The Elephant
A resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens interested in climate change and the environmental emergency
The ElephantA resource for journalists, politicians, policy makers, activists and citizens interested in climate change and the environmental emergency
Visit: resilience.org
Sleepwalking into catastrophe
2024-03-25 by in resilienceWe should not kid ourselves: the looming danger of planetary heating is that seismic shifts in our global society will be inevitable, brought about by a combination of voluntary or forced adaptation and impacts, and that a hapless elite, unable to face reality, will sleepwalk us all into catastrophe.
‘Hopeless’: some questions about hope and modernity
2024-02-27 by in resilienceThere is a lot to be optimistic about, just not the stuff in which we are being told to place our hope.
A New Report Maps Canada’s ‘Daunting’ Path to Net-Zero Carbon
2024-02-26 by in resilienceCanada’s road to net zero by 2050 will be bumpy, winding and “daunting.”That’s the mathematical conclusion of David Hughes, one of Canada’s foremost energy analysts, in a comprehensive new report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released today.
Tagged under: Net Zero
Inexhaustible Flows?
2024-02-21 by in resilienceIt should not be surprising that we have not yet been—and may never be—able to engineer long-term-sustainable modernity (i.e., high-tech). I strongly suspect that’s not even a thing. Why on Earth would we just assume that it’s possible?
Approaching the Energy Cliff
2024-02-07 by in resilienceThe longer we wait to act, the higher the cliff, the more painful the landing, and the more difficult the transition to a steady state economy.
Ending the beginning?: ‘The end we start from’ brings the climate fightback alive
2024-01-22 by in resilienceWill we wait until after our great cities have flooded, before we start taking adequate action? We cannot go on like this. Beginning from this end of normalcy, we badly need to choose a new future together. To make it real in our lives.
Climate Change and Energy Transition: The 2023 Scorecard
2024-01-16 by in resilienceTo reach net zero emissions by 2050 (which the IPCC considers necessary to cap warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius) by providing 100 percent of total global energy from renewables, we would need a nearly ten-fold increase in renewable energy production, even assuming zero growth in overall global energy demand during that time.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Global Warming | Net Zero
Holding the Fire - resilience
2023-12-07 (or before) in resilienceThe Gasoline-Powered Leaf Blower as a Metaphor for Industrial Society
2023-11-01 by in resilienceWe need far, far more than a green energy retrofit. We need an entirely different way of existing on this unique, imperiled planet—a way that many Indigenous people are still familiar with.
2023 – 2033, The Decisive Decade
2023-10-02 by in resilienceI really, really don’t want to waste the next ten years, which may be the most crucial and decisive years of all of human history, collectively pretending that we can avert worst case future climate scenarios by dramatically increasing fossil fuel consumption.
The Emerging Human Transformation Shaping a Habitable Future for Life on Earth
2023-08-24 by in resilienceHumanity can and must come together to embrace a new planetary-scale, cultural direction, a gender-equal, transformative cultural direction in which we all commit ourselves by the need to protect the natural world we all depend on.
Our Time on the River
2023-08-23 by in resilienceWe might now wish to slow things down, but modernity was built on a lie; a fatal flaw. If we voiced the command: “Slow down, Hal,” we’d get the response: “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Tagged under: Rivers
A Long Way to Venus
2023-08-18 by in resilienceWe may not end up like Venus, but we are already at the brink of a hot, unstable world well beyond our ability to cope as a civilization.
The Eco Collapse We Were Warned About Has Begun
2023-07-25 by in resilienceIn 2023, different climatic anomalies have been recorded that set new historical records in the tragic progression of climate change at the global level.
Tagged under: Climate Change | Collapse
Polycrisis, Unraveling, Simplification, or Collapse: Coming Soon to a Planet Near You?
2023-06-15 by in resilienceA new report seeks to build a coherent narrative about the roots of the 'polycrisis,' the signs of its arrival and evolution, and why we should be thinking differently about the future.
Tagged under: Collapse
Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation
2023-06-06 by in resilienceContrary to widespread propaganda, humanity does not desperately need more energy. We desperately need to live better with less energy.
Tagged under: Nuclear Power | Nuclear Fusion
On the emerging copper shortfall, mainstream media notices
2023-06-04 by in resilienceDenying there are limits to resources doesn't negate this fact. It only makes it harder when limits appear because we are unprepared.
Capturing Carbon With Machines Is a Failure—So Why Are We Subsidizing It?
2023-05-25 by in resilienceThe clear path forward to addressing the looming catastrophic effects of climate change is to restore nature.
Tagged under: Climate Change
Are you preparing for degrowth? And if not, why not?
2023-05-22 by in resilienceWhat’s your immediate reaction when you hear the term ‘degrowth’? If it’s to instantly dismiss it as nonsense or wishful thinking, it’s worth suspending your disbelief as, chances are, what you’ve heard about it isn’t fair or accurate.
Tagged under: Degrowth
The Old Future Is Gone, and Technology Won’t Bring It Back
2023-05-19 by in resilienceIn coming decades, it will be essential that communities across the nation and world find a way to sustain a decent life amid ecological breakdown, in a future they themselves didn’t create.
