BITN 929_04,05 (News)

25/5/12

13:44

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N E W S

Progress without growth

A pioneering new economic model is being considered by Manchester City Council as part of attempts to make the city more environmentally sustainable. The council is set to produce a report next month that will look at applying a strategy for steady state economics a stable, mildly fluctuating alternative to the current system, which is based on pursuing constant economic growth. Campaigners believe the radical solution has the potential to place Manchester at the forefront of environmentally-focused change across Britain, setting an example for other cities to follow. Greg Keeffe, professor of sustainable architecture at Leeds University, was among a number of academics who signed an open letter to the council late last year urging it to explore the steady state model. Councils across England including York, Devon, London and Bristol have previously been urged to consider steadystate economics by environmental groups. But Manchester City Council is thought to be the only authority to have looked seriously at the model, with a report set to be presented at a meeting on 20 June.

Low carbon
A Manchester City Council spokesperson said: Greater Manchester takes a strong lead on sustainable development. We need to address such questions as how to make sure we bring forward green projects for investment, for example through the 50-50 joint venture between Greater Manchester and UK Green Investment, which will create a strong pipeline of investable low carbon projects. We are also looking at how to support businesses to help make their operations as low carbon as possible and make sure our residents are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to access jobs created through the green supply line.
RYAN GALLAGHER

Manchester City Council will consider pioneering report later this month

Uncomfortable questions
He told The Big Issue in the North: I think it would be absolutely brilliant if Manchester became the first city to sign up to steady state. Growth is unsustainable. The steady-state economy puts nature and society at the centre of policy rather than economic growth. By redistribution of wealth and reusing materials in a better way, it will make us all wealthier without having to keep growing. Environmental groups have long been proponents of steady state as they say it could create green jobs and encourage greater production of locally sourced goods at a time when the worlds resources are in rapid decline. Pete Abel, a co-ordinator at the Manchester branch of Friends of the Earth, said: Modern economic policies are based on an assumption that continuous growth is the only way to raise living standards and lift people out of poverty, and that the supply and demand
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approach will solve environmental problems and the depletion of world resources. Such traditional policies are clearly failing to meet the challenges of delivering sustainable communities, preventing pollution and depletion of natural resources, and reducing CO2 emissions. Its time to develop more sustainable economic policies. Dr Joe Ravetz, co-director of the centre for urban and regional ecology at Manchester University, welcomed the councils focus on steady state but predicted discussion about adopting the model would raise uncomfortable questions for the council.

locally in Manchester could itself have a positive impact, improving health and community cohesion. People can get more of their real needs met and live in a greater state of peace and prosperity with a tiny fraction of the damage and impact that they cause on the earth at the moment, he said.

Positive impact
It seems like a good idea in principle but what happens in practice is that uncomfortable questions have to be raised. In the most part local authorities dont run or control the supply chains that produce our consumer goods. They just pick up the wreckage from the mainstream economy, which more or less continues to operate in a rampant way. Ravetz added, however, that a greater focus on producing food

THE BIG ISSUE IN THE NORTH 28 MAY - 3 JUNE 2012