Sustainable economy
Book Review: ‘Bright Green Lies’ Torpedoes Greens
The authors of ‘Bright Green Lies’ write: “Today’s environmental movement stands upon the shoulders of giants, but something has gone terribly wrong… Mainstream environmentalists now overwhelmingly prioritize saving industrial civilization over saving life on the planet.”
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GPI vs. GDP: Does Size Matter More Than Substance?
U.S House Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) recently introduced a bill in Congress to overhaul GDP, the nation’s most watched economic indicator. July 30th she introduced the Genuine Progress Indicator (“GPI”) Act. It would be a significant change for the trajectory of the socio-economic system.
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Dunedin Becomes Latest City To Back Regenerative ‘Doughnut Economics’
Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins has some brilliant news: his city is going doughnut.
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Doughnut Economics Boots Capitalism Out!
The rapid rise of Covid-19 has spawned a renaissance in socio-economic thinking about the best way to face the future, as mayors of cities throughout the world search for answers in the face of declining revenues while society demands more urgent help.
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The Unspoken Premise Of Modern Capitalism Is That The World Will Be Saved By Greedy Tech Oligarchs
The world is still very much locked into zealous worship of the great god known as capitalism. And it is choking the world to death.
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Change Direction Post COVID-19
Our entire system needs to change coming out the other side of this “great pause”. Change will need to be driven from within, and external public policy. Pain and time to reflect can create opportunity to change.
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After the Coronavirus, Two Sharply Divergent Paths on Climate
Some policy experts are optimistic that victory over the coronavirus will instill greater appreciation for what government, science, and business can do to tackle climate change. But others believe the economic damage caused by the virus will set back climate efforts for years to come.
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Will Covid-19 spur a Peoples’ Bailout for the World’s Poorest?
The question is whether Covid-19 will awaken us to the stark inequalities of our world, or does it simply represent a new cause of impoverishment for the vast swathes of humanity who have long been disregarded by the public’s conscience?
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Governments Have ‘Historic Opportunity’ to Accelerate Clean Energy Transition, IEA Says
Political and financial leaders have “a historic opportunity” to usher in a new era for global climate action with economic stimulus packages to confront the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said.
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Beyond Capitalism and Socialism: A Conversation On Inventing the Regenerative Economy
As wealth inequality continues to grow, the escalating consequences of traditional economic models that have exploited the Earth and left millions in poverty are pushing us to the brink of transition. But what will the next system look like? How can we build a regenerative system that’s both socially and environmentally sustainable?
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Kill GDP to Help Save the Planet
There’s a problem with America’s favorite statistic: GDP. It avoids pretty much everything that’s actually, truly, really good for society, including the importance of robust ecology. Still, it’s the biggest measure of what’s happening with the economy and used around the world, even though horribly flawed.
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Could Abandoned Agricultural Lands Help Save the Planet?
Agriculture’s global footprint is decreasing — more land globally is now being abandoned by farming than converted to it. This, some researchers contend, presents an opportunity for ecological restoration that could help fight climate change and stem the loss of biodiversity.
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Climate Crisis to Drive All Future New Zealand Government Policies
New Zealand is stepping up its efforts to stop global warming. All new government decisions will be made with the climate change crisis in mind.
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Cuba: the Tragic Beacon of Imperfect Possibility
Miki Kashtan celebrates all that this small island has managed in spite of enormous obstacles, with its determined, solidarity-bound, embattled, vibrant, alive, intent, imaginative, sensuous, friendly, committed population.
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Ted Talk: How to Transform Apocalypse Fatigue Into Action on Global Warming
Ted Talk by Per Espen Stoknes The biggest obstacle to dealing with climate disruptions lies...
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Paying It Forward: Interview With Nipun Mehta
For more than 20 years, Nipun Mehta and his parents have been opening his doors to friends and strangers every Wednesday evening, creating a space for people to sit in circle together, meditate, share thoughts, and enjoy a meal. The invitation is to “wake up to wisdom in stillness and community,” a simple gesture of service and connection that now takes place in people’s living rooms across the globe.
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Neoliberalism Backfires
Massive, continuous demonstrations in the streets around the world bespeak a universal threat that neoliberalism’s self-immolation will grow worse and worse if it continues its horribly stale rotted emphasis on globalization and austerity of social programs as the answers for progress. It’s backfiring.
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Death by Oligarchy
Written by Chris Hedges / TruthDig Oligarchs are blinded by hubris, wealth and power. Their...
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Guidelines for a Flourishing City
It would seem the belief system behind urban development in many cities is that a healthy eco-system and a thriving city are mutually exclusive. But does that really have to be the case?
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Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin: If We Want a Future, Green New Deal Is Key
Climate change is by far the most serious crisis facing the world today. At stake is the future of civilization as we know it. In this interview, Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin discuss the challenges ahead and what needs to be done.
