The Threat to Science No One Talks About

The global civilization that arose in the last 500 years now teeters on the brink of collapse. It’s structural fragility can be seen in the patterns of rising inequality, systemic political corruption, and an unravelling biosphere. Humanity is on the brink of another Dark Age and we had better prepare our knowledge stores for what is coming.

The 21st Century has its own Library of Alexandria and global warming is threatening to burn it down. This is probably the greatest threat to science and no one is talking about it. Now is the time to courageously speak the truth about our planetary crisis.

I have dedicated my life to helping humanity make the transition through the death of industrial capitalism and into the new “living systems” inspired paradigm that will need to take its place. More than a decade ago, my focus was on reframing global warming so that more people could help avoid the worst-case scenarios for ecological collapse. Sadly I must report that this effort has completely and utterly failed.

Read the story from mission.org by Joe Brewer - “The Threat to Science No One Talks About.”

If business leaders want to regain our trust, they must act on climate risk

Business leaders seem astonished that community trust in their activities is at an all-time low, trending toward the bottom of the barrel inhabited by politicians. To the corporate leader dedicated to the capitalist, market economy success story of the last 50 years, that attitude is no doubt incomprehensible and downright ungrateful.

 ‘Already one of the world’s largest carbon polluters when
 exports are included, Australia is complicit in destroying the
 conditions which make human life possible’

But it is hardly surprising given continuing scandals and declining ethics across the corporate and banking worlds, driven by the pernicious impact of short-termism, rising inequality and undue political influence; in large part the outcome of the oxymoron of “pay-for-performance” remuneration. So how is trust regained? The need for stronger leadership, ethics, greater transparency, open communications and improved culture feature prominently in current responses.

But a far more fundamental requirement is ignored, namely that business must lead on really critical issues, particularly the point raised long ago by economist Kenneth Boulding: “Anyone who considers economic growth can continue indefinitely in a finite system is either a madman or an economist”. The constraints Boulding anticipated have now arrived, as burgeoning population and economic growth crash into global biophysical limits which cannot be circumvented.

Read the piece from The Guardian by Ian Dunlop  - “If business leaders want to regain our trust, they must act on climate risk.”