Food and Agriculture Archives – Page 3 of 5 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Colorado River: “Lifeline of the Southwest” Suffering Effects of Economic Growth and Climate Change

October 1, 2020/3 Comments/in Climate Change, Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Haley Demircan

The Colorado River, also known as the “Lifeline of the Southwest,” spreads along 1,450 miles (2,330 kilometers), from northern Colorado to the Gulf of California in northwestern Mexico. This legendary river provides water for 40 million people in cities such as Denver, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego, as well as millions of acres of vital farmland. Seven states rely on the Colorado River as a primary source of water.

Building Upon the Trophic Theory of Money: Preliminary Results from Canada

June 24, 2020/5 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Monetary Policy, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

The human economy doesn’t just mimic the economy of nature; it is part of it. It is woven directly into the ecological system of producers and consumers. Due to the technological prowess of Homo sapiens, though, the human presence dominates, threatening other species and the life support system of the planet. Human dominance over non-human life leads us to acknowledge some uncomfortable truths, particularly for proponents of “green growth.”

The first pertains to the loss of biodiversity.

Normalizing Outbreaks in the Anthropocene: Growth Isn’t the Cure

March 10, 2020/4 Comments/in Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

By James Magnus-Johnston

Death rates. Infection rates. Handwashing. Handwringing.

May I re-frame the coronavirus conversation? Although the world is currently stunned by the rapid spread of this virus across the globe, we must understand that these kinds of outbreaks are simply going to happen more often in our climate-altered world, and they highlight the fragility of our growth-or-bust industrial system. But there is a silver lining: This moment requires industrial societies to emphasize wellbeing over GDP and to witness the vulnerability of global,

“Be Very Alarmed!” Introducing the Global GDP Meter

June 27, 2019/5 Comments/in Brian Czech, Consumption, Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Inflation, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

Backed by an ominous sound clip and a rapidly churning GDP meter that comes out of nowhere, “Be alarmed… Be very alarmed!” are the opening phrases at CASSE’s new landing page. You’ll see what we mean shortly; please allow us an introduction to describe this new approach.

The landing page is actually a 30-second animation prefacing our “regular” website. It is designed to be three things:

Alarming
Crystal clear
Distinctive and memorable

Why Sound the Alarm?

The One Percent: Not Kristallnacht but Lebensraum

May 22, 2019/0 Comments/in Brian Czech, Consumption, Economic Policy, Food and Agriculture, Money and Investments, Sustainability, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

The talking points of conspicuous consumers can be just as obnoxious as their purchasing habits.

A Journey of No Return, Not a Circular Economy

April 23, 2019/9 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Energy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Jobs and Employment, Population, Poverty, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability, Technology /by Brian Czech

By Herman Daly

The economic process is not a mechanical analog that can be run forward and backward, nor a circular process that can return to any previous state. Rather it is an irreversible and irrevocable process moving in the direction of time’s arrow of increasing entropy [1]. Finitude and entropy guarantee that the economic life of our species will be a journey of no return. Therefore even a stationary economy, in the classical sense of constant population and constant capital stock, is ultimately a journey of no return, because the metabolic throughput of matter and energy required to maintain constant stocks of people and physical capital, in the face of depreciation and death, is an entropic flow from ever less concentrated sources to ever filling sinks – and both sources and sinks are finite.

The Green New Deal: What’s Really Green and What’s Really New

February 14, 2019/11 Comments/in Climate Change, Consumption, Corporate Reform, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

Ask Americans what the Green New Deal is all about, and you’ll get two basic answers. Most often you’ll hear, “It’s about moving to renewable energy in order to fight climate change.” You’ll also hear, from a camp further right, “It’s all about socialism!”

Either way, the really green, really new feature is overlooked. What the Green New Deal is really about is the transition to a steady state economy.

Earth Day Message: Double the Native Forest Cover

April 21, 2015/0 Comments/in Environment, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Sustainability, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

This Earth Day, Brent Blackwelder urges us to double the current amount of native forest cover.

A New Economy Will Help Save Rivers and Fisheries

March 25, 2015/0 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Money and Investments, Steady State Economy, Sustainability, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

Many activities that today damage rivers and fisheries would not occur in a steady state economy.

Crossroads on Global Infrastructure

January 8, 2015/6 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Steady State Economy, Sustainability, The Daly News /by Brian Czech

A momentous choice is before us. Will we choose more mega-highway projects, centralized electric power plants, and mega-dams, or more decentralized wind and solar investments?