by James Rebanks in UnHerd…The answer is to be ready, with a more resilient and secure food system before something goes wrong. We need an inspired farming system that’s largely confined to our own island, and which we can rely upon in a crisis. There is no food security unless we can feed people locally in an emergency.
The next financial crisis: Insurance
by Robert Kuttner in The American Prospect… Increasing damage from fires, hurricanes, and floods will destabilize a lightly regulated industry—and spill over into broader financial markets.
Responding to platform firm power: differing national responses
by Angela Garcia Calvo in New Political Economy…In the second half of the 1990s, the commercial internet emerged as a remarkable connectivity tool that promised ever tighter integration of economies and societies. The desirability of internet use meant that it diffused globally with astonishing speed. In the US, technological leadership, enormous sums of venture capital, a large, single market, and a neoliberal, laissez-faire political economic environment, unleashed an ongoing process of entrepreneurship that resulted in the emergence of what became the global platform leaders.
Society is right on track for a global collapse, new study of infamous 1970s report finds
by Brandon Specktor in LiveScience.com…A steep downturn in human population and quality of life could be coming in the 2040s, the report finds.
Extreme weather cost $2tn globally over past decade, report finds
by Ajit Niranjan in The Guardian…US suffered greatest economic losses, report commissioned by International Chamber of Commerce finds, followed by China and India
Insurable losses from natural disasters – how have the numbers changed over the years?
by Terry Gangcuanco in Insurance Business Magazine….Canadian insurtech MyChoice has released a new study showing a sharp rise in insurable losses linked to natural disasters over the past four decades.
More in this category
It is time to tax the rich… and their foundations
by Lynn Murphy and Alnoor Ladha in Aljazeera….Philanthropic endowments are designed to protect the financial interests of the 1 percent. They should be taxed.
As water becomes a weapon of war, we must focus on cooperation and peace
by Peter Gleick in The Guardian…Record increase in water-related violence shows how urgently we need to reduce these tensions between countries
Russia and Israel lead global surge in attacks on civilian water supplies
by Nina Lakhani in The Guardian…Water-related violence surged to an all-time high in 2022 – driven in large part by Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israeli attacks against Palestinian water resources in the West Bank.
The blue dollar economy
Dollarization of the Argentine economy, which appeared an eccentric wish only a few months ago, now dominates media headlines and dinner table discussions and has become a subject of academic research.
The tragedy on the financial horizon is closer than you think
In September 2015, then Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a landmark speech on the “Tragedy of the Horizon.” The concept was simple: climate change creates tremendous risk for financial markets, but these mounting risks are ignored by investors due to the...
Climate risks place 39 million U.S. homes at risk of losing their insurance
From California to Florida, homeowners have been facing a new climate reality: Insurance companies don’t want to cover their properties. According to a report released today, the problem will only get worse. Tik Root Read the full article by Tik Root on Grist
Degrowth: The awakening of consciousness before an alternative
by Juan Ignacio Marin in Resilience.org….It is important to emphasize that the ideals of degrowth do not advocate a defense of economic poverty, but rather call for sufficiency. The emphasis on the true meaning of the term consumption — distinguishing it from consumerism — seeks to introduce a change in our way of life that reflects sufficiency, what we truly need.
How Musk, Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Andreessen—four billionaire techno-oligarchs—are creating an alternate, autocratic reality
by Jonathan Taplin in Vanity Fair…..In an excerpt from his new book, The End of Reality, the author warns about the curses of AI and transhumanism, presenting the moral case against superintelligence.
Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism
by NJ Hagens in Ecological Economics….Our environment and economy are at a crossroads.
The Superorganism V. The Doughnut
by Nate Hagens in The Great Simplification…..Increasingly, these shortfalls in both ecological and social well-being of the current economic system are becoming more recognized by the general populace. In this conversation, Kate and I discuss a framework for bringing the human system in line with the biosphere while meeting the needs of everyone.
Why it seems everything we knew about the global economy is no longer true
by Patricia Cohen in The New York Times…While the world’s eyes were on the pandemic, China and the war in Ukraine, the paths to prosperity and shared interests have grown murkier.
The global polycrisis reflects a civilizational crisis that calls for systemic alternatives
By Zack Walsh, Polycrisis Transition Consultancy…A review of emerging definitions of polycrisis within cognate bodies of scientific literature exploring societal risk and collapse, plus implications for how to respond to the depth and severity of the global polycrisis via just and regenerative civilizational alternatives.
Global tech supply chains are as complex as a circuit board
by Brendan O’Connor in Instick….The logic of the Palo Alto System that Stanford developed in breeding horses — that is, the logic of capital, articulated as eugenics — structured the organization of the new university.
Climate shocks are making parts of America uninsurable. It just got worse.
by Christopher Flavelle in The New York Times….The largest insurer in California said it would stop offering new coverage. It’s part of a broader trend of companies pulling back from dangerous areas.
Puerto Rico: A U.S. territory in crisis
by Amelia Cheatham and Diana Roy in Council on Foreign Relations…Puerto Rico is a political paradox: part of the United States but distinct from it, enjoying citizenship but lacking full political representation, and infused with its own brand of nationalism despite not being a sovereign state.