The Homunculus in the Room

 

A Drawing of the Homunculus.

There have been times, in human history, where we’ve gotten a few things wrong.  The theory about the sun revolving around the Earth, for instance.  Or how about the one where dinosaurs lived among early humans (ok some people still believe that… check out your nearest creationist museum for evidence).  In the 1900’s, Phrenologists were convinced that you could learn someone’s personality traits by “reading” the bumps on their head.  And in medieval times people thought frogs were born from mud.  We may look back and conclude that these stabs at scientific truth reflect somewhat poorly on our collective intelligence, but back in the day, that stuff was as true as it could get!

My favorite example of ‘theories of yore’ gone sour is that of The Homunculus. Aside from being delightful to pronounce, the Homunculus Theory has an interesting take on human reproduction, circa the 17th century.  It arose after scientists began using microscopes to look at, well, lots of things, and they discovered little “animals” (which they named Animalcules) swimming around in semen.

“[Homunculists] held the belief that the sperm was in fact a “little man” (homunculus) that was placed inside a woman for growth into a child. This seemed to them to neatly explain many of the mysteries of conception. It was later pointed out that if the sperm was a homunculus, identical in all but size to an adult, then the homunculus may have sperm of its own.  This led to the belief that all beings on earth contained all the future progeny of the planet within them, just getting tinier and tinier, much like Russian dolls.” -Wikipedia

While the Homunculus had a good run, it just couldn’t last in the scientific discourse because better and more appropriate theories surfaced that more accurately explained conception.

I think carbon capping is our modern-day homunculus.

from inside the tank

Many of my housemates have noticed that I haven’t been around much this summer. This is a correct observation. “Where have you been?” they ask. “Working for a think tank”, I’ll say, as I slump through the kitchen at the tipping point of exhaustion, clutching my ever-flashing blackberry and mumbling about carbon pricing.

Many of my friends have supposed, and rightly so, that perhaps what I do every day is to attach my brain to a series of electrodes, and lower myself into a Vaseline-filled sensory deprivation chamber, and foretell future murders for Tom Cruise. They’re close. This article will give you (and them) all the answers you’ve been hungering for:

http://www.jumpintotomorrow.com/template/index.php?tech=134&category=15

Jack Black: Clean Energy Hero

“No more pollution…or ocean dumpage. FROM NOW ON WE WILL TRAVEL IN TUBES” -Jack Black

Jack Black, the modern-day musical genius, once said in response to criticism of his music, “I’m tired of all this nay-saying! Why don’t YOU create something!?” This mantra could be perfectly applied to the global energy economy.

Why aren’t we going full force to create some awesome, renewable, scalable solutions rather than blaming democrats for high gas prices, calling for more offshore oil drilling (hello!?), or whining about our ever-increasing emissions? It seems like we’re spending more time naysaying than pioneering the energy solutions we need to solve the energy/climate crisis.

Thankfully there is a growing light at the end of the oil-economy tunnel – and I needn’t look further than an article by Andrew Leonard in this week’s Salon to see it.

Ode to Urban Ore

Imagine a gigantic Ikea, 3 acres in size, except everything inside has been diverted from a landfill.  Down one aisle, hundreds of solid wood doors; down another aisle, porcelain toilet bowls.  Deep bins filled with forks of every size, bowls and kitchenware from the 1950’s to the 1990’s, light fixtures of every description hanging from the ceilings, walls of stereo equipment and more stuffed arm chairs than you can count.  It’s all quality, it’s all dirt cheap, and it all would have been sitting in a landfill if it wasn’t for Urban Ore, a for-profit “eco park” in Berkeley, CA.  Items are dumpster dived, donated via community drop-offs, or salvaged from dumps – underappreciated products with a much richer life to live. 

Save the Polar Bear Costume for the Afterparty

Someday in the distant future, I’ll sit with my young granddaughter and show her pictures from the early climate change movement.

