[Firestorm]

Daniel Rirdan's book "The Blueprint: Averting Global Collapse" is finally out! http://www.amazon.com/dp/1470135884/

So far the book received a good positive Kirkus review as well as it got testimonials from two very well-known people in the field: David Suzuki and Bill McKibben! This is a very exciting and very promising start!

"I'm offering a highly detailed, planet-wide plan that constitutes anything but light-hearted tips," Rirdan says. "The Blueprint is based on meticulous research and consideration, communication with revered experts, 500 peer-reviewed articles, and copious computations and simulations, which, together, paint the sobering picture of the future and provide guideposts for recovery. Its immediately employable designs would redefine traditional systems, setting a new path for our economy, technology, industry and politics."

Among other subjects, Rirdan addresses co-working renewables that can power the entire electrical grid 24/7; a radically altered economy based on regenerative management of existing resources; and the use of rotational, intensive grazing of livestock that "rewilds" nature. He also illustrates why a carbon-neutral economy is inadequate at this late stage, and introduces a practical plan to capture hundreds of billions of tons of carbon from the air. Furthermore, Rirdan calls for augmenting disparate, outmoded government systems with one world government -- and other experts are taking note.

Blog http://blog.danielrirdan.com/

Check your PMs; Do NOT cross-post the same topic in different forums; Linkbaiting text deleted. if you wish to advertise, contact the site owner and buy banner space.

[dohboi]

I like that he comes out and says we have to leave fossil fuels where they belong--with the other fossils in the ground. I also like that he says some inconvenience is going to be inevitable if we are going to save anything like a habitable planet.

But then he seems to want to save car culture with a massive build-out of EVs.

I think it's time to walk away from car culture completely. Most people don't need them for most trips. He has already says that things may get inconvenient.

We need to husband our resources and use whatever vehicles we have left for truly crucial tasks--raising and transporting food, operating emergency vehicles, and some public transportation. All of even these will eventually be going back to animal and human/bike powered systems.

[Firestorm]

Sorry, I have not realised that posting links to FREE videos that talk in large about the subject most people on the forum are passionate about would be considered a violation. But ok.

[Firestorm]

dohboi, Rirdan also talks about car sharing, and about bicycle programs so popular in Europe. He also talks about trains moving through vacuum tunnels developing speed of few thousand miles an hour. He also talks about ships replacing planes (with exeption of long distance flights...for now). He also talks about redesigning our neighborhoods in such a way that everything is within walking distance (as it is in most of the world).

[Plantagenet]

He also talks about redesigning our neighborhoods in such a way that everything is within walking distance (as it is in most of the world).

The whole idea that if you redesign a neighborhood to be walkable in our wealthy western world you are somehow living is way that doesn't require huge amounts of energy to keep it going is wrong-headed.

Its nice to have a walkable neighborhood, but you still have to bring everything to the neighborhood from elsewhere in the world. Everything in your neighborhood is definitely NOT within walking distance, when you look at things in more detail.

Sure...you can buy a bike at the neighborhood bike shop, but where do you think the rubber for a bicycle's tires comes from? Where does the titanium for the frame come from? Where do the plastics on the bike light come from? Where did the oil for the bicycle delivery truck come from? Where does the lunch meat for the bike salesman come from? Where did the parts in the iphone used to check your banking balance come from? Where did the metal in the magnetic stripe on the back of your credit card come from?

Sorry, but food doesn't come from a grocery store and all the stuff on bicycles doesn't come from the bike store----no matter how nice and "self-contained" a neighorhood is, most everything in it comes from distant places around the world due to our globalized economic system.


globalization---now in a neighborhood near you

[Firestorm]

Plantagenet, you are right, let's just crawl in a hole and die! I mean, really! Is anybody on this forum interested in solutions or are people just getting their rant urge satisfied on here?!

Obviously, there are short term goals, urgent goals and there are longer tems goals. Switching to clean energy and technologies AND capturing hundreds of billions of tons of CO2 from the air as well as rapidly reducing our population, stopping deforestation and ocean fishing are all very urgent goals and are all covered in the book with very concrete solutions. Having everything "just perfect" is a completely different story and isn't as urgent as other things.

