Extinction Rebellion

This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook
by Extinction Rebellion
Published 12 Jun 2019

Thousands of people have joined, participating in non-violent actions by blocking bridges, blockading roads and shutting down government buildings. While media headlines have focused on our work in the United Kingdom, Extinction Rebellion has started an International Solidarity Network to support existing resistance in the majority world, working closely with activists in West Papua, Bangladesh, Mongolia and the Caribbean. Extinction Rebellion is also linking with and learning from other movements. At the UN Conference on Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion supported the Alliance of Small Island States and the Climate Vulnerable Forum – together representing over eighty countries with 1 billion people.

…

‘You lot have rejuvenated me this week,’ said one. ‘It’s been the nicest week of my working life,’ said another. One reached out and shook my hand. ‘God bless. And good luck.’ This is sweet rebellion. 14/ THE CIVIL RESISTANCE MODEL ROGER HALLAM Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion did not come out of nowhere. Unlike many of the spontaneous social-media-fuelled rebellions and uprisings in recent years, Extinction Rebellion has been carefully planned. For several years a group of academics and activists have been working on two main questions: Why have we failed so miserably to stop climate change? And how the hell are we going to stop it?

…

I was issued a TV and saw myself in a news montage. It was amazing, watching the media debate change as the week went on. One of Extinction Rebellion’s most important functions is to help us with overwhelming feelings of despair at our situation. It doesn’t mean everything will work out, but somehow the experience of being with XR, of resisting, helps: we’re doing the best we can. Even prison came to feel meaningful – a life-changing experience. 22/ POLICE, ARREST AND SUPPORT LEGAL TEAM Extinction Rebellion Extinction Rebellion is clear that the police continue to be structurally racist, unjust and violent, particularly towards oppressed groups.

Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All
by Michael Shellenberger
Published 28 Jun 2020

“It was quite scary and there were some people who were quite frightened,” recounted a reporter who was at the scene.10 A This Morning host said that 95 percent of people surveyed now said Extinction Rebellion was a hindrance to its cause. What was Extinction Rebellion thinking?11 In the video of the Tube protest, we see a commuter try to climb on top of the roof of the train to grab the Extinction Rebellion activist. The Extinction Rebellion activist responds by kicking the man in the face and chest. The man then grabs the Extinction Rebellion protester’s legs and pulls him onto the ground. We see an angry mob of commuters start kicking him. Back in the studio, Lunnon emphasized that the video showed the kind of disruption climate change would bring.

…

In September 2019, a survey of thirty thousand people around the world found that 48 percent believed climate change would make humanity extinct.4 But by the fall of that same year, public support for Extinction Rebellion, including the sympathy of journalists, rapidly declined after the organization shut down streets and public transit throughout London. “What about families?” the Sky News host asked the Extinction Rebellion spokespersons. “I remember back in July, someone saying that he missed being at his father’s bedside when he died in Bristol.”5 “And that’s really, really unfortunate,” said Extinction Rebellion’s Sarah Lunnon, putting her right hand over her heart, “and totally heartbreaking.” It was easy to see why Extinction Rebellion leaders chose Lunnon as their spokesperson.

…

“One of my friends was convinced there would be a collapse of society in 2030 and ‘near term human extinction’ in 2050,” said Jeffrey. “She concluded that we’ve got ten years left to live.” Extinction Rebellion activists stoked those fears. Extinction Rebellion activists gave frightening and apocalyptic talks to schoolchildren across Britain. In one August talk, an Extinction Rebellion activist climbed atop a desk in the front of a classroom to give a terrifying talk to children, some of whom appear no older than ten years old.104 Some journalists pushed back against the group’s alarmism. The BBC’s Andrew Neil interviewed a visibly uncomfortable Extinction Rebellion spokesperson in her mid-thirties named Zion Lights.105 “One of your founders, Roger Hallam, said in April, ‘Our children are going to die in the next ten to twenty years,’ ” Neil says to Lights in the video.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline
by Andreas Malm
Published 4 Jan 2021

p. 37. Then there were the suffragettes … E.g. Jay Griffiths, ‘Courting Arrest’, in Farrell et al., This Is Not, p. 96; Ronan, ‘12 Extinction Rebellion Activists Willingly Arrested in Semi-Nude Protest to Highlight Climate Emergency during Brexit Debate in House of Commons’, Extinction Rebellion, rebellion.earth, 1 April 2019; BBC Radio 4: Beyond Today, ‘Are Extinction Rebellion the New Suffragettes?’, bbc.co.uk, 12 April 2019; Natalie Gil, ‘Why We Joined Extinction Rebellion AKA the ‘New Suffragettes’, Refinery 29, refinery29.com, 15 April 2019. p. 37. One of the most avid arrestees … George Monbiot, ‘Today, I Aim to Get Arrested.

…

Rafaeli with Neil Woods, ‘Fighting the Wrong War’, in Farrell et al., This Is Not, p. 41; Griffiths, ‘Courting’, p. 96. p. 115. As pointed out in an open letter to XR … The Wretched of the Earth, Argentina Solidarity Campaign, Black Lives Matter UK et al., ‘An Open Letter to Extinction Rebellion’, Red Pepper, redpepper.org.uk, 3 May 2019. Cf. Damien Gayle, ‘Does Extinction Rebellion Have a Race Problem?’, Guardian, 4 October 2019. p. 116. Taken from the reading of movements … See e.g. Chenoweth and Stephan, Why Civil, pp. 60–61, 202–7. p. 116. It loses the rest when we consider only … Adams, ‘Uncivil’, p. 489. p. 117. As soon as violence is thrown into the mix … For some research corroborating this view, see Brent Simpson, Robb Willer and Matthew Feinberg, ‘Does Violent Protest Backfire?

…

Indeed, if one wants to accomplish something … Damien Gayle, ‘Heathrow Third Runway Activists Arrested before Drone Protest’, Guardian, 13 September 2019. p. 123. in August 2018, for example, an activist paddling … Susie Cagle, ‘ “Protesters as Terrorists”: Growing Number of States Turn Anti-Pipeline Activism into a Crime’, Guardian, 8 July 2019. p. 125. the official statement exonerated the kick-to-thehead … Extinction Rebellion, ‘Statement on Today’s Tube Action’, Extinction Rebellion, rebellion.earth, 17 October 2019. p. 126. as one Guardian columnist quipped … Catherine Bennett, ‘The Extinction Rebels Have a Noble Cause. What They Don’t Need Now Is Tactical Stupidity’, Guardian, 20 October 2019. p. 127. ‘If you believe’, says one … This follows Salvage Editorial Collective, ‘Tragedy of the Worker: Toward the Proletarocene’, Salvage 7 (2019): 40–1.

The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis
by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac
Published 25 Feb 2020

On the United States, for example, see Andy Stone, “Climate Change: A Real Force in the 2020 Campaign?” Forbes, July 25, 2019, https://www.forbes.com/​sites/​andystone/​2019/​07/​25/​climate-change-a-real-force-in-the-2020-campaign/. 100. For more on Extinction Rebellion, see their website, https://rebellion.earth/; Brian Doherty, Joost de Moor, and Graeme Hayes, “The ‘New’ Climate Politics of Extinction Rebellion?” openDemocracy, November 27, 2018, https://www.opendemocracy.net/​en/​new-climate-politics-of-extinction-rebellion/. 101. For more resources on civil disobedience, see “Civil Disobedience,” ScienceDirect, https://www.sciencedirect.com/​topics/​computer-science/​civil-disobedience. 102.

…

New York: Wiley Blackwell, 2017. PERSONAL ACTION AND MOVEMENT BUILDING Bateson, Gregory. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Chandler, 1972. Berners-Lee, Mike. There Is No Planet B: A Handbook for the Make or Break Years. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Extinction Rebellion. This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook. London: Penguin, 2019. Foer, Jonathan Safran. We Are the Weather: Saving the Planet Begins at Breakfast. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019. Friedman, Thomas L. Thank You for Being Late: An Optimist’s Guide to Thriving in the Age of Acceleration.

…

As we are in the midst of the most dire emergency, we must urgently demand that those who seek high office offer solutions commensurate with the scale of the problem. Their policy platforms must strictly be informed by science. It’s time to participate in nonviolent political movements wherever possible. In April 2019, the group Extinction Rebellion, building on years of work by various nonprofit organizations, some politicians, and other activists, seized the moment and began a series of global protests, the first of which was to take over central London for ten days in nonviolent protest. Thousands of first-time activists, people who had never marched or signed a petition in their lives, blocked roads, linked arms, and planted trees on Waterloo Bridge.

Green Swans: The Coming Boom in Regenerative Capitalism
by John Elkington
Published 6 Apr 2020

Occasionally, inevitably, this bridge-building urge has got me into trouble, as when I helped persuade twenty-plus CEOs and business leaders to sign a letter to The Times newspaper supporting the agenda advanced by Extinction Rebellion, known as XR.21 At the time, XR’s peaceful occupation of iconic sites like Trafalgar Square and Waterloo Bridge, just outside our London office, had begun to spark pushback from retail businesses impacted by the blockades. By way of background, here is our letter in full: Sir, Contrary to belief, there is business support for the Extinction Rebellion (XR) agenda. The multi-million-pound costs that the Extinction Rebellion protests have imposed on business are regrettable, as is the inconvenience to Londoners.

…

They are pushed along by public and political reactions to the failings of the old order, and pulled along by our evolving sense of what the future might want us to do and, over time, be prepared to “pay for,” for example through investments made on its behalf today. On the push side of the equation, it is encouraging to see growing numbers of ordinary citizens waking up to the nature and scale of the challenges we face. “I think I am growing up at last,” was, for me, the most memorable line in a filmed interview with an eighty-two-year-old Extinction Rebellion, or XR, protestor in Britain. Explaining why he had become one of the oldest XR activists during that group’s first round of protests in 2019, he encouraged other “elders” to wake up and take action.1 As a retired probation officer he said that he had huge personal respect for the law, but had concluded that the pursuit of money above all else was leading our species—and our world—into a literal dead end.

…

The multi-million-pound costs that the Extinction Rebellion protests have imposed on business are regrettable, as is the inconvenience to Londoners. But future costs imposed on our economies by the climate emergency will be many orders of magnitude greater. Hard pressure drives change, but even the most committed businesses will need time to respond. We welcome the news that Extinction Rebellion is evolving a new platform, “XR Business,” to engage business leaders, investors and advisers. To drive things forward, the idea is to convene a meeting of XR activists and experts with business leaders and influencers. Most businesses were not designed in the context of the developing climate emergency. Hence we must urgently redesign entire industries and businesses, using science-based targets.

Chaos Kings: How Wall Street Traders Make Billions in the New Age of Crisis
by Scott Patterson
Published 5 Jun 2023

Indeed, with the worsening effects of global warming, geopolitical instability, the crisis of democracy, the rapid advances in AI, the lingering pandemic and its endless Covid variants, and more, his forecast—made more than two decades ago—seemed eerily accurate. CHAPTER 16 THIS CIVILIZATION IS FINISHED Rupert Read—dapper, trim, sandy-haired Green Party politician, Oxford-educated philosopher, spokesman for the activist environmental group Extinction Rebellion—breathed in the crisp Alpine air as he stepped off a train in Davos Platz. Here he was in the very belly of the beast: Davos, Switzerland, home of the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering of the planet’s self-anointed movers and shakers, the millionaires and billionaires, the politicians and policy-makers.

…

Hoping against hope, Read, a philosophy don at the University of East Anglia, had made the journey to Davos with what he knew to be a quixotic plan. If he could convince just a few billionaires to dedicate a nontrivial portion of their wealth toward the catastrophe of global warming, that could help accomplish what a dozen Extinction Rebellion protests could never do (he’d grown skeptical that the protest group had much of a future unless it received a game-changing infusion of cash that could help it expand). This visit was a sign of his desperation. The global elites at Davos, with their private jets, mansions, and limousines, were major contributors to global warming.

…

The professor gifted Greta with a copy of his book This Civilization Is Finished, based on a climate-emergency speech he’d given across the UK in previous years. Read and the senior Thunberg talked for hours about the effectiveness of nonviolent direct action, the protest strategy exploited by Extinction Rebellion throughout London in 2018 and 2019 that had garnered international attention (and from some, condemnation). Read left Davos disappointed, though hardly surprised. The billionaires talked a good game about putting a stop to global warming, but the conversations got awkward when it came to real money.

Angrynomics
by Eric Lonergan and Mark Blyth
Published 15 Jun 2020

The first distinction that we make is between public and private anger. Much research treats the two as equivalent, but in fact they are opposites. Public anger is often worn like a badge of honour. Icelanders protesting against a corrupt political class are emboldened by virtue. They railed against corruption and sought moral redress. Extinction Rebellion is fueled by the anger of righteousness. When people are publicly angry, because they are wronged, or they witness wrong-doing, they want it to be recognized and addressed. This is moral outrage. Private anger resembles its opposite. It is often characterized by shame. People who are angry in their private lives, often seek counseling, rather than retribution.

…

You and I, together with a growing group of economists across the world, have already devised new tools, which we will discuss in a moment, sometimes bracketed under the unhelpful moniker of “helicopter money”. This involves transferring cash to households to support consumption. But we have also outlined how a system of dual interest rates could be harnessed to turbocharge investment in sustainable initiatives. Movements such as Extinction Rebellion and Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics are right to demand a greater sense of urgency. What has been lacking is a simple non-zero-sum solution. I firmly believe that protecting the environment is a huge opportunity for economic regeneration. MARK: Okay, so we need to fix three things. First of all, the control of inflation and heavily regulated banks are prerequisites.

