Green New Deal and the Question of Environmental and Social Justice
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Building a Sustainable and Desirable Economy-In-Society- In-Nature
SCIENCE | ENVIRONMENT State of the World 2013 2013 STATE OF THE WORLD is Is Sustainability Still Possible? SUSTAINABILITY “State of the World 2013 assembles the wisdom and clarity of some of the earth’s finest thinkers, visionaries, and activists into a dazzling array of topics that merge to offer a compellingly lucid and accessible vision of where we are—and what is the wisest and healthiest course for the future.” OF THE WORLD STATE —NINA SIMONS, Cofounder, Bioneers Still Possible? “This edition forges a new path for the State of the World series, and for environmental thinking in general. A pivotal book that marks a defining moment for our species.” — RICHARD HEINBERG, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute, and author of The End of Growth “State of the World 2013 is a powerful collection of articles, and the vision behind it is impressive. Here is a book that gets beyond ‘sustainababble’ and asks the tough, essential questions. It should make readers more determined than ever to do their part in avoiding planet-wide disaster—and better informed about how to do that.” — PETER SINGER, Professor of Bioethics, Princeton University, and author of Animal Liberation, One World, and The Life You Can Save Sustainability gets plenty of lip service, but the relentless worsening of key environmental trends reveals much of that attention to be “sustainababble.” From climate instability and species extinctions to approaching scarcities of freshwater, minerals, and energy, worrisome limits to human economic activity look more pressing each year—all while our political institutions seem impotent to address the challenge. THE WORLDWATCH INSTITUTE, in this edition of the celebrated State of the World series, takes an unflinching look at what the data say about the prospects for achieving true sustainability, 2013 what we should be doing now to make progress toward it, and how we might cope if we fail to do so. -
Towards a More Resource-Efficient and Circular Economy the Role of The
Towards a more resource-efficient and circular economy The role of the G20 | 1 A background report prepared for the 2021 G20 Presidency of Italy Towards a more resource-efficient and circular economy The role of the G20 PUBE TOWARDS A MORE RESOURCE-EFFICIENT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY © OECD 2021 2 | Table of contents Executive Summary 4 1. Introduction 9 2. Past trends in material consumption and waste generation 10 3. Projections of future materials use 18 4. The environmental impacts of materials use 21 5. A transition to a circular economy can lower resource demands and environmental impacts and contribute to the economic and social recovery 24 6. Recent developments on resource efficiency and circular economy policies 27 7. The role of cities towards the circular economy transition 32 8. Towards a G20 policy vision on resource efficiency 38 References 47 TOWARDS A MORE RESOURCE-EFFICIENT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY © OECD 2021 | 3 Tables Table 1. Selected environmental impacts of materials use 21 Table 2. Selected examples of national, regional and local strategies for resource efficiency, waste management and the circular economy of G20 countries 27 Figures Figure 1. Domestic Material Consumption in G20, OECD and BRIICS 10 Figure 2. Domestic material consumption per capita [tonnes] 11 Figure 3. Resource productivity levels differ substantially among G20 countries, but some improvements could be achieved 12 Figure 4. Despite improvements in resource productivity, domestic material consumption increased in G20 countries 13 Figure 5. Material footprint per capita remains high also for countries with low Domestic Material Consumption per capita 14 Figure 6. As income levels rise, waste generation increases [left], but waste treatment processes improve [right] 15 Figure 7. -
The Transformation of Greenpeace Strategy in the 199Os: from Civil Disobedience to Moderate Movement
Siti Rokhmawati Susanto, "The Transformation of Greenpeace Strateu in the 1990s: From Civil Disobedienceto Moderate Movement", Global & Strategic, Th I, No 2, Juli-Desem her 2007, 186-205. The Transformation of Greenpeace Strategy in the 199os: From Civil Disobedience to Moderate Movement Siti Rokhmawati Susanto Pengajar pada Jurusan Tlinu Hubungan Internasiona1 FISIP IThiversitas Airlangga, Surabaya. Kecenderungan akan perubahan strategi ba gi sebuah organisasi pergerakan politik adalah kepastian. Hal itu pula yang dialami Greenpeace sebagai sebuah organisasi gerakan lingkungan lintas batas negara, yang pada atval perufiriannya lebih memillh metode resistensi pernbangkangun sipil secara frontal. Namur', seining dengan terjadinya pergeseran penerimaan isu lingkungan sebagai isu internasional, Greenpeace mulai mengurangi model resitensinga menjadi lebih moderat. Dalam konteks ini, perubahan strategi ditujukan unt uk mempertahankan eksistensi dan kontribusi Greenpeace dalam penjagaan kornitemen terhadap lingkungan secara menyeluruh. Oleh karena itu, menjadi sangat penting untuk mengetahtd faktor mendasar yang mendorong terjadinya perubahan strategi fundamental Green peace, sebuah organisasi lingkungan internasional yang telah mengubah wajah lingkungan sangat signifikan sejak berdirinya. Kata kunci: Greenpeace, lingkungan, strategi resistensi pembangkangan sipil, moderat. Introduction As one of the most prominent international environmental movement organisations, Greenpeace can have a significant impact in shaping world environmental policies. -
LIFE and Resource Efficiency: Decoupling Growth from Resource Use
