Following my recent post paying off the debt, I was interested to see the BBC News Science pages run a similar piece - Earth on course for eco 'crunch'. I was mentioning this to some people the other day and their view was "why do I care about the possible eco-crunch tomorrow when the financial credit crunch is affecting me today?"
It's always difficult to think about other people when your own welfare is threatened, but I can't help thinking that the more we view ourselves as all tied in to this world together, that if one loses, we all lose, the better things will be.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The little things that make the world of difference
It's often the aggregate of little things that really make the difference - you only have to think of an avalanche to get that idea. So if you're looking for somewhere to start, how about any one of the 500-plus suggestions in this book:
Or, move from "pale green" to "dark green" with one of the many suggestions here:
Either way, you'll be making a small step to a better future for everyone.
Or, move from "pale green" to "dark green" with one of the many suggestions here:
Either way, you'll be making a small step to a better future for everyone.
Newton’s Third Law?
It’s a funny thing when you are reminded that for every person with a strong belief or opinion, there’s someone with an equal and opposite opinion.
Had some interesting conversations last week about the role of the armed forces, and reasons for joining. The people I was talking to asserted that they had joined up to “defend Queen and Country”. We had an interesting debate around who exactly our armed forces are defending Q&C from, which I guess is basically around semantics, but let's say that between us we had "equal and opposite" views!
However, it reminded me of something the monks used to say at school, which was that there were only three useful and worthwhile careers for someone to have – teacher, doctor or farmer (teaching, healing & feeding). While this view is somewhat restrictive, and certainly, in this analysis, my own chosen career would have nothing to offer (!), I wonder whether there is a fourth worthwhile career – defending those who cannot defend themselves. This could redefine the role of our armies, navies & air forces (the UN, Nato, Peacekeepers & national forces alike) to provide that security for people who are deprived it, whether from outside aggressors or from their own corrupt or unlawful governments.
With no agenda other than defence of those people, it would seem that there are a number of candidate countries for such an intervention. After which, the teachers, doctors and farmers can be allowed to do what they do best – teaching, healing and feeding.
Had some interesting conversations last week about the role of the armed forces, and reasons for joining. The people I was talking to asserted that they had joined up to “defend Queen and Country”. We had an interesting debate around who exactly our armed forces are defending Q&C from, which I guess is basically around semantics, but let's say that between us we had "equal and opposite" views!
However, it reminded me of something the monks used to say at school, which was that there were only three useful and worthwhile careers for someone to have – teacher, doctor or farmer (teaching, healing & feeding). While this view is somewhat restrictive, and certainly, in this analysis, my own chosen career would have nothing to offer (!), I wonder whether there is a fourth worthwhile career – defending those who cannot defend themselves. This could redefine the role of our armies, navies & air forces (the UN, Nato, Peacekeepers & national forces alike) to provide that security for people who are deprived it, whether from outside aggressors or from their own corrupt or unlawful governments.
With no agenda other than defence of those people, it would seem that there are a number of candidate countries for such an intervention. After which, the teachers, doctors and farmers can be allowed to do what they do best – teaching, healing and feeding.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Paying off the debt
The recent study by Deutsche Bank (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity – aka TEEB) argues that the cost of the current financial crisis is miniscule compared to the annual cost of the environmental destruction we are doing to the rainforests. The study analysed all the “services” that the forests deliver by being there (carbon capture, water filtration etc) and looking at the costs of losing those services, or providing them ourselves by other means. The study estimates the costs in lost “natural capital” as being between $2 and $5 trillion per annum, compared to $1 to $1.5 for the current financial losses on Wall Street.
Both the BBC and George Monbiot report and comment on this study.
One thing that strikes me is a conceptual link between this study and the reports over the last year on personal debt in the UK. When times were good, we spent and spent and spent until levels of debt soared out of control. There are probably lots of people now wondering how they can pay back the interest on their debts, before they can even start to think about paying off the capital.
In the same way, by taking resources out of the natural world, we are borrowing against this natural capital, with no concept of how we’re going to pay it back. At some point, in the same way we’re seeing now with the economic crisis, that capital is going to run out. And if that happens, it’s difficult to see what environmental “bank” or “government” is going to jump in and magically supply a fix to sort it all out. And even if we could get round it, the “interest” will be the cost of clearing up the mess we’ve already made.