…

AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) 114 Afghanistan 6 aging population 10, 13, 14, 95, 106–11 and consumption 109–10 and government bonds 138–9, 152 and inequality 56–7, 58, 107–10 and inter-generational transfer 106–107 and poverty 57, 107 as stressor 57, 91, 106, 110, 111, 116, 118 and technological change 90, 106, 122 AIG 85, 124 Amazon 96, 98, 104, 142, 143–4 Anderson, Elizabeth 176 anger 2–3, 7–9, 10, 11–12, 159, 161 misplaced 13 as opportunity 16 and play 153 private see private anger public see public anger reducing see calming strategies anxiety/stress 9, 13–14, 50, 53, 55–6, 88, 118, 161 and cognitive effort 89–90, 91 and job insecurity 95–6 three causes of 91 and uncertainty see uncertainty Apple 96, 142, 143 Aristotle 59, 153 artificial intelligence (AI) 14, 102–106, 142 Asian financial crisis (1998) 77, 140 asset ownership 130–31, 133, 136, 140–41 Atkinson, Tony 80, 173 austerity policies 2–3, 6, 15, 34–5, 41, 48, 84 and euro crisis 44–5 and low interest rates 135 Australia 125 Austria 3 baby boomers 107–108, 110, 111, 175 Bank of England 84, 103, 120, 145, 148 TFS scheme 149–50, 166 banks 1, 6, 15, 33–5, 42, 44, 48, 145–50 and capital/liquidity ratios 126 and direct support for consumption 145–8 and dual interest rates 149–50 and economic models 3, 4 failure of 119–21, 122 and helicopter money 131, 146 independence of 78, 79 and leverage see financial leverage and problem of low interest rates 120–21, 122, 131, 135 regulations on 125–6, 127, 129, 132 restrictions on 72, 77 see also financial crisis (2008) Beck, Aaron 171–2 Bernanke, Ben 6, 148 Biden, Joe 106 billionaires 4 Bitcoin 102, 103 Blackrock 165 blockchain technology 14, 103 Blyth, Mark 172, 175 bonuses 81, 85, 124 Brazil 11, 127 Brexit 4, 7, 11, 22, 24, 37, 38, 55, 117, 154 and austerity policies 41, 45 and immigration 111, 112, 114, 116 and job insecurity 100–101 Brill, Stephen 175 Britain (UK) 3, 38, 119, 155, 162, 164 aging population in 107, 110 austerity policies in 41 dual interest rates in 149–50 and EU see Brexit fear of immigration in 27 gig economy in 100 and government bonds 135, 140 government spending in 71 immigration in 111, 112, 114, 115–16 inequality in 6 interest rates in 145 nationalism in 23 Thatcherism in 75, 76 Brittan, Samuel 151 Brynjolfsson, Erik 173 budget deficits 71, 75 Buffett, Warren 130 calming strategies 12, 15, 118, 122, 123–57 and data dividend see data dividend and direct support for consumption 145–8 and dual interest rates 149–50 and economic diversity 153–6 and inequality see inequality, strategies to reduce and national wealth fund see NWF and regulations on banks 125–6, 127, 129, 132 and sustainable investment see sustainable investment Canada 125 cancer 53, 87, 88, 106 capital 4 cost of 137, 139, 153 and dispersion 97–98 as “fictitious” commodity 65 formation, rate of 108 global 40, 42, 43, 49, 50, 58 and labour 50, 60, 69, 72 and neoliberalism 75, 76, 77, 79 protection of, following financial crisis 85 versus capital 97, 98 Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Piketty) 49, 108–10 capital/liquidity ratios 126 capitalism 64–5 and commodities 65–6 capitalism as computer 11, 61–72 fixing 124–25 hardware of 62–3, 117 software of 63–4, 68–71 and unemployment/inequality 66–7 version 1.0 68–9 version 1.0 crash 64, 66, 67, 71, 73, 83, 118 version 2.0 69–73, 74, 75, 76, 116 version 2.0 crash 70–71, 73, 83–4, 118 version 3.0 74–80, 98–9, 117, 125, 140–41 version 3.0 crash 116 car industry 100–101 caring industry 104 Case, Anne 54, 176 centrism, political 38, 48, 118–19, 121, 160–61, 162 CEOs (chief executive officers) 4 Chamberlain, Joseph 66 Chile 3 China 42, 63, 64, 78, 93, 137, 151, 156 Citibank 81, 82 cities 55, 56 climate change 104, 111, 121, 129, 131, 153, 159–60 and investment see sustainable investment Clinton, Hillary 160 Coggan, Philip 172 cognitive effort 89–90, 91 Cold War 28, 48 ending/legacy of 5, 23, 26, 29, 30, 37, 116 communism 68, 71 competition/competitiveness 47, 65, 94, 95, 111, 116, 125 and technology 105 see also product market competition computer analogy see capitalism as computer constrained volatility 85 consumption, direct support for 145–8, 150–51, 160 consumption, distribution of 52–3, 58 Corbyn, Jeremy 119 corporations 6, 20, 57 and competition 95, 96 and data dividend see data dividend corruption 8, 29, 61, 130 Covid-19 163 culture 160 Czech Republic 146, 147, 155 data dividend 141–4, 160, 162 and monopolies 142, 143, 144 and privacy 141–2 and property rights 142–3 de-unionization 50, 95, 99 Deaton, Angus 54, 176 debt 75, 84, 120, 132, 145, 150 and demography 109, 111, 131 government 136–7, 151, 152 net 136 deflation 65, 69, 120, 128, 144, 148 demand management 44–5, 47, 126–7 democracy 16, 25, 29, 39, 40, 104, 117, 130 and markets 68 demography see aging population Denmark 64, 164 depression see recession deregulation 28, 40, 48, 50, 58, 75 and inflation 127 as micro-stressor 94, 96, 99, 101, 118 DGSE (dynamic stochastic general equilibrium) models 3–4 Doughnut Economics (Raworth) 131–2, 165 dual interest rates 131–2, 149–50, 174 Dublin (Ireland) 17–18 economic change 9–10, 29, 43, 153 see also fiscal reform; recession economic growth 2, 6, 41, 69, 71, 86 and demography 108–10 and immigration 116 and inequality 76, 79–80 and quality of jobs/wages 46, 47, 85 economic ideology 28 economics 12, 54–5 shortcomings of models 3–5, 6, 7 education 24, 53, 58, 135, 141 tuition fees/student loans 107, 111 electoral politics 5–6, 104 and demographics 107, 110 and tribalism 13, 22, 24–7, 29, 30, 31 electric vehicles 153 elites 2–3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 37 in cities 55, 56 and corruption 8, 29 and ethical norms 20 and financial crisis 43–4 manipulation of tribal identity by 22, 24, 61, 116, 161 policy failures of 48–9 Engbom, Niklas 175–6 environmental degradation 29, 161 see also climate change environmental and social governance 168 ethical norms 20 euro crisis 7, 37, 44, 77, 144 Europe 34, 42, 137, 140 inequality in 41, 53, 56, 58 migrant crisis in 7 tribalism in 30 European Central Bank (ECB) 34, 84, 146, 155, 164–5 TLTRO programme 147–8, 166 European Union (EU) 22, 33, 34–5, 37, 43, 119 austerity policies in 2, 36, 48 and financial crisis (2008) 82 micro-stressors in 47–8 and nationalism 154–6 and neoliberalism 76, 77 unemployment in 44–5 see also Brexit eurozone 45, 65, 83, 148, 151, 155 exchange rates 72, 134 Extinction Rebellion 8, 131–2 Facebook 27, 96, 98, 142, 143 fake news 26 Farage, Nigel 17, 161 Farmer, Roger 174 fascism 45–6, 66, 67–8, 71 fear 16, 17, 94, 113, 117, 150, 161 and media 26, 27 and politics 7, 45 financial crisis (2008) 1–2, 6, 26, 29, 30, 39, 48, 127, 163 and automation 102–103 and bail-out of banks 84 fragility of recovery from 46, 85, 89, 121 further reading on 172–3 and globalized financial system 84 and growth of populism 85 and inequality 79–80 and low interest rates 135 and regulation of banks 129 financial leverage 72, 81–3, 85, 99, 126, 157 and credit crunch 83 and interest rates 81–2 financial market deregulation 77 fiscal councils 150–51 fiscal reform 15, 150–53, 162 Fischer, Stan 148, 165 Florence (Italy) 87–8 foodbanks 6, 53 football fans 8, 19, 56 France 2, 3, 20, 55, 56, 71, 101, 154, 156 and NWF 135 Franklin, Benjamin 87 free markets 30, 69, 118 Friedman, Milton 118 full employment 40, 47, 60, 66, 71–2, 79, 85, 175 and inflation 73–4, 76 without inflation 121, 125, 126 future 101–102, 111 Garcia family, parable of 33–5, 43 Gates, Bill 130 GDP (gross domestic product) 5, 44, 76, 79, 100–101, 106, 151, 152 and NWF 135, 141 Germany 3, 11, 34, 38, 42, 62–3, 66, 151, 154, 156, 167 and migrant crisis 111, 113–14 and NWF 135 Gibley, Bruce Cannon 175 gig economy 94, 98, 99–100 global economy 12, 39–40, 50, 53, 58, 133 and nationalism 154 and neoliberalism 77 globalization 5, 39, 41, 42–3, 48, 77, 117 hyper- 40 and inequality 80 and inflation 127 and insecurity 101 and labour market 42, 43 and nationalism 154 Gold Standard 65, 67 Google 96, 98, 104, 142 government bonds 72, 131, 133, 135, 137, 138–9, 152 as insurance policies 139, 140 government borrowing 134–5, 137, 152–3 and cost of capital 137, 139, 153 and low inflation 128, 138–40, 150 and NWF 136–137, 138–40 Great Depression 40, 44, 66, 69, 120 Great Moderation 6, 120 Greece 35, 38, 44, 45, 106–07, 110, 144 green revolution see sustainable investment gross domestic product see GDP Guilluy, Christophe 55 Gulf States 133, 134 Hayek, Friedrich 118 healthcare 47, 53–4, 58, 123–4, 135, 139 and access to data 141–2 and NWF 141 and uncertainty/probability 92 hedge fund managers 4 helicopter money 131, 146, 166 Hildebrand, Philipp 165 Hong Kong 2–3, 140, 164 Hopkin, Jonathan 172 Hopkins, Ellen 123 housing 71, 113, 114, 135 Hungary 11, 23, 30 Iceland 1–2, 8, 20 immigration 5, 7, 26, 27, 111–17, 164 economic effects of 115–16 and housing/training 113, 114 and income distribution 112, 113, 114–15 and manipulation by media/politicians 111, 115 as stressor 113, 115 and technological change 106 and tribalism 95, 111, 112, 113 income see wages income distribution 43, 50, 51 and Keynesian economics 71 and neoliberalism 80, 81 independent fiscal councils 150–51 India 23, 127 individualism 29, 154 Indonesia 3 inequality 3, 4, 6, 15, 29, 30, 40–41, 43, 49–57, 58, 61, 79, 118 difficulties in measuring 50–53 and distribution of income/consumption 53–4 and financial crisis (2008) 79–80, 83, 85 further reading on 173, 176 intergenerational 56–7, 107–10 and populism 54–5 and uncertainty 49–50 inequality, strategies to reduce 121–2, 129–31, 132, 162 asset ownership 130–31, 133, 136, 140–41 and data dividend 141–4 National Wealth Fund see NWF optimal/effective 132–3 and universal basic income (UBI) 141, 144 wealth tax 130, 132 inflation 5, 40, 51–2, 53, 69 death of 126, 128 and full employment 73–4, 76, 121, 122, 125 and global financial markets 78 and interest rates 75, 81–2, 120 low see low inflation and oil prices 96–7 and printing money 78, 128, 145 and raising taxes 129 and recession 144–5 and regulation of banks 125–6, 127, 132 and stagflation 40, 74, 120, 128 inheritance 132, 133, 160 national 136 innovation see technological change insurance industry 93 interest rates 15, 33–4, 75, 81–2, 165–6 dual, and sustainable investment 131–2, 149–50 low, problem of 120–21, 122, 131, 132, 135, 146–8, 152 negative, problem of 15, 148, 149, 150 and spending 147 internet 25 investment spending 40, 60, 69 and future expectations 103 and global capital flows 77–8 and inflation 74 public sector 67, 70–71 sustainable see sustainable investment IRA (Irish Republican Army) 17 Iraq 6 Ireland 17–18, 23, 24 Islam 27 Italy 35, 37, 38, 39, 44, 66, 71, 87–8, 144, 156, 167 aging population in 110 poverty in 47 tribalism in 45–6 Japan 26, 84, 110, 137, 140, 148 job security/insecurity 34, 50, 56, 61, 94, 95–6, 100–101 and technology 102 Kalecki, Michał 60–61, 73–5, 120, 121, 127 Keynes, John Maynard/Keynesian economics 60, 66–7, 68–70, 92, 103, 118, 127, 151 General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money 66, 175 and inflation 67, 69, 128 labour market 35, 40–41, 42, 43, 44 and automation 102–106 deregulation 50, 95, 99, 122, 127 dispersion in 98–9 and full employment see full employment and immigration 115–16 in Keynesian system 71–2 and labour as commodity 59, 60, 65–6, 73, 85 and protectionism 59–61, 66 and secular stability 125, 126 and training 62–3 see also wages Lagarde, Christine 167 Lerner, Abba 118 libertarianism 63 Lonergan, Eric 174 Los Indignatios 85 low inflation 79, 134, 157 and full employment/secular stability 126 and government spending/borrowing 128, 138–40, 150, 152 and recession 144–5, 150, 162 Luce, Edward 164 Ludd, Ned/Luddites 102 machine learning (MI) 102–104 see also artificial intelligence macroeconomics 9, 13, 47, 89 failure of 119–20 and uncertainty 94 Macron, Emmanuel 162 Mair, Peter 172 markets 30, 59–61, 62, 66–7 and democracy 68 and quantity theory of money 68–9 see also labour market Mauss, Marcel 21–2 Mazzucato, Mariana 156 media 11, 43, 47 and technological change 98, 102–103, 105 and tribalism 24–5, 26–7, 29, 31, 61, 116, 161 Merkel, Angela 114 Mexico 63 micro-stressors 47–8, 53, 84, 91 and aging populations see aging populations and change 94 and fourth industrial revolution 94 and immigration see immigration microeconomics 9, 13–14, 160 migrant crisis 7, 111 Milanovic, Branko 52, 80 minimal group paradigm 21 Minsky, Hyman 128 mobile phones 53, 96, 97, 142 modern monetary theory (MMT) 118, 128–9 money, printing 78, 128, 145 monopolies 142, 143, 144 moral outrage 8, 13, 15, 35–6, 57–8, 117, 130, 161 and inequality see inequality as rational 36 and tribalism, compared 19, 20, 22, 29, 30–31, 36 triggers for 36 mortgages 34, 35, 38, 82, 111, 137, 145 nation state 39–40, 48, 50, 117, 119 national wealth fund see NWF nationalism 5, 11, 23, 29, 31, 39, 41, 116, 119 as positive 153–6 neoliberalism 4, 28–9, 37, 75–8, 122 and global capital flows 77–8 and inequality 51, 52, 53 NHS (National Health Service) 107 Nissan 100–101 Nixon, Richard 26 Northern Ireland 17–18, 23, 24 Norway 133, 134 Nussbaum, Martha 16, 35, 36 NWF (national wealth fund) 15, 132, 133–41, 143, 152, 168 and aging population 138–9 and asset ownership 133, 136, 140–41 and government borrowing/debt 136–7, 138–40 and growth of global stock market 137–8 and individual trust funds 135 and negative interest rates 134–5, 136 and risk 136, 137–8 sovereign 133–4 and trade surplus 134 Obama, Barack 29, 46 oil prices 96–7 Orban, Viktor 23, 30, 161 “Panama Papers” 2, 20 pensions 57, 63, 106–107, 138 perpetual loans 147–8 Philadelphia Eagles 20 Pickett, Kate 168 Piketty, Thomas 49, 52, 80, 108–10 play 153 Poland 11, 30 Polanyi, Karl 59–61, 64–5, 67, 175 political centrism 38, 48, 118–19, 121, 160–61, 162 political disengagement 29 political economy 12, 13 political identity 22–3, 29–30, 37, 48, 116, 117 further reading on 172 political parties 5–6, 7, 28 politics, new 15–16, 58, 160 populism 11, 27, 39 and financial crisis 86 three genres of 54–5 Portugal 35, 38, 44, 144 poverty 47, 67, 72, 80, 115 and demographics 57, 107 power 4, 48 powerlessness 9, 41 price stability 76, 79, 128, 147 private anger 7, 8, 9, 10, 13–14, 36, 117 and cognitive effort 89–90, 91 see also anxiety/stress private sector debt 131, 145 and government borrowing 134–5, 137, 138–40 investment 67, 70, 149–50, 151 liability in financial crisis 85, 127 privatization 28, 40, 96, 107 probability 91–3 product market competition 94, 95–8, 116, 125 and deregulation/privatization 96–7 and dispersion 97, 98–9 intensification of 96, 101 and technological change 96, 97–8, 99 productivity 40 and technological innovation 9, 10, 15, 102, 104–105 and wages 71, 72, 74, 76 profit margins 98, 101, 105, 143 property prices 34, 38 property rights 142, 143, 154 protectionism 59–60, 61, 66 public anger 7, 8–9, 10, 89, 98, 117–18 economic causes of 13 see also moral outrage; tribalism/tribal anger public housing 71, 113, 114 public sector investment 67, 70–71 public services 24, 115, 116 quantitative easing (QE) 146–7, 167 quantity theory of money 68–9, 78 racism 26, 54, 55, 115 Raworth, Kate 131–2, 173 Reagan, Ronald 26, 75, 118 recession 15, 29, 30, 34–5, 44, 49, 55, 58, 84, 152, 153 and dual interest rates 150 and interest rates 75, 120–21 and investment spending 60, 70, 71 and low inflation 144–5, 150, 162 and MMT 128–9 and stock markets 139, 140 see also euro crisis referenda 37 regeneration, economic 132 regional development 15, 115, 116, 149, 153, 156 Renzi, Matteo 37 risk 91–2, 127, 136, 137, 153 Roberts, Carys 174 robotics see artificial intelligence Rodrik, Dani 4, 39, 40 Russia 11, 41 Sahm, Claudia 150–51 Salvo, Francesca 87–8 Sandbu, Martin 174 Sanders, Bernie 128, 164 savings 93 scale economies 98, 99, 142 Scottish nationalism 7, 119 secular stability 125, 126, 127 service-based economy 52 Singapore 133, 134, 162 SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) 164–5, 166 social democracy 63–4 social media 26, 27, 90, 98 Solow growth model 109 sovereign wealth funds 133–4 sovereignty 39 Spain 33–5, 38, 44, 45, 144 protests against austerity in 85 spending increasing 145, 147, 151 investment 40, 60 power 145 public sector 67, 70–71, 128, 151 restrictions on 41, 44, 149 sports fans 8, 19–20, 21, 25 sports industry 99 stagflation 40, 74, 120, 128 status-injury 36, 54 stock markets 63, 137–8, 139–40 stress see anxiety/stress strikes 73, 74 student loans 111 supply–demand 60, 96, 104 sustainable investment 131–2, 149–50, 152, 153 Sweden 63–4, 72–3 Syria 111, 113 Tavris, Carol 36, 171 taxes 40, 50, 57, 108, 116, 124 cuts in 34, 44, 111, 151 dodging 2, 6, 20, 132–3, 143 political opposition to 129, 130, 132, 133 raising 152 on wealth 129, 130, 132, 140 Tea Party movement 85 technocracy 37, 42–3, 48, 160–61 technological change 29, 58, 96, 109 and aging population 90, 106, 122 and competition 96, 97–8 and dispersion of returns 97 and fourth industrial revolution 94 further reading on 173–4 and inequality 50, 53 and labour market 102–104 and media 24–5, 27 as micro-stressor 88, 91, 94, 96, 97–8, 99, 101–102, 105, 116, 118 and productivity 9, 10, 15, 105, 122 and rate of diffusion 14 and uncertainty 101–102 telecommunications 96, 97, 142 terrorism 17, 18, 27 Thatcher, Margaret 75, 76, 118, 131 Thunberg, Greta 150 TLTRO programme (European Central Bank) 147–8 trade 21–2, 26, 42, 78, 154 and neoliberalism 78 trade surplus 134 trade unions 28, 42, 63, 66, 72, 73, 76, 79 trade wars 21–2, 26 training 62–3, 93, 113, 114, 141 tribalism/tribal anger 8–9, 11, 18–31, 41, 45–6, 117 and central/eastern Europe 23, 30 destructiveness of 24 and ethical norms 20 and fascism 68 and financial crisis 86, 89 and global politics 21–2, 26, 28–9 and immigration 95, 111, 112, 113 manipulation by politicians/media of 13, 22, 24–7, 29, 30, 31, 35, 61, 95, 116, 161 and minimal group paradigm 21 and moral outrage, compared 19, 20, 22, 29, 30–31, 36 and political identity 22–23, 29–30 social function of 20–21 and sport fans 19–20, 25 see also nationalism trickling down/up 79–80 trilemma, political 39 trucking industry 103 Trump, Donald 11, 22, 23, 25–6, 27, 33, 38, 119, 126, 161 and deregulation 129 election of 41–2, 54 tax cuts of 11 Turkey 11 universal basic income (UBI) 141, 144 Ukraine 11 uncertainty 9–10, 43, 49–50, 65, 91–4, 99, 118, 161 and aging populations see aging populations and emerging technologies 102–103, 106 and healthcare 92 and immigration see immigration reducing 93–4 and risk/probability 91–3 and skills development 93 unemployment 2, 30, 34, 44–5, 48, 58, 66, 72, 84, 167 and inflation/interest rates 74, 75, 125 unfairness 25, 36, 105 United States (US) 3, 38, 93, 118, 129, 164 aging population in 107–108, 110, 111 automation in 103, 104–105 financial crisis in (2008) 82–3, 84, 85 gig economy in 100 healthcare in 47–8, 53–4, 58, 106, 123–4 independent fiscal councils in 150–51 inequality in 50, 51, 53–4, 58, 80–81 Keynesian system in 71, 72–3 labour market in 42, 44, 46, 62 micro-stressors in 47–8 neoliberalism in 76 and NWF 135 stock market in 63 tribalism in 23, 25, 29 wealth tax in 130 US Federal Reserve 6, 46, 84, 108, 110, 120, 148, 151 voice, loss of 37–9, 43, 48, 58 Volcker, Paul 75, 81–2 voting 37–8 see also electoral politics wages 2, 60 and automation 105 and competition 96–7, 98 and consumption 53–4, 58, 72 distribution of see income distribution growth in, without inflation 125 and immigration 115–16 and inequality 4, 50–53, 58 and neoliberalism 76, 77 and oil prices 96–7 and productivity 72, 76 stagnation in 34, 47, 58, 80–81, 83, 84, 85 and supply/demand 65–6 Wall Street Crash 67 Warren, Elizabeth 130, 132 Watson’s Analytics 19 wealth, distribution of 4, 15, 29, 30 welfare state 71 WhatsApp 2 Wilkinson, Richard 176 wind power, investment in 150 Wolf, Martin 80, 173 World Trade Organization (WTO) 42 Wren-Lewis, Simon 151 Yates, Tony 151 “Yellow Jackets” protests 2, 20, 55, 56

Battling Eight Giants: Basic Income Now
by Guy Standing
Published 19 Mar 2020

Drastic measures are required to arrest global warming, combat pollution and revive ecosystems. Too many of us disregard what is happening unless it hits us personally or hits someone close to us. This myopic perspective must change. Late 2018 saw the beginning of a movement with the deliberately alarming name of ‘Extinction Rebellion’. This has the potential to become a powerful twenty-first-century movement and deserves support. In Britain and around the world, children in particular are suffering life-threatening illness from toxic air linked to transport using fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels has been termed ‘the world’s most significant threat to children’s health’68 while ‘long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests’.69 Air pollution is now the single biggest threat to human health, inducing not only physical but mental illness and accelerating dementia.70 And it is a source of inequality, since low-income communities are more exposed.

