly enriching career in most other respects.
And finally, the blog offers a little lyrical essay on a perfect evening that Marjorie and I spent at The Trellis Cafe in the village of Hubbards, about 30 miles from Halifax. (Oh, all right: 50 kilometers.) Excellent food and fine Nova Scotia wine, lovely local art on the walls, great jazz from guitarists Georges Hebert and Garthe Proude, who spent most of their careers backing up Anne Murray. When we took our dessert home, it came in a recyclable container, not in styrofoam. If the road to sustainability means creating vibrant local economies, The Trellis is probably a taste of the future – a truly inspiring possibility.
Life has been busy, and the pace won't ease up much any time soon. But -- in a world as interesting as this one -- wouldn't it be awful to be bored?
NEW INTERVIEWS coming up on the site include:
Activist-scientist Alexandra Morton (within the next week or so)
The late David Orton, a leading theorist of deep ecology (before the end of December)
Geologist (and rock musician) David Montgomery
... and many more.
Check out the “interviews” page on the site!
SDC
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Newsletter 111116
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I've just done a substantial commentary on the Occupy Nova Scotia eviction on my blog at The Green Interview. Here's the beginning of it. To see the rest, go to the blog: http://www.TheGreenInterview.com/blog
MAYOR KELLY MUFFS HIS MOMENT History just tossed Halifax Mayor Peter Kelly the political opportunity of a lifetime. Kelly blew it spectacularly. And everyone in the city is diminished by his failure. Continued at www.TheGreenInterview.com/blog ...
World voyager Annie Hll and Trevor Robertson Check out the “interviews” page on the site!
SDC
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Six Weeks of Silence, Ended
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Six Weeks of Silence, Ended It's shocking that we haven't managed to get a newsletter out for the last six weeks – so there's a lot to report. The truth is that we've been so busy with production and other matters that it's been hard to find time to talk about what we're doing. But here's a quick list of items we've posted to the blog since our last Newsletter. The Ronald Wright interview was posted in late September. Wright is an extraordinary writer and thinker, author of such challenging books as Stolen Continents and A Short History of Progress. Trained in archaeology, Wright dissects the past, seeking clues to the future. Other cultures have acted as we are acting, and it hasn't turned out well. Click here to view the interview. The Andrew Heintzman interview was posted in late October. Writer, publisher, activist and financier, Andrew Heintzman is president of Investeco, the first investment firm in Canada focussed on the green economy, and he's also the author of The New Entrepreneurs: Building a Green Economy for the Future, a book full of fascinating innovations and imaginative people. Click here to view the interview. The Death of David Orton: I noted the publication this week in The Globe and Mail of a fine "Lives Lived" memorial piece about deep ecologist David Orton. See it here by clicking here. David Orton was a bold thinker and a deeply principled man who made a remarkable effort to live in accordance with his beliefs. I had the privilege of interviewing him not long before he died, and we'll be posting the interview here at TheGreenInterview.com during the next few weeks. Occupy Nanaimo (and Everywhere Else): We posted a message from Rafe Mair, former BC cabinet minister and radio talk show host, reprinting a statement from Occupy Nanaimo, which said in part, “A lot of people do not understand why we are here. Why we occupy. Why we protest. We are here to try and make the voice of the people heard. If you are in debt, you have reason to be here. If raising a family is becoming too difficult with the low number of jobs available and low wages, you have reason to be here... If you have a grievance with the current world-wide system, you have reason to be here.” It's a powerful statement of the reasons for the Occupy movement, which is a full-spectrum global response to a full-spectrum global crisis. Troubles, Trips & Triumphs: I posted a note explaining I had been through a daft little period, with persistent and maddening computer troubles, new opportunities and far too much travel. Last month I was on the road for three solid weeks, attending meetings in Toronto, delivering presentations in Winnipeg, and doing seven new Green Interviews in Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle. But good things are coming out of this – and I'll have more to say about it in the near future. Bunker Roy: We also noted that Bunker has just done a splendid TED talk, echoing the themes of our interview with him and adding some additional ideas and experiences. Bill Rees: We thought everyone would enjoy the invitation to Bill Rees' retirement party, particularly the graphic showing two big green footprints on the globe. So we posted a link to the invitation. SDC
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Newsletter - September 11, 2011
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Four Speeches, Radio and Magazine Coverage, and an Upcoming Interview with Ronald Wright This is a very busy week, with four public speaking events -- and tomorrow, Monday September 12, is particularly daffy. At 9:00 tomorrow I do a half-hour interview with Jordi Morgan on News 95.7 in Halifax. Topics include The Green Interview, the story behind the end of my Halifax Sunday Herald column, and the Halifax municipal council. All this results from a very flattering Q&A piece about me by Trevor Adams in the current issue of Halifax Magazine, which you can see here: http://halifaxmag.com/2011/09/cover/following-his-conscience/ Then, tomorrow night at 7:30 I present my TEDx talk on “Bhutan and the Pursuit of Gross National Happiness” on behalf of the Ecology Action Centre at the Bloomfield Centre. That one's sold out. On Tuesday evening, at 7:00 I speak at the Friends of Nature AGM at the St. Stephen's Community Hall in Chester. On Thursday evening I give a lecture on the history of environmentalism in Nova Scotia, 1970 to now (as I remember it) at the Dalhousie University's College of Sustainability. That's in Ondaatje Hall in the Marion McCain Building, at 7:00. And finally, I'm speaking at the celebration of UNESCO's designation of the Bras d'Or Lakes watershed as a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve, in Iona. That's on Saturday, September 17, at 3:00 PM. More details about the designation are on the association's website, http://www.bibra.ca And... stand by for a great interview with Ronald Wright, author of such books as Stolen Continents and A Short History of Progress, to be posted on the site in the next few days! SDC
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New at The Green Interview: A conversation with Jane Goodall
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New at The Green Interview: A conversation with Jane Goodall We've just posted a new interview between host Silver Donald Cameron and renowned primatologist Dame Jane Goodall. Goodall is world-famous not only for her trailblazing research with wild chimpanzees, but also for her international environmental advocacy and for her youth organization, Roots and Shoots. “She was particularly brilliant on the relationship between a healthy environment and a robust economy,” says Silver Donald. “People often talk as though we had to choose between job creation and respect for the environment. The truth is, if you wreck your environment, you also wreck your economy. Jane and her people have been doing a spectacular job of enlisting people around the chimpanzee preserve in Tanzania in the task of restoring their sustainable lifestyle by restoring their clear-cut forest.” The Jane Goodall interview is available at http://www.thegreeninterview.com/Jane-Goodall-interview. We also recently posted Silver Donald's TEDx talk on Bhutan, an entertaining, heavily-illustrated account of the tiny Himalayan nation and its decision to pursue Gross National Happiness as opposed to Gross National Product. The TEDx talk is posted at http://www.thegreeninterview.com/tedx.
