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This conference is where the " open source" innovation of creating green economics takes place every year The Green Economics Institute greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com www.greeneconomics.org.uk The Green Economics Institute and its Directors is delighted to welcome you to its 8th Annual Green Economics Institute Conference. We do hope you will enjoy its exciting programme as much as we have enjoyed putting it together for you and that you will share in the next few years of innovation we have planned to carry out.It is fair to say we have completly changed the landscape of the economy and we are now about to do the same for finance! The Institute in its first 8 years, has already succeeded in creating and establishing a discipline or school of Economics called "Green Economics" which is in the process of implementing and creating an atmosphere conducive to the reform of mainstream economics and finance into a well-defined goals-based discipline. This new School of Economics and Finance, provides practical answers to existing and future problems by incorporating all relevant aspects, knowledge and complex interactions into a truly holistic understanding of the relevant issues.It uses complexity, holism, pluralism and interdisciplinary working in order to widen the scope of economics, adding the science from the green aspects, to the social ideas from economics and fnancial discourses. This new much broader scope we offer, for the first time avoids partial explanations or solutions and also the biased and partial perspectives of power elites. It does this by building a global network of voices of different and diverse actors of all kinds from all walks of life from around the world. It uses the latest technologies to allow them to talk to each other without having to worry about acceptability from power elites who might choose to block their progress. According to economics professor, Jack Reardon from the USA (2007) the Institute has been very successful in creating a robust academic basis for this new idea. The Green Economics Institute has influenced the methodology of mainstream economics, according to Professor Tony Lawson of Cambridge University's Economics Department (2007). According to Diane Coyle (Bank of England 2012) Green Economics is one of the healthiest areas of the economy today.We have pioneered truly trans-disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods so that now economics and philosophy can factor in the complexity of nature into economics and finance. We also seek to provide all people everywhere, non human species, the planet and earth systems with a decent level of well-being based on practical and theoretical approaches targeting both methodology and knowledge , based on a comprehensive reform of the current economic mainstream. Green Economics and Finance can, for example, comfortably incorporate glacial issues, climate change and volcanic, seismic and earth sciences into its explanations. Thus in this, and many other ways, it is far more complete and reflects reality much more closely ,than its predecessors on which it builds. The current narrow conventional economic approach using purposely designed methods, is challenged to bring areas and concepts into its scope which have been neglected until now. Existing outdated or inappropriate propositions and solutions are examined and revised to provide a realistic and more comprehensive understanding of the subject. We seek to create nothing less than a true Renaissance of Finance and Economics.The Green Economics Institute argues for financial economic development based on economic access and decision making for all, including respect for cultural diversity and normative freedom. It does this by bringing together all the interested parties, who want to help in developing this progressive discipline, by inviting them to its events, and conferences and by means of such activities as writing books, publications and using its research, its campaigns, its lobbying, its speeches and its lecturing all over the world. The Green Economics Institute created the first green academic journal, the International Journal of Green Economics with publishers Inderscience and the first green sets of book series with other larger publishers . Now, The Green Economics Institute is officially registered as an Independent Publisher with over 30 titles available. It is a publisher with a difference. It uses a genuinely "open source" approach. Each of its books contain the voices of about 40 authors from all around the planet, from all walks of life. This gives its books a dynamism, vitality and much more complexity and diversity in their arguments.It can really reflect what people think and experience themselves, rather than an economics largely constructed on the usual views of "homo economicus" or " "rational economic men." The arena of economic and financial activity is not just Wall Street and the world's Stock Exchanges but everyone of our lives all the time! The Green Economics Institute has its own delegation to the Kyoto Protocol, and is a recommended UK government reviewer on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).Members of the Green Economics Institute have lectured or worked in governments and Universities around the world, for example Surrey University, the London School of Economics, Newham College, Cambridge University, the Schumacher College, The University of Bolzano, the Tyrollean Cabinet, via Skype in Thessaloniki, University of Skpje, FYRO Macedonia, Turkey, the National Government School in the UK, the Cabinet Office in the heart of the UK government, at University in Cambridge and Oxford, Transition Towns, Oslo, Norway, Liverpool University, Lancaster University, Abuja, Nigeria and Gondar, Ethiopia, Campinas University, Brazil, Malaysia University and Columbia University in the USA, attended and presented at conferences in many places including Cancun, Mexico and Riga, Latvia and appeared on TV and radio in Italy, Tallin in Estonia and the UK and Bangladesh amongst many others and received invitations from the President of Russia, and from the governments and several universities in China and several Gulf States, as well as from Institutions such as the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation and Trade Unions as well as several royal households!The Green Economics Institute also ran 4 official side events at the RIO + 20 Summit in 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, whose organisers used our books as well. The Green Economics Institute is pleased that its ideas continue to challenge economics and academia in the unique setting of Indonesia. The Institute works with scholars from across Asia, especially China, Japan, India Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Malaysia, and has created a special issue of the International Journal of Green Economics, published by its journal publishers, Inderscience led by the same team as this book stuffed full of academic double blind peer reviewed successful papers. Director Miriam Kennet represented the emerging new School of Green Economics led by the work of The Green Economics Institute at the ISIC 2012 event, which resulted in the signing of the Green Economy Charter by a number of influential Indonesians and international figures. This unique document in its original format, is to be found in this volume.It is a great pleasure to see the Green Economy is spreading throughout all over the world and especially in Indonesian major institutions, civil society and government as well as other parts of the very vibrant and emerging society, economy and academia and how it is helping to drive its incredible and ground breaking development and its leadership of new styles of implementation of new ideas. At this conference we will be launching several other book projects -The Greening of Eastern Europe, Green Economics and the Arts and The Greening of Global Finance of which we are particularly proud. We look forward to working with you now and in the future in our network for global change and social and environmental justice and imprioving the global economy and global finance for everyone and everything on the planet |