October 21st - sustainability economics
Dr John Peet is speaking on sustainability and economics at the WEA (59 Gloucester Street), though the notice I got doesn't say what time... I'll sort that out asap =/
I went to his last talk about a week ago and I think he's got a very convincing idea of why we need sustainable economics (nutshell: the more resources each of us uses, the less of us the planet can support). However, like most Green Party policies, I'm left skeptical about the chances of actually achieving this in the face of the massive power that business holds in our society. Although there are many projects these days promoting enivronmental responsibility to businesses by claiming that it can make money rather than cost money, the fact remains that the basis of our lifestyle is the extraction and conversion of resources, many of which are non-renewable. For those that are renewable, the profit motive often drives them to be used faster than they renew.
Ultimately, sustainability requires holding our consumption of resources within the sharp limits posed by the ecosystem we exist within. This is anathema to the constant growth that capitalism requires, and so it seems to me that we can't really have a sustainable economics without a non-capitalist economics. If that sounds vague and wishy-washy, there's actually some quite well worked-out alternatives, Participatory Economics for one.
I am reassured by the title of Dr Peet's next lecture, "Does sustainability need a new economics?" and I'll definitely go along to see what else he has to say on the matter.
Thursday 21 October
WEA, 59 Gloucester St., ph.366 0285.
Entry by donation. All welcome!
I went to his last talk about a week ago and I think he's got a very convincing idea of why we need sustainable economics (nutshell: the more resources each of us uses, the less of us the planet can support). However, like most Green Party policies, I'm left skeptical about the chances of actually achieving this in the face of the massive power that business holds in our society. Although there are many projects these days promoting enivronmental responsibility to businesses by claiming that it can make money rather than cost money, the fact remains that the basis of our lifestyle is the extraction and conversion of resources, many of which are non-renewable. For those that are renewable, the profit motive often drives them to be used faster than they renew.
Ultimately, sustainability requires holding our consumption of resources within the sharp limits posed by the ecosystem we exist within. This is anathema to the constant growth that capitalism requires, and so it seems to me that we can't really have a sustainable economics without a non-capitalist economics. If that sounds vague and wishy-washy, there's actually some quite well worked-out alternatives, Participatory Economics for one.
I am reassured by the title of Dr Peet's next lecture, "Does sustainability need a new economics?" and I'll definitely go along to see what else he has to say on the matter.
Thursday 21 October
WEA, 59 Gloucester St., ph.366 0285.
Entry by donation. All welcome!
posted by Leith at 1:26 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home