Breaking the link between how much we consume and economic growth

12/22/22 • 26 min

The carbon footprint of stuff

For the last two centuries, continuous economic growth (the increase in the quantity and quality of the economic goods and services that a society produces, per capita) has been recognized as the critical driver in the drastic global decrease in extreme poverty.

The problem is, an ever-increasing "quantity and quality of economic goods and services" - in the current economy at least - requires ever increasing consumption of raw materials: minerals, water, energy, trees, soil. And consumption has its own price. In addition to myriad environmental and biodiversity impacts, an estimated 45% of global greenhouse emissions come from the extraction of raw materials and the production of goods: the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the products we use.

So is it possible to break the link between decreasing poverty and increasing consumption? Climate Now sat down with two experts on 'the circular economy' - an idea that hinges on eliminating waste from the production process, circulating products and materials instead of disposing of them at their end of life, and engaging in practices that preserve or regenerate natural resources. Dr. Ke Wang, project leader for the World Resource Institutes' Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), and Laura Wittig, Founder and CEO of Brightly, a consumer services company with a mission of scaling sustainable consumerism, joined us to explain what needs to happen to create a more circular economy - from the scale of global economies all the way down to the individual consumer.

Key Questions:

How can we be more sustainable in what we produce and how we use goods and materials?
Can waste be recycled or repurposed to generate a near closed-loop system?
How can consumers make a difference in their daily lives?

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The carbon footprint of stuff

Key Questions:

How can we be more sustainable in what we produce and how we use goods and materials?
Can waste be recycled or repurposed to generate a near closed-loop system?
How can consumers make a difference in their daily lives?

Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Contact us at [email protected]
Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Previous Episode

An interview with the scientist who achieved fusion ignition

Last week, LLNL's National Ignition Facility successfully 'ignited' a nuclear fusion reaction equivalent to what takes place in the sun: the conversion of hydrogen to helium + energy. In a first, the experiment produced more energy than was needed to initiate the reaction. While the experiment lasted only fractions of a second, it proved what had been hypothesized since the 1960’s: that lasers can be used to induce energy-generating fusion in a laboratory setting. The enormity of this achievement is that it brings the possibility of cheap, clean and safe nuclear fusion energy one step closer to reality. Joined by guest hosts Julio Friedman and Darren Hau, Climate Now sat down with Dr. Annie Kritcher, the principal designer for the successful fusion experiment, to discuss what they have accomplished, why it was so significant, and what the National Ignition Facility will be focusing on next in their work to make nuclear fusion a viable energy source.

Key Questions:

What was the experiment that was performed, and why was it’s success so significant?
What are the next set of challenges to address in developing nuclear fusion as a clean energy source?

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Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Next Episode

Inside the DOE: Understanding the role of the US Department of Energy in the energy transition

“We've built an entire industrial economy around a set of energy sources, and we're now thinking about diversifying way beyond that. And that's a big set of changes.” What will it take to diversify our energy economy, and how do we actually do it? That is the remit of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), according to Kate Gordon, senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

In this week's podcast, Ms. Gordon joins us to discuss how the DOE is structured today; how they’re working with states, local governments, and tribes to reduce energy consumption and support an equitable clean energy economy and the new industries that come with it - like hydrogen and carbon removal; and what major pieces of legislation are driving the DOE’s energy transition work - and how.

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Contact us at [email protected]
Visit our website for all of our content and sources for each episode.

Climate Now - Breaking the link between how much we consume and economic growth

Transcript

James Lawler: [00:00:00] Welcome to Climate Now, a podcast that explores the ideas, technologies, and the practical on the ground solutions that we'll need to address the global climate crisis and achieve a net zero future. I'm James Lawler, and if you like this episode, leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Share this episode with your friends, or tell us what you think at [email protected].

This week we're going to explore the topic of the circular economy with