Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
What made Europeans so successful in the task of conquering the world? My interpretation is that it was the result of periodic “Seneca Collapses” of the European population which made it possible to accumulate resources that would then be available to propel the European expansion. It is an effect that may be called the”Seneca Rebound” that makes growth faster after a collapse.
Democrats campaigning on climate action and clean energy did very well around the country election night. It’s clearly a winning issue, as the polls have long said. But two key results of the election are bad news for the climate — and together they pose a very difficult challenge to the kind of near-term climate action that’s needed to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Considering the large ecological debts of the Global North and the related structural inequalities of power and wealth, it can be doubted that a one-fits-all solution such as the SDGs helps bridge the existing extreme inequalities between countries.
My main take-away from the 2018 IPCC report is that there may still be time, but only if we can bring about a deep reimagining of what the world could be and how it might work. As Daniel Aldana Cohen put it, “we are only doomed if we do nothing”.
In principle, churches and congregations are hubs where people gather organically. Being places where people gather organically, faith communities are existing hubs where folks can be more naturally inspired to collaborate toward bigger goals that escape the short reach of individuals.
But what if the dual challenges facing renewables and negative emissions could be tackled together? In a recent paper, published in Earth’s Future, we find that there is considerable potential for combining a renewables-reliant electricity system with Direct Air Capture.
The path to meaning – and real sustainability – is the opposite; it is through recoupling with nature. Instead of denying that we are an integral part of nature in which we swim, live, mate, laugh, cry and die, we need to embrace that fact.
The crisis in democracy is much discussed these days, but almost entirely in political terms that ignore its deeper causes.
How would you describe the process in which a small country builds a 35,000 kilometer network of fully separated bike infrastructure – and traffic-calms 75 per cent of their urban streets to a speeds of 30 km/h (19 mph) or less?
A local economy by nature is more creative because we’re looking to see what does my community need? What does my place want to be? And move towards that.
The monetary system we have is a fundamental cause of our problems, and setting up new systems is crucial in the development of alternative economies. However some popular initiatives are sadly mistaken and can have few if any beneficial effects. The goal must be to set up a system that enables previously idle people and resources to begin producing necessities for the locality. This is easily done.
My feeling on the contrary is that only by properly inhabiting that romance and re-enchanting the relationship between people and land as a precious food-giving resource will the problems George identifies be solvable.