…

See also individual entries definition 1, 4–8 reasons for need 8–9 security 98, 113, 114 system 1, 20, 23, 26, 32, 37, 52, 70, 84, 90–1, 122 n.7 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) 94 behavioural conditionality 70, 73, 77, 114 behaviour-testing 4, 39, 70, 84 benefits 5, 7, 27 conditional schemes 41 social assistance 23 BET365 11 Beveridge, William 8–9, 38 Beveridge model 21 Big Bang liberalization 18 BJP 92 black economy 40, 60 B-Mincome 99–100 Booker, Cory 101 brain development 98–9 132 Branson, Richard 54 Brexit 53 Britain 6, 8–10, 12–18, 20, 23–4, 26–7, 30–1, 33–4, 37–8, 40–2, 55, 57, 59, 90, 101, 104, 112 British Columbia 95 British Constitution 1 Buck, Karen 57 bureaucracy 40, 49, 100, 102 Bureau of Economic Analysis 16 Business Property Relief 58 California 69, 96–7 Canada 35 capacity-to-work tests 6, 104 cap-and-trade approach 34 Capita 50 capital dividend 59 capital fund 89–90 capital grants 59, 75, 76, 92 carbon dividends 37 carbon emissions 33–4 carbon tax 34–5, 37 care deficit 53 care work 36, 53, 67, 74, 84 cash payments 111 cash transfers 99 ‘casino dividend’ schemes 88 charities 48 The Charter of the Forest (1217) 1 Chicago 99 Child Benefit 57, 58, 72, 123 n.4 childcare 99, 110–11 child development 88 Child Tax Credits 81 chronic psychological stress 26 Citizens Advice 46–8 Citizen’s Basic Income Trust 7, 122 n.7, 123 n.4 citizenship rights 1, 29 civil society organizations 79 Index climate change 34 Clinton, Hillary 126 n.4 Clinton, Bill 105 Coalition government 41, 50 cognitive performance 33 collateral damage 53 common dividends 7, 20, 21, 59–60, 69, 73, 75, 83, 84, 85 Commons Fund 8, 35, 57, 59, 89 community cohesion 3 resilience 23 work 84 ‘community payback’ schemes 102 Compass 59 compensation 2, 7, 16, 104 ‘concealed debt’ 24–5 conditional cash transfer schemes 90 Conservative government 9, 85 Conservatives 23 consumer credit 24 consumption 23 contractual obligations 46 Coote, Anna 113 cost of living 25, 49, 52, 83 council house sales 76 council tax 25 Crocker, Geoff 122 n.15 cross-party plans 80 crowd-funded schemes 100 deadweight effects 102 ‘deaths of despair’ 27 Deaton, Angus 10 debt 23–6, 67, 85 debt collection practices 24–5 decarbonization 34 dementia 33 democratic values 69 Democrats 37 demographic changes 15   Index 133 Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 11–12, 42–8, 50–2, 73, 81, 92, 129 n.6 depression 28, 94 direct taxes 56, 58 disability benefits 6, 49–52, 83 Disability Living Allowance (DLA) 49–51 Disabled People Against Cuts 52 Dividend Allowance 58 ‘dividend capitalism’ 8 domestic violence 29, 87 Dragonfly 92 due process 46, 49 ecological crisis 33, 37, 39, 114 ecological developments 21 ecological disaster 35 ecological taxes and levies 37 economy benefits 20, 60 crisis 106 damage 34 growth 20, 36, 106 industrialized 20 insecurity 21, 35, 39, 89 security 75, 80, 84, 88 system 15, 27, 38 tax-paying 60 uncertainty 8, 22–3, 31 ‘eco-socialism’ 8 ecosystems 33 Edinburgh 80 education 88, 108 Elliott, Larry 122 n.15 employment 16, 22, 39, 60–1, 81, 89, 93–4, 102, 106, 107, 110, 114 Employment Support Allowance (ESA) 27, 41, 49–51 England 28, 63, 110–11 Enlightenment 85 Entrepreneurs’ Relief 18 equality 31, 85 Europe 37 European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) 120 n.1 European Heart Journal 33 European Union 6, 17, 41 euthanasia 113 extinction 33–7 ‘Extinction Rebellion’ 33 Fabian Society 57–8 Facebook 97 family allowances 56 family benefits 56 family insecurity 23 federal welfare programs 106 Fife 24, 80 financial crash (2007–8) 23, 26, 34 financialization 116 n.22 financial markets 18 Financial Services Authority 123 n.15 Financial Times 19, 123 n.15 financial wealth 18 Finland 28, 61, 93–5 food banks 10, 29–30, 43, 109 food donations 29 food insecurity 108–9 fossil fuels 33–4 France 12, 17, 18, 32, 38, 57 free bus services 112 freedom 8, 30, 84, 85, 101, 114 ‘free food’ 108–9, 129 n.6 ‘free’ labour market 106 free trade 13 Friends Provident Foundation 75 fuel tax 35 fund and dividend model 89 funding 29, 59, 62, 69, 71–2, 112 134 G20 (Group of 20 large economies) 15 Gaffney, Declan 57 Gallup 105 GDP 14, 17–18, 23–4, 34, 36, 59, 89, 108 General Election 91–2, 94 ‘genuine progress indicator’ 36 Germany 17–18, 38, 100 Gillibrand, Kirsten 101 Gini coefficient 9, 12 GiveDirectly 91 Glasgow City 80 globalization 14 Global Wage Report 2016/17 14 global warming 33, 37 Good Society 75, 106 The Great British Benefits Handout (TV series) 92 Great Depression 9 Great Recession 23 greenhouse gas emissions 34, 36 gross cost 110 The Guardian 101, 103, 122–3 n.15 Hansard Society 37 Harris, Kamala 101 Harrop, Andrew 57 Hartz IV 100 HartzPlus 100 health 67, 87, 100 human 33 insurance premiums 35 services 60 healthcare costs 28 hegemony 14 help-to-buy loan scheme 76 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) 64, 73, 81 Hirschmann, Albert 56 household debt 24 Index household earnings 16 household survey 12 House of Commons 110–11 housing allowance 95 Housing Benefit 24, 41, 53, 71 housing policy 53 hub-and-spoke model 112 Hughes, Chris 97 humanity 33 human relations 3 ‘immoral’ hazard 109 ‘impact’ effects 78 incentive 62 income 81 assistance 88 average 83 components 11 distribution system 4, 13–14, 38, 67, 84, 107, 114 gap 9 growth 16 insecurity 27 men vs. women 15–16 national 14, 36 pensioners’ 16 rental 13–15, 20 social 14, 16–17 support payments 110 tax 1, 7, 57, 89, 111 transfer 85 volatility 22 India 68, 80, 90–2 Indian Congress Party 91 inequality 2, 4, 9–13, 21, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 54, 80, 85, 114 growth 17 income 9–10, 15–17, 19 living standard 20 wealth 18–19, 76 informal care 111   Index 135 inheritance tax 58 in-kind services 111 insecurity 21–3, 29, 38, 39, 47, 67, 85, 106 Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) 10 Institute for Public Policy Research 125 n.17 Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) 75, 111 Institute of New Economic Thinking 123 n.15 Institute of Public Policy Research 59 insurance schemes 8 intellectual property 14–15 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 34 International Labour Organization (ILO) 14, 122 n.4 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 31, 34 international tax evasion 18 interpersonal income inequality 83 inter-regional income inequalities 83 intra-family relationships 3 involuntary debt 26 in-work benefits 22 Ireland 35 Italy 18 labour 31, 107 inefficiency 106 law 101 markets 8, 14, 32, 39, 40, 60, 62–3, 96, 100, 106 regulations 13 supply 67, 95 Labour governments 85 labourism 106 Lansley, Stewart 59 Latin America 90 Left Alliance 94 Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich 113 Liberal government 35 life-changing errors 51 life-threatening illness 33 Liverpool 80 living standards 20, 23, 33, 36, 53, 59, 92 Local Housing Allowances 24 London Homelessness Project 92–3 low-income communities 33 low-income families 21 low-income households 17 low-income individuals 86 Low Pay Commission 63 low-wage jobs 60, 107 Luddite reaction 32 lump-sum payments 35, 59, 76 Jackson, Mississippi 99 JobCentrePlus 47 job guarantee policy 101–7 job-matching programs 106 Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) 41, 46 Joseph Rowntree Foundation 21 McDonnell, John 129 n.13 McKinsey Global Institute 31 Macron, Emmanuel 35 Magna Carta 1 ‘Making Ends Meet’ 97 ‘mandatory reconsideration’ stage 51 Manitoba 87–8 Manitoba Basic Annual Income Experiment (Mincome) 87 market economy 105, 114 master-servant model 101 Kaletsky, Anatole 123 n.15 Kenya 90–2 Khanna, Ro 103 Kibasi, Tom 113 136 Index Maximus 50 means-testing 4, 39, 42, 48, 58, 61–2, 70, 84, 88, 90, 109–10, 114 benefits 5, 7, 27, 40, 46, 56, 71–3, 81, 129 n.6 social assistance 23, 41, 95, 122 n.7 system 6 medical services 28 Mein Grundeinkommen (‘My Basic Income’) 100 mental health 26, 28, 94 disorders 88 trusts 28 mental illness 33, 68 migrants 7, 113 ‘minimum income floor’ 45 Ministry of Justice 51 modern insecurity 22 modern life 31 monetary policy 59 Mont Pelerin Society 13 moral commitment 75 moral hazard 109 mortality 27, 76 multinational investment funds 34 Musk, Elon 31, 54 Namibia 90–2 National Audit Office (NAO) 24, 43–4, 46, 76 National Health Service (NHS) 8, 24, 27–8, 44, 68, 80, 108, 111 National Insurance 18, 22, 124 n.4 nationalism 37 National Living Wage 63 National Minimum Wage 63–4 national solidarity 3 Native American community 88 negative income tax (NIT) 23, 87, 95, 100 neo-fascism 37–8 neoliberalism 13, 84 Netherlands 96 New Economics Foundation (NEF) 57, 113, 122 n.15 non-resident citizens 113 non-wage benefits 16 non-wage work 74 North America 67 North Ayrshire 80 North Carolina 88 North Sea oil 89–90 Nyman, Rickard 23 Oakland 96–7 Office for National Statistics (ONS) 14–15, 17, 36 Ontario, Canada 95–6 open economy 84 open ‘free’ markets 13, 15 opportunity dividend 59 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 18, 23, 27, 31 Ormerod, Paul 23 Osborne, George 19 Paine, Thomas 2, 75 Painian Principle 2 panopticon state 55 Paris Agreement (2015) 34 participation income 74–5 paternalism 42, 55 pauperization 63 Pawar, Alderman Ameya 99 pay contributions 21 pension contributions 18, 58 Pension Credit 41 Pericles Condition 75 permanent capital fund 71 personal care services 110–11   Index 137 personal income tax 35 Personal Independence Payment (PIP) 49–51 personal insecurity 23 Personal Savings Allowance 58 personal tax allowances 17, 58, 59 perverse incentives 50 physical health 26, 94 piloting in Britain 67–81 applying 80–1 rules in designing 70–80 policy development 3, 69 political decision 78 political discourse 92 political instability 35 political system 38 populism 37–8, 75 populist parties 37 populist politics 39 Populus survey 55 post-war system 8 poverty 2, 4, 10–12, 22, 27, 29, 36, 38, 40, 60–1, 89, 100, 108–9, 114, 125 n.17, 129 n.6 precarity 29–30, 38, 39, 60–1, 85, 103, 129 n.6 Primary Earnings Threshold 124 n.4 private debt 23–4, 39 private inheritance 2 private insurance 85 private property rights 13 private wealth 18 privatization 13, 17, 112 property prices 76 prostitution 43 Public Accounts Committee (PAC) 51 public costs 28 public debt 23 public inheritance 61 public libraries 47 public policy 97 public sector managers 103 public services 4, 17, 62, 108, 112, 114 public spending 89 public wealth 18 ‘quantitative easing’ policy 59 quasi-basic income 89, 98 quasi-universal basic services 30 quasi-universal dividends 35 quasi-universal system 61, 70, 90 Randomised Control Trial (RCT) 124–5 n.14 rape 44 Ratcliffe, Jim 12 Reagan, Ronald 13 Reed, Howard 59 refugees 7 regressive universalism 57 regular cash payment 7 rent arrears 24 controls 53 rentier capitalism 13–21, 107, 116 n.22 republican freedom 2–3, 30, 84 Republicans 37 Resolution Foundation 10, 15, 19, 25, 76 ‘revenue neutral’ constraint 7 right-wing populism 37–8 robot advance 31–3 Royal College of Physicians 33 Royal Society of Arts 55, 59, 124 n.12 RSA Scotland 125 n.17 Rudd, Amber 9 Russia 113 138 Sanders, Bernie 101 scepticism 31 schooling 67, 89 Scotland 69, 80, 111 Second World War 19, 21 security 8, 38, 55, 68, 84 economic 3, 4, 49, 56 income 73–4 social 8, 22, 49 Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) 68 self-employment 45 Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 3, 115 n.3 Smith, Iain Duncan 42 ‘snake oil’ 113 social assistance 3, 28 social benefit 20 social care 102, 104, 110–11 social crisis 106 social dividend scheme 92 Social Fund 29 social inheritance 2 social insecurity 21 social insurance 22, 85 social integration 44 social justice 2, 8, 20, 69, 84, 101, 114 social policy 8, 23, 26, 30, 42, 53, 84–5, 96 social protection system 32 social relation 100 social security 10, 70–1, 95 social solidarity 3, 8, 39, 61, 84–5, 91 social spending 17 social status 104 social strife 35 social value 29 ‘something-for-nothing’ economy 19–20, 61 Index Speenhamland system 63 State of the Global Workplace surveys 105 statutory minimum wages 106 stigma 47, 55 stigmatization 41, 109 Stockton 97–9 Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED) 97 stress 26–9, 39, 51, 67, 68, 85, 93 student loans 24 substitution effects 102–3 suicides 26–7 Summers, Larry 105–6 Sweden 113 Swiss bank Credit Suisse 12 Switzerland 35 tax advantages 49 and benefit systems 17, 18, 69, 110 credits 3, 17, 24, 63, 105, 106 policies 16 rates 72 reliefs 17–18, 57–8, 61 tax-free inheritance 19 technological change 105 technological revolution 14, 31, 114 ‘teething problems’ 42 Thatcher, Margaret 13 Thatcher government 9, 18 The Times 92 Torry, Malcolm 122 n.7 Trades Union Congress 24 tribal casino schemes 76 ‘triple-lock’ policy 16 Trump, Donald 37 Trussell Trust 29, 43 Tubbs, Michael 97–8   Index 139 Turner, Adair 123 n.15 two-child limit 44 UK.

The Star Builders: Nuclear Fusion and the Race to Power the Planet
by Arthur Turrell
Published 2 Aug 2021

That’s the A-side; the B-side features the related challenges of pollution and habitat destruction. There’s clamor for change—though, so far, not a lot of concrete progress. Teenage climate campaigner Greta Thunberg is touring the world telling politicians and officials to do more. In the UK, the Extinction Rebellion movement has protested by blocking streets and gluing themselves to government buildings. They want net zero carbon emissions by 2025. In the US, Democrats have campaigned for a Green New Deal that includes a commitment to net zero by 2030. By 2019, fifteen nations had committed to reach net zero by 2050.

…

See also energy generation Teller’s idea of using hydrogen bombs to generate, 115–16 electromagnetism, in nuclear reactions, 60–61, 62, 65, 66, 96 end of life stars, and nuclear fusion, 83–86 energy consumption climate change and addiction to, 28–29 estimates of future increases in, 30 exajoule as measurement of, 30 global annual growth in, 31, 34, 35 inequalities in, 29 number of years left for different types of fuel in, 43–45 population growth and, 29–30 energy crisis, 31–35 approaches to solving, 35–41 climate change consequences and, 33–34 fission power for, 39–41 fossil fuels use and, 31–33 limitations of renewable energy sources and, 36–39 public demand for action against, 28, 31 star power rescue plan with nuclear fusion for, 41–46 energy generation batteries for, 38 fossil fuels used for, 31–32, 34, 35 inequalities in energy consumption and need for increase in, 29 net zero carbon emission goal and, 28, 46, 199, 200 renewable energy sources for, 36–39, 46 Etzler, John Adolphus, 46 Euratom, 106–7 Eurofusion, 193 European Environment Agency, 176 European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), 52, 66, 202 European Union (EU) ITER tokamak, Cadarache, France, and, 186–87 JET project by, 88 Wendelstein 7-X stellarator and, 156 exajoule, as energy measurement, 30 Extinction Rebellion movement, 28 Fermi, Enrico, 161, 164 Fields Medal, 66 financial backers. See also funding claims and promises of private-sector companies and, 153, 154 TAE Technologies and, 147 First Light Fusion, 22–24, 133–38 deuterium-tritium fusion reactions used by, 63, 190 fusion energy development timeline and, 46 Hawker’s management of, 22–23 inertial confinement fusion at, 24, 135, 190, 197–98 Machine 3 electromagnetic rail gun at, 135–36 net energy gain goal and, 24, 138, 193 off-the-shelf technology used by, 137, 146, 202 physical setting for, 134–35 pistol shrimp shock wave generation model for, 133–34 retention of patent rights by, 136–37 safety of working environment at, 180 star machine vision of, 138 target technology approach of, 135–37, 138 fission.

…

See also spherical tokamaks basic design elements of, 100–2 Chapman on challenges facing, 194–96 Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ use of, 141–42 confinement of plasma in, 186 DEMO power plant prototype, 197, 198, 199, 206 high temperatures reached by, 184 instabilities in, 98–99, 102–4 JET reactor as, 100 maintaining internal chamber wall conditions in, 104–6 mix of temperature, density, and confinement in, 185–86 Soviet design of, 100, 102 spectroscopy for checking conditions in, 104–5 Tore Supra tokamak, 184 toroidal pinch machine, 97–100, 102 tritium attempts at breeding, 195–96, 197 energy security and access to, 43 fusion using, 51. See also deuterium-tritium fusion Lawson’s equations on use of, 109–10 number of years left for supply of, if used exclusively, 44–45 structure of, as hydrogen isotope, 51–52 UFL-2M laser fusion facility, Russia, 192 United Kingdom Extinction Rebellion movement in, 27 funding from, 157 land area needed for wind power generation in, 37 renewable energy use projection for, 37–38 UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA), 88–89 UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment, 54 UK Committee on Climate Change, 37–38 United States Green New Deal proposal in, 28 ITER tokamak, Cadarache, France, and, 186–87 US Department of Energy, 20, 144, 189, 191, 205 US Energy Information Administration, 30, 206n uranium, 44, 166–67 Van Wonterghem, Bruno, 1–3, 7, 17, 118, 126–27, 177–78, 191 Wagner, Fritz, 184–85 Walton, Ernest, 53–54, 61 wave power.

Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World
by Jason Hickel
Published 12 Aug 2020

The only question we have a right to ask is what’s the right thing to do? What does this Earth require of us if we want to continue to live on it? –Wendell Berry Preface A Vision Informed by Our Shared Vulnerablity, and by Our Solidarity By Kofi Mawuli Klu and Rupert Read of XR. Extinction Rebellion [XR] is sometimes criticised for having demands that are (too) hard to achieve. But it’s important to be clear about what XR is not: XR is not an all-purpose way of fixing our adrift civilisation. Rather, XR is the smoke-alarm. XR is the non-violent cutting edge of what Jason Hickel calls in this important new book, the ‘emergency brake’.

…

Rich nations have to cut emissions much more quickly, given the scale of their historical contributions to climate breakdown, while poorer nations can take it more slowly. Scientists at the Stockholm Environment Institute calculate that rich countries need to reach zero emissions before 2030.13 The IPCC report had a galvanising effect, spurring citizens to action. Students staged climate strikes across Europe and North America. In London, the Extinction Rebellion movement blockaded five bridges across the River Thames, demanding that the UK government act immediately to achieve rapid emissions reductions. Opinion polls showed that a large majority of the British public supported the movement’s aims. Over the following months, the political conversation changed in ways that nobody would have expected.

…

All I’ve done here is offer a few possibilities that I hope will nourish the imagination. As for how to make it happen – that will require a movement, as with every struggle for social and ecological justice in history. And to some extent it is already emerging: from the school climate strikes to Extinction Rebellion, from La Via Campesina to Standing Rock; people are not only yearning for a better world, they are mobilising to bring it into being. I am not a political strategist, but I do want to offer one hopeful observation. Some people worry that there’s no way we can possibly accomplish the transition that’s required unless we have some kind of totalitarian government impose it from above.

Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration―and Why It’s Good for the Planet, the Economy, and Our Lives
by Danny Dorling and Kirsten McClure
Published 18 May 2020

So much that we hyped as new and amazing at the start of the twenty-first century was, in hindsight, simply hype. CHAPTER 5. Climate Epigraph: Jacob Jarvis, “Greta Thunberg Speech: Activist Tells Extinction Rebellion London Protesters ‘We Will Make People in Power Act on Climate Change,’” London Evening Standard, 21 April 2019, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/greta-thunberg-tells-extinction-rebellion-protesters-we-will-make-people-in-power-act-on-climate-a4122926.html. 1. Jonathan Watts, “A Teen Started a Global Climate Protest. What Are You Doing?” Wired, 12 March 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/a-teen-started-a-global-climate-protest-what-are-you-doing/. 2.

…

Five years later the same author announced, after doing “a lot of work on Artificial Intelligence,” “As with biotechnology, the risk right now is pretty minimal, but it might grow in time as AI become better and smarter.”29 The implication was that in those five years, not much had happened to cause any new worry. This time he did mention climate change, although once again he did not discuss species extinction. That was odd, as his article was published five weeks after more than one thousand young people had been arrested just fifty miles away in London as part of the Extinction Rebellion protest during Easter 2019. We do not know how long the Future of Humanity Institute will survive, but the fact that even it omits to mention species extinction as a possible great threat to humanity suggests that we are going to have to learn a great deal more about where we live, and how we should live—and quickly.

…

See also British Isles; United Kingdom English monarchs, generations of, 194–196, 195, 198 Enlightenment Now (Pinker), 265–66 entertainment and sports, 322–23 epidemics, 102, 131, 147, 150, 162, 171, 174 Erdoğan, Recep Tayyip, 312 eugenics, 185–86, 217, 314 Eurasia, population, 171–74, 172, 173. See also China; India; Japan European Union, 279–80, 341n5, 362n45 extinction, 12–15, 13, 298–99, 300, 301–2, 304–5. See also biodiversity Extinction Rebellion protest, 301–2 Fahrenheit, Gabriel, 123 family-planning clinics, 311–12 famine, 155, 162,166, 168, 215 Faster (Gleick), 211 favorable seasons, 1, 38–39, 191, 217, 284–85 fears and worries, 8–10, 174, 215, 298–99, 316, 318, 340n11 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 40, 41, 62, 238, 245, 257, 260 fertility, 182–225; average age of first-time mothers in European Union, 341n5; Brazil, 225, 228; China, 196–98, 197, 199, 200; defined, 183; East Timor, 204–5, 206; education for women and, 160; and the end of population growth, 225–27, 227, 229; eugenics and, 185–86; France, 215, 216; global slowdown, 183, 184, 186–89, 187; Guatemala, 209, 210; Haiti, 212, 213; infant mortality and, 185, 217–18, 220; Korea, Republic of, 220, 221, 222; Niger, 201–4, 203; Portugal, 223, 224; social change as measure of, 312–13; trends by region, 223–25, 227; United Kingdom, 218–20, 219; United States, 189, 190; using generations to measure, 194–96, 195, 207–14, 220, 222–23, 226; war and, 202, 204; world, 184, 187; world regions, 226, 227 film and TV shot lengths, 272 financial centers, top-ranking, 263–64 Financial Times, 235–36, 250, 304–5 First World War.

Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change
by Dieter Helm
Published 2 Sep 2020

Very few of us could afford the costs of Greta’s yacht. She demonstrated that it could be done without many emissions, but not in a way the rest of us could emulate. Others could simply have chosen not to travel. The actor Emma Thompson flew 5,400 miles (emitting around 1.6 tonnes of carbon) from and back to California to be in the Extinction Rebellion protest boat in London’s Oxford Circus, and Prince Harry used a private jet for his holidays, having preached the environmental message on climate change a few weeks earlier. What is wrong with fibre and video links? Wouldn’t that have been a much better example to all of us? This is something that the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us – it can be done without all the travel.

