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The good news is that a "greener" global economy of the future is beginning to happen now, albeit still in its early infancy stage. Economic and social theorist, Jeremy Rifkin, explains it as:
A 3rd industrial revolution that features green energy, a sharing economy and a "marginal cost" society
More on that later.
The bad news is that we don't have the fifty years or more that would be necessary for that new economy to get us to a sustainable level of living soon enough to prevent the worst effects of climate change -- which could include the collapse of our civilization.
What to do? The world's most powerful leaders must join forces to urgently launch three crucial global initiatives:
- Carbon Removal. Dr. Peter Wadhams proposes that in order to stop climate change quickly enough to save our civilization, we must launch a globally coordinated, government mandated, multi-trillion dollar project to immediately begin removing far more carbon than we are adding each year.
- Food Animals. Urgently begin a globally-coordinated initiative to promote a dietary shift toward eating more plant-based foods, while concurrently cutting the world consumption of animal-based foods by over 90%.
- Overpopulation. Launch a massive global initiative to humanely, and steadily, reduce the world population to a sustainable level--probably in the 2 to 4 billion range.
The last one is the toughest. Getting our population to a sustainable level will take centuries--even if we started immediately. But because our current global economy needs more people in order to grow, we continue to add a net 230,000 to our population (births minus deaths) every single day.
So given our lack of any progress regarding overpopulation, we must focus even more urgently on the first two initiatives: Carbon Removal and a Global Dietary Shift away from eating animals.
With enough global promotion among the most powerful leaders, each initiative could gain traction within 3 to 5 years--and their combined ecological benefits will hopefully be enough to save our civilization.
Now, what about that "greener" economy? In my presentations, I usually state that the details for those kinds of things are "way above my pay grade."
But now I am happy to say that a significant portion of those details are being addressed by visionaries like Jeremy Rifkin featured below. From a 2016 ESPO press release:
Rifkin is the principal architect of the Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change.
He describes the basics in this 4-minute animation
(For much greater detail, see two videos below)
How will it work and how soon? As explained in the above video, many pillars of the new economy are in place now. We're basically talking about three interconnected, internet type of systems for these fundamental processes: Communication, Energy Distribution and the automated Production & Delivery of Goods and Services.
As for how soon this greener economy can transform the planet, my impression is that it seems to be picking up speed.
For example, the short animated video above has only been seen by 16,000 people in almost five years. Whereas, this longer documentary has garnered almost
2.5 million views
on YouTube in just five months (since Feb. 2018).
105 Minutes with Jeremy Rifkin
Next time you feel like going to the movies, make some popcorn and watch this one at home instead.
How do our food choices fit into the new "greener" economy? In the above documentary, I was delighted to hear Rifkin say that our "meat" of the future will not come from animals.
Finally a credible professional from the mainstream business world is publicly stating the obvious about our wasteful, unhealthful, harmful and unsustainable way of feeding ourselves. I put it this way:
Our food choices in the developed world are grossly unsustainable and are among the leading drivers of almost every environmental dilemma we face.
Conclusion.
The many features of Rifkin's new, emerging economy sound great, but If we can't slow down climate change in the next 3 to 5 years, it won't have a chance to make much of a difference. And we can only do that if enough of us speaks the alarming truth to power.
For now, the Rifkins of the world must urgently work to promote the awareness of what's at stake among the wealthiest and most influential leaders on Earth.
The Bottom Line. Once sufficient awareness prevails, a team of the most powerful world leaders must work urgently together to plan, develop, fund and execute the atmospheric
carbon removal system
mentioned earlier. Asking everyone to reduce their own carbon footprint is a strategy that has not worked.
Hopefully, that project will buy us enough time to gradually convert our overall global human presence to one that survives and thrives in harmony with nature--indefinitely.
What happens next? These two recent BSBs feature credible scientists on the topic of climate change or "anthropogenic climate disruption" (as Dahr Jamail likes to call it) and its likely impact on the future of humanity.
Dr. Peter Wadhams, in the first one, discusses the carbon removal remedy mentioned above; whereas Dr. McPherson in the second one is not so optimistic.
Be well,
J. Morris (Jim) Hicks
CEO, 4Leaf Global, LLC
PS: As long as I can envision a viable pathway for humanity going forward, I will not give up hope.
I welcome your feedback and/or your questions at:
[email protected]
***************
Looking for Opportunities to Speak.
Since 2016, my research, writing and speaking has been focused on the sustainability of our ecosystem and our future as a species. With a primary emphasis on food choices, I call it the "most important topic in the history of humanity."
After all, what could possibly be more important to humans than the survival of our species?
Later this year, my co-author, Dr. Kerry Graff, and I may be speaking at a Chinese Nutrition Association event in Nanjing, China. For more info, Visit our speaking page.
To schedule a presentation at a venue near you, please contact me at
[email protected]
Promoting health, hope and harmony on planet Earth
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