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GLOBAL PROJECT on ECONOMIC TRANSITIONS
Presentations
from the IFG Teach-In, September 2007: Confronting
the Global "Triple
Crisis" "Climate
Change, Peak Oil, Global Resource Depletion & Extinction"
See Resources on Energy Issues Below
The planet’s ecological, social and economic systems
are on the verge of catastrophic change for which few societies are adequately
prepared. This change emerges from the convergence of six advancing conditions:
- Rapidly accelerating, human induced climate change;
- The imminent end of the era of cheap energy supplies (“peak oil”);
- The depletion of most resources basic to the industrial system, including key minerals, freshwater, genetic resources, timber, fish and wildlife, arable lands, most elements of the local, regional and global commons, and the extinction of a high percent of the planet’s plant and animal species;
- The global spread of societies dependent on over-consumption of commodities, made from the above resources, and the destruction of societies that offer traditional alternative models;
- Overpopulation, which exacerbates all the other conditions, and already exceeds the planet’s carrying capacity;
- The continued dominance of centralized global economic forms and institutions that promote unsustainable rapid economic growth and accelerated use of resources, but which concentrate benefits solely in the hands of a small number of central economic players.
The outcome of this set of conditions may soon be a general breakdown of the most basic economic and social structures of our society. These include large scale industrialism, export-oriented production, most long distance transport systems, large scale industrial food production, complex urban and suburban systems, the dominance of the private auto, popular air travel, and many commodities basic to our present lifestyle. All of these are rooted in the basic assumption of an ever growing cheap energy supply, which now seems soon to end.
Most countries, save a few in northern Europe, seem oblivious to the potential catastrophes that await them, and are doing very little to adjust their economic concepts or actions to meet these challenges. If they do not, the world may soon face economic upheavals, human and environmental tragedies, and fierce competition and violence to control the world’s last resources. Some say this “last man standing” scenario has already begun; witness the Iraq war (for oil), and others for resources such as water, land, and minerals. Meanwhile, countries that are reacting to the impending crisis are making highly dangerous decisions by turning to such energy sources as coal, nuclear or large-scale biomass systems, each of which will bring far greater problems than they solve.
To reverse this situation, we are already at the 11th hour. A global movement on these issues—interconnecting activism, policy development, science, and practical new visions for an ecologically and socially sustainable future—must be rapidly organized and promoted. Basic decisions must be made toward small-scale and local renewable energy systems, combined with the overall “powering down” of economic systems toward new standards of equity, “sufficiency,” sustainability
IFG AND ENERGY
In October 2006 IFG convened a meeting of 50 of the most committed thinkers/activists, scholars, scientists, and philanthropists from the global South and North on the major issues relating to “peak oil” and its implications, and to climate change. We also involved experts in other “peaking” resources, such as minerals and water as well as key scientists and researchers.
Concrete proposals and actions were put forward on a new economy of sustainability. Participants looked at ways of building self-reliant local communities that control their own resources, food production and distribution; as well as a new energy and transport system. New standards of values and goals that are consistent with the realization that the old bad bargain with the planet is over were discussed. All agreed that we are no longer the primary actors; the planet itself has its own standards, systems and rules and we had better become conscious, observant and compliant, if we are to have a chance for survival in a better world.
In February 2007, IFG held a three-day gathering in London, where we brought together another group of thinkers and activists, mainly from Europe, Asia and Africa to further build on this new alliance with common goals, and soon common actions. Speakers addressed the “triple crisis” facing the planet — climate chaos, peak oil (and the end of cheap energy), and global resource depletion, with the goal of creating strategies and opportunities for economies of sufficiency, equity, and sustainability. And in September 2007 in Washington, DC, we held a major public event on the scale we did in Seattle, on the “triple crisis,” the untenable growth paradigm of economic globalization, and the steps needed to implement a sustainable global economic transition. The idea is to engage thousands of people in a new set of demands that cannot be ignored.
RESOURCES ON THE TRIPLE CRISIS
Climate, Energy, and Trade Connections
Report:
Manifesto on Global Economic Transitions
Report: The False Promise
of Biofuels
Report: Steps Towards a Global Economic Transition
Museletter #186 - Future Peak Oil Scenarios , Richard Heinberg, author of Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post Carbon World, October 2007
Why Climate is Dependent on Biodiversity, Peter Bunyard, founding science editor of the Ecologist magazine, October 2007
Climate Change Flap at the G8, Walden Bello, June 5, 2007
Bridging Peak Oil and Climate Activism,
Richard Heinberg, January 2007
Ten Fundamental Principles of Net Energy,
Cutler Cleveland, January 8, 2007
Greenhouse Development Rights,
EcoEquity and Christian Aid, November, 2006
Plan C - Curtailment and Community, The Community Solution,
October 2006
How the World Bank’s Energy Framework Sells the Climate
and Poor People Short, September 2006
Fuelling Fortress America: A Report on the Athabasca Tar Sands and
the U.S. Demands for Canada's Energy,
Polaris Institute, 2006
Drilling Into Debt,
Steve Kretzmann and Irfan Nooruddin
Setting a Long Term Climate Objective,
Simon Retallack, February 1, 2005
Read interviews with recent IFG conference participants on issues and solutions around the Triple Crisis:
(Interviews conducted by The Ecological Options Network)
Water, Human Rights and the 'Deep Integration of North America'
An Interview with Maude Barlow
Transition Towns: Local Responses to Peak Oil and Global Climate Change
An Interview with Movement Founder Rob Hopkins