Hi Julian,<br><br>Of course global-warming is a direct effect of having a system of infinite growth (the result of the interest-baring monetary system mostly, as it cannot exist in a static environment, hence it can only provoke growth or collapse) in a finite material system.
<br><br>But we are all part of that system, so that any approach that blames capital, and does not want to change its own behaviour, is going to be unproductive.<br><br>But at the other end of the spectrum, a strategy that is based only on micro-change, while leaving the overall logic of the system unchagned, is equally doomed to failure.
<br><br>We have to change, we have to change the system. It's not either/or, its both.<br><br>Now the key question is how you change the meta-system, giving the record of failure in this regard, and the obsoleteness of industrial era leftism? My suggestion would be to tone down the useless anti-capitalist rhetoric, and to tune up the post-capitalist practices.
<br><br>Michel<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 5/11/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Julian Kücklich</b> <<a href="mailto:julian@kuecklich.de">julian@kuecklich.de</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
In this context, I'd like to alert the list to an article by Will<br>Barnes, which argues that climate change is not man-made but<br>"capital-made". I am not sure I agree with him entirely, but I take his<br>
point that measures against climate change are also used as weapons<br>against the "developing world" and as tools for behavioural<br>reprogramming all over the world (save water, quit smoking, recycle your<br>paper, avoid taking aeroplanes), without any proof whatsoever that these
<br>"micro-actions" are in any way effective. Barnes argues quite<br>convincingly that climate change is going to continue as long as the<br>principle of capital accumulation remains in effect, so I wonder whether
<br>plugins like "Real Costs" aren't actually counter-productive, insofar as<br>they suggest to people that climate change is their fault, and that they<br>can contribute to "saving the planet" by canceling their trip to Hawaii.
<br><br><a href="http://www.metamute.org/en/Capital-Climes">http://www.metamute.org/en/Capital-Climes</a><br><br>Michael Mandiberg schrieb:<br>> Hello All,<br>><br>> Trebor Scholz has asked me to write a post introducing two recent
<br>> projects,"Oil Standard" (2006), "Real Costs" which I releasd a beta version<br>> of last week.<br>><br>> "Real Costs" is a Firefox plug-in that inserts emissions data into travel
<br>> related e-commerce websites. The first version adds CO2 emissions<br>> information to airfare websites such as <a href="http://Orbitz.com">Orbitz.com</a> <<a href="http://orbitz.com/">http://orbitz.com/</a>
> ,<br>> <a href="http://United.com">United.com</a> <<a href="http://united.com/">http://united.com/</a>>, <a href="http://Delta.com">Delta.com</a> <<a href="http://delta.com/">http://delta.com/</a>>, etc.
<br>> Following versions will work with car directions, car rental, and shipping<br>> websites. Think of it like the nutritional information labeling on the back<br>> of food... except for emissions.<br>><br>> The objective of the "Real Costs" is to increase awareness of the
<br>> environmental impact of certain day to day choices in the life of the<br>> Internet user. By presenting this environmental impact information in the<br>> place where decisions are being made, it will hopefully create an impact on
<br>> the viewer, encourage a sense of individual agency, start ongoing<br>> discussions, and provide a set of alternatives and immediate actions. In<br>> the<br>> process the user/viewer might even be transformed from passive consumer to
<br>> engaged citizen.<br>><br>> Experience the project by installing the "Real Costs" plug-in into your<br>> Firefox application; the plug-in is available at<br>> <a href="http://TheRealCosts.com">
http://TheRealCosts.com</a><<a href="http://therealcosts.com/">http://therealcosts.com/</a>>.<br>> Currently, this plug-in pulls the origination and destination information<br>> for each flight from the page, and then calculates and reinserts the CO2
<br>> produced. It compares the CO2 produced for that flight to making that trip<br>> by bus or train, and to the average CO2 produced per capita for the average<br>> US and world citizen. It is configured to work on the websites of the
<br>> largest North American air carriers (major global air carriers are<br>> currently<br>> being added.) A list of these carriers and documentation of all scientific<br>> calculations is available on the project Wiki (
