This piece was originally called: Economic Growth: Grabbing the Elephant

http://www.clickonwales.org/2013/04/technology-cannot-tackle-climate-change/

I have shared platforms with Calvin on a couple of occasions and followed his work for some time. There is ever more convergence in our views.

Let me focus on this passage first:
“Worthy attempts to develop replacement technologies in energy generation and storage, in weight saving, in bio-engineering and so on, ad infinitum are born from a belief that technology and increased resource efficiency can solve our ecological and climate problems. This is Walter Mitty land. It is populated by well-meaning, intelligent people to be sure, but a fantasy none the less. On current trends we can expect three billion more people in the global middle class by 2030, at the same time as the West gets richer, albeit perhaps more slowly. To enable this, we require a mere doubling of world electricity production. Let me say this slowly. This. Will. Not. Happen. There is not enough stuff in the world for material consumption to effectively double on a global basis. There is not enough water for the dishwashers, or indeed to drink. There is not enough aluminium for the Audis, and not enough kerosene for the short-haul holidays to Hong Kong. There are certainly not enough prawns for the cocktails.

Any efforts at resource efficiency and technical transformation to enable this growth have to contend with the fact that firstly, companies like Tata (nee British Steel) have, over the last 60 years, already taken out the vast majority of possible energy costs. Secondly, as any economist knows, we use up the easy stuff first.”

This is not Calvin trying to tell us that technological innovation is a waste of time; just that it is not likely to be enough – certainly for us to continue using resources as we currently do and to continue the lifestyles we still seem to aspire to. I happen to think, and I think Calvin agrees, that technological innovation does have enormous potential to help us re-shape our futures (e.g. http://www.ted.com/talks/justin_hall_tipping_freeing_energy_from_the_grid.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-10-19&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email ) But his premise is sound enough, that the current capitalist economic growth model is not capable of delivering either the technological solutions to the masses, or the socio-political change to our societies.

It is also clear, that like most on the Green Left, Calvin has no time for Malthusian arguments. In the comments below the article he responds thus:
“Ah yes, Malthus. There should be a version of Godwins Law for that.

In the US kids can already aspirationally look forward to being fatter, unhealthier, unhappier and shorter-lived than their parents. How long, exactly, would you like growth to continue?

Human population will peak by 2050. The issue is not population but distribution of finite resources.”

There is, of course, a legitimate argument that issues around the re-distribution of finite resources can only be harder when there is a bigger population involved. But again Calvin’s premise is sound enough in that the current capitalist economic growth model cannot facilitate the required re-distribution of resources and/or people. His assertion that human population will peak in 2050 is based on statistical trends that may not come to pass, but there are good grounds to believe that once capitalism is dismantled and some form of ecosocialist system put in its place, the drivers of population growth will disappear and bring about stability. The Green Party is currently getting itself in a bit of a flap over what our stance on population should be while capitalism continues to prevail. (See other posts on this blog re Population Matters)

Calvin does, however, shy away from the ‘socialist’ label. In fact he uses it creatively in stating:
“And it really, really hacks me off when defenders of the status quo (which is socialism & bail out for the rich, capitalism for everyone else) just paint any alternative as socialism. Where in this piece do I suggest the state has any significant role to play?”

I am not sure we share quite the same definition of ‘socialism’, but Calvin may be re-assured that modern Eco-socialism, while seeing a bigger role for the state than we have now in providing key public services, is fundamentally based in a belief in localism and the commons.

In essence then, Calvin is very much in tune with Green Party, and the Green Left especially, in its belief that capitalism’s fixation with economic growth is what will bring it crashing down – if it is not taken apart in a planned way. He states:
“We need to deal with economic growth, the elephant in the room. Insofar as it relates to the increased material throughput of an economy (and believe me, it really always does) growth is not only undesirable (for the West at least) but in the medium term impossible.