…

acid rain 25, 194 Africa xiv, xv, 2, 25, 30, 38, 44, 45, 47, 48, 51, 137, 229 agriculture 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 23, 35–6, 43, 44–5, 70, 76, 86, 87–8, 95, 100, 102, 109, 116, 146–7, 149, 159, 163–80, 181, 183, 192, 197, 198, 206, 220 baseline, the 164–8 biodiversity loss and 2, 5, 100, 164, 165, 168, 169, 171, 172, 174, 180 biofuels and 197–8 carbon emissions and 2, 12, 13, 35–6, 76–7, 146–7, 163–80 carbon price and 167–70, 171, 172, 173, 180 China and 28–9, 35, 45, 180 economics of 76, 165, 166–7, 171, 174 electricity and 13, 166, 168, 174, 178, 180 fertiliser use see fertiliser lobby 14, 110, 164, 165, 169, 170, 197 methane emissions 23, 84, 177, 178, 179 net gain and 172–4 net value of UK 76, 166 new technologies/indoor farming 87–8, 174–9, 180, 213 peat bogs and 2, 179 pesticide use see pesticides petrochemicals and 166 polluter-pays principle and 76, 168–70, 172, 173 pollution 36, 86, 163, 165–6, 168–70, 172, 173, 177–8, 230 public goods, agricultural 170–4, 180 sequestering carbon and 12, 95, 163, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173–4, 177, 179, 180 soils and 2, 146, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 175, 179 subsidies 14, 76, 102, 109, 116, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 180, 228 25 Year Plan and 179–80 Agriculture Bill (2018), UK 170 air conditioning 135–6, 224, 233 air quality xiii, 13, 25, 46, 52, 61, 70, 135, 153, 177, 180, 201, 216, 230, 232 air transport 3–4, 6, 11, 13, 22, 50, 53, 73, 87, 88, 92, 107, 125, 128, 129, 132, 133, 134, 149, 156–7, 186, 195, 201, 203–5 aluminium 7, 117 Amazon rainforest 2, 34, 35, 95, 145, 149–50, 151, 155, 229, 230 ammonia 35, 137, 191 anaerobic digesters 35, 165, 230 animal welfare 167, 177 antibiotics 93, 165, 174 Arctic 26, 46, 114, 178 artificial intelligence (AI) 32, 175, 220, 231 autonomous vehicles 13, 129, 132, 175, 189–90, 231 Balkans 137–8 Bank of England 121 batteries 6, 31, 131, 135, 141, 183, 184, 185–90, 191, 199, 204, 213, 214, 219, 220, 221, 225, 231 beef 5, 95, 116, 117, 167, 230 Berlin, Isaiah 104 big 5 polluter products 117–18, 120 bin Salman, Mohammad 27 biocrops 36 biodiversity xiv, 2, 5, 12, 13, 28, 35, 51, 76, 94, 100, 148, 149, 152, 153, 158, 159, 164, 165, 168, 169–70, 171, 172, 174, 180, 227, 233 bioenergy 31, 34–5, 36 biofuels 21, 35, 49, 50, 67, 70, 95, 135, 183, 184, 197–8, 210, 230 biomass 32, 34, 49, 50, 67, 69, 109, 146, 147, 151, 210, 217 bonds, government 220 BP 27, 149, 187, 199 Deepwater Horizon disaster, Gulf of Mexico (2010) 147 Brazil 2, 35, 38, 44–5, 47, 95, 145, 149–50, 155, 198 Brexit 42, 47, 56, 117, 165 British Gas 102, 139 British Steel x, 194 broadband networks 6, 11, 90, 92, 125, 126, 127–8, 130–1, 132–3, 135, 140–1, 199, 201, 202, 205, 211, 214, 231, 232 Brundtland Commission 45 BT 127–8, 141 Openreach 214 Burn Out (Helm) ix, xiv Bush, George W. 36, 48, 53, 103 business rates 76, 165 Canada 52, 191, 193 capitalist model 26, 42, 99, 227 carbon border tax/carbon border adjustment xii, 11, 13, 60, 80, 115–20, 194–6, 204 carbon capture and storage (CCS) xiv, 12, 75–6, 95, 109, 146, 147–8, 149, 154, 159, 203–4, 207, 209, 222, 223 Carbon Crunch, The (Helm) ix, xiv, 221 carbon diary 4–5, 8, 10, 11, 64–6, 83, 86, 116, 143, 144, 155, 156, 167, 180, 181, 185, 203, 205 carbon emissions: agriculture and see agriculture by country (2015) 30 during ice ages and warm periods for the past 800,000 years 21 economy and 81–159 electricity and see electricity global annual mean concentration of CO2 (ppm) 19 global average long-term concentration of CO2 (ppm) 20 measuring 43–6 since 1990 1–14, 17–37 transport and see individual method of transport 2020, position in 36–7 UN treaties and 38–57 unilateralism and 58–80 see also unilateralism carbon offsetting xiii–xiv, 4, 5, 12, 34, 45, 72, 74, 79, 94–6, 97, 105, 143–59, 192, 201, 203, 207, 214, 222, 223, 234 for companies 148–50 for countries 151–5 for individuals 155–7 markets 71–2, 110–13, 117, 144, 157–9, 208 travel and 156, 201–3 see also sequestration carbon permits 71–2, 79, 110–13, 117, 144, 208 carbon price/tax xii, xiii, xv, 8, 11, 12, 13, 26, 60, 61, 71, 72, 77, 79, 80, 84, 85–6, 102–3, 105, 106–24, 134, 143, 146, 147, 150, 151–4, 157, 159, 192, 197, 198, 199, 203, 227–30, 232, 234 agriculture and 167, 168, 169–70, 171, 173, 180 domain of the tax/carbon border adjustment xii, 11, 13, 60, 80, 115–20, 121, 124, 192, 194–6, 197, 204, 227 electric pollution and 216–18 ethics of 107–10 floor price 115, 117, 208 for imports 11, 13 prices or quantities/EU ETS versus carbon taxes 110–13 setting 113–15 transport and 192–9 what to do with the money 121–4 where to levy the tax 119–20 who fixes the price 120–1 carbon sinks 2, 5, 166, 169, 203 carboniferous age 34 cars 1, 3, 4, 7, 20, 22, 36, 44, 70, 73, 114, 129, 181, 182, 183, 184–5, 190, 191, 193, 196, 197, 198, 199 see also electric vehicles cartels 39, 40, 43, 45, 46, 47, 56 cattle farming 35, 36, 95, 150, 166, 167, 173, 177, 198 Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) 102, 139, 218 cement 6, 7, 26, 29, 34, 87, 117, 171 charging networks, electric vehicle 91, 129–30, 141–2, 184, 185–90, 199, 200, 202, 219 Chernobyl 78 China xi, xv, 1–2, 5, 8, 18, 42, 46, 47, 48, 64, 66, 74, 101, 180, 229 Belt and Road Initiative 28, 45 coal use 1–2, 8, 23–4, 24, 28, 31, 38, 117, 154, 206, 208 Communist Party 2, 27, 42, 46 demand for fossil fuels/carbon emissions 1–2, 8, 18, 20, 22, 23–4, 24, 25, 27–31, 36, 38, 51, 73, 117, 154, 206, 208 export market x–xi, 5, 9, 64, 66, 117, 155, 194 fertiliser use 35 GDP xv, 27, 29 nationalism and 42 petrochemical demand 22 renewables companies 9, 32, 73, 74, 77, 79 Tiananmen Square 42 unilateralism and 58, 59 UN treaties and 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59 US trade war 56, 118 Churchill, Winston 183 citizen assemblies 99–101 climate change: carbon emissions and see carbon emissions 1.5° target 38, 57 2° target 1, 10, 22–3, 28, 30, 38, 39, 45, 47, 54, 55, 57, 108, 122, 155, 206 see also individual area of climate change Climate Change Act (2008) 66, 74–7 Clinton, Bill 40, 48 Club of Rome 98 coal 1–2, 5, 8, 13, 20, 23–5, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38, 50, 52, 53, 60–1, 67, 72, 77, 78–9, 101, 109, 112, 116, 117, 119, 134, 136, 145, 147, 148, 151, 154, 155, 182, 183, 194, 196, 206–9, 210, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 229, 230 coastal marshes 146, 159 colonialism 45 Committee on Climate Change (CCC), UK x–xi, 7, 74–5, 120, 164, 166, 169, 217, 235 ‘Net Zero: The UK’s Contribution to Stopping Global Warming’ report x–xi conference/video calls 6, 129, 156, 202, 205 Conference of the Parties (COP) xii, 10, 48, 50, 53–4, 55, 59, 205 congestion charges 198 Copenhagen Accord 48, 53–4, 59 Coronavirus see Covid-19 cost-benefit analysis (CBA) 71, 108, 110, 114, 138 cost of living 116 Covid-19 x, xi–xii, 1, 3, 6, 9, 18, 19, 22, 25, 27, 30, 37, 44, 46, 50, 57, 65, 69, 80, 89, 93, 129, 135, 148, 171, 201, 202, 204, 232 CRISPR 176 crop yields 172, 177 dams 2, 36, 52–3, 179 DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) 100 deforestation 2, 5, 34, 35, 36, 38, 43, 44, 47, 55, 87, 95, 145, 146, 149–50, 155, 172–3, 179, 197–8, 229 Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) 170 deindustrialisation x, 29, 46, 52, 54, 59, 72–4, 218 Deng Xiaoping 27 Denmark 69–70, 136–7 desalination 135–6, 179 diesel 4, 20–1, 70, 76, 86, 109, 119, 121, 129, 132, 164, 165, 166, 174, 175, 178, 179, 181, 182, 185, 186, 191, 192, 196–7, 208, 217, 230 ‘dieselgate’ scandal 196–7 digitalisation 1, 8, 11, 13, 33, 92, 117, 136, 174, 175, 180, 206, 211, 215, 221, 228–9, 231 DONG 69 Drax 147, 151, 154, 218 economy, net zero 10–12, 81–159 delivering a 96–103 intergenerational equity and 96–7 markets and 103–5 net environmental gain see net environmental gain political ideologies and 98–101 polluter-pays principle see polluter-pays principle public goods, provision of see public goods, provision of technological change and 98 EDF 139, 218 Ehrlich, Paul 98 electricity 1–2, 4, 6, 11, 12, 13, 23, 31, 32, 49, 53, 61, 65, 66, 68, 70, 73, 77, 78, 79, 91, 92, 101, 102, 109, 117, 125, 127, 128, 129–30, 131–2, 134, 135, 136, 137, 139, 140, 141, 149, 158, 166, 168, 174, 178, 180, 182, 183, 228, 229, 231, 232, 234, 235 coal, getting out of 206–7 electric pollution and the carbon price 216–18 electric vehicles 4, 6, 13, 20, 23, 49, 61, 91, 92, 94, 121, 125, 128, 129–30, 131–2, 134, 141, 183–92, 193, 194, 197, 200, 201, 202, 206, 219, 228 equivalent firm power auctions and system operators 210–16 future of 206–25 gas, how to get out of 207–9 infrastructure, electric 185–90, 218–20 low-carbon options post-coal and gas 209–10 net gain and our consumption 222–5 R&D and next-generation renewables 220–2 renewable see renewables Energy Market Reform (EMR) 219 equivalent firm power (EFP) 212–16, 217, 220 ethanol 35, 71, 95, 197 eucalyptus trees xiv, 152 European Commission 60, 71, 72, 112 European Union (EU) xiv, 2, 7, 8, 9, 37, 42, 44, 46, 47, 117, 137, 165, 166, 197; baseline of 1990 and 51–2 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 76, 165 competition regime and customs union 56 deindustrialisation and 46, 52, 54, 59, 72–4 directives for 2030 66 Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) 71–2, 73, 79, 110–13, 117, 144, 208 importing carbon emissions 59 Internal Energy Market (IEM) 68, 71 Kyoto and 9, 51, 59, 66–7 Mercosur Agreement 44, 95 net zero target for 2050 66, 115, 143, 155, 167, 180 Paris and 54 Renewable Energy Directive 68–71, 73, 109 2020 targets signed into law 66 2020–20–20 targets 67, 69, 74 unilateralism and 59, 66–71, 80 Eurostar 133 externalities 104, 170, 180, 196 Extinction Rebellion 6 farmers 14, 26, 35, 36, 43, 71, 76, 86, 95, 102, 109, 110, 146–7, 164, 165, 166, 169, 170, 174, 175, 196, 197, 198 fertiliser 4, 6, 7, 26, 29, 35, 61, 73, 86, 87, 116, 117, 119, 163, 165, 169, 174, 175, 178, 179, 191, 194, 197 fibre/broadband networks 6, 11, 90, 92, 125, 126, 127–8, 130–1, 132–3, 135, 140–1, 201, 202, 205, 211, 214, 231, 232 financial crisis (2007/8) 1, 19, 69 first-mover advantage 75 First Utility 199 flooding 13, 77, 149, 152, 153, 159, 170, 233 food miles 167 food security 170–1 food waste 178, 180, 231 Forestry Commission xiv Formula One 186, 196 fossil fuels, golden age of 20–5 see also individual fossil fuel France 46, 47, 52, 56, 73, 78, 101, 113, 130, 136, 138 free-rider problem 39–40, 43, 62–4, 106, 119 fuel duty 121, 195–6 fuel efficiency 197 fuel prices 26, 112–13, 209 fuel use declaration 195 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster (2011) 52, 78 Fukuyama, Francis: The End of History and the Last Man 40–1 gardens 6, 43, 143, 156 gas, natural ix, 2, 5, 8, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31, 32, 36, 50, 52, 68, 69, 79, 102, 109, 117, 119, 129, 136, 137, 146, 147–8, 149, 183, 190, 193, 194, 207–9, 210, 211, 214, 216–17 G8 47 gene editing 172, 176, 231 general election (2019) 121 genetics 98, 172, 174–6, 231 geoengineering 177 geothermal power 137, 178 Germany 9, 30, 47, 52, 59, 60, 62, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 75, 77–80, 83, 91, 101, 112, 136, 137, 138, 144, 206, 208, 209 Energiewende (planned transition to a low-carbon, nuclear-free economy) 59, 69, 77–80, 112, 144, 208 Gilets Jaunes 101, 113 GMOs (genetically modified organisms) 176, 177 Great Northern Forest, Britain 151 Green and Prosperous Land (Helm) xiii, xiv, 165, 169, 234 greenbelt 173 greenhouse effect 17 green new deal 90, 102, 234 green parties/green votes 69, 77, 78 green QE (quantitative easing) 102–3 green walls 153, 231 greenwash 156 gross domestic product (GDP) xii, xv, 1, 25, 27, 29, 41, 57, 59, 73, 76, 83, 93, 98, 103, 133, 165, 207, 227, 229, 233 growth nodes 133 G7 47 G20 47 Haber-Bosch process 35, 163 Hamilton, Lewis 186 ‘hands-free’ fields 175 Harry, Prince 6 Heathrow 133, 134 hedgerow 76, 166, 167, 172 Helm Review (‘The Cost of Energy Review’) (2017) ix, 120, 141, 200, 210, 212, 215, 217, 220, 238 herbicide 163 home insulation 102 House of Lords 170 housing 101, 223–4 HS2 92, 125, 132–4, 138, 202 Hume, David 49 hydrogen 13, 49, 92, 125, 128, 135, 137, 183, 184, 190–2, 199, 200, 204, 206, 213, 228 hydro power 31, 35, 36, 50, 52–3, 70, 136, 137, 191 Iceland 137, 178 imports x–xi, xiii, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 62, 68, 70, 117–18, 155, 167, 178, 173, 180, 196, 227 income effect 72, 111 income tax 121, 122, 232 India xiv, xv, 25, 30, 31, 38, 43, 44, 47, 48, 51, 54, 55, 57, 154, 229 individuals, net zero for 155–7 Indonesia 2, 35 indoor farming 87–8, 177–8, 180, 213 indoor pollutants 223, 232 Industrial Revolution 1, 18, 19, 25, 47, 116, 145 INEOS Grangemouth petrochemical plant xi information and communications technology (ICT) 117, 202, 231 infrastructures, low-carbon xiii, xiv, 11–12, 14, 28, 60, 62, 65, 66, 90, 91–4, 96, 105, 109, 123, 125–42, 143, 147, 151, 154, 159, 171, 184, 186, 187, 190, 199–200, 214, 218–20, 228, 230, 231–2, 234–5 centrality of infrastructure networks 128–30 electric 125–41, 218–20 making it happen 141–2 net zero national infrastructure plan 130–6 private markets and 125–8, 141–2 regional and global infrastructure plan 136–7 state intervention and 126, 127–8, 141–2 system operators and implementing the plans 138–41 inheritance tax 76, 165 insects 164, 177, 231 insulation 102, 224 Integrated Assessment Models 114 intellectual property (IP) 75 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 17–18, 47, 55, 57, 108, 172 internal combustion engine 13, 22, 181–2, 183, 184, 200, 221, 228 Internal Energy Market (IEM) 68, 71, 138 International Energy Agency (IEA) 25, 207 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 51 internet banking 131, 213 internet-of-things 128, 175 Iran 27, 42, 113, 137 Iraq 56, 192 Ireland 43, 157 Italy 137, 182 Japan 27, 28, 30, 52, 73, 78, 101, 185 Jevons Paradox 224 Johnson, Boris 89–90 Kant, Immanuel 104 Keynes, John Maynard 89, 102, 103, 105 Kyoto Protocol (1997) xii, 2, 7, 9, 13, 17–18, 37, 38, 39, 40–1, 47–8, 49, 51, 52–3, 59, 66–7, 119 laissez-faire 104, 138, 188 land use 35, 61, 95, 172, 237 LED (light-emitting diode) lighting 87, 178, 179, 180, 213 liquefied natural gas (LNG) 136, 183 lithium-ion battery 185 lobbying 10, 14, 33, 69, 71, 109, 110, 111–12, 115, 121, 157, 169, 170, 187, 197, 209, 223, 227, 228 location-specific taxes 194 maize 35, 165, 197 Malaysia 2, 229 Malthus, Thomas 98 Mao, Chairman 27, 42 meat xi, 65, 164, 177, 180, 232 Mekong River 2, 28, 179, 229 Mercosur Agreement 44, 95 Merkel, Angela 78 methane 4, 23, 84, 177, 178, 179, 216 microplastics 22 miracle solution 49–50, 55, 209 mobile phone 5, 125, 185 National Farmers’ Union (NFU) 110, 164, 165, 169, 170, 171 National Grid 139, 141, 189, 200, 211, 214, 219 nationalisations 101–2, 126–7 nationalism 41, 43, 55, 56, 138 nationally determined contributions (NDCs) 54–5 natural capital xiii, 14, 33–6, 51, 85, 86, 88, 90, 94, 97, 154, 158, 168, 171, 173–4, 236 Nature Fund 123, 169, 234 net environmental gain principle xiii, xiv, 10, 12, 62, 84, 94–6, 105, 143–59, 169, 172–4, 192, 201–3, 222–5 agriculture and 169, 172–4 carbon offsetting and see carbon offsetting electricity and 222–5 principle of 94–6, 143–4 sequestration and see sequestration transport and 192, 201–3 Netherlands 138 Network Rail 214 net zero agriculture and see agriculture defined x–xv, 3–14 economy 10–12, 81–159 see also economy, net zero electricity and see electricity transport and see individual method of transport 2025 or 2030 target 89 2050 target x, xi, 5, 59, 66, 74, 75, 115, 120, 135, 143, 155, 167, 169, 180, 184, 216, 217, 222, 226, 230, 231, 232 unilateralism and see unilateralism NHS 65 non-excludable 91, 93, 126, 170 non-rivalry 91, 93, 126, 170 North Korea 42 North Sea oil/gas 9, 40, 75, 97, 102, 137, 139, 147, 148, 193 Norway 130, 137, 191 nuclear power 5, 9, 12, 18, 23, 52, 60, 73, 77–9, 109, 125, 128, 129, 136, 140, 178, 194, 199, 206, 207, 208, 209–10, 212, 214, 216, 218, 219, 222, 228 Obama, Barack 48, 53, 54, 59 oceans 2, 14, 22, 33, 85, 86, 88, 148, 163, 231 offsetting see carbon offsetting offshore wind power 31, 69, 75–6, 208, 212, 219, 221 Ofgem 220 oil ix, 2, 20, 22–3, 25, 26, 27, 31, 32, 33, 36, 39, 40, 50, 67, 69, 86, 97, 117, 119, 129, 136, 137, 146, 147, 148–9, 150–1, 152, 181–3, 184, 185, 187, 189, 190, 192–4, 196, 197, 199, 206, 209, 210, 216–17, 229 OPEC 39, 40, 193 Orbán, Viktor 41, 42 organic food 61, 87, 178 Ørsted 70 palm oil 2, 5, 6, 35, 36, 66, 71, 167, 173, 197–8, 230 pandemic see Covid-19 Paris Climate Change Agreement (2015) xii, 2, 10, 13, 18, 30, 37, 38, 39, 48, 49, 54–5, 56, 57, 58, 66, 80, 105, 106, 118, 119, 227 peat bogs xiv, 2, 13, 14, 33, 35, 36, 43, 109, 146, 169, 179 pesticides 4, 26, 61, 163, 165, 169, 174, 178, 231 petrochemicals xi, 7, 8, 20, 22–3, 29, 73, 80, 86, 117, 166, 182 petrol 4, 86, 119, 121, 129, 185, 186, 187, 191, 192, 199 photosynthesis 34, 197 plastics 1, 22, 28, 35, 43, 66, 86, 87, 119, 143, 166, 184, 231 polluter-pays principle xiii, xv, 84–90 agriculture and 76, 168–70, 172, 173 carbon price and see carbon price/tax generalised across all sources of pollution 86 identifying polluters that should pay 86 importance of 10–11, 13, 61, 62, 65 intergenerational balance and 96–7 net environmental gain and 94 sequestration and see sequestration, carbon sustainable economy and 96–7, 105, 106 transport and 192–5, 198–9 see also individual type of pollution population growth 93, 97, 177, 178, 179, 232 privatisation 127, 140, 218–19, 220 property developers 94 public goods, provision of xiii, 10, 11–12, 62, 75, 84, 90–4, 96, 104, 105, 109, 122, 123, 126, 128, 141, 147, 151, 153, 159, 164, 168, 173–4, 180, 192, 199–200, 202, 218, 229, 230 agricultural 170–4, 180 low-carbon infrastructures see infrastructures, low-carbon research and development (R&D) see research and development (R&D) Putin, Vladimir 27, 41, 42, 89 railways 11, 13, 13, 87, 91, 92, 94, 125, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132–3, 138, 139, 156, 182, 183, 187, 202, 212, 214, 232 rainforest 2, 5, 34, 35, 36, 38, 44, 47, 55, 87, 95, 145, 149, 155, 173, 179–80, 197, 229 rationalism 40–1 Reagan, Ronald 103 red diesel 76, 109, 164, 165, 196 regulated asset base (RAB) 127, 141, 215, 220 remote working 128, 156, 201–2, 205 renewables ix, 6, 8, 9–10, 18, 19, 21, 26, 31–5, 36, 49, 50, 55, 61, 67, 72, 77, 79, 85, 86, 109, 110, 112, 123, 125, 128, 131, 135, 138, 140, 144, 149, 178, 188, 191, 194, 197, 199, 207, 209–10, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 219, 220–2, 224, 228 Chinese domination of market 9, 32, 73, 74, 77, 79 cost-competitiveness of 9–10, 49, 51, 61, 68 failure of, 1990-now 19, 31–3, 36 modern global renewable energy consumption measured in TWh per year 32 miracle solution and 49–51 Renewable Energy Directive 68–71, 73, 109 subsidies ix, 9, 10, 50, 68–9, 71, 79, 80 see also individual renewable energy source Renewables UK 110 research and development (R&D) xiv, 12, 13, 14, 62, 65, 66, 90, 93–4, 104, 109, 123, 165, 172, 192, 200, 218, 220–2, 223, 228, 234 reshoring businesses 8, 204 rivers 2, 22, 28, 86, 128, 152, 165, 169, 179, 214, 230 roads 11, 28, 45, 91, 92, 125, 129, 131–2, 140, 165, 182, 189, 194, 198, 202, 232 robotics 32, 175, 204, 206, 231 Rosneft 26 Royal Navy 183 Russia 26, 27, 30, 40, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 55, 56, 192, 193 RWE 139, 218 Ryanair 156–7 rye grass 35 salmon 169, 177 Saudi Arabia 26, 33, 40, 42, 50, 137, 192, 193 Saudi Aramco 26, 50 seashells 34 sequestration, carbon xi, xiv, 12, 61, 66, 85, 90, 95, 143–59, 228, 229, 231, 232 agriculture and 12, 163, 166, 168, 169, 170, 171, 172, 173, 176–7, 179, 180 baseline definition and 146–7 biofuels and 35, 146, 217 carbon capture and storage (CCS) xiv, 12, 75–6, 95, 109, 146, 147–8, 149, 154, 159, 203–4, 207, 209, 222, 223 companies, net zero for 148–51 countries, offsetting for 151–5 electricity and 222, 223 gas and 207 individuals, net zero for xi, xiv, 155–7 markets, offsetting 157–9 natural capital destruction and 2, 19, 33–6, 44, 45, 51 natural sequestration xi, xiii, 2, 7, 12, 14, 33–6, 37, 45, 52, 66, 85, 90, 94–6, 105, 143–59, 163, 168, 171, 173, 176–7, 179, 180, 203, 206, 207, 222, 223 net gain principle and 143–4, 146, 149–50 offsetting principle and 143–5 peat bogs and see peat bogs principle of xi, xiii, 2, 7, 12–13 soils and see soils transport and 185, 190, 203 tree planting and see trees, planting/sequestration and types of 145–8 wetlands/coastal marshes and 146, 159, 233 shale gas 8, 208 Shell 27, 149, 199 shipping 8, 13, 22, 28, 36, 49, 114, 125, 137, 181, 182–3, 191, 194–5, 203–5, 217 Siberia 2, 46 smart appliances 128, 129, 132 smart charging 11, 13, 128, 129, 130, 139, 214, 219 soils xiii, 2, 5, 7, 12, 14, 33, 35, 36, 43, 55, 76, 109, 146, 149, 152, 156, 159, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168, 169, 171, 172, 175, 179, 203, 228 solar panels/solar photovoltaics (PV) 5, 6, 9, 12, 13, 21, 31, 32, 33, 49, 53, 68, 69, 71, 74, 79, 87, 91, 135, 136, 137, 178, 179, 188, 204, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 213, 214, 216, 217, 221, 222, 223, 224–5 Sony 185 Soviet Union 18, 40, 52, 67–8, 89 soya 95 Spain 69, 130, 137 sport utility vehicles (SUVs) 106, 121, 192 spruce xiv, 152, 170 standard of living xv, 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 14, 229, 233 staycations 201 steel x–xi, 6, 7, 8, 26, 28, 29, 53, 66, 73, 80, 87, 116, 117, 118, 119, 171, 184, 194–5 Stern, Nicholas: The Economics of Climate Change 41, 63 subsidies ix, 9, 10, 14, 32, 50, 51, 52, 53, 69, 71, 76, 79, 80, 89, 102, 109, 110, 113, 116, 123, 140, 154, 164, 165, 166, 167, 169, 170, 172, 180, 193, 196, 198, 209, 215, 221, 222, 228, 230 sugar cane 35, 71, 95, 197, 198 sulphur pollution 22, 25, 28, 78, 191, 194, 197, 230 sustainable economic growth xv, 10, 12, 14, 61, 83, 92, 94, 97, 98, 105, 227, 233 Taiwan 42 taxation xii, 11, 62, 71, 72, 76, 80, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92, 97, 101, 102, 103, 106–24, 126, 127, 130, 133, 147, 150, 151–2, 153–4, 157, 159, 165, 169, 170, 192–6, 197, 198, 199, 203, 232, 234 technological change 98, 127, 141, 174–5, 221 Thatcher, Margaret 17 Thompson, Emma 6 3D printing 175, 204 Thunberg, Greta 6, 205 tidal shocks 159 top-down treaty frameworks 13, 38–57, 80, 110, 119 tourism/holidays 6, 22, 36, 88, 94, 107, 114, 128, 156, 201, 204–5 transport, reinventing 181–205 aviation 195, 201, 203–5 see also air transport batteries and charging networks 185–90 biofuels 196–8 electric alternative 183–5 hydrogen and fuel cells 190–2 innovation, R&D and new infrastructures 199–200 internal combustion engine 181–2 net gain and offsets (reducing travel versus buying out your pollution) 201–3 oil 183–4 polluter pays/carbon tax 192–6 shipping 203–5 urban regulation and planning 198–9 vehicle standards 196–8 see also individual type of transport Treasury, UK 120–2 trees, planting/sequestration and xi, xiii, xiv, 2, 7, 13, 14, 33, 34, 45, 76, 85, 94–6, 146, 148, 149–51, 152–3, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 168, 169, 172, 179, 203, 231 trophy project syndrome 133 Trump, Donald 2, 8, 41, 42, 48, 89, 99, 103, 121 25 Year Environment Plan xiii, 153, 170, 179–80 UK 47, 69 agriculture and 164, 166, 167, 173 carbon emissions (2015) 30 carbon price and 115, 120 Climate Change Act (2008) 66, 74–7 coal, phasing out of 24–5, 60–1, 77, 208 Committee on Climate Change (CCC) x–xi, 7, 74–6, 120, 164, 166, 169, 217, 235 deindustrialisation and 72–4 80 per cent carbon reduction target by 2050 74 electricity and 206, 208, 218, 219, 224 Helm Review (‘The Cost of Energy Review’) (2017) ix, 120, 141, 200, 210, 212, 215, 217, 220, 238 infrastructure 125, 132–3, 134, 137, 139–40 net zero passed into law (2019) 66 sequestration and 145, 150, 153, 154, 155, 156 transport and 195–6, 197, 198 unilateralism and 58–9, 60–1, 65, 66, 69, 72–7, 80 unilateralism xi, 8, 10, 11, 25, 58–80, 83, 105, 106, 119, 125, 143, 144, 155, 164, 167, 197, 203, 227 in Europe 66–80 incentive problem and 58–60 morality and 62–6 no regrets exemplars and/showcase examples of how decarbonisation can be achieved 60–2 place for 80 way forward and 80, 83 United Nations xi, xii, 6, 10, 17, 37, 38, 118 carbon cartel, ambition to create a 39–40, 43, 45, 46–7, 56 climate treaty processes xi, 6, 10, 13, 17–18, 36, 37, 38–57, 59, 80, 110, 118, 119, 204–5 see also individual treaty name Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 17–18, 36, 38, 59 miracle solution and 50–1 origins and philosophy of 41 Security Council 46, 47, 57 United States 8, 74, 139, 206 agriculture in 175, 176, 197 carbon emissions 8, 29, 30 China and 27–8, 42, 118 coal and 2, 24, 28, 29, 208 economic imperialism 45 energy independence 50 gas and 8, 20, 23, 24, 29, 50, 208 oil production 40, 50, 193 pollution since 1990 29 unilateralism and 58, 59, 74 UN climate treaty process and 38, 40–1, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 56 universal service obligations (USOs) 92, 126, 131, 202 utilitarianism 41, 63–4, 108, 110 VAT 117, 119–20, 121, 122, 232 Vesta 69 Volkswagen 196–7 water companies 76, 214, 230 water pollution/quality xiv, 12, 22, 61, 76, 152, 153, 165, 169, 170, 171, 172, 175, 177, 178, 179, 180, 232 Wen Jiabao 53, 59 wetlands 159, 233 wildflower meadow 164, 184 wind power 5, 9, 12, 21, 31, 32, 33, 49, 53, 68, 69–70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 91, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 178, 188, 191, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214–15, 216, 217, 219, 221, 222 wood pellets 67, 217, 230 Woodland Trust 156, 158 World Bank 51 World Trade Organization (WTO) 52, 56, 118 World War I 183 World War II (1939–45) 78, 90, 92, 101, 106, 171 Xi Jinping 27, 41, 42 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS So much is now discussed, written and published about climate change that it is impossible to keep track of all the ideas and conversations that have influenced my understanding of the subject.

