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Earthly rights: Earth jurisprudence

Stephan Harding – Guardian Unlimited, Tuesday 3/4/07.

‘The only way to stop us ruining our planet is to give it legal rights’, says Stephan Harding. Could giving the Earth legal rights help the fight against climate change?

It is now beyond dispute that our culture is damaging the world. Many attempts are being made to remedy the situation – most focus either on technical fixes or on reforming existing laws, through such means as the introduction of ‘green’ taxes or the extension of schemes using tradable emissions permits.

These approaches have much to offer, but perhaps it is time to question the very institutions and modes of thought that have lead us into our current predicament so that these can be changed before it is too late…

Read the full article on the Guardian Unlimited website

The IPCC report: the science is there, but are we willing to change?

Dr Stephan Harding, author of Animate Earth and coordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at the Schumacher College, dissects the report for the Ecologist Online.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has delivered the final blow to climate-change sceptics. The word its report uses is ‘unequivocal’. But is the world prepared to accept the results of this judgement?

Readers of The Ecologist cannot have failed to notice that the UN’s IPCC recently published its long-awaited Summary Report for Policymakers (the ‘SPM’) on the physical science basis of climate change. The publication of this document (and of the three volumes that are soon to follow) marks a watershed in our understanding of our impacts on the world’s climate and, along with the Stern Review, constitutes the most important alarm-call to date about the dangers of climate change. An important point to bear in mind about any IPCC report (this is the fourth they have produced – the last was in 2001) is that it is the result of a hard-won consensus amongst many hundreds of climate scientists from many countries around the world. Every word has been fought over with careful deliberation, a process that effectively weeds out extreme views at either end of the spectrum. What remains is thus a guardedly conservative assessment about the likely effects of climate change by the end of this century. So what then are the IPCC’s conclusions?

Read the rest of Stephan’s article for The Ecologist

The Stern review carbon reduction proposals are not enough

Stephan Harding, Schumacher College’s coordinator of MSc in Holistic Science and expert on Gaia Theory explains in his comment in the Guardian Unlimited, 13 November 2006.

Sir Nicholas Stern’s recent review proposed a series of measures we must implement immediately to “decarbonise” the global economy, including emissions trading, technological cooperation and the reduction of deforestation. Stern concluded that “with strong and deliberate policy choices, it is possible to reduce the emissions in both developed and developing economies on the scale necessary for stabilisation while continuing to grow”.

Doomed to failure – comment on the Stern Review.

Why we need to live sustainably

Stephan Harding, Schumacher College’s teacher of ecology and expert on Gaia Theory explains in his comment in the Guardian Unlimited, 27th September 2006.
I believe it is now blindingly obvious that our lust for endless economic growth is seriously destabilising the climate of the Earth and wiping out the astounding biodiversity that enfolds us. As the ice caps collapse and the great forests burn, we are at last waking up to the fact that we are at war with nature – a war that only she can win.

Read full article on the Guardian website

Growing pains

Stephan Harding, coordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at the Schumacher College, explains why standard economic growth is not the answer, and why personal Tradable Energy Quotas are… Stephan Harding in The Ecologist Online. Date: 07/12/2006

At last, mainstream economists are waking up to the fact that climate change is going to cost a lot of money. Recently, the UK government’s Stern Review proposed a series of measures we must implement immediately to “decarbonise” the global economy, including emissions trading, technological cooperation and the reduction of deforestation. Stern concluded that “with strong and deliberate policy choices, it is possible to reduce the emissions in both developed and developing economies on the scale necessary for stabilisation while continuing to grow”.

Read full article on The Ecologist website

Lost connection to animate Earth

Stephan Harding for BBC News – The Green Room. Thursday, 29 June 2006
Modern humans have lost a vital connection to “animate Earth”, says ecologist Stephan Harding. Re-connecting with the natural world and the true place of humans in the cosmos is the best route, he argues, to sustainable societies and economies.

Read the full article on the BBC website

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