Reshaping the economy to preserve people and planet
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News Release
Quakers consider how to reshape economy to preserve people and planet
18 September 2009
Quakers concerned with climate change are looking at the connections between the global economy, people and the environment.
The global economy is almost five times the size it was 50 years ago, a growth that has been accompanied by the degradation of an estimated 60 percent of the world’s ecosystems. In March 2009, the Sustainable Development Commission published the report Prosperity without Growth? The report identified this dilemma: “To resist growth is to risk economic and social collapse. To pursue it is to endanger the ecosystems on which we depend for long term survival.”
Quakers are holding a conference to look at how reshaping the economy might affect environment and people. The conference, A Zero Growth Economy: what would it mean for us all? will be on Saturday 26 September from 10am – 5pm, Friends House, London (opposite Euston Station).
Speakers will include Alastair McIntosh - social activist and author of Soil and Soul and Hell and High Water,Duncan Green – Oxfam, Miriam Kennett - Green Economics Institute, Richard Douthwaite - economist and author of The Growth Illusion. Jocelyn Bell Burnell will chair the conference.
Helen Drewery, General Secretary of Quaker Peace and Social Witness said: “This conference comes at a crucial time, as world leaders prepare for Copenhagen and we all question whether ‘business as usual’ is a realistic option in the aftermath of the recent economic turmoil. We need to find creative ways to nurture the growth of human wellbeing without outgrowing the planet’s capacity to support us. It’s a fine balance – and may well be humanity’s biggest challenge.”
The conference, organised in partnership with Woodbrooke Study Centre, is open to all and costs £20. To register call Anne Wilkinson on 020 7663 1062.
Ends
Media representatives are invited. Please contact Anne van Staveren on 020 7663 1048 or 07958 009703 annev@quaker.org.uk
Notes to editor:
- For background paper see http://www.quaker.org.uk/zero-growth-economy-dilemma-growth
- Approximately 25,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are 500 Meetings.
- Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.
Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703