Today Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC executive secretary, said that there will probably be two agreements at Copenhagen.  This is big news for a rather mechanical week with lots of negotiations, text editing,  and politicians here in the U.S. making announcements any time they feel they’re being ignored (which is often).   Add to that leaks and big pronouncements that the talks are in disarray and it sounds like the whole thing is a waste of time.  But it’s not.  It is hard to keep up with all that is going on at this climate summit, COP15. There are the regular meetings and then there are hundreds of side meetings that aren’t on the official schedule.   Here is the press conference from today.

“Briefing the press on day four of the conference, Yvo de Boer highlighted progress made in the area of technology, where there is agreement on a strong new structure to deliver on technology once the finance is in place.  This new technology mechanism includes an Executive Body responsible for accelerating action on technology development and transfer, as well as a new Consultative Network for Climate Technologies.

Mr. de Boer announced that negotiators have two days left before Ministers begin to arrive on Saturday, when the COP President will take stock of progress so far.  On the question of the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, Mr. de Boer said that “the Kyoto Protocol will and must survive,” emphasizing that “the Kyoto Protocol is the only legally binding instrument we have to act on climate change.” He pointed out the time needed for a new instrument to be ratified and enter into force, and stressed the importance for the market mechanisms of avoiding any gap.”

You really can’t get much from these clips of press briefings and they sound much drier than what is actually going on there.

It would be better to watch some of the videos but the UN isn’t releasing this media as podcasts or anything portable — you have to go to their website to look up the videos.   So, visit the UNFCCC website if you want to follow what is going on in Copenhagen. They are negotiating a new text to extend Kyoto, which hasn’t helped, and the main thing going for it seems to be that it’s a legal document. Now it looks like there may be two agreements. This is from Bloomberg:

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) — United Nations negotiators will probably propose two climate agreements this month, with an extension of the Kyoto Protocol controlling emissions until a wider deal is struck, said the top official at talks in Denmark.

The first accord will extend the protocol, whose targets expire in 2012, Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said today in an interview in Copenhagen. A second, perhaps ratified later by all nations including the U.S., would be a new treaty.

With all these treaties being discussed, you would think [...]

From Day 4 of COP15

A new report by 100 of Europe’s leading marine scientists was released today, with researchers warning that the Earth’s oceans are becoming acidic at a faster rate than at any time in the last 55 million years.

“The report said that the seas were absorbing high levels of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as a result of human activity and that the acidity of the oceans has increased 30 percent since the Industrial Revolution. The study, an exhaustive review of existing scientific research into ocean acidification, said that coral reefs, some mollusks and the algae and plankton that are essential to the marine food web will be “severely affected” by 2050 because of the acidification problem.”

“Dr Helen Phillips, chief executive of Natural England, which co-sponsored the report, said: “The threat to the delicate balance of the marine environment cannot be overstated – this is a conservation challenge of unprecedented scale and highlights the urgent need for effective marine management and protection.”

WILL CARBON MARKETS or cap and trade schemes repair the oceans? No, only emissions cuts will help the ocean.

Obama Calls for Carbon Dioxide Cuts

Accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, U.S. President Obama said that failing to address global warming could lead to growing conflict in the world as rising temperatures cause climate-related upheaval and an increase in natural disasters. “The world must come together to confront climate change,” Obama said in his Nobel acceptance speech, as the climate conference in nearby Copenhagen entered its fourth day. “There is little scientific dispute that if we do nothing, we will face more drought, famine, and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades.”

At a subsequent press conference, Obama threw his support behind a plan under which industrialized nations would pay poorer nations not to cut down their tropical rainforests. Obama showed a good grasp of the details of the plan, known as REDD — Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. “I am very impressed with the model that has been built between Norway and Brazil that allows for effective monitoring and ensures that we are making progress in avoiding deforestation of the Amazon.” Obama said. “It’s probably the most cost-effective way for us to address the issue of climate change.” Developing a mechanism for REDD programs worldwide is one of the key goals of the Copenhagen climate summit.

De Boer Sees Progress on Green-Tech Plan

In Copenhagen, Yvo de Boer, the chief UN climate change negotiator, said that “good progress” was being made to create a program in which industrialized nations transfer renewable energy technologies to developing countries. He said that a proposed UN clean technology mechanism would make available solar, wind, and other forms of renewable energy to poorer countries that can’t afford to develop the technologies on their own. But de Boer said that for the Copenhagen summit to be a success, wealthy nations must commit to making steeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. He said he wanted industrialized [...]

