Reimagine the Degrowth Theory in a Resilient Community: the Fragile Path Toward “Democracity”
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Think Globally, Act Locally Public Health and the Anthropocene Evidence Review
Think Globally, Act Locally Public Health and the Anthropocene Evidence Review Dr. Trevor Hancock, Hon FFPH Retired Professor and Senior Scholar School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria Prepared For: The Public Health Agency of Canada Contract No: 4500412213 Date: September 4, 2020 PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION OF BC | #550-2950 Douglas Street, Victoria, BC, V8T 4N4 Phone: 250-595-8422 | Email: [email protected] | Website: phabc.org This publication was produced by PHABC with funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors/researchers and do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Public Health Agenc y of Canada. Think Globally, Act Locally Public Health and the Anthropocene Evidence Review Table of Contents Preamble ................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 1. Welcome to the Anthropocene ........................................................................................................................................................... 4 a) The Anthropocene as a Geological Phenomenon ............................................................................................................................ 4 b) The Anthropocene as an Ecological Phenomenon ........................................................................................................................... 5 -
Investing in Real Assets with Real Purpose to Create a Sustainable Future Infrared | Creating Better Futures CEO Statement | Infrared
SUSTAINABILITY REPORT Investing in real assets with real purpose to create a sustainable future InfraRed | Creating better futures CEO Statement | InfraRed CEO 01 Statement being transparent reporting and the publication of this in line with Task Force for Climate-related Financial sustainability report. Disclosures (“TCFD”); expanded our reporting framework and data collection; increased engagement with portfolio I am proud of the progress we have made in delivering companies on sustainability issues; and aligned our staff’s against our sustainability commitments. Whilst Covid interest through the introduction of individual sustainability impacted some of our assets, particularly those with performance objectives. demand-based revenue streams and those in the health and educational sectors, their operational resilience Whilst we are delighted with the progress we have has remained strong. This is a testament to the active achieved, we recognise there is a lot more to be done. In asset management approach and robust governance the coming year, we will set a clear path on how we can frameworks which underpin our investments and overall achieve net zero carbon emissions using science-based business alike. targets for assets under our direct operational control. Where we do not have operational control, we will work with Supporting our stakeholders Werner von Guionneau CEO clients to support their net zero journeys. We will also put At the start of the pandemic, we set out priorities for I am delighted to present InfraRed’s inaugural sustainability -
Geoengineering in the Anthropocene Through Regenerative Urbanism
geosciences Review Geoengineering in the Anthropocene through Regenerative Urbanism Giles Thomson * and Peter Newman Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin University, Perth 6102, WA, Australia; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +61-8-9266-9030 Academic Editors: Carlos Alves and Jesus Martinez-Frias Received: 26 June 2016; Accepted: 13 October 2016; Published: 25 October 2016 Abstract: Human consumption patterns exceed planetary boundaries and stress on the biosphere can be expected to worsen. The recent “Paris Agreement” (COP21) represents a major international attempt to address risk associated with climate change through rapid decarbonisation. The mechanisms for implementation are yet to be determined and, while various large-scale geoengineering projects have been proposed, we argue a better solution may lie in cities. Large-scale green urbanism in cities and their bioregions would offer benefits commensurate to alternative geoengineering proposals, but this integrated approach carries less risk and has additional, multiple, social and economic benefits in addition to a reduction of urban ecological footprint. However, the key to success will require policy writers and city makers to deliver at scale and to high urban sustainability performance benchmarks. To better define urban sustainability performance, we describe three horizons of green urbanism: green design, that seeks to improve upon conventional development; sustainable development, that is the first step toward a net zero impact; and the emerging concept of regenerative urbanism, that enables biosphere repair. Examples of green urbanism exist that utilize technology and design to optimize urban metabolism and deliver net positive sustainability performance. If mainstreamed, regenerative approaches can make urban development a major urban geoengineering force, while simultaneously introducing life-affirming co-benefits to burgeoning cities. -
Sustainability Answer Big Questions
