Sustainable capitalism, another growth in sight?

Current Economy and Sustainable Development-compatible? GDP growth (at all costs), economic development, inflation ... How concillier the current economy with the environment and sustainable development.
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Sustainable capitalism, another growth in sight?




by Christophe » 15/05/09, 10:08

Sustainable capitalism. What can growth be used for?, Ecolife, 04/05/09 Jean-Michel Lebouvier, investment banker

After having been "scared to death" by the collapse of the world financial system, then worried about the global economic downturn, we are now, our economist and media friends tell us, very concerned to find out who will ultimately pay for the stimulus packages launched. by all governments.

The subject is important but, to pass from one theme to another, we would almost forget the only real positive point of this famous crisis: the visceral, immediate obligation, to question ourselves, to return to the filter of real needs all our little desires. Few economic newspapers talk about it and you have to go to the big popular dailies to understand how deep this questioning was, in a few months, and, in the long term, beneficial. It is true that this subject goes beyond the only economic field and that we must also be able to project ourselves beyond the year 2010!

The exercise is difficult today for a journalist like an economic or political decision maker but it is imperative to be able to try to understand and therefore anticipate. Socially, emotionally, culturally, the past six months have changed the lines that have shaped our environment for decades. We have gone, with all its excesses, to the end of a world with its codes, its lifestyles and we now need to reinvent a new world. Perhaps the most significant change is that we are all or almost (note from christophe: it is good to specify it ...) now aware of living in a global village and that a pleasant life in this village will only result from our decisions and cannot exclude a country or a social class. The swine flu virus in Mexico is only a small reminder for those who already wanted to forget this new rule of life.

In this new world, the followers of the decrease seem to have lost hearing, given that the consequences of an economic slowdown over a few months already seem difficult to manage for an ever growing population.

The question then is: what growth?

Not all recovery plans are created equal and the size criterion alone means nothing! How to compare in the long term an investment in a new public transport plan for Paris and support for the automobile industry, to stay in the only field of transport? These decisions, these choices that must be made in the coming year will profoundly influence our life and that of our children. The investment that we are all going to make in a recovery plan, and therefore in public spending, must be made with full knowledge of the facts.

So let's forget for a moment the crisis and the fears that surround it and try to reflect together on this new world. A European election is coming soon. Now is the time to ask our political representatives to outline for us these future choices.


http://www.eco-life.fr/a_quoi_la_croiss ... servir.php
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by Christophe » 15/05/09, 10:23

Point of view. France must adopt "natural capitalism", by Amory Lovins and Lionel Bony, Le Monde, 09/05/09

The current economic crisis shows the limits of an approach centered on short-term financial gains at the expense of long-term prosperity. Traditional capitalism only values ​​two kinds of capital, money and goods, but ignores the value of two other forms of capital, people and nature. However, using and making the four types of capital grow (money, goods produced, people and nature) allows businesses to earn more money while contributing to general well-being, present and future.

This change in approach can go through the adoption of "Natural Capitalism", a concept proposed ten years ago by Hunter Lovins, Paul Hawken and the author of these lines. The transition to natural capitalism involves four changes in our industrial and commercial practices:

1. A drastic increase in the productivity of natural resources: reducing the waste that characterizes the flows of raw materials, from their extraction or harvest until the end of life of consumer goods represents an important economic opportunity. Companies that fundamentally rethink how they design their supply system and production model can improve the productivity of the natural resources they use 5, 10, or even 100 times, compared to their competitors.
A recent Rocky Mountain Institute project for a data center manager illustrates this idea. The new data center that we have designed consumes 75% less electricity, costs 10% less to build and of course much less in operation; it will generate more revenue per server and per unit of area than a conventional data center. Inaugurated next September, this center will allow the company to meet customer demand more cost effectively; it will serve as a model for the renovation of its existing centers; it will allow it to reduce its carbon footprint.

2. A transition to production models inspired by nature: natural capitalism does not aim simply to reduce waste, it proposes to eliminate the very notion of waste. This ambition can be achieved by setting up "circular" production systems, based on what is done in nature, where any product at the end of its life becomes a nutrient for the ecosystem, or for the manufacture of another product.
A good example of this concept is that of Patagonia, one of the leaders in mountain clothing in the United States. In 2005, the company launched, in collaboration with Teijin, a Japanese manufacturer of fabrics and fibers, a program which allows the recovery and recycling of its polyester clothing. This program invites consumers to return their used clothing to the store. These are in turn woven into garments of the same quality as those made from the initial raw material. Clothing made from recycled fibers saves 76% of energy and 71% of greenhouse gases compared to the production cycle of traditional clothing.