Cap and Trade is not the answer.

This is a great video by the Story of Stuff people.  “We’re trashing the planet, we’re trashing each other, and we’re not even having fun.”

Cap and trade is a huge problem. The video maker’s explanation:

The Story of Cap & Trade is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the leading climate solution being discussed at Copenhagen and on Capitol Hill. Host Annie Leonard introduces the energy traders and Wall Street financiers at the heart of this scheme and reveals the “devils in the details” in current cap and trade proposals: free permits to big polluters, fake offsets and distraction from whats really required to tackle the climate crisis. If youve heard about Cap & Trade, but arent sure how it works (or who benefits), this is the film is for you.

It’s easy to agree with this assessment even if it’s simplistic and she makes some claims that are hard to prove.  The Story of Stuff original movie was longer and more detailed. Cap and Trade is a difficult scheme to understand for non-economists (and even some of them).  What’s happening now is that countries are setting emissions (and will make it official in Copenhagen) goals no one can realistically meet using the process of cap and trade by the target date.  2050 seems a long way off,  but it’s not.   It’s too soon to get down to a necessary reduction in CO2 emissions without something more aggressive than cap and trade.   The goals are usually a reduction in emissions by 80% or more by 2050, but depending on markets and trading is not a  serious way to get there.  It doesn’t look like cap and trade will even get us close.

It’s also easy to agree that the cap is good and  necessary.  Carbon taxes are also necessary, and so is returning the revenue to the people, and not with a payroll tax.   We are still losing jobs, too many people are unemployed, some by choice (the self employed)  so payroll taxes are not the way to go.  It should not be tied to employers or taxes, just keep it simple and give direct rebates to people in the form of direct deposit or direct payment of energy bills.  Either way, allowances are “not cool” at all.   Giveaways to polluters are the most uncool thing of all.  Tying ourselves down to coal for ever and ever is the worst thing of all.  There is no such thing as clean coal. Cap that carbon!

Also obvious:  We should leave the carbon that is left in the ground, already sequestered. Why dig it out, burn it and then sequester it?  It’s not at all necessary.

People who think it’s necessary are approaching this from an economic point of view. The world has to look at this differently.

Climate change is a natural science issue about how our environment, whether we like it or not, is changing drastically in response [...]

The "We got it, so let's use it" argument is a bad one, especially when it comes to coal - and nuclear weapons.

“Advisory panel calls for a $1.2 trillion investment in carbon capture and storage”

Remember “There’s No Such Thing as Clean Coal“?  The new “conventional wisdom” is the opposite:  Let’s fool the public into thinking there is such a thing as clean coal, and make billions and billions of dollars from it. How?  We’ll just tell them we have to use it. We’ll say we can “capture” all the CO2. Why do we have to use it?  Because there’s so much of it.

I’m very grateful this argument does not apply to the thousands of nuclear warheads the U.S. has bought and paid for.

The mere fact that something is plentiful and cheap and therefore we have to use all of it is an argument that shouldn’t apply to any fossil fuel.  In the first place, we don’t have to use fossil fuels anymore because we know what kind of energy is renewable, we know how to get it and how to use it.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter to the pollution profiteers what the truth is, as long as they’re raking in the dough. It doesn’t matter how many people eventually die from climate change to the pollution profiteers.

In fact, in order to prevent catastrophic climate change, we should stop using coal right now.   If carbon capture and storage is ever to be used, it won’t be for 10-20 or maybe even 30 years.  It might work only partially.  If so, it’s mostly useless.  No one knows to which degree it will work, yet even people who know better are insisting we have to try and therefore depend on CCS.  And they are willing to gamble $1.2 trillion on it.  It would make a lot more sense not to put that CO2 up into the atmosphere to begin with.

Advocates of this eternal use of every last bit of coal are some of the same people who think health care for everyone is too expensive, or that developing solar power all over the U.S.  is too ambitious.  But it’s not too ambitious to them to sink  $1.2 trillion into development of  something that might not work at all.

Wouldn’t that kind of money buy a lot of solar panels?

