Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Whatever model replaces the current one in providing comfortable, well-nourished, safe and stable societies will clearly need a lot of work to define and drive, but should clearly aim to achieve these things without the need for lots of shiny but unsustainable toys. Time is short, but there’s no time like the present to get started.
I worry that clinging to the special construct of mind keeps us at arms’ length from being part of nature—made of the same atoms and belonging to the world.
In this Reality Roundtable, Nate sits down with documentarian Damon Gameau and three young activists featured in his documentary film The Future Council, to discuss their experiences grappling with the complex challenges of transforming a system that is actively harming our planet and what they think should be done to save humanity from itself.
The main argument for pulses is not from the consumption perspective. Their main feat is that they and other leguminous plants have a symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing Rhizobium bacteria.
Without taking our vulnerability seriously, and protective adaptation as the essential response to that, our government is letting us down.
Some people may be ready to write the epitaph for global progress against climate change. But as someone who teaches global environmental politics and has followed international climate talks for years, I see both practical and moral reasons to remain hopeful.
China’s historical emissions within its borders have now caused more global warming than the 27 member states of the EU combined, according to new Carbon Brief analysis.
Recent research has found that we have more than enough productive capacity to end poverty forever and ensure good lives for all 8 billion people on this planet – with even less resources and energy than we presently use, thus also achieving our ecological goals – if production was organized around human needs rather than capital accumulation.
In today’s Frankly, Nate highlights seven views of the future and how broadening our awareness to include others’ starting points might allow for greater discourse and understanding.
I want to tell a different but connected story about Bangladesh, urbanisation and the environment. One that seeks to elevate the kind of conversations I have had with Bangladeshi people in years of travelling to and working in Bangladesh.
Those coming into power now on a worldwide wave of discontent appear to understand little about the ultimate underlying causes of that discontent.
The third thing doesn’t require dreaming, but waking up. It’s more like a property of physics, the round Earth that triangulates everything. It’s also alive, meaning it responds to our efforts and brings its own powers, processes, pathways and beneficial relationships to the project.
