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Politics : The Exxon Free Environmental Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (4069)	8/1/2009 9:32:07 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 49125

Top 10 checklist: How societies can avoid ‘ecocide’ By Moises Velasquez-Manoff \| 07.23.09 In his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed,” Jared Diamond explores why some societies fall apart, and why others endure. He uses the term “ecocide” to describe humanity’s penchant for ignoring signs that current behavior is unsustainable, environmentally speaking, and effectively committing suicide. Accepting that the human sphere exists within the larger biosphere, you might further generalize Diamond’s idea to: “cultures that ignore the limits of the biosphere in which they exist tend to fall apart.” But not every human society collapses. Some heed the warning signs, adjust their behavior, and keep on keeping on. Human cultures can evolve to fit within – rather than overstep – environmental limits. Mr. Diamond counts Java, Japan, and Tonga among his successful case studies; Easter Islanders, the Greenland Vikings, and the Anasazi of the Southwest failed, by his criteria. So what made the difference? What do some cultures respond and change while others collapse? What are the attributes of long-term success? That’s the question that Elinor Ostrom, research director of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, Bloomington, has been asking for years. In an essay appearing in the current issue of the journal Science, she tries to parse how and why some cultures achieve sustainability. In her own words: “[A]ccepted theory has assumed that resource users will never self-organize to maintain their resources and that governments must impose solutions. Research in multiple disciplines, however, has found that some government policies accelerate resource destruction, whereas some resource users have invested their time and energy to achieve sustainability.” Then she poses the trillion-dollar question: “When will the users of a resource invest time and energy to avert ‘a tragedy of the commons’?” That is, the exhaustion of a resource shared by different individuals or groups. In the language of cost-benefit analysis, change comes when the benefits of sustainability seem to outweigh the costs of achieving it. Averting environmental collapse often means taking a loss now – no fishing for a few years, for example, so that stocks can recover – in the interest of long-term sustainability. That means sacrifice now. What makes people more willing to make such a sacrifice? In her essay, Ostrom offers a list of 10 variables that, she says, greatly influence whether a group organizes to become sustainable or not. 1) Size of resource system 2) Productivity of system 3) Predictability of system dynamics 4) Resource unit mobility 5) Collective-choice rules 6) Number of users 7) Leadership/entrepreneurship 8) Norms/social capital 9) Knowledge of social-ecological systems/mental models 10) Importance of resource “There are a number of questions you have to ask to diagnose illness,” says Ostrom in a phone conversation. “What I’m trying to get people to recognize is that we need diagnostic theories that enable us to dig down and unpack the complexity.” Some of these seem obvious. No. 4, for example – resource mobility. It’s easier to manage wood from a stationary forest than, say, bluefin tuna, which swim many thousands of miles in a lifetime. Here’s what’s at stake: According to the WWF, if fishing as usual continues, bluefin stocks in the Mediterranean will collapse by 2012. Then there’s No. 6: how many people use the resource. Again, (failed) fishery management illustrates how important this variable is. Open-access fisheries, where anyone can join the fishing fray, collapse time and time again. It’s one reason that New England is so overfished. For decades, the fishery was essentially open to all. The failure of open access partly explains the trend toward managing fish with so-called “hard TACs” – an absolute cap on the yearly Total Allowable Catch – and catch shares, in which people “own” a percentage of the year’s scientifically determined TAC. Sustainable management means limiting and controlling access. The importance of other variables is somewhat less apparent … at first. No. 8: a shared set of norms, for example. People have to speak the same language – and that’s meant in the broadest sense – before they can agree on anything. But the real magic is in the synergy of these variables, how they work together. Ostrom uses Maine lobstermen as a case study in success. Lobsters were overharvested in the 1920s; the stock was nearly destroyed. But today, Maine’s waters teem with lobsters, and lobstermen can make a good living. How did that happen? Here’s one secret, she says: harmony among local communities and state government. Top-down management didn’t squelch bottom-up organizing. Lobstermen worked out lobstering rights themselves – plots of ocean along Maine’s coast. “They were allowed to organize at a local level,” she says. But the state didn’t butt out entirely. That was also key. Maine launched projects to grow lobsters in artificial ponds. And it introduced an innovation: notching lobster tails. Originally introduced as a way to track hatchery lobsters, tail-notching has become an important management tool in the greater scheme of things. Lobstermen notch the lobsters they release – if they’re bearing eggs, say. Characteristics specific to the species in question – the fact that you can notch lobsters without killing them, not necessarily the case with fin fish — helped, in this case. Also important: Maine lobstermen have a shared culture – shared social norms. That helped in hammering out the regulations at a local level. And finally, Maine has leaders (No. 7), professors like James Acheson and Jim Wilson as well as fishers like Ted Ames – all of them respected by the community and having an understanding of the larger problems and issues. How might this apply to human-caused global warming, say, a potential tragedy of the global commons? Get global agreements in place, she says, but make sure to allow for innovations at the local level, and make sure to learn from them. “We need both good science and very careful research designs,” says Ostrom. “We need to treat citizens and resource users with respect and get them involved with problem-solving, and [we need] various ways of learning from more successful cases.” features.csmonitor.com

