t that leads to Cheapside, two young men are dressed in smart suits with canes and copies of the FT under their arms. On first sight, they appear to be ironically-dressed anti-capitalist protesters.But they are not. Gavriel Merkado and Vladimir Lavrentiev, both 21, are both at business school in London. ”We are protesting in defence of capitalism. People are too willing to blame capitalism if things go wrong,” says Mr Merkado through wafts of marijuana smoke from nearby dancing crusties.”The current crisis is all about systemic failure of society at every level; people were willing to take on 120pc mortgages, banks were willing to lend them the money and governments were willing to let it happen. Things need to change but you can't blame capitalism as a concept,” says Mr Merkado, as the two men walk off to read the FT in front of the Bank. It is the most sensible thing I've heard all day.”IT was John Maynard Keynes who proposed the International Trade Organisation (ITO), supported by an international central bank, the International Clearing Union (ICU), as an innovative project for the future of world trade just after World War II, and as published in Le Monde in 2007”With an ITO and an ICU, we could have had a world order in which no country could run a huge trade deficit (the United States deficit stood at $716bn in 2005) or the huge trade surplus of contemporary China. Under such a system, crushing third world debt and the devastating structural adjustment policies applied by the World Bank and the IMF would have been unthinkable, although the system would not have abolished capitalism. If we could resurrect Keynes’s concept, another world really might be possible: he figured out how to make it work more than 60 years ago. His plan would have to be dusted off and tinkered with, but its core remains relevant. It was a neat arrangement. To avoid paying interest or submit to outright confiscation; countries in surplus would race to buy more exports from those in deficit. Those in deficit could sell more and would find it easier to return to equilibrium. Everyone would benefit. Trade would expand, the world would be more prosperous and peaceful, underdevelope…
Added by Michael Grove at 16:01 on December 13, 2010
ETH Zurich has published a study in the journal Science that shows this would be the most effective method to combat climate change.
The Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich investigates nature-based solutions to climate change. In their latest study, the researchers showed for the first time where in the world new trees could grow and how much carbon they would store.
Study lead author and postdoc at the Crowther Lab Jean-François Bastin explains: “One aspect was of particular importance to us as we did the calculations: we excluded cities or agricultural areas from the total restoration potential as these areas are needed for human life.”
The researchers calculated that under the current climate conditions, Earth’s land could support 4.4 billion hectares of continuous tree cover. That is 1.6 billion more than the currently existing 2.8 billion hectares. Of these 1.6 billion hectares, 0.9 billion hectares fulfill the criterion of not being used by humans. This means that there is currently an area of the size of the US available for tree restoration. Once mature, these new forests could store 205 billion tonnes of carbon: about two thirds of the 300 billion tonnes of carbon that has been released into the atmosphere as a result of human activity since the Industrial Revolution.
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ng adventure, or nothing."
and Margaret Mead who declared ... "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful,
committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, IT IS the only thing that ever has."
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ra as the world rapidly replaces coal, oil and gas with clean energy sources."... and here ME/WE are 6 years further on, having
just finished COP26, without further coordinated
action in sight, as the daily proofs of the planet
getting warmer are increasingly apparent, whilst
the great and good continue to fly everywhere byprivate jet, seemingly unaffected by ALL that's
happening around them !!!???
…