Prospects for Wednesday, 16 April
- 16 Apr 08, 12:06 PM
Jasmin Buttar is today's programme producer - here's her early email to the team.
Morning all - yes it really is me today.
Can we finish our Unsustainable World series on a high? We have an authored film from the CEO of Sainsbury's Justin King who accuses the government of a tendency to leap on the green bandwagon. We have him and the government live in the studio tonight. This could be a lead but it would need a bit of teeing up to put the film in context. How could we do this? What areas should we cover?
Brown in the US
Two possible today stories - the economy and Zim. Brown meets Mbeki and raises issue of Zim at the UN and then goes on to meet bankers. There may also be a 大象传媒 iv with Tsvangirai available to us. Another possibility is to throw forward to tomorrow's meeting with Bush and the presidential hopefuls. We have Crick in NY but only for 2-way really.
US Elections
The lovely planning people have set up a disco with Mara Rudman (former NSA under Clinton (Bill)) who backs Clinton (Hillary) and an Obama-supporting super delegate. It's a good chance to look at the state of the Democrat race ahead just hours ahead of a key debate between the two but also to look at their foreign policy positions ahead of the meeting with Brown.
Zambia's Chinese Burn
Tim Whewell and Caroline Pare have the second of their series of films on China in Africa - they look at how Zambians have turned against the Chinese businessmen who have established themselves in the country.
To Watch: news coming out of Israel about a major incident
Play out - what about the French entry to the Eurovision - sung in English?
Nothing's set in stone though so come armed with brilliant thoughts
Jasmin
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I know this will sound like a bit of a plug, but...
Is it worth getting Julia Hailes, author of the 'New Green Consumer Guide' on the show at some point? She has a pragmatic approach in that she does work for big companies, like the supermarkets.
Does this mean that she is 'sleeping with the enemy' ? Or merely that she recognises that 'going green' cannot be about simply preaching to the converted, and has to involve incremental change, to involve those that are currently 'part of the problem' in a solution ?
Particularly if you can get her to debate with someone like Jonathan Porritt or George Monbiot, who take a more purist, uncompromising stance.
Jasmin - drop the trendy mediaspeak, love, it is not big or clever.
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The most upbeat and inspiring thing I have come across in the midst of the gloom is the Transition Town initiative. Its success is shown by the fact that there are now 37 formal Transition Initiatives in the UK - including towns, cities, islands, peninsulas, with over 500 globally at the earlier stages of launching the process. And evolutionary process it is - starting with the enthusiasm of communities taking matters into their own hands and watching in awe at what so quickly starts to take shape. The "Transition Handbook" by Rob Hopkins is an antidote to the way top-down government works. Official policy has its own agendas and is determined to keep control in the centre. The Transition Initiative begins with the skills and talents of local people - and their willingness to build upwards to create something for all to share in the challenge of a very different future. Rob Hopkins says,
"...unless we can create this sense of anticipation, elation and a collective call to adventure on a wider scale, any government responses will be doomed to failure, or will need to battle protractedly against the will of the people."
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Surely one solution to the problems outlined in the Unsustainable World discussion is to aim to reduce the World's population. Imagine if the projection was not an increase from 6bn to 9bn but to 4 or 5bn. Food shortages would end, lower carbon outputs, less use of commodities more space for housing and so on. At some point this will have to be done. It is unthinkable that the population would rise for ever to what 20 bn 100 bn 500 bn? So lets tackle it now while there is a planet to save.
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