An emphasis on clean renewable energy is no longer something people seem terribly excited about.     Health care and other issues have long ago trumped concern about climate change.  It’s now generally accepted in Washington that the cap and trade bill won’t pass our Congress next year,  or possibly ever.   Lawmakers (lawyers) are now actually flirting with a carbon tax, which would be an enormous improvement to the cap and trade idea.  The bad news is, Republican Lindsey Graham is the one now writing the most eagerly anticipated bill, (see below)  despite the fact that we already have several better climate bills that have received very little attention.

Graham’s will [...]

Here is it:  The Last and Final Smackdown of the illegal hacking and other break-in crimes committed in recent weeks (one involved stealing a dead computer and old papers!)  being used by the misguided and dishonest Denial Movement to score political points.  Right-wing talk radio is all over this — mainly because their understanding of global warming is so compromised by their politics.  It is the last because FN has already probably devoted too much space and time to Hackergate and deniers lately, but what they are saying has to be corrected and exposed.

Now we can all move on.  “Climate deniers have been making a lot of noise about a set of stolen emails from one of the world’s leading climate centers, The Universtiy of East Anglia. The spin they’re putting out is that the emails reveal what they always suspected, an evil global conspiracy.”

There is another video at the bottom of this entry.   Also see:

Impact of CRU Hacking on the AMS Statement on Climate Change

AMS Headquarters has received several inquiries asking if the material made public following the hacking of e-mails and other files from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia has any impact on the AMS Statement on Climate Change, which was approved by the AMS Council in 2007 and represents the official position of the Society.  Read on for Nature’s take on this.

And from Nature:

Climatologists under pressure

“Stolen e-mails have revealed no scientific conspiracy, but do highlight ways in which climate researchers could be better supported in the face of public scrutiny.

The e-mail archives stolen last month from the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (UEA), UK, have been greeted by the climate-change-denialist fringe as a propaganda windfall (see page 551). To these denialists, the scientists’ scathing remarks about certain controversial palaeoclimate reconstructions qualify as the proverbial ’smoking gun’: proof that mainstream climate researchers have systematically conspired to suppress evidence contradicting their doctrine that humans are warming the globe.

This paranoid interpretation would be laughable were it not for the fact that obstructionist politicians in the US Senate will probably use it next year as an excuse to stiffen their opposition to the country’s much needed climate bill. Nothing in the e-mails undermines the scientific case that global warming is real — or that human activities are almost certainly the cause. That case is supported by multiple, robust lines of evidence, including several that are completely independent of the climate reconstructions debated in the e-mails.. . . .”

It’s a good science article too.

Here is the best, last video on this topic unless Quentin Tarantino makes one:

Photo: Gopal Chitrakar. A view of Mount Everest is seen during moon rise from Syangboche in Nepal December 3, 2009.

The Wall Street Journal published this on Saturday. If this happens this week, President Obama will have a better negotiating position when he attends the Copenhagen climate summit.  We don’t know yet if that’s good or bad, but it could at least help the EPA regulate greenhouse gas emissions if Congress fails in its obligation to do its job on the climate change and jobs front.

The article begins:

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will early next week, possibly as soon as Monday, officially declare carbon dioxide a public danger, a trigger that could mean regulation for emitters across the economy, according to several people close to the matter.

Such an “endangerment” decision is necessary for the EPA to move ahead early next year with new emission standards for cars. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said it could also mean large emitters such as power stations, cement kilns, crude-oil refineries and chemical plants would have to curb their greenhouse gas output.

The announcement would also give President Barack Obama and his climate envoy negotiating leverage at a global climate summit starting next week in Copenhagen, Denmark and increase pressure on Congress to pass a climate bill that would modify the price of polluting.

While environmentalists celebrate EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases, it has caused many large emitters to cringe at the potential costs of compliance.”

Aww.  No, don’t feel sorry for them. They have been destroying our climate for decades.

“According to a preliminary endangerment finding published in April, EPA scientists fear that man-made carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are contributing to a warming of the global climate. Senior EPA officials said in November the agency would likely make a final decision in December around the time of the summit.

Joe Mendelson, Global Warming Policy Director for National Wildlife Federation, said the endangerment decision, would happen at “absolutely the right time.” . . . .

Good, they are timing it.

Read more here.

