The climate crisis is a consequence of our economic system. Economic solutions, like carbon trading were supposed to be a problem solver. Despite such efforts, CO2 levels kept rising. Should we consider changing our economic system instead? And which role do environmental NGOs play in the battle for climate justice?
Joanna Cabello, activist and researcher on environmental justice and part of the Carbon Trade Watch collective, speaks about false solutions and grassroots activism. Joanna´s blog article "Where to begin with climate justice" is available here.
One argument of those who defend growth is that growth is the natural and inevitable course of the economy. Liberated from governmental or other restrictions, and left to their own powers, entrepreneurs will make an economy grow, as they are endlessly inventive in growing their own incomes. Growth is then seen as the natural product of a free, ‘self-regulated market’. The destiny of the economy...
Since the very beginning of modern growth-critique, starting with the publication of the report „Limits to Growth“ in 1972, the mainstream response to this critique has always been: “Well, we can grow the limits by making things ever more efficient”. Now, with the shiny user interface of the ongoing digital revolution, the holy grail of the efficiency revolution gets yet another new finish: By ...
By Sam Bliss Growth means a process of increasing in physical size. When we think of economic growth, it is difficult to fathom what exactly grows, since 'the economy' is an invented concept that describes billions of human interactions as if they were one giant entity. But gross domestic product is a rate -- the total money value of economic activity per year -- and thus growth really means ...