Why Evergrande’s debt crisis could have global economic consequences. The winners and losers in the future jobs market. Wishful thinking, not hard science, is currently creating inflated optimism about the potential of lab-grown protein to feed the world. Really tackling air pollution will do far more than clean up the air we breathe – the widespread health implications are huge.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Yes, the world is full of suffering, marked by death, rent by entropy; but it is also filled with beauty, wonder and opportunities for love and compassion. And we ought to actively acknowledge both facts” The philosopher Brian Treanor in the last article
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
George Magnus, Why China’s Evergrande debt crisis is the tip of an iceberg
(New Statesman, 22 September 2021)
The former UBS chief economist and author of “Red Flags: Why Xi’s China is in Jeopardy” explains why, in his opinion, the woes of the world’s most heavily indebted property developer could soon mean problems for Xi Jinping and China’s economy. He doesn’t expect a spectacular Lehman-type crisis but thinks that China will go through a period of financial distress that will squeeze growth. This could also become a problem for the rest of the world economy because the way it currently works “depends on uninterrupted and elevated Chinese growth” (metered paywall – reads in 6-7 min).
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Jenna Ross, The 20 Fastest Growing Jobs in the Next Decade
(Visual Capitalist, 13 September 2021)
This is for the US, but projections must be equally valid for much of the rest of the world. According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be 11.9 million new jobs created by 2030, at a growth rate of 7.7% per year. The rise of renewable energy will propel the growth, with wind turbine technicians coming first and solar panel installers third. Nine of the top 20 fastest growing jobs are in healthcare, and eight of the top 20 declining jobs are in office and administrative support (free access – reads in 4-5 min).
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Joe Fassler, Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different story
(The Counter, 22 September 2021)
This article is for our community members with an interest in the future of food and those who invest in it. It questions the view that a new era of cheap, accessible cultured protein is rapidly approaching, and argues the opposite: cell-cultured meat will likely never be a cost-competitive food because “the cell-culture process will be plagued by extreme, intractable technical challenges at food scale.” If correct, the research-based assertions made in this piece suggest that the idea of feeding a meaningful number of people with culture animal protein is “a fable driven by hope, not science, and when the investors finally realize this the market will collapse” (metered paywall – reads in 15 min+)
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Laura Corlin, Combatting an invisible killer: New WHO air pollution guidelines recommend sharply lower limits
(The Conversation, 22 September 2021)
This helps understand why the fight against air pollution is gaining so much traction and why it embeds so many investment / business opportunities. Air pollution is now clearly associated with dangerous health outcomes such as low birth weight, respiratory problems, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and the WHO has just decided to tighten its recommended limits for almost every pollutant. According to the World Bank, lowering the health burden associated with air pollution exposure could save USD5tr annually in health-related costs and $225 billion in labor productivity (free access – reads in 7-8 min).
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Brian Treanor, The ‘melancholic joy’ of living in our brutal, beautiful world
(Psyche, 9 September 2021)
The philosopher ponders how we should view the state of the world: with optimism or pessimism? He refers to Obama, Pinker, Serres, Harari and others, and says that in answering, we must contemplate the broad sweep of both the world’s goodness and its evils. One can acknowledge that things have improved dramatically and still be more circumspect about our current situation and future prospects. But “in the end, both the optimist and the pessimist have it wrong, because each is looking at only part of the evidence” (free access – reads in 7-8 min).
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