Look at the box on the left! The Climate Change Conference starts today in Copenhagen. Throughout the next two weeks, Futurism Now  will bring you a wide range of topics associated with the conference, and update you on news from Copenhagen as much as possible.   Some of our partners in this effort (there are many) include  Link TV and OneClimate.net.  They are both devoted to bringing up to date media from Copenhagen to everyone around the world who tunes in.   We are embedding their daily video here so you can check back here or visit their site for the latest media.

Your browser does not support iframes.

“Millions of viewers are expected to tune in December 7-19, 2009 during the climate summit, which has been called ‘the most important conference since World War II’.” The videos will include breaking stories, the lowdown with experts, and crowd-sourced video.

It’s called  “Copenhagen Live 24/7″ on the OneClimate.net channel.

And don’t forget, the official Copenhagen COP15 media channels are there for everyone too. Here is the page with everything on it from the UNFCCC, where you can also participate virtually, every day.

Repeated criminal attempts to break into universities and access scientific emails have happened several times, not just once. It’s becoming more clear that these are organized attempts to sabotage any action on climate change, especially before the Copenhagen summit.

Remember Nixon’s crime — Watergate. That was an illegal break-in from which all other “gates” are named. The illegal break-in was the crime, not to be confused with some effort to take correspondence out of context and fool the public into thinking something that is happening is not happening. Watergate was clearly a crime. Climate Hackergate is a serious crime. The fact that it is happening over and over again makes it a conspiracy.  It’s a form of political terrorism too.  Sabotaging the climate talks and ending attempts to mitigate climate change is tantamount to condemning millions of people to death.  Below is a recent article on this from Raw Story:

“A series of repeated break-in and computer hacking attempts at a Canadian climate research institute are a sign of a “well-orchestrated campaign of harassment” against climate researchers ahead of the Copenhagen summit, several news sources report.

Employees at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia, have revealed that the school’s Centre for Climate Modelling has experienced at least two break-ins in recent months, as well as several attempts at hacking into the center’s computer network.

The news comes a week after revelations that computer hackers stole thousands of emails from a climate research center at the University of East Anglia in the UK, some of which purportedly show attempts to cover up data that does not fit with claims about global warming.

Those leaked emails are at the center of a political push-back by climate skeptics, who are arguing that the “Climategate” emails show that global warming is a fraud, or at least has been exaggerated.

Canada’s National Post reports:

“Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria scientist and key contributor to the Nobel prize-winning work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says there have been a number of attempted breaches in recent months, including two successful break-ins at his campus office in which a dead computer was stolen and papers were rummaged through.

“The key thing is to try to find anybody who’s involved in any aspect of the IPCC and find something that you can … take out of context,” Mr. Weaver said, drawing a parallel to the case of British climate researcher Phil Jones, who was forced to step down this week after skeptics seized upon hacked emails they allege point to a plot to exaggerate the threat of climate change.

“People don’t like it, so they try to discredit it, and the way they try to discredit it is by attacking the individual responsible for it,” Mr. Weaver said.

“They went through my desk drawers,” Weaver told the Victoria Times-Colonist. “It was bizarre and the only computer that wasn’t secured was [...]

Futurismo a Savona

December 12, 2009 - February 14, 2010
Fortezza Monumentale del Priamar (Savona)
Curated by Franco Sborgi and Leo Lecci
Catalog

more info

Zang Sud Sud

December 4-31, 2009
Museo del Presente - Rende (Cosenza)
Curated by Alessandro Masi and Tonino Sicoli

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Il Futurismo: bilancio provvisorio di un centenario

December 10, 2009
Palazzo Sora, Corso Vittorio Emanuele - Rome
Sindacato Libero Scrittori Italiani

more info

more about Marilena Cavallo

Futurismo. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, l’avanguardia giuliana e i rapporti internazionali

November 28, 2009 - February 28, 2010
Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia

-AND-

Gli anni Trenta. Omaggio a Tullio Crali

November 28, 2009 - February 28, 2010
Castello di Gorizia

-AND-

Futurismo - Moda - Design. La ricostruzione futurista dell’universo quotidiano

December 19, 2009 - May 1, 2010
Musei Provinciali in Borgo Castello

Antidiets of the Avant-garde: From Futurist Cooking to Eat Art

by Cecilia Novero
University of Minnesota Press, January 2010

Check out this interview with the author on the Art21 blog!
(thanks for the link!)

