Between 60-80 per cent of the impacts on the planet come from household consumption. If we change our consumption habits, this will have a drastic effect on our environmental footprint as well. But is it realistic to expect that individual lifestyle changes alone will have the needed impact on reducing CO2 emissions?
The technology and economic growth enthusiasts will argue that new, more sustainable technology will counter any problems caused to the environment. We can grow indefinitely. There is some truth in both outlooks.
The global capitalist system that rewards competition and the exploitation of nature for the accumulation of individual wealth can no longer be logically and ethically argued as best system for an economy bounded by social injustices and planetary restraints.
An overwhelming number of people around the world have listened to the climate science and now want those in power to act with urgency and resolve, rather than continue the conflated lip service we have heard from environmental negotiations over the past three decades.
Innovating scientists and economic policy makers committed to maximizing profit margins promise that we can stop global warming with great inventions coupled with a free market to sell them. The electric vehicle (EV) is one such great invention. But is it really that simple?
Local food systems provide a truly sustainable alternative to unwieldy and environmentally damaging global food chains.
“The Corona Chronicles” by Ralph Thurm is a must-read for all those that want to move to wiser action, beyond empty sustainability promises, fatalism or the illusion of progress.
If you ever thought that eating more sea fish is much more sustainable than, let’s say, eating beef, then you ought to think again. If you ever want to know why, then watch Seaspiracy, a shockingly effective expose of the dark secrets of the fishing industry by Ali and Lucy Tabrizi.
The concept of buen vivir has gained visibility in Latin America in recent years. Rooted in indigenous worldviews, buen vivir rests on an understanding of humanity’s relationship with nature that is fundamentally at odds with the anthropocentrism of modernity. Gustavo Hernández and Henkjan Laats trace the concept’s rising trajectory and its influence and echos in Europe.
Watersheds cover every ecological niche on the planet. When human societies live in harmony with the watershed, we flourish; when they are ignored, we perish. Deep down, we are all “People of the Watershed”. How can we achieve systems change by returning to this ancient legacy?
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