I personally am originally from Russia (moved to the US ten years ago) and I can tell you that it IS possible to have pretty much EVERYTHING you need in walking or nearly walking distance (a couple of buss stops away). It is possible and it does work in most of the world.

[Lore]

I'm not being sarcastic here when I say; good for you, try to maintain that can do attitude. You'll have to forgive us old salts on here. After years of awareness and little or no progress towards any solutions one becomes a bit cynical.

[Firestorm]

there cannot be any progress as long as we live under existing political and economical setup. it is a dead end, nothing else. therefore, it is another thing that must go. on the bright side, Rirdan was able to find a way to completely chang both without a need for protests or for a war. And yes, I do believe that if enough passionate people get behind a good cause, impossible will happen.

[Firestorm]

I am the mother of two beautiful children, so I cannot afford to have losers attitude. I want to see them living, I want to see their children living, I cannot afford to just say "ops, we all gonna die", if you know what I mean...

[SeaGypsy]

So the alternative is EV's and One World Government? What about the 1/3rd which is Moslem and won't want a bar of this unless they are in charge? Where are the metals for the batteries for a billion EV's going to come from? The EV dream will remain just that for most people. The New World Order/ One World Government- has been talked about for decades. It is simply not possible, unless you are talking about total global tyrrany. If that's what you think will save the planet for your kids, well I think you are deluded.

[Plantagenet]

let's just crawl in a hole and die!

No thanks.

I can tell you that it IS possible to have pretty much EVERYTHING you need in walking or nearly walking distance (a couple of buss stops away). It is possible and it does work in most of the world.

Yes, of course. But "EVERYTHING you need" isn't actually coming from those neighborhood stores. Its being flown and shipped and trucked into those stores from farms and mines and factories located all over the world.

It would be nice if shopping in a local store would avert global collapse, but in actuality globalization plays a big a role in supplying food and bicycles and other things people buy in local stores, just like it does in supplying food and bicycles and other things people buy in a giant Wal-Mart in the suburbs.

[Firestorm]

sorry, double post

[Firestorm]

ops, double post

[Firestorm]

So the alternative is EV's and One World Government? What about the 1/3rd which is Moslem and won't want a bar of this unless they are in charge? Where are the metals for the batteries for a billion EV's going to come from? The EV dream will remain just that for most people. The New World Order/ One World Government- has been talked about for decades. It is simply not possible, unless you are talking about total global tyrrany. If that's what you think will save the planet for your kids, well I think you are deluded.

First of all, it is imposible to put a 500 page book into a 10 min (or even a 3 hour video) without obviously losing content. The book offers a plan for a gradual transition. Rirdan offers dividing world to 9 economically comparable regions for the first 15 years. These 15 years will allow us to bring the economy of poorer regions up to the point where it would be eventually safe to break the border and create one world.

Obviously, if we want to survive, we will have to get over a lot of things and a lot of crap. Religious hatered would be one of them. It is definitely very much possible: there are quite a few places on the planet--including a Russian city Ufa--where the population consists of about 50% muslin and other 50% non-muslim, living peacefully together. They do keep their cultures, but they have learned to respect the other culture as well. So it is possible.

And in the end (not from the book, just my own thoughts out loud), if radical muslims, those who are unwilling to adjust--really want their autonomy so badly, perhaps they just should have it! Much like Israely people, they could choose a place on the planet and build their own muslim world, and then "cook in their own soup" so to speak. Though I highly doubt it would be a wise thing to do for them.

[Firestorm]

Yes, of course. But "EVERYTHING you need" isn't actually coming from those neighborhood stores. Its being flown and shipped and trucked into those stores from farms and mines and factories located all over the world.

It would be nice if shopping in a local store would avert global collapse, but in actuality globalization plays a big a role in supplying food and bicycles and other things people buy in local stores, just like it does in supplying food and bicycles and other things people buy in a giant Wal-Mart in the suburbs.