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (4069)	8/2/2009 11:49:56 PM
From: Sam	Respond to of 49125

India to unveil 20GW solar target under climate plan Tue Jul 28, 2009 4:42am EDT * National Solar Mission aims to cut reliance on coal * $19 bln plan aims to kick-start solar industry in India * Plan to help India's bargaining power in climate talks By Krittivas Mukherjee and David Fogarty NEW DELHI, July 28 (Reuters) - India will unveil its first solar power target as soon as September, pledging to boost ouptut from near zero to 20 gigawatts (GW) by 2020 as it firms up its national plan to fight global warming, draft documents show. The target, which would help India close the gap on solar front-runners like China, is part of an ambitious $19 billion, 30-year scheme that could could increase India's leverage in international talks for a new U.N. climate pact in December, one of several measures meant to help cut emissions. If fully implemented, solar power would be equivalent to one-eighth of India's current installed power base, helping the world's fourth-largest emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions limit its heavy reliance on dirty coal and assuaging the nagging power deficit that has crimped its growth. The "National Solar Mission", yet to be formally adopted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's special panel on climate, envisages the creation of a statutory solar authority that would make it mandatory for states to buy some solar power, according to a draft of the plan, which provided detailed proposals for the first time, obtained by Reuters, "The aspiration is to ensure large-scale deployment of solar generated power for both grid connected as well as distributed and decentralised off-grid provision of commercial energy services," the policy draft said. Confirming the proposed plan, a top Indian climate official told Reuters that the mission contained "quite stiff" targets that could be announced in September. In June a senior climate official had hoped it could be submitted this month. "The draft should not change much and the target of 20 GW will be there," the official said on condition of anonymity because the issue was still under discussion. Money would be spent on incentives for production and installation as well research and development, and the plan offers financial incentives and tax holidays for utilities. It envisions three phases starting with 1-1.5 GW by 2012 along with steps to drive down production costs of solar panels and spur domestic manufacturing. The world now produces about 14 gigawatts (GW) of solar power, about half of it added last year. The move could unlock India's huge renewables potential and benefit companies such as Tata BP Solar, a joint venture between Tata Power (TTPW.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BP plc's (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) solar unit, BP Solar, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a state-run power and engineering equipment firm, and Lanco Infratech (LAIN.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). Shares in Chinese solar equipment firms like Suntech Power Holdings (STP.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Trina Solar (TSL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have tripled since March, when Beijing first announced subsidies; Beijing is widely expected soon to raise its solar target to up to 20 GW by 2020. Japan is targetting 28 GW of solar power by 2020. India's climate plan released last year identified harnessing renewable energy, such as solar power, and energy efficiency as central to its fight against global warming. At the moment only about 8 percent of India's total power mix is from renewables, although it is a leading provider of wind power technology. Experts say the voluntary domestic action will add to India's bargaining power in international negotiations, although India's refusal to commit to any binding emission targets has angered many rich countries demanding greater commitment. "Such unilateral action will give India the moral high-ground because the rich countries have not committed to anything (in terms of finance and technology)," said Siddharth Pathak, Greenpeace India's chief climate campaigner. Nearly 200 countries meet in Copenhagen in December to try to agree on a broader climate pact to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012. MANDATORY The draft policy document estimated that India could cut about 42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions with its new solar plan, which aims to provide access to solar-powered lighting for 3 million households by 2012. The plan is to make the use of solar-powered equipment and applications mandatory for hospitals, hotels and government buildings, and encourage use of solar lighting systems in villages and small towns with micro financing. The plan also outlines a system of paying households for any surplus power from solar panels fed back into the grid. India's long-neglected power sector is regarded by many observers as the greatest infrastructure investment opportunity in a country where nearly 56 percent of the 1.1-billion plus population do not have access to electricity. In spite of its pledge to clean technology, coal remains the backbone of India's power sector -- accounting for about 60 percent of generation -- with the government planning to add 78.7 GW of power generation during the five years ending March 2012. Of this, 15.1 GW has been commissioned. In comparison, China's power generation capacity rose to 792.5 GW in 2008, more than five times India's capacity. India says it must use more energy to lift its population from poverty and that its per-capita emissions are a fraction of those in rich nations, which have burned fossil fuels unhindered since the industrial revolution. India, whose economy has grown by 8-9 percent annually in recent years, contributes around 4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. (Editing by David Fogarty) reuters.com