This October 7th event is timely given the recent publication of Bexley Council’s ‘Strategy for growth – our emerging vision’, and has been organised by the Centre for a Steady State Economy, to look at how London can assume full responsibility for its ‘ecological footprint’ and take appropriate action, and how the link can be broken between prosperity and the predominant view that this can only be assured by continued over-consumption of resources.
http://steadystate.org/costing-londons-growth/
As well as comprehensive audits of environmental performance, questions to be addressed include: What does environmental restructuring mean for business and public planning? Are existing tools sufficient to address resource depletion or are structural and institutional changes required? What would sustainable living in London be like for residents? Should London replace ‘growth’ with ‘quality of life’ as a core aim? Ultimately, what needs to be done to ensure that the capital’s future is both sustainable and abundant?
The meeting takes place from 17.45-20.45 at Limehouse Town Hall, 646 Commercial Road, LONDON E14 7HA (Zone 2)
By underground: Canary Wharf Station on the Jubilee Line (10 minutes’ walk)
By DLR: From Bank St. or Tower Gateway to Limehouse DLR Station (5 minutes’ walk)
By bus: Routes 15; 115; 135; D3 and night routes N15; N550 and N551 serve Limehouse Station
It is free but to make sure there are enough places left e-mail d.kilroy@democraticplanet.org
Speakers include:
- JAMIE BULL, Principal Consultant, oCo Carbon
- KATHERINE TREBECK Global Research Policy Advisor, Oxfam GB
- DAVID FELL, Economist, Brook Lyndhurst and London Remade
- IAN CHRISTIE, Research Fellow, Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group, Univ. of Surrey
- ROGER MARTIN, Chair, Population Matters
The underlying premise is that the built in drive for continual economic growth has social and environmental costs and has passed the point where costs outweigh benefits. A solution is to live within the limits of what nature can provide and process; from that perspective must come re-evaluation and economic transformation. To ensure ecological stability–on which social justice also depends–means making sure all resource use is kept in equilibrium with nature’s regeneration and waste assimilation capacities.
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