*******Gaia Project********

[radfringe]

Gaia Project

In 1961 President Kennedy challenged us to put a man on the moon and bring him safely back by the end of the decade. On July 20, 1969 we did just that.

The Apollo project did more than just to send a man to the moon and back. In 1961, the technology did not exist. We put the time, the energy, and research to find that technology and through that not only did we make great strides in our ability to explore space, but it also effected our way of life here on earth.

In one way or another the discoveries and inventions which grew out of the Apollo project gave us knowledge and technologies. From Velcro and Tang to medical and computers. It also created new jobs, new fields of technology, new venues of research. The more we discovered, the more we found we needed to know.

We need something similar to be applied not only to "breaking the oil habit" but also to address the very real problem of our environment/global warming.

(Both Obama and Clinton have touched on it in their campaign platforms.
Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/issues/energy/#set-america-on-path-to
Hillary Clinton:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/energy/)

Alternative energy sources or Green Technology is in it's infancy. To carry the "baby analogy" a bit further - it's grossly malnourished. If you talk to a republican about this - they will tell you it can't be done and the very notion is dismissed. If that same attitude was taken in 1961 - we wouldn't have landed a man on the moon nine years later.

The current rise in fuel prices is pushing the research. In 1973, Opec initiated an oil embargo. ( http://kicktheoilhabit.blogspot.com/2005/12/1973-opec-oil-embargo-preview-of-peak.html ) We lined up for gas, speed limit was dropped to 55mph, rationing of sorts was initiated. President Carter told us to put on a sweater and lower our thermostats.

This crisis also spurred people to seek out vehicles with better gas mileage, solar panels started appearing on roof tops, energy efficiency became a concern, home insulation became weekend projects. New businesses and JOBS of making and installing energy related products sprung up.

For better or worse - the crisis passed, and our "national" concern for efficient energy sources passed with it. (see my side comment (1) at end of this OP)

We need a Gaia Project. One that not only address the fuel problem, but also one that addresses our environment. The Air that we breath, water that we drink, and food that we eat are all endangered. Not only do we need to clean up the mess we've made, we need to take step to NOT make future messes.

Hybrid cars are a first step, but it's an interim step. Hybrids are still essentially based on the combustion engine. Perhaps we need to research alternative engine models. Electric cars may use less or no 'gas' - but the production of electricity requires as fuel source (side comment - 2).

Many new houses are being constructed with a "green eye". Homes are being built using materials which are made from recyclables, HVAC systems that are more energy efficient are installed. Although the cost is high, there are even solar roof shingles available for supplementing electrical needs. (http://www.oksolar.com/roof/). We also need to address the energy needs of older homes and buildings.

Who knows where a Gaia project will lead, and what new technologies will grow from it. Jobs will be created across all business sectors. (Clinton mentions this, calling them Green Collar jobs.)

The Kyoto agreement must be signed or at the very least - revisited and signed. Whether you call it an energy crisis or global warming - it effects the entire planet, and as a planet we must set aside differences and work toward a common goal.

The Gaia project cannot be just a project for the United States, it must be a global project.

----------
Side comment: (1) One of the outrages of the 1973 gas crisis was the discovery of oil companies conspiring with one another to keep the prices high. Tankers filled with oil were ordered to sit out at sea for weeks in order to perpetuate the crisis and artificially inflate prices at the pump.

The current price per barrel is hovering at/near $90/barrel. When bush took office it was approximately $28/barrel. Oil companies are reporting record profits. There is more to this than just "speculators" driving up the prices, and Congress must seriously investigate.

(2) Producing electricity in a nutshell: the majority of electrical plants are based on "steam". Fuel (fossil, nuke or other) is used to heat water and turn it into steam, the steam is sent to turbines which spin and create the electricity. Yes, there are hydro, wind and other means to spin the turbines - and these need to be encouraged and built where possible.

The point being - electric cars are still tied to fossil fuel usage, just one step removed.

