Amid Rio+20 UN Conference and Impending Climate Crisis, The Tierra Solution Delivers Answers

With the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development happening this week in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the upcoming presidential election--where there is sure to be at least some focus on climate issues and a lot of focus on financial issues--this month's Book of the Month is both timely and relevant. The Tierra Solution, by sustainability sociologist Dr. Frans Verhagen, offers a solution to climate change through monetary transformation, essentially killing two birds with one stone.

Dr. Verhagen proposes to resolve to the current financial, economic, and monetary problems around the world with a credit-based financial system, governed by a Global Central Bank, that uses a carbon standard for a newly developed international monetary system with the Tierra as the unit of account--hence, the Tierra Solution.

Basically, Verhagen suggests that by simply holding businesses and governments accountable for the carbon-based energy they use, and basing money exchange on that energy, we can create a cleaner environment and solve the global financial crisis. Separated into two distinct parts, The Tierra Solution first describes the current climate crisis and methods of carbon reduction that already exist (and why they are not ideal). He also lays out the history and present structure of the international monetary system. Then, Verhagen describes the Tierra Fee & Dividend System, why it is the best solution for our ravaged economies, how it will improve the climate and monetary systems, and how it should be implemented.

Hazel Henderson, evolutionary economist and president of Ethical Markets Media, commented that The Tierra Solution is, "a visionary and immensely practical approach to reforming today's bubble finance and taming its global casino. Verhagen... illuminates the win-win solutions possible when we combine monetary transformation with low-carbon, renewable resource strategies and equitable approaches to sustainable development."

In his Foreword, Felix Dodds, executive director of the Stakeholder Forum, said, "This book is an important contribution because it provides some serious ideas for how we can ensure that there is international monetary justice that takes account of social, environmental, and procedural justice and intergenerational principles in the international monetary system."

This is not a light-hearted read.

But it is essential for those in finance and governements (or who want to influence those areas) to understand how our current systems are failing and why we need something new. Verhagen describes it as needing to "repair the present global monetary, financial, and economic systems that enrich the few, impoverish the many, and imperil the planet."

If you're interested in the official press release, you can read it here. Dr. Frans Verhagen is a sustainability sociologist with a Ph.D. in the sociology of international development from Columbia University. he founded the Queens Green party, the Riverside Church Ecology Task Force, and the Ecolinguistics Commission. He has worked around the world and online teaching environmental policies and sustainability.He is online at www.timun.net.

Noble Enterprise by Darwin Gillett selected as one of Top 40 Business Books

We thought our readers might enjoy this blog entry from John Spence, a well-known business blogger, author, and recipient of an Honorable Mention from Small Business Influencer in 2011. John chose 40 books out of the more than 2000 business titles he has read to make his "Top 40 Business Books" list--quite an honor for all involved. John says.

“I sit here in my office surrounded by more than 2,000 business books I must admit that it is pretty tough to narrow it down to just a handful of the very best.  However, if I were going to pick the top books that I feel give the best information for how to run a business successfully this would be my list.”

We are proud to announce that Darwin Gillett, author of Noble Enterprise, is on that list, putting him in league with authors Tom Peters, Jim Collins, Warren Bennis, and other luminairies! Noble Enterprise, published in 2008, offers the insights, leadership tools, and inspiration for entrepreneurs to create a business--a noble enterprise-- that will lead employees to new heights of performance. It teaches business owners to:

• Strengthen the organization by awakening and activating the rich array of human energy, wisdom, passion, and purpose in employees;
• Revitalize your company by creating and implementing a plan for turning around (and turning on) even the most "stuck" operation;
• Build sustainable growth and profitability by learning the secrets of corporate revitalization and applying them to achieve sustainable success;
• Expand your leadership impact by building employee morale and commitment and helping employees achieve big performance goals; and
• Inspire your people by increasing employees' enthusiasm and confidence and turning your company into a high-performing noble enterprise

Dare to Care Author Calls for Cooperation on Financial Crises in Online Video

Dare to Care author Louis Bohtlingk calls us to action and presents his ideas about how to transform the financial world in his new online video. You can watch the video below, as well as check out Louis's online platform for Dare to Care. Louis invites us:

LET’S RAISE OUR VOICES, SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE AND BUILD TOGETHER!“Join the discussion about the state of our financial world and our economies and what we can do to create a better situation for us all. We need to hear everyone and work together. We all can make a contribution.”

You can view more videos from Louis on his website, www.carefirstworld.com.

Cygnus Review in the UK had this to say about Dare to Care:

“Louis Bohtlingk offers an inspiringly simple yet far-reaching idea 
for transforming our economy and the world of finance, so that it support rather than undermines, 
our human needs and those of our planet.”

BEA: Now With Streaming Video, But No Wi-Fi

This week we're splitting our time between working in the office and taking away as much as we can from the information bubble that is Book Expo America (BEA).

Held each year for four knowledge-packed days at the Javits Center in New York, BEA is a time when publishers can sit in on sessions and listen to experts tell them what they've been doing wrong (or right), where authors can learn tricks of the trade and how to navigate the mystical world of publishing, and where authors and publishers alike can meet with each other and forge lasting business contacts. It's both a frustrating, draining, and exciting time each year, filled with swag and free books, and this year, BEA brings us live video for those of you stuck at home to watch the action. The bonus is, you still get wi-fi in your living room, while those of us down in the Javits Center conference rooms have to stick it out with plain old 3G--or no service at all.

Ain't technology grand?

Blogger Rory O'Connor Praises New Book by Danny Schechter

Hey, you all remember Rory O'Connor? He's a journalist and a blogger and recently held a virtual book tour for his new book, Friends, Followers and the Future: How Social Media are Changing Politics, Threatening Big Brands and Killing Traditional Media.

Well, Mr. O'Connor has written a rather raving review of Danny's new book, Blogothon. Blogothon analyzes the media and its treatment of major events and persons over the last several years, much in the way O'Connor dissects the effects of social media on the traditional media landscape. If you're a fan of Rory or Danny or both, you should check out the review and then their books.