<br>> <a href="http://therealcosts.com/wiki">http://therealcosts.com/wiki</a><br>> ).<br>><br>> "Real Costs" builds on many of my prior investigations into intersections<br>> between conceptualism, Internet art, and activism. I make art that explores
<br>> the way the Internet shapes subjectivity and consumerism. I take common<br>> genres including e-commerce, blogs and opinion poll sites and create<br>> site-specific interventions into this digital vernacular to provoke a
<br>> moment<br>> of contemplation on the part of the viewer. The key example here is the<br>> "Oil Standard" ( <a href="http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/">http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/
</a>)<br>> Firefox plug-in that converts all prices on a web page from U.S. Dollars<br>> into the equivalent value in barrels of crude oil. When you load a web<br>> page,<br>> the script seamlessly inserts converted prices into the page. As the
<br>> cost of<br>> oil fluctuates on the commodities exchange, prices rise and fall in<br>> real-time causing the user to reflect on their relationship to the abstract<br>> fluctuation of the price of oil reported on the news everyday. "Oil
<br>> Standard" synthesized my interest in hactivism and net.art, sustainable<br>> economics, and information design to create an art piece that opened up a<br>> dialogue about oil, economics, and the environment. It was used and
<br>> discussed by eco-techies, high school classes, progressive politicians, and<br>> Internet artists. This project achieved the goal of making abstract<br>> information legible so as to create dialogue about the important issues
<br>> surrounding how we use the earth's natural resources.<br>><br>> "Real Costs" and "Oil Standard" very intentionally sit in the liminal<br>> spaces between art and design, between hactivism and software development,
<br>> and between situationist intervention and green-tech tool making. I have<br>> situated this project in this position at the edge of art because it allows<br>> me to present completely unexpected content in familiar forms. The goal is
<br>> to seduce the viewer through what appears to be a comfortable and usual<br>> situation and to create an experience of surprise and wonder. I have done<br>> this before, in "Shop Mandiberg", (<br>
> <a href="http://Mandiberg.com/shop">http://Mandiberg.com/shop</a><<a href="http://mandiberg.com/shop">http://mandiberg.com/shop</a>>)<br>> where I buit an e-commerce site as a container for self-portraiture, and in
<br>> "Bush Poll," ( <a href="http://BushPoll.com">http://BushPoll.com</a> <<a href="http://bushpoll.com/">http://bushpoll.com/</a>>) where I made an<br>> opinion poll of the other 153 George Bushes of the country. By making art
<br>> appear in everyday contexts the potential capacity for art to instigate<br>> change is integrated into daily life.<br>><br>> I would contextualize this approach within a growing body of similar work.<br>
> I see this taking place in work like Angie Waller's<br>> <a href="http://myfrienemies.com/">http://myfrienemies.com/</a>,<br>> Ben Engebreth's <a href="http://personal-kyoto.org/">http://personal-kyoto.org/
</a>, and xtine hansen's<br>> <a href="http://delocator.net/">http://delocator.net/</a> + <a href="http://yourneighborsbiz.com/">http://yourneighborsbiz.com/</a>. One of the core<br>> motivations in these works is to make something that has a function, and
<br>> which changes or articulates how we interact with (one small part of) the<br>> world.<br>><br>> Yours,<br>><br>> Michael Mandiberg<br>><br>> ++<br>><br>> Michael Mandiberg<br>> Artist in Residence // Eyebeam
<br>> Asst Professor // CSI/CUNY<br>> Michael -at- Mandiberg -dot- com<br>> <a href="http://Mandiberg.com">http://Mandiberg.com</a> <<a href="http://mandiberg.com/">http://mandiberg.com/</a>><br>><br>> ++links++
<br>><br>> <a href="http://TheRealCosts.com">http://TheRealCosts.com</a> <<a href="http://therealcosts.com/">http://therealcosts.com/</a>><br>> <a href="http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/">
http://transition.turbulence.org/Works/oilstandard/</a><br>> <a href="http://Mandiberg.com/shop">http://Mandiberg.com/shop</a> <<a href="http://mandiberg.com/shop">http://mandiberg.com/shop</a>><br>> <a href="http://BushPoll.com">
http://BushPoll.com</a> <<a href="http://bushpoll.com/">http://bushpoll.com/</a>><br>><br>> <a href="http://myfrienemies.com">http://myfrienemies.com</a><br>> <a href="http://personal-kyoto.org/">http://personal-kyoto.org/
</a><br>> <a href="http://delocator.net">http://delocator.net</a><br>> <a href="http://yourneighborsbiz.com">http://yourneighborsbiz.com</a><br>><br>><br>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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