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A glimpse into the next industrial age

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Originally published by Europe’s World*, Spring Issue 2012”, http://www.europesworld.org


 

Mankind is entering the third industrial revolution, says American futurologist Jeremy Rifkin, and it heralds a future of more continental-scale political unions like the EU along with dramatic shifts in our economic patterns

 

Industrial civilisation is at a crossroads. Oil and the other fossil fuels that make up our industrial way of life are sunsetting, and the technologies made from and propelled by these energies are becoming antiquated. The ageing industrial infrastructure based on fossil fuels is increasingly in disrepair. The result is that unemployment is rising to dangerous levels around the world, with governments, businesses and consumers awash in debt and living standards plummeting everywhere. A record one billion human beings – a seventh of the human race – face hunger if not starvation. Worse, climate change from fossil fuel-based industrial activity looms on the horizon. It is increasingly clear that we need a new economic narrative to take us into a more equitable and sustainable future.

Great economic revolutions occur when new communication technologies converge with new energy systems. New energy systems increase interdependent economic activity and expand commercial exchange. They also facilitate more dense and inclusive social relationships. New communication revolutions in turn become the means to manage the new dynamics arising from new energy systems.

Ultimo aggiornamento Mercoledì 21 Marzo 2012 14:32 Leggi tutto...
 

The green economy: Re-thinking global governance

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Originally published by "Europe’s World*, Spring Issue 2012”, http://www.europesworld.org



As head of the UN’s environmental arm UNEP, Achim Steiner believes that multi-lateral governance structures are overdue for a radical overhaul

Twenty years after the Rio Earth Summit of 1992, the world is once again taking the Road to Rio, but in a world that geopolitically, socially and environmentally is markedly different from that of the late 20th century.

From women and trade unions to environmental NGOs and indigenous peoples, there is a deep-seated sense that we are living in an increasingly unequal world, and that the environmental services on which we all depend – especially the poor – are also rapidly hitting their limits as a result of decades of pollution, damage and degradation. Enlightened sections of the private sector can also see the writing on the wall, for we live on a planet where climate change and the loss of productive ecosystems can, and increasingly will, disrupt global supply chains.

Extraordinary achievements have nevertheless occurred in some areas – economically, many millions have been lifted out of poverty in places like China and India, and environmentally the world's network of protected areas has grown substantially. But for all that, the development path of these years has by-passed far too many areas; it has brought prosperity to the few rather than the majority, and is running up an ecological bill that is paid by the poor and the vulnerable every day and will ultimately have to be paid by generations to come.

 

Ultimo aggiornamento Mercoledì 14 Marzo 2012 11:50 Leggi tutto...
 

Business could use sustainable development to trigger a new industrial revolution

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Originally published by "Europe’s World*, Spring Issue 2012”  http://www.europesworld.org


More and more companies are embracing sustainability without endangering profitability, but still not enough. Gunilla Carlsson and Kris Gopalakrishnan explain why it’s a win-win corporate strategy

It may not be entirely obvious why the Swedish minister for international development co-operation and the CEO of an India-based global IT company have written this joint article. So here’s why: the goals and mandates for our respective organisations may be different, but the issues that top our agendas unite us, sustainable development and poverty reduction. We are both heavily involved in Rio +20, the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

The issues it will touch on range from climate change to the world’s growing population, conflicts, water scarcity and energy and non-respect for human rights, all of which are having a profound impact on health, security and global growth.

Ultimo aggiornamento Sabato 03 Marzo 2012 18:17 Leggi tutto...
 


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