In "The Blueprint" Rirdan offers that every item will have environmental footprint on it, and every individual will have an annual environmental footprint limit. This way it does not matter how much money one makes, they still cannot buy beyond the allowed environmental footprint. This will force the manufactures to produce products with minimal environmental footprint if they want them bought by people. No one would be buying water from Fiji and other idiotic stuff like that. I think it is a very important piece of the puzzle.

As I said, getting everything "just perfect" right away isn't really an option. But getting the more urgent short term goals in place would be huge. Transportation can be clean, we get capture CO2 from the air, we can switch to clean energy, we can stop overfishing and deforestation and we can rewild nature, we can address the water shortage issue and so on. It would be an excellent start, the most powerful ever in the history of humanity, that is for sure.

[Firestorm]

not sure how it happened, but it looks like I double posted three times. real mystery...it looks like every time I delete a post and write that it is a double post, onother one would appear. really weird. sorry

[AgentR11]

I get so tired of "we can do..." "we could do.....". When the can's and could's involve great change and sacrifice by those with power and wealth; and minimal change and sacrifice by the poor.

We are talking about the same species right? Homo Sapiens? Yes??????

If you want to find a path that would honestly put a dent in our GCC impact, and would pass the world governments, and would be obeyed and executed by the world's population; the poor and middle class will have to bear the largest portion of the burden. Those with power, will not cede power. Those with wealth, will not cede wealth. This is not a "flower power" moment; if you honestly believe that AGW/GCC is an existential threat that should be countered, then those who can be made to sacrifice must be made to sacrifice. Try to make those with wealth and power sacrifice, and you will continue to fail, as you have been failing for the past twenty years.

As a proposal along those lines, I have numerous times elaborated a carbon tax regime, where the revenue generated from the LARGE carbon tax is used to reduce income(personal and corp) tax RATES in equal amounts, year by year. No checks or credits for the poor, no exceptionally large deductions for the lower middle. Direct reduction of RATE. Which gives the largest reductions in income tax to the largest payers of the carbon taxes. They then have a direct and very competitive drive towards efficiency and low emissions, without challenging their positions of wealth and power.

[Firestorm]

I get so tired of "we can do..." "we could do.....". When the can's and could's involve great change and sacrifice by those with power and wealth; and minimal change and sacrifice by the poor.

We are talking about the same species right? Homo Sapiens? Yes??????

If you want to find a path that would honestly put a dent in our GCC impact, and would pass the world governments, and would be obeyed and executed by the world's population; the poor and middle class will have to bear the largest portion of the burden. Those with power, will not cede power. Those with wealth, will not cede wealth. This is not a "flower power" moment; if you honestly believe that AGW/GCC is an existential threat that should be countered, then those who can be made to sacrifice must be made to sacrifice. Try to make those with wealth and power sacrifice, and you will continue to fail, as you have been failing for the past twenty years.

As a proposal along those lines, I have numerous times elaborated a carbon tax regime, where the revenue generated from the LARGE carbon tax is used to reduce income(personal and corp) tax RATES in equal amounts, year by year. No checks or credits for the poor, no exceptionally large deductions for the lower middle. Direct reduction of RATE. Which gives the largest reductions in income tax to the largest payers of the carbon taxes. They then have a direct and very competitive drive towards efficiency and low emissions, without challenging their positions of wealth and power.

Rich, poor, "portion of the burden", "level of sacrifice", it is all beside the point. It comes down to only one thing: there is a certain environmental footprint planet could afford per person and that is all there is to it. And therefore, for those people who already live within a minimal environmental footprint it will definitely be an easier transition and for others it will be a harder one. But in the end, just like with other "unthinkable to change things" such as, for example, slavery, rasism and many other horrible things in the history of humanity, it will take just a couple of generations to look back and have no idea what it was all about...

[AgentR11]

You are *WAY* more optimistic than me, that's for sure. Slavery, racism, and all those other horrible things are alive and well in modern humans.