Bankrupting Nature: Denying our Planetary Boundaries by Andres Wijkman and Johan Rockström emerges from the original report of The Club of Rome’s The Limits to Growth authored by Meadows and colleagues in 1972. This book demonstrates that an economy built on the continuous expansion of material consumption is utterly not sustainable. Based on the increased evidence of an uncanny correlation between escalating rates of global economic growth and environmental degradation, this book continues to raise worldwide awareness of environmental problems created as a result of anthropogenic activities. Bankrupting Nature demonstrates that political leaders are still in deep denial about the magnitude of global environmental challenges and resource constraints facing the world. The authors state that the challenges of sustainability cannot be met by simply tinkering with the current economic system, but will require major changes in the way members of political and corporate elites and the general public perceive and address environmental and social issues. As reported in a recent press release by The Club of Rome (2012), this volume lays out a blue-‐print for a radically new economic paradigm that links economics with ecology, arguing that this is the only way to generate growth in the future. https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
Webinar Get ready for smart technology part 1: https://youtu.be/h1HVsz2xGQs Webinar Get ready for smart technology part 2: https://youtu.be/vO11s_a8sm8 This webinar looks at both the merits, and dangers of smart technology from a psychological point of view. The combination of (smart) technology, and our non-evolved psychological basic structure, brings our entire existence and the entire planet into imbalance. Humanity is estimated to have existed for about 300,000 years. One of the most striking features is a slow propagation speed (long gestation period and usually only 1 child per litter). In addition, and unlike the other great apes, humans have little or no body hair and relatively little muscle strength. This results in a relatively small natural biotope; it should be warm enough for the "naked" monkey and there should be little or no natural predators. This is exactly why the predecessors of Homo Sapiens invented technology, with three basic techniques: 1. language (religion, signal, drawing, writing, logic, math and code) 2. lever/mechanics (spear, hammer, wheel, pulley, pistons) and 3. fire/energy (and water & steam power, magnetism , electricity, atomic power). By combining the 3 basic techniques, we have been able to colonize the whole world.
MULTIFILE
The authors consider the reality that endless economic growth on a finite planet is unsustainable, especially if society has exceeded ecological limits. The paper examines various aspects of society's endless growth predicament. It reviews the idea that there are 'limits to growth'; it then considers the 'endless growth mantra' within society. The paper then considers the 'decoupling' strategy and its merits, and argues that it is, at best, a partial solution to the problem. The key social problem of denial of our predicament is considered, along with the contribution of anthropocentric modernism as a worldview that aids and abets that denial. Finally, the paper outlines some potential solutions to our growth predicament. https://www.ecologicalcitizen.net/article.php?t=insanity-endless-growth https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
MULTIFILE