Master of Sustainability 0818 Answer big questions Housed on Chatham’s groundbreaking, net-zero Eden Hall Campus, Chatham’s Master of Sustainability (MSUS) program is experiential and practical. Our highly interdisciplinary faculty members work closely with students on projects that make real differences even as they teach important principles. Students gain not only a professional skill set that prepares them to be the sustainability leaders of tomorrow, but a diverse portfolio of work that shows that they already are. falk.chatham.edu/msus Master of Sustainability IT’S NOT JUST EARTH DAY. IT’S EVERY DAY. We are inspired by environmental icon and Chatham alumna Rachel Carson ’29, whose own work over 50 years ago continues to change the world. The Princeton Review and the U.S. Green Building Council recognized Chatham University as one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the United States and Canada. Chatham received a “Green Rating” score of 98 out of a possible 99 – the highest of any university in Pittsburgh. udududududududududududududududududududududududududududududududududududududu PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS SAMPLE COURSES • Housed within the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment, the Master of Sustainability (MSUS) is SUS603 Sustainability: Ethics, Equity, Justice an intensive cohort program that can be completed This course focuses on the role of the “social” as one in two years of full-time study. of the three pillars of sustainability. It explores historic • Choose from seven focus areas: and contemporary notions of ethics, social equity and – Sustainability Management social justice. It examines how these concepts can be – Sustainable Design and the Built Environment applied to sustainability by studying local and global – Community Development and Planning case studies. -
Beyond Growth Herman E. Daly 1996
Beyond Growth The Economics of Sustainable Development Herman E. Daly 1996 1 CONTENTS Introduction. The Shape of Current Thought on Sustainable Development Part I. Economic Theory and Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 1 Moving to a Steady-State Economy Chapter 2 Elements of Environmental Macroeconomics Chapter 3 Consumption: Value Added, Physical Transformation, and Welfare Part II. Operational Policy and Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 4 Operationalizing Sustainable Development by Investing in Natural Capital Chapter 5 Fostering Environmentally Sustainable Development: Four Parting Suggestions for the World Bank Part III. National Accounts and Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 6 Toward a Measure of Sustainable Net National Product Chapter 7 On Sustainable Development and National Accounts Part IV. Population and Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 8 Carrying Capacity As a Tool of Development Policy: The Ecuadoran Amazon and the Paraguayan Chaco Chapter 9 Marx and Malthus in Northeast Brazil: A Note on the World's Largest Class Difference in Fertility and Its Recent Trends Part V. International Trade and Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 10 Free Trade and Globalization Vs. Environment and Community Chapter 11 From Adjustment to Sustainable Development: The Obstacle of Free Trade Part VI. Two Pioneers in the Economics of Sustainable Development Introduction Chapter 12 The Economic Thought of Frederick Soddy Chapter 13 On Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen's Contributions to Economics: An Obituary -
The Two Faces of Capitalism Underdevelopment and Overdevelopment by Eugene E. Ruyle ABSTRACT
The Two Faces of Capitalism Underdevelopment and Overdevelopment by Eugene E. Ruyle ABSTRACT: This essay provides an alternative to the unilineal view of capitalism shared by Marxist and mainstream economists. Capitalism is usually seen as an economic system that exists within nations at different levels of development. The alternative discussed in this essay views capitalism as an international system which manifests itself differently in different societies. In the Third World capitalism assumes an underdeveloping form, while in Europe and North America it takes an overdeveloping form. ************************* The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked. (Marx, 1853, 137) in fact the veiled slavery of the wage-workers in Europe needed, for its pedestal, slavery pure and simple in the new world. (Marx, 1867,759-60) Marxists and mainstream economists may disagree on the nature of capitalism, but they share an essentially Eurocentric view of its development. Simply stated, this view holds that capitalism first developed in Europe and then spread to other continents. Accordingly, we read of the “advanced capitalist nations” in Europe and North America and the “traditional” or “backward” nations of Africa, Asia, or Latin America. Or, if the writer is more charitable, we may read of the “developed” and “developing” worlds. Such Eurocentrism obscures our understanding of the actual place of capitalism in the development of our species. Capitalism is a world phenomenon. It has transformed Asia, Africa, and Latin America no less than the West. -
Development, Growth and Sustainability