“Who are those weirdos, Grandma?” she’ll ask, referring to photos of polar bears in handcuffs.
“Oh, those were ‘the environmentalists,’” I’ll reply. “They used to think that it was a very good idea to dress up in ridiculous costumes, and try to scare people. They thought it would make people believe in climate change.”
“Why did they think that was a good idea?” she’ll ask innocently, “When they look like such freakin’ idiots?”
“Watch your mouth.” I’ll say. “We didn’t raise you to talk like that. But honey, I think they just decided it was fun, and didn’t care about the negative effect it had on the other 99.5% of the population. Which ironically, were the very people they were trying to get on their side.”
“That’s stupid,” she’ll say. “I want a popsicle.”

I struggle to understand the attraction that street theater, as an organizing strategy, has for some environmentalists. And for clarity, I define street theater in the environmental organizing context to include any form of direct action protest that involves costumes and props; giant walking globes, crying human polar bears, hippies on stilts, etc.

Sure, it’s really fun to dress up in costumes. Lord knows I relish Halloween critical mass in SF, or the chance for an 80’s hairspray spandex party with friends. But I don’t pretend to believe that wearing crazy costumes will help me convince anyone of anything, especially something so critical and polarizing as climate change.

Follow the Carbon Leader

Did you hear that one about the Jesus cult drinking the kool-aid?  Or those little Scandinavian hamsters that launch themselves off cliffs en masse?  Psychologists aptly describe the social phenomenon of, well, stupid collective decisions, as “the Principle of Social Proof”.  PSP basically asserts that, in the absence of certainty, we look to others for correct behavior – this is especially relevant in groups.  So in the case of the lemming, every little rodent assumes their neighbor knows what’s going on, until… Splat!  It seems silly, but humans, and even environmentalists (who are categorically different than humans, clearly), are guilty of the same mind-numbing behavior.

Take carbon cap-and-trade and outright carbon regulations, for instance. 

Breakthrough: From the Death of Criticism to Practicing Possibility

Break Through the book was known for its visionary politics of possibility – for advocating a new social contract that focused on unleashing human potential to solve our pressing issues, rather than curtailing our activity and deriding our existence through a politics of limits. Break Through broke the mold by saying it wasn’t the issues that defined progressive and environmental politics, but rather the way we approached solving them. It was our worldview, our paradigm, our language and our attitudes that determined whether or not people joined us, and adopting a powerful narrative of possibility was our best strategy for galvanizing people around solving our most pressing concerns.

Lately, however, the Breakthrough blog is feeling a little less visionary, and a little more “limited”. Limited to (or at least dominated by) negative critiques of other policy standpoints and thinkers, rather than boldly articulating a clear, pro-active view of its own.

Here Comes the Chinese Monster

China is growing faster than Robin Williams in that movie Jack, but U.S. environmental policy makers don’t seem to get it.  At least, they don’t seem ready to admit that China’s carbon-intensive growth is inevitable, and requires headier climate policy solutions than blindly hoping China signs onto a new Kyoto.  Rather than debate what to do given the Chinese energy explosion we’re seeing, many environmentalists are still stuck on whether to try to stop China from developing at it’s breakneck dirty pace, or to give in and try to help them develop cleanly.  It’s seems that they’re likening the situation to swimming against the current, or swimming with it.  Except with China, the “current” of rising energy demand is more like a gigantic roaring unstoppable tsunami, or maybe an asteroid hitting the earth.  Just kidding.  But it’s not going to be turning around any time soon.

Modernized and Ready for Climate Action

In case you didn’t read it on your iPhone, Google it on your 2.5 pound laptop, or Tivo it on your 19-inch plasma TV / DVD combo (which you bought for $349.99 with your sizable disposable income) – we live in a modern age. There are more white collar jobs in the U.S. than blue collar, median income has increased steadily over the last century, and multiple homes, cars, boats and gadgetry (once reserved for the super elite) have become a common part of middle class Americana. Modernization – the process of building a wealthy, intellectually advanced, democratic society – has given us the freedom to pursue self-actualization, a college education, even freaking laser eye surgery! Our standard of living has never been higher, the population never more educated, our emotional and material security never more sure. Until gas prices started reaching $4 per gallon earlier this year.

Starting the RachelBarge.com Empire

It’s about time I got my Rachel Barge pyramid scheme integrated with Web 2.0, so here we go… more interesting posts to come