…I’m going to share it with you.

I feel that is has very compelling data and ideas in it, and it’s important to me that I share this with you.

-Dan

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The hundreds of data sets that accompany Lester Brown’s latest book, World on the Edge: How to Prevent Environmental and Economic Collapse, illustrate the world’s current predicament and give a sense of where we might go from here. Here are some highlights from the collection.

VEERING TOWARD THE EDGE:

As the world economy has expanded nearly 10-fold since 1950, consumption has begun to outstrip natural assets on a global scale. The same values that have allowed ecological deficits to grow are contributing to ballooning fiscal deficits around the world, threatening to undermine economic progress.

Some of the planet’s natural capital, like fossil fuels or water in non-replenishable aquifers, is finite and exhaustible. And some is regenerative; it can be thought of like an interest-earning bank account, where if the principal is maintained, one can live off of the interest indefinitely. In nature, we can harvest plants from the same land as long as soils are maintained; we can continue to catch fish from the sea as long as the catch remains below each fishery’s sustainable yield; we can get water from underground as long as pumping does not exceed rates of recharge; and carbon can regularly cycle through the atmosphere, land, and oceans without major consequence.

Yet as our human family has grown and the global economy has expanded, demand has surpassed the earth’s regenerative capacity. We are overharvesting forests, overplowing fields, overgrazing grasslands, overdrawing aquifers, overfishing oceans, and pumping far more carbon into the atmosphere than nature can absorb.

Many of these negative trends intersect at our global food supply. While for many years the world was making gains in reducing the number of hungry people, this progress was reversed in the late 1990s. Today close to one billion people in the world are undernourished.

As food prices rise, the ranks of the hungry are likely to grow even larger. Following the punishing heat wave that devastated Russia’s wheat harvest in summer 2010, staple grain prices have soared to near-record highs in early 2011. Rising food prices hit people on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder—many of whom spend over half their income feeding their families—the hardest.

More data is available in Lester’s book [on Amazon].

Continued on my next blog post…

Many are participating in the national Hands Across the Sand event which will be here tomorrow, June 26th at noon.

The regional “UGottaGoGreen.com” web site has a very convenient listing of all of the places you can participate in the event in Southwest Florida (simply visit this page, and scroll down).

If you’d like to learn more about Hands Across the Sand, be sure to visit their web site at www.HandsAcrosstheSand.com.

See you tomorrow at noon!

- Dan

…that was held at the Koreshan State Historic Site in Estero, Florida.

The event was co-sponsored by the Sierra Club Calusa Group & The Happehatchee Center.

It was a great event, the weather was beautiful, and there were speakers there and bands playing all day.

We supplied our very own power (from the sun!) via our Mobile Photovoltaic (PV) trailer!

At the event, most were involved in exalting and celebrating the earth.  The band mentioned several times that the sound stage was being powered by Fafco Solar’s mobile trailer – it’s amazing that our small array could handle the entire stage!

The crowd seemed very intrigued by that.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Mobile Photovoltaic (PV) Trailer be sure to contact us, or give us a call at (239) 574-1500.

Here are some more photos from the event:

You’re invited!

We’re having an open house at our “green” building in Cape Coral from Monday, April 19 to Friday, April 23, 2010, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m, and we’d love to see you!

At our Open House, you’ll be able to:

• take a tour of our Green Building,
• sign a “Declaration of Energy Independence,” and
• learn more about all the solar energy products offered by us.

We’ll also give you a listing of other local Earth Day events, tips and suggestions for going green and a “Solar Bill of Rights” to take home!

As I said in a recent News Release:

“This is a great opportunity for us to be able to educate the public on what they can do to be green and do their part to save the environment. Solar energy is a readily-available and renewable source of energy that will not only reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, but it also helps our customers save lots of money. We’re proud to celebrate Earth Day by teaching our customers how to be environmentally responsible citizens.”

See you next week, and have a great day!

- Dan