The New Green Republic


Book Description

The New Green Republic explores the shape of building an ecological civilization. The New Green Republic examines a successful response to the self-destructive excesses of industrial civilization. It presents the development of a global ecological civilization as a healing response on a global scale for the successful pursuit of ecological ends. This is a social order where economic growth means ecological improvement and the regeneration of natural capital. Ecological economic growth rests on the pursuit of sustainability aimed at a global convergence on sustainability and prosperity for all. It means trillions dollars of in investments in a sustainable future. The New Green Republic examines crucial political, economic, technical, philosophical dynamics of an ecological civilization, a civilization we must build as we travel from industrial business as usual to a sustainable prosperity. The New Green Republic considers the nature and basis of such a system where the pursuit of social and ecological justice is integral to its success, and where fiduciary responsibility means both the regeneration of natural capital and the growth of finance capital. The New Green Republic will examine valuing and monetizing sustainability for its essential worth and prod for ecological economic growth. Sustainability Credits (SCs) will be created by the displacement by renewables of one metric ton of carbon dioxide emissions valued by the National Academy of Sciences at $100. SCs will be monetized on the books of investment banks as paid in capital and as cash. We will see how SCs can generate the $50 trillion estimated by Morgan Chace needed to finance investment in global renewable energy transformation from 2020 to 2050. The New Green Republic recognizes that sustainability as self-conscious human intention is now part of the fundamental co-evolutionary dynamic of sustainability. Sustainability in action means life in response to all influences evolves to help maintain the biosphere as maximally suitable for all life. This is a virtuous circle of coevolutionary call and response. As the ecosphere changes, life changes, and on and on. This basic dynamic has enabled life to survive periodic mass extinction and once again thrive. A Green Republic rests on three key pillars. First, sustainable global economic growth as the regeneration of natural capital along with the growth of finance capital. Second, the pursuit of social and ecological justice that includes global technology and capital transfer from rich to poor for investment in the renewable energy and sustainability infrastructure. Third, the continued and successful transformation of a global war system to a peace system supported by the global pursuit of social and ecological justice and a global ecological growth strategy. History and future prospects did not end with the triumph of liberal corporate capitalism over Soviet communism. The challenge of the 21st century and beyond is building a global ecological civilization from industrial business as usual. A Green Republic is a venue for such grand transformation. The book is intended to inspire discussion and action.




The Green Republic


Book Description

With over 25 percent of its land set aside in national parks and other protected areas, Costa Rica is renowned worldwide as "the green republic." In this very readable history of conservation in Costa Rica, Sterling Evans explores the establishment of the country's national park system as a response to the rapid destruction of its tropical ecosystems due to the expansion of export-related agriculture. Drawing on interviews with key players in the conservation movement, as well as archival research, Evans traces the emergence of a conservation ethic among Costa Ricans and the tangible forms it has taken. In Part I, he describes the development of the national park system and "the grand contradiction" that conservation occurred simultaneously with massive deforestation in unprotected areas. In Part II, he examines other aspects of Costa Rica's conservation experience, including the important roles played by environmental education and nongovernmental organizations, campesino and indigenous movements, ecotourism, and the work of the National Biodiversity Institute.




The Republic of Nature


Book Description

In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light. Among the historical moments revisited here, a revolutionary nation arises from its environment and struggles to reconcile the diversity of its people with the claim that nature is the source of liberty. Abraham Lincoln, an unlettered citizen from the countryside, steers the Union through a moment of extreme peril, guided by his clear-eyed vision of nature's capacity for improvement. In Topeka, Kansas, transformations of land and life prompt a lawsuit that culminates in the momentous civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education. By focusing on materials and processes intrinsic to all things and by highlighting the nature of the United States, Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded. In these pages, the nation's birth and development, pain and sorrow, ideals and enduring promise come to life as never before, making a once-familiar past seem new. The Republic of Nature points to a startlingly different version of history that calls on readers to reconnect with fundamental forces that shaped the American experience. For more information, visit the author's website: http://republicofnature.com/




