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Ecological Economics
An Inconvenient Apocalypse
The dream of endless bounty is over. We must save as much of Nature as is still possible and end the wealth-concentrating system that is destroying it. Wes Jackson, in his no-nonsense fashion, explains how our ecological collapse began with #agriculture, when we started to remove carbon from the soil to grow crops, then from the forests to build ships, and finally from the deep ground to build civilizations.
Now we need to power down as we face irreversible changes - inconvenient, to say the least.
Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen envision a transition - to fewer and less - to life without dense energy, with less destructive systems of agriculture. They chart a collective, realistic path for humanity - not only to survive, but also to emerge on the other side with a renewed appreciation of the larger living world, recognizing that the rediscovery of Nature, and of human connection is the greatest renaissance of all.
Their book, An Inconvenient #Apocalypse, Environmental Collapse, #Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity will be published by The University of Notre Dame Press in the fall of 2022 and will be available both in paper and in digital format.
Now we need to power down as we face irreversible changes - inconvenient, to say the least.
Wes Jackson and Robert Jensen envision a transition - to fewer and less - to life without dense energy, with less destructive systems of agriculture. They chart a collective, realistic path for humanity - not only to survive, but also to emerge on the other side with a renewed appreciation of the larger living world, recognizing that the rediscovery of Nature, and of human connection is the greatest renaissance of all.
Their book, An Inconvenient #Apocalypse, Environmental Collapse, #Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity will be published by The University of Notre Dame Press in the fall of 2022 and will be available both in paper and in digital format.
CODE RED, IPCC Climate Report
The 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, #IPCC, report marks an alarming turning point, but its summary message for policy makers misses the reality that stabilizing at 1.5-2°C over pre- industrial levels will fail to preserve a livable environment.
Already, at under 1.2°C, extreme weather and climate tipping points have been reached. The #CarbonSinks that supported a carbon budget are already stressed to the limit. The Amazon, once a major sink, is now a net emitter of greenhouse gases, due to rainforest destruction for animal and industrial agriculture and wildfires. The Arctic is melting fast, releasing methane from peat bogs, tundra, and from under the disappearing ice, whose ability to reflect heat, is also essential.
Even as industrial and fossil fuel interests control political and financial agendas, food security may be the decisive threat that makes policy-makers listen. As people become increasingly aware of the devastation around them, surveys show that a large percentage of the world’s population is now in support of the major changes that are necessary to survive the existential threat of climate change.
Code Red is the highest level of alert, but we are almost out of time to heed it and to reduce human-produced emissions sufficiently to slow down the rising concentration of greenhouse gases, and to preserve the Earth’s essential carbon sinks. Peter Carter, Brian Wright, and Mark Anderson reveal that the IPCC report needs to send a clearer and even more urgent message.
Already, at under 1.2°C, extreme weather and climate tipping points have been reached. The #CarbonSinks that supported a carbon budget are already stressed to the limit. The Amazon, once a major sink, is now a net emitter of greenhouse gases, due to rainforest destruction for animal and industrial agriculture and wildfires. The Arctic is melting fast, releasing methane from peat bogs, tundra, and from under the disappearing ice, whose ability to reflect heat, is also essential.
Even as industrial and fossil fuel interests control political and financial agendas, food security may be the decisive threat that makes policy-makers listen. As people become increasingly aware of the devastation around them, surveys show that a large percentage of the world’s population is now in support of the major changes that are necessary to survive the existential threat of climate change.
Code Red is the highest level of alert, but we are almost out of time to heed it and to reduce human-produced emissions sufficiently to slow down the rising concentration of greenhouse gases, and to preserve the Earth’s essential carbon sinks. Peter Carter, Brian Wright, and Mark Anderson reveal that the IPCC report needs to send a clearer and even more urgent message.
Overstepping Our Ecological Footprint - Dr. William Rees
Dr. William Rees, who coined the term #EcologicalFootprint, speaks with us about the untenable situation that humanity is in. Dr. Rees is not shy about his sense that we are now in complete overshoot in terms of civilization's unsustainable use of Earth's non-renewable resources and dumping the wastes of our industrial/consumerist economic model of infinite exponential growth on a limited planet.
Addiction to Growth - Root Cause of Climate Change
'Climate Matters' welcomes Dr. Philip Lawn, from the International Society for Ecological Economics (http://isecoeco.org) and Binzagr Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, to today's show. We discuss the root cause of climate change, and so many other ills of society and the ecosphere, our global Addiction to Growth.
