Category «General»

Economic Contraction

Recent comments by Tim Morgan in his blog. The onset of economic contraction, even if it were to happen in a gradual and orderly way, will have profound political and social consequences. “Growth” has become a secular article of faith, and economic crises or hard times have often been the downfall of governments and regimes. …

More about Biochar

Further to my piece on the 55 uses of Biochar I have been surprised to find how much it is known about and used. Never before have I come across something which has been going on for thousands of years, and is still alive throughout the world.   Moreover, it is something which can contribute to …

The Great Simplification – Humanity’s Soul: Life or Growth?

This post from Nate Hagens’ website is a remarkable conversation between Nate and Gaya Herrinmgton Nate’s introduction: The Limits to Growth (LTG) report is one of the most well known assessments of source and sink constraints to human economic aspirations. LTG has been reviewed and updated numerous times over the last 50 years, most recently …

The economy is shrinking.  And everything that depends on it.  Including the population.

Lately, I have been listening to Nate Hagen’s weekly podcast, The Great Simplification.  He explains that his podcast explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics span human behaviour, monetary/economic systems, energy, ecology, geopolitics and the environment.  The goal of the show is to inform more humans about the path ahead and inspire …

We must use less energy

Beware the vampires. Energy vampires are sneaky power-suckers that utilize energy even when you think they’re not. … The future must be less complicated.  Nate Hagens’s excellent podcast The Great Simplicatiion says it all.   It is: …..a podcast that explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics will span human behaviour, monetary/economic systems, …

Religion, Ecology, and the Future

Another interview by Nate Hagans in his wonderful series entitled “The Great Simplification”: Religious scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker unpacks the entanglement of religion and ecology from an academic perspective. She and Nate discuss what the roots of environmental ethics in religions all over the world look like and how they’ve been evolving in the face …

Symptoms of No Growth

First published in the RADIX think-tank. Once we shift our worldview, another world becomes possible On 11th January this year, I wrote that growth is no longer possible. So much that is going on are symptoms of the shrinking global economy. President Putin wants to add the economy of Croatia to Russia’s economy, to make …

Free Public Transit Is Not a Climate Policy

This is copied from the Bloomberg Press Dropping the farebox on buses and trains can boost ridership and ease inequality. But the environmental case for making transit free is less clear. Throughout last February, the regional Utah Transit Authority paused fare collection. Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall suggested that this “Fare Free February” would accomplish two …

Degrowth is now happening

In a recent piece, I wrote about  “Global Transition: From growth to degrowth and top-down to bottom-up” I explained the process in which top-down organisations are shrinking and will eventually disappear as a result of de-layering. At the same time, individual and cooperative activities are emerging from the grassroots. In a recent post in “The consciousness …

We need a National Mindset

The future is unknown.  No one knows what to do next.  Either individually or nationally. Mindsets shape how we each make sense of the world.  They influence how we think, feel, and behave about the future. The diversity of mindsets in modern life is interfering with our ability to know what to do. Consider how …