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To Confront Climate Change, We Need an Ecological Democracy
Marit Hammond, a lecturer in environmental politics at Keele University in the U.K., advocates for the necessity of an “ecological democracy” in order to meet the climate emergency urgently and sustainably. In this interview, Hammond offers insights on what this new form of democracy would look like and how we can get there.
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Jacinda Ardern Says Economic Growth Is Pointless If People Aren’t Thriving
New Zealand’s new well-being budget focuses on mental health and poverty reduction.
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The Climate Is Changing And So Must We
The threat of climate change requires us to change. If we can all act together with continuing lifestyle changes, our kids will be grateful.
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This Is Not the Sixth Extinction. It’s the First Extermination Event.
From the “insect apocalypse” to the “biological annihilation” of 60 percent of all wild animals in the past 50 years, life is careening across every planetary boundary that might stop it from experiencing a “Great Dying” once more. But this atrocity has no goelogical analogue. To call it the “sixth extinction event” is to make what is an active, organized eradication sound like some kind of passive accident. We are in the midst of the First Extermination Event.
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Communities Know What’s Good for Them When It Comes to Transport
Designing transport projects to help free up traffic is a flawed approach if done in isolation or prioritisation to the safe and active movement of people.
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Ecosocialism & Just Transition
Climate change requires major societal change. But how do we ensure this transformation is done in a fair and just manner? John Bellamy Foster—a renowned environmental sociologist and editor of Monthly Review—takes a look at the idea of the Just Transition, arguing that any strategy to save the planet must go beyond the strictures of capitalism.
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Fear vs. Fear
Written by Chris Hedges / TruthDig The old rules of politics no longer apply. The only language...
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We Got to the Moon. We Can Overcome War and Capitalism.
Written by William Rivers Pitt / TruthOut “For me, the most ironic token of [the first human moon...
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It’s Prime Time to Boycott Amazon
The idea behind non-profit Threshold’s new campaign, Cancel Prime, is for people to pledge to cancel their Amazon Prime accounts and stop shopping at Whole Foods—when there is a critical mass of people who will divest together.
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7 Key Places That Have Declared Climate Emergencies
In recent years, at least 749 municipalities in 16 different countries representing more than 138 million people have declared climate emergencies.
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The Rights of Nature with Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey
Communities are now passing legislation to recognize the legally binding rights of nature. This spreading network is honoring and upholding the personhood of the environment, instead of the personhood of the corporations destroying it. Featuring Mari Margil, Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and Thomas Linzey, co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
Read More16 Companies Rethinking Packaging
Packaging is also the main source of the plastic pollution that is clogging the ocean and expected to exceed the weight of all fish by 2050 at current rates. The food industry is largely responsible for this growing packaging problem. Recognizing this issue, and under pressure from consumers, several of these very same corporations have recently pledged to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging.
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Gift Ecology: A Conversation with Nipun Mehta
NIPUN MEHTA is one of the founders of ServiceSpace, Karma Kitchen, DailyGood, KindSpring and other organizations that successfully work within the Gift Ecology.
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Redefining Growth Through Biophilia
When the economy is unpacked, people are at its centre and people’s wellbeing is inextricably linked to nature. Investing in Biophilia can help redefine how we understand progress and challenge our perception of growth.
Read MoreConnecting the Dots: Insane Trade and Climate Chaos
Imagine a world where food routinely gets shipped thousands of miles away to be processed, then shipped back to be sold right where it started. Imagine cows from Mexico being fed corn imported from the United States, then being exported to the United States for butchering, and the resulting meat being shipped back to Mexico, one last time, to be sold.This may sound like the premise of some darkly comic, faintly dystopian film – albeit one geared towards policy wonks. But it’s no joke – in fact, it is the daily reality of the global economy.
Read MoreMending Hearts: How a ‘Repair Economy’ Creates a Kinder, More Caring Community
Repair is discouraged by unavailable replacement parts, glued assemblies and tamper-proof cases that are difficult to open. So we discard things rather than fix them. Much research suggests this harms more than the natural environment. It also affects our mental environment. There’s a connection between the way society treats material objects and the way it treats people. Returning to an economy of repair could help create a kinder, more inclusive society. By mending broken things we might also help mend what’s broken in ourselves.
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What’s the Measure of Success for Good Urban Form?
What’s the measure of success of good urban form? For me, it’s equity. This looks like all members of the community enjoying access to safe, reliable and affordable transport that connects them within the community and to amenities. It’s housing that doesn’t have labels like ‘social’ and ‘affordable’ – everyone gets to live in a space that benefits their wellbeing. It’s also when the intrinsic value of nature is incorporated into our spaces, not built out.
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Where Are We Heading?
Someone intelligent once said – “we move towards what we focus on”. Every now and then it’s important we question as a society what are we focusing on, and therefore moving towards?
