Crazy Eddie's Motie News looks at global and national sustainability issues

[neonvincent]

In the previous digest, I promised "global and national environmental issues, local (Michigan and Metro Detroit) sustainability issues, and Tea Party screw-ups." I'll do the first one, as I just posted an entry on that general topic.

Next Media Animation on the Keystone XL pipeline

Next Media Animation on Thanksgiving food inflation

Phil Plait on saving Earth from asteroids

Nebris and I have a conversation

A video gift from a student

Yes, I posted that one before. It's worth seeing again. Besides, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

The village of Wukan, China, in open revolt

The situation in Wukan escalates

More paranoia about Agenda 21

You'll see this one again, as it's about Tea Partiers screwing up.

Next Media Animation thinks low birth rates in the U.S. and China aren't all good

Next Media Animation on Canada leaving the Kyoto Protocol, plus a Rick Perry joke

With that last entry, the topics complete the circle, as the first and last are about Canadian tar sands.

Comments

[nebris]

That chart implicitly includes Capitalism, therefore it is not sustainable.

~M~

[neonvincent]

Good catch, as capitalism requires infinite growth, which in the long run is impossible. That's the diagram of sustainability used to sell the concept to businesses. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the "triple bottom line" idea (people, planet, profit) was designed by some environmentally conscious businessperson in order to have their cake and eat it, too. A scientist wouldn't make that kind of sustainability diagram, which is mockingly called the Micky Mouse diagram. Instead, they'd create a bull's eye like the one below.



As I wrote last May:

That last diagram shows that economy is dependent on society, which is in turn dependent on the environment. Without an environment, there is no society. Without a society, there is no economy. Those relationships put sustainability into perspective. They also show that the emphasis on economy above all is exactly backwards. No wonder we're in trouble.