The Phosphorus Conundrum
Issac Asimov described #Phosphorus as “Life’s bottleneck”. There is no life without it. Although it is a common element, only a finite percentage is available to us. Farms use huge amounts of phosphorus - much of which flows into waterways, creating toxic pea soup lakes, and dead zones. We’re wasting an essential mineral, and turning it into a serious problem.
As Isaac Asimov put it “Life can multiply until all the phosphorus has gone and then there is an inexorable halt which nothing can prevent’’
We have to find ways to preserve phosphorus where it’s needed, and to keep it from fostering algae blooms in the water. Instead of replenishing it in large quantities after every harvest, farms need to make use of microbes and certain crops that can keep it in the soil.
Phosphorus, which literally means light bearer, for its phosphorescent quality, gives life, but in the wrong place and in the wrong quantity it’s an environmental hazard.
Professors #StephenPorder of Brown University and Eric Roy of the University of Vermont explain their work on the phosphorous cycle.
For more about Life’ s essential elements, read Stephen’s book Elemental: How five elements changed Earth's past and will shape our future
As Isaac Asimov put it “Life can multiply until all the phosphorus has gone and then there is an inexorable halt which nothing can prevent’’
We have to find ways to preserve phosphorus where it’s needed, and to keep it from fostering algae blooms in the water. Instead of replenishing it in large quantities after every harvest, farms need to make use of microbes and certain crops that can keep it in the soil.
Phosphorus, which literally means light bearer, for its phosphorescent quality, gives life, but in the wrong place and in the wrong quantity it’s an environmental hazard.
Professors #StephenPorder of Brown University and Eric Roy of the University of Vermont explain their work on the phosphorous cycle.
For more about Life’ s essential elements, read Stephen’s book Elemental: How five elements changed Earth's past and will shape our future
Reversing Global Warming, Paul Hawken at Bioneers
The visionary goal of Project Drawdown, founded by #PaulHawken, is to actually reverse global warming by drawing carbon out of the atmosphere back down to pre-industrial levels. All the practices and technologies documented in Paul’s best-selling book, #ProjectDrawdown are already commonly available, economically viable, and scientifically valid.
The true power of Drawdown is its holistic nature. Doing what’s right for the climate means doing the right thing across the board, creating abundant, meaningful jobs and a vibrant green economy. For over 30 years, Paul has been at the forefront of transformative solutions for people and the planet.
This keynote talk was given at the 2019 Bioneers Conference.
The true power of Drawdown is its holistic nature. Doing what’s right for the climate means doing the right thing across the board, creating abundant, meaningful jobs and a vibrant green economy. For over 30 years, Paul has been at the forefront of transformative solutions for people and the planet.
This keynote talk was given at the 2019 Bioneers Conference.
Dr. Bill Rees - The Disastrous Big Picture
It brings me no great pleasure to share the forebodings of accomplished scientists that humanity has already strayed too far over the planetary limits, especially when the existing economic order that rules humanity insists upon hiding these details from the overwhelming majority of its people.
I have dealt with the 'existing economic order' time and time again. It calls itself 'economics' as a front for its real name, NeoClassical growth economics. Its rulers are the central banks and their member commercial banks and nearly the entire financial industry, plus their political operatives, consisting of so-called elected leaders, and the untold numbers of paid lobbyists, but far outnumbered of the trained 'so-called' economists and business-as-usual (BAU) majors, schooled at universities in the axioms and principles of an economic model that demands unending growth of the human economy into a non-growing biosphere, ecosphere, and an ever-diminishing natural resource base, while dispersing its expanding waste products into ecosystems on land, air and water unprepared to absorb exponentially expanding wastes.
In short, humanity is trashing the precious Earth, the only planet that can sustain us, while those at the top, the financial elites, plan a tenuous retreat off the Earth to hypothetical colonies on Mars or outer space, (the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezos's, Mark Zuckerbergs, and countless venture capitalists and corporate CEOs who are even now building their survival bunkers in the northern and southern extremes of planet Earth) (see • Villains & Heroes ).
What supreme folly! Yet the multitudes remain ignorant of the 'big picture' since our education and 'news' systems are also tooled to hide such details from us for the most part, and it falls to maverick economists, ecologists, scientists, educators, and the systems thinkers among us to try and awaken the rest. We are not training a populace of 'systems thinkers' and have not for a long time. Rather we are training an obedient mass of followers, ready to report to work, vote as they have been told to electing leaders who are the implementers of the destructive NeoLiberal and NeoConservative world orders with propaganda self-described as 'news' and conventional education.
