Local consumption, global consequences: Examining impacts of an interconnected world
Journal investigates widening gap between where products are made and where impacts occur
Everything, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to cars we drive, has global implications, requiring resources from distant places and generating pollution far from our homes. But while these impacts have been known for a long time, our understanding of the complex ripple effect throughout the global economy and on natural and social systems remains rudimentary.
In a new special issue, "Linking Local Consumption and Global Impacts," Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology examines the virtual shrinking of distances between places -- arising because of trade, telecommunication and travel -- and the widening gap between where products are made, where they're used, and where the impacts occur.
The articles link consumption and/or production activities to a wide range of environmental impacts, including water, energy and land use; various pollutants; and economic and social indicators, such as child labor, social costs of carbon, and loss of human life.
The Age of Disintegration: Neoliberalism and a Fragmenting World
Across the vast swath of territory between Pakistan and Nigeria, there are at least seven ongoing wars — in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and South Sudan. These conflicts are extraordinarily destructive. They are tearing apart countries in ways that make it doubtful they will ever recover. Under military intervention, a vast region of the planet seems to be cracking open, with little understanding in Washington. A Mass Extinction of Independent States.
Elegy For the Arctic
Greenpeace has released a haunting video of renowned Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi performing before Norway's Wahlenbergbreen glacier, cracking and groaning even as he plays.
Wrecked Jet Stream Now Runs From Pole-to-Pole
The circle in the middle shows where the upper zonal winds are now starting to flow from Siberian across the Equator to West Antarctica. It’s weather weirding due to climate change. Something that would absolutely not happen in a normal world, and if it continues, threatens seasonal integrity.
Another Measure Of Overvaluation
Here is a summary of the four market valuation indicators we update on a monthly basis.
- The Crestmont Research P/E Ratio (more)
- The cyclical P/E ratio using the trailing 10-year earnings as the divisor (more)
- The Q Ratio, which is the total price of the market divided by its replacement cost (more)
- The relationship of the S&P Composite price to a regression trendline (more)
To facilitate comparisons, we’ve adjusted the two P/E ratios and Q Ratio to their arithmetic means and the inflation-adjusted S&P Composite to its exponential regression. Thus the percentages on the vertical axis show the over/undervaluation as a percent above mean value, which we’re using as a surrogate for fair value. Based on the latest S&P 500 monthly data, the market is overvalued somewhere in the range of 43% to 90%, depending on the indicator, up slightly from the previous month’s 42% to 89%.“
