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    "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet.
    "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet.
    "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet.
    Ebook57 pages36 minutes

    "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet.

    By Keith Mcilroy

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    About this ebook

    In the last 12 years the global economy has doubled to US $70 Trillion.

    During that same time oil is close to peaking, fresh water demand has ballooned, waste mountains have piled up and greenhouse gases have driven changes to our climate. If we continue at that growth rate the global economy will be US $700 Trillion per annum by 2050 and over US $11,000 Trillion by the end of this century. Can we have a global economy 160 times bigger than today?

    The pessimists' view is that we cannot. We will consume and pollute ourselves to a life of meagre subsistence - "Living in caves and eating moss".

    The optimists' view is that new forms of energy and new technologies will enable us to continue to grow for ever without limit. "Technology will solve the problem".

    The reality is, of course, somewhere between the two.

    That 'somewhere' I call GreenCapitalism. 'Capitalism' because that really is the only economic game in town. 'Green' because that is the only long term future for us.

    This book will help you understand why, when and how green capitalism will impact on you. It will explain the good and the bad of our current economic model, what impact future economic growth will have on our planet and what we need to put into place for our economy to become truly sustainable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKeith Mcilroy
    Release dateJul 19, 2011
    ISBN9781466135284
    "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet.
    Author

    Keith Mcilroy

    My journey to Green-Capitalism "there is no need for there to be a 'loser' between economic growth and environmental protection" I have spent most of my professional life identifying the need for change in organisations then helping those organisations to make those changes. From turning around insolvent companies and integrating corporate acquisitions through to culture change programs on factory floors and in sales teams. Like most people deeply involved in business, my focus was on this quarter's profit, this month's sales, this week's cash flow. I paid scant regard to what was happening in the rest of the world, especially anything vaguely environmental. This started to change when my family flew into Manchester airport in 2000 to join me in the UK. It was raining. Hardly surprising for Manchester. Over the next few months it continued to rain and there was more and more discussion on climate change. At the time I dismissed this, along with 'peak oil' and 'global warming', as fear mongering from people who should get a 'proper job'. Then in April 2001, it was announced that the previous 12 months had been the wettest in the UK since records began. And records began in the 17th Century. That caused me to wonder a wee bit. But only for a bit as I soon went back to my insular business world and stayed there, even when we returned to Australia to find ourselves in the middle of the 'hundred year drought'. Then, in 2003 The Business Council of Australia invited me to join their working group that was preparing a range of scenarios for Australia in 20 years time. 'Aspire Australia 2025' was put together over 12 months by running workshops with seventy of the leading thinkers in Australia. We looked at every aspect of life in Australia. Our competitiveness, strategic defence, values and norms, our governance and our sustainability. That experience triggered the start of my journey. A journey that was initially focussed on climate change for the more that I researched the arguments for and against, the more I came to the conclusion that this was a 'clear and present threat' to our quality of life. It also quickly became clear that, until the business community took the risk seriously, then we would always struggle to make the changes needed to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. And here was where the nub of the problem was. Business had great difficulty seeing how we could both, reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and also maintain the economic growth that is so fundamental to their business success. In the same way that business saw the 20th Century as a battle between labour and capital, many now saw the 21st Century as being a battle between economic growth and environmental protection. Yet, there was no real 'loser' in the battle between labour and capital, so there is no need for there to be a 'loser' between economic growth and environmental protection. Hence my promotion of Green-Capitalism. I write, I speak and I present on how we can have our cake and eat it too. For those promoters of environmental protection who are cynical of capitalism, I would ask you to remember that capitalism has dragged millions of people around the world out of the miserable existence so well documented by Charles Dickens and that capitalism, properly motivated, can achieve rapid change in society. For the promoters of economic growth who see environmentalists as a threat to our prosperity, I would ask you recognise we live on a planet of finite resources with a delicate ecosystem. The sooner we modify our business practices to use renewable resources without unnecessarily damaging our ecosystem, the more confident we can be that our prosperity can continue for our kids and grandkids.

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      Book preview

      "GreenCapitalism!" How it can save our planet. - Keith Mcilroy

      How it can save our planet.

      By Keith Mcilroy

      Copyright 2011 Keith Mcilroy

      Smashwords Edition

      http://thejollygreencapitalist.blogspot.com

      mailto:keith@keithmcilroy.com

      This free ebook has been designed to help you get the message out that we need to change our economic model to one that is truly sustainable. It is available free from every ebook retailer. Although this is a free book, it remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied or distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

      *********************************************

      Chapter 1: Introduction

      We CAN live a life of limitless economic growth on a planet of limited resources

      In the last 12 years the global economy has doubled to US $70 Trillion.

      During that same time oil is close to peaking, fresh water demand has ballooned, waste mountains have piled up and greenhouse gases have driven changes to our climate. If we continue at that growth rate the global economy will be US $700 Trillion per annum by 2050 and over US $11,000 Trillion by the end of this century.

      Can we have a global economy 160 times bigger than today?

      The pessimists' view is that we cannot. We will consume and pollute ourselves to a life of meagre subsistence - Living in caves and eating moss.

      The optimists' view is that new forms of energy and new technologies will enable us to continue to grow for ever without limit. Technology will solve the problem.

      The reality is, of course, somewhere between the two.

      That 'somewhere' I call ‘GreenCapitalism’. 'Capitalism' because that really is the only economic game in town. 'Green' because that is the only long term future for us.

      This book will help you understand why, when and how GreenCapitalism will impact on you. It will explain the good and the bad of our current economic model, what impact future economic growth will have on our planet and what we need to put in place for our economy to become truly sustainable.

      The focus of this book is the Australian economy. I have chosen the Australian economy because Australia is going to find the transition to a sustainable economy more difficult than most other economies. It is highly dependent upon fossil fuels for its energy usage, giving individual Australians the biggest carbon footprint of any developed country. Australia is the world’s quarry for so many of those natural resources that are going to become scarce over the rest of this century. Australia also has a lot to lose from the destruction of our environment, from the rugged wilderness of Tasmania’s native forests to the beauty of the Great Barrier Reef..

      This ebook explains how (relatively!) easy it would be for Australia to transition to a truly sustainable economy. If Australia can do it, every other

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