Dr. William Rees, or Bill Rees and I discuss in today's third and final installment, the nature of humanity's overshoot of the carrying capacity of Earth, and the tenuous nature of our temporary 'lease' on the surface of Earth, a lease we continue to violate at our own peril.
The image I've chosen as a 'thumbnail' for this episode is not the 'stayed and stodgy' image of an ecologist (Bill Rees) and a representation of the damage we discuss. Rather I have chosen an image of one of the many smiley-faced models chosen by the 'existing economic order' to implant "fantasies of unending economic growth" with which we are bombarded daily by the likes of Fox News and other mouthpieces for a system of 'growth at all cost' perpetuated by lulling consumers into the 'consumer confidence' (so shaken by the current COVID pandemic) in the false hopes of returning humanity to the very system that is terminating our lease on Earth.
I cannot say 'enjoy today's installment,' but I can urge you to watch it in its entirety and then share it as widely as possible in the hopes we will awaken sufficient numbers of our friends, family and associates from their complicity and sleepwalking through a world order that spells the end of much of life on Earth, and worse.
I have dealt with the 'existing economic order' time and time again. It calls itself 'economics' as a front for its real name, NeoClassical growth economics. Its rulers are the central banks and their member commercial banks and nearly the entire financial industry, plus their political operatives, consisting of so-called elected leaders, and the untold numbers of paid lobbyists, but far outnumbered of the trained 'so-called' economists and business-as-usual (BAU) majors, schooled at universities in the axioms and principles of an economic model that demands unending growth of the human economy into a non-growing biosphere, ecosphere, and an ever-diminishing natural resource base, while dispersing its expanding waste products into ecosystems on land, air and water unprepared to absorb exponentially expanding wastes.
In short, humanity is trashing the precious Earth, the only planet that can sustain us, while those at the top, the financial elites, plan a tenuous retreat off the Earth to hypothetical colonies on Mars or outer space, (the Elon Musks, Jeff Bezos's, Mark Zuckerbergs, and countless venture capitalists and corporate CEOs who are even now building their survival bunkers in the northern and southern extremes of planet Earth) (see • Villains & Heroes ).
What supreme folly! Yet the multitudes remain ignorant of the 'big picture' since our education and 'news' systems are also tooled to hide such details from us for the most part, and it falls to maverick economists, ecologists, scientists, educators, and the systems thinkers among us to try and awaken the rest. We are not training a populace of 'systems thinkers' and have not for a long time. Rather we are training an obedient mass of followers, ready to report to work, vote as they have been told to electing leaders who are the implementers of the destructive NeoLiberal and NeoConservative world orders with propaganda self-described as 'news' and conventional education.
Dr. William Rees, or Bill Rees and I discuss in today's third and final installment, the nature of humanity's overshoot of the carrying capacity of Earth, and the tenuous nature of our temporary 'lease' on the surface of Earth, a lease we continue to violate at our own peril.
The image I've chosen as a 'thumbnail' for this episode is not the 'stayed and stodgy' image of an ecologist (Bill Rees) and a representation of the damage we discuss. Rather I have chosen an image of one of the many smiley-faced models chosen by the 'existing economic order' to implant "fantasies of unending economic growth" with which we are bombarded daily by the likes of Fox News and other mouthpieces for a system of 'growth at all cost' perpetuated by lulling consumers into the 'consumer confidence' (so shaken by the current COVID pandemic) in the false hopes of returning humanity to the very system that is terminating our lease on Earth.
I cannot say 'enjoy today's installment,' but I can urge you to watch it in its entirety and then share it as widely as possible in the hopes we will awaken sufficient numbers of our friends, family and associates from their complicity and sleepwalking through a world order that spells the end of much of life on Earth, and worse.
Ecological Economics, Climate Change & the New Green Economy
This 'Climate Matters' show traces our present environmental & ecological dilemmas to their source in an economic system that prioritizes growth over social and environmental well-being, pointing to other directions that humanity must take to resolve our substantial problems.
The Economics of Climate Destruction
#Capitalism is at the root of the environmental collapse tightening its grip on the Earth's biosphere, leading to the probable collapse of local #ecosystems, and food shortages throughout the world. Dr. Luiz Marques, a leading proponent of #EcologicalEconomics (http://isecoeco.org) shows why an economy based on continuous exponential growth, is unsustainable. He takes us along a timeline of destruction beginning in 1950, and accelerating from 1990 on, when most of the emissions have occurred.