[radfringe]

1. feel free to pass this around

also see my OP on Valueing families:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2828683

[Radical Activist]

2. Good post.

But you'll have to start by finding a name other than gaia project if you want it to attract people other than the kind of radical tree hugging activist women I like to date and their hippie mothers. :)

[radfringe]

3. finding a name other than gaia project

thought of that - if we go with "mythology" names to tie it into the vision and successes of the APOLLO project, the pickings are slim for "Earth Mother names" which have some name recognition and are easy to pronounce

Demeter was one possiblity, but when you put it with project it sounded like a study of the metric system ("De Meter, da meter, the meter....)

Terra was another - but that's too similar to smirk-boy's pronounciation of terror

Project Earth sounds too much like a sci-fi tv show

Green Project or the Green initiative - dunno, doesn't generate much excitement

feel free to put on your thinking cap (over or under the tin-foil one :D ) and come up with a name

[Radical Activist]

4. Artemis?

I'll give it some thought.

Not to brag on myself but I think my last comment was one of the funniest things I've written at DU in a while. I'm amusing myself at least. :)

[radfringe]

5. wasn't he one of the 3-musketeers?

regarding your last comment... it amused me too

[Radical Activist]

6. I don't know

but otherwise she was the greek goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and children.

[lunatica]

43. If you change the words around they get more interesting

You're right that Project Earth sounds too sci-fi, but The Earth Project sounds like something people would roll their sleeves up for.

Green Project also sounds pretty good as Project Green.

And I've always loved the name Terra and I refuse to let Smirk ruin it.

[Ghost Dog]

56. Pachamama - although Gaia is good too, once explained in technical terms.

Pachamama: Pachamama is a goddess revered by the indigenous people of the Andes. In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama is a fertility goddess who presides over planting and harvesting. She causes earthquakes. Her husband was either Pacha Camac or Inti, depending on the source. Llamas are sacrificed to her. After conquest by Catholic Spain her image was replaced by the Virgin Mary, with whom she is identified in the Aymara ritual, in some parts of Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Pachamama is usually translated as "Mother Earth" but more correct translation would be "Mother Universe"(in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = space-time or the universe).

Gaia Hypothesis: The Gaia hypothesis is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that living and nonliving parts of the earth are viewed as a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism. Named after the Greek earth goddess, this hypothesis postulates that all living things have a regulatory effect on the Earth's environment that promotes life overall.

[philly_bob]

20. Yeah, the term "Gaia" has religious & intellectual baggage...

and I enjoyed your appreciation of tree-huggers and their hippie mothers. Truth.

[radfringe]

27. ok folks - come up with another name

I'm flummoxed - need something easy to pronounce, difficult to warp into a satire/pun and encompasses the concept

put your thinking caps on, over or under the tin-foil ones and come up with a name

[InvisibleTouch]

38. Personally I love the name "Gaia Project"...

...and to Hades with those "focus groups" who would respond to the word negatively. Those are the same neanderthals who scoff at the terms "global warming" or "climate change" or "endangered species," and I'd be damned if I would cater to THEM. They're going to have to come around to OUR view, because the alternative is extinction. Pure and simple.

However, if you really do want something less poetic, less perfect, and still descriptive, how about something along the lines of:

Project Future
Project Sustainable Future
Project Survival
Project Living Planet
Project Sustainable Earth
Project Blue (or Green) Planet


etc.

[lunatica]

44. Great names! nt

[Norrin Radd]

54. Call it "Earth 2 you"

[Ghost Dog]

57. Call it the Real Deal. If once upon a time there was a New Deal, and now people get a Raw Deal,

this Real Deal will clearly explain a few home truths about the relationships between the economy and the environment and the reasons why this radical shift away from the (Raw Deal) dominance of fossil-fuel energy industries towards (Real Deal) improved efficiency and renewables, and the shift of the economy itself away from (Raw Deal) growth through consumption at any cost towards (Real Deal) sustainable, life-enhancing, planet-improving types of (diversification and) growth is a vital necessity. It will then put millions of people to work, putting that shift into practice.

[Greyhound]

7. Thin Film Photovoltaics is one place we should be pouring resources

into. The applications and likely developments that will come out of focusing resources here will change the world, if we let it. Of course similarly to biological research, the rest of the world is leaving us behind and the real innovation will probably come out of Europe.

[radfringe]

8. real innovation will probably come out of Europe.

many innovations are already coming out of Europe

I don't really like this becoming a "race" between countries, but would rather see it as cooperative global project

air and water do not respect borders, environmental conditions in one country effect other countries too - so it needs to be addressed globally not nationally

[Greyhound]

61. the rest of the world might eventually adopt some cooperative model,

but we're Amerikuns and we don't need any of that communist/hippie crap. :eyes:
:kick:

[CorpGovActivist]

9. "Gaia" is a low-down, dirty, fightin' word.

It's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia">richly loaded with meaning, I mean.

Somewhere, in the mists of time that are my college Macintosh's (now virtual) memory banks, there is a game, based on the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis">Gaia Hypothesis. Pre-Sid Meiers, it was nevertheless an engaging and complex simulation of how lifeforms affect their micro-ecology and macro-ecology.

And - yes, Dory - extinctions happen. Whichever species achieves sentience (you start the game as plankton, and work your way up through evolutionary steps, a la techs in Civ) must take special care with macro-ecology issues (assuming micro-ecology problems don't send you back to the primordial ooze first).

Sometimes, Gaia pulls your Bush Strategy in Civ, and just shakes everyone off. Gaia's Revenge.

You can probably download it for free, or dirt cheap now. It's called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimEarth">SimEarth, and it's the only Sim that ever hooked me.

- Dave

[radfringe]

10. then maybe we just have to use the scrabble method

to come up with a name...




Hoxibet? :wtf:

[CorpGovActivist]

39. Nah, but I can teach you how to play 52-Card Pickup, if you'd like.

[radfringe]

55. that's no fun... 104 card pick-up is more fun

double deck

[LWolf]

11. Would that be something like a "WGA?"

A "works green administration?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls7beTVd8ow

Looks like Democrats have already rejected such a proposal.

[radfringe]

12. can't watch video's on work computer

so you'll have to give me a quick synopsis

[LWolf]

13. Gladly:

<snip>

You propose, for instance, the Works Green Administration.

The Works Green Administration harks back to the days of Franklin Roosevelt and the Works Progress Administration, where he put millions of people back to work rebuilding America's infrastructure. I too have an infrastructure-rebuilding program which will put millions of people back to work. Picture this: You take every area of involvement in the federal government -- whether it's the Small Business Administration, or the Housing and Urban Development Department, or the Department of Agriculture, or the Department of Labor. Each would incorporate green goals. We'd have billions of dollars loaned to the states at zero interest for green development programs; we'd have programs furthering green housing; agricultural policies would relate to green.


Much more at:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/12/11/kucinich_qa/

[radfringe]

14. if dems and repubs in office have rejected the idea

then it's up to we the people to lead the parade and make them follow

[LWolf]

15. I figured voters have rejected it,

since they rejected the guy who proposed it. :shrug:

[radfringe]

17. no - two different things

the public perception of the 'spokesperson' doesn't mean the idea has been rejected. Just needs someone else to promote the idea.

[LWolf]

22. I find that to be hypocritical in the extreme.

If it's a good idea, why not support the source? Why does it have to come from a narrow belt of "approved" sources before it is a legitimate idea?

[radfringe]

25. tooth whitener is a good idea

but it won't sell if the spokesperson has no teeth

[radfringe]

26. or to put it another way

I like McCain's original idea of campaign finance reform - but that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for the guy

[LWolf]

29. That's true.

In some cases. When Democrats are up in arms in non-election years over issues, and then assist in marginalizing reps and candidates who step forward while in office, and on the campaign trail, to offer EXACTLY what they've been calling for, when they choose candidates that represent the very things they've been bitching about in off-election years over candidates that represent what they repeatedly called for,

I call that hypocrisy.

It isn't republicans that voters have rejected, but Democrats who offered up what they asked for.

[alarimer]

24. We need to start electing people who will be willing to go against corporate interests

That is probably (at least in part) what killed that WGA proposal. I think something like that is a very good idea but corporate lobbyists and campaign contributors are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[Lorien]

16. I've been saying something similar for years. I'd love to hear our candidate

propose something like this:


We'll leave Iraq ASAP and spend that $120 Billion that had been allocated for it on a new National high speed MagLev rail system with light rail connectors. We'll develop the areas around major train depots using the new green urbanism design that places mixed income homes and apartments within walking distance of retail, restaurants, office space, hospitals, schools, and theaters. These measures would create tens of thousands of new jobs and make Americans more mobile, less dependent on foreign oil and our roads would be less congested. To really cut our energy use, I'd build 100 square miles worth of solar panels (a recent article stated that that's how many would be needed to power the entire US), with the eventual goal of making home energy free or nearly free for the poor, disabled,schools,hospitals, government buildings etc. Added benefit; cutting greenhouse gases and allowing those people or institutions to direct the savings elsewhere (like hiring more teachers or staff).We could do both and STILL spend less than we have on the Iraq war!

[LWolf]

30. My point, as I'm sure you know,

is that Democratic voters had a chance to field a candidate that WOULD, and DID, say something like that, and rejected him.

[Lorien]

48. It was the mainstream media and their corporate masters who rejected him

the vast majority of voters are lemmings who simply vote for the candidate who gets the most media oxygen-they don't pay attention to policies on the issues. They can't be bothered to think that much.

At this point I don't have a horse in the 2008 presidential race. Neither has any bold ideas for truly changing the course of the country and our relationship with the rest of the planet.

[LWolf]

51. While I generally agree with your premise,

I'm leery of placing all of the blame on the msm and their corporate masters.

It is the people, the voters, who choose to tune in and allow themselves to be led, and I think that, at some point, people are going to have to take responsibility for turning them off. They only have power if we give it to them.

That probably means that we should be campaigning for the people to do just that. We can blame that vast majority, but I notice that Democrats, and DUers in particular, are not exempt.

How many DU posts are there on the front page every day encouraging us to tune in and participate in the media frenzy? Or linking to msm reports?

How many Democrats, and DUers, base their votes on the amount of corporate money a candidate can attract, and on the tools of corporate media, polls and the media-staged performances they call "debates?"

How many Democrats, and DUers, who, in off-election years, roared about the msm and corporate influence, jumped in to back a corporate media-picked candidate in the primaries?

I don't think the blame game is going to change any of that. How do we go about getting people to recognize that their participation in the media frenzy fuels the corruption, and to be courageous enough to behead the talking heads?

[radfringe]

52. my media rule

I automatically discount 1/2 of what is said and question the rest

however - the vast majority of people believe it must be true if it's on TV, therefore they believe what they are told to believe

[Lorien]

53. I'm not talking about "the blame game", but the heart of the matter

Our society seems to be driven by television and consumerism. Personally, I think that it all starts in the public schools. I went to a very liberal private school myself when I was a child, and I noticed even then that there was a great uniformity of thought between my friends who were attending public schools. Questioning authority made them very, very uncomfortable(true for most-but not all-of them). They weren't being taught the "whys" behind the facts they memorized. They weren't taught critical thinking skills-they were being taught how to take tests instead. This conditioning has led the majority to accept whatever the prevailing viewpoints coming from the talking heads without question. And the talking heads, with very few exceptions, are parroting one another. I think the only chance we have of getting through to the people is to change the teaching methods in the classrooms and to diversify our media...or find a way to convince the masses to watch less television, which seems unlikely. Unfortunately the entire system is set up to maintain the status quo, so it'll be tough going no matter what.

[LWolf]

60. It's interesting to see education from an outside view point.

As an educator, I don't disagree, although I have a different perspective.

First of all, I've seen what you are talking about.

I also experience, on a daily basis, the community resistance to change, to critical thinking, to literacy, to LEARNING. Of course, parents want their kids to "get good grades," and assume that means that quality learning is taking place. They don't always appreciate anything new; the most common phrases we hear from parents are: "that's not the way WE learned it," and "WE didn't do it that way; why should they," and "We didn't need to know this stuff; why do they?"