Translate all the lessons we’re currently learning from the disintegration of our deregulated and frankly free-wheeling economy into the various challenges that our attitude towards our environment pose and you have a fairly stark view of a possible future for all of us. Yet as with debt, the earlier we can reduce our borrowing, the less painful will be the payback in capital and interest. The quicker we start tackling the environmental issues highlighted in the report, we more able we will be to make long-term small steps to save ourselves, instead of the big, painful shock moves that will be the inevitable outcome.
Both the BBC and George Monbiot report and comment on this study.
One thing that strikes me is a conceptual link between this study and the reports over the last year on personal debt in the UK. When times were good, we spent and spent and spent until levels of debt soared out of control. There are probably lots of people now wondering how they can pay back the interest on their debts, before they can even start to think about paying off the capital.
In the same way, by taking resources out of the natural world, we are borrowing against this natural capital, with no concept of how we’re going to pay it back. At some point, in the same way we’re seeing now with the economic crisis, that capital is going to run out. And if that happens, it’s difficult to see what environmental “bank” or “government” is going to jump in and magically supply a fix to sort it all out. And even if we could get round it, the “interest” will be the cost of clearing up the mess we’ve already made.
Translate all the lessons we’re currently learning from the disintegration of our deregulated and frankly free-wheeling economy into the various challenges that our attitude towards our environment pose and you have a fairly stark view of a possible future for all of us. Yet as with debt, the earlier we can reduce our borrowing, the less painful will be the payback in capital and interest. The quicker we start tackling the environmental issues highlighted in the report, we more able we will be to make long-term small steps to save ourselves, instead of the big, painful shock moves that will be the inevitable outcome.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Debt Week Website
Hmm. Looks like the http://www.debtweek.org/ is unavailable (unless it's just me?). So instead, here's my "Spotlight On..." debt, with thanks to the Jubilee Debt Campaign, whose website makes great sense of a tangled subject.
What is the key message?
The kind of debt we're dealing with here is debt held by countries in the developing world, where there is either no chance of the country ever being able to repay it, or where to do so is impossible without sending its people into a spiral of poverty.
Isn't that their problem, not ours?
It would be if the debt was part of a fair process, but most of the debt in question either has impossible conditions attached (such as unfairly high interest rates), was provided illegitimately (such as to dictators to buy arms to oppress their own people) or removes the ability of the debtor country to support its own people.
So who's making a fuss about this?
Lots of people - there are campaigns all over the world to get this debt cancelled, but often as the first step towards a fairer and more equitable world for all of us, rich and poor, in the developing or the developed world. Third World debt is seen as a touchstone issue by many - as a clear and visible illustration for the way in which we treat each other in ways that are often unfair. Any internet search will throw up many organisations dedicated to this work. Or see some of the other posts on this blog.
http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/ is, in my opinion, the best place to start.
What is the key message?
The kind of debt we're dealing with here is debt held by countries in the developing world, where there is either no chance of the country ever being able to repay it, or where to do so is impossible without sending its people into a spiral of poverty.
Isn't that their problem, not ours?
It would be if the debt was part of a fair process, but most of the debt in question either has impossible conditions attached (such as unfairly high interest rates), was provided illegitimately (such as to dictators to buy arms to oppress their own people) or removes the ability of the debtor country to support its own people.
So who's making a fuss about this?
Lots of people - there are campaigns all over the world to get this debt cancelled, but often as the first step towards a fairer and more equitable world for all of us, rich and poor, in the developing or the developed world. Third World debt is seen as a touchstone issue by many - as a clear and visible illustration for the way in which we treat each other in ways that are often unfair. Any internet search will throw up many organisations dedicated to this work. Or see some of the other posts on this blog.
http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/ is, in my opinion, the best place to start.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Microcredit from the Cooperative Bank
The Cooperative Bank, already a leader in ethical banking "...has created a special $50 million fund in order to support the future development of small businesses in some of the world's poorest countries. " Their blog is here. Microfinance is a real breath of fresh air after all the news recently of banks & finance organisations whose operations are so huge that they defy the imagination.
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