The radical plan to rethink work, wealth and planetary well-being
About this episode
The episode discusses a radical plan proposed by researchers to achieve ecological sustainability while improving global income and reducing work hours.
A group of more than 40 researchers spent 20 months devising a plan for the world to achieve ecological sustainability within planetary boundaries , all while seeing incomes rise for 98% of the global population and reducing working hours for everybody by half to two and a half days a week. The plan to achieve this by 2100 is laid out in the recent " Global Justice Report ." If it sounds utopian, Lucas Chancel, the co-director of the World Inequality Lab and editor of the report, is the first person to acknowledge this, but explains why it's not only possible — there's even historical precedent for many of the measures the report outlines. Achieving this plan rests on three pillars: decarbonization and the energy transition; a shift towards "sufficiency," defined here as the reduction of labor and production of superfluous products not needed for human survival; and a "drastic reduction in inequality of income, wealth and power." "Basically, our plan is thought in a way that it can work with [an] incomplete coalition of actors," he says. "That is, you can start to implement it even though you don't have a global wealth tax. But our argument is that progressively, more and more…
More episodes of Mongabay Newscast
- Oil has brought destruction to the Niger Delta; women and human rights may save it
- The Mediterranean Sea's beauty hides an ecosystem under pressure
- Wildlife crossings are having a moment
- Addressing the 'toxic legacy' of mining in Bougainville
- Healing the planet requires healing ourselves, says Katharine Wilkinson
- A 'coalition of the willing' to urge the world to drop fossil fuels
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Mongabay Newscast podcast page.