Lmst

Human #wellbeing on a #FinitePlanet towards 2100: new study shows humanity at a crossroads

A new paper by members of Earth4All’s scientific advisory team published today in Global Sustainability models two starkly different futures for humanity this century: one defined by escalating crises compounded by rising social tension, the other by a bold transformation towards wellbeing for all. The findings emphasise the importance of considering wellbeing and social cohesion when studying how planetary risks, inequality and social tensions interact.

4 July 2025

Excerpt: "Boost social cohesion and wellbeing for successful climate action

"A key innovation of the study is the introduction of two novel indices: social tension and wellbeing. This enabled the researchers to model not just the complex interactions between economic and #environmental factors in the two scenarios, but also include social feedback loops capturing trust, public investment, and political capacity. The modelling results suggests that rising #inequality and environmental degradation fuel social tensions, which in turn reduce governments’ capacity to implement the long-term policies needed to address existential risks linked to climate change and other planetary boundaries.

" 'By integrating a social tension index and a wellbeing index, we have been able to highlight the importance of social dynamics in climate scenarios,' explained co-author #NathalieSpittler of #BOKUUniversity. 'Achieving climate goals is not just a question of technological and economic developments. If wellbeing declines and social tensions rise, this creates a negative feedback loop where the very conditions needed for transformational change become harder to achieve.'

"Conversely, the study suggests that actions to reduce inequality and increase #SocialCohesion and wellbeing are key if governments want to implement policy shifts on #climate and other global issues."

#SolarPunkSunday #Earth4All #ClimateChange #BuildingCommunity #BuildResilience #GiantLeap #GiantLeapScenario #LtG #LimitsToGrowth #StabilizedWorld

I finished reading Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet by Thomas Murphy. It's powerful. He argues decisively that growth (including economic growth) will stop soon compared to the length of time since the beginning of agriculture. All it takes is one critical resource to limit growth. Even in the wildly optimistic scenarios where energy is limitless, eventually temperature from our own energy use will limit growth. Space exploration will only delay the end of growth, and will cause its own problems. I found the arguments to be convincing.

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9js5291m

#sustainability
#limitsToGrowth
#finitePlanet

1/N

Excerpt from "What is #Solarpunk Everything you need to know about solarpunk, how it connects to #ClimateJustice and how to get involved with the movement" by Andrew Sage, published January 16, 2023:

How does solarpunk relate to #degrowth?

"The overlap between solarpunk and the degrowth movement can be found in the understanding that #capitalism’s built-in imperative to grow, expand, exploit, and profit endlessly cannot continue in the context of a #FinitePlanet.

"The degrowth movement is about rejecting the #GlobalCapitalist system’s pursuit of endless growth and advocating for a world based in care, solidarity, and autonomy in which our social and ecological well-being are at the forefront.

"Degrowth means #ClimateJustice and a good life for all within #PlanetaryBoundaries.

"Although aspects of solarpunk and degrowth may benefit from particular government policies, these movements cannot rely on the state. The state is structurally unsuited to ecological restoration, and can even potentially operate as an obstacle.

"The inherently violent and ecocidal character that has marked states from their earliest inception and up to their present incarnations does not lend itself to our liberation. Top-down approaches have consistently failed where local approaches to #rewilding have succeeded.

"The solarpunk movement emphasises local power, local organising, and local #autonomy because the world we envision cannot be imposed from above.

"A forest is more than its trees; ecological restoration requires intimate knowledge with the local nuances of the land, the water cycle, and the network of microorganisms, fungi, plants, and animals that sustain it.

"Our planet will be healed on the #grassroots level. We will need to circumvent the impositions of those in power through direct action to bring a solarpunk world into being."

https://shado-mag.com/all/what-is-solarpunk/
#AntiCapitalism #Degrowth #TheLimitsToGrowth #Sustainability #Ecosystem #NatureBasedLearning #NatureObservations #SharingEconomy

a prediction of
infinite growth is absurd –
live in the present

#Haiku #Poetry #HaikuADay #January
#RandomWord prompt: prediction

#FinitePlanet #SanityCheck #Economics #Environment #DoughnutEconomics
#YesPresentHasTwoMeanings

PSA: Infinate Growth is not possible on a #finitePlanet.

If you can, move to a farm now.

Like, right now.

@andreas
We understand #Malthus produced three basic scenarios. Two are disaster the third is we all realise its a #finitePlanet and control how much sperm is collectively injected into the subset of all possible vaginas.

We are hoping for the third, yes.

@Eris @mystik @Bro-Drillard @cirnog @GrantTK @Samhydeigger @skylar

Can we have #infiniteGrowth on a #finitePlanet?

For bonus points:

Can we decouple #economicGrowth and growth in the #consumption of #resources and #energy?

#finitePlanet

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