March 2012
2 posts
5 tags
Sustainable Development + Rule of Law =...
Yesterday (Monday 26 March) saw the launch of the World Congress on Justice, Governance and Law for Environmental Sustainability – a congress of Judges, Attorneys-General, public prosecutors and Minister of environmental justice and many other experts in the legal world.
The congress aims to bring the importance of implementation, compliance, and enforcement to the centre of the Rio+20 outcomes....
Green Jobs for the young
Hanna Thomas, Founder of the East London Green Jobs Alliance, has posted a blog for the Green Economy Coalition on why Green Jobs matter.
In particular, she focuses on the younger generations - those in their late teens and early twenties who are graduating into a recession and who are looking for a solution.
She writes:
Imagine you had been born in 1992, at the time of the first Rio summit....
February 2012
4 posts
UN High Commissioner for Future Generations
A new discussion paper has been published on how a UN High Commissioner for Future Generations could function.
World Future Council and Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development, with others, have drafted the paper in response to the UN Rio+20 ‘zero draft’ text that proposes the establishment of such an institution.
Image from the World Future Council
World Future...
3 tags
Children, Citizenship and Environment
A new book has been published on “Children, Citizenship and Environment” by Bronwyn Hayward. This looks like a very useful resource for youngsters growing up in a rapidly changing world.
The blurb:
Children growing up today are confronted by four difficult and intersecting challenges: dangerous environmental change, weakening democracies, growing social inequality, and a global...
3 tags
Decoupling - what's it about?
“People believe environmental ‘bads’ are the price we must pay for economic ‘goods.’ However, we cannot, and need not, continue to act as if this trade-off is inevitable” UN Under Secretary-General Achim Steiner, UNEP’s Executive Director
** UNEP publishes new report on decoupling growth **
The report shows how long-term thinking can be integrated into a world that currently relies...
4 tags
Financial short-termism: a barrier to long term...
“Financial short-termism represents a critical barrier to businesses’ transition to sustainability, according to a new poll.”
A survey - The Sustainability Survey - conducted by GlobeScan and SustainAbility shows that “of attitudes across businesses, NGOs, academia and government … a very large majority (88%) of the 642 experts polled see pressure for short-term...
January 2012
3 posts
The lost generation?
In the UK, is the government letting down a whole generation?
“The unemployment figures (pdf) make for grim reading yet again this month. The unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995 and the number of unemployed people has not been higher since 1994.”
Read more about this on the Left Foot Forward blog.
2 tags
Sustainable Schools
The sustainable schools link is an excellent website for schools that are really stepping up and improving their sustainability credentials. It offers schools a chance to share their experiences of introducing fair-trade products to the school or supporting sustainable transport initiatives, for instance.
A resource created - and run - by the students of Kingswood School in Bath.
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Guardians of the Future
A new report is being published about a ‘super jury’ that would act as Guardians of Future Generations.
The institutionalisation of such an idea was first proposed by Malta in a preparatory meeting ahead of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992, but wasn’t taken up by the UN.
In the year of the 20th anniversary of that conference (and the Rio +20...
December 2011
1 post
5 tags
Toolkit for schools - working out 2050 pathways
The UK Department of Energy and Climate Change launched its My2050 toolkit for schools. This package will be used in classrooms all over the country to help pupils and teachers work out their very own sustainable pathways to 2050.
As part of the launch DECC states that:
“By 2050 young people will be living with the choices made today. A 13 year old today will be 52 years old in 2050 and...
September 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Planetary boundaries and Future Generations
“There are nine agreed planetary or biophysical boundaries that define the conditions that maintain the delicate balance for the earth’s ecosystems. It is also becoming increasingly understood that if one or more of these boundaries are breached and this delicate balance tipped even slightly out of kilter, the ramifications have the potential to undermine the conditions that have encouraged...
4 tags
“The trustees of endowed institutions are the guardians of the future against the...”
– James Tobin, leading new economic thinker. Thanks to New Zealand Youth Delegation for the write up on this
July 2011
2 posts
“Our cultural traditions do not lend themselves especially well to arguments that...”
– What We Owe Tomorrow’s People, for the RSA comment blog
By Marek Kohn on Friday, July 15th, 2011
“Hitting our long-term greenhouse gas emissions targets and meeting our future...”
– Chris Huhne, UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change writing in the Huffington Post
June 2011
3 posts
6 tags
“Then there are our young people…Their faces are bright with hope, but...”
– Aung San Suu Kyi speaking for the BBC 2011 Reith Lecture
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What's in a story?
You might say storytelling is as old as the hills. For hundreds of thousands of years people have grouped together around campfires, down the pub, or on long walks to tell stories. Stories about their land, about the origin of life, and about our relationships with one another. For the great British public this might be settling down in front of the telly to watch their favourite soap; for the...
May 2011
6 posts
5 tags
Working for future generations must stay non-party...
On Monday 23rd May (earlier this week) two big speeches were given by important politicians in the UK. Both the Leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, spoke about the need to work for future generations and the responsibilities that one generation has to the next.