Families wonder why we use such big words; why can't we talk like normal people (like their tv)? Why do we have to read so many books? Why bother with history at all; it's already done! Why bother with algebra, when we never use it in real life? Why do kids need to know math facts when they have calculators, know how to spell when they have spellcheck, or have to write so many papers, anyway? Why do we ask such hard questions, where there is no one right answer? Why do there have to be so many ways to do things, instead of everybody just doing it all the same?

I could go on, but that's a sampling of the questions I fielded yesterday, doing 2nd trimester parent conferences.

All of these kids have tvs and video games, except the homeless student. Most have computers. Few have books, and the idea that their child should spend more time reading than watching tv or playing games is greatly resisted by parents themselves.

That's public education.

I also sat in a conference with the parents of a middle schooler who, it has just come to light, has been molested for several years by a family member. Another conference with a student whose dad is in jail, has been flirting with local gangs, and whose mother is hanging on to us as his last hope. Another of my students is homeless, and her mom didn't make a conference. Instead, I met with support staff as we tried to figure out ways to get her more support in the way of clothes, supplies, and transportation. One dad sat across from me and bullied his sullen daughters, completely unaware that they are not performing as a token of passive protest towards the latest girlfriend he brought home to live with them; there have been two so far. This year.

That's also public education, where there are a multitude of factors that affect what we are doing in the classroom well beyond actual issues of teaching and learning.

I've worked in public schools in which critical thinking thrived. It's possible, but the place has to be structured, not just to allow it to occur, but to support such thinking. It has to start in kindergarten. The idea that children can't think well until they are older is erroneous, and sets up the resistance that we face when adolescents are suddenly asked, for the very first time, to think outside the obvious and literal pathways they've been conditioned to.

NCLB has derailed the effort to structure schools this way. The "back to basics," the "drill and kill," the "direct instruction" (lecture,)the creation of passive rather than active learners, those who listen, repeat, and regurgitate on tests, is all an outcome of the test prep mandated to keep the AYP from "failing" a school for as long as possible.

[LSK]

19. where do you see Democrats rejecting the proposal?

[LWolf]

31. In the voting booth, and at the caucuses. n/t

[LSK]

32. I do not remember seeing the issue on the ballot

What are you talking about?

[LWolf]

33. I'm talking about

Democratic voters rejecting the candidate who proposes such ideas in favor of candidates less likely to act on those proposals.

To be more blunt:

This exact proposal was put before voters by Dennis Kucinich, as part of his primary campaign.

Voters rejected his proposals in favor of Clinton/Obama, who I don't believe can be relied on to support anything like this.

[radfringe]

34. for better or worse - polticians aren't elected

based on their ideas or proposals, they are elected based on what the perception of their ideas/proposals are and how well they look on TV

their ideas/proposals are a product, they are the spokesperson trying to sell that product

if the spokesperson is not seen as credible or viable, it doesn't matter how good the product

at the risk of being flamed by you - let me give you my first impression of Kucinich back in 2004

The very first time I saw him on TV I thought 3 things:

1. angry garden gnome
2. needs a better haircut
3. will somebody get him a suit that fits

I did take the time to listen to him, and to read his proposals, and I agree with most of them - but that's me, this doesn't apply to the general population who get their information from the nightly news, or scanning headlines while waiting in the grocery store line.

and like it or not - until the voting public demands substance over style - how well you look on TV is going to count big time

[LWolf]

40. I won't flame you.

I'll simply say that your assertion is "for worst," not for better.

That voters get what they vote for, and if they don't vote for those who represent them on the issues, they are directly responsible for getting reps who won't move those issues forward.

That I didn't have the same first, second, or ever impressions of DK that you did, and that might be because I don't buy into the American obsession with the shallow physical.

That my first impression of Obama was of an eloquent speaker, and that I felt an underlying distrust that there was substance I could support underneath that eloquence, and that my impression was strengthened over time.