Yet this fact (and I use that word advisedly) is completely un-discussed in any mainstream policy context, particularly now in our repeat recessions. We assume that an increased level of economic activity is required to protect jobs and prosperity. Lets be clear: increases in growth (achieved most recently by offshoring production to cheap Asian locations, and by flat-out-lying about the value of our financial wizardry) reward not labour but the owners of capital. Median middle class disposable incomes, adjusted for inflation, peaked in the 1970s. That is in contrast with the best-off, and for the owners of land and other capital.”

Un-discussed in mainstream policy context? He clearly fails to see the Green Party as part of the mainstream at this point in time, but we are the only ones singing from his song sheet!

GPEW’s current economic policy (http://policy.greenparty.org.UK/ec) clearly enshrines most of Calvin’s core arguments. It is not perfect, but I would like to invite Calvin to join us and get involved in refining it alongside other ‘green’ economists like Molly Scott Cato.

If Calvin wants to see meaningful change, he needs to engage with us in the political system to bring it about. This is the only way we can hope to become that crucial part of the mainstream!

For Calvin and others: http://join.greenparty.org.uk/

We at SUSSED have a fantastic event lined up in the Green Room (above SUSSED), 15th of May at 8pm! Need to get rid of some closet space? Found you may have purchased something you would never wear? Then this is the event for you.

You are invited to our very own Frock Swap, this way you can get rid of some old clothes but may find something that you’ll treasure! Anyone is welcome at this event, men, women and children, so attack that wardrobe and lets get swapping!

Rules of Frock Swapping

1. Participants should bring at lease one loved item (clothing/accessories).
2. Items must be of a decent quality.
3. Items swapped must be of close value.
4. An entry fee of £3.00 must be paid before you can start rummaging.

All proceeds go to Sustainable Wales! For more information please check out the poster attached or call us, contacts below.

Kind Regards,

Elly Jones.

Im Stephen Wood and am an active member of the Green Party, based in London.

Thanks already to those of you who have been in touch about my piece earlier this week which examined how the Green Party has been performing since the election of its new leadership team. I’m starting to collate some of the feedback and these will be reflected in some of the pieces I’ll be writing in the next few days.

Today, I’m launching a survey for both Green Party activists and non-members to give some concrete feedback on the performance of all our elected politicians and Executive Officers. I’m hoping we’ll get a snapshot on the visibility of our elected representatives and the perceptions the public have on their effectiveness.

I hope you’ll take 60 seconds to complete the survey and share this with your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media audiences to try and get as many people completing this survey in the next week or two.

Please click here to take the survey.

Friday, MAY 3, 2013, 8pm at SUSSED,
5, John St., Porthcawl CF36

This is the latest in a series of Green Room debates organized by
Sustainable Wales. It will be led by Kristian Evans, who writes:

Many of us think of alchemists as charlatans, vainly attempting to
transmute lead into gold.

Yet alchemy was once considered the Great Work, that allowed us to
approach divine consciousness.

This Great Work has had a profound impact, influencing Shakespeare
and Newton, then Picasso, the Surrealists, and Ted Hughes. But alchemy
is largely forgotten, replaced by the rationalist science familiar to
Us today: objective, realist, materialist.

In the talk we will look at some of the claims of alchemy, its influence
and the consequences of its rejection.

Kristian Evans, poet and artist from Kenfig, is writing a book length
sequence of poems on alchemy-related themes, A Nomads Garden.

Entry: £3.
Details: Sustainable Wales 01656 783962.
Robert Minhinnick
11Park Avenue
Porthcawl CF 36 3EP
Tel: 01656 773627

(See note below re. People’s Assembly)

7.00pm Thursday 25th April 2013 at the

The Railway PH (at the bottom of Station Hill).

ALL WELCOME (Especially new members!)

AGENDA:

1. Welcome and Introductions
2. Apologies for Absence
3. Minutes and matters arising
4. Officers’ reports
5. European Elections candidates – Andy/Rozz
6. Councillor feedback – Kathy
7. Campaigns update – Fracking / 20’s Plenty – Andy / Gareth
8. New website proposals – Adam
9. Sponsored event – Laurie
10. AOB
11. DoNM

NOTE – Venue is 1 minute’s walk from both the Bus and Train stations in Bridgend.

