Carl Mears has been studying the weather for years. Now he’s trying to do something about it.

Carl Mears will be the featured speaker at a community gathering June 30 at 5:30 pm at the Universalist Unitarian Church in Santa Rosa.  His topic:  “What’s really going on with the Climate? A scientists’ perspective.”

For some, the phrase "climate change" has supplanted "global warming" as this issue is discussed. Mears says he understands the scientific reasoning behind that, but dislikes the political connotations.

Capitalism doesn’t have to be an economic system that devours raw materials with massive waste. An advocate of a variant termed “Natural Capitalism” contends it can deliver greater prosperity through increased efficiency and careful stewardship of natural and human resources.

Lovins argues that human productivity could learn a lot from Nature, which is powered almost exclusively by the sun, and leaves no waste that isn’t fuel for some other natural process.

Modern day free marketers often invoke Adam Smith and his “invisible hand” as the guiding principle behind the policies they advocate, including globalism and free trade. But Lovins counters that doing so is a distorted misreading of what Smith actually said.

Reducing or greatly eliminating the enormous amount of waste that is built  into our economy is not enough, but itself, to ensure long-term prosperity. But Lovins says it would be a good start.

Hunter Lovins will be among the speakers at the Solar Energy and Efficiency Fair in Santa Rosa’s Finley Park June 19,from 11am to 5pm. You can get more detailed event information here.

Among the many groups at the Copenhagen climate conference last winter was Mediators Beyond Borders, who were there to lobby for including mediation in the framework for resolving disputes over resource scarcities as the world attempts to deal with climate change.

Just getting everyone to join in the process at the COP 15 conference in Copenhagen was a considerable accomplishment, observes Camelia Patino, adding that it’s an arena ripe for a larger role to be played by Mediators Beyond Borders as the dialog goes forward.

Mediation isn’t just for family or business disputes. It can also be applied to tribal or international conflicts, and the organization called Mediators Beyond Borders was created to do just that.

One challenge frequently encountered in mediation, explains Camelia Patino, is a need to “level the playing field” among the participants