That my first impression of HRC, on 60 minutes standing by her man by explaining how she isn't a "stand by your man" kind of girl, was of pity for her repeated public humiliation by her philandering husband, and distrust of her motives and her strength of character, since she excused that behavior. An impression which was obviously strengthened during her years as first lady.

Based on MY first impressions, neither of those two could possibly be elected according to the "first impression" criteria.

If I'm electing a spokesperson, that person has to actually SPEAK and ACT for what I want. :shrug:

[LSK]

35. I could have sworn hearing all the dem candidates talking about a "Green Apollo" type program

Im pretty sure Edwards brought it up.

:shrug:

[LWolf]

36. I'd love to hear anything

any of the rest have or had to say about it.

Of course, Edwards, also, while he got more traction than DK, was rejected by the majority of Democratic voters.

[radfringe]

37. heard clinton mention it once

and from just scanning Obama's site - he touches on it in various places, but doesn't seem to be all in one place...

might be there and I just missed it

[Donnachaidh]

18. How about adding something about OVERPOPULATION?

You can do all sorts of things to clean up the environment. But we'll still have people fighting over resources if we don't address this issue QUICKLY.

[radfringe]

21. that's where education comes in

educated societies tend to have lower birthrates

not just in terms of being educated about sex, birth control etc - but education in the broadest sense of reading/writing/math/science etc

[Lorien]

50. Amen to that. But no politician will ever touch the subject

it's the ultimate taboo in almost any society. People are still entirely unwilling to face facts on overpopulation. You can place one set of scientific studies and historical perspectives on the subject after the other in front of them, and they'll still crow that the problems come from "distribution of resources" and not finite resources and delicate ecosystems. No doubt the problem will remain untouched until it's far, far too late.

[Ghost Dog]

58. Cancer cells metastasizing. Watch out n/t.

[stellanoir]

23. I LOVE this concept

and LOVE calling it "Gaia" but I wonder about the "project" part because that term sort of suggests something that is semi finite and sort of linear.

I wonder if "initiative" might be better but I'll ponder some other terms.

You are really on fire right now.

Out of hardship some people find great motivation.

You go girl.

[sheelz]

28. May i suggest...

Golden Slumbers

[wiggs]

41. Suggested article on similar topic...

...I'm no fan of Friedman, but he makes some valid points in this 2007 article. As usual, he breaks complex subjects into simplified categories that are convenient but not entirely reflective of the whole argument.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/magazine/15green.t.html?th&emc=th

[Fire Walk With Me]

42. I've seen depictions of house/apartment buildings that are nearly closed systems, or at least

attempt to be. There is much that can be done, where each of us live, to make things better.

People should grow more of their own food, if they can.

Great post!

[cedric]

45. Ecological modernism

is but part of the solution.

You need to look at lifestyle changes and accept that the average westerner has to reduce their consumption. Thinking technology alone will solve the ecological crisis we are facing is living in cloud cuckoo land.

[radfringe]

46. response to the comments so far

Ok so Gaia may or may not be a good name. at 5am-ish, and only 2 cups of coffee - it made sense. the name is not written in stone or even in mud.. had to call it something, so consider it a work in progress

there have been a comment or two about specific aspects - western consumption habits, population to name a few

the purpose of "my little OP" (not to be confused with my pet goat, of which I don't have a pet goat) is to generate support and a little excitement over a global project that has far reaching effects on all of us on the planet.

It's not THE solution and far from being a comprehensive detailed plan - but it sure beats the hell out of bush and the repubs bandaid methods

In November, we elect a new president - moving ahead with the "gaia project" idea or something similar will depend on who that president is, the make-up of our congress, and the willingness of people to stand behind it. Will such a project really get off the ground - probably not the first or even the second time around - but that just means we the people have to try harder each time.

Will there be resistence - yes, so in this respect we have to be "borg" and tell them resistence is futile.

we can't let our candidates lose sight of this as other issues are pushed to the forefront, because as my friends at the Space Festival say "It's all connected"

[earth mom]

47. Al Gore WHERE O WHERE are you?!!!

:cry:

[radfringe]

49. giving speeches

when he should be twisting arms...

[radfringe]

59. saturday almost noon kick