Climate After Growth In this provocative paper, PCI Executive Director Asher Miller and Transition Movement Founder (and PCI Fellow) Rob Hopkins make a convincing case for why the environmental community must embrace post-growth economics and community resilience in their efforts to address the climate crisis. executive summary | download (9MB) The nearly ubiquitous belief of our elected officials is that addressing the climate crisis must come second to ensuring economic growth. This is wrongheaded—both because it underestimates the severity of the climate crisis, and because it presupposes that the old economic "normal" of robust growth can be revived. It can’t. In fact, we have entered an era of “new normals”—not only in our economy, but in our energy and climate systems, as well. The New Energy Normal. These fundamental changes in our energy, climate, and economic systems require unprecedented (and previously politically untenable) strategies.
Le Comparateur des VRAIES Mutuelles, Ethique et Solidaire ! ComparEthic, comparateur mutuelle est la propriété de MèTIS, Fonds de dotation à but non lucratif, qui finance les projets de l'Economie Sociale et Solidaire, c'est à dire les Associations à but non lucratif qui interviennent dans les domaines de l'Exclusion, du Vieillissement, du Handicap, du Logement Social, des Besoins spécifiques des Etudiants, des Activités Culturelles et des activités sportives Pour plus d'informations concernant le Fonds de Dotation, cliquez sur le logo : ComparEthic est LE comparateur mutuelle éthique Santé et Prévoyance de l'Economie Sociale et Solidaire Le seul comparateur de Mutuelles Santé et Prévoyance GRATUIT et EXCLUSIF qui finance les Associations de l'Economie Sociale et Solidaire (toutes les associations loi 1901) Les mutuelles présentes sur ComparEthic sont exclusivement non lucrative. Vous en avez assez des comparateurs incompréhensibles ? Choisissez ComparEthic pour faire un choix éclairé. ComparEthic compare de façon éthique
Solar and Wind Power Now Cheaper Than Coal Power in the U.S It’s cheaper to use solar and wind power in the USA, than traditional coal power. Good news for solar and wind power companies, and a vindication for clean energy activists and lobbies. It might mean more jobs in the energy sector if production of solar and wind power systems increase, and more electricity generating stations are built. However there is a catch, it’s also reported that natural gas (a fossil fuel) is a possible replacement for traditional coal power plants, meaning we’re still not quite off of fossil fuels, but this is still a step in the right direction. There’s a big issue looming here just under the surface, and that is, if natural gas is chosen, and the CO2 from burning the fuel is not released into the atmosphere, then where does it go? What is Carbon Capture and Storage? Yes, that’s right. Wikipedia explains Carbon Capture and Storage like this: Is There Risk of Leakage? Sure… But it’s a small risk. So What Can We Do With The CO2? And that is a good thing.
Onze outils web gratuits et libres pour un meilleur respect de l’environnement (par l’association E-Cosystems) AXOLYS, expert en exploitation de logiciels « Open Source », solutions et formations Linux. AXOLYS met son savoir faire au service des Collectivités. L’association E-cosystems basée à Nantes développe et incube des projets innovants : outils Web gratuits, sous licences libres, accessibles et multilingues dans divers domaines environnementaux et pour un respect des préoccupations de développement durable. Cette démarche rare, participative, contributive et créative avec le sens de la citoyenneté peut notamment intéresser les associations, institutions et espaces publics numériques (EPN) dans le cadre d’actions locales associant l’informatique et l’Internet pour valoriser les économies énergétiques, une meilleure prise en compte du développement durable… pour des actions concrètes. 11 outils en ligne développement durable La liste d’outils environnementaux multilingues gratuits mise à disposition de tous par l’association est impressionnante : Calculatrice de consommation d’énergie Giveet
BBC's Surviving Progress (2011) HDTV TED: A Choice Point Originally, the thesis of this essay was going to be that TED, contrary to its reputation for promoting innovative ideas, excludes ideas that are truly radical or disruptive, contributing instead to a slickly packaged narrative of “Gee whiz, thanks to these nifty ideas, the world is getting better all the time.” TED is, I thought, a conservative institution, a champion of our culture’s dominant narratives. It isn’t hard to make that case, but when I cast my net a little wider and crowd-sourced some research, I discovered the situation is not quite so simple. The two recent incidents that motivated my original thesis were (1) The suppression of TEDx talks by Rupert Sheldrake and Graham Hancock, and (2) The withdrawal of TED support from TEDxWestHollywood (now proceeding this weekend as ExTEDxWestHollywood (free livestream here). In both cases, the rationale that TED eventually settled on was that the speakers and events were “far removed from mainstream scientific thinking.”
Earth, 2100 AD: Four futures of environment and society - environment - 03 October 2013 Climate models and the latest IPCC data reveal four possible futures for global population, economy and environment at the end of this century YOU may have heard last week that Earth in 2100 is likely to be between 0.3 and 4.8 °C warmer than it was in the late 20th century. This is one of the key messages of the latest UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. Why such a broad range? Because the rise in temperature depends largely on what we choose to do now – where our energy and food come from, the type of buildings we live in and the cars we drive. And of course, how many people populate the planet. Read more: "IPCC 2013: The latest state of the climate report" Those choices will determine whether Earth stays much the same as it is today, or if rising seas eat up major land masses – Florida, Bangladesh, we're looking at you – and large parts of the world become too dry to live in (see diagram). Editorial: "The future of the climate is still in our hands" 2: Slight delay
Report Suggests Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization Rapid advances in technology have long represented a serious potential threat to many jobs ordinarily performed by people. A recent report (which is not online, but summarized here) from the Oxford Martin School’s Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology attempts to quantify the extent of that threat. It concludes that 45 percent of American jobs are at high risk of being taken by computers within the next two decades. The authors believe this takeover will happen in two stages. The authors note that the rate of computerization depends on several other factors, including regulation of new technology and access to cheap labor. These results were calculated with a common statistical modeling method. “Our findings thus imply that as technology races ahead, low-skill workers will reallocate to tasks that are non-susceptible to computerization—i.e., tasks that required creative and social intelligence,” the authors write.
Culture in Decline | Episode #6 "Tale of Two Worlds" by Peter Joseph Dutch King Willem-Alexander declares the end of the welfare state - Europe - World In its place a "participation society" is emerging, in which people must take responsibility for their own future and create their own social and financial safety nets, with less help from the national government. The king traveled past waving fans in an ornate horse-drawn carriage to the 13th-century Hall of Knights in The Hague for the monarch's traditional annual address on the day the government presents its budget for the coming year. It was Willem-Alexander's first appearance on the national stage since former Queen Beatrix abdicated in April and he ascended to the throne. "The shift to a 'participation society' is especially visible in social security and long-term care," the king said, reading out to lawmakers a speech written for him by Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government. "The classic welfare state of the second half of the 20th century in these areas in particular brought forth arrangements that are unsustainable in their current form."