Solutions – Chris Agnos https://chrisagnos.com Social Engineer & Storyteller Tue, 09 Jul 2019 01:03:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.1.18 Year Zero: The Year When Wild Animals Are Gone https://chrisagnos.com/year-zero-the-year-when-wild-animals-are-gone/ Thu, 08 Nov 2018 22:56:11 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14546 Wild animals may have less than a decade left to live, unless we act.

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My name is Sailesh Rao and I am one of the original engineers of the Internet.

In 2014, researchers at the World Wildlife Fund released a report saying that between 1970 and 2010, in just 40 years, the population of wild vertebrates decreased by 52%.Then two years later, they released a second report saying that between 1970 and 2012, the population of wild vertebrates decreased by 58%. From these two data points, you can perform a simple math calculation to tell you that at the current rate of decline, 100% of wild vertebrates will be gone by 2026.

This is year zero. The year when all wild animals are gone.

It turns out that animal agriculture is not only the number one source of carbon emissions, it is also the number one source of land use on the planet. All over the world, humans are destroying original forests to make room for grazing animals or to grow crops for feeding animals. And then humans are using sophisticated geo-locating technology to locate the last remaining schools of fish And finally we are pouring all these toxins into the environment which kills the insects which kills the birds who eat those insects. So we are attacking wild animals in the ocean, on land, and in the air. And this leaves wild animals no room to survive.

We did some calculations. We took all the land that is currently being used for animal agriculture and restored the native forests that were there on that land in 1800, and in turns out not only that you could sequester more carbon than we have added to the atmosphere since 1750 but you also restore the natural habitat for wild animals to live. It’s their world, too.

So this is entirely possible. We can bring back the forests and we can heal the climate, and in the process ensure that Year Zero never becomes a reality.

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]]> How Devils Heal Forests https://chrisagnos.com/how-devils-heal-forests/ Wed, 20 Jun 2018 18:56:29 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14523 You may know how wolves change rivers and how whales change climate. Now discover how devils heal forests.

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One of the most exciting scientific findings of the past half century has been the discovery of widespread trophic cascades. A trophic cascade is an ecological process which starts at the top of the food chain and tumbles all the way down to the bottom.

Many of us would likely be astonished to learn that Tasmanian devils were never unique to Australia’s island state of Tasmania as they are today – but rather evolved over millions of years on mainland Australia, where they played a vital role as a keystone species that helped maintain the health of entire forest ecosystems.

Prior to European arrival, Australia’s ecosystem evolved in near isolation from the rest of the world for over 40 million years, forming deep, complex interrelationships that helped maintain ecosystem resiliance. However, foxes and cats introduced in the first hundred years of British arrival, quickly ate their way across the continent, growing in numbers, fuelled by a vast European rabbit population which had been destroying the vegetation undergrowth that was essential to providing shelter to small mammals like bandicoots, bettongs, and potoroos.

It turns out that these small mammals are essential to maintaining the health and resilience of entire forest ecosystems. As these animals forage for food, they dig the ground, mixing organic matter into the soil, spreading fungi and seed. The burying of leaf litter reduces fuel loads, creating conditions for cooler, less destructive bushfires.

Larger mammals, like the wallabies and kangaroos, while often spared from the jaws of cats and foxes, became overabundant and in the absence of native predators, further added to the loss of vegetation cover.

In studying Tasmanian ecosystems, we have learned that the very presence of Tasmanian devils change the behaviour of the other animals in the ecosystem. Cats tend to avoid areas with healthy populations of devils, which allow small native mammals to survive in the landscape and perform their role as ecosystem engineers. By reintroducing devils, animals like wallabies and possums, might recognise the Tasmanian devil as a species to avoid, helping to reduce grazing pressure on ground cover by pushing possums back into the trees and some of the wallaby species deeper into the forests.

As ground vegetation is restored and cats find it more difficult to function, opportunities for small mammals to find a place to live and hide from predators will increase. While not yet tested, modelling suggests the effect of devils on foxes may be similar to those on cats.

The bandicoots, bettongs, and potoroos will return to the forest floor, helping the forests to regenerate and helping mitigate the impact of devastating bushfires. With cooler bushfires, pockets of habitat might remain unburnt, providing further safe havens for wildlife and increasing ecosystem resilience to future threats. By returning the Tasmanian devil, we may be able to help heal the forests.

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]]> Is Humanity A Cancer On The Planet? https://chrisagnos.com/is-humanity-a-cancer-on-the-planet/ Wed, 20 Jun 2018 17:50:07 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14514 Some say that we are nothing more than a cancer on the planet. But is this really true?

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Is humanity nothing more than a cancer on the planet, consuming its host until it is gone, guaranteeing its own destruction in the process? A quick glance at the effects of our behavior might lead us to say yes.