Buffalo Environmental Law Journal Volume 1 Number 2 Article 1 10-1-1993 Development, Growth and Sustainability Margaret Troyak University of Waterloo Tom Muir Water Planning and Management Branch, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Environment Canada, Burlington Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/belj Part of the Land Use Law Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons, and the Sustainability Commons Recommended Citation Margaret Troyak & Tom Muir, Development, Growth and Sustainability, 1 Buff. Envtl. L.J. 173 (1993). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/belj/vol1/iss2/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Buffalo Environmental Law Journal by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ University at Buffalo School of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY MARGARET TROYAK* and TOM MuIR** TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Introduction ..................................... 174 II. Global Effects Have Local Causes ..................... 176 III. The Case Studies: Hamilton-Wentworth and Halton Regions ............................... 177 A. Housing ..................................... 181 B. Incomes ..................................... 183 C. Taxation .................................... 185 D. Infrastructure ................................ 195 E. Education ................................... 199 F. Subsidies -
Local and International Examples of How Sustainable Communities Can and Do Work
Environment 24 Local and international examples of how sustainable communities can and do work Morag Gamble SEED International Email: [email protected] www.SEEDinternational.com.au What is a sustainable neighbourhood? What does it look like? What are it’s features? How are local communities around the world making it a reality? INTRODUCTION For the first time in human history, more than half of the global population live in urban environments. To sustain urban habitats and their inhabitants, we must plan, design and think of cities as ecological systems, create healthy urban metabolisms and reconsider the relationship between cities and their hinterland. Climate change, peaking oil supplies, increasing levels of pollution, scarcity of fresh water, biodiversity loss, toxic food scares, and escalating violence are just some of the reasons why new patterns of urban living need to be developed. There is a great potential in urban areas to produce more, waste less and contribute to the ecological balance (restoration of the urban metabolism). Cities can become cyclers instead of sinks. The settlements we live in affect the choices we make and the way we live, as well as the level of impact we have on the planet's finite resources. A radical shift is required in the current approach to the design of human settlements and the food systems that feed the populations. WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY? “Sustainable communities live in social, cultural and physical environments in which needs and aspirations can be satisfied without diminishing the chances of future generations. A sustainable human community is designed in such a way that its ways of life, businesses, economy, physical structures, and technologies do not interfere with nature’s inherent ability to sustain life. -
Development: the Story of an Idea
‘Today’s ‘developers’ are like the alchemists of old who vainly tried to transmute lead into gold, in the firm belief that they would then have the key to wealth. The alchemists disappeared once it was realized that true wealth came from elsewhere – from people and from trade. When will we realize that well-being does not come from growth?’ GILBERT RIST (2008) HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT: FROM WESTERN ORIGINS TO GLOBAL FAITH CHAPTER 2 DEVELOPMENT: THE STORY OF AN IDEA TONY DALY AND M. SATISH KUMAR This chapter explores current thinking World’ critiques of the theory and practice of and debates about the nature and scope of development are also explored and debated. The development. It sketches out the evolution and era of the MDGs and SDGs and the associated definitions of the term from early world views critiques and challenges is also reviewed. Debates via colonialism, the decolonisation process surrounding divergent definitions of development and the emergence of the ‘age of development’ and key phrases such as ‘Third World’ are also following the Second World War. Modernisation analysed. theory, dependency theory and broader ‘Third KEYWORDS: NATURE AND HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT; DEVELOPMENT DEFINITIONS AND DEBATES; GENDER; ENVIRONMENT; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMAN DEVELOPMENT; MODERNISATION THEORY; DEPENDENCY THEORY; THIRD WORLD PERSPECTIVES; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS Photo: John Ferguson/Oxfam 32 33 INTRODUCTION In compiling the second edition of the Development strategies ... if the goals of development include improved One area in which there is almost unanimous Dictionary in 2010, editor Wolfgang Sachs insisted standards of living, removal of poverty, access to dignified agreement is that the definition of development The half century between 1950 and 2000 has been that today: employment, and reduction in societal inequality, then is both controversial and contested – there is little agreement as to its precise definition and meaning characterised by many as the ‘age of development’, it is quite natural to start with women. -
