Comments on: The Time for Sustainability is Now. Or, Seeing the Glass of the Global Economic Crisis as Half Full

By: Sustainability: Where the Environment and the Economy Converge | Max Gladwell

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:38:00 +0000

[...] our post titled The Time for Sustainability is Now, written in July, we speculated that high oil prices and the global economic meltdown (the meltdown [...]

By: Code Green: Hot, Flat and Crowded | Max Gladwell

Code Green: Hot, Flat and Crowded | Max Gladwell — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:28:44 +0000

[...] often use the current financial crisis as a metaphor for how we’ve managed our energy, food, and general economic security. So does [...]

By: 10 Ways that Social Media and Sustainability Line Up : Sustainablog

10 Ways that Social Media and Sustainability Line Up : Sustainablog — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:36:32 +0000

[...] the globe at a tremendous expense to our health, security and wellbeing. With this era coming to an end, the principles of sustainability dictate that we source our food and other goods as close to home [...]

By: Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls

Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 14:51:55 +0000

The Time for Sustainability is Now. | Deliggit.com…

\r\nIs the global economic crisis going to spontaneously trigger a shift toward susta…

By: Max Gladwell

Max Gladwell — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 01:30:55 +0000

Nick: The vertical axis appears to be peak oil and consumer debt. There’s obviously a lot going on in that graphic (http://www.writingshop.ws/html/perfect_storm.html). The post entitled “Perfect Storm” in which it originally appeared was 2005, so the author, John Schettler, basically called the current recession (which we define by unemployment not traditional GDP). The article sites Matthew Simmons, who we talk about here: http://www.maxgladwell.com/2008/07/peak-oil-prophet-plans-for-apocalypse/.

Let’s hope we take some action so the rest of those predictions don’t come true.

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:52:27 +0000

Correction, Ottman may have also said it at Sustainable Life Media, but Diane MacEachern of Big Green Purse is the one who issued the challange to companies to tell their customers to buy 20% less.

In tandem with that thought – consumers need to demand the products are certified by SMaRT Sustainable Product Standard, which requires a life cycle assessment of the entire supply chain along with a third party global audit. C2C does not do that.

When you do such an assessment you find out that corn made fuel, unless it’s organically raised corn, is worse for the environment and for the world’s food economy than the gas that it makes.

The above arguments are why the SMaRT Products Standard was developed, to do everything described, i.e. cut pollution, cut carbon, follow the product globally, reward renewable fuels, reward bio-based products… in short, be the rules to transform the market to sustainability.

By: Nick Aster

Nick Aster — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 23:01:56 +0000

Excellent post. Curious what the Y-Axis on the first graph is, but everything else rock solid. Will be passing this around to folks!

By: Mario Vellandi

Mario Vellandi — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:33:59 +0000

I have this post on my reference list to blog about. Also am halfway through reading “Natural Capitalism”.

Another great post, with a focus on economics, is from earlier this year by John Grant (author of green marketing manifesto), summarizing another author. Good stuff:
http://tinyurl.com/6dsdjb

By: Max Gladwell

Max Gladwell — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:14:45 +0000

There’s no doubt that this is idealistic and perhaps even a bit naive. But Paula hits the nail on the head: economics. We’ve been living in an era that defied economic laws. Whether it’s our savings rate, the massive subsidies taxpayers (directly and indirectly) pick up for oil and agriculture, or how we send our money to China for cheap consumer goods so they could loan it back to us at low rates so it can feed a record housing/credit bubble that continues to crash more than a year after it began, taking down much of the global economy with it.

GBA, you’re exactly right about America not being an island. We’re exporting our gluttonous and unsustainable way of life to other countries. We export our trash to China. We export tainted beef to South Korea, prompting a million to protest and requiring intervention from the White House. That steroid-filled beef has the support of American taxpayers and approval from your FDA. We’re even exporting obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The basis for this thought experiment is the mixed but often positive effect high gas prices have had. We’re using less and making better choices. It could be just a start. What if gas prices fall again? Then it’s up to government to put a floor under them via taxes and (a) use that revenue to pay down the national debt, (b) invest in alternatives, and (c) fund health programs for those affected by our use of fossil fuels. Etc.

The process will not be painless. We’ve lived at an unsustainable rate for far too long. But it’s not impossible. By definition, it’s a moral imperative. It’s high time we became sustainable and started to export sustainability. If America leads the world will follow.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful counterpoints.

By: God Bless America

God Bless America — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:24:54 +0000

Cheers. Note however that this kind of thinking “we have to fix our domestic problems before we can even consider helping with fixing the problems abroad” can itself be a root cause of the problem. I’d agree if you said the US needs to take action at home on same topics so it’s not hypocritical etc. But you’ll never get your island in order without simultaneously being a responsible & active player in the interconnected world. The current economic problems & peak oil/consumption are worldwide concerns and can’t be addressed by the US or fixed from within the US alone.