REMINDER – If anyone needs a lift to any of our meetings, let Andy know (078 1066 3241) and we will organise it for you.

People’s Assembly Against Austerity – London- 22nd June

Tickets are selling fast and are close to selling out. For more information and to book your place at this historic event:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5373440104?ref=ebtnebregn

The 2013 Voltaire Lecture was given by Professor Steven Pinker and was a celebration of the decline of violence that he has identified across the world as a whole, on the back of an impressive body of evidence to support his conclusions.

The evidence points to a steady decrease in violence from ancient times to the present day, which can be attributed to a range of factors. Prominent among these is the great advances made in spreading rational thinking and rejecting irrational prejudices. The justifications for violence are steadily being undermined. When you look at a large proportion of the violence that persists, a common denominator often emerges in the form of religious sectarian underpinnings.

Voltaire’s most famous maxim was: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”.

Show me an example of an atheist/humanist suicide bomber.

Pinker concludes his lecture with a call for us to stand up for the things that have made our world a less violent place, as we still have a long way to go. Those things are enlightenment values, reason, science and humanism.

These are values largely shared by the Green Party and the vast majority of its membership. This is why I am here.

Andy Chyba.

Listen to the Voltaire Lecture by Steven Pinker here: http://poddelusion.co.uk/blog/2013/03/22/voltaire-lecture-2013-with-steven-pinker-on-the-decline-of-violence/

Video will be shown here: http://www.youtube.com/user/BritishHumanists

We may not have elections here this year, but it is still worth a looks and sharing:

http://youtube.googleapis.com/v/4BcCi7Xr06M

From the beginning of this year, all BHA members and supporters resident in Wales have been automatically considered members and supporters of Welsh Humanists / Dyneiddwyr Cymru a new section of the BHA.

The 2011 Census revealed that, compared with other nations of the UK, Wales is more non-religious, and functions relating to many of the BHAs campaigns have been devolved – most obviously education. Also, unlike in England, there is no established church and government is nominally secular. All of these factors make Wales distinctive.

The aim of the new section is to increase humanist organisation in Wales, foster dialogue with the Welsh Government on the same basis as that currently enjoyed by religious organisations and allow the BHA to better pursue the achievement of our aims in Wales through greater organisation of humanists closer to the ground.

Can you help?

The section has a steering group, which will:

• Provide leadership in the organisation of Welsh Humanists / Dyneiddwyr Cymru
• Advise BHA management on the implementation of the BHA’s Aims and Strategies in Wales;
• Help to make appropriate BHA materials available in Welsh as soon as practicable. These might include press releases, resources on humanism, resources for celebrants and resources for schools;
• Support any staff or consultants or volunteers retained by the BHA to work on Welsh matters, whether retained to work specifically on Welsh matters or in the course of their general duties when those duties have a Welsh dimension.

The chair of the steering group will be expected to provide a Welsh perspective on any of the BHA’s work, including at the stage when management is planning new work programmes.

It is intended that the group should have five members, as far as possible from different parts of Wales, and we are inviting anyone who is interested in becoming a member of the group to let us know. The three founding members of the group are Lorraine Barrett (Cardiff), Brian Cainen (Swansea), and Richard Paterson (Caerphilly).

If you would like to be considered for membership of the steering group then please email chiefexec by 30 April with a CV detailing your skills and experience.

We also need volunteers to perform a number of specific tasks:

Promote Welsh Humanists / Dyneiddwyr Cymru through social media; set up new humanist groups in Wales and get involved to reinvigorate existing groups; take responsibility for monitoring of media in Wales (in Welsh and English), help with drafting press releases and political briefingsand lots more! If you are willing to volunteer, please email chiefexec by 30 April with a CV detailing your skills and experience.

Were all really excited about this opportunity to bring more humanist organisation to Wales and I really hope you can help us in doing this.

Best wishes,
Andrew

Andrew Copson
Chief Executive