3. The establishment of economic models based on services: traditional economic models are centered on the production and sale of goods. Rather, with natural capitalism, value comes from a constant flow of services from business to consumer. A good example of this model is chemical servicization, where the supplier does not sell the chemicals themselves, but the service they render.
The service provider's remuneration is then linked to the quantity and quality of the services provided, and not to the volume of chemicals sold. When Raytheon, one of the main defense subcontractors in the United States, decided to adopt this type of contract with the chemical manufacturer Haas TCM, the company reduced its purchases and management costs of chemicals. 30% to 40%; it has reduced its chemical waste by 85%; it has virtually eliminated the use of solvents and volatile organic compounds; it has saved $ 400 in annual operating costs.

4. Reinvestment in natural capital: ultimately, businesses must help restore, maintain, and develop the ecosystems of the planet so that they can continue to provide their essential services and maintain the stock of irreplaceable biological resources. This change is likely to create countless economic opportunities. For example, in 2002, New York City was able to avoid spending $ 5 billion by investing in an inexpensive program of ecological restoration of the Catskills Mountains watershed where the city traditionally obtains water, rather than water. construction of a new treatment plant.
Despite these occasional successes, we are still far from a transformation of our economic model. Most companies still behave as if men are the scarce factor of production and nature is the abundant factor of production, as was the case during the first industrial revolution. However, the rare factor has changed since the XNUMXth century: nowadays, men are not rare, but nature has become so. This paradigm shift is observed primarily in the sectors which depend directly on the good health of ecosystems.

We see, for example, the fishing industry now constrained by the number of fish rather than by the capacity of the boats, as is currently illustrated by the fishing quota crisis. Unlike the traditional factors of industrial production, capital and labor, the limiting ecological and biological factors cannot be substituted for each other. Thus, there is no technology or investment that can replace a stable climate or a productive biosphere.

Natural capitalism tackles these problems by reconciling economic and ecological objectives. France has a unique opportunity to adopt this new model. The capacity of this country to put on the market innovations as interesting as Velib ', coupled with certain intelligent interventions of the government such as the bonus-malus (a concept that we had invented at the beginning of the 1970s) show a spirit of project and a certain pragmatism in its implementation.
By marrying its long tradition of innovation and technical prowess, with its more recent intention of reconciling economy and environment (of which he had apparently attested the Grenelle of the environment), France can become the leader in the adoption of natural capitalism. Thus it would considerably strengthen the competitiveness of its economy, the prosperity of its inhabitants and the security of its productive apparatus. It would make a decisive contribution to the safeguard of a livable planet for the human species.

Amory Lovins is co-founder, president and scientific director of the Rocky Mountain Institute, an American energy research center. Lionel Bony is director at the Rocky Mountain Institute.


http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/ ... 965_0.html
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by Remundo » 15/05/09, 13:40

Hi Christopher,

Quite a bit from a "natural capitalism" point of view

Capitalism will only have meaning if it is based on common sense: namely:
1. Refocusing on the production of goods and services
2. Respect for employees
3. A sustainable environmental approach
4. Money being limited to being a means and not an end in itself ...

: Idea:

@+
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by Christophe » 15/05/09, 13:45

Well it's not anymore capitalism then : Mrgreen:
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by Remundo » 15/05/09, 14:57

Well if...

The problem is that capitalism is constantly assimilated to the excesses of capitalism and, to speak trivially, to the slightest bullshit where a few notes are at stake. :?

Capitalism is the private property of the means of production and services with the right to dispose of them freely.

Paradoxically, traders are not capitalists. He just speculates without producing anything or rendering any service, except to their own bank, which has nothing to do with capitalism : Idea:

Furthermore, capitalism only makes sense if the states guarantee order, finance infrastructure and above all ensure a redistribution of wealth, without confiscating wealth (Soviet model).

Thus, capitalism and statism are two enemy brothers and only a fair balance between the two guarantees a maximum standard of living for the greatest number ...
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by Christophe » 15/05/09, 14:58

Yes, it was irony Raymond!
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by Remundo » 15/05/09, 15:30

:P So let's drinkImage
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