…

Thirty years later, the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere continues to grow. At the same time, the Earth’s ability to absorb carbon continues to be degraded. Today, the Paris Agreement target of halting global temperature rise at 1.5 degrees is unattainable and 3 degrees has become a demanding aspiration. As Extinction Rebellion and climate protestors call for action, the inconvenient truth is that we are the ones causing the climate crisis with our carbon intensive lifestyles. In Net Zero the economist Professor Dieter Helm addresses the action we all need to take to tackle the climate emergency: personal, local, national and global.

Investing to Save the Planet: How Your Money Can Make a Difference
by Alice Ross
Published 19 Nov 2020

Many professional investors are becoming increasingly outspoken on climate change – and, in a sign of how mainstream the issue has become, they are not necessarily running climate change funds or specialising in sustainable investment. Take Christopher Hohn, one of the world’s best-known hedge fund managers. In an unusual crossover between the financial world and that of the eco-warrior, he backed the climate change movement Extinction Rebellion, which rose to prominence in 2019 after its supporters held sit-ins at key sites across London, blocking off major bridges and shutting down traffic. Hohn gave the movement £50,000 of his own money, making him its biggest individual donor, and contributed even more through his philanthropic fund.

…

AB InBev 176 active funds 30, 31, 41, 83, 96, 97, 98, 125 activist investors 69–77, 84–90, 100–101 advertising 77, 79, 80, 151, 202 AGMs (Annual General Meetings) 70–73, 84, 87, 104 agriculture 85, 120, 145–62; alternative food 22, 145–56; farming 22, 156–9; food waste 149, 159–61; greenhouse gas emissions 148–9, 150, 156–8, 159, 160; high-risk investors 162; low-risk investors 161; medium-risk investors 161–2; vegan diet/alternative meat 146, 149–56, 162 air conditioning 18, 38–9, 164, 170–71, 179, 194 alternative investment market (AIM), London 25, 31–2, 142 Amazon (online retailer) 19, 73–4, 157, 197 American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy 165 ammonia, green 142–3 Amundi IS Equity Europe Low Carbon fund 63 Angel Academe 155 angel investing 37–9, 43, 155, 156, 160, 162 An Inconvenient Truth (film) 2 Anterra Capital 157, 160 apartheid, South Africa 3, 48, 51–2 Apple 33, 38–9, 91–2, 127 Applied Materials 167 Arctic, energy exploration in 66, 82 As You Sow 83, 104 asset classes see individual asset class name asset managers 11, 12, 58, 74, 88, 89, 90, 95, 119, 168 aviation 18, 22, 99, 129, 140–42, 167, 194, 199 AXA Investment Managers 77, 88, 95 Balk, Josh 146, 153–4 Ballard Power 138 Bank of America Merrill Lynch 6, 84 Bank of England 193 Barclays Bank 48, 73, 75, 182–3, 200 Barry, Michael 45, 46, 51, 55–6, 59, 60 batteries 15, 22, 113, 115–16, 128, 172; battery infrastructure 128; battery swapping 128, 139; charging 22, 113, 128, 130, 139–40, 203; green hydrogen 138; lithium-ion 115–16, 136, 137; role of 136–8 ‘best in class’ companies 7, 10, 92, 100, 134, 161–2, 176 Beyond Carbon 16 Beyond Meat 7, 15, 35, 36, 135, 150, 152–3, 154, 155, 162 Bezos Earth Fund 19 Biffa 174 billionaires, ‘green’ 14–17, 18, 19, 120, 124, 126 biofuels 22, 113, 140–43 biomass 110, 112 Bioy, Hortense 85, 197–8 Birol, Fatih 112, 202–3 BlackRock 14, 25, 26, 88, 89–90, 97, 199 Blood, David 1–2, 54, 135 Bloomberg 15, 104, 133 Bloomberg, Michael 16, 17, 19 Bloomberg New Energy Finance 136, 139 BMO European Equity (BMO Sustainable Opportunities) 11 BMO Responsible Global Equity fund 91–2 BMW 15, 129, 134, 137, 140, 143, 144 BNP Paribas 134, 161, 180, 181 BNY Mellon 177 Bollag, Benjamina 155–6 bonds 20, 26, 31, 32–4, 41, 44, 65, 66, 67; divestment and 65, 66, 67; green bonds 33, 42, 67, 83, 93–6, 195; transition bonds 67 Bond, Simon 67, 94 BP 4, 5, 9, 53, 76, 83, 99–100, 101, 102, 104, 108, 111, 114, 140, 188; net zero emissions by 2050 commitment 76, 79–80, 116, 186, 199; ‘Possibilities Everywhere’ ad campaign 79 Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) 19, 52, 120, 121–2, 123, 124, 135, 137 Brin, Sergey 18 British American Tobacco (BAT) 54, 54n Brown Advisory Sustainable Growth Fund 197 Bruun, Michael 107, 108, 137 ‘Build Back Better’ slogan x, 201 Burger King 151–2, 153–4 Cambridge University 56–7, 65–7, 74–5; Institute for Sustainability Leadership 56–7 Canada Pension Plan Investment Board 137, 140 Candriam SRI Equity Climate Action fund 95, 165–6, 67 Capital Group 88 capital recycling 66, 67 Carbon Brief 198 carbon dioxide emissions 2, 7, 14, 16, 21, 22, 32, 33, 47, 53, 67, 83, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 99, 102, 108–9, 168, 169, 180, 184, 191, 194, 202, 203; agriculture and 148–9, 150, 156–8, 159–60; carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS) 5, 117; carbon-offsets 5, 28, 63, 79, 150, 203; carbon price 187–90; coronavirus lockdown and 71, 109–10, 198, 199; disclosing 98, 103; divestment and 50–52; energy efficiency and 164, 165, 168–9, 172, 173, 175, 176, 177, 178; ‘net zero’ targets 5, 63, 71, 74, 76, 78, 79–80, 116, 126, 169, 176–8, 183, 186, 203; Paris Agreement (2015) and 4–5, 10, 42, 73, 74–5, 76, 78, 109–10, 111, 117, 132, 165, 188, 193; peak in 5, 111–12; scope 1 185–6; scope 2 185–6; scope 3 81, 175, 176, 185–7; transport and 129–34, 140–41, 142, 143 Carbon Tracker 53, 66, 180 Carney, Mark 190, 193–4 Cartier 11–12 CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) 80–81, 86, 91, 153, 177, 178, 203 cell-based meat 155–6 Chargemaster 140 charging, battery 22, 113, 128, 130, 139–40, 203 charitable giving/philanthropy 5, 13, 14, 16, 19, 43, 123, 124 Chevron 116–17, 140 China 15, 61, 76, 114, 128–9, 131, 132, 164, 166, 170, 175 Church of England 74 circular economy 22, 163–79 cleantech crash (2007–8) 113–14, 171 Clearwater Fine Foods 142 ClientEarth 79 Climate Action 100+ initiative 76, 78, 83, 86, 105 Climate Bonds Initiative 94 Climate Group 86 Climate Leadership Council 188–9 climate solutions funds 6, 42, 125–6 coal 16, 21, 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 67, 82, 87, 90, 109, 110–11, 112, 125, 183, 184, 187, 198 Columbia Threadneedle 67, 94 coronavirus pandemic ix–x, 22, 55, 64, 71, 90, 109–10, 112, 131, 132, 137, 138, 141, 151, 158, 168, 174, 175, 189, 196–8, 199–200, 201, 202, 203, 204 corporate bonds 32–3, 94 Cramer, Jim 61 Crop One Holdings 158–9 crowdfunding 43, 118, 119 CSM Energy 82–3 Curtis, Richard 40–41, 201 Deloitte 9, 191 Delta Airlines 79 Devon Energy Corp 194 diesel 183–4, 191 Dimensional Global Sustainable Core Equity 63 Dimon, Jamie 188 disruptive companies 52, 146, 153–4, 157, 171 dividends 31, 54, 54n, 55, 61, 68, 70, 80, 126, 144, 197 divestment 20–21, 22, 32, 45–68, 72, 82, 84, 85, 86, 92, 98, 104, 117, 185; capital recycling 66; economic case for 52–9; emissions reductions and 50–52; growth of movement 45–7; history of movement 47–50; how to invest after you divest 62–5; moral grounds 62; outside of equities 65–8; performance grounds 62; public shaming and 60–61 DNV GL 131, 136 Doerr, John 114 Dong Energy 107–8, 137 Draper Esprit 140 Drax 112 DS Smith 175 DWS 11, 77, 168 DyeCoo 173 early-stage investors 18, 38, 64, 121, 135, 140, 142, 148, 155, 179 EDF Energy 140 Edwards, Jenny 69–72, 73, 77, 84 electricity supply 112, 118, 120, 121, 125, 159, 169–70, 172, 185, 187, 194 electrification of transport 7, 10, 15, 29, 64, 73–4, 76, 113, 120, 127–44, 157, 163, 164, 194, 203; cars 7, 10, 15, 29, 64, 76, 103, 119, 129–30, 132–3, 134, 136, 157, 163, 164; mopeds 22, 127, 128 electrofuels 141 Ellen MacArthur Foundation 172 Emirates Flight Catering, Dubai 158 Energy Action Coalition 118 energy, investing in 11, 16, 35, 42, 80, 107–26, 138, 143, 157, 166, 167–8, 202–3; carbon dioxide emissions and 108–10; clean energy solutions 120–24; cleantech, new dawn for 115–20; cleantech crash (2007–8) 113–14, 171; entrepreneurs/Mosaic 118–20; high-risk investors 126; how to invest in clean energy 124–6; low-risk investors 126; medium-risk investors 126; primary energy consumption 111–12; renewable energy investment, history of 113–14; transitioning away from oil and gas/energy transition 19, 21, 39, 76, 84, 110–13, 123, 140, 194 energy efficiency, investing in 22, 33, 110, 161, 163–79, 183, 203; building and construction sectors 168–70; circular economy and 171–6; high-risk investors 178–9; low-risk investors 178; medium-risk investors 178; next-gen investors 170–71; semiconductor companies 143, 166–7, 178; weight reduction, investing in 167–8; zero emission pledges 176–8 engagement/effecting change 69–106; activist shareholders 69–74, 84–90; disclosure, improving 80–84; fund managers 73–4, 77–80; green bonds 93–6; greenwashing 77–80; passive investing 96–104; pension manager, putting pressure on your 90–93; professional fund managers and 75–7; retail investors/small investors 69–74, 84–90 ENI 117, 191 Environmental Recycling Technologies (ERT) 24–5 environmental score, ESG investing and 9, 10–11 see also ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing EO 139–40 equities 20, 26, 30–32, 33–4, 41, 44, 53, 64, 66, 68, 95, 195 ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing 61, 62, 66, 90, 95, 132–3, 147, 181, 182, 183, 184, 190, 191, 195; coronavirus and/future of 196–200; defined 8–12, 29–30, 44, 190, 195; ETFs 97; passive investor 99–104; pension funds and 92, 93; score and debt 82, 98 ETFs (exchange-traded funds) 30, 96–7, 100–1, 102, 124–5 European Investment Bank 94 European Union 103, 129, 130, 141, 169, 176, 183, 186, 191 ex-fossil fuel funds 42, 62, 63, 68, 85, 106 Extinction Rebellion 13 ExxonMobil 53, 61, 89, 116, 117, 188 family offices 18–19, 122–3, 142, 156, 182 Farmobile 157 fashion 28, 62, 175–6 Fidelity 103 financial advisers 12, 27, 29, 43, 44, 49, 95, 105, 182, 184 Financial Conduct Authority 192 financial crisis (2008) 1, 3–4, 17, 29, 114 Financial Stability Board 58 Fink, Larry 14, 90 Fluor 89 food see agriculture Food Freshness Technology 160 Ford Motors 177 fracking 79 FTSE 100 30, 31, 54, 55, 56, 103, 112, 175; Environmental Opportunities All Share index 56; Global All Cap index 56; TPI Climate Transition Index 74 fuel: aerodynamic systems and 39; alternative/biofuels 22, 53, 111, 113, 140–43; cells 10, 138, 142, 144, 154, 166; aviation and see aviation; fossil see individual fuel type fund managers 10, 11, 12, 43, 49, 60–61, 66–7, 89, 95, 97, 98, 105, 108, 143, 181; activist 13, 14, 30, 73–6, 83, 85, 86, 89, 91; energy efficiency and 166, 167, 168, 172; greenwashing and 10–12, 41, 77–81; passive funds and 96, 97, 98; pensions and 39–40; ‘star’ 96; varying definitions of ESG 102, 103, 104 Gates, Bill 17, 18, 19, 52, 120, 126, 137 Generac 195 Generation Investment Management 2, 135 Georgetown University, Washington DC 45, 46, 51, 55–6, 60 Global Commission on the Economy and Climate 63 Global Reporting Initiative 190 Gogoro 128, 139 Goldman Sachs 1, 1n, 54, 77, 82, 107–8, 119, 137, 181, 189 Gore, Al 2, 135, 202 governance, good 8, 9, 40, 56, 61, 73, 88, 92, 98, 99, 103, 184, 195–6, 197 Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan 74, 93, 98, 180 green economy 33, 56, 203 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 109, 129, 141, 143, 148, 149, 150, 157–8, 160, 173, 187, 199 see also carbon emissions greenwashing 10, 12, 14, 20, 41, 77, 78, 88, 89, 90, 91, 96, 101, 104, 191, 192–3 Growing Underground 158–9 Hampshire College 46 Hampton Creek 146–7 H&M 62, 175 Harari, Yuval Noah 204 Harvard University 51–2, 67 hedge funds 4, 13, 14, 75–6, 80, 89 Hepburn, Cameron 72, 203 Hermes 83 high-voltage direct current (HVDC) 120–21 Higher Steaks 155–6 Hohn, Christopher 13–14, 80, 89 Howard, Andy 189–90 Howarth, Catherine 192–3 HSBC 88, 174, 175, 176 Hy2gen AG 138 hydrogen 113; aviation solutions 18, 142; batteries 138; blue 138; fuel cells 10, 138, 144, 154, 166; trucks/cars 15, 143 hydropower 131, 137 Hyundai 143 IKEA 160, 173 impact investment 43, 123 Impax Asset Management 77, 90, 157, 166, 176, 195 Impax Environmental Markets fund 90, 166, 172, 173, 175 Impossible Foods 15, 150, 152–3 Indigo 157 Ineos 78–9 ING 82 Ingka Group 160 InstaVolt 139–40 institutional investors 7, 9, 13, 18, 21, 31, 34, 67, 75, 76–7, 87–8, 94, 119, 122, 168, 191, 203 Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) 76–7, 168, 203 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2, 5, 149, 160 internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles 64, 130, 131, 182, 183–4 International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) 143 International Energy Agency (IEA) 111–12, 113, 115, 117, 129, 130, 164, 165, 168, 169, 170, 202 International Maritime Organization, The 143 International Monetary Fund (IMF) 56, 58, 187 Invesco Solar ETF 125 Ireland 46–7, 94, 125 Irena 110, 130, 132 iShares Global Clean Energy ETF 124–5 J.

The Passenger: Paris
by AA.VV.
Published 26 Jun 2021

Thirsting for revenge, ‘a horde of rich Parisians is on their way to destroy a Burger King in Pantin’. A car vandalised during a gilets jaunes demonstration; a mannequin in the window of a luxury boutique in Paris. Police in riot gear on the Champs-Élysées. ‘On 11 October the environmental group Extinction Rebellion occupies the avenue, proclaiming that “the only way to enter a better world is to break in”.’ Even the conservative daily Le Figaro notes the irony on 18 March: Fouquet’s calls to mind Nicolas Fouquet, King Louis XIV’s superintendent of finances, who was punished for flaunting his wealth.

…

On 21 September, during Act 45, they retake the Champs despite seven thousand police officers being deployed. Tourists find themselves caught up in the clouds of tear gas, too, and the pictures are replayed endlessly across the world. A few weeks later, on 11 October, the environmental group Extinction Rebellion occupies the avenue, proclaiming that ‘the only way to enter a better world is to break in’. Skill, agility and speed: the Arc de Triomphe is more heavily guarded than ever, but XR activists manage to drape their organisation’s banner from the monument. The visual impact is clear and deliberate: the idea is to ‘create an image’ by analysing, manipulating and subverting the society of the spectacle.

Road to Nowhere: What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong About the Future of Transportation
by Paris Marx
Published 4 Jul 2022

In the United States, the Green New Deal galvanized climate activists to fight for an ambitious program to address the climate crisis, while empowering them to collectively imagine what an equitable and sustainable future should look like. That challenge was taken up around the world under the Green New Deal banner, but also by activists with Extinction Rebellion, School Strike for Climate, and regional initiatives like the Pacto Ecosocial del Sur in Latin America. Meanwhile, at sites of extraction, residents are wielding their power to protect their communities and change national policy. In the Global North, Indigenous communities have been engaged in increasingly high-profile fights against extraction projects, and they are not alone.