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Ozone-Depleting CFCs Return
But on May 22nd 2019, the same Science News magazine that broke the good news and celebrated “A Shrinking Ozone Hole in 2012” newest headline reads: “Emissions of a Banned Ozone-Destroying Chemical Have Been Traced to China.” It appears that our ozone problems are not over yet.
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Reclaim Our Power or Face Extinction: The Choice Is Ours
Human society is heading towards disaster on many levels, and our “leaders” are certainly not leading. The only thing likely to save humanity is if “We the people” reclaim our power and lead the charge towards a truly sustainable society.
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Water Bottling – The New ‘Gold Rush’ Industry
I oppose the expansion of the Otakiri Water Bottling Plant in the Eastern Bay of Plenty (New Zealand) for a number of reasons, but it’s got me thinking about equity of resources and what that means from a humanitarian perspective. At some stage, unless we experience a massive global sustainability shift, water will become the most precious resource we have. We will need it and so will others.
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Venezuelan Communes Protect the State
Venezuela’s ubiquitous Communes are proof that direct democracy works. And, interestingly enough, those same Communes are powerful buffers to attempted coups, protecting the sanctity of direct democracy in their country.
Read MoreRecorded Webinar – Reconnecting with the Earth for Personal and Global Healing (Part II: The Calling)
We are at a pivotal time in human history. Please join the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR) in a series of webinars where we explore the relationship between ecology, how we relate to one another and the earth, and healing from crisis. We have gathered experts from around the globe, including indigenous peoples, to speak to this topic, share best practices, and propose some solutions to the very complex problems we face.
Read MoreSocialism: Ecology or Nothing
Participatory economics and a participatory society puts in place a concern for human well being and development that doesn’t forcefully preclude harming other species, but which is receptive to and respectful of governmental or other social or ecological restraints on behalf of other species. If other species had votes, they would vote for participatory society.
Read MoreVenezuela’s Crisis: A View from the Communes
Regardless of what happens next in Venezuela, Julian believes that the strong level of community organisation built up over the past two decades will not go away easily. “There’s still a lot of strength, a high level of organisation. Wherever you look, you will find a commune, a cooperative, some kind of committee or organisation.
Read MoreExplosion of Interest in Worker Cooperatives Drives Economic Changes
Many have turned to the worker cooperative model as a way to build more sustainable jobs and communities. The goal isn’t just to start more worker cooperatives, but instead to cultivate entire ecosystems of cooperatives that transform the way the economy works.
Read MoreNew York City to Cut Meat Consumption by 50%
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today a plan to slash greenhouse gases by phasing out the purchase of processed meat and reducing beef purchases by 50 percent. The actions are part of the city’s own “Green New Deal” to attack the issue of global warming from all fronts in order to reduce emissions. The plan, laid out in “OneNYC 2050,” will ensure that NYC adheres to the Paris Agreement.
Read MoreThe (Other) Economic Madness of the Green New Deal
A green new deal that creates new jobs and stimulates economic growth amounts to little more than a final blow-out binge before our once-and-done global economy comes crashing down around our ears. The only means of mitigating the environmental catastrophe that is gathering pace around us is to engage in a managed process of de-growth to create far smaller, localised and less consumptive economies than we have had for many decades.
Read MoreThe Netherlands is Paying People to Cycle to Work
Being a relatively flat country no doubt helps encourage people to get on their bike. As does the expanse of cycle paths and lanes that keep bikes separate from other traffic. But there is a little-known additional incentive for Dutch people to get on their bike – tax credits.
Read MoreClimate Change Denial (the Other Sort) is Alive and Well
I leave it to readers to decide which is the more deplorable, the politician who refuses to accept the science or the politician who accepts the science but then behaves as if the science is a hoax. There is, however, clearly a different kind of climate change denial going on here; one that plays dangerously to the narrative of right wing false populists.
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(Ted Talk – Angel Hsu) How China is (and isn’t) fighting pollution and climate change
China is the world’s biggest polluter — and now one of its largest producers of clean energy. Which way will China go in the future, and how will it affect the global environment? Data scientist Angel Hsu describes how the most populous country on earth is creating a future based on alternative energy — and facing up to the environmental catastrophe it created as it rapidly industrialized.
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(Ted Talk – Monica Araya) A small country with big ideas to get rid of fossil fuels
How do we build a society without fossil fuels? Using her native Costa Rica as an example of positive action on environmental protection and renewables, climate advocate Monica Araya outlines a bold vision for a world committed to clean energy in all sectors.
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(Ted Talk – Tshering Tobgay) This country isn’t just carbon neutral — it’s carbon negative
Deep in the Himalayas, on the border between China and India, lies the Kingdom of Bhutan, which has pledged to remain carbon neutral for all time. In this illuminating talk, Bhutan’s Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay shares his country’s mission to put happiness before economic growth and set a world standard for environmental preservation.
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