LIFE and resource efficiency Decoupling growth from resource use LIFE Focus I LIFE and resource efficiency: Decoupling growth from resource use EUROPEAN COMMISSION ENVIRONMENT DIRECTORATE-GENERAL LIFE (“The Financial Instrument for the Environment”) is a programme launched �y the European Commission and co-ordinated �y the Environment Directorate-General �L�FE Units - E.3. and E.4.). The contents of the pu�lication “L�FE and Resource Efficiency: Decoupling growth from resource use” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the institutions of the European Union. Authors: Ga�riella Camarsa �Environment expert), Justin Toland, Eamon O’Hara, Tim Hudson, Wendy Jones, Ed Thorpe, Christophe Thévignot �AE�DL, Communications Team Coordinator). Managing Editor: Hervé Martin, European Commission, Environment DG, L�FE E.4 – BU-9, 02/1, 200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels. LIFE Focus series coordination: Simon Goss �L�FE Communications Coordinator), Evelyne Jussiant �DG Environment Communications Coordinator). Technical assistance: Audrey Thénard, Nicolas Tavitian, Agnese Roccato �Astrale GE�E). The following people also worked on this issue: Al�an De Villepin, Federico Nogara, Simona Bacchereti, Santiago Urquijo-Zamora, Sylvie Ludain �Environment DG, L�FE Environment and Eco-innovation Unit), Carina Vopel, Jonathan Murphy �Environment DG, Communication Unit), Ro�in Miege �Environment DG, Green Week Task Force). Production: Monique Braem �AE�DL). Graphic design: Daniel Renders, Anita Cortés �AE�DL). Photos database: Sophie Brynart. Acknowledgements: Thanks to all L�FE project �eneficiaries who contri�uted comments, photos and other useful material for this report. Photos: Unless otherwise specified; photos are from the respective projects. HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS Free publications: • via EU Bookshop �http://�ookshop.europa.eu); • at the European Commission’s representations or delegations. -
Indian Environmental Politics: an Interview
INDIAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS: AN INTERVIEW Transforming Cultures eJournal, Vol. 5 No 1 June 2010 http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/TfC Amita Baviskar Abstract Amita Baviskar is a key analyst of environmental politics and culture in India. Her research and publications have addressed the intense conflicts over water, caste and class arising from the Narmada River dams, and she is currently working on the politics of urban conservation and contestations over public space in Delhi in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games. Her publications include her monograph: In the Belly of the River: Tribal Conflicts over Development in the Narmada Valley. (Oxford University Press, 1995); her co-authored book: Untouchability in Rural India, (Sage Publications: New Delhi 2006) and her edited: Waterscapes: The cultural politics of a natural resource, (Uttaranchal: Permanent Black, 2007) This interview was conducted by Nick McClean during Amita’s visit to Sydney for the Cities Nature Justice conference, held 10 – 12 December, 2008, at the University of Technology Sydney. Nick McClean is currently undertaking PhD research at ANU on comparative approaches to conservation in Australia and India. Amita I’m a sociologist at the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi and most of my work deals with the cultural politics of environment and development in India. I first started out as an amateur naturalist working with Kalpavriksh, an environmental action group in Delhi, which was a group of students in school and college. We were interested in trying to understand environmental problems and conflicts and doing something to resolve them, and that was my first exposure to the ways in which environmental questions in India were not just about, protecting endangered species, etc., or protecting green areas in cities, but were also issues of social justice. -
Green Economy Or Green Utopia? Rio+20 and the Reproductive Labor Class
Green Economy or Green Utopia? Rio+20 and the Reproductive Labor Class Ariel Salleh University of Sydney [email protected] Sociologists use the concept of class variously to explain and predict people's relation to the means of production, their earnings, living conditions, social standing, capacities, and political identification. With the rise of capitalist globalization, many sociologists focus on the transnational ruling class and new economic predicaments faced by industrial workers in the world-system (see, for example, Robinson and Harris 2000). Here I will argue that to understand and respond to the current global environmental crisis, another major class formation should be acknowledged - one defined by its materially regenerative activities under "relations of reproduction" (Salleh 2010). The salience of this hypothetical third class is demonstrated by the 2012 United Nations Rio+20 summit and its official "green economy" negotiating text The Future We Want (UNCSD 2012). Clearly, the question that begs to be asked is - who is the "we" in this international document, and whose "utopia" does it serve? Part of the answer is found in a recent G20 media release, suggesting that "current high energy prices open policy space for economic incentives to renewables [...] investors are looking for alternatives given the low interest rates in developed countries, a factor that presents an opportunity for green economy projects” (Calderon 2012). The UN, together with the transnational capitalist class, looks to technology and new institutional architectures to push against the limits of living ecologies, and these measures are given legitimation as "economic necessity." Yet empirically, it is peasants, mothers, fishers and gatherers working with natural thermodynamic processes who meet everyday needs for the majority of people on earth. -
Of Ecological Modernisation?
