If you still want 1.5 – think twice and think deeply
With the world’s eyes currently glued on COP26, it’s time to take a fresh look at how we handle global, protracted crises.
Society
Indigenous knowledge and the myth of ‘wilderness’
Aboriginal ideas of ‘wilderness’ are in contrast to romantic views of a ‘pristine’ environment. But it actively excludes Indigenous and local people from conservation.
What Could Possibly Go Right?: Episode 60 Vicki Robin
In another solo episode, our host Vicki Robin shares her recent reflections on themes emerging from the “What Could Possibly Go Right?” inquiry.
Democracy Rising 2: Nine Short Arguments for Deliberative Democracy
Our belief and focus in this series is that the dysfunction at the top of our system is both a cause and a consequence of what’s broken at the bottom, and that the power of deliberative democracy is fundamental to fixing that.
Negotiating Climate Policy: My “Eureka” Moment
The magnitude and complexity of climate change mean it has to be addressed steadily over time. It’s too big a problem to solve with one bite of the apple.
But… Cities?
A very typical response to my writing can be summarized as: “But… cities?!?” How are we going to fit cities into this future world? My feeling is that we can’t. Mostly.
Our Self-Imposed Scarcity of Nice Places
Where we’ve allowed cheaper-to-build, cheaper-to-maintain, quality-of-life-enhancing things to become luxuries, that is on us. That is our failure, and it’s a failure brought about to a large extent by bad policy that tells us we can’t have nice things, because nice things are for the rich.
‘Zero crashes, zero congestion, zero emissions’ – the perennial myths of autonomous vehicles
For a hundred years the auto industry has held out visions of a trouble-free future for drive-everywhere society – and that future is always about 20 years away. Peter Norton urges us to see the current hype about automated vehicles in the cold light of the failed promises of the past.
Climate adaptation: resilience, self-sufficiency and systems change
“Climate Adaptation” takes the perspective that socioeconomic collapse is probable. Rather than giving up hope, it seeks to outline ways people and communities can adapt to it.
Civilising the State: Excerpt
Those who dreamt and fought for the ideals of democracy, liberty, and equality in the time of monarchs were indispensable precisely because their hopes seemed so distant to the times. They were torchbearers.
Climate change and the limits of economic growth
The only effective way to control carbon emissions, as well as related problems of pollution and biodiversity loss, is to address “overshoot,” the unconstrained use of energy and material resources well beyond planetary limits, particularly in the richer parts of the world.
Act Global, Think Local
Some thrive at the local, others the global, others at the regional, and others, still, do great bouncing from one to the other to the other. But I think there is value in considering this honestly, and better understanding at what level you want to enact change, and then focusing there.
