Consumption

Paradigm Shakes

We seem to be stuck in a dangerous and destructive paradigm. Our current approach to climate change is painfully inadequate. Will shifting paradigms be easier if we start with a few small shakes?Karen O’Brien Jan 20 ExtremesThese are not easy times. It’s hard to watch the news and read the latest climate projections. And it’sContinue reading “Paradigm Shakes”

Back to fossil fuels-with AI?

An edited opinion piece by John ElkingtonAccording to the International Energy Agency (IEA), AI-related energy demand is set to almost double between 2022 and 2026. Bad enough, but Generation is more pessimistic still. “There are … forecasts that are much more drastic,” it concludes. “It is easy to imagine a world in which ever moreContinue reading “Back to fossil fuels-with AI?”

HOSPICING OUR UNIVERSITIES IN DECLINE

In this the third of my most recent blogs on the theme of a University for the Common Good – I reflect on the decline of our current model of the University and how the concept of “hospicing a habit of being” coined by Stein et al(2020) might enable those of us who have arguedContinue reading “HOSPICING OUR UNIVERSITIES IN DECLINE”

12 Renewables days of Christmas

Here’s a renewables Christmas quiz for you: 12 questions. Getting 4 right or nearly right will be pretty good and show a better understanding of the problems our electricity grid faces than most people.Reposted from Bill Scott’s Blog ……….. 1 – The proportion of our electricity generated by coal in 2011 was 29.5%. What wasContinue reading “12 Renewables days of Christmas”

NEW ECONOMY based on NEW SYSTEMS

The role of human agency is an essential element of the authors of this new books analyses, evaluations, and prescriptions. If humanity is to live in harmony with itself, with other creatures, and in balance with the planet’s ecological systems, then we must be clear about what we can and cannot do, and what weContinue reading “NEW ECONOMY based on NEW SYSTEMS”

NO MORE FAIRY TALES

Research by Dr Denise Baden shows that stories which introduce climate change solutions in the context of an otherwise mainstream story are more likely to inspire greener behaviours than catastrophic tales of climate change. In her guest blog she introduces the latest Green Stories anthology No More Fairy Tales—Stories to Save Our Planet. Blog by DeniseContinue reading “NO MORE FAIRY TALES“

Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world

The word has become a rhetorical weapon and an ideological political meme, but it properly names the reigning ideology of our era – one that venerates the logic of the market and strips away the things that make us human. And its most recent admirer Liz Truss our much-reviled former PM became a celebrated maleficent proponentContinue reading “Neoliberalism: the idea that swallowed the world“

HALFWAY TO 2030: HOW is the UK PERFORMING on IMPLEMENTING THE GLOBAL GOALS?

Early findings from the UN Global Compact Network UK’s Measuring Up 2.0 report suggest that the UK is only performing well on 21% of the Targets that are relevant to the domestic delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals in the UK. In the past four years there has been no change in the performance againstContinue reading “HALFWAY TO 2030: HOW is the UK PERFORMING on IMPLEMENTING THE GLOBAL GOALS?”

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS -ALL TALK NO ACTION

In September 2015, leaders from 193 countries gathered in the UN assembly hall in New York to plan nothing less than “transforming our world”. This was the birth of the sustainable development goals, which aimed to “free the human race from the tyranny of poverty and want and to heal and secure our planet”. ThereContinue reading “SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS -ALL TALK NO ACTION”

EARTH SUMMIT REFLECTIONS

This coming week is the 30th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit (which launched the sustainable development paradigm) and the 50th anniversary of the Stockholm conference (which alerted world leaders to environmental dilemmas). Such anniversaries previously brought much fanfare from the UN. Not this year. The backsliding on poverty and the environment is so shocking and underminingContinue reading “EARTH SUMMIT REFLECTIONS”