Green Options » monterey california

Jamais Cascio’s Tools for Building a Better World

Becky Striepe — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:00:10 +0000

Worldchanging.com co-founder Jamais Cascio works in the field of scenario development. He’s used his skills on all sorts of projects from video game design to building alternative energy scenarios. In his recently published lecture, he talks about specific things we can do to build a better world.

[Creative Commons photo by Andrés Larsen]

Each year, the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference invites experts from a variety of fields to share their knowledge in 18 minute lectures. Jamais Cascio gave this talk back in February of 2006 discussing solutions for a sustainable future. He talks about the need for optimism and how, “focusing only on negative outcomes can really blind you to the very possibility of success.” He emphasizes staying positive, citing scientific and technological advances that help us better understand our impact on the world around us and how to lower that impact.

He even touches on the power of social networking! The Earth Witness project he describes sounds like a really exciting idea - one that might be doable using a microblogging service like Twitter that allows folks to send texts straight from their cell phones to the web!

Check out the whole video after the jump.

Jared Diamond’s Words of Wisdom on Modern Collapse

Shirley Siluk Gregory — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:45:27 +0000

In a time when stock prices, gas prices and more change dramatically within days, hours and minutes, it’s hard to imagine that anyone five years ago could have had a cogent take on today’s troubles. Until you watch Jared Diamond’s talk on why societies fail, given in February 2003 in Monterey, California.

Diamond, in case you’re not familiar with him, is a professor of geography and physiology at UCLA and author of the eye-opening book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.

So how right-on was Diamond’s outlook a full five years ago? Check out this quote:

“…If you have faith as small as a mustard seed”

Max Lindberg — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 10:31:59 +0000

You may recognize that quote from the bible as Jesus tells those of little faith they can “Say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there and it will move.’ ”

It’s kind of ironic that officials in California are placing their faith in mustard seed as a home-grown feedstock for biodiesel fuel, to move their busses from “here to there.”

Monterey-Salinas Transit has proposed producing its own sustainable biodiesel fuel for its fleet operations, planting the seed as a cover crop during the Salinas Valley agriculture industry’s off-season. The beauty, they say, is that the it will not replace food crops normally grown in the area.

Once the seeds are harvested, they’ll be pressed into raw oil, which will then be refined into biofuel. The transit company says it will use the industry standard of 80 percent fossil fuel and 20 percent biodiesel to power its busses.

Testing will begin next week with the planting of two varieties of mustard seed on 30 acres of land owned by San Bernabe Vineyards in South Monterey County. After harvesting, scientists will determine which variety will be the best for biofuel production.

Watsonville-based Energy Alternative Solutions, Inc. has partnered with the transit company to convert the crop into fuel, keeping the entire process in the local area.

Image source:

Article Source