Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Making consumption reduction a key part of our climate strategy would have the added benefit of addressing looming resource shortages and the many other environmental problems we face – from plastic gyres and ‘dead zones’ in the oceans to the destructive impacts of mining.
Changing our political and economic systems to make a decent human existence possible in a big-picture future is crucial, but so is learning to live within the existing systems in ways that are decent in small ways today.
Ultimately, the question of democratic and ecological cities is a deeply political one, as it requires the collective deliberation of the future we want.
But insofar as it is possible to confront, confound and supercede capitalism, a future in which electricity is used less wastefully, more equitably, and within bounds set collectively with a view to avoiding catastrophic climate change, is surely plausible.
Tompkins County plays a crucial role in establishing a systems approach to the social, economic, and environmental challenges of the region. It serves as the region’s sustainability hub, from which activities, planning, and policies radiate into surrounding counties like the spokes of a wheel.
The oligarchic tradition of land-grabbing and tax dodging goes back centuries.
This practice consists of creating a community of prosumers who exchange products and services, creating a process of eco-social regeneration around the local economy, thanks to the exchange facilitator that is social currency.
Ethex’s recently launched 10 years of Impact report demonstrates that the direct impact investing model works and has the potential to provide the vital funding needed by hundreds more impactful organisations that are taking action against climate change, social inequality and the break-down of communities.
And I think that’s how community should be built, right? We should be interacting with people that don’t look like us, that don’t think like us. And that’s the beauty of constructing community, creating those connections.
Bayfield County has been refreshingly free of growth controversies and displays key attributes that approach the characteristics of a steady-state county.
There is no stopping climate breakdown without stopping moral decay and the death of democracy.
Perhaps if we can rewrite the source code at the core of business, we might have a chance at turning the tide on the massive crises facing us today.
