While searching for some music on my computer I landed on this episode of Radiolab that I heard a while back on why songs stick in your head and auditory hallucinations. Super interesting....So I started doing a bit of research and I came across another piece on NPR about a doctor that created a simulation using goggles and headphones that allows you to feel what it's like to hear and see things as a schizophrenic. Apparently when you do a brain scan of someone hallucinating music or actually listening to music, it shows up almost the same.
Posted by Stephen Glicken
stephen@greenowl.com
Brooklyn native and rapper Talib Kweli rocked the stage with Jean Grae and DJ Pete Rock last night at Highline Ballroom. Watch some of their live performance here.
more pictures available at villiageslum.com - Thanks Mel!!
Posted by Vanessa Bronfman
vanessa@greenowl.com
MIT students unveiled a bicycle wheel in Copenhagen last week that takes smart clean technology and personal transportation to the next level. Check it out here.
Posted by Vanessa Bronfman
vanessa@greenowl.com
Hoping to recapture a bit of bohemia and create a new community of artists in Bushwick, Hayden Cummings and friends are renting trailers as art/work spaces.
Full story here.
Posted by Vanessa Bronfman
vanessa@greenowl.com
Good morning. It's an honor to for me to join this distinguished group
of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in
Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to
our people. You would not be here unless you - like me - were convinced
that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science.
Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security,
our economies, and our planet. That much we know.
So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge
- the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of
climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action
hangs in the balance.
I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today.
As the world's largest economy and the world's second largest
emitter, America bears our share of responsibility in addressing
climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That is why
we have renewed our leadership within international climate
negotiations, and worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel
subsidies. And that is why we have taken bold action at home - by
making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people
to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by
pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy
economy.
These actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to
meet our global responsibilities. We are convinced that changing the
way that we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic
future - that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industry,
keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. And we are convinced
that changing the way we use energy is essential to America's national
security, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and
help us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.
So America is going to continue on this course of action no matter
what happens in Copenhagen. But we will all be stronger and safer and
more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual
interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to take certain
steps, and to hold each other accountable for our commitments.
After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear.
First, all major economies must put forward decisive national
actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner
on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so,
and I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we
have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020,
and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.
Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping
our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent
manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon
sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and
that we are living up to our obligations. For without such
accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.
Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt,
particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change.
America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10
billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary Clinton made it clear that
we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing
by 2020, if - and only if - it is part of the broader accord that I
have just described.
Mitigation. Transparency. And financing. It is a clear formula - one
that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and
respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord - one
that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international
community.
The question is whether we will move forward together, or split
apart. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get
everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that
want aid with no strings attached, and who think that the most advanced
nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations
who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or
that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share
of the burden.
We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for
years. But here is the bottom line: we can embrace this accord, take a
substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its
foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a
part of an historic endeavor - one that makes life better for our
children and grandchildren.
Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions
that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back
having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year -
all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.
There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have
charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what
we say. Now, I believe that it's time for the nations and people of the
world to come together behind a common purpose.
We must choose action over inaction; the future over the past - with
courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people, and to
the future of our planet. Thank you.
Mr. Obama, Politicians Talk, Leaders Act.
Posted by Benjamin Bronfman
ben@greenowl.com
A quick look at the scene outside of the Bella Center where protesters are gathered as the final talks to broker a deal on worldwide CO2 emissions is taking place.
Posted by Benjamin Bronfman
ben@greenowl.com
This is a keep your cellphones and cameras IN YOUR POCKET affair!!! Let's get loose like the 80s and no one will ever know...
Ninjasonik via Vanessa Bronfman
The United States just proposed a 100 Billion Dollar annual fund for developing nations to pursue renewable energy and the global demand increases. This is a step in the right direction and is based on the proposal you see above drafted by Graciela Chichilnisky.
What we need now is an agreement on limits. So far the United States has only pledged to reduce it's emissions by 3-4% of 1990 levels. We'll see what happens as the day unfolds.
Posted by Benjamin Bronfman
ben@greenowl.com
