How to Boil a Frog

How to Boil a Frog is a humor-oriented website run by TV writer/producer Jon Cooksey that puts up free short videos, articles, links and other materials about the consequences of overshoot, including global warming, peak oil, overpopulation, income inequality and what the site calls the “war on nature” – overuse of natural resources, extinction, and so on. The site also has two subsidiary pages, [http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/frogblog the Frog Blog] – free-ranging cultural and political critiques, with lots of pictures, supposedly written by the site’s mascot, Lou the Frog – and a page with a sort of Candyland feel that serves as a video-based overview on the subject of peak oil.

The website went up in August 2007, and text on the site says it’s part of a feature-length [http://www.boulderrelocalization.org/documents/frogmovie.pdf] movie currently being produced by Cooksey’s company, Fools Bay Entertainment.

The free videos on the website include both mini-interviews with top climatologists [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9lySME-kwY] , environmental authors [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNNzsmyXIy4] , experts in peak oil and energy depletion [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDGJJ7nKl2Q] , journalists [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mas-8Vf301k] , politicians [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdXdZLSY5hM] , activists [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7Uoph_SCjM] , economists [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hRUWHfbfA] , sustainability experts [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz058vVqQ7o] ,and others, as well as humorous mini-documentaries on issues like coal-mining [http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2496796924158327980&hl=en-CA] and the Alberta tar sands [http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB0b2IpSVP8] .

The website also has a section called the “People's Video Project”, which invites people to upload their own self-interview videos to share their feelings and personal solutions on how each individual – and local community – can help prevent a climate change emergency and plan for a better future.

The website keeps content fresh with an always-changing “Series of 5” recommended movies, books, articles, web-shorts, etc., and by taking on all the different aspects of overshoot – political, economic, social and environmental. It also presents personal-level solutions, with videos and other resources on permaculture, relocalization [ [http://relocalize.net/about/relocalization What is Relocalization? | relocalize.net ] ] , lifestyle change, political action, formation of community, and so on. Users are encouraged to make their own lives better now while helping to save civilization.

The motto of the site is “make fun, make friends, make trouble”.

Contents

* Collections of recommended resources – 5 movies, 5 articles, 5 books and 5 web-shorts
* Mini-interviews with experts in many different fields
* Mini-documentaries
* Flash animation
* The People’s Video Project
* FrogBlog [http://www.howtoboilafrog.com]
* Peak Oil page [http://www.howtoboilafrog.com/peakoil.html]
* External links

Experts interviewed for the How to Boil a Frog movie

Per materials on the site, parts of all these interviews will eventually appear on the website as well, in the form of free short videos.

Peak Oil & Energy Issues

* Matthew Simmons – Author, “Twilight in the Desert”
* Charles Hall [http://www.esf.edu/efb/faculty/hall.htm ] Professor, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY (USA)
* Chris Skrebowski, Editor, Petroleum Review
* Dick Lawrence [http://sapintel.com/2007/10/the-world-energy-modeling-proj.html] , ASPO Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (USA)
* David Strahan [http://www.lastoilshock.com/] Author, “The Last Oil Shock” Oil Crisis

Climatology

* Jim Hansen, Director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (USA)
* Stephen Schneider [http://cesp.stanford.edu/news/1239/index.html] , Co-Director of the Center for Environmental Science and Policy (CESP) and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (IPER) (USA)
* Andrew Weaver [http://communications.uvic.ca/edge/weaver.html] Canada Research Chair in Climate Modeling and Analysis at the University of Victoria (Canada)

Journalists and authors

* George Monbiot, journalist & author (“Heat”) (UK)
* Ross Gelbspan, author (“Boiling Point”) (USA)
* Paul D. Thacker, journalist (USA)
* Naomi Oreskes, journalist & science historian (USA)
* Chris C. Mooney [http://www.waronscience.com/home.php] , journalist/blogger & author ("The Republican War on Science") (USA)

Environmental activism

* John Bennett [http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/news/2008/car-pollution-2008-01-17.html] , Climate Action Network (Canada)
* Rex Weyler, co-Founder of Greenpeace International (USA/Canada)
* David Dodge, Dan Woynillowicz & Chris Severson-Baker [http://water.wikia.com/wiki/Oil_sands] , Pembina Institute [http://www.pembina.org/] Canada

ocial Planners & Sustainability Experts

* Anita Burke [http://www.30daysofsustainability.com/exploring/right-next-door-revolution] , sustainability consultant and head of the Exxon Valdez cleanup (USA/Canada)
* Albert Bates, eco-village expert and author, “The Post-Petroleum Survival Guide and Cookbook”
* Torbjorn Lahti [http://www.sustainable.ie/convergence/7/natural.htm] co-author of “The Natural Step for Communities: How Cities and Towns Can Change to Sustainable Practices” [http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3841] based on The Natural Step developed in Sweden
* Julian Darley President, Post-Carbon Institute [http://www.postcarbon.org/]

Politics

* Marc Morano [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marc_Morano] Communications Director for the United States Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works
* John Godfrey, Liberal Party of Canada Environment Critic (Canada)
* Elizabeth May, Head of Green Party of Canada
* Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
* Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London (UK)
* Romina Picolotti [http://www.proteger.org.ar/doc515.html] , Secretary of the Environment for Argentina

Public relations

* Jim Hoggan [http://www.hoggan.com/about.html] , President, James Hoggan & Assoc. (Canada)
* Frank Maisano [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frank_Maisano] ,Energy & Environmental Media Specialist, Bracewell & Giuliani (USA)
* Patrick Moore, CEO, Greenspirit Strategies (Canada)

References

External links

* [http://www.howtoboilafrog.com How to Boil a Frog]