Pubblicità e propaganda. Ceramica e grafica futuriste

December 5, 2009 - April 11, 2010
*Vernissage Friday, December 4th - 6pm
Wolfsoniana (Genova, Nervi)
Curated by Silvia Barisione, Matteo Fochessati, Gianni Franzone and Maria Teresa Orengo
Catalog

PRESS RELEASE via STUDIO ESSECI

Nell’ormai immenso elenco di mostre dedicate al futurismo, eccone una di realmente originale. È quella dedicata a Pubblicità e propaganda. Ceramica e grafica futuriste proposta dalla Wolfsoniana dal 5 dicembre all’11 aprile.

Sempre nel filone della ricerca sulle arti applicate propria del Museo genovese, dal prossimo febbraio la mostra sarà affiancata da una seconda esposizione dedicata alla produzione dell’argentiere Arrigo Finzi e, in particolare, al nucleo contrassegnato dal marchio “Sant’Elia“.

La mostra Pubblicità e propaganda. Ceramica e grafica futuriste - curata da Silvia Barisione, Matteo Fochessati, Gianni Franzone e Maria Teresa Orengo e organizzata dalla Wolfsoniana - Fondazione regionale per la Cultura e lo Spettacolo di Genova e dalla Regione Liguria in occasione del centenario del manifesto di fondazione del movimento futurista - si concentra sulla presenza della persuasione pubblicitaria e politica all’interno della produzione ceramica e grafica futuriste degli anni Venti e Trenta.

La straordinaria stagione della ceramica e della grafica futuriste verrà analizzata mettendo in rilievo come, attraverso le sue peculiari e innovative sperimentazioni linguistiche e iconografiche, queste specifiche ricerche contribuirono alla diffusione di messaggi pubblicitari e alla celebrazione di quei motivi propagandistici che, peraltro, la retorica del regime elaborò in parte attraverso gli stessi modelli poetici del movimento futurista.

L’esposizione, oltre a documentare in maniera originale la molteplicità delle esperienze formali che si svilupparono in questo ambito di ricerca, rappresenta un momento di riflessione sulle dinamiche espressive di quella sottile linea di demarcazione che separa la persuasione pubblicitaria e la propaganda politica, a cui i principali esponenti del movimento adattarono i temi precipui della loro originaria poetica: il culto della velocità e della modernità, dell’aggressività e della guerra, l’idolatria della macchina, l’ideale di un uomo nuovo, sportivo e ardimentoso.

Non a caso la mostra si svolge a Genova. La Liguria giocò, infatti, un ruolo di primo piano nell’avventura della ceramica futurista.

Se è vero che esempi di ceramica futurista vennero prodotti a Faenza negli anni Dieci, una vera produzione fu per così dire istituzionalizzata solo intorno al 1927 all’interno della Casa Giuseppe Mazzotti di Albisola, diretta dal celebre Tullio che nel 1938 firmò con F.T. Marinetti il manifesto Ceramica e aeropittura.

Accanto al primato abisolese con opere degli artisti più noti (Nicolay Diulgheroff, Farfa, Fillia, Tato, Alf Gaudenzi, Giovanni Acquaviva e lo stesso Tullio), la mostra propone anche esperienze che, pur non potendo essere definite futuriste, presentano tangenze, soprattutto linguistiche, con le creazioni del movimento marinettiano.

Come certa produzione delle Ceramiche Rometti di Umbertide (Perugia), nel momento in cui vi fu attivo un artista del calibro di Corrado Cagli, o quella poco conosciuta della FACI (Fabbrica Artistica Ceramiche Italiane) di Civita Castellana nel viterbese.

Relativamente alla grafica, compaiono, oltre agli artisti già citati, i nomi di Fortunato Depero e Tullio Crali, mentre alcune opere rappresentano l’inizio dell’immagine promozionale coordinata per prodotti e aziende di livello nazionale, come Fernet Branca, Amaro Cora, Campari e Cinzano.

Come evento collaterale alla mostra, a febbraio, verrà presentata una significativa selezione di argenti del milanese Arrigo Finzi (Venezia 1890 - Milano 1973) che la figlia Olga Finzi Baldi ha affidato in comodato alla Wolfsoniana. Una parte della produzione di Arrigo Finzi fu infatti contrassegnata dal marchio “Sant’Elia“, depositato nel 1933, e riprendeva in chiave déco i modelli disegnati prima della guerra dal celebre architetto futurista Antonio Sant’Elia, con cui Finzi aveva stretto amicizia a Milano nel 1909.

