The Ailing Planet (original) (raw)
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The sustainable (development) future of mankind
2007
The Sustainable (Development) Future of Mankind 9 4. Short about authors John M Bunzl, after studying modern languages and business studies in France, Switzerland and Italy, John pursued a commercial career trading in raw materials for the paper industry and, more recently, in the sale of specialised technical papers primarily to the filtration, abrasives and medical supplies industries. Having had only a passing interest in international affairs and in the thinking of E.F. Schumacher, in 1998 the idea for Simultaneous Policy suddenly occurred to him as a potential means for removing the barriers which prevent many of today's global problems from being solved. In 2000 he founded the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO) and launched the Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign. In 2001, he set out the campaign in his first book of the same name. The SP campaign has since steadily been gathering increasing attention, recognition and support amongst citizens, activists, non-governmental organisations, politicians, business people and many others. In 2003 he co-authored his second book, Monetary Reform-Making it Happen!, written with the prominent monetary reformer, James Robertson. In 2007 he authored a third book, People-centred Global Governance-Making it Happen! John is a company director living in London. He has three children. Prof. Dr. Timi Ecimovic (1941), from Medosi, Korte, Slovenia, is an eminent international scientist, independent researcher, lecturer, first head of SEM Institute for Climate Change, retired in May 2004 and Chairman of The World Thinker's Forum. He is researcher working on The Nature, Space and Environment protection, the Climate Change System, System Thinking, Sustainability, and Sustainable Future. He was among the first researchers to apply nature, space, and environment protection in a local community by activities we call today Local Agenda 21 Processes-a holistic program for survival of our civilization under new challenges of the third millennium-from local community sustainability to global civilization sustainable future or harmony with Nature of Planet Earth. With his research/work within the climate change system activities/problems recording/understanding/researching (he was nominated for The Nobel Prize 2003) he has been among the leading independent researchers with many international publications and talks. Together with many researchers in cooperation worldwide within case studies and complex problem solving research and learning he is assisting a holistic and a better understanding of the present. His latest research directed towards the system theory/system thinking may provide a possible answer enabling us to better understand our world. His The Information Theory of Nature is nomination for The Nobel Prize 2007 in Physics. Dr. Timi Ecimovic is an active member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the European Academy for Environmental Affairs, Doctor of Environmental Sciences (H.C.), the Chairman of World Thinker's Forum, and professor/chair of Environmental Sciences at Ansted University. H. E. Baron Col. Chev. Prof. Dr. Roger Haw is the Founder cum Chairman of the First kind of World Book of Records with a Focus on Corporate Social Responsibility aspects 'SRW RecordPedia' and Founded the Ansted Social Responsibility International Award (ASRIA) to recognize those Corporations, NGOs and individuals around the world. The publication, which has been distributed to over 80 countries, includes commendable messages from four Nobel Prize Laureates. The ASRIA Awards are known by 187 countries member nations to UNESCO commissions. Prof. Dr. Roger Haw also serves as a Diplomat to the World Human Rights Service Council, USA to the United Nations. He has been selected as one of the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England TOP 100 EDUCATORS-2005. This accolade is credited to those individuals who have fulfilled a standard of merit in the eyes of their peers that is beyond the norm. It is a lasting tribute to that which can be achieved by a very select few for the benefit of many.
