Category: Envisioning the sustainable future
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Suppose capitalism mimicked the way nature works.
Article updated June 6 after consideration of all the recent comments We are stuck. On the one hand you have people who talk about economic growth as being the objective of policy – necessary to be able to pay back debts and achieve prosperity. On the other hand, you have the sustainable camp that claims…
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Debating Capitalism as if it exists
In my earlier post I said that my hobby of analysing capitalism from a sustainable point of view has got me to the point where I see that capitalism is actually a grammar describing the language of money. I said that there is an intellectual class paid to talk about these issues but, like linguists who have spoken a…
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Emission fees simulations
Increasing emissions from industrial activity threaten climate stability and to upset eco-systems to a degree that not only puts continued industrial activity at risk, but also the very conditions for a reasonable life for citizens in both the industrialized and industrializing worlds. These emissions are seen by many as a failure of market forces, which…
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Economic growth in the sustainable community: can we or can’t we?
In this next foray into capitalism I want to explore the question of growth. Note that I still have not defined what capitalism is. Instead, I have taken the idea of capital and explored how the concept of capital works together with sustainability and resilience. This time I want to consider economic growth.We hear different…
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The secret to turning capital into something sustainable and useful
This is interesting. I started out to make capitalism my hobby and have got stuck posting about what capital is. My revelation from the last post was if you add up all the debt in the world, and then you add up all the money people possess in the world you get – zero. This is…
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Flexible emission fees set new direction towards sustainable development
A recent report from The Nordic Council of Ministers ( title: Flexible emission fees An incentive for driving sustainable production and consumption) is optimistic that growth and environmental goals can be reconciled. If the conclusions of the report can be implemented, it could set a new direction towards sustainable development. The starting point for the…
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We need Capitalism 3:0 for the planet that has reached its limits to growth
Recent research supports the conclusions of a controversial environmental study released 40 years ago: The world is on track for disaster. So says Australian physicist Graham Turner, who revisited perhaps the most groundbreaking academic work of the 1970s,The Limits to Growth. Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Looking-Back-on-the-Limits-of-Growth.html#ixzz1rH98mI3h
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A philosophical exploration of what “sustainable” and “technology” are
What we call technology is actually a narrow practice including mechanics, electronics and computer science. This confusion is hampering human development, especially when the expectation is on not developing financial and social technology but demanding mechanical solutions when simple agreements could suffice. Modern technology is failing, we are not addressing the challenges in front of…
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The sticky problem of trade deficits
But what about the balance of trade? By Anders Höglund with Stephen Hinton Trade imbalances which persist for long periods of time tend to warp the infrastructure of the economy and create imbalances which will harm the economy in the long run. Sooner or later these structural imbalances will have to be remedied at a…
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On the same page with Virgin’s co-founder Sir Richard Branson
Writing in the British newspaper, the Telegraph, today, Sir Richard Branson, co-founder of the Virgin Group, says Business as usual is wrecking our planet. Resources are being used up. Air, sea and land are heavily polluted. The poor are getting poorer. Many are dying of starvation, or because they cannot afford life-saving medicine. Nearly half…