In an appeal to Mr. Trudeau’s philosophical musings, I’ve written a letter to him listing five ways Canada can foster a better, more sustainable economy.
“There are a lot of people out there, environmental thinkers like Herman Daly and others, who talk about the fact that maybe endless growth within a finite system is not either possible or even desirable.
If you demonstrate to people that the NDP [New Democratic Party] can win in Alberta, suddenly anything seems possible. —Paul Fairie, University of Calgary political scientist
On the problematic political spectrum, neither the right nor the left have become wholesale champions of the steady state economy. Then again, embracing something perceived as ‘new’ has never been the strong suit of the politician. It takes years of ideological evolution among the grassroots before seemingly new and different ideas become politically palatable.
A renewable energy revolution is sweeping the planet. This revolution has profound implications because it signals that the global economy is moving to stop the growth of our human carbon footprint.
The global economy has run for a century primarily on fossil fuels but is now undergoing a rapid transition to a global economy based significantly on rooftop solar, wind, and efficiency. This is a tangible movement toward a steady state economy because with wind and solar,
The age of extraction is ending. We need a true cost economy that can meet people’s needs without undermining planetary life-support systems.
A look at Canada, a nation with such potential to be a sustainability leader, reveals a tragedy of wasted potential.
The short answer: an economy that allows corporations to externalize costs and trump the rights of indigenous people.
Threats from abroad are real, but so are the threats from domestic energy policies and overconsumption of fossil fuels.
Michael Lewis, lead author of “The Resilience Imperative,” advises civil disobedience as a strategy for steady staters.
Brent Blackwelder believes 2012 will be the year we break free from the “global suicide pact” of continuous growth.
Brent Blackwelder urges you to carve up a Golden Fleece Turkey or two.
