In the increasingly urgent discussions around climate change and industrial sustainability, one hears over again concerns about the choice between ecology on the one hand and economy on the other. Renewed concern about the earth's ecology must be weighed against the negative impacts actions from such concerns could have on the economy – especially an economy in global recession with declining equity and credit markets. The earth's ecology and the global economy are presumed to be in tension, what’s good for one is bad for the other, as one rises, the other falls.
If we look more closely, picking between one or the other appears to be a false choice. The very meaning of the words ecology and economy hint at this. The root of both words - ecos - is derived from the Greek and means home or household. Ecology is the study of home, and economy the management of home. As a species we have finally come to realize that home is not the just our house, or the village town or state we come from, but the entire planet on which we live - that's home. Ecology is the study of home - the earth's biosphere and how it works. Economy is the management of home - but this meaning has also expanded as our thinking of home has expanded. Economy now is about managing a global economic system that is reshaping the biosphere on which it depends for its existence.
Since the Enlightenment, the study of a system has informed how it is managed. The fields of astronomy, physics, biology, medicine, psychology and many others – have brought forth new knowledge that has informed and optimized the management of human activities. So it must be with Ecos. Ecology - the knowledge of the biosphere - must be a tool for better economy - informing and optimizing the management of the biosphere.
Using ecology to inform economy is simply using knowledge to inform management. Where tension exists between new knowledge and management, the outcome is generally undesirable. The new knowledge from Darwin’s theory of evolution was very controversial in its day, and is still in tension with the way many groups and individuals view their very existence. This has negative implications for education and the advancement of knowledge and science. Viewing knowledge as a threat compromises human advancement. Viewing knowledge of the biosphere as a threat to the global economy could threaten human existence.
If the study of home, Ecology, and the management of home, Economy, need to be aligned, how can that alignment inform more effective management? Read next week in “Coming Home (Part II).”
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The Waxman-Markey Bill
Hi Everyone,
I just got back from the North Amercian Summit for The Climate Project, in Nashville Tennesse. W were charged with contacting our elected officials to let them know that we need the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), (the Waxman Markey Bill) to be passed.
Is it a perfect bill? No. Is it essential that we pass this bill now? Absolutely. The world will be meeting in Copenhagen in December to map out the future of global climate policy to cap CO2. If the U.S. does not have legislation in place, a global agreement on capping CO2 will be impossible, and American leadership in the world greatly damaged.
The question is, what type of role do we want to have in the world community in the decades to come? Do we want to be dragged kicking and screaming into responsible governance on global issues, or do we want to take leadership and have influence?
By contacting your representative in Congress you can affect change. Even if your Congressional representative is on-board, an email or a phone call or a letter will strengthen their hand, and perhaps turn them from supporter to advocate.
Tell your friends, corworkers, family, even some strangers, that they need to speak up and now and loud! You can ask them to phone or email their elected officials or direct them to the League of Conservation Voters website, http://action.lcv.org/campaign/april_gw_house_full. You can also direct them to the Alliance for Climate Protection website for Repower America, http://www.repoweramerica.org.
You can read the bill or a summary at http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1560&Itemid=1
The time is now. The opposition and big polluters are very vocally against this legislation. We need every person we can to speak out. It's your right and your responsibility to speak up!
I just got back from the North Amercian Summit for The Climate Project, in Nashville Tennesse. W were charged with contacting our elected officials to let them know that we need the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), (the Waxman Markey Bill) to be passed.
Is it a perfect bill? No. Is it essential that we pass this bill now? Absolutely. The world will be meeting in Copenhagen in December to map out the future of global climate policy to cap CO2. If the U.S. does not have legislation in place, a global agreement on capping CO2 will be impossible, and American leadership in the world greatly damaged.
The question is, what type of role do we want to have in the world community in the decades to come? Do we want to be dragged kicking and screaming into responsible governance on global issues, or do we want to take leadership and have influence?
