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.
Author(s): Mark Diesendorf, Rod Taylor
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 261
City: Singapore
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
