Solving the human sustainability problem in short-termist societies

Society has so far failed to create a sustainable economic system because all conventional attempts to change the current paradigm lead to a short-term decline in the rate economic growth, resulting in higher inequality and unemployment, outcomes which are politically unacceptable. This article shows how to overcome this hurdle, by adopting 13 unconventional policies which reduce unemployment and inequality while cutting greenhouse-gas emissions, regardless of what happens to economic growth, and so allow for a gradual transition to a sustainable system in short-termist societies

The Living Planet Index: using species population time series to track trends in biodiversity.

The Living Planet Index was developed to measure the changing state of the world's biodiversity over time. It uses time-series data to calculate average rates of change in a large number of populations of terrestrial, freshwater and marine vertebrate species. The dataset contains about 3000 population time series for over 1100 species. Two methods of calculating the index are outlined: the chain method and a method based on linear modelling of log-transformed data. The dataset is analysed to compare the relative representation of biogeographic realms, ecoregional biomes, threat status and taxonomic groups among species contributing to the index. The two methods show very similar results: terrestrial species declined on average by 25% from 1970 to 2000. Birds and mammals are over-represented in comparison with other vertebrate classes, and temperate species are over-represented compared with tropical species, but there is little difference in representation between threatened and non-threatened species. Some of the problems arising from over-representation are reduced by the way in which the index is calculated. It may be possible to reduce this further by post-stratification and weighting, but new information would first need to be collected for data-poor classes, realms and biomes

Extracted: how the quest for mineral wealth is plundering the planet

As we dig, drill, and excavate to unearth the planet’s mineral bounty, the resources we exploit from ores, veins, seams, and wells are gradually becoming exhausted. Mineral treasures that took millions, or even billions, of years to form are now being squandered in just centuries—or sometimes just decades. Will there come a time when we actually run out of minerals? Debates already soar over how we are going to obtain energy without oil, coal, and gas. But what about the other mineral losses we face? Without metals, and semiconductors, how are we going to keep our industrial system running? Without mineral fertilizers and fuels, how are we going to produce the food we need? Ugo Bardi delivers a sweeping history of the mining industry, starting with its humble beginning when our early ancestors started digging underground to find the stones they needed for their tools. He traces the links between mineral riches and empires, wars, and civilizations, and shows how mining in its various forms came to be one of the largest global industries. He also illustrates how the gigantic mining machine is now starting to show signs of difficulties. The easy mineral resources, the least expensive to extract and process, have been mostly exploited and depleted. There are plenty of minerals left to extract, but at higher costs and with increasing difficulties. The effects of depletion take different forms and one may be the economic crisis that is gripping the world system. And depletion is not the only problem. Mining has a dark side—pollution—that takes many forms and delivers many consequences, including climate change. The world we have been accustomed to, so far, was based on cheap mineral resources and on the ability of the ecosystem to absorb pollution without generating damage to human beings. Both conditions are rapidly disappearing. Having thoroughly plundered planet Earth, we are entering a new world. Bardi draws upon the world’s leading minerals experts to offer a compelling glimpse into that new world ahead

Let the poor world grow

After introducing the concept of globalisation, in the first part of this paper the author reviews the work of sociologists who have developed the study of modernisation to examine the features of contemporary social change revolving around the various paradigms of interpretation of the nascent global society in the 1990s. The second part goes on to exemplify some consequences of globalisation on two levels: macrostructural, with reference to practical economic consequences, and the changes that have overtaken human spaces in everyday life.Nella prima parte del paper dopo aver introdotto il concetto di globalizzazione, l’autore fa seguire un rapido excursus del pensiero dei sociologi che, a partire dallo studio della modernizzazione, si sono spinti ad approfondire i caratteri del mutamento sociale contemporaneo partendo dai diversi paradigmi d’interpretazione della nascente società globale degli anni ’90. Nella seconda parte del saggio si esemplificano alcune conseguenze della globalizzazione non solo sul piano macrostrutturale, con riferimento alle conseguenze registrate dalla concreta vita economica, ma anche sul piano dei mutamenti della vita quotidiana

A növekedés határai : harminc év múltán

Nem ismer