Central Concerns

Books, Climate, Economy, , ,

In his book, Value(s): Building a Better World for All, former governor of The Bank of England  Mark Carney,  looks at value beyond dollars and demands your attention.  Review by Guy Dauncey. First published in The MINT Magazine, September 2021.

When the world’s best-known central banker writes a new book, we should sit up and pay attention, especially since Mark Carney is one of the few central bankers who really gets the climate crisis.

It’s a quite personal book; his writing reveals a deep commitment to ethical values, and service to the wider community. He makes me feel that I know him, and we’d get along well over a pint of beer. He often shares stories from his time at the Bank of England, and as chair of the Financial Stability Board, which was set up after the 2008 financial crash, resulting in over 100 reforms. Will they work? Time will tell.

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A Green Economic Recovery for the Cowichan Valley

Uncategorized, ,

By Guy Dauncey

A Doughnut Economy

A green recovery! But wait – why green? At such a time of crisis, shouldn’t any kind of recovery be welcome?

The argument for a green recovery is that while the dangers from Covid are clear and immediate, lurking in the wings are other crises some of which hold just as much danger – the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, the affordable housing crisis, and the low-income debt crisis, which is placing people in miserable poverty. 

If we continue to operate our economy the way we have for the past many years, here’s what will happen. We’ll lose much more of our forests. We’ll experience more flooding, as the winter rains pour off the forest clearcuts. We’ll lose more forest topsoil, as storms wash it away, turning the Salish Sea brown with mud. We’ll lose the beauty of the Cowichan Valley to tediously awful suburban sprawl. We’ll see steadily increasing rents and homelessness, with ever more people living in cars, vans and tents. 

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Transforming Education – Ten Big Steps

Education, , , , , , , , , ,

By Guy Dauncey

For those who understand, it’s crystal clear. Our educational traditions need to be transformed from infancy to old age, to give us the skills and understanding to tackle our huge civilizational challenges: the climate crisis; the biodiversity crisis; the crisis of injustice, inequality, dominating corporations and destructive economics; and the crisis of purpose, trust and deluded populism. They intertwine, creating a tangled knot that generates cynicism, anger and despair.

The authoritarian rote learning that causes so many to dislike school and cease learning once they graduate needs to be replaced with learning that nurtures creativity, curiosity and joy, as Ken Robinson explains in the world’s most popular TED Lecture, with 69 million views. I have organized my thoughts into ten headings, and I conclude by asking how we can make change happen.

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Hamlet’s Ode to the 21st Century

Books, Climate, Economy, Nature,

To grow, or not to grow: that is the question,

Whether ’tis nobler on Earth to suffer

The filth and waste of outrageous production

Or to take arms against a toxic sea of troubles,

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Fifty Ways to Bring More Urgency to BC’s Climate Action Plans

Climate, Democracy, Economy, Education, energy, Nature, , , , , , , , ,

For a printable PDF of this paper, click Download

fifty-ways-to-bring-urgency-3Download

“We are facing a disaster of unspoken suffering for enormous amounts of people, so please, treat the climate crisis like the acute crisis it is, and give us a future.” – Greta Thunberg

For years, Guy Dauncey has tirelessly warned of the urgency of tackling the climate crisis and provided practical ways to achieve reductions in our emissions.  While the crisis has only worsened, the window of opportunity to shift direction has shortened.  Here is a blueprint for concrete action.  Read it and act! – David Suzuki

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Twelve Tips to Write a Great Blog

Books, Education, ,

by Guy Dauncey

Have you ever been invited to write a blog, and felt intimidated? Well don’t. Here’s some advice to get you going. I wrote this for the Yellow Point Ecological Society, which is why it is full of nature references, but the advice applies to all good blogging. 

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Who are We? Where are we Going? Some Reflections in this COVID-19 Time

Spirituality and Science, , , , ,
123rf.com Image: Ian Iankovskii

by Guy Dauncey

First published in The Green Gazette, June 2020

Who are we? And where are we going on this tiny planet of ours, this bright sparkle of life in a Universe so ridiculously vast? It’s a question worth exploring, if you have five minutes in your busy COVID day.

Almost all scientists assume that the Universe is a solidly material realm, consisting of packages of atoms that have, by the happenstance of chance, turned themselves into polar bears and poets. We may have come from stardust, but we have no inherent direction or purpose. Where are we going? You might as well ask what a stone wants for breakfast.

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What would it take to Build a Truly Resilient Local Food System?

Climate, Economy, Nature, , , , , , ,

My 37′ presentation to FarmFolk CityFolk’s AGM:

A New Ecological Civilization based on the Economics of Kindness

Climate, COVID-19, Economy, Nature, , , , ,

300 years ago, the Enlightenment generated an inspiring vision of scientific, technological and economic progress. What was once global ‘progress’, however, has become a climate, ecological, economic and now pandemic disaster. 

We need new inspiration.

When we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic we can’t afford

to go back to business-as-usual.

We need to build ourselves a new ecological civilization

in which we live, work and play in harmony with Nature,

with respect for all beings,

in an economy based on the economics of kindness.

Here is Guy Dauncey’s presentation during EarthFest April 2020.
https://youtu.be/ZS6n-pzanpE

When Climate Met COVID

Climate, COVID-19, Democracy, Economy, , , ,

By Guy Dauncey

We face not one but three simultaneous inter-connected crises: the COVID-19 Emergency, the Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, and the Crisis of Capitalism. We urgently need connected constructive responses. 

When you recall the movie When Harry Met Sally, your horny mind probably goes straight the scene in the delicatessen, and “I’ll have what she’s having”. Setting that aside, it took Harry and Sally a long time before they realized that they were natural partners. In my version of the story, Harry is the climate and biodiversity action movement and Sally is the COVID-19 community response movement. For each, the movement includes a wide mix of people, organizations, scientists, health workers, artists, businesses, banks and governments who have realized the urgency of their respective crises. Ideally I need a third character to represent the new economics movement, but since there was no suggestion of polyamory in the movie, I’ll settle for tradition. It would make for a great sequel, however. 

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