What a great, graphic article on this on Treehugger. per capita energy consumption is absolutely booming from a historical perspective, and that boom, of course, has been powered overwhelmingly with fossil fuels.
Tag Archives: globalisation
Key global problems
Over-consumption in rich countries and rapid population growth in the poorest both need to be tackled to put society on a sustainable path, a report says. An expert group convened by the Royal Society spent nearly two years reading evidence … Continue reading
Wealth, health and happiness (OVERconsumption is the problem?)
No one denies that development is essential for poorer nations. But in the advanced economies there is mounting evidence that ever-increasing consumption adds little to human happiness and may even impede it. Combine that with the idea that unless we … Continue reading
Some great photos from 2011
Great shots, but sad to see that so many relate to war, riots, demonstrations and environmental disasters. http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011
This made me think what we can do about problems (sorry challenges).
The photo is from the amazing www.underwatersculpture.com/pages/gallery/latest-works.html
Don’t just blame the banks !
We are all blaming the banks, but just as we don’t put exclusive blame on drug dealers for drug addicts, what about individuals and consumers who were borrowing based on assets and not ability to pay based on income. Why … Continue reading
Thoughts on the “credit crunch” outcomes
Is there potential for the current global financial crisis to encourage quality of life instead of standard of living ? For this to be less consumerist and otherwise better for the environment. The current financial crisis was seen by some, … Continue reading
What, as individuals, do we do ?
Well don’t do nothing ! I first saw the line “No one can do everything, Everyone can do something” on www.weaddup.com. How about, striving to make the world a better place, for others and so yourself ? This is nothing … Continue reading
Which Global crisis will happen first ?
- Climate change related impacts on the ecosystem and our current social structures
- Global terrorism increase (as other problems eg climate change induced, food prices, oil prices … bite harder, the disaffected are likely to respond in any way they can, which may be to lash out against Western consumerism.
- Economic instability due to living beyond our means
- Environmental resource depletion
- Disease (bird flu via international aviation)
Is a possible side argument and definitely controversial in the West, but if obesity is linked to genetics then how come there has been such a dramatic increase in obesity in the US, UK etc. in the last 10 to 20 years when the gene pool hasn’t changed so dramatically in that time period ?
Perhaps it’s a life style decision. I find it hard to balance their being more clinically obese people than under-nourished people in the world.
Global sustainability is most likely with global and local stability and security. Stable and financially secure communities are associated with higher levels of education and lower birth rates. This is a central premise behind helping “developing world” communities as opposed to letting them perish or continue as they currently are.
The average German has an equivalent level of happiness of satisfaction with life, but uses half the resources of the average American. The focus should not be on quality of life, not quantity of stuff. Not least of all because if we need less stuff, we can work less !
It’s not how much we have, but how much we enjoy what we have, that makes happiness.
I wrote these notes in early 2008