Environmental, Social and Economic Think Tank

Debate Topic #5

In our first provocation of 2012 we take a look at sustainability and everyday life. For a set of four perfectly ordinary everyday activities: being at home; eating lunch; going shopping; and meeting friends.

Join the debate now... |

London Sustainability

It is now ten years since the Greater London Authority came into being, charged with the responsibility of “contributing to the sustainable development of the UK”. Is London a more sustainable city as a result?

Waste Efficiency

How can London reduce the waste the city's households and businesses produce? And how do we ensure that the various waste streams produced are managed in an efficient, responsible and sound way?

Resource Efficiency

A resource efficient London would use the fewest resources whilst producing ‘enough’ of the things that society requires. But should we be thinking beyond physical materials. And how much is ‘enough’?

Economic Efficiency

Economists consider London's economy efficient when alternative allocations of resources would involve a lower level of total production. Is efficiency best for people or the planet?

Climate Change London

The challenges and costs of climate change are upon us. Mitigating possible future climate change and adapting to the changes that are already in the pipeline will require huge efforts. Can London do it?

David Fell told London Civic Forum's listening event that the key economic challenges facing the Mayoral candidates are:

• the need to move away from an acute and narrow dependence on financial services
• the need to become dramatically more efficient in our use of resources
• the need to reduce the obscene gulf between the incomes of the city's wealthiest and its poorest citizens. Read his speech on the News & Media Page.

Our Fifth Debate........

Many Londoners are experiencing tough times - rising energy prices, high unemployment, a struggle to pay the bills, uncertainty about the future. Sustainability can sometimes seem, at best, a luxury that will have to wait until tomorrow and, at worst, a piece of meaningless jargon of no relevance to everyday life.

London Remade takes a different view. We believe that sustainability is about making things better now, as well as tomorrow; and we think that sustainability could and should be tangible on a day-to-day basis, not just an idea in the realms of strategies and policies and think tanks.

As we head towards London‘s fourth Mayoral and Assembly elections, we think it’s important that sustainability doesn‘t get pushed to the margins. So for our first provocation of 2012 we’ve decided to take a look at SUSTAINABILITY AND EVERYDAY LIFE. For a set of four perfectly ordinary everyday activities: being at home; eating lunch; going shopping; and meeting friends - we've asked our contributors to consider three questions:

• What are things like now?

• What would be better if it was more sustainable?

• What would an ordinary person notice about that sustainability?

We hope that the essays provide you with useful food for thought, and help to show why sustainability needs to be part of the discussion in the run up to the elections in May."

Our fourth debate looked at young people and a sustainable future London. The young are consumerist yet surveys show that young Londoners have a high ‘concern for the environment’. From the perspective of the young it is hard to feel encouraged. In this year's fourth election for Mayor the candidates for the major parties are the same as 4 years ago. No radical new diagnoses or insights - just the same faces. Why?

Our third debate looked at London's key sector - the City - to consider what a sustainable future might look like. Our authors, along with many commentators, saw much that needs changing if the financial sector is to be empowered to contribute successfully to a future for London.

In our second debate, on the Governance of London's resources, three themes emerged: a) capacity - of businesses, governments & communities; b) accountability - for changing life-styles; and c) justice - in allocation of resources at a time of austerity.

Our first debate concluded that waste could be a strong part of a sustainable economy. However the disparate risks of land, technology, feedstock, exit markets and funding were difficult to overcome and London does not have governance capable of enabling this.

There is more on the debates and you can read the essays and syntheses by going to The Debates page.

Our January Newsletter is on the news & media page

London Remade is independent and non-sectarian and underpinned by experienced resource management practitioners with in-depth knowledge of London. We promote no sectoral or political interests and are independently funded. We aim to enable those who are concerned about London to use our debate space to express how the city can improve its use of resources.

Keep up to date!

Latest Twitter Updates