Ed Miliband spoke about The Promise of Britain and said:
“My belief is that we can...
3 tags
“There is a Greek proverb I wish every elected federal and state official would...”
– Fantastic article by LZ Granderson on America’s short-sighted energy policy, and how Democrats are playing up to Republican spin rather than fighting it.
(America, get real about the high cost of cheap gas - CNN.com)
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One year after the pledge, the UK government moves...
The most ambitious carbon reduction legislation in the developed world, with the only legally binding emission-reduction targets going into the 2020s was announced by Minister for climate and Energy, Chris Huhne, yesterday, marking a historic step in the future of the UK’s economic development. A 50% cut on 1990 levels within the period 2023-2027.
The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said...
“It is often said that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has...”
– http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/05/sueing-us-government-climate?CMP=twt_fd
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Bringing the younger voice to decision making
“We borrow environmental capital from future generations with no intention or prospect of repaying… We act as we do because we can get away with it: future generations do not vote; they have no political or financial power; they cannot challenge out decisions.” - Brundtland Report ‘Our Common Future’ 1987
What if young and future generations did have a say in the...
7 tags
Debt for future generations
Helena Wright, Department of Energy and Climate Change Youth Advisory Panellist has written a fantastic blog about the way in which we burden future generations with debt - financial as well as ecological.
She writes on her blog:
“Proudhon once said: “property is theft” but maybe he should have added “debt is slavery”. Once you are in debt, you have no choice but to attempt to repay and...
April 2011
2 posts
6 tags
Green Jobs
Hanna Thomas has been travelling in the US to find out more about the Green Jobs culture that is sweeping across the States. She has recently visited the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and has written a blog about it for the Otesha Project
Hanna has been actively involved in social justice for many years now and has turned her hand at activities ranging from organising grass roots...
Tom Youngman: Talking sustainability with 10 year... →
tomyoungman:
I attended Frome Sustainability Conference with Green Vision on Friday. We were expecting to be presenting to 14 - 17 year olds but arrived to discover it was a somewhat younger audience.
It was an experience unto itself, really. How clued up they were was impressive - climate change is now…
March 2011
7 posts
What to do about short-termist politics?
If we are to think about 2050 and beyond we need to do something about the short termism that holds politicians back from making visionary decisions.
Victor Anderson of the Guardian Professional Network has written a number of articles about this and puts forward the view that: “[The] ‘Good transition’ to a green economy will require changes to the current short-term nature of...
4 tags
All renewable energy by 2050, I'd like to see that
Originally posted by Kirsty Schneeberger WWF on 23/03/11
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend the UK launch event of WWF’s new Energy Report, and hear some really in depth discussions about whether or not the world can be powered by sustainable renewables by the middle of this century, and what this would look like across the world. Without taking any leaps of faith into the world of...
4 tags
Climate change has become a generational battle
Ellen Sandell National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Originally posted in The Age, March 10, 2011
The debate on pricing carbon has rapidly deteriorated in the past few weeks since Opposition Leader Tony Abbott predicted a “people’s revolt” over the issues. Now, it’s turning into a full-blown generational war.
The war between old and young, past and...
Tom Youngman: Joint Statement on Climate Week →
tomyoungman:
Ellie Hopkins, Niel Bowerman and Tom Youngman are short-listed for Climate Week’s Most Inspirational Young Person Award.
Today they made the following joint statement:
“As young people deeply concerned by climate change, we support the Climate Week initiative. Connecting people through…
6 tags
DECC 2050 pathways debate
Last week the UK Department of energy and climate change ran an online debate about the ‘pathways to 2050’ and invited a panel of experts to share their opinions on the topic.
Of the eight ‘energy experts’, all of them are men.
The recent DECC debate on the 2050 pathways has been to open up the discussion, move the debate out of the nerdy policy circles, and encourage the...
4 tags
DECC Youth Advisory Panel is recruiting!
You by now will hopefully know about the DECC Youth Advisory Panel – if not, have a look at the website and the lovely blog to get up to speed with all the activities and work the Panel has done over the past year.
Think2050 was instrumental in helping to establish the Panel and Kirsty Schneeberger was the coordinator for 2010.
Since the Pilot phase last year, the Panel is now in full swing and...
February 2011
2 posts
10 tags
Bringing the young voice to Government
In February 2010 the UK Government Department of Energy and Climate Change responded to the request of a number of Youth Organisations and convened a Pilot ‘Youth Advisory Panel.’
The idea is that young people have the opportunity to meet with policy makers and Ministers from their government and talk about the issues that affect them. The Panel ran as a successful Pilot for the...
5 tags
Unrecognisable future?
According to WWF, the world may not look like anything we know by 2050, largely due to population growth and the pressures on natural resources.
But population is a tricky topic and I’m not convinced that it should be the focus of our concerns. This is because population growth occurs predominantly in poor and developing countries and it’s very easy for wealthy people to hum drum on...