January 2008
Position Paper 08/01: “FUTURE - BEYOND CLIMATIC CHANGE”
Summary:
Climatic change is commonly thought to be the ecological
problem. But even if we had solved this crisis, the systemic mismatch between
our economic performance and the stability of the carrier system earth would
still remain.
For improving decisively the chances of human survival on our planet, the
world-wide generation of welfare must be achieved by 2050 with a per capita
ecological footprint of 1.8 ha, a per capita consumption of no more than
5 - 6 yearly tons of non-renewable material resources, and an emission of
CO2 not exceeding 2 tons per year and person. These goals imply a manifold
dematerialization in the western world, but will allow reasonable growth
of resource consumption in many poorer countries. These goals should be
independently reviewed, and where need be adjusted and refined in the light
of growing experience and a changing world population.
Considerable practical experience has shown that the chances for achieving
these goals are reasonable from a technical point of view - without jeopardizing
end use satisfaction. However, the economic framework of today, fiscal policies,
the price structure for labor and natural resources, perverse subsidies,
the distribution of wealth and health, as well as the wide variation of
access to food and education, are not supporting at this time a promising
future with a future.
Coherent key indicators for social, institutional and in particular economic
progress toward a more sustainable future have not as yet been agreed to.
This paper describes a systems-based approach for framing the ecological
dimension of sustainability.
English [pdf / 300 kb]
January 2008
The Factor 10 Institute 2008
The non-profit Factor 10 Institute operates with a very limited permanent staff. Located on a hill in the southern Provence, it provides a forum for some of the best minds around the globe, who wish to share and discuss pioneering ideas and knowledge with others for safeguarding the life sustaining services of nature. From here, the first call for a new phase of environmental protection emanated to the international arena in the 90ies. While symptom-oriented protection measures were - and still are - needed, the future oriented phase of "environmental protection" must respond to systemic problems, imminent in our current ways in creating welfare. [read more]
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2001
Schmidt-Bleek receives the Takeda World Environment Award 2001
Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek receives the Takeda World Environment Award 2001 for the “Proposal, promotion and implementation of the MIPS and ecological rucksack concept”. “I developed the MIPS and ecological rucksack concept to make sure that we can produce wealth for all the people on this planet and still live in peace with nature”, said Bio Schmidt-Bleek, the President of the Factor 10 Institute at Carnoules, Provence and recent winner of the Takeda World Environment Award. ”Unfortunately, current economic and environmental policies will not get us to a sustainable future.” he continues and explains that the major problem today is that we reward those who waste natural resources through old fashioned fiscal policies and punish those who hire people for work. [read more]
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