of the Global Assembly of the Club of RomeThe Club of Rome calls for urgent action to avert the growing risk of catastrophic climate change. The most recent scientific data presented to the Assembly by the worlds top climate scientists demonstrate the accelerating impacts of climate change on the natural systems of the planet. Beyond this existential threat to the future of humanity, the Club stresses the need to find a new path for world development toresolve the connected challenges in the fields of environment, global development and the restructuring of economies onto a sustainable path. We insist that responsibility for care in the use of energy and resources, responsibility for the environment and social inclusion are not simply costs to the economy, but investments in the future of humanity. Governments have directed trillions of dollars to stabilize the financial system: we call for the required levels of finance to salvage the future of the planet.more
Archive for the ‘World Resource Forum 2009’ Category
Amsterdam Declaration
Mittwoch, März 16th, 2011A Solution Named Dematerialization System Policies
Sonntag, Dezember 13th, 2009Sustainable economic conditions cannot be reached without increasing the resource productivity of the industrialized countries dramatically. By 2050, the world-wide average per capita consumption shall not exceed 8 tons of material per year. System policies need be developed and applied to ascertain success.
KEY CONCEPTS
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The existing economic system de-stabilizes the ecosystem services that are crucial for the survival of humans on earth, and cannot be replaced by technology.
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The physical root cause imperiling the eco-system services is the enormous consumption of natural resources (material, water, and land surface) for creating material welfare. The economic root cause is the near zero price for using nature.
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Limited physical resources on earth, population growth and the need to protect eco-system services necessitate a substantial increase in resource productivity.
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The human economy must be constrained to function within the limits of the environment and its resources and in such a way that it works with the grain of, rather than against, natural laws and processes (Ekins).
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First estimates indicate that capping the yearly consumption of natural material resources at close to 6 or 7 tons per capita seems unavoidable. This implies a tenfold dematerialization on average for the economy of traditionally industrialized countries.
weitere Informationen A Solution Named Dematerialization
Amsterdam Declaration of the Global Assembly of the Club of Rome
Donnerstag, November 5th, 2009The Club of Rome calls for urgent action to avert the growing risk of catastrophic climate change. The most
recent scientific data presented to the Assembly by the worlds top climate scientists demonstrate the
accelerating impacts of climate change on the natural systems of the planet. Beyond this existential threat to
the future of humanity, the Club stresses the need to find a new path for world development to resolve the
connected challenges in the fields of environment, global development and the restructuring of economies
onto a sustainable path. We insist that responsibility for care in the use of energy and resources,
responsibility for the environment and social inclusion are not simply costs to the economy, but investments
in the future of humanity. Governments have directed trillions of dollars to stabilize the financial system: we
call for the required levels of finance to salvage the future of the planet.
further Information Amsterdam Declaration
Vorträge beim World Resources Forum Davos 09
Dienstag, Oktober 13th, 2009Vorträge des World Resource Forum in Davos September 2009
Declaration of the World Resource Forum
Sonntag, September 20th, 2009Preamble
The recent financial crisis has dramatically shown how flimsy the banking and investment institutions are that were supposed to be so robust, and how vulnerable they are to false expectations of continued rapid growth and consequent over-exploitation of the monetary and fiscal arrangements that serve as surrogates for the real economy.
What is true of the economic system is also true of the ecosystem. Beyond a critical threshold, the services that the biosphere has evolved and provided over millions of years can breakdown with little warning and with much loss to human, social and economic values.
The underlying deficiencies that can cause failure or collapse of ecosystems are much the same as for economic systems: short term profit maximization, toxic by-products, wrong pricing signals, and the failure by governments to implement precautionary policies because of insufficient controls and inadequate early warning systems. The surprise element is enhanced by the absence of proper accounting methods and the scarcity of requisite skills in systems analysis and management.
The extent to which the economy and material wealth can grow are constrained by the limits set by the Earths resource endowments. Technology and innovation can in some cases extend these limits, but rarely by very much.
