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PART 1. Optimistic Sustainability: Dying for Resources

In a recent interview with The Sun Magazine, Alex Steffen of Worldchanging, walks us through the possibilities and pitfalls of sustainability in the 21st Century.

The problem

Sustainability has emerged out of a cloud controversy. Whilst it is surprising the degree to which global warming is still denied at a grassroots level, the indubitable evidence has put to rest the debate amongst scientists and politicians.

Any question that still remained at Kyoto have been subsequently discounted after conclusive evidence in oceanographic testing which confirmed rising temperature and carbon levels in the atmosphere were the result of human activity.

"The best information of which I am aware" states Steffen, "is that we need to end up with no more than 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and allowing levels to rise over 450 could well trigger a series of catastrophes. We are already up to almost 390, and global production of greenhouse gases is accelerating." Our increasingly demanding ‘American’ lifestyle, combined with population growth, presents a problem on a global scale. Steffen also believes we have already overreached ourselves, "In fact there are already worrisome signs, such as polar ice melting at a rate we didn’t expect to see for at least twenty years." If emissions were frozen at the current level of 29 Gt CO2 we would need two planets to sustain life indefinitely.

“Although climate change gets all the press, we’ll face a number of other serious concerns in the near future. The capacity of many ecosystems around the world to provide the resources we need is collapsing. The rate of species loss is accelerating. We’re headed toward not just peak oil, but peak everything. When you look at all of these trends together, you start to realize that by the year 2050 — and that’s a conservative estimate — we’ll need to have eliminated global greenhouse-gas emissions and also greatly reduced the impact our way of life has on other natural systems. We can’t do that globally if we don’t have an effective model in place here in the developed world by 2030. One of the heads of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that if we haven’t made profound changes — in the way we look at the environment and the incentives we’re offering and the kinds of research we’re doing  — within the next five years or so, we’re going to miss the turn. In other words, we have five years to start making big changes, twenty years to finish making them here [in the West], and at most forty years to spread those changes to every corner of the earth.”

Dr Tim Barnett, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography who conducted some of the key oceanic testing in 2004 adds “The debate about whether there is a global warming signal now is over…The debate is not — have we got a clear global warming signal; the debate is — what we are going to do about it?”

The Premise

Environmentalists have had a hard time convincing a resistant world that it is headed for self-destruction and so their message has consistently been one of impending doom and gloom. This has done the job of getting the message out there, but it has also depressed some people to the point of “surplus powerlessness” and offended others to the point of cynicism.

Steffen’s manifesto is one of Environmental Optimism. It is a breath of fresh air amongst environment discourse. He praises the cultural shift that is waking up to the environmental cause and implores us to go beyond it, think more creatively, embrace change and realize the potential for a bright sustainable future.

The Cynics and the Critics

One of the biggest threats to this bright future is the belief in a bleak one. Cynics come in two forms, those that are aware, but pessimistic, and those that seek to keep ‘life as we know it’ at all costs.

“A healthy skepticism is always warranted; we shouldn’t believe everything we read. But, the pervasive cynicism that has infected [Western culture] is self destructive and plays right into the hands of those who want the status quo to continue a little longer, because there is money to be made…Despair and cynicism are a large part of what is preventing us from solving our problems.”

The other result of environmental education, has been to create awareness without a clear plan in which to move society. Whilst the threat is very real, environmentalist’s use of fear to motivate action has the potential to result in apathy when it cannot be directed towards a real solution. If we believe the world is inevitably going up in smoke, then resignation and apathy, not activation, sets in.

Optimism

Steffen is convinced that if we are going to have the scale of reformation that is required, optimism will be our key. ‘Optimism is a political act. Those who benefit from the status quo are perfectly happy for us to think nothing is going to get better. In fact these days, cynicism is obedience’ Optimism is nothing short of revolutionary.

Optimism, or at least proactivity, is already emerging. Environmental education, whilst still limited, has accomplished a cultural shift already. Green is the new black, food miles are so last season and the Prius competes with Porche in Beverly Hills. All of which are significant, but have the potential to make us believe that we can consume our way into environmental equilibrium.

“Driving a Hummer brands you as a jerk, and eating organic already shows your good taste. But we can’t shop our way to sustainability. The problems we face are of such magnitude that we can’t just replace a few of the products and machines we regularly use with others that are slightly greener. If we’re going to avoid catastrophe, we have to redesign the systems in our life, not just replace the individual parts.”

Shopping for victory is doing enough to relieve conscience and lull us into a false sense of security, but not enough to save the world from cataclysmic disaster. When people feel like they, and their government, are already ‘doing their bit’ to fight global warming, they are less likely to lobby for, and activate, more substantial change.

Whilst consumerism and individual responsibility plays an important part in the shift to sustainability, it is the system itself that Steffen believes must change for us and our planet to have a future.

Find out what that looks like in Part II, coming soon...

Sarah Bainbridge is a vital part of the Living Generously team. She liaises with Charities, writes articles and develops the project! Sarah has spent time in India working with communities impacted by the Tsunami  and is passionate about social justice. Currently living in California, Sarah loves life, lakes and coffee...not necessarily in that order!

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