Abstract
Some people told me that Factor 4 could imply “factor death,” as four is a homonym of death in Chinese. They recommended Factor 8 instead, because eight is considered a lucky number as the shape of its Chinese character is a symbol of good luck. It is very difficult, however, to increase resource productivity eightfold. Knowing it to be impossible for us, we settled on Factor 5, instead of 4, and not 8.
Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Former Co-Chair of UNEP International Resource Panel, Club of Rome Member (Currently Co-President); Visiting Professor at Nagoya University Graduate School of Environmental Studies
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The idea of raising energy tax in stages while at the same time lowering pension premiums.
- 2.
George W. Bush was the then President.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
von Weizsäcker, E.U. (2016). Factor 5: Towards an Affluent Society with Least Use of Resources. In: HAYASHI, Y., Yasunari, T., Kanzawa, H., Kato, H. (eds) Climate Change, Energy Use, and Sustainability . SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace(), vol 25. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40590-2_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40590-2_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40589-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40590-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)