Newsletter MARCH 2015 Vol. 1 Issue 2
The environment is sending a bill. We are still paying for the wrong things.
The recent update to Planetary Boundaries (link) underlines that four of nine environmental boundaries have been crossed by human activity. Environmental degradation is affecting economies badly. At the same time, they are performing poorly on equitable distribution and food and housing security. Inclusion, too is becoming a challenge. The term Environmental Fiscal Reform, which first appeared in the early 2000s, appears more frequently amid signs that the economic system itself is coming under pressure. In the run-up to the climate talks in Paris later this year, business leaders and environmentalists alike are asking for serious reforms.
Poverty is actually created by the current system.
Read three ways humans create poverty
Poverty is never good business. Therefore understanding the mechanisms of EFR is essential for business leaders. The Swedish Sustainable Economy Foundation recently released its EFR briefing: and introduction to Environmental Fiscal Reform.
Download the briefing from this link
Are there specific pollutants that if EFR focussed on them, 80% or more of environmental problems would vanish? Stephen Hinton of TSSEF proposes just three.
See the powerpoint presentation here
Encouraging news from the UK that phosphorus recycling is coming on a large scale by extracting it from waste water.
Is there a diet, that if promoted would halve health problems and environmental problems at the same time? EU scientists think so.
Read more here about the demitarian diet
How is money created? We remind readers that the present money system is just over 40 years old and badly needs overhauling. To understand the issues we point to empirical research (rather than the usual theoretical work) that follows a bank loan in practice to see where the money came from.
EFR is relatively new. The Swedish Sustainability Foundation recently released a simulation/role play at the European Sustainable Phosphorus Conference in Berlin
Read the report from the conference.
If we are to reform the fiscal system, we need to factor in the role of banks. At a recent presentation, Professor Richard Werner explains the current research status.
See the video of Professor Werner.
Finally, we would like to remind readers that national economy and policy is very different from corporate economics. We refer to a recent article.
Read National Economy is not like a handbag