Sustainability Archives – Page 4 of 26 – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

True Conservation: A 21st Century Vision for the Next Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

January 13, 2022/4 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

The 21st century challenges to wildlife conservation are unprecedented. The ecological integrity of the nation and planet is unravelling before our eyes. Species and ecosystems are disappearing, if not immediately off the face of the planet, then via slow, dead-end emigrations as they respond to climate change.

It’s not as if climate change was needed to imperil fish and wildlife. Climate change is actually the fourth major crisis in the past 150 years.

A Place for a Steady State in the EU Green Deal

January 6, 2022/2 Comments/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Adel Ramdani

The European Green Deal, the EU’s flagship environmental program, aims to profoundly transform the EU’s 27 member states into low-carbon economies. The deal was rolled out in December 2019 by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. It’s supposed to be a roadmap toward a “fair and prosperous society” with an economy that is modern, resource-efficient, and competitive. So far, so good? Let’s take a deeper dive.

A Steady State Economy is for the Birds

December 16, 2021/22 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Consumption, Degrowth, Economic Growth, Endangered Species, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Kate McFarland

Wind turbines kill birds.

This is not a fiction devised by the fossil fuel industry. It is an observable fact.

Ask, for instance, the dozens of birders who ventured to Scotland’s Outer Hebrides for a glimpse of a white-throated needletail, the first sighting of the species in Britain in 22 years. Like other swifts, the white-throated needletail is an adroit flier, catching insects on the wing and even mating during flight.

Biden’s Black Swan: New Oil Leasing is Bound to End in Disaster

December 9, 2021/2 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Taylor Lange

The USA is well acquainted with disastrous crude oil accidents. Eleven years ago an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform killed 11 workers, injured 17 more, and discharged roughly 4.6 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The incident cost BP more than $65 billion to clean up, destroyed thousands of acres of ocean reefs, and killed thousands of marine animals. Just over two decades prior,

Resisting the Temptation of Growth at the County Level

November 19, 2021/1 Comment/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Food and Agriculture, Governance, Jobs and Employment, Monetary Policy, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Daniel Giles

Across the USA, a battle for the souls of rural counties is being waged. The battle is fought not in major news outlets, but in local government meetings and the opinion columns of local newspapers. Despite the lack of national coverage, the cumulative outcome of these localized conflicts will change the American landscape for generations to come.

This monumental battle is between those fighting for growth—or “development” as some use interchangeably—and those who strive to conserve the current character of counties.

Pope Francis and the Steady State Economy

October 28, 2021/4 Comments/in Consumption, Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Poverty, Religion, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Snyder

Let’s play a game of “who said it.” I’ll give you quotes from either For the Common Good (by Herman Daly and John Cobb), or Let Us Dream (by Pope Francis). You guess who wrote it:

“…in the wealthier parts of the world, the fixation with constant economic growth has become destabilizing, producing vast inequalities and putting the natural world out of balance.”
“Then ‘God’ became redundant and disappeared.

Housing Policy: An Agent for Growth

October 7, 2021/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by John Mirisch

In the ongoing and increasingly heated discussions about housing, urban planning, and zoning, I often return to Greta Thunberg’s seething indictment of our world’s decision-makers: “Here we are at the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can do is talk about money and fairytales of eternal economic growth.”

Greta may have been directing her remarks to politicians at the highest levels of government; but, neither should we forget as former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill once famously remarked,

The Parliamentary Prospects of Steady-State Politics

September 23, 2021/6 Comments/in Climate Change, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by James Lamont

In August steady staters enjoyed a victory worthy of reflection. Following May elections, the Scottish Greens struck a power-sharing deal with the Scottish National Party (SNP), bringing the Greens into a national UK government for the first time.

Buried beneath the media chatter about what this partnership could mean for Scottish independence (both parties are in favor) is the fact that a party explicitly against infinite growth is now in power in the UK.

Introducing the Forgoing Flights for America the Beautiful Act

September 2, 2021/5 Comments/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

The first commandment of serious policy reform is: “Thou shalt not propose sweeping legislation without the drafting thereof.” So, if we’re going to get serious about banning flights, we better produce the legislative goods. In doing so, we strive to obey the second commandment as well: “Thou shalt not propose infeasible legislation.”

To be feasible, the Forgoing Flights for America the Beautiful Act (FFAB) must be presented as a logical sequence of reforms.

#BanFlightsUSA, Before It’s Too Late!

August 26, 2021/26 Comments/in Brian Czech, Climate Change, Economic Policy, Environment, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

In a rational world, we’d avoid doing things that rot our teeth, cause traffic accidents, or…ruin the planet for the kids, grandkids, and millions of other species. Unfortunately, our rationality has been spotty at best. We’ve been rational enough to protect plenty of teeth and prevent numerous accidents, but we’ve done nothing to stop the global heating that is wrecking our spectacular Earth.

That’s why we need to ban flights now.