Preventing the Circular Economy (CE) Concept From Disintegrating

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344917302835?dgcid=raven_sd_recommender_email

In the journal article at the link above, the authors maintain that the CE concept may be in danger of collapse due to a lack of agreement among scholars & practitioners as to exactly what it means.  As a result, they say, certain important elements (e.g., social equity, sustainable development) of CE are slighted in planning.  [Keep in mind, this article was published almost three years ago.]

 After a detailed description of the paper's research methods, the article then presents "the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of CE definitions...".  Essentially--- solicited, written, and qualitative definitions of 114 CE terms/elements were coded, analyzed, and quantified.

Section "4. Conclusion" reveals the important results, and should be read by those working with the CE concept.  A few examples of the results follow:

1.  a much needed definition of CE;

2.  the suggestion that some of the authors of the solicited definitions have no idea what CE is really about; and,

3.  some of those authors entirely equate CE with recycling.

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In my view, the article contributes to reducing the lack of coherence in the CE arena.  I still maintain, though, that CE appears to be solidly wedded to the concept of "unlimited economic growth".  As such, it ignores the role of entropy in the biophysical world, and the common sense observation that Spaceship Earth is finite.  Relying on Julian Simon's contention that human inventiveness and production efficiency will overcome any obstacles is not realistic.  Nevertheless, given current political climates around the world, CE may be a good FIRST STEP (& only that) toward a genuinely sustainable habitat.  But first, CE researchers, policy makers, and practitioners need to cohere on what constitutes the Circular Economy.  If they don't, the concept likely will dissolve, fade away, or become nothing more than circularity for the sake of circularity.

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Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Violence Erupts - The State-Corporate-Financial Complex Has Failed Us For Decades

Preface
As frustration boils over, in this essay we'll accept the premise that most protesters basically are nonviolent, and most cops essentially are good people.  Plus, the current situation goes way beyond a Racial Crisis and misdeeds by Law Enforcement.
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In the USA and much of the rest of the world, decades of neoliberal policies implemented by the State-Corporate-Financial Complex (the Corporatocracy) have fueled the fires of---
1. a racial crisis,
2. a socio-economic class crisis,
3. an economic crisis,
4. a health crisis,
5. an ecological/environmental crisis, and
6. an ethical crisis.
They are all interrelated.

The policies to which I refer include:  austerity (except for the war & police machinery), the militarization of law enforcement, privatization, deregulation, wage stagnation, an inadequate healthcare system, a gross distortion of "conflict of interest", an ugly conversion of our educational system to one which produces compliant robots, bizarre financialization (which produces little to no employment), so-called "free trade", the almost complete destruction of labor unions, ditto for decent retirement plans, and more.  In addition to all that, too many private & public Powers-That-Be have demonstrated a blatant disregard for both common people and the environment.  Equity seems to have become a long-forgotten concept.  Inequality (including income inequality) is the flavor of the day.  Nature is unimportant.  And so it goes, ad nauseam.

Meanwhile, the ecological crisis of the century--- Climate Disruption ---appears to have been put on the back burner.  On top of that, the gross degradation of necessary biodiversity, the interference with crucial ecosystem functioning, pollution, corporatist propaganda, the suspension of enforcement of EPA regulations, etc., are all ongoing.

In short, neoliberal policies have failed utterly... except for people in the Upper Crust.  The current eruption of violence isn't about only racism toward people of color.  [The response to it has been multiracial.]  It isn't about only a few very recent murders.  This situation has been building for decades, and almost everyone is frustrated and fed-up to the gills.  It's not just about Race, or economics, or police, or inequality.  Perhaps more than anything else, it's also about ethics.

As the Harvard Professor, Cornel West, stated today on Democracy Now, "The American Empire is imploding.".  West also had a telling opinion piece in The Guardian.  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/01/george-floyd-protests-cornel-west-american-democracy

The time is ripe for a global paradigm shift to ecoethics, ecoliberalism, ecological economics, common sense, and equity.

Not only my opinion.  Be Well

Introduction to Ecological Liberalism

Preface
Neoliberalism may be on its deathbed.  The ideology began in the late 1930's, bloomed in the 1970's and 1980's, and essentially has ruled the economics, finance, & politics of the developed world ever since.  COVID-19 (SARS-2) has dealt it a blow from which (hopefully) it may never recover.

What will replace it?  Here's some insight---
https://mahb.stanford.edu/blog/coronavirus-spells-the-end-of-the-neoliberal-era-whats-next/
https://www.ehn.org/pandemic-population-covid-19-2645518249.html
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For years I wrote (on another blog) about the disastrous effects of Neoliberalism.  Here's the final essay---
http://individualsovereignty.blogspot.com/2020/05/neoliberalism-has-ruled-for-decades-is.html
With this new blog, it's my intention to provide resources enabling open-minded people to educate and inspire themselves (& hopefully, others) on a path forward.

We'll explore subjects which are both social and scientific.  Because politics has become so polarized in this Land, we'll stay away from that topic to a large degree.  It won't be possible to avoid it entirely.

We'll take it as a given that readers here have a basic Main Street knowledge of natural science, common economics, world affairs, and ethics.  Should anyone encounter a term that's unfamiliar (and not defined here), we'll leave it up to them to do a Search for it.  That approach is necessary because of time and energy constraints on me.  😊

Here's a very brief introduction to Ecological Liberalism---

1.  Liberalism is a moral/ethical philosophy and ideology based on the tenets of liberty, consent of the governed, equality before the Law, and tolerance.  Different forms of the belief sometimes depart from one or more of those tenets.  Despite that, the general definition is valid.

2.  Ecology is the branch of Biology which studies the relationships of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.  It's essentially the study of ecosystems (to be defined/discussed in a later post).  There are many sub-branches of Ecology, e.g., wetlands ecology, grasslands ecology, desert ecology, Human Ecology, etc.

Significant parts of Ecological Liberalism have been in existence for decades.  To my knowledge, though, those parts never have coalesced into a unified, single ideology.  [If I'm in error, someone please correct me.]  One of the major parts is Ecological Economics, which has been around for over thirty years.  That will be discussed in depth later.  A group similar to Ecological Economists refers to itself as Environment and Resource Economists.  The noted ecologist, Paul R. Ehrlich, believes the two groups are identical in their principles.  Here's a "fair use" quote from his paper, Key issues for attention from ecological economists:
"Environment and resource economists (hereafter 'ecological economists', which I consider to be an identical group) are the scholars examining the most critical problems that will dominate economics in the twenty-first century.". [Emphasis added.]  From:  https://www.jstor.org/stable/44378980?read-now=1&seq=1

The main components and principles of Ecological Liberalism are:  ecology, economics (including finance), ethics and morality (including spirituality, but not "religion"), and social equity.  This is the best path forward.

In addition to the terms above, future posts here necessarily will explore the following topics:  the biosphere, carrying capacity, biodiversity, unlimited growth, over-consumption, industrial agriculture, corporate globalization, industrial ecology, epidemiological environment, sustainable living, sustainable development, climate disruption, the methane bomb, nuclear problems, food and water problems, ecosystem services, technology, the assault on science, local v. global, ecocentric ideology, the population bomb, the holistic approach, world view, and more.

Because of the current pandemic, the door to serious consideration of alternative views regarding the organization of humanity is wide open.  The massive failure of many institutions (public and private) has become glaringly evident.  A new approach is needed if our species is to survive (& thrive) the many severe problems we now face.  We don't need to throw out the baby with the bath water, but a different path is essential.
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Not only my opinion.  Be Well