PUBBLICITÀ E PROPAGANDA. Ceramica e grafica futuriste, Genova Nervi, Spazio Mostre della Wolfsoniana (via Serra Gropallo 4), 5 dicembre 2009 - 11 aprile 2010. Orario: martedì - domenica 10.00 - 19.00; ingressi: intero € 5, ridotto € 4, scuole € 2,80. Sono previsti programmi e laboratori didattici per le scuole.

Mostra a cura di Silvia Barisione, Matteo Fochessati, Gianni Franzone e Maria Teresa Orengo. Catalogo edito da Silvana Editoriale.

Informazioni e prenotazioni:

Wolfsoniana, tel. 010.3231329 - 5761393, info@wolfsoniana.it

http://www.wolfsoniana.it, http://www.fondazionecultura-liguria.it

CASA BALLA, CROPPI: “ENTRO 2010 APRIREMO AL PUBBLICO”

“Qualche mese fa scoprimmo le condizioni in cui verteva la Casa di Giacomo Balla di via Oslavia e ci impegnammo per la sua salvaguardia, restauro e apertura al pubblico in accordo con gli eredi. Abbiamo avviato un gruppo di lavoro con la sovrintendenza comunale per il restauro conservativo dello famoso studialo di Balla, appena concluso, mentre con la sovrintendenza archivistica di stato stiamo lavorando alla catalogazione e messa a norma del materiale conservato. Con gli eredi stiamo arrivando ad un accordo che consentirà l’apertura in qualche modo al pubblico per far scoprire questo tesoro straordinario. D’altronde Balla e’ il più romano dei futuristi ed e’ giusto che la citta’ dia a lui il giusto rilievo e importanza”. Lo annuncia l’assessore capitolino alla Cultura, Umberto Croppi, oggi all’Ara Pacis a margine della presentazione del “Genio Futurista”. ” (omniroma.it)

link

previously

google map

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

VIVA IL FUTURISMO!
Official Trailer

Artistic and cultural event series on the occasion of the 100th anniversary since the foundation of italian Futurism

Lectures • conference • exhibition • performance • music • cinema

Cologne + Bonn + Düsseldorf
from june 2009 until january 2010

futurismus.kulturserver.de
futurismus@kulturserver.de

Photos + video recording
Ludger F. J. Schneider
lichtbildgestaltung.kulturserver.de

Music
Diss Harmon
diemaschine.kulturserver.de

Translation + Montage
Donatella Chiancone-Schneider
donatella.chiancone.eu

MOSAIC EDITION

• Guided tour in Alessandria highlights Severini’s mosaics

• More mosaics: the Palazzo delle Poste in La Spezia has restored two futurist mosaics by Prampolini and Fillia
• Mosaic by Severini in Tornareccio

OTHER NEWS

• Italian police seized works of art from the ex-director of Parmalat, Calisto Tanzi, including one by Umberto Boccioni (more)

• In case you didn’t hear yet, Alitalia finally sold its Futurist works to raise funds but NOT ‘Zeus Gave Birth to the Sun’ by Severini!

• Giuseppe Antonello Leone talks about his encounter with Marinetti at the Teatro di Avellino

• Play incorporates hand-painted costumes that look like Futurist Paintings

• Missoni’s living with Severini

• Futurist Bottle Design Competition winner announced, see also Bru Bru Brunello wine

• Depero and Stella on art of the NYC subway

• More about the New Archives of Futurism
  
  

Reviews from PERFORMA 09 shortly….

Mario Guido Dal Monte. Dal Futurismo all’Informale, al Neoconcreto, attraverso le avanguardie artistiche del Novecento

December 19, 2009 - April 5, 2010
*Vernissage Dec. 19th at 5:30pm
Museo di San Domenico - Imola
Curated by Enrico Crispolti
Catalog - Silvana Ed.

link

Protests from Copenhagen on Saturday:

Photo by Carolyn Chase

“This was the largest demonstration ever for climate,’’ Peter, activist from Dutch Groen Front! thinks. Saturday he joined the big demonstration for climate change in Copenhagen. He often took part in protests, but he never saw so many people on their feet to demonstrate against global warming.

Some people were arrested. [700, according to CNN]  Many Dutch – including members of Christian organizations and environmental groups, students, anti-globalists and capitalists – joined the protesters on Saturday.