The Left's Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic


Book Description

Words matter! Words are the primary way we describe our world. Words persuade and inspire. They can also manipulate thinking. The radical Left corrupts words so people believe something other than their true intent. The simple corruption of two words allows them to paint their movement "green" to cover a "red" socialist core. The reference to a "Little Red Book" alludes to Chairman Mao's book of quotations; words proclaiming "truth", but used to impose political domination. By setting out the actual words of the radical Left, i.e. hatred of capitalism, truth is not relevant and humans must go, The Left's Little Red Book on Forming a New Green Republic, equips the reader with skills to challenge lies that sound truthful and evaluate solutions that might benefit society. William L. Kovacs, author of Reform the Kakistocracy: Rule by the Least Able or Least Principled Citizens; contributor to The Libertarian Republic, The Hill and ReformTheKakistocracy.com Mr. Kovacs has been involved in the nation's policy-making process for forty years. As a senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, he testified before Congress forty times, and participated in several hundred federal rulemakings. Prior to his Chamber service, he was a chief counsel on Capitol Hill, chairman of a Virginia state environmental Board and partner in Washington, DC law firms.




Reform the Kakistocracy


Book Description

Kakistocracy, a term that describes what our government has become, a government controlled by "leaders" who are the least able or least principled citizens. These leaders are labeled "kakistocrats." In Reform the Kakistocracy, Kovacs describes how the kakistocracy transformed our federal government from one of limited powers to one of immense power without any constitutional changes. This decades-long transformation revised the functions and powers of Congress, the executive, and the courts. These revisions change how each branch of government fulfills its institutional role as a check on the powers of the other branches. They also fundamentally affect the relationship of citizens to their government. The result of the transformation is decades of policy failures, harmful wealth inequality, a health care system costing two times more than in other industrialized nations, and the imposition of such massive amounts of debt that citizens will eventually live in involuntary servitude to the federal government. As part of the discussion, Kovacs takes on the real - world conflict faced by the kakistocrats - who should be the beneficiary of their loyalty? Of course, it is the Constitution but what does that mean when applied to day-to-day decisions? Kakistocrats deal with laws and regulations, sometimes very vague, deal-making, favors, supporters, opponents, citizens, political parties, interest groups, contributors and other branches of government. How does a kakistocrat balance all these competing factors to be faithful to the Constitution? Unlike many books on government reform, Reform the Kakistocracy does not let the reader dangle with fuzzy answers. It presents a clear, thought-provoking, roadmap of governance principles and proposals for restructuring the kakistocracy to achieve a sustainable government that can be managed by citizens. Some may call the roadmap controversial, aggressive, naive or completely unworkable in this political climate, but the roadmap puts serious, creative, ideas into the marketplace for discussion.




The Green Republic


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The New Republic


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Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic


Book Description

Over the course of his long and controversial career, Joschka Fischer evolved from an archetypal 1960s radical--a firebrand street activist--into a shrewd political insider, operating at the heights of German politics. In the 1980s he was one of the first elected Greens and went on to become Germany's foreign minister from 1998 to 2005. His famous challenge to Donald Rumsfeld's case for invading Iraq--"Excuse me, I am not convinced"--won him worldwide recognition, and the Bush administration's contempt.Here is both a lively biography of Joschka Fischer and a gripping history 'from below'of postwar Germany. Paul Hockenos begins in the ruins of postwar Germany and guides us through the flashpoints of the late sixties and seventies, from the student protests and the terrorism of the Baader-Meinhof group to the evolution of Europe's premier Green party, and brings us up to the present in the united Germany. He shows how the grassroots movements that became the German Greens challenged and changed the republic's status quo, making postwar Germany more democratic, liberal and worldly along the way. Despite the ideological twists and turns of Fischer and his peers, the lessons of the Holocaust and the Nazi terror remained their constant coordinates. Hockenos traces that political journey, providing readers with unique insight into the impact that these movements and the Greens have had on Germany.Informed by hundreds of interviews with key figures and fellow travelers, Joschka Fischer and the Making of the Berlin Republic presents readers with one of the most intriguing personalities on the European scene, and paints a rich picture of the rebellious generation of 1968 that became the political elite of modern Germany.







Ireland in the New Century


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