The climate pact achieved at COP26 was woefully inadequate. We could be in for over four degrees Fahrenheit of warming this century over pre-industrial temperatures, and some scenarios would put us closer to eight degrees. In this episode, Paul Sutton shares his observations from Glasgow, and we get assessments from a few other noted experts.
Policymakers are not willing to embrace any climate actions that give up economic growth, but economic growth virtually guarantees climate disaster. The bottom line: only drastic policy and behavior changes will avoid a very bleak future.
Sutton is a Professor in the Department of Geography & the Environment at the University of Denver. He served as an official delegate for the American Association of Geographers (AAG) at the COP26 UN Climate Summit in Glasgow in early November of 2021. He is not speaking for the AAG in this episode. One interesting class Paul teaches is Envisioning Utopia Through the Lens of a Wellbeing Economy.
Also: recommended reading, and the new movie, Ghostbusters: Afterlife.
The Titanic cartoon in this episode's graphic was created for the GrowthBusters project by artist/writer Stephanie McMillan. https://stephaniemcmillan.org/
The GrowthBusters theme song was written and produced by Jake Fader and sung by Carlos Jones. https://www.fadermusicandsound.com/ https://carlosjones.com/
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Running Out of Gas – Episode 26 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Paul Sutton and James Ward https://www.growthbusters.org/running-out-of-gas-podcast-episode-26/
GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth – free on YouTube https://youtu.be/_w0LiBsVFBo
The Limits to Growthhttps://collections.dartmouth.edu/teitexts/meadows/diplomatic/meadows_ltg-diplomatic.html
Planet of the Humans documentary https://planetofthehumans.com/
More Fun, Less Stuff – Episode 55 of the GrowthBusters podcast, with Mike Nickerson https://www.growthbusters.org/more-fun-less-stuff/
COP26: If We Don't Know Where We're Going, We Will End Up Someplace Else – by Paul Sutton https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/579095-cop26-if-we-dont-know-where-we-are-going-we-will-end-up-someplace?rl=1
Bankers Took Over the Climate Change Summit. That's Bad for Democracyhttps://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/25/opinion/cop26-gfanz-climate-change.html
Soylent Green – trailer; see the movie on YouTube, AppleTV, Vudu and elsewhere https://youtu.be/N_jGOKYHxaQ
The Powell Memorandum https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/
The Powell Memo and links to many essays about it https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/the-lewis-powell-memo-a-corporate-blueprint-to-dominate-democracy/
The Powell Memo – a critical book excerpt about the memo https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
A Finer Future – by L. Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman, and John Fullerton https://ourfinerfuture.com/
Quick Take from Katharine Hayhoe of The Nature Conservancy https://youtu.be/9wZz253lZwg
Planet in Crisis podcast from Scientists Warning Europe https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/podcast
World Scientists' Warnings into Action, Local to Global – New paper from Scientists Warning Europe https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/signature
Shared Socioeconomic Pathways https://www.carbonbrief.org/explainer-how-shared-socioeconomic-pathways-explore-future-climate-change
Prosperity Without Growth – by Tim Jackson https://timjackson.org.uk/ecological-economics/pwg/
COP26 demonstrations – photos by Paul Sutton https://urizenapw02-vlp.du.edu/~paul.sutton/COP26/
Rebelling Against Black Friday Consumerism – Episode 61 of the GrowthBusters podcast https://www.growthbusters.org/non-material-holidays/
So Kind Gift Registry https://sokindregistry.org/
Make a Year-End Gift to the GrowthBusters project https://www.growthbusters.org/donate/
RECOMMENDED READING:
Insist that Public Policy Respects the Rights of Children and Women – by Dave Gardner https://medium.com/ending-overshoot/insist-that-public-policy-respects-the-rights-of-children-and-women-d961478d36f5
Ending Overshoot – a publication on Medium edited by Dave Gardner and Jem Randles https://medium.com/ending-overshoot
Welcome to Gilead: How Population Fears Drive Women's Rights Abuses – new report from Population Matters https://populationmatters.org/news/2021/11/welcome-gilead-how-population-fears-drive-womens-rights-abuses
To Breed or Not to Breed – by Alex Williams in the New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/style/breed-children-climate-change.html
The End of Growth: Ten Years After – by Richard Heinberg https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/11/20/end-growth-ten-years-after
Climate Change with 8 Billion Humans - by Joseph Chamie http://www.ipsnews.net/2021/11/climate-change-8-billion-humans/
Why Renewable Energy isn't the Only Answer in our Climate Emergency - by Julie Peconi, also from Scientists Warning Europe https://www.scientistswarningeurope.org.uk/discover/why-renewable-energy-isnt-the-only-answer-in-our-climate-emergency
On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society's growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture's obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared "could be the most important film ever made." Co-host, and self-described "energy nerd," Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
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