The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation: Technological, Socioeconomic and Political Change

Description

The Path to a Sustainable Civilisation shows that we have unwittingly fallen into an existential crisis of our own making. We have allowed large corporations, the military and other vested interests to capture governments and influence public opinion excessively. We have created a god called ‘the market’ and allowed our most important decisions to be made by this imaginary entity, which is in fact a human system controlled by vested interests. The result has been the exploitation of our life support system, our planet, and most of its inhabitants, to the point of collapse. This book argues that the way out of our black hole is to build social movements to apply overwhelming pressure on government and big business, weaken the power of vested interests and strengthen democratic decision-making. This must be done simultaneously with action on the specific issues of climate, energy, natural resources and social justice, in order to transition to a truly sustainable civilisation. Acknowledgements Contents About the Authors Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables List of Boxes 1: Introduction Reference 2: The Sustainability Crisis 2.1 Our Planet in Distress Planetary Boundaries The Earth System Climate Change I = PAT Growth, Overshoot and Collapse 2.2 Human Society in Distress Inequalities in Income and Wealth Who Is Responsible? 2.3 Why Does Sustainability Require Social Justice as Well as Environmental Protection? Reference 3: An Ecologically Sustainable, Socially Just Civilisation 3.1 Sustainability and Sustainable Development 3.2 Sustainable Development Goals 3.3 The Sustainable Civilisation 3.4 Sustainable Development of the Global South 3.5 What Kind of Sustainable Society? 3.6 Concluding Remarks Reference 4: Transitioning the Energy System 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The Technological Transition Transition Strategy The Current Situation Technologies for RE Renewable Energy for the Global South Technologies for Energy Efficiency Does Nuclear Energy Have a Future? 4.3 Policies for Sustainable Energy Transmission Lines, Renewable Energy Zones and Storage Reform of Electricity Markets Removing Subsidies to FF Pricing Carbon Rapid Phase-out of Coal with Social Justice for Workers Encouraging Energy Efficiency 4.4 Busting Myths about Sustainable Energy The Base-Load Myth Frequency and Voltage Myth Fossil Fuel Back-Up Myth Net Energy Myth Land-Use Myth Misleading Measures of Energy Efficiency Rebound Myths Materials Availability: An Exaggeration, but Not a Myth Renewable Energy Deniers 4.5 Growth in Consumption: Chasing a Retreating Target 4.6 Summary and Conclusion Reference 5: Transitioning Natural Resources 5.1 Renewable Resources Agriculture and Food Supply Synthetic Meat Diet, Health and the Environment Biodiversity Soil Freshwater Fisheries Forests Recommendations 5.2 Non-renewable Resources Substituting Renewable for Non-renewable Resources Irreplaceable, Essential, Non-renewable Resources Scarce Non-renewable Resources in General Essential Minerals for Renewable Energy Technologies 5.3 Green and Appropriate Technologies Energy Cities and their Transportation Systems Shelter Defence Information Technology 5.4 Conclusion: The Leaky Circular Economy Reference 6: Cutting the Bonds of State Capture 6.1 The Roots of the Crises 6.2 State Capture Case Study: Australian State Capture by the Fossil Fuel Industries Case Study: Australian State Capture by the Armaments Industry and a Foreign Government 6.3 State Capture of the Global South 6.4 Strategy to Weaken State Capture Reduce Influence of Financial Donations and Expenditure Create Institutions to Monitor Integrity Limit Revolving Door Jobs Require Decision-Makers to Declare Assets Restrict Media Ownership and Control Social Media Reduce Legal Power of Corporations Benefits for Democracy 6.5 International Agreements Multinational Corporations Climate Mitigation International Caps on Use of Renewable Resources International Agreement on Use of Non-renewable Resources Reducing the Incidence of War and the Likelihood of Nuclear War Sovereign Debt Relief for the Global South International People-to-People Institutions 6.6 Conclusion Reference 7: Transforming the Economic System 7.1 The Failure of Conventional Economics 7.2 Ecological Economics and the Steady-State Economy What Is Ecological Economics? Indicators of Wellbeing Ethical Differences 7.3 Planned Degrowth44 7.4 Paying for the Transition: MMT 7.5 Strategy for Planned Degrowth to Sustainable Prosperity 7.6 Conclusion Reference 8: Community Action for Social Change 8.1 Dialogue on Theory and Practice 8.2 A Strategy for Social Change What Kind of Social Change? Two Related Strategies 8.3 Refuting Myths about Transitioning to a Sustainable Civilisation Myth: The Only Possible Alternative to the Present Socioeconomic System Is Communism, Which Has Failed Myth: Capitalism Is About Reward for Effort Myth: People Are Naturally Competitive and Will Not Accept Greater Government Controls as Part of Transitioning to a More Sustainable Society Objection: A Truly Ecologically Sustainable and Socially Just Society, Such as the Sustainable Civilisation, Is Utopian and Impractical Myth: Degrowth to a Steady-state Economy Entails Deprivation Myth: Most People Are Happy with Capitalism—Why Would They Want to Change? Objection: Degrowth Is Politically Impossible Myth: A Sustainable Alternative to the Present System Is a Society Comprising Small, Independent, Self-sufficient Communities Obfuscation: Campaigns for Progressive Income Taxes, Wealth Taxes and Inheritance Taxes Are ‘Class Warfare’ 8.4 Strategy and Tactics 8.5 Compendium of Key Government Policies and Community Actions Needed 8.6 Discussion Reference 9: Conclusion Reference Glossary Index