Posts tagged Ithaca NY

The Climate, the Market, and the Commons

Apr 11th

Posted by gay in Events

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Climate change presents a troubling predicament.  Unlike the ozone hole, which was addressed relatively quickly, the threat of global warming continues to advance while humanity remains strangely paralyzed in responding to the various risks of climate impacts – even as those risks become certainties.  Maybe it is time we really talked this through.  

Sustainable Tompkins is launching The People’s Salon: Conversations that Matter to Your Future with a shared public inquiry into the climate dilemma.  “The Climate, the Market, and the Commons” will be the theme for a series of conversation salons held on Thursday evenings, 7-9 pm, on April 17, May 8, June 5, and June 19 at the Sustainability Center, 111 N. Albany St., Ithaca.

Lautrec salonWe face a complex global problem with no easy local solutions. Even though we will all pay the costs of climate change to some degree, most people are not active in efforts to protect our atmospheric Commons.  How can we change this dynamic?

Perhaps the place to start is to talk with each other and try to address some of the complexity we are facing.  We need to develop a better understanding of why we are so slow to respond, how the structure of our economy both creates the problem and offers solutions, and what (exactly) are we, The People, going to do about protecting our shared future.

At the salons, three speakers familiar with each topic will kick start the conversation before the audience is invited to share their own viewpoints, questions, speculations, and proposed actions.

At the opening salon on April 17, Nancy Menning (Philosophy & Religion) of Ithaca College, and Dave Wolfe (Horticulture) and Lauren Chambliss (Communication) of Cornell University, will outline some of our motivations for remaining in denial about climate change, and offer insights into how we might dismantle what seems to be a key barrier to mobilizing to slow climate change. Read the rest of this entry »

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The People’s Salon: Conversations that Matter to Your Future

Apr 3rd

Posted by gay in Events

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 The Climate, The Market, and The Commons

 Thursdays at 7:00 pm, The Sustainability Center, 111 N. Albany, Ithaca

April 17:  Why are we stuck in climate denial?
May 8:      Can business and technology save us?
June 5:    Will government intervene?
June 19:    Is it up to the people?


Every day, the planet reports in with another example of a climate in disarray.  Predictions of near and long-term damage to our economy, our health, and basic life necessities are growing louder and more alarming.  Yet, we seem strangely paralyzed in responding appropriately to the threat.

Russian salon

 

We need to talk.  We need to develop a better understanding of why we are so slow to respond, how the structure of our economy both creates the problem and offers solutions, and what (exactly) are we, The People, going to do about protecting our shared future.

The conversation salons will begin with brief sketches by thoughtful citizens of some of the main perspectives on each topic before we open up the discussion to all salon attendees.  Come prepared to listen, to be challenged, and to make your voice heard.  Watch for our column in Tompkins Weekly and on our website for a briefing on each salon’s topic.

For more information, email gay@sustainabletompkins.org.

 

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Soil Carbon Workshop Puts Emphasis on Whole Systems Solutions

Jan 23rd

Posted by gay in Events

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Managing Wholes ElephantSustainable Tompkins is pleased to co-host a visit to Ithaca by Peter Donovan of the Soil Carbon Coalition from Thursday, February 6 to Sunday, February 9.  Peter is part of a movement to use systems thinking to help us “manage wholes” and find the right scale of intervention to solve problems.

We’ve all been involved in the many tasks of making our community more sustainable and resilient in the face of escalating change.  Everything we are all doing in green building, energy efficiency, resource conservation, and renewables is an essential part of taking responsibility for our shared future.

But we don’t often talk about the dirt under our feet, and affirm its primary role in helping to regulate atmospheric carbon and slow climate disruption.  Yet, a mass effort to move carbon from the air and into the soil is needed to decelerate the rate of planetary warming.  If we did this, we’d also rapidly address a number of linked problems as illustrated in our elephant friend.

We’ve been interested in adding soil carbon storage to our portfolio of climate protection projects for the Finger Lakes Climate Fund, and we’re looking forward to a wider conversation with farmers, land managers, developers, policymakers, and citizens interested in doing all we can to protect our climate.

We hope you will join us for the public lecture on February 6 up at Ithaca College, or the all-day workshop on February 8 (see details below).

To get a sense of how fundamental the carbon cycle is to climate change, please watch this video (in two segments) by Peter.  Then mark your calendar for February 6!

With thanks to our partners Snug Planet, Sustainability at Ithaca College, and the Good Life Farm! Read the rest of this entry »

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