Last night my husband and I watched The Journey to Planet Earth episode featuring Lester Brown, founder of the Worldwatch Institute and head of the Earth Policy Institute. It’s entitled “Plan B: Mobilizing to Save Civilization”. Mr. Brown is an amazing visionary, whose message is that we are on the cusp of great change, and while the dangers are enormous and very real, but the possibilities are equally so. The challenges of energy, food, climate, public health, poverty are all coming together as our civilization hurdles towards environmental collapse. But it’s not all doom and gloom – Mr. Brown presents the solutions to our crisis – that’s where the “Plan B” comes in. The key? We all have to participate in the change – when the grassroots demand to address the global crisis becomes loud and clear enough, our political leaders will respond and make the changes required, just as the U.S. rapidly shifted their industrial focus during World War 2. Here’s the Youtube description:
The Journey to Planet Earth series continues with a special program, hosted by Matt Damon, which features environmental visionary Lester Brown and author of “Plan B.” This documentary delivers a clear and unflinching message — either confront the realities of climate change or suffer the consequences of lost civilizations and failed political states.
Brown, together with other notable scholars and scientists, including Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman, Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, former Governor and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, provides a glimpse into a new and emerging economy based upon renewable resources as well as strategies to avoid the growing threat of global warming.
If you have a chance to read Plan B, or watch this episode, please do. It’s enlightening and inspiring. Here’s a few glimpses of what you’re in for:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLUEEGxlvlY]
And a great summary of Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZXEmRw_vvo]
More links:
Download the entire pdf of Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization (click on title)
Check out Citizens Climate Lobby, whose mandate lines up with Lester Brown’s message. CCL’s purpose is to create the political will for a stable climate and to empower individuals to have breakthroughs in exercising their personal and political power.
Loved those videos, especially the second one. It just gets straight to the point. I would like to find and watch that episode of Plan B as well. Thanks for posting Christine, it just reminds/inspires me that I have to do more. MORE!
I watched the documentary Dirt! last night and it was very informative as well, especially in the area of the growing food insecurity of our world, and our current mismanagement of life giving soil. Once we deplete the soil through pesticides and mono-cultures, we deplete our ability to feed ourselves. Scary stuff.
Dirt – I’ve heard that’s good – looks like I have to add it to my “must watch” video list, which grows every day.
One of the things that I really appreciated about Plan B was that it ended with a vision of what the world will be like if we turn things around in time – cities built for people, not cars, more community, healthier food, more empowerment of women, etc. It’s worth fighting for!