The U.S. stock market took a big jump yesterday, and everyone cheered.
Almost everyone.
There is a big school of thought out there that says we must not just bounce back from this downturn. We must come back changed. This isn't just a great recession we're in, they say. It's "The Great Disruption" — nature and the economy hitting the wall, collapsing, at the same time.
Australian environmentalist Paul Gilding invented the phrase. American climate expert Joseph Romm says the free ride is over. They're both with us today.
This hour, On Point: Money, Mother Nature, and "The Great Disruption."
Guests:
Paul Gilding, former executive director of Greenpeace International and founder of the environmental consulting firm ECOS. He's now an independent writer, advisor and advocate for issues of sustainability and climate change. He first wrote about the idea of a "Great Disruption" in 2005.
Joseph Romm, physicist and climate expert. He served in the US Department of Energy in the Clinton Administration. He's now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and editor of the blog climateprogress.org.
More links:
New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's piece on Sunday, "The Inflection is Near?" – in which he highlights the work of both Paul Gilding and Joseph Romm – was #1 on NYTimes.com's most e-mailed list this week.
My lifelong pursuit, since age 18, has been to live more fully and find wisdom. This has involved studies with Zen masters, Tai Chi masters, and great psychotherapists while achieving my license as a gestalt therapist and psychoanalyst.
Along the way, I became aware of how the planet is under great stress due to the driven nature of human activity on this planet.
I believe that the advancement of human well-being will reduce societies addictive behaviors, and will thus also help preserve the environment and perhaps slow down the effects of global warming and other major threats to the health of human societies.
Fossil Fuel
PT
The U.S. stock market took a big jump yesterday, and everyone cheered.
