Sustain Our Earth

"Might there be more agile, dependable, and less awkward ways to conduct the public business in the long emergency that do not require authoritarian governments, the compromises and irrational messiness of politics, or even reliance on personal sacrifice?"

Via Willy De Backer

"A report by the UN Environment Programme's Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) says loss of soils, forests, and fisheries, as well as rising resource costs, are likely to become increasingly important to a nation's economic health – and may therefore affect its ability to repay or refinance sovereign debt."

 

This excellent report makes the link between the world's financial debt crisis and the global ecological debt crisis. The debate on austerity gets a completely different dimension if you look at this double challenge.

Via Willy De Backer

"So we have no historical precedents for anything greater than 1% per annum reduction in emissions. We’re saying we need nearer 10% per annum, and this is something we need to be doing today. And therefore, we can draw a very clear conclusion from this, that in the short to medium term, the way for the Annex 1, the wealthy parts of the world to meet their obligations to 2°C, is to cut back very significantly on consumption. And that would therefore mean in the short to medium term a reduction in our economic activity i.e. we could not have economic growth."

 

Via Willy De Backer, David Hodgson

"We are five years into a severe global food crisis that is very unlikely to go away. It will threaten poor countries with increased malnutrition and starvation and even collapse. Resource squabbles and waves of food-induced migration will threaten global stability and global growth. This threat is badly underestimated by almost everybody and all institutions with the possible exception of some military establishments."

 

Joe Romm summarises the latest article by guru investor Jeremy Grantham in his Quarterly Newsletter. "The global economy is a Ponzi scheme".

Via Willy De Backer

US economic growth will be less than 1% in the next fourty years according to a new analysis by famous American investor Jeremy Grantham. The contrarian investor sees resource scarcity and higher resource prices as well as demographic factors as the main reason why our global economies will continue to struggle for new economic growth.

 

As always the gloomy predictions of Mr Grantham's piece make a lot of sense but will be neglected by the "don't worry, be happy" myopic political and economic elites.

Via Willy De Backer, Stephane Bilodeau

Another impressive presentation by Richard Heinberg of why we have now entered the post-growth era and what will be the implications for our societies.

Via Willy De Backer

Despite this large untapped potential, a sufficient degree of decoupling may not be achieved. As part of a precautionary strategy, policy and society should therefore also reflect on conditions of social and political stability under conditions of low economic growth.

 

This new report from the German Advisory Council on the Environment is one of the few reports which looks beyond the "decoupling" paradigm and puts forward ideas to adapt economic and social practices and institutions for a coming post-growth world.

Via Willy De Backer