Tag Archives: GDP

An Impressive GDP, Quality of Life, and Sustainability: Pick Two out of Three?

Posted on March 30, 2010 by

In the most simplistic statistical reading—higher GDP per capita means higher tax revenue means better funded schools means better education—there seems to be some legitimacy to the story’s thesis. I don’t think real life is so simple, however. Unqualified as I am to provide an in-depth critique of the significance of GDP or the relative educational histories of Caribbean nations, I won’t attempt to here. Besides, those things aren’t what interest me. Without questioning the intelligence, honesty, or diligence of the author, I was struck by what I perceived to be a fine example of stuck-in-system thinking.
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Posted in Climate Change, Culture, Josh Grigsby, Rants, Response Pieces, Sustainability, thinking, Uncategorized, urban design, urban planning, What if? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Going Green by Working Less?

Posted on February 20, 2010 by

Working less is a radical notion today, but it hasn’t always been. Between the mid-19th and mid-20th centuries, work hours declined steadily in the industrialized world. In 1956, then-vice president Richard Nixon said that a four-day workweek was “not too far distant.” But men today report working 100 more hours a year than in 1976. For women, it’s 200-plus hours. All these extra hours have helped more than double the productivity of the American worker in the past half-century — but they have also increased our energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions.
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Posted in Climate Change, Culture, Livability, Rants, Sustainability, What if? | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Conversations on Scale: Global Footprint Network

Posted on January 5, 2010 by

Humans are the most successful species on the planet, but are using more resources than the Earth can provide. The Global Footprint Network was established in 2003 to address this overshoot, by providing ways of measuring human demand on the Earth through the use of the Ecological Footprint — a resource accounting tool that measures how much nature we have, how much we use, and who uses what. Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Livability, Shout Outs, Sustainability | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments