Editor’s Note: This report was prepared before the IPCC released part 1 of the Sixth Assessment Report on August 9. That report confirms the urgency of the interns’ recommendations! This is one of three reports prepared by the team; it is complemented by 'Implementing Bethlehem's CAP' and ‘Climate Change Education‘. All 3 reports are also available in complete PDF … [Read more...] about Build Sustainably — for Business Success and a Livable Future
Focus on Pages
The "Focus On" section provides in-depth information and opinion on many facets of sustainability. (Although these topics may appear quite distinct and separate, it’s important to remember that they are interconnected and interdependent in multiple ways — in general, the 4 basic principles of ecology apply to all complex systems.)
When you select a Focus On… topic, the system will select all the articles and posts in that category with the most recent pages at the top, just under a brief introduction to the topic. (Many articles appear in multiple categories.)
Background & detail information is organized into the main categories listed in the left sidebar.
Economy, Business, Finance
Two of the six Alliance goals focus on the importance of the local economy. In order to create equitable and livable communities, we need strong local economies and businesses need to adopt sustainable practices. This includes operations, sourcing & supply chains, and minimizing waste.
The Privileged Minority and the Struggling Majority
PHILIP REISS A s my title suggests, I present what most Americans don’t know and those who do know are reluctant to acknowledge. One percent of Americans have wealth exceeding that which seventy-five percent of other Americans have. This miniscule minority obviously possesses privileges the vast majority of Americans lack. This one percent has political … [Read more...] about The Privileged Minority and the Struggling Majority
Skylab and the Sit-Down Strike in Space
LENNY FLANK It was a one-of-a-kind event: in 1972, during a mission on the Skylab space station, a group of American astronauts, frustrated by an unreasonable work schedule, organized their own version of a sit-down strike in space. They won all their demands, but in the end, NASA had its final revenge. In 1972, NASA launched “Skylab”, a space station cobbled together … [Read more...] about Skylab and the Sit-Down Strike in Space
A Few Comments on the Origins of Great Wealth
GARY OLSON F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “The rich are very different from you and me,” to which Ernest Hemingway replied, “Yes, they have more money.” Another retort might be a variation on the quote attributed to Honore de Balzac, “The secret behind every great fortune is a great theft.” There are 657 billionaires in the United States whose combined wealth grew more than $1.7 … [Read more...] about A Few Comments on the Origins of Great Wealth
We Must Fight the System, Not Each Other
ELAHEH FARMAND Once a year on our immigration anniversary, my mother and I reflect on our journey from Iran to the United States. In the past, we would celebrate the freedoms we were given in America, embrace the struggles we endured as immigrants to settle in a new home, and learn not only a new language, but also a new way of living, a new culture, a new dream. But if … [Read more...] about We Must Fight the System, Not Each Other
Class Conflict and the Amazon Union Drive in Alabama
TED MORGAN Karl Marx identified the central contradiction of capitalism as the antagonistic relationship between workers and their capitalist employers. As Michael Yates has put it, “the essence of this relationship is the exploitation of the workers, the extraction of a surplus by the employers from their labor, necessary to fuel the accumulation of capital in a milieu of … [Read more...] about Class Conflict and the Amazon Union Drive in Alabama
The Pandemic Housework Dilemma Is Whitewashed
NICOLE FROIO Since the start of the pandemic, an old dilemma has been revived: the unequal gendered division of housework in the home. For middle-class workers who have been working from home to avoid the coronavirus, the home now functions as an office, online school, gym, leisure space, and whatever else is necessary, which has doubled — if not tripled — the housework to … [Read more...] about The Pandemic Housework Dilemma Is Whitewashed
What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?
DON FITZ The Green New Deal has attracted perhaps the greatest attention of any proposal for decades. It would guarantee Medicare-for-All, Housing-for-All, student loan forgiveness and propose the largest economic growth in human history to address unemployment and climate change. But the last of these hits a stumbling block. Creation of all forms of energy contributes to … [Read more...] about What Would a Deep Green New Deal Look Like?
The Atomism of Neoclassical Economics
MICHAEL A. LEBOWITZ How can we understand capitalism? Neoclassical economics, which is to say, mainstream economics, rarely uses the name. Rather, it talks about the “market system” or the free market, a system in which individual property owners (both those who own material resources and those who own merely their personal capacities) contract with each other in their … [Read more...] about The Atomism of Neoclassical Economics
A Runaway Inequality Problem
One of the great unexamined questions of our times is why there is so much suffering, despair, misery and rage in the midst of unimaginable wealth. Naturally, pundits and politicians wish to avoid this question because an open public discussion of the widening wealth gap can impart critical insights into the nature and logic of the capitalist system they’ve worked so hard to … [Read more...] about A Runaway Inequality Problem