By contacting your representative in Congress you can affect change. Even if your Congressional representative is on-board, an email or a phone call or a letter will strengthen their hand, and perhaps turn them from supporter to advocate.
Tell your friends, corworkers, family, even some strangers, that they need to speak up and now and loud! You can ask them to phone or email their elected officials or direct them to the League of Conservation Voters website, http://action.lcv.org/campaign/april_gw_house_full. You can also direct them to the Alliance for Climate Protection website for Repower America, http://www.repoweramerica.org.
You can read the bill or a summary at http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1560&Itemid=1
The time is now. The opposition and big polluters are very vocally against this legislation. We need every person we can to speak out. It's your right and your responsibility to speak up!
Friday, May 8, 2009
All Definitions of Sustainability are Wrong
Some, however, are useful.
The word sustainability is in danger of becoming a 'garbage term', having widely divergent meanings depending on who's using it. A word with too many meanings tends to lose all meaning - more is surely less in this case.
To some people sustainability sounds stagnant, coming across as dug in - neither growing, nor changing nor adapting. To others sustainability means something entirely different - robustness, durability, constancy of purpose, even adherence to core values. Sustainability can reflect how business treats the environment in general such as through recycling and reducing waste and toxins, or it can specifically refer to reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change. To some, sustainability is just staying in business. Others define it more broadly, as a paradigm shift from a focus on short-term measures to an alignment to broader aims.
The problem is, no succinct definition can fit them all, so in that sense all definitions of sustainability are wrong. Yet some are useful. The one I find most useful which incorporates a lot of the above ideas - and does so in seven words: sustainability is an appreciation for systems thinking.
A system is a grouping of components and processes in the service of an aim. If it doesn't have an aim, then it's not a system; if you don't know the aim, then you can't optimize the system. If all the subsystems and sub-processes within a system are not aligned with the aim of the overall system, there will be sub-optimization, decay and the eventual destruction of the system.
In looking at the problem of sustainability, the system in question is the earth's biosphere, and embedded within it is a very powerful subsystem called the global economy. Humanity has been putting the biosphere to work in service of the aim of the global economy for centuries. But we will not achieve industrial sustainability and we will not effectively address problems like climate change until we figure how to turn that inside-out, and learn to align the global economy in service of the aim of the biosphere.
What is the aim of the biosphere? Sustainability, of course.
The word sustainability is in danger of becoming a 'garbage term', having widely divergent meanings depending on who's using it. A word with too many meanings tends to lose all meaning - more is surely less in this case.
To some people sustainability sounds stagnant, coming across as dug in - neither growing, nor changing nor adapting. To others sustainability means something entirely different - robustness, durability, constancy of purpose, even adherence to core values. Sustainability can reflect how business treats the environment in general such as through recycling and reducing waste and toxins, or it can specifically refer to reducing greenhouse gases and addressing climate change. To some, sustainability is just staying in business. Others define it more broadly, as a paradigm shift from a focus on short-term measures to an alignment to broader aims.
The problem is, no succinct definition can fit them all, so in that sense all definitions of sustainability are wrong. Yet some are useful. The one I find most useful which incorporates a lot of the above ideas - and does so in seven words: sustainability is an appreciation for systems thinking.
A system is a grouping of components and processes in the service of an aim. If it doesn't have an aim, then it's not a system; if you don't know the aim, then you can't optimize the system. If all the subsystems and sub-processes within a system are not aligned with the aim of the overall system, there will be sub-optimization, decay and the eventual destruction of the system.
In looking at the problem of sustainability, the system in question is the earth's biosphere, and embedded within it is a very powerful subsystem called the global economy. Humanity has been putting the biosphere to work in service of the aim of the global economy for centuries. But we will not achieve industrial sustainability and we will not effectively address problems like climate change until we figure how to turn that inside-out, and learn to align the global economy in service of the aim of the biosphere.
What is the aim of the biosphere? Sustainability, of course.
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