Tim Jackson - ‘Prosperity without Growth : Economics for a finite planet'

The extraordinary ramping up of global economic activity has no historical precedent. It’s totally at odds with our scientific knowledge of the finite resource base and the fragile ecology on which we depend for survival.

This weeks Green Thought comes from the British ecological economist Tim Jackson’s 2009 book ‘Prosperity without Growth : Economics for a finite planet.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Jackson_%28economist%29

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_Without_Growth

http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_jackson_s_economic_reality_check?language=en#

Wolfgang Sachs - The Development Dictionary

For more than a century, technology carried the promise of redeeming the human condition from sweat, toil and tears. Today, especially in the rich countries, it is everybody’s best kept secret that this hope is nothing but a flight of fancy.

 

This weeks green thought comes from the introduction of The Development Dictionary (1992) edited by Wolfgang Sachs.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Sachs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postdevelopment_theory

Karl Polanyi - The Great Transformation

To allow the market mechanism to be the sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment, indeed, even of the amount and use of purchasing power, would result in the demolition of society.

This weeks Green Thought Green Thought comes from the 1944 book The Great Transformation by the late Hungarian economic historian1886 and social philosopher, Karl Polanyi (1886-1964).

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Transformation_%28book%29

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Polanyi

Stan Rowe - ‘Home Place : Essays on Ecology’

Once values are straight, everything else can fall into place. An ecocentric worldview, valuing the spinning planetary home above the organisms hitching a ride on it, elevates in importance the ecosystems that humans call land. Love of the land, love of place, love of our endangered Living Spaces, is the grassroots cure for the sin of species narcissism.

This weeks Green Thought Green Thought comes from the 1990 book ‘Home Place : Essays on Ecology’ by Stan Rowe.

 

 

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/john-stanley-rowe/

http://www.ecospherics.net/pages/aboutauthors.html

http://www.ecospherics.net/index.html

 

Naomi Klein - ‘This Changes Everything : Capitalism vs The Climate’.

….the policies that so successfully freed multinational corporations from virtually all constraints also contributed significantly to the underlying cause of global warming – rising greenhouse gas emissions….Put differently, the liberation of world markets, a process powered by the liberation of unprecedented amounts of fossil fuels from the earth, has dramatically sped up the same process that is liberating Arctic ice from existence.

 

 

This weeks Green Thought comes from Canadian author, journalist and social activist Naomi Kleins 2014 book ‘This Changes Everything : Capitalism vs The Climate’.  

I  have already stated that I feel that it would be unrealistic to send out the whole book [This Changes Everything] as a Green Thought, but I am trying.   JG

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Klein

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/books/review/naomi-klein-this-changes-everything-review.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Changes_Everything  http://monthlyreview.org/2015/02/01/crossing-the-river-of-fire/

David Choquehuanca

Traditional indigenous respect for the Pachamama is vital to prevent climate change. Our grandparents taught us that we belong to a big family of plants and animals. We believe that everything in the planet forms part of a big family.

This weeks Green Thought comes from Bolivia's Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca

In the indigenous philosophy, the Pachamama is a living being.

The draft of the new law states:

 "She is sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb.                                                                                       She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organisation”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Choquehuanca

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachamama

Jane Goodall

 “Change happens by listening and then starting a dialogue with the people who are doing something you don't believe is right.”

This weeks Green Thought comes from Jane Goodall, the English anthropologist primarily famous for her work with chimpanzees in the Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall_Institute