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

Oct 26
I see no evidence @ZackPolanski lost his temper.

The issue of economic growth is far more complex, than being for or against it. It is a vague ill-defined concept, which is not properly understood, by those who advocate it.
1/🧵
Advocates of the pursuit of economic growth, as if it's more important than everything else, usually have a very poor, to non-existent grasp, of how economic growth is achieved, and that our economy is entirely reliant on the natural systems, it is systematically destroying.
2/
Economic growth, is maintained by systematically destroying the natural systems, that maintain both the human economy, and humanity in general. You can't have infinite growth in a finite system, and it be sustained.
3/
Read 7 tweets
Oct 22
"Global use of coal hit record high in 2024

Bleak report finds greenhouse gas emissions are still rising despite ‘exponential’ growth of renewables"

This was entirely predictable, to anyone with their eyes open.

1/🧵theguardian.com/environment/20…
With the increase in the use of AI, EVs etc, it is clear that the increase in renewables is only going to cover the increase in energy use, not to replace fossil fuels.

As I and many other have pointed out, only a pro-active attempt to phase our fossil fuels, will work.
2/
Yet governments refuse to consider this, because they are focused on trying to increase economic growth, to the exclusion of everything else, including a habitable Earth. They just don't care.
3/
Read 9 tweets
Oct 18
What I was trying to do with this thread, is to illustrate, how all those who deny the existential threat to our civilization, from the climate and ecological crisis, are in some form of ideologically motivated denial.
1/🧵
As I point out, ALL, not some, who attack environmentalists and climate activists as alarmists, because there is no scientific evidence, for the threat to our civilization by the climate crisis, are being intellectually dishonest.
2/
There's no scientific evidence, for the very obvious reason, that there has never been any scientific study of the risk of civilian collapse, being induced by climate and ecological impacts. If critics of this were honest, they would acknowledge this.

3/pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…
Read 24 tweets
Oct 18
I want to write a few threads about civilization collapse, and the danger of it, because so few to any understand it. Although it will probably be a waste of time, because I seemed to be having my threads hidden. But I just want to get it down.
1/🧵
I'm not a doom-monger, saying civilization is going to happen come what may. All my commenting is to stop that happening, because it is entirely possible to avoid this, if, and only if we massively change our system, and start cooperating, and stop competing.
2/
It's like this, there are many patterns of life, bad habits, ignoring illness, which will lead to your death, if you carry on as you are, and ignore the consequences of this. Our societies are ignoring existential threats to our civilization, as if they don't exist.
3/
Read 28 tweets
Oct 10
"Peter Thiel, the billionaire political svengali and tech investor, is worried about the antichrist. It could be the US. It could be Greta Thunberg."

If anyone closely resembles the anti-christ, it's Peter Thiel, Donald Trump and JD Vance.

1/🧵theguardian.com/us-news/2025/o…
Just to make it clear, that I am not religious. But I have read most of the Bible when I was younger, and self-evidently Trump hasn't.

Enough to know that the Jesus described was quite the woke commie.
2/
"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

Matthew 19:24
3/
Read 11 tweets
Oct 10
Once again, Twitter/X, seems to be hiding my own posts from me. I was trying to explained the messed up nature of our modern society. We need to understand another systems theory, property, and that is emergent properties.
1/🧵
An emergent property, is where out of a set of parameters of a system, a whole new property emerges, that can't simplistically be understood, from the parts of the system it emerged from. It develops a life of its own.

2/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergence
This has what has happened to our societies. For instance, Donald Trump, delusionally believes, that not only is he in charge of America, but he's in charge of the world. But Trump's dumb machinations, are creating global chaos, which will gobble him up, along with the US.
3/
Read 16 tweets

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