Ecological Limits And Global Poverty

According to Tim Jackson [1], and others, beyond a certain income rising GDP per capita is no reasonable proxy for rising prosperity, because once basic needs such as for food, shelter, security, education, health are met, prosperity correlates with the “ability to flourish” as human beings — i.e. the strength of our relationships, trust in the community, satisfaction at work, shared sense of purpose, participation in society — rather than with income. Obviously, we assume, correctly, that income does not correlate with, for instance, the strength of our relationships. Indeed, meaningful relationships are not marketable: we cannot buy them. This argument is used to demand by the conventional view of ‘indefinite economic growth’ — held by many economists and politicians — to face two realities: (1) the ecological limits of a finite planet and (2) the drift of global wealth towards the few…

The Time Of The Year That ...

Together with spring, fall is the time of the year that sees a spectacular natural phenomenon unfolding here in Kuopio, Finland. The city has a total area of 2,317.24 square kilometre and water area of 719.85 square kilometre. Thus, about a third of the total area is water. That is a fair amount of water. In comparison, water area in Washington, D.C. is just about 10% of the total area…

Connection

British novelist Samuel Butler wrote in Life and Habit (1878) that “[I]t has, I believe, been often remarked, that a hen is only an egg’s way of making another egg”…

Offsetting My Own Flight Emissions

Practice what you preach.

My own birthday present this year goes for an idea. I have suggested its practical implementation in a previous post…