Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy and Transitions

Below we have some suggestions for material that might help you bring different angles to these topics.  You can also search for further content and explore the wealth of fresh thinking in economics that The Mint brings or check out our topics page.

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Resource efficiency and circular economy

The growing realisation

Tim Jackson has just published a new book, Post Growth – Life After Capitalism, examining our disastrous obsession with growth in a finite world and how we might escape it. 

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Time to lace up

Heliotropy: “We will grow taller, stronger and faster when motivated by things that are light and full of positivity.” The climate change statistics look grim. Charmian Love and Gillian Benjamin

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Renewable energy but also non-renewable fuels

All change

Former Czech Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla says our way of life is pulling into its final stop. He tells The Mint it’s time for the world to get off and

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Flogging a dead horse

Japan’s new leader is looking to revive the nation’s economy with the same strategy that floored it. Dr. Chris G. Pope explains. Abe Shinzo stepped down in September after becoming

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Societal transitions (particularly in the Global South)

Moral bankruptcy

Colin Mayer CBE is an eminent Oxford University professor and fellow of the British Academy – the top club for social scientists.  He believes that capitalism is in crisis and

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Which way will water flow?

Justin Taberham examines the prospects for the UK water sector. Near daily media interest and criticism of water companies’ pollution performance has lately been often stimulated by public reporting or

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All things being unequal

Sarah McKinley describes a structural reset to democratise our economies. The results of the recent midterm elections in the US were less polarised than anticipated and the threatened Republican Red

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Cooperatives on the table

Jessica Gordon-Nembhard is a leading economist studying co-operatives. In fact she effectively invented this economic research agenda in the US. She was brought up by social activists who discussed Marx

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A politics of belonging

Seed-sharing commons help Indian women restore native crops while emancipating themselves from dependency on multinational corporations selling expensive, proprietary GMO seeds. The Commons as a set of responsibilities and entitlements:

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International relations and international political economy

Can finance save polar bears?

Frederic Hache questions proposals that perpetual growth can be made sustainable by planting trees. In an article published by Le Monde in December, 2023, the President of the French Republic,

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The nature of the beast

Verity delves into the environmental economics undergrowth.  Our peaceful piece of suburbia is feeling particularly tame at the moment.  A far cry from the perilous encounters to be had in

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Eco-innovation

Cash crops

Henry Leveson-Gower looks at how local food currencies might bear fruit. Our food system is deeply dysfunctional.  Economic forces drive it to deliver unhealthy food, while trashing the environment so

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Globalisation and sustainability

All for One

A combination of government edicts, broken promises and climate change has driven Malian villagers away from their collective livelihoods and traditions to bring prosperity for the few, not for the

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Carbon dating

Getting together to reduce carbon emissions brings hope in a world that doesn’t care, say Colin Nolden and Michele Stua On first sight, the global climate conference in Madrid was a

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Pro-environmental behaviour

Who knows what’s good for you?

Wendy Adamba works in Kenya to change behaviour to improve health and welfare outcomes.  She works closely with communities to understand their perspectives and build trust.  She tells The Mint

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Citizens Can

Anna Cura explains how thinking differently of ourselves can change the future of our food system to end its damaging influences on our world. I’ve always had a passion for food. The

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Sustainability reporting

Life by Numbers

Does a five-star rating say it all? Rita Samiolo ranks the ranks that pervade modern living Almost every aspect of our existence, from the mundane details of our shopping to

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You don’t count

Opaque reporting in company accounts is not in the public interest says Richard Murphy. The failings of accounting have been afforded much attention of late. This has been actively appropriate.

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Green and circular economy

The circular root

Emma Fromberg experiments with new metaphors to illustrate the changes needed to cultivate a circular economy. It is undeniable that much of the sustainability buzz is generated by businesses putting

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Selling the circular

Thinking out of the box: currently, retail is largely about mass, transactional relationships. Can business ever be good? Henry Leveson-Gower explores. A year ago I was on the hunt for examples

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Trash can

Lagos’s garbage entrepreneurs are cleaning up. Adeyemi Adelekan explains. While growing up in a small suburban community in Lagos state, I was accustomed to hearing people with carts and sacks

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Policies on pollution

Which way will water flow?

Justin Taberham examines the prospects for the UK water sector. Near daily media interest and criticism of water companies’ pollution performance has lately been often stimulated by public reporting or

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