Provocations

Richard Heinberg on Carbon Trading Schemes

From the current issue of Museletter:

I am skeptical of international carbon trading schemes for many reasons, including the fact that they will result in the creation of an enormous derivatives market that will require tight regulation if huge financial bubbles and crashes are to be avoided. Carbon caps are necessary, but there are probably better ways of enforcing those caps than the creation of a new class of derivatives; for example, a rationing system that engages the entire citizenry, such as Tradeable Energy Quotas (TEQs), could work.

In the end, fossil fuels will be used by those who can pay for them. Sometimes this occurs indirectly: China burns coal on behalf of North America and Europe so that it can produce cheap goods for export.

In any case, however, development based on consumption of fossil fuels is no longer a path to wealth and security, as it was in the early 20th century. Today it is a trap. It merely creates dependence upon energy sources that are becoming more scarce and expensive. Poor nations will now be much better off avoiding that trap altogether.

I realize that this is much easier for a mere a journalist to say than for a leader of some nation whose people have been denied the benefits of the modern era. However, this is one of the stark realities of this still-new century.

What's Happpening in Honduras?

Today, 14 of our basic cable channels were broadcasting the Jackson memorial. Like it or not, this story has pushed some important events off the front pages and cut down on in-depth coverage of issues like Iran, Honduras and, most recently, the violence in Xinjiang.

Here's a pretty balanced video update on the Honduras situation:

Michael Jackson and Rabbi Schmuley Boteach

I'm so saturated with this MJ stuff, irritated and concerned that the fascinated repetition of every detail is obscuring matters that really do need our attention. I realize also that the sheer weight of never-ending information - where a hiccup receives equal analysis with a heart-stop - is obscuring the real lessons that this man's life contains, beyond the talent and the music.

Michael Jackson, from an interview with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach:

I am going to say something I have never said before and this is the truth. I have no reason to lie to you and God knows I am telling the truth. I think all my success and fame, and I have wanted it, I have wanted it because I wanted to be loved. That's all. That's the real truth. I wanted people to love me, truly love me, because I never really felt loved. I said I know I have an ability. Maybe if I sharpened my craft, maybe people will love me more. I just wanted to be loved, because I think it is very important to be loved and to tell people that you love them and to look in their eyes and say it.

Rabbi Shmuley’s statement on the passing of Michael Jackson

My family and I have just heard that Michael Jackson has passed away. Our thoughts and prayers are with his children and the Jackson family. Michael Jackson’s death is not just a terrible tragedy for three young children who will now be orphaned. It is also an American tragedy that affects us all. Our culture, in which fortune and fame readily eclipse family and life nurturing-values, is claiming an increasing number of casualties. There was a great beauty and gentility in Michael’s soul. His talents far surpassed those of his contemporaries and he yearned deeply to make the world a better place. I am saddened that the emotional pain he lived with prevented him from finding the meaning and connectedness which he longed for. The saddest aspect to this tragedy is that so many watched it happen and few did anything to stop it. I pray that Michael’s death will not be in vain and that we see a return, even among Hollywood celebrities, to the spiritual and family values that are life sustaining.

Public health care in Canada

Recent use by conservative US political groups to cast the Canadian health care system in a poor light has given Canadians an opportunity to once again clarify their own thinking on the actual state of our health care system. This interview (with additional clips) does a pretty good job of that: