Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Cities 1.5 Podcast We rejoin Herman Daly in the late 1970s – a tumultuous time for our renegade economist. His so-called “radical” critiques of endless growth – and his insistence that the economy must operate within the Earth’s limits – left him isolated in his field and at odds with colleagues. Yet, from this difficult period emerged a new vision of economics.
What and where are the grassroots movements and alternative visions that challenge green colonialism and offer ‘ecosocial transition’ pathways toward equitable and ecological futures? This question is at the heart of ‘The Geopolitics of Green Colonialism: Global Justice and Ecosocial Transitions’, an open access book which critiques the promoted solutions to the climate polycrisis while also exploring alternatives.
Once again, wild horses chase each other. Taurus cattle, stand-ins for aurochs, rip up the dirt with their horns. Soon, with luck, lynx will haunt the forests and flocks of vultures will circle. We can’t return to the past, but we can rewild.
On this Reality Roundtable, Nate is joined by Heather Cooley, Zach Weiss, and Mike Joy to discuss the importance of water and hydrology and the complex ways they impact our planet.
The UK is warming, and staying comfortable in hotter summers is a must. But there’s more than one way to cool down. Simple measures like fans, efficient heat pumps and rooftop solar – combined with smarter building design and passive cooling – could keep homes safe, energy use low and emissions in check.
In the day-to-day reality of those struggling to achieve autonomous decision-making, while also engaging with the state where necessary, there is a constant interplay between doing, acting, being, dreaming, and relating … with the actors being not only humans but all of nature.
Instead of seeing the Earth as an inventory of resources – as government policymakers and corporations tend to do – people can begin to see the challenge as how to take care of “flows, networks, and relationships” – the dynamic forces that drive living planetary systems.
Yes, you can grow a lot of tomatoes in a relatively small space inside these plastic hot-houses, but did any of the Icarus-minded engineers and plastic-film aficionados ever stop to ask some simple questions? What are the long-term prospects for this practice? And what will eventually happen to all that plastic?
The certified organic system is part of the capitalist economic system. It makes it ”realistic” but it also forces it to adapt to the system in order to be successful. And as the system as a whole is not sustainable, it can also not be sustainable in the long run.
Our ancient pine forests in Sherani, once crowned as green gold and blanketing rugged mountains, now crumble to ashes due to persistent wildfires.
We stand at a turning point. The tools for impact measurement exist and knowledge continues to grow. But the decisive step is cultural: Are we ready to take impact seriously – not just as a metric but as the goal of our actions?
So back to my original question—how clean is natural gas, really? It does burn cleaner than coal and oil. But if the methane life cycle from extraction to burning is considered, it’s not clean at all.
