Past time to adopt a Doughnut Economy

 We got some welcome news today, along with slowly rising temperatures. The Ford Motor Company is joining the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) "consistent with Ford responsible sourcing strategy..." As more major manufacturers  move toward electric powered fleets, and responsible (sustainable) sourcing becomes more critical to marketing, cost control, and risk management, is Minnesota putting itself and its industries at a significant disadvantage by weakening its own environmental standards and permitting requirements?

Here are some examples of what we're referring to:

• Auditor slams Minnesota Pollution Control Agency over Water Gremlin pollution (violated its air permit for more than 15 years)


• Big plan to change Minnesota’s water quality rules ("In its comments, the federal Environmental Protection Agency points out that removing numeric limits for various pollutants in Class 3 and Class 4 waters strips those protections from all waters, because they are not currently mentioned in the standards for any other class.")


• Minnesota Court of Appeals sends PolyMet permit back to MPCA


• Minnesota falls further away from greenhouse gas reduction goals but
  (Reclaiming Its Place As America’s Clean Energy North Star Could Add $11 Billion To Minnesota’s Economy)


• The MPCA Citizens' Board met for the last time on June 23, 2015. The board was eliminated through actions of the 2015 Minnesota Legislature.

These are only some of the contentious cases and issues to which the Pollution Control Agency seems to be responding strategically by weakening, or not enforcing, environmental and permit standards. If, as players in a global economy, others follow FoMoCo's lead to seek suppliers certified for responsible mining, how will Minnesota fare? Not well in the long run we suspect.

Doughnut Economy

Have you heard the old saying about "Mother Nature bats last?" Do you suppose it's occurred to anyone other than radical environmentalists that allowing industrial manufacturing the same environmental leniency that has been permitted for industrial agriculture is a relatively sure, short term way to minimize the success of the human race? Has the world economy done a good job of responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic? What makes anyone think it will be any better the next time? It is past time to behave as if we realize that the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. The world is not on track to meet the goals set and adopted as part of the Paris Agreement. The most productive soils in the corn belt have already been washed into the Gulf of Mexico. Lip service and con jobs and, especially, regulatory capture will not enable a successful, sustainable, global economy. The current economy is killing its own markets.

Among better ways to measure and track what's needed are Doughnut Economics, as proposed by Kate Raworth and adopted by increasing numbers of governments throughout the world.

Economics

Victoria Redel - 1959-

There were strollers, outgrown, circulated till a wheel fell off.

Anna’s infant RockaRoo went to Francesca then to Sophia

who gave it back to Anna when she had the twins.

Travel cribs traveled between homes and the green vest

Sophia knitted for Ming’s first was worn by all the next babies.

Onesies, drawstring gowns, snap-legged overalls,

snowsuits, sweatpants, jeans, t-shirts, jumpers,

all sorted, washed, boxed then sent on

till they were sorted, washed, boxed and sent again.

Pj’s worn to that silkiest perfection, then worn 

wholly through, reluctantly tossed. A blue dress

with applique lilacs was the favorite of each girl

and who knew where the velvet blazer came from,

but it did the job for more than one holiday concert.

Even this year, a photograph of Francesca’s youngest in
      Prague,

handsome in that hand-me-down wool pea coat. Sophia hit
      reply all:

Our last? No! Well, fits yours better than it ever did mine.

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