SDC
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On the Blog: The Forum, Stephen Best and Some Other Green Interviews
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On the Blog: The Forum, Stephen Best and Some Other Green Interviews When we launched The Green Interview, we wanted to reserve the Forum for subscribers – but the site has outgrown that limitation. Now we have several levels of subscriber as well at the capability for people to buy single copies of the interviews in various formats, from transcripts to full video – and people all over the world can reach our site through their libraries. So it's time to lift the restriction on the Forum. We still want you to register before you use it -- but we don't require that you subscribe. We hope you'll make vigorous use of it. Also on the blog is a short essay about Stephen Best, a film-maker, environmental consultant and animal rights activist who has produced several lovely green interviews himself. I met Stephen Best in 1975, on the ice north of Newfoundland, where we were both covering the seal hunt. I was a contributing editor of Weekend magazine then, and Best was working for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. When he called me recently, I proudly showed him The Green Interview site – and he sent me the links to two video interviews he'd posted himself. One of Stephen's interviews is with Tom McMillan, who was federal Minister of Environment under Brian Mulroney. His comments provide a very interesting inside look at how the environmental movement does (or doesn't) motivate politicians. Stephen's second interview will be part of a long documentary about the life and work of Dr. Sidney Holt, now 85, one of the great marine biologists of the last century and a major force in the protection of the great whales. The documentary won't be completed any time soon – but in the meantime Stephen has posted a 93-minute interview with Holt on YouTube. To see the full blog post, click here. SDC
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Robert Bateman, Water Conservation and the Ocean Cruising Lifestyle
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On the Blog: Robert Bateman, Water Conservation and the Ocean Cruising Lifestyle We've just posted our Green Interview with the great nature artist Robert Bateman – more than an hour of lively observations on art, education, wildlife, the shaping of consciousness in young people, and appreciation for the natural world. Bateman was 80 at the time of his conversation with Silver Donald Cameron, but he had lost none of his passion, perception and energy, and he spoke with the fire of a man decades younger. To sample the interview, click here. Also on the blog is Silver Donald's short reflection on the example of green living presented by long-distance cruising sailors, whose ecological footprint is tiny despite their rich and fulfilling lifestyle. His specific examples are Trevor Robertson and Annie Hill, the nautical nomads who recently won the Blue Water Medal of the Cruising Club of America – the Nobel Prize of sailing, in effect. Annie is the author of Voyaging on a Small Income, which is virtually a handbook on how to live lightly on the earth as well as the ocean. To read Silver Donald's reflections, click here. Silver Donald has also re-printed his newspaper column on the couple in the Green Pieces blog – click here – and we've recorded a Green Interview with Annie and Trevor, which we'll post later this year. SDC
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Newsletter - June 22, 2011
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Nearly 40 years ago, the Fourth Dragon King of Bhutan famously declared to a visiting journalist that Gross National Product was not as important as Gross National Happiness. At the time, Bhutan was a feudal monarchy without highways, hospitals, a postal system or a national currency. Over the intervening years, the country has acquired all those features and more, and – at the insistence of the Fourth King – it became a democracy, a constitutional monarchy, in 2008. But it continues to pursue Gross National Happiness as opposed to Gross National Product.
What does that mean? Can you measure it? I had the good fortune to visit Bhutan a few months ago with Ron Colman, who has devised a whole set of metrics for GNH – and I interviewed the Honourable Jigme Thinley, Bhutan's first elected Prime Minister. We've taken our time publishing the Thinley interview – a memorable conversation with a truly remarkable leader – because we wanted to set the interview in a context by providing a range of background materials about this brave and beautiful little nation. That collection of materials has become our first Special Presentation – a package that includes not only the Thinley interview, but also our first documentary production, a half-hour show about Bhutan and GNH. We've also added a long supplementary interview with Ron Colman, and a range of print materials, including Bhutan's Green Schools manual and its manual on meditation in the classroom. The Bhutan presentation has been up on the site for a couple of weeks, but I haven't had a chance to write this Newsletter for reasons I explain in the blog. But it's there now, and we think it's very exciting. To see it, just click here: http://www.thegreeninterview.com/bhutan-and-pursuit-gross-national-happiness SDC
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