But looks can be deceiving. Nature shows us that what is destructive on one level can also be part of a larger process of change that creates new forms of value at another level.

Consider the Indian elephant.

At first glance, the elephant appears to be destructive as she tramples through the forest, breaking limbs from trees, eating all the jackfruit, and littering the landscape with huge piles of poop.

But when we look closer, we see that the trampling provides pathways for the other animals in the forest. The breaking of tree branches allows the sun’s rays to reach the forest floor, enabling plants to grow in the understory. And elephant poop contains jackfruit seeds buried in fertile manure, which propagates the jackfruit tree.

Like the elephant, could it be that some of humanity’s destructive behavior might actually have some positive unintended consequences?

As we look back at Earth’s story, we learn that its climate has been vastly different throughout its history. When dinosaurs roamed the land, Earth was void of ice. The sea level was hundreds of meters higher and the temperature 10 degrees warmer than it is today.

Modern science has learned that there is a direct relationship between the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the Earth’s temperature. Greenhouse gases are like a blanket around the Earth, absorbing just the right amount of heat from the sun to make life possible. The higher the concentration, the warmer the temperature.

In Earth’s more recent history, it has endured a series of long ice ages. During each ice age, life struggles to survive. Imagine a 1 mile thick sheet of ice on top of Chicago. All the forests die. Most of the life in the forests die as very little can survive in these extreme conditions.

Every hundred millennia, a slight change in the Earth’s tilt allows the planet to absorb just enough additional heat to thaw some of the ice. Life expands for a few thousand years during this interglacial period before retreating again as the Earth tilts back and falls into another ice age.

Enter human beings. From the Earth’s perspective, humans are new to the scene – we’ve been here for a blink of an eye. But we’ve been busy.

As the Earth entered its most recent interglacial period, humans began deforesting the Earth to fuel their nascent civilizations. It is calculated that more greenhouse gases were released into the atmosphere through deforestation than all the gases emitted from the burning of fossil fuels. Humans, unknowingly to them, warmed the Earth, delaying the onset of the next ice age.

It turns out there is a “safe zone” when it comes to greenhouse gas concentrations that keeps Earth at just the right temperature for life as we know it to thrive. Any less and we freeze, any more and we fry.

In the last few decades, we have blown past this safe zone way too fast for life today to adjust as we continue to destroy the forests for animal agriculture and find destructive new ways of extracting fossil fuels, adding ever more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. While our actions have had devastating impacts to many species on the planet, they have also enabled humans to develop the technology necessary to monitor Earth’s composition.

Like the part of the brain that helps stabilize and regulate our body’s temperature, humans now have the ability help Earth regulate its temperature. We have already been doing it unconsciously for thousands of years. Now it is time we become conscious of our role on the planet as the thermostat species.

When we choose to stop eating animals, the land used for raising those animals can be restored to forests, and those forests can sequester all of the greenhouse gases we’ve emitted during the fossil fuel age, bringing us back within the safe zone where life as we know it can thrive.

Unlike the forest elephant, this requires that humanity undergo a metamorphosis from a ego-centric, consumer culture to an eco-centric, life-enriching culture. Again, Nature shows us how this is done.

A caterpillar spends his entire life from the moment he is born eating. He eats the nutritious shell he was born out of. Then he eats the leaf the egg was clinging to. The caterpillar continues eating all the leaves he encounters. Once fully satiated, the caterpillar attaches to the underside of a twig and begins growing a cocoon.

New imaginal cells are born. At first, the imaginal cells are attacked by the caterpillar’s immune system. But soon, they multiply and the immune system gives up. What was once a caterpillar is now a messy glob of imaginal goo.

Soon, out of the cocoon emerges a beautiful butterfly. The butterfly is a very light consumer. As she sips the nectar, she pollinates the flowers helping to regenerate life, nurturing life instead of destroying it.

The time has come for humanity to undergo its metamorphosis. Our imaginal cells are awakening. We have a unique opportunity in this pivotal time in history to realize our full potential by considering ourselves stewards of life, applying the lessons we’ve learned to nurture the conditions for life to thrive for all of Earth’s remaining years.

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]]> Reclaiming The Street https://chrisagnos.com/reclaiming-the-street/ Wed, 27 Sep 2017 18:29:23 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14209 The streets are our modern day commons. It is the place where we connect, play, and engage with each other to create a more sustainable world.

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“Reclaiming The Street” is a music video that encourages us to grow community by engaging with each other in the common areas known as the streets. As society grows more isolated and individuals more lonely, we must take it upon ourselves to see that our happiness comes from meaningful engagement with other people. Reclaiming the street offers us a solution to the Age Of Loneliness that we find ourselves in today.