Dr. Marques is a Professor of Environmental History at the State University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil. He opposes the 'neoclassical economics' taught in business schools around the world, which considers Nature and the environment as mere externalities.
A philosophy professor specializing in logic, Dr. Marques provides the logical connections between current economic systems and ecological devastation.
Dr. Marques is a Professor of Environmental History at the State University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil. He opposes the 'neoclassical economics' taught in business schools around the world, which considers Nature and the environment as mere externalities.
A philosophy professor specializing in logic, Dr. Marques provides the logical connections between current economic systems and ecological devastation.
No More Room for Growth - Herman Daly at the World Bank
#HermanDaly should be known by everyone, but instead J.P. Morgan is the famous one. Morgan forced the system of NeoClassical Economics on us all in the last century (long story how). Herman Daly, a Senior Vice President at the World Bank for 6 years, came up with #EcologicalEconomics, which is a whole different way of looking at the human economy. Problem is, Morgan's system was tailored to benefit the banks and already rich aristocracy. Daly's is implicitly fair to both, people and Nature.
So I am on a one-man crusade, with a wonderful FacingFuture.Earth team supporting my work, to get Ecological Economics widely understood, and see that Ecological Economics is what we end up if this pandemic ever ends, or when our current economy collapses under the weight of its own internal contradictions... the main contradiction of which is that the current system (which we unquestioningly accept as the only one possible after it being 'the only game in town' for 100 years or so) denies that there are any planetary #LimitsToGrowth, limits to how big the human economy can grow, limits to the amounts of resources we can extract from the planet, and limits to the Earth's ability to assimilate our waste. NeoClassical economics, which has conveniently become known simply as 'economics', refuses to recognize its flaws. Ecological Economics corrects these flaws.
So I am on a one-man crusade, with a wonderful FacingFuture.Earth team supporting my work, to get Ecological Economics widely understood, and see that Ecological Economics is what we end up if this pandemic ever ends, or when our current economy collapses under the weight of its own internal contradictions... the main contradiction of which is that the current system (which we unquestioningly accept as the only one possible after it being 'the only game in town' for 100 years or so) denies that there are any planetary #LimitsToGrowth, limits to how big the human economy can grow, limits to the amounts of resources we can extract from the planet, and limits to the Earth's ability to assimilate our waste. NeoClassical economics, which has conveniently become known simply as 'economics', refuses to recognize its flaws. Ecological Economics corrects these flaws.
This Decisive Decade Luiz Marques
This is Part 2 of Facing Future TV’s discussion with Dr. Luiz Marques about his upcoming book, 'The Decisive Decade'.
Dr. Marques is a Professor of Environmental History at the State University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil. Here we discuss how war, overconsumption, pollution and ecological destruction are accelerating the #climate crisis while harming our health and the planet. This is fueled by global #capitalism and the grip of corporate control which rages unchecked. We must evolve to defeat the climate crisis - and this includes true accountability for corporate agents of ruin.
Dr. Luiz Marques, a leading proponent of #EcologicalEconomics (http://isecoeco.org) shows why an economy based on continuous exponential growth, is unsustainable.
Dr. Marques is a Professor of Environmental History at the State University of Campinas in São Paolo, Brazil. Here we discuss how war, overconsumption, pollution and ecological destruction are accelerating the #climate crisis while harming our health and the planet. This is fueled by global #capitalism and the grip of corporate control which rages unchecked. We must evolve to defeat the climate crisis - and this includes true accountability for corporate agents of ruin.
Dr. Luiz Marques, a leading proponent of #EcologicalEconomics (http://isecoeco.org) shows why an economy based on continuous exponential growth, is unsustainable.
Ecological Economics - to Avoid Ecollapse
According to António Guterres, Sec. Gen'l of the UN, "The State of #ThePlanetIsBroken."
How broken? A lot more broken than we know, since most of us do not factor in Time as a relevant element. The only way to fix it is to switch civilization away from NeoClassical 'growth' Economics, and switch to #EcologicalEconomics, a little-known savior of the planet... if we can get there in time.
We are courting an #Ecollaspse. Death by 1,000 cuts... unless we change our economic game plan willfully. If we don't, Mother Nature, in all her unemotional glory, will do it for us.
How broken? A lot more broken than we know, since most of us do not factor in Time as a relevant element. The only way to fix it is to switch civilization away from NeoClassical 'growth' Economics, and switch to #EcologicalEconomics, a little-known savior of the planet... if we can get there in time.
