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Sustainable Development
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Come On! Capitalism, Short-termism, Population and the Destruction of the Planet. A Report to the Club of Rome. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and Anders Wijkman (CoR Co-Presidents), with 34 more CoR Members. New York: Springer Science, Jan 2018, 220 pp, $29.99.
The Club of Rome is an unusual organization with an unusual history. The initial 1972 report to CoR on the... Read more
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Reviewed by Michael Marien
A Farewell to Ice: A Report from the Arctic. Peter Wadhams (Prof. of Ocean Physics, Cambridge University). New York: Oxford University Press, Sept 2017, 240p, $21.95pb. (First published in UK by Allen Lane, Feb 2017.)
Global Green Shift: When Ceres Meets Gaia. John A. Mathews (Prof. of Management, Macquarie University). London and... Read more
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Executive Summary
In 2008, MIT’s Peter Senge et al. wrote that the Industrial Age bubble was ending and that, especially due to climate change, a “Necessary Revolution” was needed to create a sustainable flourishing world in the decades ahead. Since then, many business organizations have moved toward sustainability to some degree, and many other organizations have... Read more
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Abstract
Contemporary economies must undergo a transformation to sustainability if we are to avoid a descent into ecological and socio-political crises of ever escalating severity. In order to achieve such a major reform, principles consistent with sustainable ecosystems and social systems need to be identified and applied systematically. What are these principles in... Read more
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Abstract
In the light of the countless hours invested in the development of the Sustainable Development Goals—the set of targets and indicators relating to future international human and sustainable development, which replaced the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the end of 2015 —by hundreds of the world’s top minds, in addition to more than twenty-five years of... Read more
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Get Full Text in PDFGlobal temperatures are rising, along with droughts, floods, storms, wildfires, and melting of glaciers and tundra. Concern about climate change and sustainable development is necessarily growing. Three of the most important recent books and reports are reviewed here, as an introduction to major thinking about what must be done.
I. Pope Francis on Integral Ecology and a... Read more
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This paper tries to find an answer to the question of how to finance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the world has just decided to implement. I argue that besides the existing wealth of proposals, mainly along the lines of better governance and co-financing strategies, we need a complementary approach: parallel Quantitative Easing (QE) for SDGs... Read more
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A global transition is manifesting in sustainable technologies, policies and investment tools. We are moving beyond the Industrial Era. Crises in energy, water, food and ecosystem services are being met with many forms of renewable energy; United Nations, NGOs, World Bank and other global programs; and with creative investment opportunities such as green bonds.... Read more
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The call for a new humanism in the 21st century roots in the conviction that the moral, intellectual and political foundations of globalization and international cooperation have to be rethought. Whilst the historic humanism was set out to resolve tensions between tradition and modernity and to reconcile individual rights with newly emerging duties of... Read more
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Summary of the 2014 Report of the US Association for the Club of Rome
Francesco StipoChair, Legal & Political Committee, US Association, Club of RomeAnitra ThorhaugChair, Energy & Environment, US Association, Club of RomeMarian SimionChair, Health & Religion Committee, US Association, Club of RomeJack Allison, Keith Butler, Ryan Jackson, Roberta Gibb Welch*... Read more
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Abstract
We acknowledge the inadequacy of the ancient model to develop the wealth of nations and the recognition that both economics and ecology are the best possible ways to manage world and human resources to achieve a better wealth of nations. The rebuilding of economics and of a credible strategy for increasing the wealth and well-being of nations is today at the... Read more
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Abstract
We are on a collision course with nature. And the underlying reason is that humans' creative capacity has largely bypassed their adaptive capacity.
Due to existing trends in 10 years the world will be changed dramatically.
These trends will change the social standards and human behaviour patterns; shift “centres of gravity” from the West to East, from the North... Read more
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Alison Smith(UK). London & NY: Earthscan/Routledge, Jan 2013, 408p, $59.95pb.
Review by Michael Marien
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For several decades, we have heard, over and over, that climate change is a very bad development, and that addressing climate change and evolving to a sustainable or low-carbon society are a necessary response—seemingly painful in the short term, desirable in the... Read more
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Abstract
Urban centers are the engines which must bear the brunt of required changes to meet climate change mitigation goals, whilst continuing to provide social and economic opportunities. Restoring nature to the city is not a luxury; it is vitally important to our health and well-being. Biopolicy can help international decision-makers find new ways for understanding... Read more
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Abstract
The international climate policy is in big trouble. The governments of the world cannot agree on a reasonable, enforceable cap on global CO2 emissions – not today and not in the future. Concerning a strict enough cap, this issue is politically not handleable today, because this would directly interfere with the options of countries to generate future economic... Read more
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Abstract
Despite the UN’s adoption of a new economic and social right in 2010 - the Right to safe drinking water and sanitation - the deficit of fresh water is becoming increasingly severe and large-scale.
The mounting water crisis and its geography make it clear that without resolute counteraction, many societies’ adaptive capacities within the coming decades... Read more
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Abstract
Women play a crucial role in many activities essential for coping with climate change. Indian women appear to be more vulnerable than men to differential impacts of climate change because they share most of the household managing responsibilities but have limited access to participation in decision making and governance. Most of the policies for climate change... Read more
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Abstract
In this essay, human society is regarded as a “superorganism”, analogous to colonies of social insects. The digestive system of the human superorganism is the global economy, which ingests both free energy and resources, and later excretes them in a degraded form. This process involves an increase in entropy. Early in the 20th century, both Frederick Soddy and... Read more
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A Commentary*
The world is at an inflection point. A convergence of themes – seemingly disconnected – is integral and urgent to our very survival. Our world is headed into a Perfect Storm of an interconnected financial, ecological and social crisis. Almost all forward-looking assessments demonstrate that business as usual and incremental improvements will not be sufficient... Read more
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1. Biopolicy to meet the global economic and environmental challenge
It is not only the global economy that the facing a deep recession, but also the global environment. Unavailability of credit and loss of jobs and income, coupled with climate change, energy insecurity, pollution of the air, water and soil, and the decimation of species and habitats, are creating an... Read more
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Abstract
This paper defines the knowledge society as a human structured organisation based on contemporary developed knowledge and representing new quality of life support systems. It implies the need for a full understanding of distribution of knowledge, access to information and the capability to transfer information into a knowledge. The understanding of knowledge... Read more
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Sustainable Development