An interview with author Thomas Homer-Dixon about the social, political, economic and technological crises we face and how long we can sustain the lifestyle that brought them about.

Thomas Homer-Dixon compares our current situation to driving too fast along a country road in a dense fog. Some ignore the fog and keep their foot pressed on the accelerator, but most of us feel like fairly helpless passengers on this wild ride.

In 1870, the average income in the world’s richest country was about nine times greater than that in the world’s poorest country. By 1990 it was forty-five times greater.

In 2006, the world’s 793 billionaires held combined wealth of $2.6 trillion. (If liquidated in 2006), this wealth could have hired the poorest half of the world’s workers — the 1.4 billion workers who earn a few dollars a day — for almost two years.

Between 1977 and 1996, the weight of the average American cheeseburger grew over 25 percent, and the volume of the average soft drink grew more than 50 percent. About 40 percent of the world’s population now lacks sufficient water for basic sanitation and hygiene, and nearly one out of every five people does not have enough to drink.

Between 2000 and the beginning of 2005, China’s daily oil imports soared 140 percent. Saudi Arabia, has pumped a total of 46 billion barrels of oil in the past 17 years, without admitting to any decrease in its stated reserve figure of about 260 billion barrels.

Since 1950, industrialized fishing has reduced the total mass of large fish in the world’s oceans by 90 percent. The atmosphere’s level of carbon dioxide is the highest in 650,000 years.

Is a deadly crash inevitable?

Thomas Homer-Dixon is director of the Trudeau Centre for the Study of Peace and Conflict at the University of Toronto. He is the author of “The Ingenuity Gap” and his newest book “The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization.”

Continue reading “Is the Deadly Crash of Our Civilization Inevitable?”

In the last few years, Americans have seen the harm that results when political decisions are made in the name of religion. Now, the non-believers are fighting back.

During the recent holiday season, there were prominent articles about atheism in The New York Times and the UK’s Financial Times and Telegraph, and a segment on NPR’s All Things Considered. Richard Dawkins debated the existence of God on the London chat show, The Sunday Edition. Dawkins’ book, The God Delusion was a top 10 bestseller on the lists of both the New York Times and LA Times, number one at Amazon UK and Amazon Canada, and number two at Amazon.com. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris was recently an equally successful bestseller.

A group calling itself “The Rational Response Squad,” has launched The Blasphemy Challenge, a campaign to entice young people to publicly renounce belief in the God of Christianity. Participants who videotape their blasphemy and upload it to YouTube will receive a free DVD of The God Who Wasn’t There, a number one bestselling independent documentary at Amazon.com.

Richard Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University. His 1976 book, The Selfish Gene, popularized the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term “meme.” In January 2006, Dawkins hosted on the UK’s Channel 4 a two-part documentary on the dangers of religion, entitled (against his wishes, I might add) The Root of All Evil. His newest book, The God Delusion, is an international bestseller.

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Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz talks about what’s gone wrong with globalization.

In his new book, “Making Globalization Work,” Nobel-prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz argues that the special interests of governments, corporations, and international organizations like the IMF and the World Bank have thrown globalization off its proper path. But he doesn’t stop there. He offers a practical vision for making globalization the equalizing force he believes it was always meant to be.

Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor at Columbia University, was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Clinton administration and later chief economist and senior vice president of the World Bank. His book, “Globalization and Its Discontents,” was translated into 35 languages and has sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.

Continue reading “Globalization Has Increased the Wealth Gap”

This world view inspires the 17th annual Bioneers conference, taking place this weekend (October 20-22nd) in San Rafael, Calif. and streaming via satellite to more than a dozen sites across the country.

Speakers at this year’s conference include Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!; Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma; Lois Gibbs, grassroots champion of environmental justice at Love Canal; and Carl Anthony, founder of Earthjustice’s Urban Habitat program, among others.

I had a chance to speak with Bioneers’ founder and co-director, Kenny Ausubel. In addition to his work with Bioneers, Ausubel is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and social entrepreneur specializing in health and the environment. He co-founded Seeds of Change, a biodiversity organic seed company. He authored the books, Seeds of Change; Restoring the Earth: Visionary Solutions from the Bioneers; and When Healing Becomes a Crime.

Continue reading “Bioneers 2006: The Future is Green”

According to Rich, the administration’s highest priority was not to eliminate Al Qaeda, but to consolidate its own power, and this aim called for a propaganda presidency in which reality was consistently replaced by “truthiness.”

Rich, who became a New York Times op-ed columnist in 1994 after serving for 13 years as the newspaper’s chief drama critic, talked to Terrence McNally.
Continue reading “Frank Rich Reviews the Bush Follies”