…

See bicycles Domino’s Pizza, 172–3 DoorDash, 111, 172 dot-com crash, 57 double-decker highways, 151 Dubal, Veena, 101, 112 Duhigg, Charles, 121–3 Duranton, Gilles, 141–2 Dynamex decision, 111 Eastman Kodak, 40 ecommerce, 181, 193 economies of scale, 106 EHang, 152 Eisenhower, Dwight D., 23, 39 Electric Vehicle and Central Station Association, 66–7 Electric Vehicle Company (EVC), 65–8 electric vehicles batteries in, 72–5, 78–80 cobalt and, 72–3 commodities boom from, 87 electric personal vehicles, 188 Electric Vehicle Company (EVC), 65–8 environmental documentaries and, 68–71 mining industry and, 72–7, 79 resurgence of, 85–6 sales in Norway, 81–2 Tesla (See Tesla) uptick in sales of, 66–7 Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 52–3 Elysium (film), 190 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act (1974), 203 Enfield Automotive, 68 Engelbart, Douglas, 54–5 entrepreneurial governance model, 200–1 Erlich, Justin, 156–7 e-scooters. See bicycles European Commission, 80 European countries, mining in, 80–1. See also specific countries Extinction Rebellion, 225 Facebook, 61–2 Fairchild Semiconductor, 40 Falocchio, John, 12 Federal-Aid Highway Act (1944), 2 Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956), 23–5 federal funding, for computer science, 47–8 Federal Housing Administration (FHA), 28–9 Federal Trade Commission (FTC), 103 fifth-generation wireless networks, 130–1 Firefly prototype (Google), 116–7, 130 Firestone Tire Company, 21 5G, 131 510 Systems, 121 Florida, Richard, 200 Flow technologies, 229–30 flying cars, 151–2, 159 Ford, Henry, 67 Ford Fusion, 134–5 Ford Model T, 10, 13, 67, 89–90 Ford Motor Company, 77 fossil fuels, 72–7, 85–7, 204 Founders Fund, 46 France bike lanes in, 171 highway system in, 210–1 train system in, 220 Free Speech Movement, 41 freeway plan (Los Angeles), 22 freeways.

Uncomfortably Off: Why the Top 10% of Earners Should Care About Inequality
by Marcos González Hernando and Gerry Mitchell
Published 23 May 2023

In contrast to the relative lack of interest in local formal politics, 83 Uncomfortably Off local pressure groups have grown, often set up about a specific issue such as a planning application and they exist predominantly online. Similarly, local branches of national pressure groups such as Extinction Rebellion or Make Votes Matter have sprung up. It has been Gerry’s experience that members of such groups then move into formal politics as a result of their campaigning on local issues. Given this, the lack of trade union or party membership among our respondents is also noticeable yet unsurprising.

…

A abortion, top 10% attitudes towards 6, 16 academics/academia 5, 9–10, 54 knowledge production and enabling of the wealthy 132–3 acceleration, of the pace of life 128–9 accountancy firms 67, 68, 108, 109, 126 accumulation 135–6 Advani, A. 179, 180 affluence 22, 144, 162, 180 see also top 1%; top 10%; wealth age profile of the top 10% 8 agency 49 Alamillo-Martinez, Laura 73 Amazon 180 Ambler, L. 132–3 anti-elitism 12, 46, 96 anxiety 72, 130, 150 and status 135, 165 see also mental health ‘anywheres’ 96 ascriptive identities 153 attitudes to cultural issues 42, 84 to economic issues 6, 8, 11, 16, 18–19, 42, 42, 77, 92–3, 161–4 to political issues 8, 16–17, 42, 76–99 to social issues 6, 8, 16, 18–19, 42, 65–71, 77, 92, 92–3, 161–3, 164–6 austerity policies 10, 11, 13, 16, 76, 78–9, 105, 115–16, 169–70 automation 79, 158, 160 B Bangladeshi ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 Bank of England 78, 105, 164, 175 ‘bank of mum and dad’ 29, 111 Barber, Rob 1, 2, 4, 181 Barclay family 121 BBC 11 Beck, U. 64 Bell, Torsten 2, 6 Berman, Y. 34 Berry, C. 82 Bezos, Jeff 144 Biden, Joe 142 Big Four accountancy firms 67, 68 see also accountancy firms Bill of Rights 121 Bitcoin 143 Black African/British/Caribbean ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 Black Lives Matter 113 Black Report 1977 115 Blair, Tony 9, 84, 185 Blakeley, Grace 139, 176 Bolsonaro, Jair 96, 98 ‘boundary work’ of elites 45 Bourdieu, Pierre 40 Brahmins 38, 41–2, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 59, 61, 68, 73, 74–5, 84, 96, 167, 185 ‘brain drain’ 124 see also mobility Brexit 11, 16, 76, 80, 86–7, 97, 101–2, 125 Brown, Gordon 175 Bullough, Oliver 113–14 bunkers 130, 131, 144, 187 Burgon, Richard 1, 3, 6 business support schemes, COVID-19 pandemic 15, 104, 126–7, 140, 151 C Cambridge University 28–9, 119 Cameron, David 84 capital, income from 33–4 capital flight 124 capital tax, global 180 car ownership 153 carbon emissions 54, 114–15, 135, 143, 145, 171, 172, 178 see also climate change 236 Index care see social care Centre for Economic Performance 163 Chancel, L. 176–7 charitable donations 70–1 charitable sector 132 child poverty 170 see also poverty children of the top 10% 27, 35–6, 100–1, 109, 111–12, 183–4, 186 ‘bank of mum and dad’ 29, 111 childcare costs 135–6 downward social mobility 31–2, 162 social reproduction 135–7 US 57 Chinese ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 class 39–40 cultural signifiers of 39, 40–1 ‘death of ’ 39 and education 40–1, 46, 51, 58–9 inherited nature of 148 middle class 33, 39, 40, 133, 136, 148 and social mobility 57–8 terminology of 38–9 upper class 38–9, 133 upper-middle class 4, 16, 27, 31–2, 38–54, 39 (see also top 10%) working class 24, 39, 57, 101–2, 148 climate change 54, 100, 101, 114–15, 125, 135, 141, 171–2 carbon emissions 54, 114–15, 135, 143, 145, 171, 172, 178 need for collective action on 122–3 net zero 174, 176–7 coalition government (Conservative/ Liberal Democrat) 78 collective denial 139–42 common sense 11, 19, 74, 89, 90, 108, 126, 130, 147 community gender and community involvement 70 top 10%’s lack of awareness of/ involvement in 45–6, 49–50, 127–31, 131, 150–1, 154–7, 164–6 ‘compensatory consumption’ 129, 134 Conservative Party/Conservatives 3, 16, 53, 76–7, 84, 85, 88, 97, 99, 120, 179 leadership election, 2022 39 taxation policy 3, 53 traditional supporters 44 consumption 152–4, 169, 171, 178 ‘compensatory consumption’ 129, 134 environmental impact of 135 luxury consumption, and climate change 114–15 Corbyn, Jeremy 11, 16, 80, 84, 85, 87, 96, 97 corporate governance 174 corporate responsibility 70–1 corporate sector 46, 51, 59, 64, 65–6, 67–8, 71, 88–9, 108, 128, 153 corporation tax 105–6, 113, 180 cost of living crisis 14, 52, 76, 101, 104, 106, 127, 177–8 council tax 110, 180 COVID-19 pandemic 13, 15, 72–3, 103–4, 116, 126, 134, 142, 144, 151 furlough and business support schemes 15, 104, 126–7, 128, 140, 151 political impact of 87–8 Coyle, Diane 145 crises cost of living crisis 14, 52, 76, 101, 104, 106, 127, 177–8 of democracy 119–21 global financial crisis, 2008 31, 77–9, 126, 140 cryptocurrencies 143–4 cultural attitudes of the top 10% 42, 84 cultural capital 40, 41, 46, 51 cuts, in public services 78–9, 105, 117, 170 D deindustrialisation 28 democracy crisis of 119–21 erosion of 76, 81–2 demographic profile of the top 10% 8 depression 130, 150 see also mental health ‘deserving’, the 23, 57, 74 see also ‘undeserving’, the disability and social mobility 58 welfare benefits 78, 79, 175 Disability Rights UK 175 diversity and inclusion targets 57 domestic work see unpaid work Dorling, Danny 35, 146–7, 156, 183 downward orientation 35, 46, 47 downward social mobility 14, 36, 73, 136, 152, 162, 182 237 Uncomfortably Off children of the top 10% 31–2, 162 income and status insecurity 51–2 Dubai 133 Durose, Oly 39–40 E Earth4All 177 economy economic attitudes of the top 10% 6, 8, 11, 16, 18–19, 42, 42, 77, 92–3, 161–4 economic common sense 89, 90 GDP, as indicator of success 176 Economy 2030 Enquiry 109 EDF 106 Edmiston, Daniel 49 education and class 40–1, 46, 51, 58–9 inequalities 17, 100–1, 117–19, 136 Ofsted ratings and league tables 137 and political attitudes 41, 42 and social capital 60 and social mobility 58–60, 147–8 state education 36, 60, 119, 136, 137, 148, 170 see also higher education; private education Ehrenreich, Barbara 152 Elections Bill 2021 120 Electoral Calculus 173 Electoral Commission 120 electoral system reform 172–3 Eliasoph, Nina 81 elites 39, 44–5, 77 anti-elitism 12, 96 employment 151 blue-collar 28 good jobs 55–61 hard work 48, 50, 61–73, 162 impact on society of 65–71 inequalities 17, 100, 107–9 low-wage work 62, 127 precarity 61, 107–9 presenteeism 64 public sector 109 and purpose 66–7, 71, 75, 162 and self-respect 55–6 and status 55–7, 68, 74 structural labour market change 27–8, 158 top 10% 6, 16, 24, 25, 26–8, 55–75 total British employed 2 white-collar 28 work-life balance 18, 171 workplace reform 71–2 see also unpaid work energy costs 101, 104, 105–7, 175 energy industry privatisation of 177–8 windfall taxes 177 environmental issues 54, 161 carbon emissions 54, 114–15, 135, 143, 145, 171, 172, 178 net zero 174, 176–7 equality of opportunity 57, 153 equality of outcome 57 ESS (European Social Survey) 89, 92 ethnicity see race and ethnic origin Eton College 26, 119 EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Living Conditions) 24, 28, 29–30, 32, 33 Eurofound 27–8, 36–7 European Convention on Human Rights 121 European Social Survey (ESS) 89, 92 European Union Statistics on Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 24, 28, 29–30, 32, 33 experts, anti-elitist attitudes towards 12 Extinction Rebellion 84 ‘extraction capitalism’ 112 F Farage, Nigel 96 ‘fear of falling’ 152, 182 see also downward social mobility feminism 56 financial sector 51–2, 88–9 food food banks 93, 175 ‘right to’ 178 foreign policy, top 10% attitudes towards 6, 42 formal work see employment ‘fortification mentality’ 134–5 Frank, Robert H. 48 Friedman, Sam 27, 29, 31, 40, 57 furlough scheme, COVID-19 pandemic 15, 104, 128, 140, 151 G Gallup Poll, US 22, 26 Gates, Bill 144 GDP, as indicator of success 176 gender gender profile of the top 10% 8, 29–30 inclusivity 152–3 social mobility 57–8 general election, 2019 1, 76, 97, 120, 173 Generation Z 17, 100, 118 gentrification 133–4 238 Index Germany 159, 169 Gethin, Stephen 121 Ghosh, J. 132–3 Giddens, A. 64 Gilens, Martin 42–3 gilets jaunes (yellow vest) movement, France 115 global financial crisis, 2008 31, 77–9, 126, 140 global warming see climate change globalisation 39 offshoring 79, 109, 158 Good Friday Agreement 121 good jobs 55–61 see also employment Goodhart, David 96–7 Gove, Michael 84 government debt 140 government employees, as members of the top 10% 5 government spending 169–70 see also public services; welfare state Graeber, David 46, 66, 75, 129, 157 Great British Class Survey 2013 39 Green, Duncan 184 Green New Deal 176 Green Party 87, 120, 178 Guinan, J. 82 H House of Commons Committee for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy 107 household debt 152 housing 52 and climate change 114 house prices 33 housing costs 110, 111 inequalities 17, 100, 107–9, 133–4 insulation grants 176 mortgages 33, 52, 106, 110 and state education 137 see also home ownership; homelessness human rights 121 Human Rights Act 1998 121 I Haldane, Andy 164 hard work 48, 50, 61–73, 162 HC-One 107 healthcare 144, 168 inequalities 112–14, 138, 139 NHS 91, 94, 116, 137, 138, 170 private healthcare 116, 137, 140, 159, 167–8, 182 Hecht, Katharina 62 higher education 30–1, 58, 136, 147–8, 183 elite 17, 26, 28–9, 73, 74, 100 and employment 57, 61 inequalities 17, 100, 117–19 mental health issues 73 post-1992 28 and social capital 118 student debt 37 US 57, 74 Hills, John 168 HMRC, income survey 5–6 hoarding 135–6, 144 home ownership 33, 52, 110, 111 see also housing homelessness 93 see also housing immigration, top 10% attitudes towards 6, 16, 42, 43 income distribution 133, 168 misconceptions around 1–4 Palma ratio 22–3 UK breakdown, 2019/20 7 income from capital 33–4 income tax 178–9, 181 Indian ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 inequalities 53, 77–8, 92–3, 100–23, 129–30, 153–4, 165–6, 183 and the COVID-19 pandemic 127 and education 17, 100–1, 117–19, 136 and employment 17, 100, 107–9 global 177 growth of 14, 32–3 healthcare 112–14, 138, 139 higher education 17, 100, 117–19 housing 17, 100, 107–9, 133–4 intergenerational 14, 17, 100, 109, 111–12, 117–18 labour market 60–1 and politics 87 private sector responsibility 69–71 and the top 10% 8, 17, 101–23 and the ‘undeserving’ 148–50 inflation 101, 105 Inflation Reduction Act 2022, US 169 informal work 56–7 inheritance, and housing inequality 111 Institute for Fiscal Studies 26, 105 Institute for Government 104 insulation 125–7, 130, 144 interdependence 175–6 Intergenerational Commission 118 intergenerational inequalities 14, 17, 100, 109, 111–12, 117–18 International Labour Organization 56 interview panels 40 239 Uncomfortably Off IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) 114 Ireland 5, 13, 33, 155 isolation 127–31, 131, 144, 150–1 Ivy League universities, US 57 J jobs see employment Johnson, Boris 11, 26, 76, 84, 87, 97, 119, 121 Johnson, Paul 105 Jones, Owen 133, 148 K Kawachi, I. 116–17 key workers 127, 144, 150, 165 Khan, Shamus 152–3 King’s Fund 138 Kwarteng, Kwasi 3, 105 L labour market 60–1, 79–80 Labour Party/ Labour 1, 2, 44, 76, 80, 82–3, 84, 85, 89, 120, 122, 180, 194 New Labour 9, 78, 85 Lamont, Michèle 44–5 land values 110 Lansley, Stewart 112, 114, 151 Laurison, Daniel 27, 29, 31, 40, 57 Lawson, Neal 154 Le Pen, Marine 96, 98 left, the and Brahmins 41 social attitudes of the top 10% 16, 4 2 LGBTQ+ people, top 10% attitudes towards 43 Liberal Democrat Party 76, 84, 85, 86, 102, 120 liberalism small-l liberalism 96, 98, 182 life expectancy 79, 115, 138 Lindner, Christian 169 living standards 23–4 see also cost of living crisis local government 81–3, 117 local politics 81, 82–3 low-wage work 62, 127 luck 48, 59, 61 luxury consumption, and climate change 114–15 Lynch, Mick 178 M Major, John 60 Make Votes Matter 84 management consultants 47, 59, 70, 86, 90, 108, 126, 130, 147 Mandler, Peter 148 manners elite 45 market failures 105–7, 141 marketisation 137–9 Markovits, D. 20 Marmot reports, 2010 and 2020 115–16, 117 Mason, Paul 142 May, Theresa 84, 87 Mazzucato, Mariana 173–4 mean-tested benefits 77, 93–4, 159 media control of 120 as members of the top 10% 5, 26 Members of Parliament (MPs) 5, 76 men community involvement 70 see also gender mental health anxiety 72, 130, 135, 150, 165 depression 130, 150 higher education 73 unequal societies 130 working hours reduction 171 Merchants 38, 41–2, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 53, 61, 65, 68, 69, 72, 73, 88–9, 96, 98, 160, 162, 174 meritocracy 6, 11, 18, 19, 20, 39, 47, 58, 65, 68, 74, 100, 109, 111, 118, 146–9, 165, 170, 181, 184–5, 186 middle class 33, 39, 40, 133, 136, 148 Mijs, Jonathan 118, 155–6, 156–7 Milanovic, Branco 14, 34 Millennials 17, 100, 117, 118 minority rights, top 10% attitudes towards 6, 43 mobility 17–18, 124–5, 144, 148, 167 money, cultural taboos around 3 money elite 45 monopolies 140 and energy market failure 106–7 morals elite 45 mortgages 33, 52, 106, 110 MPs (Members of Parliament) 5, 76 multinational companies, taxation of 180 Murdoch, Rupert 120 N NatCen Social Research 24, 39 National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers 178 240 Index Nationality and Borders Bill 2021 120 neoliberalism 142 net zero 174, 176–7 networking 63 see also social capital New Labour see Labour Party/Labour NFTs (non-fungible tokens) 143–4 NHS 91, 94, 116, 137, 138, 170 Nietzsche, F. 46 Nixon, B. 82 Northern Ireland 121 O Obama, Barack 96 occupation see employment Occupy movement 181 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) data 23, 31 Office for National Statistics (ONS) 24, 29 offshoring 79, 109, 158 Olson, Dan 144 online shopping, and the COVID-19 pandemic 134 online working see working from home ONS (Office for National Statistics) 24, 29 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) data 23, 31 overwork 69, 75 see also working hours Oxford Brookes University 29 Oxford University 28–9, 119 P Pakistani ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 Palma ratio 22–3 Parra, Nicanor 32 Parsons, Tony 3 participation, political 80–5, 172–3 ‘partygate’ scandal 76 Paugam, Serge 49–50 pensions, state 138 performance management 72 Personal Independence Payment 79 PFIs (private finance initiatives) 139 Piketty, Thomas 5, 14, 31, 38, 41, 42, 113, 180 Polanski, Jack 178 polarisation, political 14, 85–6, 98, 102, 172 Policing Bill 2021 120 politicians, as members of the top 10% 5, 26 politics 76–99, 181 centre ground 85–8 contemporary context 77–80 party membership 82–3, 84 political change 184–5 political participation 80–5, 172–3 political polarisation 14, 85–6, 98, 102, 172 political reform 172–3 and trust 76, 82 populism 11, 14, 16, 76, 77, 98, 102 positionality of authors 8–11 poverty 59, 78, 93, 151, 174, 175 child poverty 170 and education 118 and the ‘undeserving’ 148–50 precarity, of employment 61, 107–9 presenteeism 64 private education 54, 118–19, 136, 137, 147–8, 159, 162, 167, 170, 182 school fees 26, 33, 35, 36, 37 and social capital 60, 118 see also education private finance initiatives (PFIs) 139 private healthcare 116, 137, 140, 159, 167–8, 182 see also healthcare private sector 19–20 corporate sector 46, 51, 59, 64, 65–6, 67–8, 71, 88–9, 108, 128, 153 financial sector 51–2, 88–9 insecurity in 109 involvement in public services 139, 170 raising expectations of 171 privatisation excess profits of privatised companies 101 of utility companies 177–8 professionals anti-elitist attitudes towards 12, 46, 96 professionals and managers 24, 25, 26–8, 39, 55 see also top 10% property tax 180–1 protest, right of 120 Protestant work ethic 50 public sector employment 109 public services 159, 173 cuts in 78–9, 105, 117, 170 destigmatisation of 170 and marketisation 137–8 private sector involvement in 139, 170 and the top 10% 8, 19, 56, 77, 91–2, 138–9, 140, 144, 159, 163, 166–8, 183 universal 56, 77, 93–5, 144, 159 241 Uncomfortably Off Putnam, Robert 81, 129, 157, 158 Q Question Time, BBC 1, 2, 181 R race and ethnic origin and inclusivity 152–3 and social mobility 58 of the top 10% 8, 30 Raworth, Kate 135 redistribution 139, 161, 163, 182 top 10% attitudes towards 6, 42, 42, 43, 77 Reed, Howard 151 Reich, Robert 141 relocation see mobility renewable energy 141 see also climate change; energy costs Resolution Foundation 2, 34, 112, 163 rich, the see top 1%; top 10% richness 47 right, the 16 and Brexit 102 centre right 89, 97 and control of the media 121 far right 15, 97–8 and Merchants 41 political attitudes of the top 10% 16, 42 rights and responsibilities 158–60 Rivera, Lauren 57, 119 Rosa, Hartmut 129 Rothermere, Lord 120 Russell Group universities 57 Russia-Ukraine war 76, 104, 105–6 S Saez, E. 31 Salvini, Matteo 98 same-sex marriage, top 10% attitudes towards 6, 16, 42 Sandbu, Martin 179 Sandel, Michael 142, 150–1 Sanders, Bernie 96 Savage, Mike 183 savings levels of the top 10% 36 school fees, private education 26, 33, 35, 36, 37 Schor, Juliet 171 Scotland, devolved government 121 Scottish Greens 121 Scottish National Party 121 self-respect, and employment 55–6 Sherman, Rachel 35, 45–6 Shrubsole, Guy 110 ‘sink’ schools 137 Sinn Féin 121 small-l liberalism 96, 98, 182 ‘smart’ working 64 social capital decline in 157–8 and private education 60, 118 social care 117 low pay of care workers 103 market failure in 107 Social Democratic Party of Germany, Programme for the Future 159 social media ‘echo chambers’ 128 social mobility 19, 28, 36, 57–9 downward 14, 36, 73, 136, 152, 162, 182 children of the top 10% 31–2, 162 income and status insecurity 51–2 and education 58–60 meritocracy 6 and networking 63 structural barriers to 62 upward 18, 36, 50, 64, 136 Social Mobility Commission 60 social reproduction 135–7 social security top 10% attitudes towards 77 see also welfare benefits; welfare state society, attitudes to impact of work on 65–71, 74–5 sociological imagination 13, 49, 128, 160 solidarity 94, 127, 142, 157, 158, 159, 170 ‘somewheres’ 96 Soper, Kate 74 Spain 5, 73, 149, 155, 169 stamp duty 110–11 Starmer, Keir 87 state, the 161 raising expectations of 173–6 top 10% attitudes towards 91–5, 92 state education 36, 60, 119, 136, 137, 148, 170 status and employment 55–7, 68, 74 status anxiety and insecurity 14, 51–2, 135, 165 Stevenson, Gary 15 stigma, and unemployment 56 Streib, Jessi 31–2 structure 49 student debt 37 suburbia 40 Summers, A. 179, 180 Sutton Trust 29 Sweden 5, 23, 155 242 Index T tactical voting 172–3 taxation 97, 161, 163, 164, 178–81, 182 corporation tax 105–6, 113, 180 council tax 110, 180 income tax 2, 105–6, 178–9, 181, 185 property tax 180–1 stamp duty 110–11 tax avoidance/evasion 178, 181 tax cuts 169 tax fraud 181 top 10% attitudes towards 8, 42, 43, 77, 88–91, 92 Truss government tax cuts 105–6 wealth tax 179 windfall taxes, energy industry 177 technology and acceleration of the pace of life 129 automation 79, 158, 160 Thatcher, Margaret 105, 180 third sector, as members of the top 10% 5 Thomas, Mark 120 top 1% 2, 4, 13, 14, 15, 32, 41, 52, 64, 65, 93, 126, 128, 162 and employment 58–9 enabling of 131–4 inequality in 155 top 10% 4–7, 8, 11–13, 18, 33 accumulation and hoarding 135–6, 144 and austerity policies 1, 11, 13, 16 barriers to sense of belonging 18, 146–60 collective denial 139–42 contradictory isolation of 53–4 cost of living pressures 14, 15 and the COVID-19 pandemic 13, 15, 18, 127 furlough and business support schemes 15, 104, 126–7, 128, 151 cultural attitudes 42, 84 demographic profile 8 economic attitudes 6, 8, 11, 16, 18–19, 42, 42, 77, 92–3, 161–4 education 28–9, 30–1 employment 6, 16, 24, 25, 26–8, 55–75 enabling the wealthy 131–4 future prospects for 34–7, 95–9, 98, 182-7 gender profile 8, 29–30 HMRC income data 5–6 income and status insecurity 14, 51–2 inequalities 8, 17, 101–23 insulation 125–7, 130, 144 internal diversity of 32 isolation/lack of awareness of others’ lives 45–6, 49–50, 127–31, 131, 150–1, 154–7, 164–6 location 8, 29 and marketisation 137–9 and meritocracy 6, 11, 18, 19, 20, 39, 47, 58, 65, 68, 74, 100, 109, 111, 118, 146–9, 165, 170, 181, 184–5, 186 mobility 17–18, 124–5, 144, 148 overview and profile of 13–15, 21–37, 154–5 perceptions of income distribution 38, 47–51 political attitudes 8, 16–17, 42, 76–99 political participation 80–5 political influence of 5, 11, 76 and public services 8, 19, 56, 77, 91–2, 138–9, 140, 144, 159, 163, 166–8, 183 qualitative analysis of 15–16, 38–54 race and ethnic origin 8, 30 response to social and economic pressures 17–18, 124–45 rights and responsibilities 158–60 and the role of the state 91–5, 92 savings levels 36 social attitudes 6, 8, 16, 18–19, 42, 65–71, 77, 92, 92–3, 161–3, 164–6 social reproduction 135–7 uncertainty and insecurity of 68–9 Törmälehto, Veli-Matti 36–7 Toynbee, P. 89 trade unions 165, 172 membership 72, 157, 158, 163 Trump, Donald 11, 47, 96, 97, 98 Truss, Liz 105, 141, 186 Trussell Trust 175 trust 130–1 and politics 76, 82 Trust for London 23–4 U UBI (Universal Basic Income) 160 UK devolved government 121 Palma ratio 23 UKIP 87 Ukraine-Russia war 76, 104, 105–6 ‘undeserving,’ the 23, 148–50, 163 see also ‘deserving’, the 243 Uncomfortably Off unemployment 56 welfare benefits 138 Universal Basic Income (UBI) 160 universal welfare benefits 93, 168 see also welfare benefits universal public services 56, 77, 93–5, 144, 159 see also public services universities/university education 30–1, 58, 136, 147–8, 183 elite 17, 26, 28–9, 73, 74, 100 and employment 57, 61 inequalities 17, 100, 117–19 mental health issues 73 post-1992 28 and social capital 118 student debt 37 US 57, 74 Unlock Democracy 83 unpaid work 56, 150, 175–6 upper class 38–9, 133 upper-middle class 4, 16, 27, 31–2, 38–54, 39 see also top 10% upward orientation 35, 45–6, 47, 50, 51 upward social mobility 18, 36, 50, 64, 136 US and the COVID-19 pandemic 141 downward social mobility 31–2 elitism in higher education 150–1 employment and social class 57 inequalities and social segregation 156–7 Inflation Reduction Act 2022 169 middle class 33 universities/university education 57, 74 utility companies, privatisation of 177–8 V volunteering 69, 70–1 W Walker, D. 89 water industry, privatisation of 178 wealth distribution of 142 enabling of the wealthy 131–4 historical accumulation of 113 inequalities 112–14 unequal distribution of 14 wealth tax 179 Weber, Max 50 welfare benefits 138, 159–60, 167–8 cuts in 78, 79, 169 increasing of in line with inflation, 2022 175 mean-tested 77, 93–4, 159 universal 93, 168 welfare state 167, 174 anti-welfare attitudes 42, 42–3 top 10% attitudes towards 42, 93–4 and the ‘undeserving’ 149–50 see also public services well-off, the social attitudes and perceptions of 21–2 see also top 1%; top 10% White ethnicity, in the top 10% 30 Whitmarsh, Lorraine 114 Whyte, William 55–6 Williams, Zoe 134, 178 women anti-exclusion policies 43 community involvement 70 gender pay gap 30 life expectancy, decrease in 115 and online working 64 top 10% 8, 29–30 trade union membership 72 unpaid work 56, 150, 175–6 working class, and employment 57 see also gender Woodward, A. 116–17 work hard work 55, 61–73 see also employment work-life balance 18, 171 working class 24, 39, 148 and Brexit 101–2 and employment 57 working from home 27, 64, 104, 126, 128, 165 working hours 64 reduction in 171 World Bank 47 World Inequality Database 13, 32, 54 Wren-Lewis, Simon 78–9, 90 Y yellow vest (gilets jaunes) movement, France 115 Young, Michael 184–5 Younge, Gary 181 Z Zahawi, Nadim 107 244 

Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?
by Bill McKibben
Published 15 Apr 2019

In the fall of 2018, a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl named Greta Thunberg staged a “school strike,” sitting on the steps of Parliament instead of going to class on the theory that she couldn’t be bothered if the government couldn’t be bothered to care about the climate. Her action galvanized sentiment across northern Europe, and on the other side of the globe, Australian schoolchildren were soon on strike, too, and occupying the foyer of their Parliament. Meanwhile, in Britain an Extinction Rebellion movement had sprung up, staging civil disobedience actions to shut down traffic across London. In the United States, young people staged a sit-in at Congress to demand a special committee on a “Green New Deal” by early 2019 pollsters reported that 80 percent of Democrats and 60% of Republicans backed the idea, or at least the slogan.”

…

No (submarine) Dropbox drought Duchenne muscular dystrophy Dune Vulnerability Team (DVT) Dust Bowl Duterte, Rodrigo Dyson, Freeman Eagle Glacier Earth crust of degradation of habitability of hydrology of finite nature of great disruptions in Earth Day earthquakes Easter Island Ebell, Myron Ebola Economics of Smoking, The (Tollison and Wagner) Economist ecosystem services Eden Edison, Thomas efficiency Egypt elections 2010 2012 2016 2018 electricity, new access El Niño Emerson, Ralph Waldo employment Endangered Species Act End of Nature, The (McKibben) Ends of the World, The (Brannen) “Energy and Man” (API symposium) Energy Department energy efficiency energy poverty Enlightenment Now (Pinker) Enough (McKibben) environmentalism Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) environmental regulation Environmental Research Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Erdogan, Recep Tayyip erythropoietin (EPO) Esso Atlantic (oil tanker) estuaries ethics Ettinger, Robert Europe evolution experience sampling Extinction Rebellion Exxon Facebook facial recognition software Falcon 9 rocket famine Farmerline Fate of the Earth, The (Schell) Fauci, Anthony Federalist Society Federal Reserve feedback loops fertilizer fiberglass net Finding Nemo (film) Finland fires First Amendment fish Fisher Body floods Florida flow Flynn effect Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food supply Forbes Ford, Gerald forests Forest Service Fort McMurray, Canada Fortune 500 CEOs fossil fuels.

What We Need to Do Now: A Green Deal to Ensure a Habitable Earth
by Chris Goodall
Published 30 Jan 2020

If you need to upgrade computers or other goods, try to find them a new home. Most phones, for example, can be recycled. 18. Buy second-hand whenever you can, whether it’s from Oxfam or other charity shops or on Depop, eBay or Freecycle. It makes a significant difference. POLITICS 19. Join citizen activist groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Support climate change demonstrations and other forms of civic action. 20. Vote for politicians who prioritise action on climate change and commit to well thought-out and effective action, not people who just want to ban drinking straws. Write to your MP and councillors.

Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom
by Grace Blakeley
Published 11 Mar 2024

Campaigners against the Keystone XL pipeline staged sit-ins across the proposed route and even formed a human chain around the White House.30 Despite hundreds of arrests—including that of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein—Obama was forced to back down and put the pipeline on hold. And even less targeted actions have had a substantial impact.31 Throughout 2018 and 2019, movements like Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future focused public attention on the question of climate breakdown and forced a public conversation on the issue. In September 2019, millions of people in nearly every country on earth marched for climate justice in the largest mass-climate protest in history.32 As soon as journalists and commentators were forced to start asking questions about climate breakdown—even hostile ones—public opinion began to shift.33 In the Global South, where millions rely on the natural world to provide daily sustenance as well as a livable environment, resistance to climate breakdown has proved equally fierce.

…

Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 120–21 Bevins, Vincent, 191 Bezos, Jeff, 75–77, 80–81, 132 Biden, Joe, 69, 70–71, 136, 140–42 Big Three asset managers, 133, 135, 137 biopolitics (Foucault), 105 BlackRock, 69, 132–37, 257 Blackstone Financial Management, 44, 133 “black swan” events, 50, 114 Blackwater, 104 Bodie, Matthew, 254 Boeing, 3–10, 86, 87, 96, 225 agreements with Southwest Airlines, 5, 10, 16 Boeing 737 MAX, 3–9, 17, 218–19 Boeing 787 Dreamliner, 4–5, 8 capitalism and, 16–17 corporate welfare and, 7–8, 29 MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System), 4, 5–7 merger with McDonnell Douglas, 4, 8–9 shareholder distributions, 6 Bolsonaro, Jair, 251 BP, 64 Braithwaite, Michael, 163–64 Braun, Benjamin, 129–30 Braverman, Harry, 99–100 Brazil Amazon environmental protections, 251 Fordlândia in, 22–23, 186 Porto Alegre model for participatory budgeting (PB), 232–33, 247 Bregman, Rutger, 224 Bretton Woods, 51 British Business Bank (BBB), 156–57 Brook House (UK), 102 Brown, Matthew, 237–38, 247 Brown, Wendy, 33, 34, 143, 167 Buffett, Warren, 95 Builders Labourers Federation (BLF, Australia), 227–29 Bukharin, Nikolai, 182 bureaucratization, 34–35, 147 Burke, Edmund, 103 Bush, George W., 140 C Calhoun, David, 9 Cameron, David, 54, 154–56, 162 campaign finance reform, 259 Canada COVID-19 aid to corporations, 46, 136 Ethyl Corp. lawsuit and, 197 resistance to the labor movement, 78 Toronto Community Housing Corporation (THTC) participatory budgeting, 232–33 Canada Infrastructure Bank, 136 Capita, 164 Capital (Marx), vii capitalism, 11–17 alliances among capitalists in, 13–14 centralization of power in, xvi–xvii, 92, 136–37 central vs. corporate planning and, x–xiv, xvi, xix–xx, 14–16 class divisions in, x, xix, 11–14, 38–39, 82–84, 108, 151, 158–60, 216–18, 252, 259, 268 democracy and, xiv–xv, 147, see also democratic planning dialectic/creative tension between markets and planning, xvi–xvii, 37, 53, 123, 126 distinction between capital and labor, 30–39 feudalism vs., 12–13, 266, 269–71 foundations of, 264–66, 268–71 free markets and competition and, ix, 11–14, 15–17, 30, 36–39, 97–98, 137, 221, 268–70 fusion of political and economic power in, xviii, 10, 13–15, 33, 80, 82–84, 95–96, 104–8, 183–85, 190, 264–65 fusion of public and private power in, 142–43, 159–60 human capital and, 33, 148, 166–67 as hybrid system of competitive pressure and centralized control, ix, 16, 37, 47, 123, 269 imperialism as highest stage of, 183 international finance system as time lords of, 109, 113–14 investor-capitalists, 118, 148 Keynes and, see Keynes, John Maynard Marx and, see Marx, Karl means of production in, 12–13, 247, 264 “mini-capitalists” and, 33, 118, 122–23 nature of capital and, 11, 12–13 need for business firms in, 81–85 negative externalities, 88–89 new industrial capitalism (Galbraith), 37 pursuit of profit in, xiii–xiv, 25, 29 rewards for competitiveness, 225–26 as rule by capital vs. free markets, 10–11, 36–39, 137 socialism vs., 221 socialized capitalism (Galbraith), 97–98 social relationships in, 11, 13, 143, 157–59, 164, 170, 172, 265–66 stakeholder capitalism, 35–36, 135–36, 148 state vs. markets and, 220–22 surveillance capitalism, 27, 54–58, 94, 98–100, 155 see also disaster capitalism CARES Act (2020), 9–10 Cayman Islands, as tax haven, 42, 132 central banks, 124–32 bank bailouts in the United Kingdom and, 31–32 BlackRock and, 136 democratizing, 258 emergence of central banking, 124–25 legitimacy questions, 129–32 loanable funds model and, 114–18 quantitative easing (QE) and, 127–28, 129, 136 swap lines among, 209–10 US dollar and, 178, 209–10 see also specific central banks Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, US), 175, 189, 241 centralized planning by Amazon, 75–81 in capitalist economies, 14–16, 24, 66–71, 98, 143, 266 collective action problem and, 47–48, 67, 70, 159–61, 166–67, 248–49, 253 corporatism/corporate planning vs., x–xiv, 14–16, 27, 30, 84 democratic, see democratic planning empires and, see empire planning financial crisis of 2008 and, 49–50 at Ford Motor Company, 19–24 Galbraith on, 97–98 Gramsci on, 24 Hayek on, x–xii international finance system and, 113–14 neoliberal revolution vs., 24–26 resisting, 71–72 by states, see state planning by Walmart, 88, 264, 265 Chamayou, Grégoire, 27, 30 Chan, Jackie, 168 Chang, Ha-Joon, 146, 180, 182 Chao, Elaine, 42–43 ChemChina, 90, 91, 124 Chemring Group, 46 Chevron, 64, 194–96, 205 Chicago School, 150–51, 199 Chile democratic socialism in, 241–46 National Telecommunications Enterprise, 245 Project Cybersyn, 245–46, 247, 265, 266 State Development Corporation (CORFO), 244–45 violence of the neoliberal state in, 34 Chiluba, Frederick, 206 China Belt and Road Initiative, 171–72, 182–83 COVID-19 surveillance and, 57–58 developmentalism and, 137, 170–72 Evergrande Group implosion, 167–69, 171 state planning in, 167–72 China CITIC Bank International, 124 Chiquita (formerly United Fruit Company, UFC), 186–89 Christophers, Brett, 136 Chrysler, 29 Citigroup, 120, 124 Civil War, 144 climate breakdown, viii, 66–71 Amazon and, 79 decarbonization efforts, 67, 69–71, 78, 135, 140–41, 250–51, 256, 263 economic power of capital and, 15 Extinction Rebellion and Fridays for Future, 251 fossil-fuel sector and, 66, 69, 139–43 Global North and, 263 Global South and, 263 Green New Deal proposal, 69, 248 need for cooperation and, 66–71, 216, 247–52 Climate Leviathan (Wainwright and Mann), 70 Coase, Ronald, 81, 83–85 Coca-Cola, 81 Cold War, ix, xx collective action problems, 47–48, 66–71, 159–61, 166–67, 248–49, 253, see also democratic planning Collins Aerospace, 219 Colombia, surveillance of Teleperformance workers, 99 Communist Manifesto (Marx), 152 Communist Party of China, 171 of Guatemala, 188 of Indonesia, 191 community wealth building (CWB), 237–38 comparative advantage (Ricardo), 179–81 computer technology ARPANET, 244 coop app platforms, 154–55, 254–55 data protection and privacy, 27, 54–58, 94, 99, 155 in democratizing the future, 264–66 dot-com bubble (1997–2001), 110–11, 120, 133 intellectual property rights and, 262 Project Cybersyn (Chile) and, 245–46, 247, 265, 266 surveillance capitalism and, 27, 54–58, 94, 98–100, 155 Walmart centralized planning and, 88, 264, 265 Connolly, James, 59, 61 conspiracy theories, xvi, 38, 43–44, 53 Cooley, Mike, 216–20 Coons, Chris, 141 COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference, 2021), 70–71 Coral Island, The (Ballantyne), 222–24 Corbyn, Jeremy, 250 Cornered (Lynn), 21 corporations central vs. corporate planning, x–xiv corporate crime and, 106–7, 119–24, 156–57, 220–21 corporate sovereignty, xiv, 22–23, 25, 80, 103–8, 143 corporatism and, x–xiv, 14–16, 27, 30, 84 COVID-19 pandemic programs, 9–10, 41–49, 59–60, 141–42, 155–56 democratic planning and, see democratic planning expanding collective ownership of, 253–55, 257 fusion of political and economic power of, xviii, 10, 13–15, 33, 80, 82–84, 95–96, 104–8, 183–85, 190, 264–65 lobbying by, 105–6, 140, 141–42, 151, 159, 259 managerialism and, 34–35, 84, 100, 108, 216 profit maximization by, xiii–xiv, 25, 29 see also taxes and taxation COVID-19 pandemic airline industry and, 9 BlackRock and, 136 call center workers and, 98–99 CARES Act (2020) and, 9–10 corporate beneficiaries of, 9–10, 41–49, 59–60, 141–42, 155–56 cost-of-living crisis, 48, 58, 63–66, 129 Evergrande (China) implosion and, 167–69, 171 fossil-fuel industry and, 64, 141–42 frauds and scams in, 156–57 housing crisis and, 43, 44–45 inflation and, 63–66 McKinsey & Company and, 53–58, 155 mortality measures during, 105 shareholder distributions/share buybacks during, 45–47, 59–60, 64 shipping companies and, 62–63, 64 state economic programs in, 41–48 supply chain financing and, 153–54 surveillance programs, 57–58, 98–99 UK responses to, 45–46, 53–61, 155–57, 162–63 US responses to, 41–45 WeWork business model and, 112 worker loss of income and poverty, 60, 63, 98–99 zoonotic disease and, 68 creative destruction (Schumpeter), 86, 95, 96 Credit Suisse, 52, 123–24, 153–54 crony capitalism, 34 Crothers, Bill, 155–56 Crown Commercial Service (CCS, UK), 155–56 Crown Prosecution Service (CPS, UK), 102 Cunningham, Ceri, 239–40 Curaçao, as tax haven, 45 D Dalton, David, 155 Danone, 46 Dark Waters (2019 film), 91 data protection and privacy, 27, 54–58, 94, 99, 155 Davis, Mike, 68 Dawn of Everything, The (Wengrow and Graeber), 224–25 Dayen, David, 89 Debt (Graeber), 125 Debt Collective (US), 249–50 Decree 900 (Guatemala), 188 de Guzman, Leody, 177 Delinquent Genius (Cooley), 217 democracy capitalism and, xiv–xv, 147 democratizing the state, 257–61 planning and, see democratic planning as synonymous with socialism (Meiksins Wood), xviii “unfreedom” and, xiv–xv Democratic Party (US) fossil-fuel industry and, 140–41, 142 in Mississippi, 236 democratic planning, 215–66 Argentina, Ciudad Futura, 234–35, 255 Australia, green bans, 227–29 Brazil, participatory budgeting, 232–33, 247 in Chile, 241–46 for the future, 264–66 human nature and, 222–26 Iceland, Better Reykjavik program, 235–36, 258–59 India, Kerala people’s planning, 233–34 international finance system and, 255–57 international institutions and, 261–64 Mississippi, Cooperation Jackson program, 236–37, 247, 251–52, 255 participatory budgeting (PB), 232–33, 235–36, 258–59 people-powered planning, 226–40, 247–52 Spain, Marinaleda workers’ collective, 229–30 state-level, 241–46, 257–61 UK, Blaenau Ffestiniog program (Wales), 238–40 UK, Greater London Enterprise Board, 216–17, 219–20 UK, Lucas Plan/Lucas Aerospace Corporation, xix, 215–22, 226, 229, 231, 247, 248, 266 UK, People’s Plan for the Royal Docks (London), 230–31 UK, Preston community wealth building (CWB) program, 237–38, 247, 255 for work and the corporation, 252–55 democratic socialism, 216–17, 241–48, 265 Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), 250 dependency theory, 184–86, 199, 205 deregulation, xv–xvi, 7, 31, 32, 51, 170, 206 Deutsche Bank, 49 developmentalism, 137, 170–72, 205–8 disaster capitalism, 41–71 climate breakdown and, 66–71 collective action problems and, 47–48, 67, 70, 159–61, 248–49, 253 corporate welfare programs and, 31–32 COVID-19 pandemic and, see COVID-19 pandemic financial crisis of 1987 and, 126–27 financial crisis of 1997 and, 51, 200 financial crisis of 2008 and, see financial crisis of 2008 (subprime bubble) nature of, 38 shock doctrine (N.

The New Snobbery
by David Skelton
Published 28 Jun 2021

Another modern academic has described intersectionality and associated genres as ‘an analytical framework in the process of reaching maximum salience across academe, the nonprofit sector and politics’.17 In reaching ‘maximum salience’, it has further entrenched negative perceptions of the undereducated and provided a theoretical underpinning for such views. The irony of highly educated, upper-middle-class scholars pushing the concept of privilege seems to be lost on the academics doing the pushing. Even many of the protest movements associated with the new radicalism are overwhelmingly middle class. Eighty-five per cent of Extinction Rebellion protesters were graduates, and two thirds described themselves as middle class. Harry Mount has described this group as ‘Econians – the public-school boys and girls who rule the wokerati world’.18 The growth of ‘woke’ has led to a new form of pop-culture politics, in which the ideas that advance from academia, generally in the USA, become easily Instagrammable memes about identity, which make discussing complex issues related to class much more difficult.

Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
by Douglas Rushkoff
Published 7 Sep 2022

One came up with the idea of stock funds, filtered for bad activities like oil drilling or cigarette manufacturing, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Calvert and Ariel Investments have been doing this since the 1970s, and that everyone from Nuveen to Blackrock now offers socially responsible investment portfolios. Another thought to engage the world’s youth in a more hip, media-savvy approach to climate change. I suggested she instead support Extinction Rebellion (XR), who were camped out on London’s bridges at that very moment, or the Sunrise Movement, which was planning a protest just a few blocks away. I told everyone about the Post-Carbon Institute and EarthRights International, which were already producing actionable plans and policy recommendations.

