Stephen Barlow Profile picture
Jun 3, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read Read on X
People often ask what I mean by system change re: the climate and ecological crisis. It is very simple. I mean a full shift to a truly sustainable society/economy. This means changing more or less every convention of our modern society.
Sustainable means what it says. A society and economy in balance with the ecological carrying capacity of the Earth. Essentially that means no unsustainable trends, where our impact on the natural systems of the world is growing.
You see, in ecological terms, if there is a component, where it's impact on natural systems is constantly growing. Eventually it will have catastrophic effects, impacting also on the component driving it i.e. human society.
Lots of natural components have growing impacts. Let's say an exploding population of rodents. But this is eventually counteracted, by a sudden fall in the population of that rodent. Often, it produces a cycle or rise and fall.
Humans appear to have got out of this cycle and effect, by using innovation to get around what would cause that contraction in that growth. For instance, the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
But this is at the cost of destroying other ecosystem components and biodiversity, which in a long loop, will eventually have serious impacts on us, that we can't innovate our way out of.
There is no simple recipe for creating a sustainable society economy. However, if we don't want our population, our civilization, our society and economy to crash, it is essential.
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More from @SteB777

Jan 31
I wrote a thread on the ecological impacts to our societies, explaining climate change was just one small, but very significant part of those ecological impacts. Remember, in 2024, UK farming suffered big losses in yield, because of rain.

1/🧵theguardian.com/news/ng-intera…
This was the thread I wrote, and without a huge amount of words, I can only partially explain what I was getting at. That we need to urgently develop a holistic, joined up way of thinking, who understand all these serious challenges we face as a whole.

2/
There are 2 very different ways of looking at the increased flooding we are experiencing in the UK, and other parts of the world. The first is to look at it as a singular problem, in terms of specifics of flood engineering. This is relevant, but only part of it.
3/
Read 18 tweets
Jan 30
This is reality, within the near future, I mean the next few years/decades, we are going to get hit, by cascading ecological impacts, and climate change is just one part of this.

Whether we act on this, is up to us, but if we ignore it, we face catastrophic consequences.
1/🧵
I have been warning about the ecological impacts, this report, essentially by the UK intelligence services, warns of, for decades. I suppose I better dig out some links to prove it. But what I said doesn't matter.

2/gov.uk/government/pub…
What matters, is that it is going to happen, it already is happening, and there is massive evidence for global ecosystem collapse. Everything, our civilization, our lives, our economies, totally relies on ecosystems, which are collapsing.
3/
Read 20 tweets
Jan 26
A big thanks to Rupert Read for sharing this. This is the latest in a long line of reports, highlighting the the unsustainability of our present system, and that serious problems lie ahead. Last week, we had the Nature Security Assessment on biodiversity.
1/🧵
There is nothing particularly new about this, there is a long line of similar such assessments, by all manner of institutions, from military, government, corporate, financial institutions going back decades.

All are essentially ignored by governments, our politicians.
2/
Here's the outline of assessment by UK Intelligence services, on the threats from biodiversity collapse, ecosystem collapse. Apparently it is redacted.

I'll put a link to the government website below.

3/theguardian.com/environment/20…
Read 12 tweets
Jan 25
Let's get this clear. Alex Pretti and another observer, were violently attacked my ICE agents, and then Alex Pretti shot dead, because ICE agents were angered, that they were filming them with their phones. This was assault and then murder.
1/🧵
Footage from the scene shows this in an unambiguous way. Without any just cause, ICE agents violently shoved the female observer to the ground, and when Alex Pretti tried to shield her from further violent attack, he was similarly attacked, without any just cause.
2/
Stills from the scene from just seconds before his murder, show Alex Pretti holding his phone. He is non-violently speaking to an ICE agent, trying to man handle him. At no point did he draw or display a weapon, that could justify this.
3/
Read 20 tweets
Jan 24
"Nigel Farage’s trip to Davos this week was hosted and paid for by the $10bn family trust of an Iranian-born billionaire, the Guardian has learned."

Essentially, Farage, like other right wing populists, including Trump, are funded by oligarchs.

1/🧵theguardian.com/politics/2026/…
Which makes a mockery of their claims to be fighting against the elite, on behalf of ordinary people, when they are funded, and backed by the same elite, that they falsely claim to be fighting against.
2/
This is a very old story as both Hitler and Mussolini were backed by the industrialists of the day, because this style of politics, best suits the purpose of the elite. Far right populism and authoritarianism, playing on people's fears about minorities, to get into power.
3/
Read 10 tweets
Jan 21
"It gave cold comfort to a watching world that fears the future of the transatlantic alliance now lies in the hands of a modern Caligula."

Trump, the first truly mad emperor, since the Roman era.

1/🧵theguardian.com/us-news/2026/j…
Yes, we've had plenty of deranged despots, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Napoleon etc (there's too many of them to count). But whilst all were mad in their own way, you'd to go back to Roman times, to find one as obviously florid as Trump. Trump is an old-fashioned lunatic.
2/
It says there is something seriously wrong with the US, that such an away with the fairies lunatic like Trump, is allowed to stay in office, whilst so openly telling the world, he's totally detached from reality.
3/
Read 11 tweets

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