Natural Resources Archives – Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy

Steady-State Talking Points for Democrats and Republicans

June 22, 2023/2 Comments/in Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Environment, Governance, Politics, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

Limits to growth are all around us. Global heating, resource shortages, and biodiversity collapse are linked at the hip with stagnating productivity, inflation, and crippling debt. Little by little, citizens and politicians are waking up to ecological limits and the economic linkages.

The awakening is painfully slow for those who have long lamented society’s obsession with growth. After all, economic growth entails a growing human population and ecological footprint,

Tons, Hectares, or Dollars? Measuring the Pressure Exerted by the Economy on the Biosphere

June 15, 2023/4 Comments/in Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Greg Mikkelson, Materials use, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Like a doctor measuring a patient’s vital signs, environmental scientists use various indicators to assess the health of the global ecosystem. These planetary vital signs are reckoned in a variety of units, such as tons of greenhouse gas emitted or hectares of land deforested. Meanwhile, conventional economists try to measure everything in terms of dollars (or other currencies). For example, they assign monetary values to the “ecosystem services”

A “Final Warning” on Climate

March 30, 2023/6 Comments/in Climate Change, Corporate Reform, Corruption, Environment, Gary Gardner, Politics, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gary Gardner

Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued what Greenpeace International called the “final warning” in the global effort to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. After three decades of increasingly insistent wake-up calls, the Panel laid out the sobering reality: Meeting the temperature goal set by the global community in 2015 is impossible without an immediate response, “a quantum leap in climate action,” in the words of United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Bulldozing the Planet

March 16, 2023/5 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Greg Mikkelson, Materials use, Pollution, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

Just as it does for a certain “old man on a green bike,” my commitment to car-free travel often drives me to greater levels of exercise, and more vivid experiences of nature, than one would get behind the wheel of a car. Unfortunately, economic growth has progressively degraded one such experience. Trips to my partner’s lake cottage begin with a commuter train in Montréal and end with an hour-long walk on a dirt road through the countryside.

Fusion Energy: A Different Take

January 5, 2023/22 Comments/in Energy, Environment, Gary Gardner, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Gary Gardner

The recent news that scientists moved a step closer to fusion energy was greeted with enthusiasm and awe in much of the media, a bright spot of cheer amid the ongoing drumbeat of existential global threats. Only the most cynical of curmudgeons could pooh-pooh this hopeful development—right?

After all, energy is the foundation of human development. Civilizational advance is a tale of ongoing successes in shaping energy for human ends.

A Primer on Economic Growth and Biodiversity Conservation for COP15

December 1, 2022/4 Comments/in Animal Welfare, Biodiversity, Brian Czech, Economic Growth, Endangered Species, Environment, Governance, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Brian Czech

With COP15 coming up, it’s time to don the old conservation biologist hat and proffer a primer on the relationship between economic growth and biodiversity conservation. The last thing we want is a COP15 devoid of discussion about the fundamental conflict between growing the economy and conserving biodiversity. In fact, the 800-pound gorilla—GDP growth—ought to be front and center.

For the uninitiated, COP15 is the UN Biodiversity Conference,

Reduce, Reuse, Rethink: The Problem of Recycling

July 29, 2021/3 Comments/in Biodiversity, Climate Change, Economic Growth, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald, Sustainability /by Brian Czech

by Ted Atwood

I was born in the year 2000. Thus, for my entire life, human-caused climate change has been an ever-present, intensifying threat. Throughout my early education, I learned that we all just needed to “do our part” to combat climate change. “Do your part” lessons always culminated in the sentiment that you too could save the cute polar bears by following the motto “reduce, reuse, recycle,” and these were words I took to heart.

Challenging the Pro-Growth Market: Mark Carney’s Reith Lectures and the Need for a Radical Approach

January 6, 2021/8 Comments/in Economic Policy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by James MacGregor Palmer

“Society won’t settle for worthy statements followed by futile gestures. It won’t settle for countries announcing plans in Paris five years ago for 2.8 degrees warming, far too high, that they don’t even meet. Society won’t settle for companies that preach green but don’t manage their carbon footprints, or financial institutions who can’t tell us whether our money is on the right or wrong side of climate history.”

These are not the words of an environmental activist,

The Impact of Evolutionary Pressures on Economic Narratives

December 9, 2020/15 Comments/in Economic Growth, Economic Policy, Energy, Environment, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

by Carey King

People use narratives to support their position, and narratives can serve three purposes. First, they tell a story of belonging. If you meet a stranger and realize you are from a common area, you more easily engage in conversation than otherwise. Second, they describe norms that guide our actions. Most people in society follow certain norms such that by doing so, they are accepted as part of the group. Third—and most relevant to advancing the steady state economy—we use narratives to describe and learn about how the world works.

Orange Cone Headaches: Construction in an Overpopulated, Pro-Growth World

November 19, 2020/0 Comments/in Economic Growth, Environment, Population, Steady State Economy, Steady State Herald /by Brian Czech

By Karen I. Shragg

Spotting a “Road Work Ahead” sign is enough to make any driver groan or nervously clutch her steering wheel. These warnings are meant to ensure people’s safety, yet they often also come with a myriad of traffic problems: congestion, noise, car wrecks, etc. In cities especially, orange cones are littered everywhere, causing copious delays and all for the sake of further “improvement” projects.

While infrastructure repair is an ongoing necessity,

Posts

by Brian Czech

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Gary Gardner

by Gregory M. Mikkelson

by Gary Gardner

by Brian Czech

by Ted Atwood

by James MacGregor Palmer

by Carey King

By Karen I. Shragg