We are courting an #Ecollaspse. Death by 1,000 cuts... unless we change our economic game plan willfully. If we don't, Mother Nature, in all her unemotional glory, will do it for us.
Stuart Scott's Intervention to DeGrowth-Ecological Economics Colloquium
I was invited to give a speech at the joint colloquium of the European #DeGrowth Movement and the International Society for #EcologicalEconomics. I call it an 'intervention' since the cognitive associations with the term 'intervention' are more urgent and pertinent. I am quite pleased with the intervention. I think you will find it seminal in some important ways and am making it available outside of the colloquium on the same day it is being aired out of Manchester, England.
Please watch and share it widely. And please, if you have the time and inclination, and experience and a following in any social media, get in touch with us at contact@FacingFuture.Earth in that regard.
With sincere gratitude for #LifeOnEarth,
Stuart Scott
Please watch and share it widely. And please, if you have the time and inclination, and experience and a following in any social media, get in touch with us at contact@FacingFuture.Earth in that regard.
With sincere gratitude for #LifeOnEarth,
Stuart Scott
Climate Finance or Failure
#ClimateFinance is integral to combating climate change. Financial strategies can be leveraged and innovated to either support environmental sustainability, or to empower false solutions. Speaking at #COP28 in Dubai, Raya Salter, Tom Goldtooth, and Dan Galpern take a hard look at where the money is flowing, whether it will really benefit the planet or not, and the legal action that can be taken when it is not working.
The #ClimateCrisis demands immediate real action, not band aids that keep the fossil fuel industry afloat.
For more about Tom Goldtooth's work
https://www.ienearth.org/
For more about Dan Galpern's work
https://cprclimate.org/
For more about Raya Salter's work
https://www.rayasalter.com/
The #ClimateCrisis demands immediate real action, not band aids that keep the fossil fuel industry afloat.
For more about Tom Goldtooth's work
https://www.ienearth.org/
For more about Dan Galpern's work
https://cprclimate.org/
For more about Raya Salter's work
https://www.rayasalter.com/
Ecological Economics, Climate Change and Sustainability
In this 'Climate Matters' program, we discuss ecological economics, some of the social and ecological problems it would help resolve, the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (minus the one that's NOT sustainable) and environmental art with Dr. Stanislav Shmelev, Director of Environment Europe.
Dr. Daly's 10 Candles - Economic Policies to Fix Climate Change
Here is another video in our series about Ecological Economics, taped at the UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany.
Here we present Herman Daly's '10 candles,' several of them in depth. Climate change is at its root caused by the current dysfunctional 'growth economics' system that promotes consumption and waste with profit as its only measure of success. With that realization we can go on to consider other broader visions of how we might move to an economic system that promotes other values on an equal footing.
Here we present Herman Daly's '10 candles,' several of them in depth. Climate change is at its root caused by the current dysfunctional 'growth economics' system that promotes consumption and waste with profit as its only measure of success. With that realization we can go on to consider other broader visions of how we might move to an economic system that promotes other values on an equal footing.
Getting to the Bottom of Ecological Economics with Dr. Jon Erickson
In order to have a chance to avoid the #CollapseOfCivilization we must get rid of the current globally dominant but highly dysfunctional NeoClassical growth economics, which was forced upon humanity by wealthy banking and financial interests since it benefits them the most. The rest of humanity has been enslaved by a combination of 'wage slavery' and pure debt slavery at every level, from individuals, to companies and municipalities, and nations. We are all slaves to the banks, who create money out of thin air (lending it into existence) and are paid interest for the privilege of doing so!
Growth economics makes the fatal assumptions that we will never run out of resources, and that the Earth will always be able to absorb our wastes on an ever-growing scale - pollution, carbon emissions, radioactive waste, plastic... to say nothing of the pure lies which are mental pollution of a dumbed down, poorly educated citizenry.
This is pure folly, and we can see Nature unraveling before our eyes if we only look. Hence the culture of distraction that has been developed by the controlling powers in order to hide out plight from us. And ironically, the principal corrupter of the truth is the current president of the US, the ultimate source of 'fake news,' who is willing to lie, cheat and condemn hundreds of thousands of Americans to a painful death by COVID-19 in order to hold on to power. Excuse the political statement if you must, but it is critical that we remove this menace to humanity and the natural world from his position of power. We've got to #DumpTrump in the upcoming election or any hope of survival will be lost.