We, the supporters of this Declaration, strongly believe that economic stability in our finite world depends on how quickly we can introduce low impact production systems that can satisfy human needs and bring quality of life to all people.
Traditional environmental technologies are no longer enough. Decoupling the meeting of human needs from the use of natures resources will require radically new infrastructures, goods, services, processes, systems and business models. While some changes in lifestyle, consumption patterns and production systems will certainly be necessary, it is technically possible to achieve this without abandoning the things that we value most.
It is now widely accepted that wellbeing is more than material consumption. Human fulfillment includes factors such as education, health, safety, freedom from violence, environmental quality, social embeddedness, leisure, and equity. Despite huge technological progress, many aspects of human wellbeing have not increased in industrialized countries since the mid 1970s; some are even declining.
We call for a new global strategy for governing the use of natural resources that generates fair access to them for present needs while maintaining their availability for future generations. By combining efficiency and resource productivity targets with sufficiency norms evolved through participative mechanisms, it should be possible to avoid the traditional type of growth rebound effect sometimes experienced.
WELTPREMIERE: IN DAVOS GEHT ES IM SEPTEMBER UM DIE WIRTSCHAFT DER ZUKUNFT
Sonntag, August 30th, 2009Auf dem Höhepunkt der schlimmsten Finanzkrise seit Jahrzehnten
kommen Topbanker nicht nach Davos, um den Warnungen kritischer
Zeitgenossen zuzuhören, sondern um sich zu amüsieren und um Kunden
zu buhlen klagte der Vater des von ihm 1971 gegründeten
Weltwirtschaftforum, Klaus Schwab, im Oktober letzten Jahres.
weitgehend dieselben wie die der drohenden Umweltkatastrophe.
Allerdings mit dem Unterschied, dass der Kollaps der lebenswichtigen
ökologischen Funktionen nicht reparierbar ist.
Vom 14. bis 16. September dieses Jahres gibt es in Davos eine
Weltpremiere: Wir wollen der Welt zeigen, warum es eine
lebensgefährliche Umweltkrise gibt und wir wollen realistische Vorschläge
zu ihrer Lösung diskutieren, sagt Xaver Edelmann, der Präsident des
ersten WeltRessourcenForum in Davos.
Angeregt von Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek vor zwei Jahren, entwickelte und
organisiert die Empa in St Gallen dieses ambitiöse Unterfangen,
zusammen mit ihrer altbewährten Weltkonferenz zu Recyklingsfragen (R
09). Fachlich wird sie unterstützt durch das Faktor 10 Institute in
Frankreich, der Schweizerischen Akademie der Technischen
Wissenschaften (SATW) und dem EcoTopia Science Institute der
Universität Nagoya – sowie einer großen Zahl von Fachleuten aus aller
Welt.
weiterlesen unter Welt Resource Forum
en francais Forum Économique Mondial
in englisch World Resource Forum
A Solution Named Dematerialization
Sonntag, August 30th, 2009a-solution-named-dematerialisation.pdf
There are two main reasons why traditional environmental policies have to be improved:-
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The climatic change is real and stands out as a strong signal for the fact that traditional environmental and economic policies have failed to prevent major environmental breakdowns;-
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The environmental crisis has largely the same roots as the financial catastrophe: Market failures due to systems incompetence; lack of valid indicators, of early warning systems, and of precautionary policies; short term profit maximization; marketing poisonous products; and prices that do not tell the truth.
There are two main reasons why dematerialization is unavoidable:-
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There are not enough resources (material, water, land surface) on planet earth for expanding the western life-style to 8 or 9 billion people;-
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The resource intensity of the western life-style is the physical root cause for significant losses in eco-system functions and services with consequences such as climatic change, pervasive water shortages, desertification, erosion, and loss of species.
There are two main reasons why governments must act for approaching sustainability:-
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Only governments can adjust economic frameworks in order to render sustainable production and consumption profitable;-
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Governments are responsible for international cooperation.
if you want to read more, open the a-solution-named-dematerialisation.pdf