issuesComplex, interconnected issues must be dealt with rapidly and effectively if we are to achieve a resilient future.
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The Party's Over
Our current global economic system has to grow in order to remain healthy — that's simply the way it is designed. But unending growth is not compatible with a finite planet, and even growth in the "knowledge" and "service" economies involves the use of non-renewable resources. Institutionalized perpetual growth together with an exponentially-growing global population is a recipe for disaster.
Fortunately, there are ways to reform our economic system peacefully if there is enough political will. Political goals can be changed to prioritize social well-being instead of the sheer growth of economic activity. Governments can stop allowing the negative consequences ("externalities") of economic activities to be separated from prices and borne by the public at large. With such "economics as if people mattered," basic economic activities become more localized, brining better local jobs and more socially and environmentally responsible business practices.
The evidence indicates that we've hit the limits to growth (as we know it).
Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg relates the fundamentals of energy supply scarcity and how the economic markets will react.
(Intro: In talks with friends (not of the PO cloth), I've recently sensed more consideration of the possibility that economic growth may not return and what that might imply. As such yet I think … >>
YOU Can Be a BILLIONAIRE Without Even Trying! Five Ways to Profit BIG from Global Collapse (Author’s note: This is the Introduction to an inspirational / financial-advice … >>
EXCERPT: In April 2009—just when people thought things couldn’t get worse in San Bernardino County, California—bulldozers demolished four perfectly good new houses and a … >>
Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to … >>
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what is pci?Founded in 2003, Post Carbon Institute is leading the transition to a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable world. The Institute has gathered 29 of the world's leading experts on a wide range of interdependent social and scientific issues.
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