The Impacts of Spatial Planning on Degrowth
Sustainability 2013, 5, 1067-1079; doi:10.3390/su5031067 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Article The Impacts of Spatial Planning on Degrowth Petra Wächter Institute of Technology Assessment of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Strohgasse 45/5, 1030 Vienna, Austria; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +43-1-51581-6592; Fax: +43-1-7109883 Received: 8 November 2012; in revised form: 31 January 2013 / Accepted: 4 February 2013 / Published: 7 March 2013 Abstract: As the current growth economy has created severe environmental pollution and unbalanced distribution of prosperity, there is an increasing amount of critical voices calling for a change. The new concept of degrowth addresses a fundamental change in political, economic and institutional levels underpinning different norms and values towards sustainability. Spatial planning institutions have a decisive role in the transition process insofar as they take decisions regarding the use of land and its attributed space. Especially in three areas spatial planning has influential potentials to stimulate the transition process towards degrowth by enhancing: (i) a sustainable use of renewable energy sources; (ii) sustainable settlement structures; and (iii) the creation of social capital by more community based facilities. The paper explores these possibilities for intervention and shows how spatial planning can have positive impacts on degrowth. Keywords: degrowth; spatial planning; settlement structures 1. Introduction Economic growth and how it is measured has been in the center of criticism for decades. The basis of this criticism is that in a biophysical system with finite resources it is impossible for an economy based on these resources to grow infinitely. -
Earth-Honoring Faith and the Anthropocene –Larry Rasmussen
Contribution Earth-Honoring Faith and the Anthropocene Larry Rasmussen Golden Spikes HE International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) is the official Tarbiter of geological time. To map Earth’s ages the ICS plants “golden spikes.” Geological eras, periods, and epochs begin and end with golden spikes. One of them, marking the boundary between the Cretaceous and the Paleogene, is hammered into a hillside in El Kef, Tunisia. In 2016 the ICS will make a momentous decision. Is, or is not, a new golden spike warranted? If it is, that spike would end the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period and mark the onset of what has already been christened “the Anthropocene.”1 The notion that Earth has discontinuous ages is quite recent. Classical texts from ancient civilizations both East and West, as well as the sacred scriptures of the oldest religions, omit dinosaurs, mastodons, and even ninety-five percent of human history (hunter-gatherer), to say nothing of Earth’s long tenure well before any life appeared, even single-celled creatures. The memory encased in written records is typically of one epoch only, the civilizations of the late Holocene (the past 11,700 years). Thus it was against the grain of religion, science and philosophy that Jean-Leopold-Nicholas-Frederic (Georges) Cuvier (1769–1832) argued from his small Paris fossil collection that worlds previous to ours existed. “Life on earth has often been disturbed by terrible events,” he wrote in the early 1800s, “Living organisms without number have been the victims of these catastrophes.”2 Nature had changed course, with devastating effect. -
The Propaganda Machine Behind the Controversy Over Climate Science: Can You Spot the Lie in This Title? American Behavioral Scientist 60 (3) , Pp
This is an Open Access document downloaded from ORCA, Cardiff University's institutional repository: http://orca.cf.ac.uk/100370/ This is the author’s version of a work that was submitted to / accepted for publication. Citation for final published version: Maxwell, Richard and Miller, Toby 2016. The propaganda machine behind the controversy over climate science: can you spot the lie in this title? American Behavioral Scientist 60 (3) , pp. 288- 304. 10.1177/0002764215613405 file Publishers page: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764215613405 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0002764215613405> Please note: Changes made as a result of publishing processes such as copy-editing, formatting and page numbers may not be reflected in this version. For the definitive version of this publication, please refer to the published source. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite this paper. This version is being made available in accordance with publisher policies. See http://orca.cf.ac.uk/policies.html for usage policies. Copyright and moral rights for publications made available in ORCA are retained by the copyright holders. 613405 The Propaganda Machine Behind the Controversy Over Climate Science: Can You Spot the Lie in This Title? Abstract The essay examines various communication strategies for advocating acceptance of climate science in the face of psychological and ideological impediments. It surveys some key literature, offers case studies of Lego, Shell, Greenpeace, Edelman, and public relations, and culminates with a hortatory logic based on the recent Papal encyclical. The focus is on issues pertaining to the United States but with examples and ideas from elsewhere.