Read “The Age Of Loneliness” (https://www.theguardian.com/commentis…)

Credits:

Music by: Ewan McLellan (www.ewanmclennan.co.uk)

Lyrics by: George Monbiot (http://www.monbiot.com/) and Ewan McLellan (www.ewanmclennan.co.uk)

Video Editing by Chris and Dawn Agnos (http://chrisagnos.com/)

Broll Sources:

YouTube Videos:

Horde of Deer Occupying the Road at Nara (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDhDI…)

Must Visit Deer Park in Japan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqGUE…)

The EcoMobility World Festival 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Duo99…)

The Streets of Suwon – EcoMobility World Festival (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05aiI…)

African Street-Style Festival 2014 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRoQM…)

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRPP…)

Special thanks to Peter Lefort of The Big Lunch Project (https://www.edenprojectcommunities.co…)

Hackney Play Streets (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbBOq…)

Select clips licensed from Getty Images and Pond5.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.

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]]> The Purpose Of Nonviolent Communication https://chrisagnos.com/the-purpose-of-nonviolent-communication/ Wed, 28 Jun 2017 21:32:57 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14134 "At the core of all anger is a need that is not being fulfilled." - Marshall Rosenberg

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The purpose of nonviolent communication is to help you to do what you already know how to do, to connect in a way that makes natural giving possible.

You all know that giving. You know how to do it by remembering to stay with that quality of giving moment by moment in any connection. But we also all know that it’s easy to lose it. It’s easy to lose that connection. So that instead of enjoying that quality of giving, which is possible every moment in every contact we have – in spite of how precious that is, we forget.

And instead of playing the game which I call, “Making Life Wonderful,” much of the time we play another game called “Who’s right?” Have you ever played that game? It’s a game where everybody loses. Isn’t this amazing? We all know about this quality of giving. Its possible every moment. We find that the richest thing to do, and much of our life we end up playing “Who’s Right?”

Now the game of, “Who’s right” involves two of the most devious things human beings have ever come upon. One punishment. See, because if you’re wrong in the game of “Who’s right?”, then you deserve to suffer. No more punishment. You won’t do it in your families. We’ll get rid of it with criminals. It just makes things more violent. We’ll find other ways to deal with other nations besides punishment. No more punishment.

No more reward. It’s the same game. It’s part of the game of “Who’s Right? If you’re right, then you get rewarded. If you’re wrong, you get punished. No more. No more. It’s created enough violence on the planet.

We’ve been educated for quite a while to make violence enjoyable. And educated in a way we can even be violent to our children? Watch a parent try to bring about change in the child.

“Say you’re sorry!”
“I’m sorry”
“You’re not really sorry. I can see it.”
“I’m sorrrrrrrry!”
“Ok, I forgive you.”

Can you imagine a game like that? Can you imagine a parent responding to a child that way? And if a parent is going to do that to a child in their own family, what are they going to do to people from other cultures who behave in a way they don’t appreciate?

So of course you are going to have violence wherever you have this kind of thinking – learning how to go up to our head in think in terms of who is right, wrong, good and bad, normal, abnormal. In cultures that do not have this thinking, you do not see violence.

You see, natural giving, anything we do in life that isn’t coming out of that energy, we pay for it and everybody else pays for it. Anything we do out of fear of punishment if we don’t, everybody pays for it. Anything we do for a reward, everybody pays for it. Everything we do to make people like us, everybody pays for it. Everything we do out of guilt, shame, duty, obligation, everybody pays for it.

That isn’t what we were designed for. We were designed to enjoy giving – to give from the heart.

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]]> How Gifts Create Community https://chrisagnos.com/how-gifts-create-community/ Mon, 26 Jun 2017 22:01:10 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14140 As social beings, we all have a natural desire for being a part of a community. But the more we exchange with each other for money, the less community we really have. Gifts are the pathway towards a connected life, as Neil shows us in this video.

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Support the creation of more videos like this: https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman

This video was created as a gift to humanity by Chris and Dawn Agnos

Sign up to watch more videos created by us: http://sustainablehuman.com/videos/

Official Landing Page: http://sustainablehuman.tv/remix/gifts-create-real-community/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SustainableMan/

You are welcome to download, repost, and share any video on this channel freely on your website or in your presentations as long as you link back to the official landing page (or to our Facebook page if uploading the video to Facebook).

All videos on this channel are offered as a gift to humanity with the sole intention of telling new stories that encourage behaviors that promote a more sustainable way of life. Find out how you can help change the story by visiting http://sustainablehuman.tv/.

