Last week, Germany’s Constitutional Court reported that it had found climate protection to be a basic human right. That ruling sets a vital new precedent, because it stands on the foundation of a need to avoid preventable harm. The legal infrastructure for climate action connects to basic rights, because evidence shows climate disruption constitutes potentially devastating but […]
In 1992, nearly 200 nations approved the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It mandated that nations work together “to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system”. Historically high-polluting industrial countries were given special responsibility to lead the transition to climate-smart energy and economics. 29 years later, the 26th annual Conference of the Parties […]
The Group of 20 (G20) process is hosted this year by Italy. The Italian G20 Presidency is focusing on a “3P” approach—prioritizing people, planet, and prosperity in the design and deployment of COVID recovery plans. The Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion met on March 24 and 25. According to the G20 newsroom: The focus of the meeting was […]
Canada has achieved a major win for the protection of people and Nature against extreme climate impacts. On Thursday, Canada’s Supreme Court ruled by a clear majority that the federal government does have the power to enact a nationwide price on greenhouse gas pollution, noting that “global warming causes harm beyond provincial boundaries and that it is […]
Shortly after arriving at the Oval Office, President Joe Biden signed a number of executive orders. The third of these restored the United States to the Paris Agreement. This recommitment to global climate action leadership is historic, necessary, and a great benefit to the US and the world. The climate crisis is complex, operates across […]
President Biden lays out the stakes & calls for a grieving, divided nation to work together, saying “My whole soul is in this.” After four years of chaos, corruption, lies, and ultimately an armed insurrection, people across the United States and around the world have been counting down the hours and minutes until the powers […]
Today marks 5 years from the day the Paris Agreement was finalized, at the end of the 21st annual global conference on implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (the COP21). The Paris Agreement was historic for a number of reasons. Chief among them: Nearly 200 nations committed to cooperate in the effort […]
The Geoversiv podcast Earth Intelligence is now live, and available on Buzzsprout, or from your favorite podcasting platform. Earth Intelligence is your window into the frontier work of imagining, designing, forging, and securing a future of sustainable health and resilience, open to all. Sun Tzu warned that we must know the terrain, in order to succeed against […]
Dear Friends, I recently took on the role of Interim Commission Director for the Food System Economics Commission—an independent, interdisciplinary academic commission working to deliver a state-of-the-art scientific assessment on the economics of the transition to healthy, inclusive and sustainable food systems. The interim directorship runs through November 30, but circumstances demand we move quickly […]
We are entering a new age for the Earth’s climate and for the way we conceive of finance. “Macrocritical resilience” is a wonky way of talking about reducing risk and achieving health in areas of activity that affect everything you live and strive for. It is a common sense idea: the underlying foundations of value […]
To slow the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus and save lives, much of the world is under mandatory stay-at-home orders, including more than 300 million people in the United States. The everyday economy is shut down to the point the world around us feels a little like cropland in deep winter. Working together, we can, […]
What is Biodiversity? And why should it matter to you? Biological diversity is a vital sign for nature’s complex life-support systems. If you have too few species in a given environment, the complex ecosystem that makes life work in that environment is more vulnerable to serious disruption. To put it bluntly, a less biodiverse ecosystem […]
