Saturday 13 February 2010

Sat 13 Feb – Little Atoms Podcast – Whole Earth Discipline.

Just listened to the Little Atoms Podcast for the first time. This one was excellent featuring an interview with Stewart Brand author of the book Whole Earth Discipline where he advocates that “Greens” need to reassess their views regarding Nuclear Power and Genetically Modified crops. I found the interview fascinating reflecting as it does my own similar views on these two subjects. Just been on to Amazon to see about buying a copy.

A brief synopsis of the book follows:

'Being Green' is no longer enough. "Whole Earth Discipline" is Stewart Brand's wake up call for the environmental movement, and his message is hard-hitting: unless environmentalists keep up with new science, they will become part of the problem. It is an exhilarating piece of writing and bang-on zeitgeist. Three profound transformations are underway on Earth: climate change, urbanization and biotechnology. In response to these seismic changes - and challenges - Steward Brand argues that the environmental movement must reverse some long-held opinions, and embrace tools and disciplines that it has traditionally distrusted - such as science and engineering - in order to forestall the cataclysmic deterioration of the earth's resources. "Whole Earth Discipline" shatters a number of environmental myths, and presents radical, counterintuitive observations - cities are actually greener than the countryside, nuclear power is the future of energy, and genetic engineering is the key to crop and land management. With a combination of scientific rigor and blazing advocacy, Brand shows us exactly where the sources of our dilemmas lie and offers a bold and creative set of policies and solutions for producing a more sustainable society.

I’ve known about Little atoms for sometime but until now haven’t actually listened to any episodes, I’m already overloaded with a huge backlog of podcasts is my excuse. It appears that Rebecca Watson, of Skeptics Guide to the Universe, is now a co-presenter since she relocated to the UK to live with her new hubby. RW’s consistantly funny on the SGTU  and hopefully will be on LA’s. Anyway it’s now on my must download list.

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