Producer: Chris and Dawn Agnos

Support Chris and Dawn: https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman

As social beings, we all have a natural desire for being a part of a community. But the more we exchange with each other for money, the less community we really have. Gifts are the pathway towards a connected life, as Neil shows us in this video.

 

CREDITS:

Music Credits:

 

All rights to music purchased from PremiumBeat.com

“No Survivors” (https://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/no-survivors)

“Humanity” (https://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/humanity)

“Sunset Hues” (https://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/sunset-hues)

 

Video sources:

 

Credits:

Audio borrowed from a TEDx with Nipun Mehta called “Designing For Generosity”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpyc84kamhw

 

B-roll borrowed from:

Pond5

Car Wash Fun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ckic1nEaM)

Food is Free Project Plants a Community Garden in the Street (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQNNFHjvdzY)

“Secret Santa” passes random kindness to strangers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pmTUCCsFzI)

St. Paul Lutheran Church – Car Wash 2016 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOxuZ7ZzWZU)

 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.

 

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]]> The Solar Revolution https://chrisagnos.com/the-solar-revolution/ Sun, 25 Jun 2017 21:54:05 +0000 http://chrisagnos.com/?p=14138 Join The Solar Revolution!

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Join the Solar Revolution!

 

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]]> Earth Democracy https://chrisagnos.com/earth-democracy/ https://chrisagnos.com/earth-democracy/#respond Thu, 02 May 2013 06:57:37 +0000 http://chrisagnos.wpengine.com/earth-democracy-2/ Vandana Shiva explains a deeper form of democracy than what we have today. She calls it “Earth Democracy.”

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In “Earth Democracy”, Vandana Shiva explains a deeper form of democracy than what we have today. She calls it “Earth Democracy.”

Participate in helping humanity change the story of the world: http://sustainablehuman.me/

For any concerns or questions, you may contact us at http://sustainablehuman.me/contact

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.

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]]> https://chrisagnos.com/earth-democracy/feed/ 0 This Is Power To The People https://chrisagnos.com/this-is-power-to-the-people/ Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:02:10 +0000 http://chrisagnos.wpengine.com/this-is-power-to-the-people/ How hierarchical structures of corporations and governments are being undermined by everyday people producing and sharing their own energy

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Support the creation of more videos like this: https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman

This video was created as a gift to humanity by Chris and Dawn Agnos

Sign up to watch more videos created by us: http://sustainablehuman.com/videos/

Official Landing Page: http://sustainablehuman.tv/remix/this-is-power-to-the-people
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SustainableMan/

You are welcome to download, repost, and share any video on this channel freely on your website or in your presentations as long as you link back to the official landing page (or to our Facebook page if uploading the video to Facebook).

All videos on this channel are offered as a gift to humanity with the sole intention of telling new stories that encourage behaviors that promote a more sustainable way of life. Find out how you can help change the story by visiting http://sustainablehuman.tv/.

Our videos are created by a team of people who volunteer their services in the gift. Here is how you can support them individually:

Producer: Chris and Dawn Agnos
Support Chris: https://www.patreon.com/chrisanddawnagnos

“Power to the People” tells the story of how the hierarchical structures of corporations and governments are being undermined by everyday people producing their own renewable energy and sharing it with each other. Could the result be a more sustainable world?

CREDITS:

CLIPS:
HOME (youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU)
The Revolution Is Love (youtube.com/watch?v=BRtc-k6dhgs)
Mike Myers Visits Occupy Wall Street (youtube.com/watch?v=ZGfUn7EZ69w)
EARTH-One video you NEED to see (youtube.com/watch?v=thuViaxRd_w)
KONY 2012 (youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc)
BARAKA (spiritofbaraka.com/baraka)
Sacred Economics (youtube.com/watch?v=EEZkQv25uEs)
TEAM BeauSoleil Takes First for Market Viability (youtube.com/watch?v=twvYpBbJbCg)
The Venus Project: Paradise or Oblivion (youtube.com/watch?v=KphWsnhZ4Ag)
AREVA Energy Storage & Distribution Technology (youtube.com/watch?v=6rxTDS0Wl04)
Cisco Smart Grid (youtube.com/watch?v=yGk13U_kgGM)
Double Tap demo (youtube.com/watch?v=wxniuiKrnFM)
Spring Is Here for OWS (youtube.com/watch?v=s78RiYt0Lgk)
Jeremy Rifkin Speaks Out on behalf of the 99% youtube.com/watch?v=g5VA1g6yFS8

MUSIC:
“Paradise” and “Paradise Instrumental” by Coldplay (youtube.com/watch?v=J6ZWlDks0nQ)

For any concerns or questions, you may contact us at http://sustainablehuman.me/contact

FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the US Copyright Law.

Help us caption & translate this video!
http://amara.org/v/CTnM/

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