October 2015 – Feasta

The attention seeking economy, information and the manufacture of ignorance

In this chapter from his book Credo, Brain Davey describes how "much of what we take for granted is actually better understood as 'consensus trance'. To orientate to the world properly we need to have a proper feel for the huge amount of what we don’t know – and there are multiple categories of unknowing."

The Paris agenda: leave fossil fuels in the ground, auction permits, protect people

Mike Sandler writes that the math is clear: there is a carbon bubble. The science on climate change indicates that there is no time for low initial national "contributions" with "ratcheting up ambition" after 5 or 10 year review periods.

Living in the anthropocene – a frame for new activism

Mark Garavan writes "we have emerged from the geological epoch of the Holocene into a new epoch designated as the Anthropocene. This notion of the Anthropocene refers to a profound realisation that human aggregate activity is now the single most decisive force shaping the planet."

Debt Ceiling Means Another Chance to Discuss the Trillion Dollar Coin

A new HuffPost article by Mike Sandler challenges the mainstream view of national debt, and brings Cap and Share into the argument too: “The UN climate change conference in Paris this December is ostensibly about climate change, but under the green mantle it is really an economics conference. Climate change is a symptom of an out-of-control, carbon-addicted economic system”.…

Is Localism a sufficient focus for Intentional Currencies?

There are good reasons to want to improve the health and diversity of your local economy. But should locality-based currencies scale, or perhaps replicate - networking micro to build macro (HT @cjenscook)? And is localism enough or is there a role for limited-scope value-based Intentional Currencies? @GrahamJBarnes anticipates some architectural aspects of a new monetary ecosystem.

Newly released paper recommends an agricultural funding plan to the World Bank

A new paper from Foundation Earth recommends to World Bankers a four point procedure to avoid industrial agriculture's shredding of the planetary life support systems. It promotes a systems based approach with smaller-scale, soil building, and more flexible agricultural techniques that do not externalize their damaging costs. You can read it here.

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