Despite the large turnout, Peter still worries. He does not expect the government leaders who have come to the UN summit, are influenced by the tens of thousands. “The summit is not about solutions, but about creating a new CO2 market.’’ Peter says the big polluters like power stations and airports must be stopped. He announced that he will join the blockade of the harbor in Copenhagen on Sundays. “That will  be a symbolic action.’’

The anti-capitalist International Socialists traveled with a group to Denmark. ,”We can not stand by while the world leaders squander our planet for future generations. Averting a climate crisis is only possible by radically changing political priorities. “Spend billions of euros on windmills and free public transportation, instead of on banks and wars’’,  a spokesman said. “

Many other reports are on the Climate pool Facebook page.   See lots of great photos here.   I hate to point out the obvious, because I love protests, but a protest with 100,000 people will not make a dent in politicians’ minds.  A protest with 5-10 million people would.   That is what is needed.

Dutch politician Halsema takes on climate sceptics

Climate sceptics must stop talking nonsense and join the debate with solid arguments. [which they don't have]   That’s what Dutch Green party leader Femke Halsema writes on her blog on climate for news portal NU.nl. . . . . According to Halsema climate sceptics tend to rely on dubious sources of scientists who have no understanding of what’s happening to our climate. Halsema points out that environmentalists and green politicians are the ones that struggled for years against global warming. “Sceptics like to talk in terms of conspiracy, but none of them can show which complot there is. They even can’t tell who the stakeholders are and what economic, financial or political interests are served with making people aware of global warming’’, said the politician.”

That’s the main problem with climate skeptics, they make no sense, and they just can’t shut up. Climate skeptics need to stop doing harm.  Why speak out at all?  Just sit in a corner and fantasize about your doubts, we don’t care. But just stop being so loud with your ignorance because its directly harming people. The problem with climate skepticism is that turns the issue political, which it inherently isn’t, and then puts a damper on any action to mitigate climate change, which harms all of humanity. The longer we wait to do something meaningful about climate [...]

The first week of the Copenhagen climate summit is already over.  Yvo de Boer, UNFCCC executive secretary, gives us his daily press conference for Friday December 11th.

“Addressing the media at the end of the first week of the conference, Yvo de Boer spoke of “an important step-change in the negotiating process.” This follows the tabling of new texts this morning by the Chairs of the negotiating tracks under Kyoto Protocol and the Convention that provide the framework for an agreed outcome.  He said it is now time to focus on the big picture – namely, a shared vision on long-term cooperative action and what the long-term goal will be.”

In the plenery, the chairs of the two working groups presented papers that begin to capture the framework of what will be agreed upon at the end of the negotiations.  The underlying elements continue to be negotiated.  According to de Boer, one thing holding this process back has been lack of clarity on how short-term support wil be given to developing countries.  He also says Europe has now put a figure on the table.

Other groups want something far more aggressive as far as emissions cuts that are not even on the table.  The Klimaforum09 has been going on all week and they have  released a formal Declaration of their own, calling for massive emissions cuts “immediately”.  It’s a very interesting document and makes some great points.  You can download their declaration here. (PDF)  It’s titled,  System Change, not Climate Change. Confusing, because many people want a system change, but no one is calling for climate change.

If the declaration were followed, we’d have more of a chance of surviving climate change, that much is certain.  But there are also several problems with it, even thought it’s a big improvement on the formal documents from COP15 — so far.   The reason it’s a big improvement is because it gets to the heart of the problem – wars and over-consumption of resources are wrecking our planet and all life on it.  Consumption with no guilt and the growth of super-capitalism is going to be the end of all of us if it isn’t stopped. Cap and trade can’t even begin to fix these social problems.

But — reparations are in the document and they will never happen, and shouldn’t.  Climate change money should be saved for aid, medical care, rescue operations, food, water, transportation and refugee facilities.  Those things alone could cost billions a year.  Money should also go towards technology and new renewable energy installations in poor and developing countries.  Reparations are not necessary if all the needs of the poorer countries are met in adapting to or surviving climate change.  Climate change migration will be a huge problem, and borders will therefore be a huge problem. We have to get governments to recognize that opening borders more, not less, makes the most sense.

The declaration is almost anti-technology in nature, insinuating technology itself is a ‘false solution’.  Whoever [...]