Will New Zealand be the first developed country to evolve a steady-state economy?

Jan 11, 2012 No Comments by

Jack Santa Barbara writes in Fleeing Vesuvius that while New Zealand will inevitably make a transition to a steady-state economy, the onset of energy descent — having less and less energy to use with each passing decade — will push it to do so sooner rather than later. So the critical question is whether the transition to a steady-state economy will be by design or disaster.

Read the whole article

Related posts:

  1. How resilient are we? A New Zealand immigrant’s perspective
  2. New Zealand edition of Fleeing Vesuvius is going online
  3. On the cusp of collapse: complexity, energy, and the globalised economy
  4. Why Pittsburgh real estate never crashes: the tax reform that stabilised a city’s economy
  5. The Steady State Economy Conference: “Working towards an Alternative to Economic Growth”
Fleeing Vesuvius chapters
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In memoriam: Richard Douthwaite

Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta and much-loved colleague and friend, died on November 14th 2011 after a long illness. We will miss his unique and far-ranging intellect, the clarity of his thought and writing, his warmth and his laughter. Tributes to him have come in from around the world and you can read them here.

In line with his wishes, we are continuing with our scheduled events and publishing of articles.

Events

The Future of Money

Professor Mary Mellor –
Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Northumbria
Chair of the Sustainable Cities Research Institute

Date: Saturday 11th February, 6pm
Venue: Boole 2, UCC, Cork

More information

Related posts:

  1. Lessons from the Crisis, Lessons for the Future – May 11th
  2. Lessons from the Crisis, Lessons for the Future – May 11th
  3. Peak Oil: The Economic Consequences – March 22
  4. Different Roads to Recovery – March 19th
  5. Sustainable Economics and the Global Ecosystem – Presentations by Emer O’Siochru and David Korowicz

Growing Together: An all-Ireland conference on Community Supported Agriculture

Date: 17th, 18th & 19th of February, Cloughjordan, Tipperary.

The aim of this weekend conference is to introduce the CSA concept to communities and growers on the island of Ireland. The event will bring together food producers and emerging Irish CSA’s while creating networking and learning opportunities with experienced initiatives from across Europe.

Key Topics

Climate
Collapse
Commons
Debt
Democracy
Economy
Emissions
Energy
Food Security
Growth
Health
Land
Money
Peak Oil

Stories We’ve Found

Rebate Debate Over Utility-Sector Cap & Trade Revenues

A Huffington Post article by Mike Sandler. If you’ve been wondering whatever happened to Cap & Trade in California, it’s not your fault. The topic has bounced around several state agencies, and it was tied up in the courts for awhile.

Read more

Irish government consultation on the establishment of a public water utility

The Department of Environment, Community and Local Government is now seeking views in relation to the development of an implementation plan for the public water utility. This includes issues arising from an organisational, human resources and environmental perspective in the transition to the public utility, and
the proposed approach in relation to the future funding of water services including through water charges. Views to be submitted by February 24 2012.

More information

Related posts:

  1. Greenhouse-gas emissions from energy use in the water sector
  2. Make Irish Pension Funds Buy Irish Government Bonds. Win-win?
  3. Submission to the Irish Department of the Environment,

…

Transition Branching Out? Land reform: losing and recovering the Commons

In an article in the Transition Networks blog, Justin Kenrick writes evocatively about commons erosion in Africa, the slow but steady progress being made in rebuilding the commons in Scotland, and the need for a new vision of the economy that is community-based . Justin is one of the authors of our forthcoming book Sharing for Survival: Restoring the Climate, the Commons and Society, due to be published in early 2012.

Related posts:

  1. Free online course on the Global Commons beginning July 9th 2011
  2. Politics of the 21st Century: Reviving the Commons for the Benefit of all
  3. Dan Sullivan

…

Debt Crisis Conference

National strategies for dealing with Ireland’s debt crisis: exploring the options – September 22-23 2011

Feasta’s Autumn conference examined measures that this country could adopt to secure its economic future which would not leave it reliant on external factors largely outside of its control. Scenarios explored included the potential collapse of the eurozone. The conference featured prominent international and Irish economists and was aimed at economists, politicians, policy-makers, business people, social partners, and other key decision-makers.

Conference videos.

Conference programme (pdf)

Recent forum posts

Michael Layden posted about The "demise" of the motorised vehicle

Kontrei posted about A South African contribution to Sustainability

Project Feeds

‘Land value tax’ would be fairer, says Welsh Labour AM

‘Land value tax’ would be fairer, says Mark Drakeford AM Welsh Labour AM Mark Drakeford has given his backing to a “land value tax”. The Cardiff West AM’s championing of the tax comes as the Silk Commission investigates giving the Assembly new fiscal powers. In an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Mr Drakeford [...]

Ronan Lyons Report on Site Value Tax now available

Ronan Lyons’s report on Site Value Tax in Ireland is available for download. The report assesses the obstacles to implementing SVT in Ireland and how these can be overcome. It also assesses the revenue potential of the tax and the distribution of land values in Ireland.

Fear and Loathing in the Financial Markets – What Happens to the Economy When the Oil Bubble Bursts?

By Philip Pilkington, a journalist and writer living in Dublin, Ireland. Cross posted in Naked Capitalism In 2008 profits in the US economy crashed out. But they soon bounced back. This bounce was largely due to the profits being reaped in the financial sector – which sickened many given that 2008 was in large measure [...]

Fleeing Vesuvius comments

Comment on Busy doing nothing – seven reasons for humanity’s inertia in the face of critical threats and how we might remove them by Brian Davey

I’m not sure why I am critised at the beginning of this comment. The evolutionary psychology, if such it is, was by Mark Rutledge. I made clear that I had differences with him.

Comment on Busy doing nothing – seven reasons for humanity’s inertia in the face of critical threats and how we might remove them by Floro

Again, like Nat Hagens, Brian Davey’s discussion, “Reason for Inertia 6: Our brains are maladapted to modern life”, based on the 1997 book Evolutionary Psychology by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, uncritically adopts outdated principles of evolutionary psychology. I would like to call this the “modernist fallacy”—the fallacy of attributing our present inadequacies and excesses to our alleged inheritance of the brain of our stone age ancestors. It definitely does not do justice to our, in many ways, more intelligent ancestors (who did not have the “crutch” of computer technology)…

Comment on The psychological roots of resource overconsumption by Floro

I’m afraid that Nate Hagens, whose expertise is in Finance and natural resources, has ventured into territory for which he lacks the background knowledge. I may have misread him, but I get the impression that in his discussion of STATUS and NOVELTY, Hagens is unwittingly or unconsciously reading modern capitalist values into the alleged facts of human evolution and resorting to social Darwinism which has been discredited.[...]