The only viable escape route we have from nations re-instituting #GrowthEconomics is by understanding and implementing #EcologicalEconomics. As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, which is tearing apart the growth-oriented economies of nations, we as individuals, communities and transnational associations of people must rebuild local and regional economies based upon the principles of Ecological Economics.
Here is a brief, cogent explanation of Ecological Economics by Dr. Jon Erickson of the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.
Growth economics makes the fatal assumptions that we will never run out of resources, and that the Earth will always be able to absorb our wastes on an ever-growing scale - pollution, carbon emissions, radioactive waste, plastic... to say nothing of the pure lies which are mental pollution of a dumbed down, poorly educated citizenry.
This is pure folly, and we can see Nature unraveling before our eyes if we only look. Hence the culture of distraction that has been developed by the controlling powers in order to hide out plight from us. And ironically, the principal corrupter of the truth is the current president of the US, the ultimate source of 'fake news,' who is willing to lie, cheat and condemn hundreds of thousands of Americans to a painful death by COVID-19 in order to hold on to power. Excuse the political statement if you must, but it is critical that we remove this menace to humanity and the natural world from his position of power. We've got to #DumpTrump in the upcoming election or any hope of survival will be lost.
The only viable escape route we have from nations re-instituting #GrowthEconomics is by understanding and implementing #EcologicalEconomics. As we emerge from the COVID pandemic, which is tearing apart the growth-oriented economies of nations, we as individuals, communities and transnational associations of people must rebuild local and regional economies based upon the principles of Ecological Economics.
Here is a brief, cogent explanation of Ecological Economics by Dr. Jon Erickson of the University of Vermont's Gund Institute for Ecological Economics.
Economy Meets Ecology
In an era where the impacts of #ClimateChange are becoming increasingly pronounced, this session focuses on how economic models can be reimagined and realigned to support ecological health and sustainability. #RayaSalter Esq., Dr, Deb Ley and Dr. Cindy Isenhour explore the integration of #EcologicalEconomies, in which the value of ecosystem services is placed above profit
Making Sustainability Mean Something
Here we discuss 'sustainability' with the 'Father of Ecological Economics', Dr. Herman Daly.
https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/i...
For decades, if not centuries, we have been over-exploiting our one planet, our only home. If we are to survive, achieving true sustainability must be the most important aim in our lives, personally, politically, academically and professionally.
The oxymoron of 'sustainable growth' is an attempt by those who perpetrate the current defective NeoClassical economic system to trick us. It worked while there was plenty of planet left for us to extract from, degrade and despoil. But the time is long past when we can get away with that economic model, installed by JP Morgan in what is called the NeoLiberal Coup at the University Chicago early in the 20th century. For 100 years we have lived with the system that benefits the bankers the most, and destroys the planet, considered to be an 'externality' that does not matter under the current system. Profit 'über alles'. Profit is the 'prime directive'.
https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/i...
For decades, if not centuries, we have been over-exploiting our one planet, our only home. If we are to survive, achieving true sustainability must be the most important aim in our lives, personally, politically, academically and professionally.
The oxymoron of 'sustainable growth' is an attempt by those who perpetrate the current defective NeoClassical economic system to trick us. It worked while there was plenty of planet left for us to extract from, degrade and despoil. But the time is long past when we can get away with that economic model, installed by JP Morgan in what is called the NeoLiberal Coup at the University Chicago early in the 20th century. For 100 years we have lived with the system that benefits the bankers the most, and destroys the planet, considered to be an 'externality' that does not matter under the current system. Profit 'über alles'. Profit is the 'prime directive'.
The Simultaneous Policy Pledge
Governments, locked in global competition, are disabled by the paradigm of economic growth, as they vie to entice corporations and industries with low taxes and subsidies. How can this fear of taking the right action, and being at a disadvantage, be overcome?
John Bunzl offers The SIMPOL pledge to be signed by citizens who agree to vote for those politicians who have themselves signed the pledge to act simultaneously when enough nations are on board. Executives of corporations can also sign on, and commit to lowering their emissions.
Together with NIck Duffell, he co authored The SIMPOL Solution, which explores the psychology, as well as the political and economic traps, that have prevented us from dealing with the #ClimateCrisis.
John Bunzl offers The SIMPOL pledge to be signed by citizens who agree to vote for those politicians who have themselves signed the pledge to act simultaneously when enough nations are on board. Executives of corporations can also sign on, and commit to lowering their emissions.
Together with NIck Duffell, he co authored The SIMPOL Solution, which explores the psychology, as well as the political and economic traps, that have prevented us from dealing with the #ClimateCrisis.
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