Tim Toben

Tim Toben takes consumerism and GDP to the woodshed:

On the current economic roadmap, all growth is good. An industry that pollutes the air, water or soil or extracts minerals from an indigenous community without adequately compensating it is as prized as a non-polluting industry that builds community or restores ecosystems.

Most threatening of all, the material throughput of the economic system is breaching the boundaries of the biosphere. A condition known as "ecological overshoot" exists, whereby the global economy is now using up more than 1.4 times the Earth's capacity to regenerate the natural capital upon which the system and all life depends.

For those unfamiliar with Toben, he’s a green entrepreneur living on Chapel Hill, with a lot on his plate. Chosen by Governor Perdue to lead the North Carolina Energy Policy Council, Toben puts his money and his energy where his values are, and thank goodness for that. If there ever was a time when smart, committed people are needed in the environmental policy arena, this is it. I had the chance to catch up with Toben last week to get his thoughts about how things are going.

I guess the United States isn't the only country where the government tries to tell scientists what their data actually says or should say. According to articles out in news media around the world, China, Saudi Arabia and other countries have joined the United States in requesting/requiring that scientists tone down the dire warnings contained in reports on Global Warming.

From the LA Times:

A new global warming report issued Friday by the United Nations paints a near-apocalyptic vision of Earth's future: hundreds of millions of people short of water, extreme food shortages in Africa, a landscape ravaged by floods and millions of species sentenced to extinction.

Despite its harsh vision, the report was quickly criticized by some scientists who said its findings were watered down at the last minute by governments seeking to deflect calls for action.

More below the fold...

And good morning everyone! Please join me in welcoming my friend Tim Toben to BlueNC today. If you want an on-the-ground, behind-the-scenes view of environmental issues here in North Carolina, this is the place to be.

Tim should be online for an hour or so, starting around 8.

Don't forget to join us tomorrow morning for a lively discussion with Tim Toben, a good friend and one of North Carolina's most dedicated environmentalists. He'll be on no later than 8 am for sure, maybe earlier, and will stick around for a half hour.

If you're at all interested in green building, North Carolina energy policy, the Edwards' positions on energy and climate change, co-op gardens, conservation, and "acting locally," then this discussion is for you.

You can find out more about Tim, here, and you can include your questions below to get the ball rolling.

I've been lucky enough to know Tim Toben for many, many years. He's a dedicated environmentalist, a community visionary, and very good friend. He's also going to be live-blogging with us this Friday. Hope you can come.

The best way to understand Tim is to follow a few links. For example, this interview in Treehugger does a great job describing his environmental work here in Orange County. Tim is the brains behind Greenbridge, a very cool green mixed-use development recently approved in downtown Chapel Hill.

You'll also be interested to know that he's pretty heavily involved in this campaign.

What else can I say? Tim started his own company way-back-when, established a bio-diesel operation on his land west of Carrboro, founded an organic farm with irrigation powered by solar and wind, moved hundreds of acres of forest into permanent conservation easements, and has a beautiful family.

If you want to get in some early questions, this is the place to do it. Any topic, of course, is fair game. Green building, conservation, the Chapel Hill Town Council, Bill McDonough, salt-water swimming pools, organic gardening, global warming, state energy policy, whatever suits you.

Please stop by on Friday morning to meet Tim. We'll start around 8 am.