The elephant in the room

The UK has until recently been one of the most resilient economies in the world. Over the last 100 years, it has survived two world wars, staged spectacular economic recoveries, been blessed with energy resources, and evolved from manufacturer to the world into a service economy. But the position in which it now finds itself looks bleaker.

The Case for a Sustainability Emergency, Part II

Second of two interviews with Philip Sutton, coauthor of a recent report titled Climate Cod Red: The Case for a Sustainability Emergency. He discusses how, with a shared sense of purpose and heroic leadership, humans have the technical and social capacity to go into “emergency” mode and design an economic and environmental turn-around in 10-20 years.

Lump sums

Coal, so long the Cinderella of fossil fuels, is not just in demand but in desperately short supply. The world’s biggest producers and exporters are struggling, and the price of imports to Europe has doubled. Does this mean lower emissions from coal and less danger from climate change?

The next agriculture

Recent debates around the future of agriculture on the far side of Hubbert’s peak, wrestling with questions of the reversibility of the rise of industrial agriculture, have missed two crucial points. First, systemic change in complex systems rarely follows linear patterns; second, economic trends already in place may well favor the emergence of a viable postpetroleum agriculture.