Experimental Agriculture, 2002
This is an unusually brilliant and remarkably concise examination of environmental change in the past century. In the seven chapters of Part One, the author demonstrates that we humans have impacted all the`spheres' that surround us on our planet ± the lithosphere and pedosphere, the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, and the biosphere ± more deeply in the twentieth century than in all previous history combined. During the twentieth century the world's population quadrupled, the global economy expanded 14-fold, and industrial output expanded by a factor of 40. Also, carbon dioxide emissions increased 13-fold, water use rose nine times and energy use increased 16 times. In that time too, humans used ten times more energy than their forbears had over the entire 1000 years preceding 1900. In the ®ve chapters of Part Two, the author dextrously analyses the elements of population growth, migration, technological change, industrialization and international policies, ideas and their many`feedback loops' into the realm of environmental policies. The author is not a dogmatic`no-change-at-all' environmentalist or a`doom and gloom, degradation everywhere' ambassador. He does caution us, however, to be prudent: ®rst to understand the sheer dimensions of environmental change and the many results thereof in this past century; and, second, to think sensibly about how these problems might be addressed before dangerous thresholds are breached by our unwitting, collective activities. This book is immensely insightful and revealing, carrying a message that is deeply gripping and sobering. It deserves the widest attention from scientists, educationalists, the public, politicians and corporate leaders alike. For undergraduates everywhere, it should be compulsory reading.
Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: "Our Common Future
1987
Our Common Future, Chairman's Foreword "A global agenda for change"-this was what the World Commission on Environment and Development was asked to formulate. It was an urgent call by the General Assembly of the United Nations: to propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by the year 2000 and beyond; to recommend ways concern for the environment may be translated into greater cooperation among developing countries and between countries at different stages of economical and social development and lead to the achievement of common and mutually supportive objectives that take account of the interrelationships between people, resources, environment, and development; to consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environment concerns; and to help define shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues and the appropriate efforts needed to deal successfully with the problems of protecting and enhancing the environment, a long term agenda for action during the coming decades, and aspirational goals for the world community. of twice as many people relying on the same environment? This realization broadened our view of development. We came to see it not in its restricted context of economic growth in developing countries. We came to see that a new development path was required, one that sustained human progress not just in a few pieces for a few years, but for the entire planet into the distant future. Thus 'sustainable development' becomes a goal not just for the 'developing' nations, but for industrial ones as well. 2. The Interlocking Crises 11. Until recently, the planet was a large world in which human activities and their effects were neatly compartmentalized within nations, within sectors (energy, agriculture, trade), and within broad areas of concern (environment, economics, social). These compartments have begun to dissolve. This applies in particular to the various global 'crises' that have seized public concern, particularly over the past decade. These are not separate crises: an environmental crisis, a development crisis, an energy crisis. They are all one. 12. The planet is passing through a period of dramatic growth and fundamental change. Our human world of 5 billion must make room in a finite environment for another human world. The population could stabilize at between 8 and 14 billion sometime next century, according to UN projections. More than 90 per cent of the increase will occur in the poorest countries, and 90 per cent of that growth in already bursting cities. 13. Economic activity has multiplied to create a $13 trillion world economy, and this could grow five to tenfold in the coming half century. Industrial production has grown more than fiftyfold over the past century, four-fifths of this growth since 1950. Such figures reflect and presage profound impacts upon the biosphere, as the world invests in houses, transport, farms, and industries. Much of the economic growth pulls raw material from forests, soils, seas, and waterways.
After development? In defence of sustainability.
Global Discourse, 2017
The Paris Agreement was a success only for the carbon traders, sequestrators and geoengineers who are now expected to ‘balance emissions with removals’ by 2050, against a background of continued economic growth. If this is sustainable development, it is indeed discredited. But the problem is with the ‘sustainable development’ paradigm, not with the idea of sustainability. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals explicitly call for intensified economic growth and are clearly incompatible with the allegedly overarching goal of ecological sustainability. To aim at this very different goal is simply to aim at living in a way that does not contain the seeds of its own destruction. Far from invalidating this objective, diagnoses of crisis make its pursuit more urgent than ever. ‘Why aim at sustainability?’ is an odd question to pose, but one that may nonetheless produce illuminating answers. One answer derives from intergenerational obligations, but this may not even be the most important. An orientation towards sustainability is also beneficial in its own right, since it is a key part of aiming at the good life. KEYWORDS: Sustainability, development, sustainable development, climate change, Anthropocene, ecomodernism