Is a more sustainable world possible? Can we decouple economic growth from resource consumption?

That is the title of the assignment I have been trying to wrap my head around for the last three weeks. It is my first assignment due as part of my MPhil in Renewable and Sustainable Energy. I have probably been doing too much reading in trying to grapple with the issue, but it is indeed fascinating.

Maybe the question can otherwise be phrased as: Can be increase GDP while reducing inputs and outputs? This has become one of the core questions of Sustainable Development.

As part of answering the question, I have to do two things: a literature review and a case study. Easy, I first thought, but boy have I been struggling to choose a topic! This is my list of ideas to date, in order of preference:

1) China & the Circular Economy
2) Biofuels & the SA biofuels strategy
3) Spirituality and Christianity -> social / economics
4) Oil, peak oil, and the oil end game
5) ESKOM & the SA Energy Crisis
6) Energy and Food
7) Global Sustainability – success of multilateral agreements
8) Climate Change
9) Woodstock – the suburb I live in
10) Stellenbosch housing requirements
11) South Africa and the looming water crisis

Biofuels, of course, is my personal bugbear, but not completely sure how to relate it to the question being asked. So I guess I might need to go with a look at China's national policy as it relates to their idea of the Circular Economy - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Which would you have chosen? Give me your thoughts!


BTW, you might enjoy Jeffery Sachs article on "Common Wealth"...