I Warned Against the Green Energy ‘Boom.’ It Sparked Debate
2023-05-11 by in resilienceAnd then comes the long-term thinking Arcadians. They are asking, how do we learn to live with less and do better to prevent the exhaustion of the Earth’s resources?
Another offering from our tech overlords: A climate change solution without sacrifice
2023-04-16 by in resilienceThe late Eric Sevareid, a CBS reporter and commentator, coined what is now known as Sevareid's law: The chief cause of problems is solutions.
Tagged under: Climate Change
The Rising Chorus of Renewable Energy Skeptics
2023-04-10 by in resilienceWe are going to have to dramatically downsize the dream of a future in which we replace 150-year-old fossil fuel infrastructure with “clean energy” by 2050.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy
The Heinberg Pulse
2023-04-05 by in resilienceI do not believe we can have a non-violent, non-insurrectionary revolution of the kind which is necessary without grounding our revolutionary praxis in our neighborhoods.
Why We Can’t Just Do It: The Truth about Our Failure to Curb Carbon Emissions
2023-03-23 by in resilienceWe’re at a crisis point. A sacrifice is needed. Only a sacred cow will do. Economic growth is our society’s most sacred of cows. And guess what? The cow is sick anyway.
Tagged under: Economic Growth
Lützerath bleibt!
2023-02-21 by in resilienceOn the 14th of January 2023, a large-scale demonstration of around 35,000 people proved that the evicted village of Lützerath (Germany) has reignited the climate movement’s determination.
Tagged under: Germany
Why Understanding Limits Is the Key to Humanity’s Future
2023-01-19 by in resilienceTaoist sages proclaimed, “Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” Don’t just respect limits; celebrate them and work in harmony with them.
Redwashing consumerism will not save the planet
2022-11-16 by in resilienceAny model that begins from the proposition that consumption patterns can remain unchanged is a nonstarter.
The Final Doubling
2022-11-03 by in resilienceIt is better to anticipate the final doubling too soon rather than too late, because it will take time to shift expectations away from continuous growth.
Oil, war and the fate of industrial societies
2022-10-13 by in resilienceThe world teeters on the brink of economic disaster due to energy shortages caused by war. The main oil-producing nations are unable and unwilling to increase output, even though prices are high and threatening to go much higher. The solutions being proposed—electric cars and renewable energy technologies—are coming on line, but not fast enough. Sound familiar?
Tagged under: Renewable Energy | Electric Cars | Cars
A Sexy Future
2022-09-02 by in resilienceI pity them, you see.. Because nothing they’ve done was ever as good or wholesome — or sexy — as degrowth.
Tagged under: Degrowth
High-profile paper on “catastrophic” climate impacts echoes our "What Lies Beneath" analysis on fat-tail, existential risks and IPCC reticence, published four years ago
2022-08-10 by in resilienceThere is a need to outline current knowledge about the likelihood of extreme climate change, and to develop a research agenda.
Tagged under: Extreme Weather | IPCC | Climate Change | Climate Change Impacts
Misplaced positivity on climate is harmful. Preparing for breakdown could help.
2022-07-26 by in resilienceThe millions of people being uprooted by climate change do not benefit from the ‘stubborn optimism’ of environmental elites.
Tagged under: Climate Change
Time for a Climate Insurgency
2021-08-23 in resilienceOne way to overcome our thrust to mutual destruction could be to transform the global climate movement into a global climate insurgency.
Revisiting The Limits to Growth
2021-08-16 by in resilienceThe paper is by Gaya Herrington and is called ‘Update to limits to growth’. It seeks to follow up Graham Turner’s work...
Defibrillating democracy
2021-04-12 in resilienceRich Wilson and Claire Mellier explain how citizens’ assemblies have the potential to restart the beating heart of democracy.
Our power comes from acting without escape from our pain
2020-07-30 in resiliencePeople involved in discussing their own Deep Adaptation to anticipated societal collapse are not defeatist. They are creatively exploring how to prepare
Tagged under: Collapse
It Bears Repeating: Renewables Alone Won’t End the Climate Crisis
2019-11-26 in resilienceDavid Hughes added that it’s physically impossible to replace all primary fossil fuel energy on a business-as-usual scale with renewables.
Tagged under: Renewable Energy
Don’t Call Me a Pessimist on Climate Change. I Am a Realist
2019-11-12 in resilienceCarbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels is the greatest waste by weight produced by industrial economies. Climate change is a waste management problem!
Tagged under: Climate Change | Fossil Fuels
Brexit: Systemic Risk and a Warning
2019-09-26 in resilienceSeen from this perspective, it is likely that we are severely underestimating the potential for large-scale systemic risks.
Cap and Adapt: A Failsafe Approach to the Climate Emergency
2019-08-28 in resilienceCap and Adapt's adaptive features provide fairness that helps defend against challenges to its cap. This is the best that climate policy can do.
Sustainability is not Enough: We Need Regenerative Cultures
2018-05-23 in resilienceAiming to design for systemic health may not save us from unexpected side-effects and uncertainty, but it offers a trial and error path towards a regenerative culture.
Tagged under: Health | Sustainability
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