JOBS & ENVIRONMENT: THE ‘DOUBLE DIVIDEND’ OF ECOLOGICAL MODERNISATION? Kate Crowley School of Government, University of Tasmania Published as “Jobs & Environment: the Double Dividend of Ecological Modernisation” International Journal of Social Economics, Vol 26, No. 7/8/9, pp. 1013-1026. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Dr Kate Crowley is a lecturer in environmental policy and public administration in the School of Government, University of Tasmania; GPO Box 252-22, Hobart, Australia, 7001; Ph 61 3 62 262364 Fax 61 3 62 240973; [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper reviews the emergent literature on ecological modernisation and considers its theoretical utility in terms of assessing environmental employment opportunities in Australia. It explores the potential for ecologically modernist policy to offer a way beyond ‘jobs versus environment’ obstacles to greener employment. The future development of post industrial economies is said by ecological modernists to depend upon an ability to produce high value, high quality products with stringent enforcement standards. In these terms, environmental amenity becomes a superior good, and environmental protection not an economic burden, but an opportunity for enhanced growth and job creation (Weale, 1992). The employment impact of such claims is examined in the Australian context. KEYWORDS environment; employment; green jobs; green industry; ecological modernisation; Australia. INTRODUCTION There is a growing body of literature on ecological modernisation as an emergent concept in environmental policy analysis which has both theoretical and practical policy applications (Spaargaren & Mol, 1992, p. 334). Although it remains essentially contested (Boland, 1994, p. 140) this literature has immense utility, I argue, for environmental employment analysis. In an uncritical sense, ecological modernisation does seem to offer both economic promise and green employment creation prospects in Jacobs’s (1994) sense of a ‘double dividend’ below. -
Green Growth Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: the Alternative Solution for Achieving the Balance Between Both the Natural and the Economic System
sustainability Editorial Green Growth Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: The Alternative Solution for Achieving the Balance between Both the Natural and the Economic System Diego A. Vazquez-Brust 1,2 and José A. Plaza-Úbeda 3,* 1 Portsmouth Faculty of Business and Law, Richmond Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth P01 3DE, UK; [email protected] 2 Production Engineering Department, Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianópolis 88040-900, SC, Brazil 3 Economics and Business Department, University of Almeria, 04120 Almeria, Spain * Correspondence: [email protected] 1. Introduction “We are ethically obliged and incited to think beyond what are treated as the realistic limits of the possible” (Judith Butler, 2020) The existence of an imbalance between our planet’s reserves of resources and the conditions necessary to maintain high levels of economic growth is evident [1]. The limitation of natural resources pushes companies to consider the possibility of facing critical situations in the future that will make it extremely difficult to reconcile economic Citation: Vazquez-Brust, D.A.; and sustainable objectives [2]. Plaza-Úbeda, J.A. Green Growth In this context of dependence on an environment with finite resources, there are Policy, De-Growth, and Sustainability: growing interests in alternative economic models, such as the Circular Economy, oriented to The Alternative Solution for the maximum efficient use of resources [3–5]. However, the Circular Economy approach is Achieving the Balance between Both still very far from the reality of industries, and the depletion of natural resources continues the Natural and the Economic System. undeterred [6]. It is increasingly necessary to explore alternative approaches to address the Sustainability 2021, 13, 4610. -
Towards Green Growth Summary in English
Towards Green Growth Summary in English • Green growth means fostering economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which our well-being relies. To do this it must catalyse investment and innovation which will underpin sustained growth and give rise to new economic opportunities. • A return to ‘business as usual’ would be unwise and ultimately unsustainable, involving risks that could impose human costs and constraints on economic growth and development. It could result in increased water scarcity, resource bottlenecks, air and water pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss which would be irreversible; thus the need for strategies to achieve greener growth. Towards Green Growth - ISBN 978-92-64-094970 © OECD 2011 Sources of green growth Green growth has the potential to address economic and environmental challenges and open up new sources of growth through the following channels: • Productivity. Incentives for greater efficiency in the use of resources and natural assets: enhancing productivity, reducing waste and energy consumption and making resources available to highest value use. • Innovation. Opportunities for innovation, spurred by policies and framework conditions that allow for new ways of addressing environmental problems. • New markets. Creation of new markets by stimulating demand for green technologies, goods, and services; creating potential for new job opportunities. • Confidence. Boosting investor confidence through greater predictability and stability around how governments are going to deal with major environmental issues. • Stability. More balanced macroeconomic conditions, reduced resource price volatility and supporting fiscal consolidation through, for instance, reviewing the composition and efficiency of public spending and increasing revenues through the pricing of pollution. -
Annual Report 2010
Action Earth ACRES Adeline Lo Thank You Ai Xin Society for your invaluable support Anderson Junior College Andrew Tay Assembly of Youth for the Environment So many individuals, food outlets AWARE Balakrishnan Matchap and organizations gave their Betty Hoe invaluable effort, time and Bishan Community Library resources to light the path Bright Hill Temple British Petroleum (BP) towards vegetarianism. Space Bukit Merah Public Library may not have allowed us to list Cat Welfare Society Catherina Hosoi everyone, but all the same, we Central Library of the National Library Board extend our most heartfelt thanks Chong Hua Tong Tou Teck Hwee movement to you. Douglas Teo Dr Raymond Yuen Environmental Challenge Organisation Vegetarian Society (Singapore) ROS Registration No.: ROS/RCB 0123/1999 Singapore 3 Pemimpin Drive, #07-02, Lip Hing Bldg, Charity Registration No.: 1851 UEN: S99SS0065J Family Service Centre (Yishun) Singapore 576147 Foreign Domestic Worker Association (address for correspondence only) Gelin www.vegetarian-society.org Genesis Vegetarian Health Food Restaurant [email protected] Global Indian International School Green Kampung website Greendale Secondary School Green Roundtable Noah’s Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary Guangyang Primary School NUS SAVE GUI (Ground Up Initiative) NutriHub Herty Chen Post Museum Indonesia Vegetarian Society Queensway Secondary School International Vegetarian Union Prof Harvey Neo Juggi Ramakrishnan Raffles Institution Lim Yi Ting Rameshon Murugiah Kevin Tan Rosina Arquati Heng Guan Hou Serene Peh Hort Park Singapore Buddhist Federation Kampung Senang Charity and Education Singapore Kite Association Foundation Singapore Malayalee Association Loving Hut Restaurants Singapore Polytechnic Singapore Sports Council Mahaya Menon Singapore Tourism Board Maria and Ana Laura Rivarola Singapore Vegetarian Meetup Groups ANNUALREPORTFOR2010 Mayura Mohta SPCA Maitreyawira School St Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School Media Corp Straits Times MEVEG (Middle East Vegetarian Group) T. -
Columbia University Task Force on Climate: Report
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE: REPORT Delivered to President Bollinger December 1, 2019 UNIVERSITY TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE FALL 2019 Contents Preface—University Task Force Process of Engagement ....................................................................................................................... 3 Executive Summary: Principles of a Climate School .............................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction: The Climate Challenge ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 The Columbia University Response ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 Columbia’s Strengths ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 Columbia’s Limitations ...................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Why a School? ................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 A Columbia Climate School ................................................................................................................................................................. -
Global and Regional Research on Sustainable Consumption and Production Systems: Achievements, Challenges and Dialogues
Workshop Report Global and Regional Research on Sustainable Consumption and Production Systems: Achievements, Challenges and Dialogues June 13-15, 2012, Rio de Janeiro ESPM RIO DE JANEIRO Rua do Rosário, 90 Centro, 20041-002 - Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 1 Financial support for the report was provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers, IGES, Tokyo and the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. Financial support for the workshop was provided by the Nordic Council of Ministers; IGES, Tokyo, The Brazilian Ministry of the Environment; Manchester University; Espaço Eco Foundation; and Tellus Institute, Boston. In kind support given by ESPM, ISF, One Earth, SERI and many volunteers including the note takers. Editors: Sylvia Lorek, Jeffrey Barber, Karen Onthank Please cite as: Lorek, S.; Barber, J.; Onthank, K. (ed.) 2013. Global and Regional Research on Sustainable Consumption and Production Systems: Achievements, Challenges and Dialogues. Workshop Report of the Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption. June 13-15, 2012, Rio de Janeiro. 2 Executive Summary The year 2012 was the 20th anniversary of the UN Conference on Environment and De- velopment, more familiarly known as the “Earth Summit.” During this year world leaders from governments, business and civil society met once again in Rio de Janeiro (the UN Conference on Sustainable Development or “Rio+20”) to reflect on progress with regard to past and current commitments to the aims of sustainable development articulated in 1992. Given the general acknowledgement of an “implementation gap” amid “worsening trends” despite improvements in eco-efficiency and public awareness, the need to better understand and promote sustainable production and consumption systems as well as the obstacles to this transition becomes increasingly urgent.