The Passenger
by The Passenger
Published 27 Dec 2021

CAs in France and the UK have been initiated against backdrops of political controversy or in situations of declared emergency. Protests in France (known as the yellow-vest protests) were linked to political upheaval over a proposed carbon-tax increase. In the UK the first CA was established in the aftermath of the Extinction Rebellion protests in 2019 following a parliamentary declaration of the climate emergency. France’s CA was accompanied by a promise by President Macron of a no-filter process, which he described as a system by which policies recommended by the CA would be directly put to a referendum, to a parliamentary vote or implemented through executive orders.

Minimal: How to Simplify Your Life and Live Sustainably
by Madeleine Olivia
Published 9 Jan 2020

Plastic (Ebury Press, 2018) Kathryn Kellogg, 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste (Countryman Press, 2019) Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate (Penguin Books, 2015) Elizabeth Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2015) Mary Kondo, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (Vermilion, 2014) Grey McKeown, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Virgin Books, 2014) Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (Penguin Books, 2009) Jonathan Safran Foer, Eating Animals (Penguin Books, 2011) Lucy Siegle, To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World? (Fourth Estate, 2011) Sean Spicer, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion (Portfolio, 2013) ORGANISATIONS Ecocide Law www.stopecocide.earth @EcocideLaw Ethical Consumer www.ethicalconsumer.org @EC_magazine Extinction Rebellion www.rebellion.earth/ @ExtinctionR Fashion Revolution www.fashionrevolution.org @fash_rev Greenpeace www.greenpeace.org.uk @Greenpeace WWF www.wwf.org.uk @wwf_uk WEBSITES Bosh www.bosh.tv @BOSHTV Cruelty Free Kitty www.crueltyfreekitty.com @crueltyfreecat Flight Free www.flightfree.co.uk @FlightFree2020 Good On You www.goodonyou.eco @GoodOnyou_App Green Matters www.greenmatters.com @GreenMatters Low Impact Movement www.lowimpactmovement.org Logical Harmony www.logicalharmony.net @logicalharmony So Vegan www.wearesovegan.com @wearesovegan Vegan Beauty Girl www.veganbeautygirl.co.uk @veganbeautygirl Vegan Richa www.veganricha.com @veganricha Zero Waste Chef www.zerowastechef.com @ZeroWasteChef Endnotes 1 Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus, www.theminimalists.com/minimalism/ 2 Matt McGrath, ‘Climate change: 12 years to save the planet?

Spite: The Upside of Your Dark Side
by Simon McCarthy-Jones
Published 12 Apr 2021

However, the commission also observed that backward and repressive regimes “slip into societies that are without hope, where ambition and passion have no constructive outlet.”63 This suggests, as Scott Atran has argued, that we need an outlet for the ambition and passion of youth in more constructive areas than terrorism. We need to support and inspire our young people to embrace struggles for prosocial causes, which need to be tied to sacred values. The young then need opportunities to fuse their identities with others engaged in the same endeavor. Movements such as Extinction Rebellion are already walking this path. Saving the planet has become a sacred cause, and thanks to people such as Greta Thunberg, there is a visible group to identify with. As part of this undertaking, we can harness our willingness to spite, harming our own short-term material interests and those of some corporations to promote the long-term interests of both us and our planet.

The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest
by Edward Chancellor
Published 15 Aug 2022

As we have seen, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013 launched a ‘war on Wonga’, a British payday lender that, in the primate’s opinion, took advantage of needy borrowers. (In fact, Wonga didn’t charge enough interest to cover bad debts and soon went bankrupt.) The following year, Pope Francis decried usury as inhuman cruelty. The Extinction Rebellion climate-change activists holding up the London traffic in the summer of 2019 demanded, among other things, the abolition of interest. Interest arises out of inequality, and also affects the distribution of income and wealth. Righteous denunciations of usury, however, conceal a more complicated picture.

…

H., 242 Draghi, Mario, 61, 122–3, 145, 146, 147, 240, 293, 305 Drucker, Peter, 163 Dudley, William, 238 Dugas, Laurent, 56 Dumoulin, Charles, 25 Dutch Republic, 13, 33, 35–6, 39, 49, 63, 68 Dutot, Nicholas, 53–4, 57 East India Company, 33, 36–7, 37*, 53, 70 Easterly, William, 189–90 ecological systems, 154–5 economic growth: and Borio’s thinking, 134, 135–9; Brazilian ‘miracle’, 257–8; and ‘bubble economy’ concept, 183–7; during deflationary periods, 100–101; and digital technologies, 127–8, 151–2, 176–7; and Draghi’s policy at ECB, 146–8; and Fed’s easy money policy, 111, 112, 115, 124, 152–3, 182–3, 238; and global interest rates prior to crisis, 118, 135; and globalization, 260–61; in Great Depression era, 142–3; and Hayek, 296, 298; and inequality, 203–6, 216–17, 237, 299; and inflation, 108, 108*; and inflation targeting, 123; in Japan of 1980s, 105–8; in Japan of 1990s, 100–101, 146, 147; led by finance, 266; and meaning of ‘wealth’, 179–82, 193–5; negative impact of building booms, 135–6, 144–5, 148; and Piketty’s theory, 216–17; in post-crisis Iceland, 300–301; productivity collapse in post-crisis decade, 150–51, 152–3; and reduced interest rates after a bubble, 114, 136, 138, 145–6; relation to interest rates, xxiv, xxv, 10, 12, 44, 89, 124–9, 141, 162, 237–8; secular stagnation concept, 77, 124–9, 131, 132–9, 151, 205–6; slow recovery from Great Recession, 124–5, 126–9, 131–2, 150–53, 298–9, 304; in Soviet Union of 1950s, 278; as strong after Second World War, 126, 302; as strong in 1920s USA, 89, 89–90, 108, 143; as subordinated to financialization, 162–71, 182–3, 203–6, 237, 260; vast expansion in China, 265–74, 275–82, 283–9 economic models: canonical model used by central banks, 118, 131, 153*, 207; and demographics, 127, 131; distributional issues as suppressed in, 207; ignoring of resource misallocations, 153*; no place for money and credit in, 118; and perceptions of risk, 230; and productivity puzzle, 151; rational actors/perfect foresight assumptions, 118; unreal reality of academic models, 138, 207 The Economist, 63, 67, 71–2, 73, 77 EDF (French utility), 225 Edmunds, John C., 181 Egypt, 77, 78, 255, 262 Einstein, Albert, 8 Elizabeth II, Queen, 114 Ellington Capital Management, 223 Emden, Paul, 80* emerging markets: Brazilian crash (2012–13), 257–8; BRICs, 254–5, 257–8; capital controls return after 2008, 262, 291; capital flight from (starting 2015), 262, 285–6; demand for industrial commodities, 128; epic corruption scandals, 258; and extended supply chains, 261; flooding across South East Asia (2010), 255; ‘Fragile Five’, 258–9; growth of foreign exchange reserves, 252, 253, 254–5, 256; impact of ultra-low interest rates on, xxiii, 253–60, 262–3; international carry Trade, 137, 237–8; overheating during 2010, 255, 256; post-crisis capital flows into, xxiii, 253–9, 262–3; and recent phase of globalization, 260–61; recovery from 2008 crisis, 124; and savings glut hypothesis, 129, 268–9; ‘second phase of global liquidity’ after 2008 crisis, 253–9, 262–3; and taper tantrum (June 2013), xxiii, 137, 239, 256–7, 259, 263; Turkish debt, 258–60; vulnerability to US monetary policy, 137, 262–3, 267–8 see also China employment/labour markets, xx, 151–2, 240, 260–61, 260*, 296; after 2008 crisis, 210, 211; new insecurity, 211, 298 Erdogan, Recep Tyyip, 259 European Central Bank (ECB), 144, 145, 147, 239, 240, 293; inflation targeting, 119, 120, 122–3; and quantitative easing, 146, 241, 242; sets negative rate, 147, 192–3, 244, 299 European Union, 187, 241, 262 Eurozone, 124, 150–51, 226; and political sovereignty, 293, 293†; sovereign debt crisis (from 2010), 144–8, 226, 238, 239, 241, 273, 293 Evans, David Morier, 73 Evelyn, John, 36, 45 Evergrande (Chinese developer), 279, 288, 310 executive compensation schemes, 152, 162, 163–4, 170, 204, 206, 207 Extinction Rebellion, 201 ExxonMobil, 166 Fang’s Money House, Wenzhou, 281–2 farming: agricultural cycle, 11, 14, 88; and ‘Bank of John Deere’, 167; barley loans in ancient Mesopotamia, 5–6, 6*, 7, 8, 10, 11, 14; bubbles in post-crisis decade, 173; in China, 283; and language of interest, 4–5; loans related to consumption, 6, 25; US deflation of 1890s, 99 Federal Reserve, US: asymmetrical approach to rates, 136–7; as carry trader, 222; cognitive dissonance in, 118–19; Federal Reserve Act (1914), 83; ‘forgotten depression’ (1921), 84, 86, 100, 143; forward guidance policy, 131*, 133, 238, 239, 240, 241; and Gold Exchange Standard, 85, 87, 90*; the ‘Greenspan put’, 111, 186; impact on foreign countries, 137, 239, 240–41, 255–6, 259, 262–3, 267–8, 285; inflation targeting, 119, 120, 241; Long Island meeting (1927), 82–3, 88, 92; mandates of, 240, 262; and March 2020 crash, 305–6; Objectives of Monetary Policy (1937), 97; Open Market Committee (FOMC), 109, 112–13, 115†, 120, 164, 228, 238, 239, 240; Operation Twist (2011), 131*, 238; parallel with US Forest Service, 154–5; and post-Great War inflation, 84; as the ‘price of leverage’, xxi–xxii; quantitative easing by, 12*, 76, 131*, 137, 175, 215, 228, 236, 238, 239–40, 241; raised rates announcement (2015), 138, 239; reaches ‘zero lower bound’ (2008), 243–4; response to 1929 Crash, 98, 100, 101, 108; suggested as responsible for 2008 crisis, 116–17, 118–19, 155, 204, 226–7; TALF fund, 175; taper tantrum (June 2013), xxiii, 137, 239, 256–7, 259, 263; ultra-easy money after 2008 crisis, xxi, 60, 124, 131–8, 146, 149, 152–5, 181–3, 206–17, 221–4, 230, 235–41, 243–4, 262, 291–2; Paul Volcker runs, 108–9, 145; Janet Yellen runs, 120 see also Bernanke, Ben; Greenspan, Alan Feldstein, Martin, 119 Ferri, Giovanni, 277* Fetter, Frank, 30 Field, Alexander, The Great Leap Forward, 142–3 financial crisis (2008): accelerates financialization, 182–3; and complex debt securities, 116, 117–18, 231; ‘crunch porn’ on causes of, 114; economists who anticipated crisis, 113–14, 132; failure of unconventional monetary policies after, xxi, xxii, 43–4, 291–4, 298–9, 301–3; Fed’s monetary policy as suggested cause, 116–17, 118–19, 155, 204, 226–7; generational impact of, 211–12, 213; as ‘giant carry trade gone wrong’, 253–5; global causes of, 117–18; Icelandic recovery from, 301–2; and inequality, 204, 205–17, 299; interest at lowest level in five millennia during, xxi, 243–4, 247; Law’s System compared to, 49, 60–61; low/stable inflation at time of, 134, 135; monetary policy’s role in run-up downplayed, 115–16, 115*, 115†; and quoting of Bagehot, 76; recovery of lost industrial output after, 124; regulatory interpretation of, 114–15, 117; and return of the state, 292–5, 297, 298; return to ‘yield-chasing’ after, 221–6, 230–31, 233–4, 237–8; the rich as chief beneficiaries of, 206–10; savings glut hypothesis, 115–16, 117, 126, 128–9, 132, 191, 252, 268–9; ‘second phase of global liquidity’ after, 253–9, 262–3; unwinding of carry trades during, 221, 227; warnings from BIS economists before, 113–14, 131–4, 135–9 see also Great Recession financial derivatives market, 225–6 financial engineering: buybacks, 53, 152, 163–6, 167, 169, 170–71, 183, 224; crowding out of real economy by, 158–9, 160, 166–71, 182–3, 185, 237; ‘funding gap’ as impetus, 164, 176–7, 291; merger ‘tsunami’ after 2008 crisis, 160–63, 161*, 168–70, 237, 298; ‘promoter’s profit’ concept, 158–9, 160, 161, 164; and ‘shareholder value’, 163–6, 167, 170–71; Truman Show as allegory for bubble economy, 185–7; use of leverage, 111, 116, 149, 155, 158–71, 204, 207, 223, 237, 291; zaitech in Japan, 106, 182, 185 financial repression: in China, 264–5, 265*, 266–81, 268*, 283, 286–9, 292; and inequality, 287–8; McKinnon coins term, 264; political aspects, 265, 265*, 286–9, 292; returns to West after 2008 crisis, 291–3; after Second World War, 290–91, 302 financial sector: bond markets as ‘broken (2014), 227; complex securitizations, 116, 117–18, 221, 227, 231; decades-long bull market from early 1980s, 203–4; economics as fundamentally monetary, 132, 138–9; Edmunds’ ‘New World Wealth Machine’, 181–2; expansion in 1920s USA, 203; finance as leading growth, 266; financial mania of 1860s, 72–4, 75–6; fixed-income bonds, 68–9, 193, 219, 222, 225, 226; foreign securities/loans, 66, 77–8, 91; investment trusts appear (1880s), 79; liquidity traps, 114; mighty borrowers within, 202; profits bubble in post-crisis USA, 183, 183†, 185, 211; robber baron era in USA, 156–9, 203; stability as destabilizing, 82, 143, 233, 263, 285; stock market bubble in post-crisis decade, 175–7, 176*; trust companies in US, 83–4, 84*; US bond market ‘flash crash’ (2014), 138; and volatility, 153, 228–30, 233, 234, 254, 304, 305; volatility as asset class, 229–30, 229*, 233, 234, 304, 305; ‘Volmageddon’ (5 February 2018), 229–30, 234 see also banking and entries for individual institutions/events financial system, international: Asian crisis, 114, 252, 278; Basel banking rules, 232; Borio on ‘persistent expansionary bias’, 262–3; complex mortgage securities, 116, 117–18; crash (12 March 2020), 304–6; ‘excess elasticity’ of, 137; global financial imbalances, 137, 138; Louvre Accord (1987), 105–6; stock market crash (October 1987), 106, 110–11, 229 financialization, 162–71, 182–3, 185, 203–8, 237 Fink, Larry, 209, 246 Finley, Sir Moses, Economy and Society in Ancient Greece (1981), 18* fire-fighting services, 154–5 First World War, 84, 85 Fisher, Irving: and debt-deflation, 98–9, 100, 119, 280; first to refer to ‘real’ interest rate, 88–9, 219*; founds Stable Money League (1921), 87, 96; and Gesell’s rusting money, 243, 246; on interest, 29–30, 82, 189, 189*, 201; losses in 1929 crash, 94; monetarist view of 1929 Crash, 98–9, 100, 101, 108; ‘money illusion’ concept, 87*; on nature’s production, 4–5; on negative interest, 246; The Theory of Interest, xxiv, xxv, xxvi*, 16, 173 Fisher, Peter, 194 Fisher, Richard, 164 Fitzgerald, F.

The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider
by Michiko Kakutani
Published 20 Feb 2024

But the concept of the Overton window serves as a reminder that society is flexible, that there is hope, and that even the most impossible utopian ideas can one day become reality.” The work of countless grassroots groups in coordinating worldwide climate protests, the role that organizations like Extinction Rebellion and the Sunrise Movement have played in raising public awareness, and the high-profile voices of young activists like Greta Thunberg—all have been credited with helping to make the climate crisis a priority in mainstream politics and increasing the vote share of Green Party candidates in European elections.

Stolen: How to Save the World From Financialisation
by Grace Blakeley
Published 9 Sep 2019

It is always going to be much harder for large numbers of people to come together to demand social change than for it is for elites to work together behind the scenes. But this is also the source of these movements’ power. There are millions of activists across the UK able to organise to resist individual instances of exploitation or oppression, to campaign, and to protest. From the Occupy protests of 2011/12, to Extinction Rebellion, to the Deliveroo strikes, left social movements have, since the crisis, demonstrated their unique ability to win battles, shape wider narratives, and effect social change. Working together, social movements of all kinds can come to form what Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams called an “ecology of organisations” that can work within and alongside political parties to challenge the narratives, electoral politics, and social forces that support finance-led growth.5 These movements can develop and disseminate a narrative that pits working people against extractive financial elites by centring this language in their campaigning at both the grassroots level and in the media.

Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green
by Henry Sanderson
Published 12 Sep 2022

He got out just in time: Nautilus filed for bankruptcy in late 2019, leaving public shareholders with nothing and PNG with debts representing around one-third of its annual health budget.*5 Barron wore an open, loose-fitting leather jacket and a V-necked white vest, and had long unruly hair that was sprinkled with grey. He also sported a scruffy goatee. On his wrist he had a colourful beaded thick wristband that gave him the air of a member of the Extinction Rebellion climate change protest movement. I inadvertently used the word miner to describe him, and he winced, saying he prefers ‘harvester’, in reference to the fact that he just aimed to suck up the millions of nodules that lie on the bottom of the ocean. The US Geological Survey said the deep sea, which covers around half of the earth’s surface, contains more nickel, cobalt and possibly rare earth metals than all land-based reserves combined.

Not the End of the World
by Hannah Ritchie
Published 9 Jan 2024

We can be the first generation to achieve a sustainable world The Last Generation is an activist group in Germany, the name implying that our unsustainability will push us to extinction. To force their government into action, some of the group recently went on a month-long hunger strike. It wasn’t a half-hearted effort: several ended up in hospital. They’re not the only ones who feel this way. The global environmental group Extinction Rebellion is also founded on this principle. And the survey results earlier show that the notion of us being the ‘last generation’ isn’t far from the minds of many young people. But I’d like to take the opposite framing. I don’t think we’re going to be the last generation. The evidence points to the opposite.

The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save It
by Stuart Maconie
Published 5 Mar 2020

I loathe the demonisation and mocking of the young that’s become the hallmark of a protected and petrified older generation. Like Paul Mason, who originally wanted to call his new book ‘The Snowflake Insurrection’, I think the young people of today are showing courage by taking on the great injustices of our age, from Extinction Rebellion to Black Lives Matter. But there’s another dimension here that I’m going to warily explore. Anyone of my vintage and gender who dares say that there may be something deeper and more meaningful in that phrase ‘snowflake’ than just a pat swipe risks opening up a front in the culture wars Mason refers to.

A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth
by Chris Smaje
Published 14 Aug 2020

For example, Campbell 2018. 140. Horowitz 1985, xii. 141. Graeber 2018; Crawford 2009. 142. Therborn 2017, 24. 143. Asafu-Adjaye et al. 2015; Bregman 2017, 1; Pinker 2018; Rosling 2018; Warner 2018, 279. 144. Srnicek and Williams 2015, 10, 82, 70, 1–2. 145. Levin et al. 2012. 146. BBC News (2019) ‘Extinction Rebellion: What Do They Want and Is It Realistic?’ 16 April, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47947775. 147. Pinker 2018, 109. 148. Honohan 2002, 3. 149. Smith (1776) 1993, 292 (Book IV, Chapter 2). 150. On some of these points, see Benanav 2019. 151. This opposition is formulated by Biehl among many others 1998, 135. 152. 

The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-First Century's Greatest Dilemma
by Mustafa Suleyman
Published 4 Sep 2023

It’s such a complex, vast, and difficult project, even the thought of it is tiring. Just gathering the resources, getting necessary permissions and equipment, is a lifelong endeavor. Now consider having an array of assistants who, when asked to create a school, a hospital, or an army, can make it happen in a realistic time frame. ACI and synthetic biology empower Extinction Rebellion as much as the Dow Jones megacorp; the microstate with a charismatic leader as much as a lumbering giant. While some advantages of size may be augmented, they may also be nullified. Ask yourself what happens to already fraying states if every sect, separatist movement, charitable foundation, and social network, every zealot and xenophobe, every populist conspiracy theory, political party, or even mafia, drug cartel, or terrorist group has their shot at state building.

Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World
by Anthony Sattin
Published 25 May 2022

Even if it took him twice as long as he claimed, he would still have had five days each week to go for long walks under big skies and to observe the world around him. The love of nature, the need to move, a recognition of the real cost of things – as we are being encouraged to calculate in our own time by the likes of Extinction Rebellion – coupled with a mistrust of the trappings of ‘civilised life’ would seem to make Thoreau an ideal champion of native nomads and their way of life. But his response to the plight of Native Americans is contradictory. ‘The white man comes, pale as dawn, with a load of thought,’ he wrote before his Walden Pond experiment, with a slumbering intelligence as a fire raked up, knowing well what he knows, not guessing but calculating . . . building a house that endures, a framed house.

Grand Transitions: How the Modern World Was Made
by Vaclav Smil
Published 2 Mar 2021

The direst of all conclusions is that an average of around 25 per cent of species in assessed animal and plant groups are threatened, suggesting that around 1 million species already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken to reduce the intensity of drivers of biodiversity loss. Without such action there will be a further acceleration in the global rate of species extinction, which is already at least tens to hundreds of times higher than it has averaged over the past 10 million years. And it is not just marching teenage activists or the Extinction Rebellion but also the President of the UN’s General Assembly who claimed that 11 years are all that remains to avert catastrophe (UN 2019b). We even get a view on the collapsed Western civilization from the future (Oreskes and Conway 2014), and Bendell (2018, 2) wrote his conceptual paper about the global climate tragedy in order “to provide readers with an opportunity to reassess their work and life in the face of an inevitable near term social collapse due to climate change.”

The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions
by Greta Thunberg
Published 14 Feb 2023

Should we confront or collaborate with industry in order to achieve systems change?’ He answered, ‘People are needed along a vast front,’ and ‘Let everyone perceive their particular work as crucial.’ What he meant was that a variety of approaches are required to achieve progress. We need Fridays For Future and school strikes. We need Extinction Rebellion, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, Concerned Scientists United, 350.org and Conservatives for Climate. We need scientists, economists, sociologists and engineers. We need people in finance and administration, particularly those with international networks, to help us all invest in tomorrow’s economy.